A/N~ Here it is my friends. The final countdown, as it were. Thanks for reading!

I don't own a single Bruce or Tony.

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The two Tonys watched Bruce-One with concern, too stunned to do anything other than stare warily. Bruce-Two's brown eyes locked with the changing Banner's green. At the same time, they reached a whispered conclusion. "Chain reaction." Watching what was essentially himself losing control, Bruce-Two felt his own calmness slipping. Staying himself was like walking a tightrope, and Bruce-One's transformation was an earthquake. Tony-One and -Two were so busy watching Bruce-One's skin flush green they didn't see Bruce-Two start quivering. While Bruce-One's clothing started to rip, Bruce-Two let out a pained growl. The Tonys whipped around to see him passing the point of no return.

"Tony?" Tony-One asked.

"Yes, Tony?" Tony-Two answered, eyes shifting between the changing Bruces.

"Would you care to join me in taking shelter?"

"Yes, that sounds like a lovely idea."

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From their hiding place under a lab table the Tonys watched the two Hulks stalk around the room. They had stomped to different parts of the lab and were thankfully leaving the portal machine alone, taking more interest in smashing assorted beakers.

"Did we have anything important set up?" Tony-One asked.

"Not that I remember. I'm just glad we got the lab pretty Hulk-proofed," Tony-Two commented. The other Stark nodded his agreement.

"So do we just...wait it out?" Tony-One wondered.

"Guess so."

While the Starks considered their predicament, the Hulks finally caught sight of each other. They stormed toward the center of the room where the interdimensional device sat whirring softly. At the same time, the Tonys called out what they always did when there was a problem in the lab.

"JARVIS!"

"Yes sirs?" the computer responded calmly.

"Protect the portal device," Tony-One commanded. Almost immediately, several robotic arms dropped from the ceiling, each carrying a gray panel. The plates were pressed swiftly together to form a rudimentary dome over the machine. Another arm reached down and sent a laser across the seams in the shield, welding the panels together and leaving the dome completely smooth. It looked like an enormous gray bubble was resting in the middle of the lab. This whole process was completed in seconds and both Tonys smiled proudly at their ingenious invention. Protective measures were a must in any place where Dr. Banner faced daily explosions.

Hulk-One and Hulk-Two finally reached the lab's center, and both stopped short. They considered each other angrily, sizing up their opponent. Then Hulk-One planted one foot in front of himself and let out a roar in Hulk-Two's face. The offended giant was stunned for a moment, hearing what he recognized as his own shout coming from somewhere other than himself, but quickly retaliated with an equally loud cry. The shoving match that ensued was much like those among children. Pouty, angry shoulder pushing. This escalated to harder shoves, and eventually flying punches.

Both Starks watched the battle, sitting under the desk. Tony-One whispered into his new friends ear. "Fifty bucks says my guy wins."

Tony-Two looked nearly offended for a second before smirking and holding out his hand. "You got yourself a deal." They shook on it, both completely overjoyed by the new game they had found. When they retold this story later to their respective parallel audiences, they dubbed it "Brucey Bet" which never failed to elicit a sigh from the doctor.

By the time the gambling billionaires went back to watching the scuffle, they had lost track of which Hulk was from where. However, there seemed to be a winner emerging. One of the enormous fighters was starting to back down, showing signs of surrender to the other. The loser was silently banished to one side of the room while the victor perched on the machine's protective dome, his face as close to grinning as it could get.

With one rage monster in the middle of the room and one sulking in the corner the Tonys were forced to stay hidden. After nearly an hour of quiet waiting they nodded off, sleep deprived from their time working on the device.

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Bruce sleepily opened his eyes. His head felt fuzzy and he could feel the Other Guy's presence still tingling on his skin. He noted that he was rather naked and lying face-down on a hard, enormous, gray bubble in what looked to be their lab, though it seemed pretty smashed-up.

"Wakey wakey!" came a two-person shout. Bruce looked up to see two mocking faces standing by the door to the lab. One of them was holding a couple of blankets while the other had four cardboard coffee cups.

"Good morning doctors," one of the Tonys said warmly.

"Don't you both look distinguished," the other quipped.

Bruce looked around to see his counterpart, equally as unclothed, sitting in the corner of the room. The Tony holding coffee set down the tray and took one of the blankets from his double, walking swiftly over to where Bruce was lying and tossing it up to him. Bruce realized that, though it looked like a blanket, the cloth was actually one of Tony's bathrobes. He slipped his arms into the sleeves and climbed off the dome. He looked over in time to see the other Bruce snatching a robe away from a different Tony. When the other Bruce when pulling it on, Banner noticed the word "LOSER" emblazoned on the back. He tugged his robe around enough to confirm the suspicion that his declared "WINNER." He sighed, wondering what the Tonys had done.

"So," one of the irritating men said loudly. "I guess we have to regroup after whatever happened before. So,Ones, raise your hands." The Tony not currently speaking shot his hand up and the "WINNER" Bruce raised his arm meekly.

Tony-One pumped his fist with a victorious "yes!" and turned to Tony-Two. "Pay up, bitch!" he said excitedly. Tony-Two groaned and reluctantly pulled out his wallet, handing a fifty to his still-celebrating friend.

Bruce-Two rubbed his hand down his face with exasperation. "Did you guys bet on us?" he asked, extremely irked.

"Yep!" Tony-One said proudly. "And my team won!" He bounced over to Bruce-One, a high-five ready. Bruce-One quirked an eyebrow in annoyance, but said nothing.

"As much of a blast as this has been," Bruce-Two said, checking his watch, "We should probably go soon."

"Yeah," Bruce-One agreed. "I'm not totally sure how time is flowing in this type of situation, so two of us may lose time while the others don't notice a difference. Or we all lose time. Or none of us. Just to be safe, we should leave now." The Tonys looked none too happy at the prospect of cutting playtime short, but they nodded anyway.

"JARVIS," Tony-Two called. "Let's get the machine uncovered."

"Of course, sir," JARVIS responded.

While they waited for the portal to be uncovered by the tangle of metallic limbs that had just dropped from the ceiling, Tony-Two asked the Bruce's something he'd been wondering for a while.

"What set off your transformations?" Tony-One agreed that he'd been wondering the same. Both Bruces blushed.

"Well I got set off by watching myself change," Bruce-Two said, cheeks still a light pink.

"As for me," Bruce one started. "Well, Bruce-Two and I were talking, and it turns out the difference that divided our universes wasn't all that insignificant." The Tonys gave him a confused look. Bruce-Two leaned over to Tony-Two and whispered something in his ear. Tony's eyes widened.

"What? So they..?" he said stunned. Bruce-Two nodded. Tony-Two pointed at the other Stark. "And he doesn't..?" Both Bruces nodded this time, leaving an irritated and confused Tony-One out of the loop. "Oh my God," Tony-Two breathed. This was followed by a mischievous chuckle. "Oh. My. God." Behind them, the shield had been dismantled and the open portal stood waiting. Bruce-Two held out his hand to Bruce-One.

"We were the last ones through, so this is the same portal we left open. Guess this is good-bye."

Bruce-One grabbed the offered hand and shook it warmly. "Great meeting you, Almost-Me."
"Same to you."

Tony-Two offered a fist bump to the still-confused Stark but was met instead with a shout. "Why is no one telling me what the big secret is!" Tony-One said angrily. The blush returned to Bruce-One's cheeks.

"Okay, Tony," he said calmly. "You know how we live together?"

"Yeah?" Tony-One responded cautiously.

"Well the other us actually live together." A look of confusion spread across Tony's face. Tony-Two grinned at him. Bruce-One saw realization dawn on his friends features, followed by shock that had manifested itself as green and angry in the doctor.

"So we - us -" Tony-One blubbered. "You are...dating?"

"Well, yeah," Bruce-Two said casually. Tony-Two could barely contain his laughter at seeing his parallel self so flustered. He grabbed his Bruce by the hand and moved them in front of the portal.

"See you guys later!" he shouted. Then he turned quickly, kissed Bruce-Two on the lips, snapped his eyes shut, and leaped into the portal. Bruce-Two rolled his eyes looking fairly embarrassed, but clearly smiling. He gave a last wave to the Ones, then followed his boyfriend into the dark.

The remaining Tony and Bruce just stared at where the others had departed, both a more than a little stunned.

"Hey, Bruce."

"Yeah, Tony?"

"If we tell this story to other people, can we conveniently forget that part?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

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A/N~ So that's how the cookie crumbles. :-) Thanks to all who read and reviewed! Let me know what you thought, and maybe I'll make a sequel someday. (EDIT: Sequel posted!)

See you in another life, brothers!