[Tony had been filled in about this apparent future where he loses the arc reactor--Natasha told him first, at the rendezvous point, and Bruce confirmed it. But Tony doesn't feel connected to this event, he's grown so accustomed to the pressure in his chest (and the ghost sensations of shrapnel embedded in his arterial walls) that he can't conceptualize what it'd feel like not to have it again. It was like hearing about something that was happening to someone else. It wasn't him. Not yet. He still has two years to become that person that all the others knew.

So he couldn't understand where Bruce is coming from. He ends up repeating what he had said to him on the helicarrier.] But you can learn to control it.

Remember New York? We couldn't have stood a chance if you hadn't come back to help--that's not just my opinion, either. Nat and Cap can just sing along in spirit. Not like I remember much before waking up on the street, but I would've been splatter art on Park Avenue if you hadn't caught me.

[If the Hulk hadn't grabbed him before he hit the ground, so he can't get totally mad at Bruce's greener, angrier side, even if he did break Harlem.]

You keep trying to keep everyone at arm's length, trying to keep them safe or whatever, you don't just separate them from your "condition," you estrange them from every single part of you. [He squares his jaw as the earnest expression comes out of him, one word fumbling after the other.] It's a really small group of people that I can count on. You're one of them, Bruce.