#thorbruce week 2019

[alwaysonlineau]

hi! welcome to the always online au!

for anyone who was into the hype of parkner back in late 2019/the early quarantine days, this might be a little bit familiar to you. basically, this is a social media au for marvel that i created when getting into parkner and thompsborn and when one of the main wlw ships was mj/shuri. it consisted of screenshots of (obviously fake) social media accounts (mainly twitter) of some of the marvel characters and it was mostly shitposting with a tiny hint of a plot. however, because of the mental health kick that came with quarantine, i ended up deleting the account while in a depression drop.

it’s been over 3 years and i honestly miss making this au, as it was just fun and gave me something to do, and a few days ago i realized that i still have the apps i used when i originally made this au and all of the fake tweets and messages were still on them, so… well.

basically, i decided to bring it back!

so, if you don’t remember or never saw this au when it was originally happening, you might have some questions! under the cut is a very basic q&a:

what is the always online au about?

nothing! also everything! like i said, it was entirely a shitpost account that very vaguely had a plot, but it was 100% just something i did in my free time for fun!

it’s essentially me throwing my sense of humor in a box with ships and characters that i like and then violently shaking it until something that i find funny comes out and then i would post it !!

ships and characters? which ones?

like i mentioned above, i made this during like the late 2019-2020 era of parkner hype, so, obviously, it was mainly parkner (peter parker/harley keener) BUT it also features many other marvel ships! i am going to be changing the ships up a bit to better match my current preferences. i’ll include a list of ships below this paragraph, but first, this is also going to include PLENTY of platonic/familial dynamics as well! so if you love stucky, sorry they aren’t dating in this but they are obviously besties, and there’s irondad, stuff like that, okay? i’ll try to include it all!

ships:

parkner (peter parker/harley keener)

ironhusbands (tony stark/james rhodes)

gwemj (gwen stacy/michelle jones)

peppermay (pepper potts/may parker)

sambucky (sam wilson/bucky barnes)

thompsborn (harry osborn/flash thompson)

nedbetty (ned leeds/betty brant)

thorbruce (thor/bruce banner)

and more that i will add to this list as i figure them out! suggestions are more than welcome!

characters include everyone in the above mentioned ships (obviously lol) as well as any and all marvel/mcu characters that feel relevant to include! such as:

happy hogan

shuri

t’challa

the guardians of the galaxy

matt, foggy and karen from daredevil

funny accounts for villains

norman osborn (ew)

loki (and maybe mobius? maybe include that ship too? i haven’t watched loki season 2 yet so we’ll see i guess lmao)

and more! again, i am open to suggestions!

if anyone has ideas for characters, ships, or dynamics to include, feel free to message me or send an ask!!

how often should i expect updates?

that one is kind of tricky, because i am an adult with a full time job who is also balancing hobbies and family and everything all at the same time. this is something that i’ll try to work on during my free time, and when i did this before it wasn’t hard to make updates once i figured out what i wanted to do for them, but still, my free time kind of depends on the day and the week.

i’m not going to commit to a strict schedule, but i don’t work weekends so my goal is to update every weekend! if i miss a weekend, i’ll try to get it posted during the week, and if i have a week with extra free time, i’ll do some additional posts as well.

i’ll do my best to be regular with it!!

anything else i should know?

yes! this is an ongoing creative project that i’m doing for fun, and i want it to be fun for anyone and everyone who may come across it! that means i want it to be interactive!! this is something i did before, as well.

for instance, when i was running this au in 2019/2020, someone sent an ask wanting to see harley finding out about the vulture after him and peter start dating, so i answered the ask with this:

obviously this au isn’t picking up from where the old one left off, so those tweets are not considered canon to the current always online au, BUT that’s just an example! i want people to feel free to send in asks and questions for the characters or for situations, and i will do my best to make it fit into the canon of the au!!

i think that’s it?

if anyone has any additional questions, comments, or concerns they would like me to address, feel free to send them in! i’m going to try to get the first update of this au posted today (october 17, 2023) but no promises! if not today, it WILL be up tomorrow!

once the official au is being posted, i’m also going to create a pinned post that links to this one as well as all the au updates and anything else necessary to include (like the tagging system i’m going to create and things like that) so that will be posted shortly after the first update is out! for now, thank you for reading!

i hope to see you guys always online ;)

[mutantbanner]

day 7 - fall

[beccarooni]

Spark

(A.N: The final day of thorbruce week! It’s been so lovely reading all of the comments on the fics, and writing the fics even more so! Thanks so much to @cozyastronaut, @mutantbanner, @robinsword , and everyone else who helped set this up / run the blogs. Looking forward to next years! xx)

Tony's fingers flew across the keypad of the tablet in his arms, barely managing to finish typing one word before he was yelling out another command for JARVIS, hopping over wires and cables as he ran through the lab. 

He was really starting to regret not backing up his files sooner. 

But, if he was being honest, he hadn't thought this day would come as soon as it did. He’d thought about the day in question, sure. Discussed it, chatted about it, even helped plan some of it in late-night lab sessions - when the lights had dimmed low and the small hours of the morning were just starting to dawn. Bruce had talked at length about it, and Tony had encouraged him because that’s what they did. Tony wanted to see him happy. He wanted to see him reach out and claim something for himself. 

He wanted Bruce to have his own slice of happiness, so it definitely wasn’t out of  shock per say that he’d forgotten to prepare his lab. He'd spent the majority of the past few months prompting this, actually. Evening after evening hinting and hoping towards today, small glances and winks cast across Stark tower at parties and meetings whenever he caught Bruce alone with the demi-god in question. 

And somehow, somehow, it still caught him off guard. 

"Tony, you know I love and support you in almost everything you do," 

Pepper's familiar dealing-with-Tony voice rang out from the doorway, her eyes narrowing as they landed on him, smeared with grease, fingers pounding against keyboards like his life depended on it. 

"But what in the hell are you doing?"

"It's today, Pep." Tony ran up the few steps towards Pepper, planting a kiss on her cheek before whirling around to pull a USB-drive from a sparking wall. 

"I've gotta back up my files. There's about 100 projects going on and I can't lose a piece of them." 

"Right. You set a schedule for short-circuiting all the servers in the building. Very considerate."

"No, Pep, listen." He paused, breath coming heavy through his nose, turning to Pepper with wide eyes, sparking with something akin to glee. 

"Bruce is proposing today. And if my calculations are correct, Thor is gonna cry. And if he cries, my tech is fried."

Housing the resident thunder-god in his building did have its perks. No shelf was too high to reach, he had access to the ultimate door-stop (although it did feel a little strange using something that was forged in the heart of a star to keep his lab door open, but if it works, it works), and thanks to a neat little trick he and Thor had been working on all it took was the tap of a finger against his smartphone to charge the battery up. 

However, as with any flatting situation, there were some...unpredictable elements.

He’d expected a little static, of course. Anyone who hung around Thor long enough knew that the demi-god carried a permanent charge with him at all times - but what he didn’t account for was the way in which this could manifest. 

For instance, when Bruce kissed Thor for the first time at a post-battle party, immediately plunging them all into darkness when the lightbulbs promptly exploded. Or during a movie night, when Bruce’s fingers were wound into the blonde locks of Thor’s hair, braiding and touching and the demi-god was all but purring - Tony’s power banks could barely contain all of the excess energy.

They’d tried solutions. A miniature lightning rod, tucked into Thor’s pocket or pinned into his hair like an elaborate piece of jewellery. Candle-lit dinners around anniversary times, insulated table mats, power-cord bracelets. And for the smaller things, it worked. Sad movies no longer resulted in a miniature maelstrom, games of mario kart didn’t end up with half the block losing power.

But for the important things, such as today, there really was no material on earth or anywhere else that was going to prevent the massive power surge.

Because if their first kiss had been bad

Oh boy.  

Tony sighed in momentary relief as another project was saved, and another backup uploaded. 

“Look, Pep, you gotta help me out here. I don’t know how much time I have left. Bruce walked in here 15 minutes ago, downed a pot of coffee and then walked right back out.” 

He turned, batting his eyelids in what he hoped was an appealing gesture. 

“Please?”

“Fine, fine. But you owe me. No weird dancing at their wedding.” 

“I can’t make that promise.”

A crack of thunder resounded above them, and Tony froze in place - the lab silent aside from the faint beeping of machinery, still powering through commands. 

That had to mean something, right? Maybe Thor saw this coming - maybe he was proposing at the same time. His eyes swivelled to the fluorescent lights, still blaring, still humming. Still firmly un-exploded. 

He let out a slow breath of air, a small smile crossing his face. 

“I think we’re goo-”

Tony really didn’t know what he was expecting. 

Thor, of all people, was not going to be able to hold it together around Bruce Banner. The man wrote poetry about him, for pete’s sake. There hadn’t been a battle gone by where he hadn’t found Thor cuddled up by the Hulk’s side, or with Bruce tucked firmly between his arms - staring up at the giant or down at the scientist with the same expression of wonder on his face, as if he was seeing the stars themselves for the very first time. 

In short, when the lights exploded and his systems went dark, he really should’ve seen this coming. 

There was laughter coming from upstairs. Bruce was saying something, the aftermath of a smile still tinging his voice, and Tony felt his own throat getting that little bit tighter.  A few sparks, he decided, was entirely worth it to see those two happy. He could stand to lose a few calculations, a few nights of power, here and there. For the people upstairs, who were no doubt going to have the most insufferably loving wedding-vows written this side of the universe, he could sit through just about anything. 

[sciencexthunder]

Hey so I was just wondering if you or anyone else knew of some good thorbruce fics? I can't find any without it being off to the side and I'm DYING

Hi dear Anon.

Unfortunately I don’t have much time to make a complete list, but here is a short list of my favorite stories.

Many authors on this list have also written other Thorbruce stories, check it out. I have also added the link to the Thorbruce week 2018 and 2019.

Petrichor by thor20

Four Times Bruce and Thor Touched and One Time They Kissed by readwriteandavengers 

Make Love Your Goal by AppleTeeth

Strongest Avenger, Bravest Avenger by QuarkInShiningArmour 

Extreme Lengths to Prove Loki Wrong by QuarkInShiningArmour

That’s Amore by Esperata 

Vita Bella by Esperata

Polishing The Lightning Rod by Blizzard_Fire

How Thor Got Inside Bruce Banner (And Not in the Fun Way) by Blizzard_Fire

5 Times Fanfiction Made Bruce Blush (+1 Time it Made Him Smile) by Blizzard_Fire

Armour by TeamThor

Alien by TeamThor

Dawn by TeamThor

In All the Stars and Galaxies by immortalbanner

The 5 Times Thor and Bruce Kissed at the Wrong Time by immortalbanner

Stuck in My Head (Stuck on My Heart) by immortalbanner

buy one, get one free (two boyfriends in one) by pseudoanalytics

There’s no place I could be, but here in your arms. by Sunwarmed_Ash_tree_and_the_dreaming_Stag 

big god by Eremji (handsfullofdust) 

The Solace System by Ancalime1

ThorBruce Week

ThorBruce Week 2019

[ao3feed-thorbruce]

Coffee

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2NKFOm2

by TeamThor

15 minutes since the rain had stopped. 15 minutes since Thor had clambered onto a spaceship, a duffel bag slung over his back, and left without a word. 15 minutes since that final backward glance, awkward and fumbled, mouth opening with words that the God didn’t know how to say, how to express. Not when there was 2 minutes till lift off, and Rocket was yelling at him to shut the door already, blondie. We gotta go.

Thor had to go. And the words were left unspoken

Words: 1651, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 4 of Thorbruce week 2019 - my contributions

Fandoms: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner

Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor

Additional Tags: Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Reunions, Post-Canon Fix-It, Light Angst, Mild Language, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner Feels

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2NKFOm2

[tonystarkbingo]

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner/Thor, James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Rebecca Barnes Proctor, Winifred Barnes, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Thor (Marvel), Brock Rumlow, Happy Hogan, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Natasha Romanov (Marvel) Additional Tags: the explicit rating is there for the future chapters, vampire/werewolf college AU, build upon many bingo squares, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Bucky is like a vampire from the X-Files, he's a clean freak, secret mvp of this fic: the butcher, sick fluff, vampire burial therapy, Steve is a motherhen, Bruce Banner is a werewolf and a doctor, Background ThorBruce, Thor is a vampire, tw: Brock Rumlow is a sexual predator, Not Brock Rumlow Friendly, Getting Together, Masturbation, Sleepy smut, Werewolf Steve Rogers, Vampire Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Werewolf Clint Barton, Vampire Natasha Romanov, Party Games, First Kiss, steve is a kinky bastard, tw: horror tropes, bucky has anxiety, vampiric politics, secret supernatural community, invisible monster, the mystery builds, this grew plot, Tw: getting shot Series: Part 1 of The Pit-falls of Vampirehood, starring James Barnes and Natalia Romanova and their Major Crushes on Werewolves Summary:

James Barnes is ready to flee the vampire nest and complete his education with an authentic, human college experience. Too bad Steve Rogers is making him feel anything but human. However will he manage?

Chapter 6: Family Bonds

Summary: Steve and Tony have a talk about love and murder.

Notes: A bit of a shorter chapter this time due to time constraints in real life. I'm planning to take a two-week posting hiatus to get some work done and write longer chapters (and a sequel to Joystick).

As always, thank you to my lovey beta betheflame!

Written for:

Tony Stark bingo 2019 square A2 - Interspecies Stucky bingo 2019 square E2 - "Until the end of the line"

[ao3feed-lokiangst]

Fall

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/32PSCMf

by TeamThor

Alternate ending to Endgame where Bruce's snap brings everyone back. Literally everyone. It's just the Revengers going to a hot spring and doing face masks with a healthy helping of thorbruce idk what to tell you

Words: 1379, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 6 of Thorbruce week 2019 - my contributions

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Loki (Marvel), Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Heimdall (Marvel)

Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor

Additional Tags: Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Fix-It, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, Spa Treatments, Established Relationship

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/32PSCMf

[asgardavenged]

rules

hi everyone i’m estelle & i reside in vancouver canada timezone pst. i thank you for taking the time to read this page as it outlines how imma be running this here blog. there is a quite bit to read here & i’m sorry for that but this is purely to make sure we don’t run into complications & awkwardness when we start interactions.

first off you should know is this is not my main blog, however it will be one of my more active ones. if you need me right away pls check out ashesincaptivity my tony. i am usually always there. i will provide a full list of my blogs in current use in the navigation.

secondly i am a full time student in class from 1-5 monday-friday. i am studying to be a mental health and addictions worker. this program will last until july 2019 so i ask you be patient with me in terms of replies.  most roleplaying will likely be done on weekends. or whenever i have free time / i am not drained from school.

i have a.d.d which stands for attention deficit disorder. i used to take pills for it when i was in grade school but i no longer require them now. that being said i can make many mistakes & even after checking my work time & time again i CANT SEE EVERYTHING. so i ask that if something about the way i write bothers you please tell me. i will not take it as offence ( as long as you are nice about it ) but i do ask you to be patient with me in this regard.

please do not take any icons from this blog they are all made by me & i take pride in my work. if we are friends i may make you some.

i am 21 years of age so nsfw will be on this blog. however i will not be smutting with anyone under the age of 18. well i doubt one of us will go to jail its better safe then sorry. if i fund out you lied to me about your age i will block & unfollow you so fast your head will spin. i do not want to be that guy so please don’t make me be.   also i will not be smutting with just anyone as i am shy bean who is awkward with it.  however if i know you well ooc then i will happily sin it up with you.  any nsfw memes posted will be answered at my comfort zone  so don’t be upset if you don’t get a reply to one.  its all about my boundaries & all. please respect them !

i am not new to the mcu rp fandom however my last/ first attempt was brief. i ask you be patient with me as i learn the ropes here.

PORTRAYAL.

thor is a hella new muse for me so i am going into this a little blind. i am working out my version of him as i go. if my interpretation is not to your liking you may unfollow, no hard feelings !  

SHIPPING

thor is pansexual & panromantic. however i am super super super picky who i ship him with. 

i am a die hard jane x thor shipper & thats my main endgame for him. hes probably the only other muse besides another that never took off that i am super picky with ships.  however i do have a soft spot for thorbruce & will gladly write it !   anything else i would kindly ask you bring up to me in private. i am likely not to pursue a ship with you unless we discuss it. but please don’t be shy i am trash so come talk to me, sell it to me & i will likely agree.  i could also possibly see thunderstrange maybe ? but that one would be highly dependant on the mun & plot.   bottom line if you wanna ship just come talk to me, & i will see what we can do. 

chemistry is always key regardless between muns & muses. please no forcing ships on me or thor thats not cool to either of us.   

to clear it up right here & now, anyone who asks me for thorki is going to be auto blocked. i have no time for this. its disgusting & i am not here for it. i don’t like it but i’m not going to personally judge you for shipping it, as incest doesn’t trigger me it just makes me meh.  however please advised if you rp it i will likely not follow you. again this is not to offend this is just a personal preference.  DO NOT ASK FOR THORKI YOU WILL BE BLOCKED. 

FOLLOWING & UNFOLLOWING.

this blog is MUTUALS ONLY. that being said. i understand some people can’t follow everyone that follows them for a few reasons, but that does nothing to hinder their desire to write. therefore it will be simply as long as I AM FOLLOWING YOU we may interact. ( though i prefer mutuals ) if i am not following you, you may approach me with a plot in mind but i am in no place to agree to said plot. please do not like starter calls, or plotting calls of any kind if i am not following you. it makes me uncomfortable & aggravates me i may take a bit of time to follow back as i am not always on this blog & i need to check out many accounts for follows. please be patient with me. it can take me sometimes a week or more to follow back. i like to make sure i check out everyones blog. & trust me i do check each & every blog that follows me. i rarely unfollow people unless you have either pissed me off ( to which i would tell you ) or have offended me in some way. so unless there was some drama that started leaving me so angry at you that i needed to cut & run. then if you notice me unfollow you please give me a nudge as its likely tumblr being a dick head. 

TYPES OF WRITING & REPLIES.

i am open to all kinds of writing. para, novell, text chatting etc. though the most common form you will get is lengthy as hell shit. when i get into character i get into character hella. so i am all form long threads with lots of feels & character study. though small things with icons are fun too!! i love it all. the only thing i won’t be doing is stuff with big gifs & the like. also i kindly ask given the number of blogs i run ( you can see on my sidebar ) i ask that you be patient with me for replies. if i haven’t replied in a week you are welcome to nudge me, but please do not constantly harass me or i might drop the thread. patience guys & i will get to you.

GODMODING

don’t do it. i control my muse & you control your muse. if you want to control my character go right some fic or make a spock blog. if you mess up once i will remind you. again & we will drop the thread. third time i stop interacting with you all together. ( rules to exercised at my own discretion ) most people stop after strike one so don’t worry about that. i’m sure it will all be hunky dory.

TRIGGERS & TAGGING

i tag edits & gift sets with my own otp tags till someone comes forward asking for blacklisting. then i will use the basic tag if needed. ( i know my otp tags don’t always register in blacklist ) i will not ship tag threads though. sorry not happening. only tags on threads will be tracking tags & verse tags along with urls.  if this isn’t too your liking then feel free to unfollow.  no hard feelings.  

as for triggers i tag *insert trigger* tw  on anything including said trigger ( threads, images etc. )  if i forget to tag a trigger come talk to me & i will tag it for you !! i am very accommodating.

as for my triggers i really don’t have any. but i ask you TAG YOUR natural disasters  & excessive gore.

EXCLUSIVITY  

i am open to it !!! yes very much so. however i have a few rules. if you would like to be exclusive we must have some ooc relationship or ic relationship plotted or established. & if you do ask me & i agree i ask that its mutual. or i will drop the exclusivity. however if i chose to go exclusive to you it DOES NOT NEED TO BE RETURNED. but it would be nice, but i will not bark if you don’t. i will go exclusive with certain people as i see fit.  current list can be found here

exclusives & mains ( x )

OOC DRAMA

keep it away from me. i do not want it. have enough of it to last a life time. ic drama however is wanted & encouraged.  like 99.99999 % of what i do is angst

FINAL THOUGHTS.

so in case this made me sound intimidating i want to assure you i am the furthest from. i am a huge dork who sits around and gushes about her otps all day, and I

[mutantbanner]

day 6 - rainbow/glow 

fellas is it gay to hug ur space bf on the salt flats 

collab with @cozyastronaut ; he did the sketch/lines, i did the colors :D

[mutantbanner]

thorbruce week day 1...... space 

neither of them technically “need” spacesuits to survive On The Moon but fuck you it’s fun to draw

[beccarooni]

Armour

(A.N: Day 2 of thorbruce week! Prompt: Armour)

Thor had never been one to partake in magic. It was never his forte, his talent. No, his strength was in battle, in his hammer, in the lightning that crackled from his fingertips. That was what Odin had said, anyway. That was what he was permitted to be talented in. Save the magic and the tricks for Loki, save being quiet and reading and books by the fireside for your brother. They are not for you to partake in. 

But, Frigga had always had different plans. She'd taught the swooping curve of the blade to Loki, where Odin had been content to let him calcify. And to Thor, she had shared the gift of magic. 

Nothing too fancy, of course. And not to the degree Loki had mastered. 

A few simple glamour spells, some light healing here and there. For when his lightning burned in his veins and singed his skin, so he could heal his flesh as fast as it was ruined. 

And the glamour spells, the illusions, for where the healing couldn't cover. For when he needed to appear strong, to mask the wounds of battle and plaster on an appearance of effortless victory. 

He was grateful for that skill. It made leaving Nivadellir much easier. 

Rocket was still worried about him, of course. After all, he'd been dead for about a minute - according to them, at least. And Tree still looked at him strangely, like he'd been told a lie he couldn't quite believe, but didn't have the evidence to dispute either. 

But, Stormbreaker was in his hand, and his burns were gone. To them, he was fine. A shining God, capable of taking on a dying star without leaving a scratch - the lone survivor of Asgard. Indestructible, immovable. To Thanos’s blade or the stinging heat of solar flares, he would stand strong. 

At least, that’s what they thought.

He would've liked to keep up that facade for longer. For the Avengers, for Bruce, for everyone. 

But he was not as skilled as Loki. The magic had to fade sometime.

He just wished he'd been alone when it did. 

He'd first noticed it in the aftermath of Wakanda. In the Quinjet ride home, back to the compound, he'd spotted the first hole in his design. A small patch of skin just above his wrist, burned raw. He’d covered it as best he could, of course. Strapped on his arm-guard just that little bit tighter, gritting his teeth against the brutal scrape of singed skin against metal. No one had noticed that - he was grateful, for the shield that grief brought him. People piled off into corners, split from the group to recover in their own sanctuaries. Silence settled across the ship, and even the hum of the engines felt disrespectful. The technology was cold and unfeeling, without Stark. It didn’t have the decency to offer it’s minute long silence for the dead of the world. No, not the world. The universe.

The death of the universe, no matter how many remained.

Bruce had sat close to him, or rather, as close as he dared. Where Thor stood against the window, staring out onto a dust-covered evening, Bruce sat close by. Leaving a space beside him on the bench, a warm hand resting just above the window-pane, a guise of a strained muscle being left to rest. 

Thor knew what it was - an invitation. An outstretched hand, as carefully laid out as any lab experiment, placed deliberately to let Thor know he wasn’t alone. That Bruce was here, and here for him no less. 

He was no more worthy of the warmth those arms would bring than he was worthy of Mjolnir. And so he stayed, cold, and bruised, and alone. 

The next wounds weren’t so easy to hide. 

The Avengers - or what was left of them - had begun to walk from the jet to the Compound. A short walk, a small matter of meters that he should have been able to make without assistance. Everyone else had. Everyone else had taken the hands that had been offered to them, hadn’t suffered from the sin of pride that he had fallen victim to.

A vain, greedy, cruel boy. Unworthy of the loved ones he had betrayed.

He shut his eyes against the memory, and took a step forward. 

It burned. Fire, from an injury that had smouldered hours ago, reignited against his torso. An incessant, pulsing pain that shot up his side, the molten tendrils seeping into his lungs, choking out what little oxygen he had left. 

One hand flew to steady himself, and for a few terrifying moments, his world turned dark and fuzzy. He wondered if this was how it felt, if there had been a delayed reaction somehow, and he was going to disappear like the rest of them. Like Vision, like Sam, like Wanda. If his own life was to join the consequences of his most spectacular failing yet. 

“Thor?” 

A hand, soothing and cold, wrapped around his wrist. Another one laid against his neck, holding him carefully, as if he was made of porcelain. 

“Thor, what’s happening? Are you ok?” 

Bruce paused, his breath shaky and fragile against his ear. 

“Come on, say something. How do I help you?” 

It took him a few long seconds to force out the next few words through bloodied lips, but he got there. 

“You don’t.” 

Thor wrenched himself upright, trying to find the effort to offer a reassuring smile, but even that fell flat. 

“I don’t need helping. I’m fine.” 

"Fine." Bruce echoed, and Thor was taken aback somewhat by the fury in Bruce's eyes. 

Not directed at him, at least, not entirely. Those hazel eyes were fixed on the sky, over Thor's shoulder, somewhere in the middle distance. 

Although, he wouldn't blame him if it was. If Bruce had to pick a time to hate him, this would be the perfect opportunity. The death of half the universe rested in his shoulders, the blood of millions staining his axe purple, if Bruce wanted to hate him then he was fine with that, he was fine. He was fine-

"Thor, I'm sorry, but no you're not." 

Bruce's fingers tightened around the collar of his armour, soft skin cool against his burns. 

"Do you...you honestly think I don't get it by now? That somehow I'll believe you when you tell me you don't need helping? After everything? Or...or what, you think I just don't care enough to doubt you? Because I do, I care. And I'm not gonna see you destroy yourself over this. So...there."

The scientists chest rose and fell, puffs of air flaring from his nostrils as he tried to get his breath back after...that. 

He looked away, wiping at his nose under the guise of removing some of the dirt of battle, and Thor began to feel something in him unwind. 

A knot that he'd carefully tied, in the confines of a dying star. Threads and fibres that he’d knitted together, each memory serving to remind him painfully of the black hair and pale skin that he’d left behind in the wreckage of the Statesman. 

Golden shimmers filled his vision, and for a moment, that was all he saw as the tight feeling in his chest morphed into something else, some feeling comprised of burning coals and choking sulfur that bloomed under his ribcage, choking the storm inside of him, and threatening to plunge him into darkness entirely. 

Golden, like the stars Odin and Frigga had left behind in their wake. Like the walls of Asgard, tainted with the blood of an empire. Like the glove that had snapped half the universe to dust and ashes. 

The last of the illusions faded, and Bruce’s grasp only got that much tighter. 

“Thor…” 

“Don’t.” 

Thor’s shoulders tensed under his hold, his eyes screwing shut against the onslaught of a different kind of heat rapidly building behind them - the faint sting of the few tears that had escaped were enough to remind him of his place, his duty. 

A statue. The Kings of Asgard are strong and brave. They do not shed tears. 

“Don’t say anything, please. Just…”

At last, he felt his body begin to give in to his minds need for rest. His legs shook, and the armour across his back was an unwelcome strain against his bruised body. 

“Just help me. Please.”

Bruce nodded, his expression unreadable. Faint green lines forced their way back under his skin, leaving him pallid and pale. 

Your fault. You did this to him. This was your burden to bear but you revealed it to him, and now he suffers. 

 “Tell me how.” The scientist’s voice was gentle, now. 

A quiet coaxing, trying to shift Thor towards movement, towards sorrow, anger - anything but this muted apathy, like the nerves that had lit up the skies had been crudely cut out, leaving behind a shell. The black backdrop of space, unlit by stars. 

 “How do I help you?”

***

It was 3 in the morning by the time Bruce had finished.

Thor had fallen asleep some time after that, in part to the stack of chamomile tea Bruce always kept in supply, but mostly thanks to exhaustion.

He ran a tired hand down his face, tapping a few more formulas onto his laptop, although the numbers were really starting to blur together at this point. Usually, he’d take this opportunity to clamber into bed with Thor. That’s what they’d done on the Statesman, anyway. The last fragile peace they’d shared together, limbs intertwined, eyes on the universe that stretched out in front of them and a foolish sense of hope fluttering in their chests. 

Hulk hadn’t seen fit to show him what had happened to the Asgardians. He’d locked that memory far away, along with himself, resigning to the back of Bruce’s mind, leaving him alone with the eerie feeling of a loud mind gone quiet. But he knew it was bad.

It just hadn’t been revealed how bad until the battle had calmed. Until he was able to see past the storm clouding Thor’s eyes, to look into them and see...nothing.

There was never nothing in Thor’s eyes. There was always a spark, an ocean, a raincloud, something for him to latch onto and never want to let go. 

And it had only gotten worse from there. Worse, Thor shied away from his touch. Worse, Thor stood alone on the plane ride back, staring out of the window with an expression etched on his face that Bruce couldn’t even fathom. 

Bruce had seen a lot of pain in his life. His own, Hulk’s, the people that he’d hurt and others that he’d tried to save. He thought by now he’d be used to dealing with it, with the tears and the anguish that came from a loss like this. 

But, then again, there hadn’t been a loss like this. A sickening unification, uniting the planets in tragedy, stretching across the outreaches of space. 

Bruce had thought he’d known pain, but the sound of Thor’s choked sobbing as he removed his armour - piece by piece, as gently as he could, whispering again and again that it’ll be over soon, I promise, you’re doing so well, just a few more pieces and then we’re done, I swear. 

The muffled whimpers as Bruce had tried to manoeuvre the now half-asleep demigod into the softest t-shirt he could find, each flinch and wince of pain when a tender spot of skin had brushed against the bedsheets. 

That had certainly disproved his theory.

He glanced down at the sleeping figure beside him, huffing a soft sigh as he allowed his fingers to trace the shorn patterns of Thor’s hair. 

The full force of a dying star. At least that’s what Rocket had said. 

The concentrated heat of a supernova, the roaring storm before the deathly quiet of a black hole. That was what Thor had subjected himself to. All for an axe that lay abandoned in the corner of the room, the faint smell of cleaning liquid clinging to it from a half-measured attempt to wipe the Titan’s blood away. 

Thor had looked at the future, looked at the burning ball of gas, at the bruised skin and the pain it would take just to get through it, and decided that it was worth it, for an axe. 

Or, the worse option, Thor hadn’t looked at the future at all. He hadn’t considered surviving - he’d just done it anyway. 

Bruce felt his throat tighten, and let his hand drop to the side of Thor’s face, still feeling a semblance of the unnatural heat leeching the cold from his fingertips. 

“You’re an idiot, y’know that?” He murmured, rubbing his thumb dutifully against the sharp line of Thor’s jaw. 

Still caught in the throes of sleep, Thor muttered some kind of half-response, lost between where half of his face was pressed into the pillow. 

“M’not.” The demigod shifted, pushing his face closer towards Bruce, chasing the cool warmth of his hand against his skin. 

“You are. And when you’re more awake, we’re talking about all of this.” 

Thor made a noise of protest, one blue eye cracking open, still somehow managing to shine through the dark with an eerie glow of leftover lightning. 

“But not now?” 

“No, not now.” Bruce shut the lid of his laptop, shifting his legs under what thin sheets Thor had been able to stand, moving to wrap his arms around his thunder god’s shoulders. 

“Get some sleep. I’ll be here in the morning.” 

“You’re not gonna leave?” 

“No. Not again.” He felt the broad shoulders begin to shake under his arms, as his nose met the freshly washed hair that still managed to retain a faint smell of smouldering. 

“I’m never leaving you again.”

[beccarooni]

Alone

(A.N: Day 1 of Thorbruce week! Prompt: Alone)

Thor was yelling again. 

Bruce didn't know how he managed it - keeping up with threat after threat long after the demigod’s voice should've gone hoarse from overuse. Fists that should've tired hours ago still pounded on the wall in front of them, arcs of lightning that should've been draining Thor of energy still appeared occasionally from the corner of Bruce’s vision. 

He could only imagine how Thor looked now. Probably ragged, although less ragged than him. He'd always held this princely aura about him, even when he was muddling round the tower, barefoot, stumbling his way towards a coffee machine. He was always regal, in a frustratingly handsome way that only the prince of a space kingdom could pull off. 

So, ragged, but not too ragged. Angry, that was a certainty given the amount of times he'd heard Thor's voice threatening to tear Ross's arms from his shoulders in the past few hours. Bruce reckoned Thor was about four more hours away from asking to speak to a manager. Maybe tearing someone's arms off was the Asgardian equivalent of that - Bruce didn't really know. He'd ask Thor for confirmation, but his own voice didn't seem to carry through the walls as well as Thor's booming tones did. He'd have to scream for Thor to even hear him, and as of right now his energy was focused solely on shaking whatever tranquilizer they'd pumped into his system so he could hulk out and get them out of there. 

The thudding started again, the buzzing of static and the flickering lights above that was the sign of a thunderstorm. A sign of metal that creaked with the false hope of escape, of scorch marks lining the irritatingly pristine white floors of the prison. 

This should've given him hope, he knew that much. Thor was yelling, he was angry, which meant he wasn't dead or hurt - Ross hadn't managed to even lay a finger on him yet. But the yelled words held a sense of fragility that was somehow even worse. 

Thor was faltering, words slipping back into the Shakespearean dialect from what seemed like so long ago, when the earth was still Midgard and Midgard was still uncertain and scary and wrong. 

Thor might've been angry, but Bruce could tell. He was also afraid. 

He wished he could see him. Could place a hand against the glass and tell him things would be alright, tell him to save his energy and stop hitting the walls, to smooth his hair and let him be vulnerable again. Bruce wanted to wipe the blood from his knuckles and ask him to trust him, just this once. 

Hulk would appear. Or Tony, or Cap, or hell, maybe even Asgard would take issue with their capture. But someone would come for them. They weren't going to be left alone in this. 

But as it stood now, all he could do was listen. Place a hand against the wall and feel the buzzing of static as Thor conjured blast after blast against it. He let it ground him, keep his mind tethered to his body. And when his chest felt too tight to breathe or the lights above stung his eyes, he could focus on that - the ever present reminder that Thor was still here, still with him. 

Thor had told him once, when the Bifrost was glowing and Asgard was calling his name, that the storms above were for him. 

'Every time the rain falls and the sky lights up with thunder,' Thor had kissed his hand then, wiping away his tears with his thumb. 

'Every time it storms, Bruce Banner, I will be thinking of you.' 

He shut his eyes, pressing his forehead against the wall of the cell to somehow get closer to the sound. As if he could push himself through the wall itself and land, safely, in the eye of the storm. Bruised fingers clung to whatever surface he could, as another arc of lightning flashes in front of the cells. 

He wasn't alone. Thor was here. 

He wasn't alone. 

***

The next day dawned, and Bruce could feel his mind beginning to clear. Memories started to come back to him, conversations and papers and places that had all led to this moment. To him, on his knees inside of a cage, owned by a man he'd never expected to see again. 

Ross had been in at some point during the night. He'd marked when the arcs of lightning had reached almost vicious proportions, casting the senator’s face an eerie shade of blue as he'd spat out threats and gloats to him. Muffled by glass, he'd heard Thor's voice, yelling promises of his own. 

'You don't touch him.' Thor had all but snarled, eyes ablaze with enough voltage to light up a city, fists curled tighter until there were imprints of his nails against his hands. 

'He's under my protection, and so help me God, you will not harm him.'

Ross had smiled curtly at that, promising Bruce to pick up where he left off last time. He'd heaved out a sigh, when all he really wanted to do was scream. He wanted to pound his fists against the glass, to cry out that this wasn't right, that he was a person, not some lab experiment that Ross could do what he liked with. 

But that would take energy. Energy that could be better spent saving them. And so, he'd remained quiet. He'd bitten his tongue and tried to push back the memories of a bloodstained childhood where even the slightest sniff was an invitation for violence. 

Thor tried to comfort him, as best he could. Whispered comforts barely reached his ears through the walls, but they reached. They were there. He heard every single one of those oaths, declarations that soon, Banner, we'll be back at home, and you can wear that sweater that you like, and I'll make us some tea, and we can watch the stars or a movie or even just each other - but it won't matter, because we'll be home. 

He'd held onto those words, let them cover him like a blanket. Home had been such a foreign concept to him up until a few years ago. Home had been somewhere he could never get back to, a person who he'd lost forever. He'd had houses, rickety things that barely served a purpose except to keep the rain off of his back. But home, his home, that was all too new. 

Thor hadn't seemed like he'd be a home to him, not at first. No, at first he'd been loud. He'd been shouting battle cries, smashing hammers into walls, and seemed to try and distance himself from earth whenever he could - through stubbornly wearing his armour to press junkets to refusing to relinquish his peculiar manner of speaking. 

But, then they'd gotten closer, somehow. 

He'd seen vulnerability. Armour that wasn't used to distance but to protect, outlandish capes and bright fabrics that drew people's eyes to the style, rather than to the man wearing it. The right amount of chainmail made someone seem braver than they were, even when they didn't feel like it. And the language, it became a safety net. A turn of phrase that had been drilled into him since childhood (a childhood that began long before Bruce's ancestors had even landed in America) to prevent him from stumbling. 

Thor had become a person, in his eyes. A kind, warm-hearted person. He was a friend, someone to trust, and then through time and misadventure had somehow become more than that. 

Bruce's hand wandered over to the grate, as the lights dimmed and night fell back over the prison. He reached for the static, for the company, and imagined Thor was doing the same. Imagined that maybe, just maybe, Asgardians had some innate ability to sense radiation, and that Thor could feel him, too. 

Thor wasn't alone. Bruce was there. 

Thor wasn't alone. 

***

Days passed, with Bruce's brain piecing itself back together. It was a slow process, often painful at times, but it marked a sense of progress. An unrelenting movement forward, despite how his memories tried to drag him back into the shadows. 

At some point, Hulk's voice began to creep back into the corners of his mind, sluggish with sleep. Too weak to change bodies again, that much had been established. But it was a comfort, being able to talk to someone who he knew could hear him. 

He talked to Thor every day, but he knew in his heart that Thor couldn't hear him. The walls were too thick, the barriers too great. He passed on messages from Hulk, for a short while. Mostly surrounding the topic 'Is Blondie ok? Why can't see Blondie? Is he there? Can he see us?'

Bruce had tried to calm his worries as best he could. 

'Yes, Thor's fine. We can't see him because of the wall. Yes, Thor's there. He can't see us because of the wall.'

'How does Banner know?' Hulk had grumbled, worry ringing in his voice as much as he'd tried to hide it. 

'Look, we can feel it.' Bruce touched a green-veined hand to the grate, letting out a slow and careful breath as the bite of static reached his fingertips, the sensation crawling nearly to his elbow. 

 'That means Thor's there. And that he's ok.' 

Hulk had seemed satisfied with that, and had drawn back into the depths of Bruce's mind. Doctor's orders - plenty of rest, and all that. 

He hadn't had the heart to tell him that there was usually more ways to tell that Thor was there. He didn't want to scare him more than he assumed he already was, even though he knew Hulk could probably tell something was up. 

Hulk didn't have to know that Thor had stopped talking two days ago. He didn't have to know that Bruce could usually hear every word he'd said, because when it was Thor, how could you not? Hulk didn't have to worry over why Thor had gone silent, but was still in the room. Didn't have to conjure images of what could've happened to him, what was powerful enough to silence a God. 

Bruce could make those assumptions himself. Let the worry eat him alive, and spare the part of him that could get them out of here. 

As long as he had the storm, he had hope. And as long as he had hope, so did Hulk. 

A part of him wondered about what would happen if his worries turned out to be real. About what Hulk would do if confronted with another loss. He'd already experienced so much in such a short time - he was born from it, forged in it. Mjolnir had been crafted from a dying star, or so Thor had said. And in the same way, Hulk was crafted from the fires of Bruce's life. Symbols of peace and protection, tinged with gamma radiation, that had equal capacity to create and destroy. 

The more poetic of people would describe that as destiny. As the pull of soulmates that plummeted Thor to earth in the first place. 

Bruce called it luck, that Thor had found them. And that he had found him, in turn. Of course Thor had wanted to believe in fate and Norns and prophecies, and Bruce was happy to entertain him. He was more than happy to receive long winding ballads and compliments that somehow managed to compare his eyes and his smile to the stars scattered across galaxies. He didn't understand them, but he liked them. He liked the way Thor made him feel. He liked Thor, full stop. 

Laying in the corner of the cell, Bruce found his fingers wrapping tighter around the metal, with an intensity that almost roused Hulk from his slumber. He hushed him back down, and tormented himself with the thought that he really didn't want Thor to go. 

Thor was a supernova, trapped in a thin layer of skin and muscle. He was storms, he was rain, he was lightning shooting up the string of Benjamin Franklin's kite and key. He was a creature born of the universe. He didn't deserve to die inside a cage, separated from what he loved by concrete and machinery.

'I'm here, Thor. I'm here. Don't give up on us, please.' Bruce whispered into the grate, shutting his eyes against rapidly forming tears.

'We're not alone.'

***

'BannerBannerBruceBruceBruceBruceWakeUpWAKEUPWAKE-'

Bruce shot forward, gasping for air as he was forcefully yanked out of what little sleep he'd managed to get. For a few terrifying seconds, all he heard was a pounding in his head. The rush of blood roaring past his ears like white water rapids, filling the empty space with an unbearable static. He clamped his hands over his ears, drawing in breaths like a fisherman trying to pull in a shark. 

'Hulk?' He groaned, coiling his hands first into his hair, and then letting them fall to trace patterns down his face until they landed in his lap, hugging his knees close to his chest. 

'What is it? I told you, we need rest so we can get out of here.'

'Important.' Hulk grunted, and Bruce felt a phantom sensation crawling across his spine - hands that were too big trying to hold him into consciousness. 

'What's important?'

'Thor gone.'

Bruce sighed, shaking his head slowly. He began the painstaking journey across the floor of the cell, over to the wall, as he repeated back his usual mantra to the boiling presence inside his mind. 

'I told you, he's not gone. You just can't hear him because of the walls.' For the first time in a few days, Bruce was able to clamber to his feet, shivering at the feeling of cold tiles against bare skin that reminded him somehow of every hospital he'd visited. 

'If the static is there, he's there.'

'Static gone! Thor gone! Why Banner not listen?' 

'It's not gone, your skin is probably just too thick to feel it. Look.' 

Bruce reached out his hand to the grate, trying as best he could to roll his eyes and remain the passive scientist Hulk already thought he was. His bruised fingertips traced the wires and patterns inlaid into the wall, following the trail to what he knew would be the comforting buzz awaiting him. Awaiting them both. Hulk would see that Thor was fine, and since he was being so talkative they could attempt a transformation. Providing that went well, they'd leave, and go back to the promises of tea and stars and blankets and comfort and -

Bruce's blood ran cold. His fingers touched metal that was cold and unresponsive. No resonance. No sound. Nothing. 

'Where Thor?' Hulk's voice was timid now. Asking a question he almost didn't want to know the answer to. 

'I...I don't know.' Bruce swallowed nervously, trying to bite back the tide of emotions currently pooling in his stomach.

'He's supposed to be here. They didn't take him out while I was asleep, did they?'

'No. Would've heard.' 

"Thor?" Bruce managed to croak out, his voice hoarse from disuse.

He pressed up against the vent, ignoring the shooting pain of the metal biting into his ear. 

"Thor, are you there? I can't...we can't hear you. Please, can you say something?"

Nothing. 

"Thor, please." Tears were running down his face before he even had time to register them, as he pulled himself impossibly closer. 

Please, Thor. Please. 

Don't leave me alone.

[beccarooni]

Soft

(A.N: Day 3 of thorbruce week! Prompt: Soft) 

Thor stood just a few metres away from the spaceship doors, fiddling with the end of his braid. He wasn't nervous, of course. This wasn't a nervous waiting. He certainly wasn't procrastinating anything, least of all meeting Bruce again after his stint with the Guardians. After all, why would he? 

He loved Bruce - a fact that he could say out loud to anyone who would listen. At first, it had been difficult admitting it. He hadn't ever really denied it, just… had trouble with the expressing of it all. With the state of himself and his people, love wasn't really something that had been high on his schedule. 

But it was hard hiding feelings with Mantis around. All it took was one brush of skin (something which was very difficult to avoid, given the practice he'd taken up of plaiting her hair back once she'd complained about it getting in the way during battle) and his feelings were exposed to the world. Or rather, the ship. 

And honestly, he didn't mind. He wasn't embarrassed by it. It was just...new.

But the good kind of new. The new that came with every hidden treasure the Guardians had shown him, and the new that came with the ones he'd been able to impart to them. 

And he wasn't all that nervous about Bruce seeing him, either. 

Quill had been kind enough to braid back the unruly locks of hair he'd been growing out since he'd left earth, and if he was being totally honest, Thor liked the look. He liked the long trail of gold that now ran down his back, he liked how it looked with his beard that was a little more tame than it had been. And accompanied with the discarded Ravager jacket (apparently it had been given to Drax, who vehemently refused on account of his 'no shirt' policy, which...Thor still didn't get what was going on with that, actually) it all looked rather fetching. 

He liked the way he looked. Even the amber eye didn't seem so bad, now that the scar had faded somewhat with time. Thor felt good. For the first time in a while, actually. He felt fine. Admirable. Encouraged. 

And yet. 

The spaceship doors still loomed in front of him, the seconds ticking by as his hand hovered over the button. 

Bruce was out there, outside, big and green and waiting for him to come out and say hello. Waiting for a reunion that had been two years in the making. Waiting for stories of space, adventure, and probably anticipating something weird given the people he'd been traveling with. 

Thor had stories. He had thousands of them. He even knew the one he'd open on, once all the catching up was out of the way. 

He'd planned it all out. Bruce and he would… hug, probably. Bruce seemed to enjoy hugging now a lot more than he had, didn't flinch away from contact anymore, but rather instigated it himself. And Thor hadn't exactly been able to stop himself from thinking of Bruce's arms recently, so he certainly wasn't opposed to the idea. 

They'd hug, they'd talk, Bruce would tell him what he'd been up to, and then the topic would turn to him. 

And then Thor could tell Bruce about the little market they'd found on Knowhere. 

***

He'd hated Knowhere, at first. Loud, crowded, and filled with enough thieves to house the entirety of Asgard's wealth in their pockets. The bars smelled, the people weren't exactly reputable, and Thor was really starting to wonder what they were doing there until Rocket had directed him to a stall, snickering behind his paws. 

There, nestled amongst second hand pistols and what Thor was sure had been a jar of bees, was a mug. 

But not just any mug. 

A commemorative mug, mass produced, cheaply priced. One patterned with a familiar green, and a very familiar face etched into the side of it. 

This was a mug from Sakaar, commemorating the famed battle between the grand champion and a much smaller figure who was crudely labelled as 'Thunder Lord'. 

"Y'know, when you said you'd been around, I figured that was just the nine realms bullshit you keep harpin' on about."

Rocket hopped up onto the table, snatching the mug from his grasp with a barely choked off laugh. 

"But here I was, wanderin' through a marketplace, and who's mug do I see on this mug? None but the Lord of Thunder himself!" 

"God. It's the God of Thunder."

Thor shook his head, rolling his eyes as Rocket's laughter increased. 

"That's not what it says on the mug."

"That's because the mug is wrong, Rabbit. And I will not be insulted by this… this fallacy!"

Thor lifted the mug closer to his face, trying to ignore the flashing signals and prices his eye was currently trying to show him. 

"Doesn't even look like me." 

"But it is you." 

Rocket was quick to pass over the units required once the stall owner glanced in their direction, reaching up to tap one claw against the alternate side of the ceramic. 

"And that's your boyfriend." 

"He's not-" Thor turned sharply, yanking the cup further towards his chest as his face dropped to an embarrassed scowl. 

"He's not my boyfriend." 

"Oh, course not. You just mention him every other sentence, and you're currently staring at the picture in a way that's making me uncomfortable. But sure." 

Rocket jumped off the table, hoisting his gun further across his back before starting to walk again. 

"Just friends." 

"The times I have mentioned Bruce have been entirely relevant, actually."

"That's a heaping crock of shit, Sparky, but whatever." A small huff escaped from Rocket’s mouth before he could stop it, and the dark eyes turned up to Thor in a manner that was almost reproachful. 

"I don't even get why you're trying to deny it with me. Quill, and the others, I'd get - you don't even know those guys. But I've known you for 5 friggin' years. You can't fool me." 

Thor swallowed, fingers tracing cautiously around the ceramic as he lowered it into his bag. Rocket was right, as always, and it was uncomfortable.

Because Thor had been sure he was being subtle about this. It was hardly his fault that he kept bringing the scientist up, was it? Things, especially space things, applied to Bruce. Anyone with any sense in their brain would've made the connection to the large green scientist and the large green forests of the Outer Planets, or the burning stars of the Orion system and the way Bruce liked his coffee slightly burnt, or the way the dazzling lights of the spacecraft were so similar to his eyes and - oh no. 

Rocket was right. This was getting out of hand. 

Thor sighed, letting one hand lower to clasp Rocket by the shoulder. 

"I apologise, my friend. It's not that I don't trust you with this, it's…" Thor shrugged, turning his gaze to streets as if he could find answers in the drunk Knowhere dwellers loitering in the streets. 

"It's me I don't trust. I haven't said anything of the sort to Bruce yet, and I just-"

"Ok, ok, you don't need to get soft with me. I get it." Rockets fingers carefully plucked Thor's hand from his shoulder, but didn't break away from him entirely. 

Instead, he turned slightly, pausing before his next few words as if he wasn't entirely sure he should say them (which certainly put Thor on edge - Rocket was an absolute master of saying things he shouldn't). 

"You don't gotta say anything to me. Just… say it to him. Don't mean to sound all doom and gloom but you never know what's gonna happen." 

Rocket glanced downwards, letting out a soft sigh, fixing his gaze firmly on a puddle of rainwater in front of him. 

"You don't wanna regret it later." 

Thor had tried to say something else, then. And despite having received numerous scratches and bite marks telling him that hugs were not Rocket's deal, he did try and coax the small Rabbit into one. Which he was rewarded for by a small snarl, and the point of a gun pressing into his leg. 

But he did think on it, when he laid awake in his bunk that night. 

Life was short. Even for him. 

He'd thought his thousands of years of living were over, back on the ruins of Asgard. He'd thought so again on the Statesman, with the flashing pain of the power stone etching into his skull. 

Again, and again, Thor had faced death and every single unspoken word had been forced to the forefront of his mind.

And again and again he forgot about it. Buried it down deep, resolved to tell Bruce the next time. Or the next, or the next. 

If he didn't do something about this now…

Maybe that's why he was nervous. Because outside of those spaceship doors, waiting in the grass and dirt of the small blue planet he'd learnt to love, was his confession. Was his unspoken words, his regrets for things he'd never said. Was the prospect of acceptance - or the fear of rejection. 

Like it or not, out there was his life. Fragile as ceramic, cradled in hands of emerald. 

He let out a careful breath, tapping a few codes into the door, feeling the cool air on his face. 

It was time to face the music. 

It was time to go home. 

[beccarooni]

Coffee

(A.N: Day 5 thorbruce week! Prompt - Coffee) 

Bruce’s coffee tasted burnt. It always did, when it came from the little machine, tucked away in the corner of his apartment. Well, little as an operative term. It was firmly hulk-sized to accomodate for the green, buttons large and easy to operate. But the coffee was objectively terrible, from any standard. 

He would use the fancy coffee that lay at the back of his cupboards, but it didn’t seem right. That coffee was for him and Thor, when they settled down for an afternoon tea and cake, the light turning to an amber tinge and the warm wool of Thor’s cardigan tickling his skin. It didn’t seem right to drink it now, not when Thor had left precisely 15 minutes ago, according to his watch that he hadn’t managed to stop checking. 

15 minutes since the rain had stopped. 15 minutes since Thor had clambered onto a spaceship, a duffel bag slung over his back, and left without a word. 15 minutes since that final backward glance, awkward and fumbled, mouth opening with words that the God didn’t know how to say, how to express. Not when there was 2 minutes till lift off, and Rocket was yelling at him to shut the door already, blondie. We gotta go. 

Thor had to go. And the words were left unspoken

Bruce took another drink from his mug, cradling the oversized ceramic in his hands, trying to warm his palms. Not from the cold icelandic air (although it was cold, cold and biting, enough to send shivers through Thor’s body that just made Bruce that more inclined to wrap him in his arms, to keep him safe, to keep him warm), but just to feel something. Anything. Anything except from the faint bitterness from the back of his throat, settling in an uncomfortable lump in his chest.

Thor had just left. After everything, after Tony, he’d just left. 

Bruce should’ve stopped him. Should’ve said something, an invitation to stay, maybe. Or a plea to go with him. Or just a request for 5 more minutes. That was all he needed. 5 minutes to croak out those 3 words to Thor before he left… well, it wasn’t forever, was it?

No, it couldn’t be forever. Thor might be gone for a few months, maybe a year or two, but it wouldn’t be forever. He just needed time, right? That was all. Just some time to clear his head in the emptiness of space. 

It wasn’t forever. Bruce couldn’t accept forever. 

A sudden crack of thunder jarred him out of his thoughts, sending the cup crashing to the floor and a yelp from Bruce as he jumped back. The hot coffee wasn’t quite as scalding as it would be if he was Bruce Bruce, Hulk’s thick skin provided him that protection. But instinct was hard to shake. 

That crack of thunder had been loud - too loud. Counting Mississippi's wasn’t really going to help when the storm seemed to be churning right above his head, rain pounding against his windows that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. He turned to the window, staring at the black clouds, alight with blue lightning. That confirmed his suspicions - this was a Thor storm.

A knocking at the door followed, loud and urgent, and Bruce was on his feet before his mind even caught up with him. His feet were moving across creaking floorboards, but his mind was stuck on Thor, Thor’s here, he came back. He didn’t abandon you, he’s there. On the other side of the door, a thin panel of wood and metal, that was all that was separating them. Not the void of space. Not the emptiness of the gaps between stars. 

He opened the door with perhaps a little too much force, given the loud protest of the hinges above him, and Thor’s face was staring back at him. Wild beard, wilder eyes, face slightly tinged red and chest rising and falling with quick breaths. 

“Sorry. I couldn’t…” Thor blinked up at him, narrowing his eyes as if he was staring at the sun. 

“I couldn’t leave. Not without talking to you. I’m sorry, I just… Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” 

Bruce’s hands were moving of their own accord, fingers gently brushing against Thor’s shoulder, gently, as if he was reaching out to a mirage. Unsure if he was even real. 

“It’s ok. I’m glad you came back. I...I missed you.”

“Missed me?” A nervous laugh came then, Thor’s fingers nervously digging into the fabric of his sleeves, working threads loose. 

“It’s been 15 minutes. You can’t have missed me.”

“I did.” 

Bruce felt that familiar feeling begin to claw up his throat, strangling him, the beginnings of tears beginning to prick the sides of his eyes and fuck, he felt pathetic. 

Thor was here, in front of him, in the here and now. He had his 5 minutes, he had them, here in his hands. And here he was, wasting them on tears. 

It really was awfully inconsiderate of Thor, and the rest of the world, to go blurry. He knew Thor knew better than to be blurry in front of him, it was rude.

Even ruder for him to gently shush Bruce, stepping inside the apartment and taking the larger man in his arms, gently directing his face down into the crook of his shoulder. Ruder still to lower him to the floor when his legs couldn’t support him, when the weight of all the loss suddenly got just that little bit too much to bare, to lean over him so blonde hair was tickling his cheek, the gentle rumble of thunder tethering him to reality.

“Bruce, Bruce.” Thor’s voice was close to his ear, but hushed to a quiet whisper, nose pressed into thick curls of black hair. 

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I knew if I said goodbye to you I’d just...I don’t know, I’d do something stupid and mess things up. And I can’t mess up things with you, I can’t.”

It took a while for Bruce to collect himself enough to choke out a few more words, taking a slow and stabilising breath to banish the waver from his voice, and wipe away the dampness of his eyes with his sleeve. 

“Thor, stop apologising. You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

Bruce sat back, one hand wrapping firmly around Thor’s wrist to pull him closer, closer, to rest his head against the cushion of Bruce’s chest. Because Bruce was damned if he was letting go of Thor now. 

“You need some space, I get it.”

“No, no. I shouldn’t have left without saying anything to you. That’s…it’d be awful of me, Bruce. There’s things I need you to know and I didn’t say them because, I don’t know. I guess I’m a coward.”

“Thor, stop.”

Bruce placed his hand gently over Thor’s mouth, shaking his head with a watery smile.

“You’re not a coward. But...I would like to talk. If you want to.”

Thor nodded enthusiastically under his hand. 

“Great. Then...let’s talk. But, maybe we can do it on the sofa. Instead of on the floor.”

***

Afternoon turned to evening, and the 5 minutes turned into a final night together. Thor would leave in the morning, that was something he’d made clear. Earth held bad memories for him, there were still gaps in his soul that had been carved out by golden gauntlets and glowing stones, and he needed time to figure those things out. He’d said as much to Bruce, barely meeting his eyes over the steam from his cup of coffee, cradled in mitten-wrapped hands. 

He’d told him a few other things, as they’d lain in bed that night. Words spoken into the comforting warmth of Bruce’s chest, legs intertwined, green fingers tangled in blonde hair. 

He’d told him that he loved him. Always had, apparently. Starting from when he couldn’t really place a particular point, but Sakaar, it seemed, had opened up more doorways than interdimensional wormholes. 

And Bruce had bared his soul before the light of the dying star. Told him his own whispered worries, deep into the night.

“I don’t wanna lose you.” He’d murmured into Thor’s hair, pressing as close as he could, as humanly possible, curled around him tightly. 

“Not when I feel like I’ve only just found you, after all these years.”

“You won’t.”

Thor had stretched, pressing a careful kiss onto the bottom of Bruce’s jaw. 

“I’ll come back for you, Bruce. I always will.”

And the next morning, he was gone. Left after a clinging hug, and then a kiss, and ok, maybe a few more kisses on top of that, but eventually they had broken apart. Thor’s hand wrapped around Stormbreaker’s handle, and he’d turned back to Bruce, leaning into the soft touch of an emerald hand. 

“I’ll call you often. Any chance I get, I’ll call.”

“I know.”

“And I’ll visit, too. Whenever we’re close enough in the ship.”

“I know, Thor.”

“And If I see anything that reminds me of you, I’ll get it, and I can bring it ba-”

Bruce bent downward, cutting off his next few words with another painfully gentle kiss. 

“Thor, I know. I’ll be okay.” He leant forward, pressing his forehead against the demi-gods, a shaky sigh escaping his lips. 

“Go on. Get outta here. You stay away too long and Quill’s gonna regain control of the ship.”

“Unlikely. I’m very charismatic. Those guys love me too much.” 

Thor grinned, a little tear-stained maybe, but a grin. A spark was back into his eye, the blue once again lit up like the lightning that crackled around Stormbreaker’s handle. 

“I’ll see you soon, beloved.”

Bruce raised his hand in a wave, a small smile pricking the corners of his mouth as the wind swirled, and the storm began to rage. 

“I’ll see you soon.”

[beccarooni]

Glow

(Thorbruce week day 6! Prompt is glow. Inspired by @cozyastronaut‘s space au)

Thor had seen a lot, in all his years of living. Countless landscapes in countless colours had etched themselves into his memory, sights that many saw once in a lifetime were...well, not commonplace. Not quite. They were still special, still held a place in his heart, no matter if he could reach them with a flick of a wrist. He’d seen stars and moons, curling nebulas, explosions of colour stretching out across the vast plains of the universe. 

Maybe all of this seeing ought to have made him wiser, as so many liked to point out. 

But, it was in his own humble opinion that seeing things just made the universe more fun. More good memories to balance the bad, because what was the point of living so long if you didn’t get to see good things once in a while? If you didn’t get to experience enough wonder to fill several lifetimes? 

He usually had a pretty good intuition for this kind of thing. For when something was placed in front of him, it only took a few moments for it to be confirmed as one of those special moments. There were a few criteria that it had to meet, however. Thor wasn’t going to give out a lifelong memory for just about anything - he wasn’t that frivolous.

The thing had to be grand, first of all. Splendorous, a sight that was truly a privilege to behold. Something special, sacred, even. 

It had to be unique - one of a kind, something he couldn’t see anywhere else in all of the Nine Realms. 

It had to steal his very breath from his body. To make his heart ache and his eyes burn from the wonder of it all. 

It had to be good. It had to be.

Sometimes these criteria manifested themselves in burning supernovas, in palaces of materials from the far-flung corners of the galaxy, in parades and spectacles and sometimes even just the empty quiet between stars.

Right now, however, it was something else. 

Thor lingered at the doorway to the control room, and surely someone had shut off the gravity, because he had never felt as light as this, even in the outreaches of space, tethered only by a cord and the faint crackling of an intercom. Light, as though he could float away at the meerest of touches. 

Bruce was working, and it was beautiful.

Dark curls falling just above his eyes - those damned eyes, a firey focus, framed by glass as though it was a painting in need of displaying. 

Blinking lights of green and red cast a soft glow off of his skin, patterns and shadows chasing a slow and careful dance across the scientists forehead, his cheeks, his nose. 

Silhouetted by the light of the stars, Bruce Banner shone as bright as any nebula he had seen. 

Thor’s chest still rose and fell, but the breath within it wasn’t worth noticing. His heart ached, and his eyes burned, and he smiled. 

And then the star was speaking, the image followed by tones, as soft and gentle as fine fabric, the words cast over a turned shoulder and a bemused grin. 

“What are you doing all the way over there?” 

Bruce turned fully as he spoke, shifting his arms that much wider in a silent invitation to come here, come to me, stay by my side and never let go. 

“Just…” Thor cleared his throat, smiling behind his hand, feeling the edges of his ears burn with the love of it all. 

“Just watching you work, is all.”

“You can come closer than that. I don’t bite.” Bruce grinned, patting a space just to the left of him. 

Thor found himself moving, even as his mind was telling him no. Because sights like this, you didn’t touch. You didn’t touch the temples of gold, the nebulas of space, the tapestries and the sculptures. You observed, and held your hands back. 

Maybe that’s what made Bruce better than all of that, though. His arms closed around Thor’s shoulder the second he was able to reach, and he was being pulled into an embrace that was as warm as any solar flare he’d born witness to. 

Thor’s hands cradled the face below him, thumb moving in gentle circles above the cheekbone, touching, remembering.

This wasn’t a sight he’d forget soon. He couldn’t, he saw Bruce every day after all. 

But it was a sight worth savouring. It always was. 

Chances are it always would be.

[beccarooni]

Fall

(A.N: Day 7 of thorbruce week! Prompt is Fall. This is my fic where I completely ignore Endgame oops) 

Autumn (or Fall, as Bruce so liked to correct him) was generally not a time for relaxation - especially when you’re part of a fledgling nation still recovering from a brush with Death herself. Harvests had to be collected, shelters constructed, and the threat of winter that hadn’t seemed all that real before now loomed over their heads. And as such, times for sitting down were rather limited. 

It seemed every 5 minutes was an opportunity for a new problem to rear its head, and every 5 minutes Thor had to bat it back down under the ground with a shovel. 

He tried very hard not to dwell on what it would’ve been like had Bruce not fixed...everything. Had that snap of the glove brought some back, but kept others at death’s door. The images of Heimdall and Loki were still burned into his brain, still dwelled just below the surface of his mind, ready to strike any moment he felt remotely at ease. But it was easier combatting them, now that they were back. Now that all he had to do to see Loki was knock on his door, now that the comforting presence of Heimdall’s watchful gaze would flit over him occasionally when things started to get tough again. 

They were all here. He didn’t see as much of everyone as he’d like - what with Bruce’s status as somewhat of a local celebrity, Loki’s naturally reclusive nature, and the general weight of responsibility that loomed over them all. He worked, they worked, and very very occasionally they’d all find themselves without something to do. Asgardians were a hard working people - there were some jobs that the public insisted on taking.

And that left Thor at a loss, somewhat. He liked the work. After 5 years of near isolation, being with his people and being actually able to do something was a feeling that was still too rare. When he was alone, his skin itched, the lightning underneath it shifting and crawling with his unease. His throat felt dry, and some days his eyes would linger on a bottle for a few more seconds than was necessary. 

So, when Bruce had said something about visiting ‘hot springs’, he’d practically flung himself at it. Of course he had no idea what these were, what they were going to do with them, or even how to get there but Bruce seemed pretty sure that it was something everyone would enjoy. Bruce seemed sure of a lot, these days. He smiled more, stood up straighter, instigated hugs and handshakes and autographs without a second thought. 

***

“It suits you.” 

Thor had said, one night as they were curled up in Bruce’s apartment. The bed was too small for the both of them, but Thor had never been comfier. Not with Bruce below him, with the scientists large hand resting on the flat of his back. 

“What? The green?” 

Bruce chuckled, the vibrations of his chest sending a comforting feeling fluttering through Thor’s lungs, and yet again he found himself staring. The crinkling of the eyes, the corners of the mouth turned up in a smile that was so casual - and yet, so daunting. So beautiful. 

“Happiness.” 

Thor leant forward, nudging his forehead against Bruce’s chin in a manner that he hoped would display his affection properly, because sometimes it was hard to look. 

He could stare for hours at that smile, but it was like staring into the sun. It got blinding, the feeling in his chest got too good, too good to be true - it felt like a dream. Like if he looked away, things would twist themselves back into a narrative of pain and dispair.

But they didn’t. 

Bruce was here, he was solid under Thor’s hands, and he was happy. 

***

It was a welcome improvement. Bruce would bring Thor out of the shell he’d been constructing, and so it was no wonder that Bruce was the one to bring them all together. All with a simple electronic letter, on the tablet he’d reluctantly bought at the scientists request. 

And somehow, it had devolved from there. They’d arrived to the spring without a problem - well, no problems outside of Loki protesting vehemently to the nickname ‘The Revengers’ being continued - and quickly settled in. 

It was an odd experience, the Revengers, the champions of the universe, all settling into a hot spring together. And it got even odder when someone suggested face masks as a joke, and they’d all laughed about it, but somehow it had ended up happening anyways. 

And then a glass of mulled wine had found its way into each of their hands (non alcoholic for Thor - which was surprisingly palatable all things considered) , and through it all Thor found himself unwinding. 

Feeling the tension seep out of his shoulders, as his friends laughed over jokes and memories, the warmth of the water sapping the strength from his bones and allowing him to finally, finally get some semblance of rest. True rest, a healing of the heart, and not the days he’d spent in bed 5 years prior. 

“Hey, earth to Thor.” 

Bruce’s shoulder brushed against his, a small smile lingering on the scientists face but not without an undertone of worry. 

“You feeling alright?”

“More than alright.”

Thor sidled up to Bruce’s side, bringing his arms out of the warmth of the water if only for a moment, just so he could wrap them around Bruce’s arm and pull himself closer into the comforting hold that had been waiting for him since they’d arrived. 

“Just thinking, is all.”

“Oh.” Bruce nodded, leaning down somewhat to try and grant their conversation at least a little privacy. 

Which was a tad redundant when you had the All-Seer sitting opposite you, knowing that the cucumbers placed over his golden eyes weren’t going to do anything from stopping him from seeing you.

But it was a kind gesture. Everything Bruce did was kind, a fact which never failed to drive Thor crazy in the best kind of way. Somehow, even with all of his strength, all of his experience, it hadn’t been enough to turn him cynical and cold. He still looked at every new scientific wonder with the same small smile and wide-eyed expression, still hummed songs as he moved around the labs, large fingers poking at oversized buttons. 

Still loved Thor, unfailingly and unflinchingly. Somehow, through all of this, that had remained a constant. 

“I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you. Without you, all of this…” He gestured outward, across the spring, across the world. 

“None of this would be here if you hadn’t done what you did. I am forever indebted to you.”

“No.”

Thor’s brow furrowed, the water churning slightly as he moved himself a little further upright. 

“No?”

“Thor, you don’t owe me anything. Not for this.” 

Bruce turned in the water, moving his good arm out of Thor’s hold - for a moment, only. 

It soon returned, winding around Thor’s shoulders, bringing the Demigod somehow infinitely closer, until he could see the faint glow of green that was speckled through Bruce’s eyes. 

“This is just what heroes do, right? That’s what we both do. We help people, whenever we can. No matter the cost.” 

He shook his head slightly, scattering droplets of water about him. 

“Don’t thank me for something I know you would’ve done for me. For anyone.”

Thor hummed softly, resting his head against Bruce’s shoulder, allowing his eyes to shut - the gentle and steady heartbeat under his hand becoming that much more firmer. 

“Just take the compliment, Banner. You did something amazing.” 

Bruce ducked his head, pressing his nose into the smooth gold of Thor’s hair, trying to hide the dark green blush that was creeping its way up his neck.

“Stop it.”

“No. You deserve to be told how extraordinary you are every hour of every day. Even if I have to bifrost into the lab to do it myself.”

“You’re the worst.” Bruce chuckled, but clutched at Thor that little bit tighter. 

“I love you.”

Thor grinned, resettling himself into Bruce’s lap, and firmly ignoring Brunhilde’s groans of protest as he leant in to place a gentle kiss onto the scientists face. 

“I love you too.”