Archive of Our Own

Work Text

Loki pinched his nose and sighed, looking at Banner with a light level of disdain and exhaustion.  “Banner, for the love of all, just leave. The experiment will still be here in the morning. My brother will be... upset (to say the least) to find that you slept here, you know how he goes on about your back. It’s insufferable and I don’t want to have to endure it again.”   “Yes, yes. Keep yelling at the man who can turn into a big green rage monster at will. That sounds like another one of your Brillant ideas, Loki. Keep doing that.” Bruce snarked before Loki leveled a glare his way. Bruce held up his hands in defeat. Loki wasn't going to stop there if Bruce stayed, he would probably hex him for his troubles. “Fine! I’m heading out.”   He tucked his notebook under his arm and left the lab, feeling Loki glaring at him. He sighed and started heading to the captain’s quarters. He nodded at the guards as he passed them on the trek back to bed.   Bruce yawned as he opened the door and saw Thor on the bed. He was shirtless with the pants and the necklace that Bruce made for him. He struck a regal form, even when he was rubbing his head and looking through some papers with intense concentration that told Bruce that Thor had been reading over them for a few hours.  He looked up from the documents and smiled tiredly at Bruce. “Ah, Bruce. Come sit with me.”  Bruce smiled and walked to the bed.  It wasn't unusual to find Thor there. The night after Ragnarok, Thor realized that he couldn't sleep without someone in the room. So, he limped over to Bruce’s bed in the middle of the night and slept on the floor. After a couple of days, Bruce just moved to Thor’s bed. Thor stopping sleeping fitfully, he dragged Bruce to bed, and Bruce realized how touch starved he was.  He sat down and was surrounded by Thor’s warm arms.  His starvation was one that Thor was more than willing to sate, constantly on Bruce’s shoulders and holding his hands. Thor seemed to crave it but in a search of attention and care that he had been deprived of. Not like how Bruce had kept others away due to memories and instability. But it didn’t matter with Thor, who had decided that one of his titles would be Friend-of-Hulk. That that accompaniment was in the same vein as Ally-of-Midgard or Avenger.   Thor nuzzled his neck. “Good evening, Elskede. How was Loki?”  Bruce rolled his eyes at the nickname that he knew not to ask about, Thor wouldn’t answer. He sighed and said, “He was as competent and clever as ever, though he seemed to be antagonizing Höðr more than usual.”   Thor turned his head to chuckle into Bruce’s hair, “He had a meeting with Baldur. That usually makes him remember a nasty plan that failed because mother saw it before it was coming.”   Bruce tilted his head back, careful not to bonk Thor’s head. “Did Loki try to kill Baldur using mistletoe and Höðr as an unknowing accomplice?”  “If you replace Mistletoe with sword made of an undiscovered metal from Vanir, then yes.” Thor smiled again before pulling away from Bruce’s neck and asking, “Your hair is loose, would it be alright if I redid the braid?”  Bruce closed his eyes and hummed, voice thick with sleep. “I would hate for it to get messed up in sleep, can you undo it and do the thing.”  “Of course, kjære. Just let me grab the oil.” Thor moved away from Bruce to grab the oil. “Anything else interesting happen, besides Loki being a little shit?” “Well Delling and Nott... I don’t really know what’s up to be honest.” Bruce said, putting his notebook aside for now. Thor started unweaving the braid that he had made that morning and Bruce hummed his thanks before continuing. “They’ve acted kind of weirdly in the past two months.”  “How so?” Thor asked.  Bruce thought about the actions of Nott, the tall dark-skinned half-Jotun who was the goddess of night, and Delling, the glowing and shining god of sunshine.  “Well, first there was the new jewelry that Delling talked about for ages when I complimented it. Then Nott came to me and asked if I thought that she and Delling were a good match. When I said that they were, she told me to tell Delling. And when I told him, he just grinned like Christmas came early. Then Nott came and helped with our experiment for a week, which was a great help. But then Delling went and was a cook in the next.”  Thor paused unbraiding and nodded absent mindedly. “Ah, it seems that Nott and Delling have finally stopped orbiting each other and are planning to tie the braid.”  Bruce’s brow furrowed. Even with all their conversation that bridged many topics, this had never come up. “Tie the braid?”  Thor hummed and restarted unbraiding Bruce’s hair, “It means that their doing the courting ritual and will get to the marriage part soon enough.”  “Wouldn’t Delling be her 3rd husband?” Bruce asked, slightly concerned.  Thor laughed lightly, “Her other two husbands were part of the consulting rite, they know and support Nott and Delling’s union.”  Bruce blinked. “I think you might have to explain the entire thing first.”  Thor seemed to start before he made an unusually joyless noise, as if he was made aware of something that he should have known about but was both surprise and let down anyway. “Very well, Bruce. I’ll start with the first gift.”  “No, don’t. I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Bruce tried to comfort but felt Thor shake his head behind him.  “No, I think this would be something you would enjoy hearing,” Thor started unbraiding the on braid next to Bruce’s and started talking softly, like he was trying to slip the information directly into Bruce’s mind as gently as possible. “The first gift is a symbolic handmade gift. It is supposed to directly relate to your intended and be symbolic to your intended. Like if your beloved was a warrior, you would make them the best blade you could with your own hands. If your beloved was a scholar, you would make a book to write in.”  Bruce nodded absent mindedly as he felt more and more content before his brain flashed to a memory of one of his last all nighters in the lab. Then his brain froze as he remeber the events of that night but with a new lense.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce had been in the lab for a while. Frey, Delling, Loki, and the one’s that still haven't introduced themselves to Bruce had all left. He rubbed his eyes, getting a sense of Deja vu of his college days and all the all nighters he pulled then. Staying up past 3 am to get a project done. Those were the days, but that part of his life never changed. But back then it was some essay with little collateral damage. Now he had to find a cost-efficient way to feed more than 300 people with varying diets on the scrap that the Asgardians had brought with and some of the produce on the ship before the escape off Sakaar. And they had stopped by some planets but the amount that they had got wasn't nearly enough for the coming months.  His head was pounding, and his stomach was churning. He felt like he was going to be taken out back and shot if he didn't finish this, though he knew that no one would do that to him here.  He heard a knock at the door. “Knock knock.” A familiar deep and charming voice called out to Bruce.  Bruce turned and saw Thor duck in the doorway. His face was lit up in a smile, though it was clear that he hadn't been sleeping. Bruce felt guilty, he had forgotten about being needed by the King. And now Thor was here.   “Hi, your highness, what do you need me for?” Bruce asked.  Thor rolled his eye at Bruce and walked in the door. “Banner, you’ve known me since my prince hood and my addiction of Pop tarts. You don’t need to use ‘your highnesses' at all. Not even most of my subjects say it.”  “And you’ve seen me at my worst and still call me Banner. I’ll strike a deal, you call me Bruce and I’ll drop the royalty thing.” Bruce smiled, knowing he was off scot free.  “Alright Bruce,” Thor smirked at Bruce’s dropped jaw. “I’ll keep that in mind. But I was actually here for something”  “Besides me?” Bruce quirked his eye brows, too tired to realize how that sounded. His anxiety would later come back and kick him in the ass, but that was neither here nor there.  Thor chuckled and shook his head. “I come bearing gifts. Well one book, but you get what I mean.”  And Thor presented a thick brown leather book that looked to be bound by hand.  Bruce silently took the book and examined it. The leather felt warm under his hands like it had been on top of a hot pad which was weird. It was smooth for the most part except for the holes where the binding was. He flipped through the book and took in the smell. It was a cross between that old book smell (chemical decay, acid hydrolysis, vanillin, ethyl benzene, toluene, and 2-ethyl hexanol) and that new book smell (manufactured wood pulp and sodium hydroxide). He closed it, joy brewing and overwhelming the exhaustion.  He looked at Thor and beamed. “This is great! I needed a new notebook!”  “I’m glad you like it.” Thor rubbed his hand behind his head, his face twitching for a second, he touched his neck, and smiled. Then his face lit up, “I also added some features, but it will be easier to show you rather than explain.”  Thor motioned for Bruce to open the book back up and Bruce followed the instructions, to find the on the inside cover there was a line that said, “This journal belongs to ________.”  “Sign along the line.” Thor leaning over to whisper in his ear. Bruce felt his face flush. Ah. Apparently, he wasn't too tired. Oh, whatever is out there, please don’t let Thor notice Bruce’s reaction to his deep voice that close to his ears.  Bruce wrote his name into the journal with the writing utensil. The binding cords lit up with a green light like a computer booting up and a voice that sounded like a bored Baldur’s voice said “Welcome Bruce banner. This Journal will respond to you and you alone.”  Bruce turned to Thor and quirked his eyebrow. “Okay that’s some magic, I know that much but 1, I thought you couldn't do much magic. 2, what was that? And 3, Can you teach me?”   Thor chuckled in a way that sounded weirdly nervous and embarrassed. “Well, your right on your first statement. I can’t use magic, I wasn't ever taught anything besides basic healing spells and some potions. Father said it was improper for a man to learn.” Thor winced at that.  Bruce blinked. “Well if that’s the case, why does Loki know magic so well?”  Thor looked at Bruce with a confused glance but then seemed to realize something. “Ah, you’ve never seen Loki when he uses pronouns outside of he/him. Loki isn’t always a man in the Midgardian sense of gender, for the beginning of Loki’s childhood I used mostly she/her pronouns for Loki. But Loki’s gender changes frequently, especially since neither Jotuns or Asgardians have as strict gender roles or identifiers besides pronouns. My father never cared especially either way since it wasn’t important.”  Bruce nodded, keeping that in mind for future reference. “That’s interesting, thanks for telling me. Now back to the other subject: what was all that? And why does it do that?”  Thor’s face flipped back to a smile and grabbed a writing utensil. Bruce raised an eyebrow.  “I admit that I needed help with this to make it perfect. I asked a capable magic user who wasn't Loki to do several enchantments. The first was to truly make it yours and let you keep your secrets safe. Only those who are given explicit permission and were not forcing you to give said permission look at your notes. And when you are done with a project you say ‘skatten min’ and will file it away for you to use later and cleans the rest of the book, let me show you.” Thor opened his hand and Bruce gave it to him.  Bruce watched as Thor scribbled some runes on the book. When Thor was done, he nodded at his work, and then tilted back Bruce. “Now say what I told you.”  Bruce smiled and tried to say what Thor had given him. “Skatten min?”  The book made a noise that implied error. Bruce looked up at Thor and gave him a disbelieving look. Thor chuckled, “Skatten min.”  Bruce tried again and found the writing glow green before fading the book’s spine. He looked back to Thor. “What do I do now?”  Thor blinked. “Oh yes, forgot about that for a second. To retrieve the work, you have to tap the spine 3 time and pick which project it is. I found that the spell ends up looking like an app section of a smartphone. Oh! And to project it into the air, you then tap the spine 9 times. And if you want to put it back, just tap it 3 times again.”  Thor demonstrated by doing just that and low and behold, the runes the had disappeared from the book were now floating a foot above said book.  Bruce laughed in amazement and then tapped the book like Thor had instructed. He closed it and looked back up at Thor, “Thor, this is incredible. Thank you so much.”  “Do you accept it?” Thor asked cautiously.  “Of course I do!” Bruce beamed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce broke from the memory and came back to the present where Thor was unraveling the braid as he spoke in a warm voice. “Once each has given the other a gift to signal the courtship has begun, the couple shares a meal together to show that they will bring food to the table and provide not only food but care and ample conversation.”  Bruce was then reminded of another night that he had spent with Thor.

Bruce was lying in bed and working, because his roommate’s sibling (is Thor his roommate at this point or his bedmate... Bruce was going to go with roommate because bedmate implies something that was not happening in the slightest, something that would never happen) had put a renewing spell on the lab that would kick him out at what Bruce would assume was 10:30 back in New York. And it would let him back in about 9 hours, but not if Bruce had never gone to sleep prior and had gotten at least 5 hours of sleep (that extra step was because once Bruce stayed in his room until Thor had reached Asgardian REM sleep and then had waited until the next morning to work).  Bruce also knew he couldn't really do anything to Loki regarding this rule, Loki would just go to Thor and that would go nowhere. However, Bruce could use the book to insult Loki behind their back.  
 
The book made a sentence beep (or as normal people called it, Morse code) whenever he had a strong word he wanted to say but wouldn’t or couldn't. It was petty, Bruce was well aware of that fact. He knew that because Bruce was petty by nature.  Well, not brilliant enough. 
 
Bruce growled as he was stuck on a way to cheat the energy transferring process. He paused to think about how ridiculous that sounded. Then he remembered that he sleeps next to a clingy god of thunder with an eyepatch and a habit of causing power outages in his sleep, which made him realize that he should just accept that he was trying to break the laws of physics.  
 
He paused yet again at another thought. Does the Hulk break the conservation of matter law?  But before Bruce could really go down that spiral, Thor came in with a plate of food.  
 
“Nat told me she didn’t see you get anything at dinner roll.” Thor said, sitting on the bed and put the plate and cup by the bedside table. 
 
Bruce blinked. He was kind of surprised that the Jotun would have mentioned that to Thor. He’ll have to ask her about what that was about. Before he could voice the thought, his stomach started to claw at his insides and growl like the Hulk. He laughed sheepishly. “Oh, the stomach pain makes a bit more sense now.” 
 
Thor looked at him with concern, “Banner, this isn't the first time that you’ve missed meals. Can you please tell me? ” 
 
Both the formal address (Thor never used it anymore, unless he needs to be serious about something and didn’t think that Bruce would listen) and the begging from Thor’s lone eye made Bruce’s heart flutter and had him fold like a tower of cards. 
 
Bruce looked to the side, one part out of embarrassment and the other a vain attempt to hide his blush. “I have a habit of.... intensely focusing all my energy on one mental task and over prioritize it. So, actual needs become secondary on accident.” 
 
Thor looked put out by this and grabbed the cup that most likely full of mead. He leveled Bruce with an intense stare and held the goblet to Bruce’s lips. “Then I will make sure that you are well.”  
 
Bruce’s throat tightened at the sight and feel of the goblet pressed against his lips, the promise that Thor had made, and how serious Thor looked in that instance. Like he would walk anywhere next to Bruce to make sure that he had eaten. 
 
Bruce pushed those thought and the goblet away from his lips. “I know- I know th-that it’s worrying but you are already so busy, I don’t want to crowd your schedule even more.” Bruce stammered out.  
 
Thor looked at him with a combination of mild fondness and being completely unimpressed and brought the goblet to Bruce’s lips once again.  “Banner. Drink.” Thor pushed the goblet closer to Bruce’s lips.  With no other option in sight, Bruce had a sip. 
 
Which was apparently not enough for Thor because he huffed before looking a Bruce with exasperation. “Banner.”  
 
He took a longer sip. 
 
Thor sighed and took a drink from the goblet. “The transformations and the long hours drain you, I know this better than anyone else. You just keep damaging yourself when you don’t eat normally.” He grabbed what looked like meat wrapped in a thin grain wrap.  
 
He brought it up to Bruce’s mouth again. “Eat.” 
 
Bruce rolled his eyes and took a large mouthful before Thor took a bite as well and put it back on the plate. It tasted like smoked salmon and pita bread. “It tastes nice.”  
 
Was what Bruce meant to say. What actually came out was, “Iitu tuasts niice.”  Thor chuckled and gently covered Bruce’s mouth with his palm. “Did no one tell you that you should eat your food before talking?”  Bruce laughed so abruptly that he started to choke, and his eyes started to water. Thor looked panicked and hit Bruce on the back with tremendous force.  Eventually that stopped. 
 
Not his life, like his choking. 
 
Bruce smiled at Thor. He heard the book starting to tap out words (long, short, short, three long, pause, four short, two long, two short, one short, one long, two short, then Bruce started to tune it out) but ignored it in favor of gazing at his friend. “Are you always like this? I could have sworn you were a lot less Mother-heny at Shawarma.” 
 
Thor looked bemused, then amused, and finally guffawed, “Oh right, the restaurant!”  “Didn't you try to steal my gyro?” Bruce’s smirk grew, and Thor smiled at Bruce with such obvious happiness and fondness that it made Bruce blush. The book kept beeping (short, long, two short, long, four short, one long, two short, two long, two short, pause, four short, long, short, pause, three short, five long, two short, two long, pause, long, five short, and Bruce ignored it because Thor was replying to him). 
 
“I have no clue what you’re talking about, Elskede.” Thor said with a cheeky grin on his face. Oh, that little shit, he totally did!   
 
“What does Elskede mean?” Bruce asked. It was a word that he had never heard Thor speak anything that didn’t directly translate into English from All-speak. 
 
Thor’s eye widened but he seemed to relax quickly, “I’ll tell you if you help me finish this meal.” 
 
Bruce shook his head in amusement. “Fine.” 
 
The book kept beeping (long, short, two long, short, long, short, pause, long, short, five long, two short, one long but Bruce ignored it in favor of taking another bite and another sip). 
 
But after the meal was finished, they had talked about at least thirty different topics and Bruce had completely forgotten about the strange word that would soon to become a common nickname for him.  
 
Thor looked almost nervous again. He turned his gaze to the plate and the goblet in between them. 
 
“Was that good?” Thor asked, oddly quiet. Like a teenager on their first date. Bruce pushed the thought away and grabbed Thor’s hand from the god’s lap. 
 
Thor turned to Bruce, his face flushed. Probably because of the mead, it was pretty brown and gold. It was pretty strong. Bruce felt himself smiling lazily, he’ll blame his smile and his slightly forward actions on the mead. “Yeah it was pretty great.” 
 
Thor smiled, leaning forward and brushed a strand of hair out of Bruce’s face with his free hand. His voice was soft as his gaze when he said, “I’m glad.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce was brought back to the present when Thor accidently tugged a little too hard on the braid and Bruce sucked in a breath. 
 
“Shit, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” Thor’s hand left his hair and caressed in face in worry. 
 
Bruce felt his ears go pink and he smiled, even though Thor couldn’t see it. “I’m fine, go on with your explanation.” 
 
Thor hummed, and his hand was slow to making its way from his face to the braid. “If you are certain, I will continue. After the shared meal, there’s the consulting rite. You have to have 6 people you are close to tell you that they believe that the two of you make a good couple and that you have their approval. It’s mostly in place so bad matches don’t happen, and you don’t have to deal with insufferable in laws.” Thor chuckled.  
 
He stopped unbraiding Bruce’s hair and they sat in a silence that was occasionally broken by Thor giggling, probably of memories long ago. Given the frequency, he was assuming it was with Loki or one of the three warriors that Thor had told him about. 
 
While they found themselves in the silence, he found himself once again in a memory. There was only one thought before he let himself fall back into his own head: Is this going to be a new reoccurring thing or what?  
 
 
 
Bruce was in the meal hall for lunch in the first time in a while. Loki and Valkyrie had wrestled him out of the lab because they were ‘sick and tired of seeing Thor/brother silently worry over his eating habits’ or something like that. He rolled his eyes at that, Thor had more important things than when Bruce ate.  After being taunted by Loki and subsequently slung over Valkyrie’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, Bruce had been thrown into a seat at a makeshift table in the meal hall with Heimdall, Korg, Sif, and Freyja who looked as angry as Natasha when Clint had been captured back in 2012. But Freyja was often scowling, Thor had told him in secret that Óðr (her odd husband who most thought to be mad) had not survived Hela’s rein of Asgard. 
 
Bruce had decided to sip the soup that Sif had put in his hands instead of the goblet of honeyed mead that Valkyrie had shoved at him. He had woken up with a rare and strong hangover from the godly mead and didn’t want to welcome another so soon.  Korg was not eating at all because his species didn’t need food in the same way as most life forms, since they were probably woven together with an intense form of Golem spell which gave them sapience and sentience. Well that’s what Loki had hypothesized anyway.  
 
When asked about that, Korg had shrugged and said that it would make sense. Especially with the Falling Apart. Bruce had asked what that meant and Korg had told him that when as they age, they lose more and more of their ‘life stones’ and would eventually lose all of them and die in small rockslide.  Bruce might have been drunk at the time and had started yelling about ‘needing space superglue stat’ while gathering more pebbles and pebbles. It was embarrassing when Thor had told him what had happened in the morning after the Loki had brought a potion into their quaters. 
 
Speaking of Thor; apparently most Saakarians didn’t have a form of religion, so when Thor said ‘god’ in all-speak they had no mental equivalent and got confused.  
 
So, when Bruce has been hurled into the chair/pillow structure surrounding Korg, (because no one wants to walk/be thrown into an 8-foot-tall pile of rocks) Korg had taken the opportunity to ask about what the word god meant since Bruce was the only one who wasn’t a god/Asgardian/a ipi lady who wouldn't give Korg a straight answer. Korg had pointed at Loki and Idun when he had said the last bit.  
 
The mention of Idun in that light had surprised Bruce since she seemed to be a nice lady. He had met her after Hulk and Joe’s turns after Ragnarok and she had offered Bruce one of the last golden apples from Asgard. 
 
But Bruce had explained the concept, nonsense that was the Asgardian people, and the similarities between them and the old Norse gods of earth.  
 
Korg’s eyes widened at Freyja’s titles and looked interested in the same way that Bruce was whenever the aliens around him had divulged any part of their culture. “So youre the goddess of war, battle, sex, love, and fertility? How on Kornoa’s stone does that all that work itself out?” 
 
Freyja eyed up Korg and smiled in a loose way that was unusual. She smirked and shrigged, “It just does.”  Korg leaned in about to say something and then a pebble fell from his jaw. Korg looked down at it, sighed and handed it over to Loki. Loki grinned at the rock that would soon be a part of her rapidly growing Korg rock collection/lab-rocks.  Korg looked back at Freyja, “If Thor is the god-” Korg paused to look at Bruce for confirmation that he got that word right and Bruce nodded.  
 
After the confirmation, Korg turned back to Freyja. “If Thor is the god of thunder/lighting and can to the ~sparkly thing~, what can you do?” 
 
Bruce chuckled at the wavy movement that Korg did with his fingers and turned to Freyja to see her response. 
 
“I can see things. People’s weaknesses, their strengths, their preferences, their turn-ons and offs, and their personality. I get this all before they open their mouths. So, I use it to my advantage, in and out of battle.” She smiled before shifting into a strong man with blue eyes and a complexion that looked like tumbled sea rocks. “I have magic and I taught All-Father Odin in exchange for Runic magic.”  Korg seemed to get flustered but stopped when Freyja turned back. Bruce smiled as Korg spoke again, this was going to be a hilarious. Or so he thought. “You can see who likes who?”  Freyja nodded, “If you phrase it that way, sure I guess I do.” 
 
“Mind if I ask another question.” Korg asked earnestly. 
 
“I don’t mind.” Freyja smiled at Korg, looking slightly too calculating for Bruce to be completely comfortable. He had seen that too many times on Loki’s face and he didn’t like it on Freyja’s face. 
 
” Are there anyone who’s really lovey dovey on the ship. Or that you think would end up being really cute together.” Korg asked softly. 
 
Before Freyja even had time to answer, Sif and Valkyrie looked up from their shared meal, looked at Korg and said in unison, “Thor and Bruce.” 
 
Loki started laughing hysterically and Bruce did a spit take with his soup.  
 
He felt his tongue turn to charcoal at the heat of the soup. It seems that Bruce forgot that the general rule that if people who are close to you aren't talking about/at you, they will eventually do so, and you will have to accept not being able to be a fly on the wall in the conversation. 
 
After Loki and Bruce recovered from that (though Bruce is still dying at the thought of Thor and him being a couple), Freyja looked at the three other ladies and nodded. “Yeah, they would probably be good together. Does your foresight see it?”  Sif froze and then said, “Its, as Bruce once said, classified.” 
 
Ah, Bruce remembered saying that when she was asking why his book was beeping (it was cursing out Loki for turning Bruce’s hair green for four hours). He had to explain what the phrase had meant but had avoided the original conversation.  Heimdall chuckled, “I may be all-seeing and all-hearing, but I think I would have to blind not to see the potential between the two of them.” 
 
That’s it, Bruce thought to himself while he was trying to control his blush, none of these idiots would be getting anything but coal for Christmas for like 20 years. It probably wouldn't bother anyone since most of they were non-Christian alien gods and aliens that didn’t have holidays except for ‘it’s the grandmaster’s birthday’ (which functioned less like a holiday and more like black Friday... if instead of people fighting for cheap sales, it was gladiators fighting three times as much as a normal day), but the thought made Bruce feel a bit less angry and more annoyed.  But before Bruce could interrupt the collective train of thought, Valkyrie shrugged and said, “Yeah, they’re always so touchy feely and Thor is the only one who Bruce is comfortable being that comfortable with. Thor knows how to deal with Bruce and make sure he’s healthy. Bruce figured out how to keep Thor out of the bottle. I wish I could have someone like that after Ráðgríðr fell.”  
 
She paused to drown her throat in mead before concluding in a more somber tone.  “They’d work well together in and out of conflict.” 
 
Everyone was quiet after Valkyrie’s long and unusually emotional speech and the mention of her long-lost lover.  
 
Loki broke the silence, pretending she wasn’t affected by Valkyrie's words. It wasn’t entirely convincing since her eyes were wet and her voice broke as she said, “I think you would be good for Thor, you both are magnets for trouble and have a hard time of not dying.” 
 
Everyone, even Bruce laughed at that.  
 
Korg nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I could see them together. I mean, they do share a bed and are closer than anyone on the ship, including the married couples. It wouldn’t be much of a change.”  
 
Bruce smiled awkwardly, this would be another thing that he would have to suffer through. Annoying friends trying to hook him up with his friends who bordered different territory. Joy.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce brought himself back to the present, where Thor was continuing to talk, unaware of the slowly occurring enlightenment emerging in Bruce and his tenser shoulders.  Thor slowly unbraided the braid. Who knew it took so long to tie a braid.   Bruce heard Thor say, “Then you spend time with your intended family, though if your intended has no family to speak of its more difficult. It’s to show that you are willing to be part of a family and help contribute.”   Thor said, pausing and then brushing his hands through the other strands before continuing. Maybe he was stalling, Bruce thought until Thor hit a tangle. Nope that wasn’t stalling, probably.  “Most Asgardian families live with at least three generations of our family and we move in with whoever has the higher status and whoever’s family is easier to deal with in the long term. For Delling, he has no family alive, so it is harder to have the ritual. ”  Bruce was again thrust into a memory. Yep, this was definitely becoming a reoccurrence in today.    Thor and Bruce were in bed and working on different projects. Lost in separate worlds of work, but occasionally Bruce would ask Thor something about Asgardian food and Thor would frequently ask Bruce about Earth (or Midgard, as most Asgardians would call it).   Bruce scratched his pen over another line of text, his vision blurring. He growled as he slammed the book shut. He looked at the cover, very tempted to throw it across the room.  He sighed and laid the book on the bed. He cupped his face. “God, I’m tired. ”   Thor set down his papers and put a comforting hand on Bruce’s back. “What’s the matter Bruce?   Bruce pressed his hands tighter against his face and groaned. “I’m stuck.”   “Stuck?” Thor asked with concern and Bruce felt Thor’s hand start to move in slow circular movements.  “Can’t get anywhere. No progress. None. Nada. My brain’s gone caput.” Bruce muttered with frustration, feeling quite childish.  Thor patted Bruce’s shoulder’s absentmindedly before suddenly pulling Bruce backwards, and into Thor’s lap. Bruce swallowed as he found himself a little too close to Thor’s handsome face. He tried to press down his blush (though he doubts that worked at all) and relax.   It meant nothing. Thor was tactile, affectionate, and an alien. Thor constantly being in his space (and his face) doesn’t meant that he is going to kiss him or anything. Bruce wouldn’t be upset if that were the case, but it wasn’t. Thor deserves better.  Thor smiled and said, “I think that’s enough for a day, as a wise man once said, ‘it’ll be easier in the morning’. Unfortunately, that wise man does not take his own advice.”   Thor smiled at Bruce and Bruce remembered saying that to Thor a couple of weeks ago when Thor was having to play Judge for a ‘civil disagreement’ (apparently civil disagreement on Asgard had meant a millennium longstanding blood feud that has raised its head recently due to one party cutting in line for soup on the other parties bad days) and had to try his best to keep the two from ripping each other's hair out (apparently hair has way more importance to Asgardians than previously thought, and would probably explain Thor’s angst after Saakar).  Bruce huffed with laughter and very much not moving away from Thor’s warm chest, his handsome face and the feeling brewing in Bruce’s chest, the opposite really. “Yes, yes call me a hypocrite. That’ll distract me from my work.”  Thor smiled, as charming as ever. “Well it’s working, isn’t it?”   Bruce laughed, “It did work. What do you want to talk about, if not work?”  Thor hummed absentmindedly before asking for Bruce to, “Tell me about your family.”  Bruce’s head jolted in surprise. “Why on earth would you want to talk about that?”  Thor shrugged, “Well, you know about my parents, Heimdall (who might not be biologically my father, but he might as well at this point), Hela, and Loki. And I’ll tell you if I find out about any other illegitimate or adopted children, or even niblings. I don’t know much about your life outside of the avengers or Sakaar and I would like to know more about you, Elskede, and family is very important.”  Bruce felt himself unwillingly melt with Thor’s soft and warm voice, it was the equivalent to Puppy eyes (or well eye) and a more innocent version of a whisper in his ear. Bruce was so, so weak to it and felt the words ready to spill out.    The only attempt to stop the flood was equivalent to a piece of rotten plywood. He leaned into Thor and hid in his neck. He nervously whispered into Thor’s skin, “It’s not a very happy story.”   Thor nuzzled him and hummed. He wrapped his arms around Bruce and said, “You have my attention.”  Bruce sighed.  In that sigh, the words pouring out of his mouth like water after thunder. “My life before junior year suck. My dad was an alcoholic who beat us because he didn’t want me and thought I wasn’t human. He thought that his work made me a mutant. When he got drunk enough, he thought he could beat the weird out of me.”   Bruce laughed without humor behind it. “I could figure out how bad he would hurt me and mom by the hands of the clock.”  Thor was silent but held him closer. Bruce knew it was an almost unconscious action and meant next to nothing to Thor, but he felt stronger with it. Strong enough to tell him more.  “He hurt me enough that it created Hulk and Scar. But it didn’t stop at the beatings, he tried to kill me once, but mom stopped him. He never forgave her for that. He- he-” Bruce felt himself choke up, his eyes well up with tears, and his chest heave.    He couldn’t breathe.  The blood, the blood, the blood, Bruce and Hulk remember it. Bruce doesn't remember after it, Hulk ran and hid. Hulk rolled over in his mind and growled him to stop it. Hulk isn’t good with words, Blondie wouldn't get it. Banner needs to talk.  Bruce felt Thor rubbing small circles into his forehead, which was what he usually did when Bruce was going green. He asked softly, “Bruce, are you alright? Can you breathe?”  Bruce couldn’t and then he could. He took in several breathes and continued, his voice shaking and yet, cold and solid. “He killed her right in front of me.”   Hulk growled. What did Hulk just say?? Bruce ignored him as Thor made a gasp of horror. “Bruce that’s-”   Bruce brought a finger to his lips, “That’s not the end of it.”   “Forgive me, Elskede, please continue.” Thor hugged him closer. “If you're comfortable with it, that is.”   Bruce felt the flood stop. “Yeah, I’m done. Jesus, I’m sorry for all that, you shouldn't have to hear that.” God what was wrong with him, everything was fine until he opened his big fat mouth and ruined everything.   “To be fair, I did ask about it.” Thor interrupted the self-hate slide that Bruce close to crawling into. “Do you have anyone from your family who isn’t.... covered with Trauma.”  Bruce took a couple of deep breaths. “Well there was my cousin and her family.”   “Yes, tell me about them.” Thor urged Bruce very earnestly.   “After-” The trial, the lying, Hulk/Bruce’s hands around his father’s neck over their mother’s grave.   Bruce blocked the memories and continued again. “After all that, my Aunt Susan ended up taking me in. She was always kind to me and her family took me in. I ended up being really close with Jenny.”   “Who is this ‘Jenny’.” Thor asked and positively beamed when Bruce smiled at him.  Bruce sighed wistfully. “She’s my cousin and a couple years older than me. She’s great. To be honest, she’s the sibling that I never had. She ended up helping me through the last years of high school and helped me get into college. She helped me pick my first major and influenced my second. She’s always supported me through thick and thin.”  Thor smiled happily, “She sounds very important to you.”  Bruce sighed, less happily. “Yeah, that’s I had to keep her away.”   Thor’s eyebrows raised, disappointed but not completely surprised. “You what?”   Bruce held his hands out to defend himself, “After the accident, I went to her for a little bit. She was great and helped through some of the things but then something happened when we went out of the city for a little bit. We had a busted engine and they came and shot us up.”    Thor looked at him with dismay, about to say something before Bruce threw a glance that shut him up.  “Some goon Jen was defending had double crossed some crime boss and said crime boss decided to try and take her out. She got shot. We were a couple hours away from the nearest gas station, let alone a hospital. So, I used one of my many degrees and gave her an attempted blood transfusion. I’m just lucky that she’s a type AB. She could have died if she wasn’t.”  Thor’s face softened slightly before asking softly and almost hesitantly, “What happened after that?”   “When the cops and the ambulance came, they thought I was the one who shot her and tried to take me into custody. I was on the run and I knew that General Ross was tracking any mention of me of any kind. And I couldn’t- we couldn’t risk seeing him again, so Hulk took over. Next thing I remember, I was outside a gas station in Delaware and hungry.”  Bruce remembers the bone deep hunger that accompanied the first couple of years of transforming and that he stole probably like 120 dollars' worth of junk food from that 7/11.    Thor interrupted his recollection of the horrified cashier and asked, “Is there anyone else who you would consider family.”   Bruce furrowed his brow as he thought about it. “I don’t ... oh there are a couple of people. Or were.”   He looked at Thor who met his glance expectantly. A nonverbal ‘come on, out with it’. Bruce sighed, he was doing a lot of that lately.   “There was a young man named Rick and a little girl named Jodie. Rick was an orphan who ran away so many times he said that no-one would care." Bruce sighed again, as he had a flash of him scolding and comforting the fellow orphan. He took a deep breath and forced the tears back. "Jodie was a sweet young girl. She was an orphan and black, so it was harder for her to be adopted. They would be 19 and 15 now. ”  “Would be?” Thor asked.  “They're not dead, at least I don't think they are... I just haven't seen Jodie since Ultron and I haven't seen Rick... I haven't seen him for years.” Bruce admitted, looking away. "I retract that statement, he might be dead. But I really have no idea."  Thor looked at him expectantly, “Explain.  Bruce sighed, yet again. This is was emotionally exhausting. He sat up and tried to remember. "I first met Rick when he was 12 and was dared to come out to the dessert where I was working on Gamma radiation. He was there during... during the incident and I jumped on top of him to protect him- at least a little bit- from raditation and he ... I don't know why but he followed me around for a while after that. I think Hulk liked him." Bruce smiled for a second but it wasn't long before his shoulders dropped and he folded into himself. "But.... but that doesnt matter much. After a year or two, I turned into Hulk because someone attacked us and .... and I don't know what happened then but when I came to, he was gone and I couldn't find him." The lingering silence and Bruce's guilt wrapped around the two of them like a snow storm. God there were chills down his spine as he remebered the last conversation that he had with Rick. He had teased him with for eating so much and Rick had thrown barbs back, and everything had been just fine until they had heard guns. There was a bullet into the wall couple of inches from Rick's head. He had screamed at him to run and felt the next bullet in his body and felt his body twist and change. He knew he turned into Hulk but he couldn't remeber anything else. Thor spoke softly, his voice like a puff of breath on a frigid day. "And with Jodie?" Bruce took a deep breath to steady himself and looked at his hands before looking up to Thor. “So, timeframe reference; this was after Rick and Jenny getting shot but way before the Avengers. Got it?” Thor nodded and Bruce ran a hand through his hair to collect his thoughts. “So, I ended up taking a bus to Philly because, well the reason why I was on the bus doesn’t matter. I got dropped off in Philly and two seconds later, I was run over by these two girls in a hurry. One was some teenager who's name I can't remeber and the other was Jodie. She stopped to see if I was okay but the other hurried her on their way. I was in a bit of a daze because I hadn’t eaten or slept in a couple of days, but I soon realized that she had dropped her necklace. Unfortunately she was too far away to hear me at that point. ”   “So, what did you do?” Thor asked.  “I followed them to an orphanage and got the headmistress to give her the necklace. After getting properly introduced to Jodie, I was offered a job, which I mostly took because it would be nice to have some honest cash in my pockets and Jodie asked me take it.”   Thor’s eyebrows furrowed as it usually did when he met an odd English phrase. “Honest cash?”   “Money, I didn’t steal or get by other immoral means.” Bruce shrugged at Thor’s shocked face. “I was on the run and I couldn’t do a lot for myself. It’s a thing of the past.”  Thor made a sympathetic noise. “It saddens me that you had to go through that, Elskede. But you should continue your tale.”   Bruce nodded and closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. “So, I took the job. One night I was doing my job and Jodie comes up to me and asks me where I came from and if I had a home. I told her I didn’t. She told me she knew I was orphan with how lonely and how sad I was. Technically I am, so who was I to tell the 10-year-old girl otherwise. She offered to take me to the selling part of the adoption place. She told me that I was old but I was white so I could probably get adopted.”  Thor looked puzzled for a couple of minutes, and Bruce could almost see the gears turning in his head. He probably was trying to remember a lesson that Bruce had given him about the recent history of earth (if you consider from 1450 to 2015 C.E. recent) because he said a single word as a question. “Racism?”   Bruce nodded. “Racism.”   Thor made a disgusted noise and then made a noise to ask him to contuine.  “The lady in charge of the orphanage happen to come over at that moment and told Jodie she shouldn't go to the showing. Jodie just said that it was fine. ‘Probably wanted someone lighter’ she said. The way she said that broke my heart. I tried to comfort her, told her I was always the last one picked when it came to things. She said that ‘at least you got picked’. And if my heart wasn’t already broken from her sad statement, my weak heart would have shattered.”   Bruce took a deep breath and made himself remember those days before Brazil. “Loki said once that I’m like a trouble magnet. They’re not far off. Apparently, the owner of the orphanage was being blackmailed by some dick and she was making the kids commit petty theft as a way to pay off the blackmailer. I was able to expose them anonymously to the police and new management took over the orphanage.”   When Bruce took a pause, Thor nodded at him to continue. So, he did.  “We were fixing the water heater, Jodie’s real clever with her hands. She’s probably going to be smarter than me one day.” Bruce said proudly before remembering he was supposed to tell a story of his life. “But anyway, she asks if I want a someone to keep around. I ask if she means like a 10-year-old daughter. She says maybe.”   He looked Thor deep in the eye. “The next bit broke my heart to do but remember that I was on the run. And because of General Ross, I was considered an enemy of the state at that point. I loved Jodie like I had raised her myself. But I told her that I couldn’t adopt her. She took offense because with the pain she’s been through, who wouldn’t be? She said that I wanted someone who was more like me. Which is a hilarious concept”    Thor didn’t seem to get why Bruce was faintly giggling. “Why would that be funny?”   Bruce relaxed a tad before saying: “I’m an undying fuck with 3 personalities and the emotional capacity of a teaspoon. I don’t have a lot of spoons either- I’m not explaining spoons right now either, that’s a discussion for another day. I get what she was saying. She meant that I wanted a white kid which I don't care really, but my point is that I would never want a mini-me.”   Thor raised an eyebrow in a patented ‘why must Midgardians act this way’ which he used whenever Bruce was being rude to himself. “I might understand your reasoning in that manner, but those terms are not the only part of you. I care for you a lot and it troubles me when you say such things.”  Bruce felt green blood rush to his cheeks and he gulped. He turned his head to Thor’s chest and his brain screamed that this wasn't any better than before, if anything this was worse. Bruce accepted that he was gay (or whatever, women are hot too), and his friend was hot, caring, beautiful, and so fucking loveable. That is to say, Bruce accepted Death like always.  And death rejected him since he’s still here.  Like always. “Ah- okay. I’m sorry, I guess. But like back to what I was saying.” Bruce hid his face and muttered into Thor’s chest.   “She said that I wanted that I wanted a white kid. I said that if I was looking for a 10-year-old daughter, then she would be perfect. I stayed for a week or two, but then Ross found me again and I left.”   Thor looked confused still. “I thought you said that you talked to her before Ultron.”   Bruce nodded. “I did. About two months before Ultron I realized that I was in the most stable condition ever and there were people who could protect her. From Hulk and ... others. I asked Tony to find her, and he found her. We tried to find Rick too but we couldn't." Bruce's mouth twitched and he took a breath before contuining. "She was pretty angry and yelled at me for leaving. She was still angry after I explained everything, but she understood. I was going through the adoption process and it was going to take at least 5 months to get approved. Natasha was looking over ways that we could keep her out of trouble, avenger trouble.”   Sadness with the realization dawned on Thor’s face. “And then Ultron happened.”   “And I haven't seen her in two years.” Bruce finished Thor’s thought.  Thor nodded. “But it doesn't need to stay that way. When we get back to earth, we are taking you directly to the orphanage. You have a daughter, you shall be reunited once more.”  Bruce felt his face broke out in a grin for the first time in several hours. God, he loved Thor. It's a good thing his culture doesn't have mandatory heterosexuality intertwined with marriage, because I'm already planning our wedding, Bruce thought to himself. He heard the book beeping away to his thoughts. It was getting faster at doing that.   “What’s that beeping?” Thor asked. Bruce blushed and started acting as if Thor was hearing things.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce was again brought to the present by Thor’s voice. Bruce could almost hear a smile as he said, “Then you must show prowess in your intended’s work expertise. You must know what’s going on and you have to understand it. How else can you show that you’re invested in them for the long run and not a couple centuries.”   Bruce took a soft intake of air as the lingering promise held in the air. Bruce might be oblivious on occasions, but he was slowly gathering that Thor did indeed have feelings. Bruce stayed quiet as he was brought again to a memory that he hadn’t thought of much.

Bruce didn't remember Thor entering the lab. He just remembered a crash and Loki berating their brother.   He looked up from his experiment to see Thor. There is the lab. He looked to the clock that he had made, and Loki had cursed because ‘he didn’t take necessary precautions and made brother insufferable’. The hypocrite. 
 
But no, the hands were at 4:30. So, it’s not the end of Bruce’s shift. So, what was Thor doing here?  “What in the nine realms was that!” Loki yelled as they pointed at whatever thing Thor just broke.  
 
Their hair was longer than it usually was, as it was when they usually preferred using she/her pronouns, but the braids meant they/them. The green lab coat like cape whipped around in the non-existent wind. It looked a snake about to strike.  “Sibling, it was an accident I swear. I was just leaving. Don’t yell, you’ll distract Bruce!” Thor pleaded in a hushed voice. His cape was still on, as was his formal attire. So he wasn’t ready to get into pajama mode and was still in kingly fashion. 
 
Bruce rolls his eyes at the pair and cracked his back, but they still continued to bicker, lost in their own world of sibling tiffs. 
 
“Too late.  I’m already out of the zone.” Bruce said and both royal siblings whipped their heads in his direction. Thor looking slightly mortified while Loki looking slightly amused and unusually ashamed. “Why are you here, is not even close to the end of my shift.” 
 
Thor stayed silent in embarrassment before saying that, “You two were supposed to give me a report about the agriculture project half an hour ago. So, I came here to cut time.”  
 
Thor nodded in Loki’s direction and they rolled their eyes at their brother.  Bruce blinked before realizing that that was true. He and Loki were supposed to do that. Like that was the main part of the agenda for today. He flushed in embarssment. 
 
“Sorry Thor I wasn't keeping check of the time. I was distracted with the differences in the soil concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the soil between Earth, Sakaar, and Asgard and I was trying to figure out which kind of plant from the three planets would be able to grow the best in them. And I was consulting Freyja and Idun about what kinds of Asgardian plants would be best for cultivation in all three conditions, Nat gave me some insight in what the Asgardian people can eat, Korg translated what everyone knew about Sakaarian plant life and what their species can eat, and then I was going to figure out what kind of traits I could cultivate and cross into the other plant life via their DNA.”   Bruce froze before taking a deep breath. “Sorry I was rambling.”  Thor waved away Bruce’s apology. “There's nothing to be sorry about, it was brilliant Bruce.”  Thor sighed wistfully, “I wish we had plant life from Niflheim since they don’t perform Photosynthesis like most things we consider plants do. They use their roots and stoma to get most of their nutrients from the air and it’s much nutritious than most other plant life. They can survive on what would be considered 5% light from a red dwarf. The plants are also very adaptive and have a very flexible gene code. It’s hypothesized that all the diversified plants on the other nine realms have at least some ancestry from Niflheim. When we create a Bifrost on Midgard, I’ll endeavor to take a trip with you. You mentioned a couple weeks ago that Hulk, Joey, and Scar emit a non-lethal level of gamma radiation when in their green forms, so you might end up mutating some of the flora and make a new branch of life. That would be an interesting experiment to try.”  Bruce looked at Thor with so many emotions. Awe, bemusement, admiration, adoration, and curiosity. He shook his head for a second. “So... you were here for a report?”  Thor smiled at Bruce, “Actually Loki filled me in because you were hyper fixating on the project. Sorry that I disrupted your focus, I tripped on something. I’ll go.”  
 
Thor smiled awkwardly and gave them both thumbs, before swiftly turning around and leaving where he came from. That is, the door. 
 
Bruce just turned to Loki. “What, in the name of all the unknown, was that?”  Loki just smirked their devilish grin.  Bruce threw up his hands in exasperation. Perfect.  
 
He turned a back to his work and let the book beep out his strongly worded complaints at the deity of stories, lies, and general mischief.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“We bath together to cleanse ourselves of our past deeds and show that we are open to new beginnings with each other.” Thor said, his voice wavering. 
 
Bruce kind of understood why this time. Even though they had bathed together constantly, his mind strayed to one instance that was more nervous on Thor’s end in hindsight. The theory had been form and he was slowly gaining more and more evidence that he was- he was wasn’t he? 
 
His memory brought him back to one bathing session that was quiet unlike most of the others that he had spent with Thor. 
 
 
 
Bruce felt like he had been hit with a truck that was driven by Mjölnir. But he hadn’t. Thor had dragged him out of the lab and to the training room like every five or so days. Thor had made sure that everyone had taken some time to fight and keep up their strength. And that included Scar (In Neon green Hulk form apparently), Hulk, Joe, and then him. Not in that order. If did what the order of transformations was (according to witnesses), it would be him, Joe, Hulk, Scar, Hulk, Joe, and then him again. 
 
So, Bruce was basically being dragged around after all that. Bruce tried to fend off the large amount of food that Thor, Heimdall and Nat forced his way but after the combined effect guilt inducing eyes, he had given in.  After he finished eating a shit ton of food, Thor dragged him to their room, specifically the bathroom. They were still both sweaty as all hell. And the large bathing quarters would be perfect with all that hot water on their overworked muscles. Bruce groaned at the thought of relief for his aching legs. 
 
Thor paused and shifted Bruce’s arm over his shoulder, “Are you sure I can’t carry you back to our room.” 
 
Bruce shook him head, “No, I’m fine.”  Thor looked at Bruce with disbelief before sighing, “Just remember that the offer is always open.”  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Bruce smiled at him and they continued down the hall in silence with only the distant chatter of other people in the ship around them to fill the gap.  Bruce sighed in relief when they finally reached their shared room, “Jesus fucking christ, my feet hurt like I carved and molded my feet into Hulk sized slippers.”  Thor chuckled as he followed Bruce into the side room of of their bedroom, getting to the bathroom. “Well, technically you did.”  Bruce snorted as he pulled his shirt over his head, “Shut up with your technicalities, just because you’re right does not back you interesting.”   Bruce paused with his shirt only holding onto his elbows before nervously adding, “I don’t mean to say that you're not interesting, I’m just-”  “Tired?” Thor finished knowingly.  
 
Bruce looked over to see Thor with a soft and understanding look.  He was also shirtless and starting to lazily take off his pants with only his feet.  
 
Bruce didn’t blush, because he is a man who is able to remember how to control his emotions and his external reactions, he’s super tired right now, and they had undressed in front of each other around 200 times in the past 5 months (actually 202 times but is that helpful or relevant right now? no.). The point is, he doesn't blush. 
 
Bruce nodded before he pulled off his shirt completely and soon his pants and underwear join the shirt and the rest of Thor’s clothes on the floor of the bathroom.   Thor has been heating the bath water for the past couple of minutes, so it was the perfect temperature to cook his flesh into a lobster when Bruce joins Thor and slowly submerges himself into the hot water.  Thor hands him a jar, which Bruce had learned was a shampoo/conditioner like substance. Bruce dipped his fingers in and turned to Thor’s hair. He massaged Thor’s short hair until Thor groaned.   Thor gently grabbed the jar out of Bruce’s hands and dipped his fingers into the small jar, and Bruce turned his back to Thor. He felt himself turn to putty when Thor’s fingers had run through his long greying curly hair. It had grown a significant amount since he had boarded the ship, it was starting to brush his shoulders. 
 
They had done this before but if Bruce were more awake and less sore, he would realize that this felt slightly more intimate than the hundreds of other times. 
 
Thor’s hands had migrated to his neck and started to knead the muscle, “You’re so stiff, I’m afraid that one of these days someone’s going to touch you a little too hard and you’ll fall apart like a dried-out mud statue.”  “Well you’re welcome to help.” Bruce muttered tiredly as he cupped water in his hands and started to wash out his hair. Again, if he were more awake and closer to being in a proper state of mind, he would have realized what was going to happen.   But he wasn’t, and Thor was silent for a moment before washing himself while Bruce thought nothing of the silence. 
 
Soon, the sweat from the workout had trickled off them and was replaced with a light perspiration from the heat. It was quickly washed off them and Bruce was hauled from the tub. His body had uncoiled slightly from the heat, but it was still stiff. It was unavoidable with how much wear and tear his muscles had just been put through.   Thor was dragging Bruce through the bathroom when he breaks his self-imposed silence and asked, “If the offer is still open, I would like to help.”  “With what.” Bruce muttered bemused and exhausted. 
 
“You’re so stiff and you said I was welcome to help.” 
 
“I guess I did say that.” Bruce nodded limply. “Get me to the bed and get to it. I definitely need a break.”  Thor chuckled. “I’m always at your service, your highness.”   “Hey! What did I say about the sass?” Bruce said lightly.  “To do it constantly so you never get bored?” Thor said innocently, the little shit.  “Excellent. Now, to the bed.”  Thor dragged them back to the bed and gripped Bruce’s arms. Which led Bruce clutching Thor’s shoulders. “Don’t you dare.”  Thor chuckled. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”  
 
Thor didn’t throw him on the bed like Bruce had thought, he laid Bruce down so delicately that you would think that Bruce was made of glass and wasn’t - that he wasn’t some self-healing behemoth inside a man’s body that could withstand the pressure and lack of oxygen in space. Bruce felt his heart skip a beat and felt his smile become loopier with the attention.  Bruce let his eyes close and heard Thor walk around.   “Where are you going?” Bruce asked with his voice slurred by sleep and gooey feelings. 
 
“Just making some light so I can see what I’m doing.” Thor said absently, and Bruce heard a light crackling that was probably Thor calling on the electricity to his fingers and lighting stuff (probably candles) up.  Bruce cracked an eye open and saw Thor put down a candle and the room was not just star lit but illuminated with the warm and cheerily lit by the melting wax.   Thor looked out the window at the stars passing. Bruce let himself ogle the god of thunder, for the first time since their friendship really started.   He let his eyes wander. He saw the calm and slightly enigmatic expression that left Thor’s face looking quite royal. The star light reflecting off the scar surrounding his eyes and made him not only handsome, but rugged and unfairly hot. 
 
He closely observed the strong nape of his neck and the shaved hair that was both a curse and a godsend. When Thor’s hair was long and braided so nicely, he was prone to flashes of tugging on it during a blistering blaze of passion but now his mind kept wandering to the idea of running his fingers through the spiky blond hair.   Bruce’s eyes fell from his neck to his bare and muscular back. The scars, the leftover water droplets that were sluggish in their gravity led caress across his trapezius, latissimus dorsi, Rhomboid major and minor, Teres major and minor, and fell upon Thor’s ass in a deliberate that Bruce’s eyes traced their path as he would with a pencil. If he had paper, he would have shed his previous skill as an artist and shone forth as a master artist. Parallel to Michelangelo and Donatello. 
 
He closed his eyes and reminded himself that nothing would come of it. Thor might be the kindest man alive, one of the most handsome that Bruce had ever seen and was definitely an alien (no pun intended) to the very human concept of gender preference when it came to partners. None of that mattered. Thor would never love him in the same way.  
 
There was nothing that Bruce found attractive in himself. He couldn't stand to look at his face on most days, he was fully aware that he was nothing close to what people would consider conventionally attractive, and he was so fucked up inside as well as out.  He let the cold slithering at his core consume the pleasant feelings in his chest. It was safer that way, even if it did hurt.  He didn’t have long to simmer in his lack of self-worth. Thor’s weight shifted the bed. Bruce let his eyes open and he saw Thor on his knees with a jar of what would probably be oil of some sort. Bruce was still tired but more awake than he was in the bath, so he was starting to get a inkling about how bad of an idea this was going to be.  But he pushed it down as he yawned and smiled lazily at Thor. “How do you want me.” 
 
Thor’s eye widened, and he was quiet for a moment. 
 
“On your stomach. Your back has all sorts of knots.” Thor said kind of weakly and oddly strangled.  Bruce hummed and flopped over to his back. 
 
He felt Thor hover over his back. He sighed into the mattress. “Just get on me. It’ll be easier for you to move around.” 
 
Thor was silent again. 
 
Bruce huffed again, annoyed that his favorite chatty man was being weird. “Well?” 
 
Thor hummed, his voice pitching higher than usual. Bruce felt the bed move as Thor slowly made his way from Bruce’s side on to his back. Bruce suppressed the urge to shiver as he felt his back warm with skin contact.  He felt a delightfully warm liquid start to drip onto his back and he smelled something like roses, green leaves that were freshly cut, and then later he was warmed with the scent of something that was quite creamy and spicy (if you could describe a smell like that). 
 
The situation was already intoxicating when Thor’s hands started to work on his back. He was going at Bruce’s back with gentle yet firm strokes of flat hands. He felt his face warm for the first time in the past couple hours.  But when Thor leaned down to start rubbing soft comforting circles around the back of his neck, Bruce realized that he was running into some dangerous territory. He felt the warm, prone to spark, calloused hands of his dear friend work their way around such a sensitive and delicate part of his body.  
 
That alone sent Bruce’s heart racing. He felt his veins tighten similarly to when Hulk was roaring to go to protect them or when Bruce let himself go in private.  Faintly, he heard his notebook start beeping some of his thoughts.  
 
God, the sheets were getting wet with the oil (short, long, long, short, short, short , short, short) and Thor’s hands were starting to work themselves down Bruce’s spine (long, short, pause, short, short, short, long, long, long, long, short), Bruce could almost felt Thor’s breathe on his back (short, long, long, pause, short) and his own breathing was too quick, deep, and loud to hear. But Bruce almost foolishly wished (long, long, long, short, short, long) that Thor’s body was reacting half of the amount that.   He wished for Thor to forgo the massage (long, short, long, long) and kiss him (long, long, long, short, short, long, pause, short).   To whisper that he loved (short, pause, long, short, long) him.  
 
That he loved him (short) for who he is (short), without consequence (long, long, short, pause, long).  
 
He wanted Thor to lie (short, short, short) above him (short, long, short, long, short), with his pupils wide and his chest heaving with warmth.  
 
For him to lean and steal Bruce’s breath away in a kiss and pull himself away only to breath and to beg for more.  Bruce felt Thor start to massage his hips and he felt a spark of panic overwhelm the arousal he was feeling (and had him completely forget about morse code). If this continued, Thor would ask for Bruce to turn to his front. And Bruce is barely able to resist any request from Thor in general, it would impossible when he’s melted into some vicious jelly.  He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. He repeated breathing exercise until his heart had stopped racing like the inside of a greyhound on the track and his lungs were not gulping air. And more importantly, the rest of his body had calmed down dramatically. 
 
It worked so well that Bruce was starting to drift. He probably imagined the soft press of a kiss to his forehead, being as tired as he was.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce blinked to try and discreetly try and force the blush of the memory off his face. 
 
Thor was oblivious to his plight and had stopped his unbraiding. 
 He leaned close to Bruce’s ear and the blush was going to reemerge soon. His hand was still wrapped around the small braid as he whispered in his ear, “Finally there is the tying of the braids. Hair is very important to Asgardians, as you know at this point. It originally started as a way to bridge cultural connections between Asgard and Svartalfheim, but eventually it became a part of the Asgardian way of life. More so if you are a royal. There is a braid to dictate your status in society, your preference in lovers, and your marital status. “ 
 Bruce gulped, rather loudly in the quiet quarters. “An-and How- how- how do you differentiate each one from the others?” 
 “The first would go on the left of your head,” Thor said as his hands came up to Bruce’s left and traced a line from his temple to halfway to the back of his head. “And be adorned with a bead that your sire would give you at your first decade.  
 “The second,” Thor’s finger traced a line underneath the first imaginary line (braid). “Would be a braid on the same side but decorated with a bead.  
 “How do you tell the difference?” Bruce asked even though he half wished for Thor to get straight to the point and tell him which was the one that was marital status.  
 
Thor’s voice smiled at Bruce, though Bruce couldn't tell since he was to Bruce’s back. “A silver bead would indicate men, a golden bead would indicate women, a glass bead would preferring genders that do not fit either category, while having a wood braid would indicate any or none. The difference between the two is that the one that has no desire of lovers would be made with a black wood while the one which indicated no preference in the gender of lovers would be made from a pale pink color.” 
 
“And the last braid?” Bruce asked, most of the sound soft in his throat. 
 
Thor hummed. “The last braid would rest behind your ear and be clasped by a bead that your lover makes puts in and takes out.” Thor said as he removed the bead from the braid.  
 Bruce was again transported to his memories on another instance of things in the lab. 
 
 
 
Bruce was writing in his journal. Well, trying to. His hair was getting too damn long and falling his face. He was finding himself falling into a pattern of writing, leaning, hair gets in his face, blows it out, steps one to three happen again, tuck it behind his ear, steps one to five, get angry, ignore it, repeat. 
 He finally huffed and grabbed the cord that he had grabbed off Brunnhilde a couple of days ago. 
 Bruce was getting tired to tying his hair up with the leather cords, they worked as hair ties (or at least they were adequate, Bruce had never had hair or even a beard this long before) but they tangle and hurt his scalp.  
 
And the weird thing is that not one Asgardian would let him get anything sharp enough to cut his hair. And whenever he would find something, someone would distract him. It was happening too often for it to be a coincidence. 
 
One possibility is that Loki had hexed him because he made a comment about how xe take so long in the shower for someone who looks like xe constantly put bicycle grease in xer hair. A different possibility was that the other Asgardians knew that you should keep sharp things out of the hands of people with low self-esteem and self-worth. Another was that Asgardians were weirder with hair and cutting than he thought. 
 He collected the back of his hair into a ponytail in one hand and wrapped it with the cords. He winced as a couple strands were tugged too tight and he started to struggle. 
 For better or for worse, that’s when Thor walked in the door. “Bruce how are you-” 
 
Thor’s lone eyes widened in confusion and Bruce internally sighed. He probably looked like a mess. 
 
He was slightly disheveled, his sleeves were rolled up, his hands were trapped in the leather cord, his hair was a mess and falling around his face and, in his fingers, and he probably had some weirdly intense eyes from focusing on the book for almost two hours. 
 
“Umm, Bruce... what in the nine realms are you attempting?” Thor asked almost as cautiously as he walked towards Bruce. It would have been complete if Bruce had ignored the sparkle in Thor’s eye or a lilt of his voice. 
 
Bruce rolled his eyes. 
 
“I was trying to tie by hair back, it's far too long and keeps getting in my way. The fucking cord is being a dick.” Bruce grumbled. 
 
Thor snorted before shaking in head in fond disbelief. “How about I braid it then? So, you don't keep getting hair in your face.” 
 Bruce blinked. 
 “Like how you used before it Saakar?” Bruce said before cursing himself in his head, Thor always got sad when he was reminded of the tragic haircut of Saakar. 
 Thor’s face grew a tad sadder. “I guess you could say so.” 
 Bruce quickly nodded and sat back on his chair. “Alright then.”  
 
The sadness in Thor’s face left as he looked almost delighted by the idea of braiding Bruce’s hair. “I’ll go get a brush. Loki probably has one on xer person.” 
 
Thor then ran out of the room and Bruce was left waiting with his hands still tangled in the cords. 
 
Apparently, Loki had been really close because Thor ran back into the lab in a couple of minutes. “Luckily, he had one on his person, also Loki is using he/him pronouns right now.”  
 
Bruce nodded as best that he could with his hand entangled in his hair. “Alright that’s cool. Though I’m surprised how he has a hairbrush on him considering he looks kind of haggard a good deal of the time.” 
 
“He has his good days.” Thor said with an amused huff. 
 “Those I haven't seen yet.” Bruce said with a pleased grin on his face at Thor’s halfhearted defense of his brother. 
 Thor rolled his eyes and looked a bit fond (‘projection much?’ Joey said in his head and Bruce agreed silently) when he said, “Stop sassing me and let me do your hair.” 
 “Fine, fine.” Bruce smirked at first, but the expression abruptly fell off his face when Thor gently untangled Bruce’s fingers out of the cords and his own hair with the same cautiousness and grace as a man making a glass sculpture. 
 
Thor would occasionally treat him like this, like he was something more precious than any glass slipper Cinderella wore. It always felt weird to Bruce, because no-one had ever treated him like he was rarer and purer than magical gold or enchanted improbable footwear.  Even before the accident. 
 It was not only earth shaking but it made Bruce long for Thor’s affection more and more. If he were a stronger man, he would have told Thor to stop. But he was weak with ... love. 
 
He couldn’t have stopped Thor from destroying him if he gave Bruce a smile and told him that he was worth something. 
 Then Thor took the borrowed brush through his hair and Bruce winced as the bristles got caught in a tangle. Yep, Thor was going to destroy him. 
 Thor stopped as soon as he heard Bruce hiss under his breath. “Elskede, are you alright?”  
 “I’m fine. Just be a little gentler.” Bruce heard himself say over the frantic beating of his heart. God, it was happening. Bruce’s self-destructive tendencies were kicking in. Gentler? Gentler? Oh god, he might as well have signed his own arrest warrant. Or turned himself in General Ross. 
 
And Thor was helping with Bruce’s immediate death because he complied, taking great care to take care of the tangles, but not pull at Bruce’s scalp. It went from intense to soothing and Bruce found his eyes close to enjoy the feeling more. 
 And eventually he heard a clunk of the brush being set on the table. And he felt a little part of him whimper in despair (either Joey or Hulk) at the very notion of Thor’s hands leaving his hair, but that side was quieted by something unexpected. Thor’s fingers started combing through his hair in a way that he usually only did when they bathed together. 
 
Bruce had to stifle a moan of approval and he felt a blush rise on his neck. He wasn’t entirely successful, since he heard the choked hum he made. It was almost embarrassing as if he hadn’t stopped himself.  Usually when Thor’s fingers combed through his hair he was either well out of his mind with exhaustion and he was too lucid to stop himself, or he was half-asleep.  
 
Thor’s fingers stilled in his hair for a second and Bruce felt the sharp intake of air that Thor made. Bruce felt more than a little embarrassed and ashamed. 
 
Thor’s fingertips were probably slightly dipped in the oil that he saw Sif use once. When he had asked her about what it was, she told him that most Asgardians with straight or slightly wavy hair used a variant of the oil to make sure that their hair was nice and healthy. Asgardian with tighter coils such as Brunhilde and Heimdall had a different hair potion that they used to keep their locks of hair beautiful and alive. 
 
He sighed as Thor’s hands glided through his hair, occasionally picking strands and pulling. But he never felt anything bad. For a brief moment, he felt nothing but peace and happiness. He was always thrown off balance when he felt like this.  
 But they were starting to happen more and more. And often caused by Thor. 
 Thor been this kind and this close made Bruce glad that Hulk had spat the bullet out like a cherry pit. The book started beeping, but Bruce was used to having his thoughts broadcasted secretly at this point, so it was like white noise.  
 Bruce idly wondered if this is what it would be like to be married to Thor (long, short, long, long). Of course, there would be a lot of excitement and wonder (long, long, long), given how spontaneous Thor was (short, short, long, pause, long, long).  
 
And there would be fear too (short, long). The army backed off partially (long, short, long, pause, long, long, short, pause, short) when he joined the avengers, but Hulk just went to an alien planet for two earth years and got a new vocabulary (short, short, short). The army would want to control (short, long, short, long, long, short) and study the Hulk even more. 
 Even so (short, long, long, short, long, short, long, long, pause, long) Thor would protect him.  
 
As a friend.... (short, short, short, short) and a husband (short, long, long, pause, short). Bruce let himself imagine (short, pause, long, short, short) a world where he wasn’t dead (short, short), controlled by the army (long, short, short, long, short, long, pause, long), or under constant surveillance. 
 
He let himself think of what it would be like to be married to Thor Odinson (short, short). They would have an extravagant wedding that was mainly Asgardian traditions with a couple of human ones that Thor liked from Romance novels (short, short) because he was a very emotional and sentimental man (short). And he was proud of that. 
 
Thor would have a royal procession for all the Asgardians under the pretense of a royal feast and would have banned the press due to Bruce’s bad experiences. Only Bruce and Thor would know. 
 
Bruce and Thor would go with the Avengers and Tony would notice their rings and grin. The press would find out in a matter of hours. 
 
Bruce and Thor would have a home far away from everything else and be happy. 
 “I’m done.”  
 
Thor leaned away from Bruce and brought him back to himself. His nose didn't tickle from faux bangs was out of his face and it.... felt tight on his sides. 
 
Bruce opened his eyes and could see clearly for the first time in several hours. “What did you do. I’m not upset, I’m pretty content right now, just what on earth did you do?” 
 
Thor just smiled and handed him a mirror. “Grabbed this from Loki when I asked him for the hair brush. Thought you might need it since you don't have any kind of mirrors in here.” 
 
“I usually don’t need to see my ugly mug since I know what it looks like.” Bruce chuckled self-deprecating and tiredly. He probably looked better than he had ever been on earth, even before the accident. He never knew why Betty liked him. 
 
Betty. Hulk. Hospital. Run. Gravestone.  
 
Joey rolled his eyes inside his head and told him to stop being so angsty and Scar told him that he wasn't as gross as he thought he was. 
 Bruce ignored both. 
 Hulk had gotten a makeover on Saakar which had translated to him as well. His skin felt cleaner, the eye bags were lighter, as were the redness that he associated with the stretch marks, and his hair was softer than it had been in ages. 
 But that still didn’t make him beautiful. He was going to look down into the mirror when Thor’s hand came to cup his face in his calloused palms. 
 
“Bruce.” Thor said softly as he brought Bruce’s eyes to meet his lone eye. His face looked like it was in serious pain. More emotional than the haircut on Saakar or the thought of losing Heimdall. God, what did Bruce do? Because this needs to be stopped. 
 Bruce almost whimpered when Thor’s other hand came up and traced the line of his cheek which had been gaunt a couple of years ago. It was as kind and sweet as Thor truly was that was sometimes shadowed by the loud and brash part of his personality. 
 “Bruce,” Thor said again, as if he was trying to infuse Bruce’s name with every good memory and happy thought that Bruce had ever had. Like putting Brandy in Valentine's day chocolate. “You are the most handsome man that I have ever met in my long, long life. Your face is a priceless sculpture that would be an instant masterpiece if ever made into reality. Your eyes are the perfect brown-green mix of a healthy planet. You’re everything but ugly.... especially to me.” 
 Bruce felt the distance seem to wane as Thor’s essence overwhelmed him and his tear ducts. He’s mentioned this too many times in the past couple of weeks, but the way that Thor treats him makes him feel good. 
 Like he’s worth something. 
 Bruce knew that his own feelings were coloring his thoughts, but he wished that Thor had meant it the way that Bruce was starting to literal dream of. With a kiss and a promise. Though he would prefer to skip the end part that usually happened to people he was in love with. 
 
The dream ending with them getting chopped up by either the blades of a Heli carrier with Black widow’s face or a person with a katana trying to get legal rights, so they can make an authentic Hulk sized dildo (Hulk shuddered at the recollection of that reoccurring nightmare). 
 He set the mirror on the table. Don’t need to reflect on that shit. 
 
Thor smiled fondly, a couple inches from his face. “Now, Doctor, doctor -” 
 Bruce laughed and pulled away.  “I’ve told you before, it’s not a doctor for every Ph.D. I get-” 
 “Doctor, doctor-” 
 
Bruce leaned in again and grinned. “Are you going to do this until I say that that I’m handsome?” 
 
“Yes. Doctor, doctor-” 
 “You’re already on six, I’m not going to admit to shit.” 
 “Then we’re doing seven squared. I hope you like sitting on a wooden stool until Loki’s hex kicks in because I’m willing to let Heimdall take over as king if you don't admit it.” Thor said with a smirk before continuing. “Doctor, doctor, doctor-” 
 
“In the name of the All father, I’m handsome! I get it! Stop!” Bruce threw his hands in the air and was met with an odd silence. Bruce looked at Thor who looked like someone had given him a puppy for Christmas 
 “... What did I do?” Bruce asked. 
 “Nothing. You’re just absolutely perfect.” Thor said fondly.  
 
Bruce had a feeling that the dream was going to be both more sappy, passionate, and gory than usual tonight. Probably they would have a very beautiful and cheesy date, a passionate confession, heavy make-out session and then Chestbursters Black widow/Betty’s face on them or some sort of Wolverine Zombie version of the size kink man. 
 
“But seriously, look at how good you look in the mirror.” Thor said and grabbed the mirror from the table. Bruce could have sworn that there was electricity when their hands touched. 
 
He held the mirror and saw that his hair was tied up in a rather intricate fashion. Both sides of his head were intensely braided, and the rest was tied up in a nice messy bun. His greying brown hair actually looked really nice like this. He felt regal. 
 
But what caught his attention was the short braid the hung behind his ear and was adorned with a metal bead that looked like it had cracks of blue and green lightning. It reminded Bruce of when one of Betty’s college friend Jane’s friend/intern (?), had sent them like a lot of pictures of weird rocks that were called black lightning ridge with Chinese writing or something like that. 
 
It felt like a wedding ring. God, Bruce wished that it was a wedding ring. He’s going to daydream a proposal for months. 
 
He swallowed his feelings and smiled at Thor, trying to show how happy he was. But also hiding how much he’s thinking of kissing him silly and then making up for lost time. 
 
“It looks amazing.” Bruce said as he put down the mirror and decided to turn in early tonight. “Thank you.” 
 
“It was my pleasure.” Thor said and entangled his hands with Bruce’s. 
 
“I hope you’re planning on doing this braid every day for the next two years because it looks so cool and I love it.” Bruce joked. 
 
“I was actually planning on doing it as long as you let me.” Thor said jokingly]y. (Or at least that’s what Bruce had thought at the time.)

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“If someone does not have enough hair for that step, it would be acceptable to string the beads on a necklace and present it for when their hair is long enough.” Thor said with a fondness to his voice.  
 
Bruce was silent as he finished playing the connect the dots in his head. 
 
Bruce hadn’t thought of it before but most of the time he was alone and safe with Thor, he heard that tone of voice come out. To an alarming amount, now that he thinks about it. He had thought of it as perhaps a new habit.  
 
After all, Thor had started to speak in a soft and gentle tone after Bruce had initially told him about the headaches and pain after de-hulking, and the frequency had only increased after he had told Thor about his, unfortunate and painful, childhood. 
 
It was one of the things that Bruce didn’t think about as much. Like how ecstatic Thor had been; Thor’s smile beaming, leaning in so close that Bruce could feel his breathe on his lips, and his eye glittering with a happiness that Bruce was only now finding words for. All of this when Bruce had handed him that Necklace.  
 
The necklace that Bruce was glaringly reminded of the necklace, the one that was pressing against his back, with a rude and pointed awaking from a warm and heavy dream. It was on Thor’s chest, because Thor seemed to never want to part from it and only allowed it off his skin, if Bruce took it off for him. 
 
God now that seemed, like super fucking obvious.  
 
He should have realized that with how Thor leaned in and looked like a school girl with a crush whenever Bruce put it on or took it off. It was so clear, and yet … as clear as mud with how much sense Bruce got out of it. 
 
He took a deep breath and then climbed out of Thor’s lap. He sat in front of Thor and looked at him in the eye. He swallowed his assumptions. Joey chuckled in their shared mind. ‘It makes an ass out of me and you, ya’know. You should try at let him explain and maybe you’re just being paranoid.’  
 
Bruce rolled his eyes, not on the outside because that wouldn't help the confusing situation (on Bruce’s end anyway). ‘Well, that’s nice Joey. Criticize the survival mechanism that’s been keeping them alive for so long’, He thought to himself as he stared at the necklace on Thor’s chest. The couple of beads were some that he had gotten on supply stops, a couple that Heimdall gave Bruce, and one that Loki had thrust upon him. 
 
 ‘Besides the healing factor’. Joey said, and if he were not in Bruce’s head, he would have totally put his hands in the pockets of a hoodie. 
 
Bruce restrained from physically rolling his eyes by physically closing them, and just thought ‘That’s not even close to the point’.  
 
Joey mentally rolled his eyes at Bruce and Bruce felt a second or third hand stale unimpressed-ness aimed at him; ‘you’re stalling.’ 
 
Joey was right, Bruce was stalling.  
 
And Thor was probably getting nervous. 
 
 Bruce sighed and opened his eyes.  “I think we need to talk.” 
 
Bruce saw Thor’s face for the first time since the start of Thor’s explanation of Asgardian courting rituals. He looked afraid, and as nervous at Bruce thought he’d be. But his face and jaw were drawn tight with determination and his eye flicked, with something that looked like hope.  
 
Thor took a deep breath and forcefully relaxed his shoulders. The smile that had slowly started to play along his face, like some kind of slow-mo xylophone, was equally somber and wistfully. “I thought the same as soon as you asked what the courting ritual was.” 
 
Bruce nodded and took in a deep breath. “So that’s a yes. You weren’t doing it by accident or anything.”  
 
Bruce looked at Thor, who nodded. 
 
“You were doing it on purpose. You were courting me. Courting me.” Bruce said, the last statement more of a beg for an answer.  His plea went unnoticed or misunderstood, and Thor’s face softened. “I was. I still am.”  Bruce’s bit his lip and sucked in a breath. He took a second to compose himself before asking, “Why.”  Thor looked like he was just electrocuted from Bruce’s question. “What do you mean why? Is it not obvious?”  Bruce shrugged and folded his arms.  “It’s really not.” 
 
If Thor had look he had been electrocuted by his question, his statement  was a higher voltage that not even Thor could shrug off. 
 
Bruce decided to continue and looked away before saying, “I’m not really the prettiest person. You could do much better than me without even trying. I’m covered in scars that aren’t noble in the slightest. I’m kind of an eyesore in every way shape and form.” 
 
“When I’m not either of those, I come in two flavors: boring and plain.” He said, matter-of-factly.  The silence that followed was just a confirmation. He looked at Thor.  His chest was tight. Thor was going to crush his heart into pieces.  But Bruce was surprised when shock fell from Thor’s face and was replaced with white hot righteous anger. “You are not of those things!”  Bruce felt himself flush with anger and his veins were probably turning green and starting to protrude from his skin.  “I am all of those things! I am not only a boring man with a gross body, I am a man who is constantly dealing with control becaUSE IF I DON'T STAY IN CONTROL I’M AFRAID THAT I’LL KILL EVERYONE I LOVE! THOR HOW AM I WORTHY OF YOU???!!!!” He screamed at Thor. 
 
“Do my words mean nothing?” Thor yelled, and he looked like such of a volatile combination of sadness and anger, that Bruce winced for a second.  
 
“No, that’s not it-” Bruce said and threw his hands up in his defense, but Thor crawled over to him and into his personal space. 
 
Thor jabbed a finger into Bruce’s chest and growled into Bruce’s face. “When I braided your hair, when I PROPOSED to you, I told you that you were the most handsome man that I have ever met. Was that a falsehood? Are you saying that I am blind? I told you that your face is a masterpiece. Was I just flattering you? “ 
 
“How can you look me in my eyes and tell me I can’t see you why I wanted to court you? I told you that your eyes are the perfect match to Midgard, the planet I am sworn to love and protect. Was I being kind when I saying that? “ 
 
“Were my words empty to you? Does my word mean nothing to you?! Was my promise of you never being hurt again a lie? I told you that you’re everything but ugly. To me, you are the epitome of beauty. Am I lying Bruce?” 
 
“I’M A MONSTER, THOR! HOW CAN I EVER BE WORTHY OF YOU?!” Bruce yelled and felt his tears start to pour down his cheeks.  
 
He sobbed violently. “I AM NOTHING BUT A FREAK! I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DID THIS!! WHY DID YOU DO IT THOR? WHY? WHy?”  “BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!” Thor yelled through tears and grabbed Bruce’s shoulders.   Bruce felt his jaw drop as he watched Thor pull him closer to him and buried his face in Bruce’s shoulder. Bruce felt his tunic dampen with sea salt tears. 
 
“I CAN’T STAND THE THOUGHT OF NOT LIVING OUT MY DAYS WITHOUT YOU! YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE WORTHY OF ANY THING FOR ME TO LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU AS YOU ARE!” Thor screamed into his chest. 
 
He kept at it. Yelling and screaming his love into Bruce’s chest as Brue stood stock still. “I LOVE YOU AS BRUCE BANNER, MY DEAREST AND THE ONE I FELL FOR FIRST! I LOVE YOUR INTELLECT, YOUR HUMOR, AND YOUR LOOKS! IT WOUNDS ME WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WAY! “ 
 
His hands tightened around Bruce’s shirt as he took a gasp of air before continuing to wail furiously. “I LOVE YOU AS HULK! I LOVE YOUR JOKES, STRENGTH, AND VALOR. I LOVE YOU AS JOEY! I LOVE YOUR QUIPS AND YOUR CONFIDENCE. I DON'T HAVE AS MANY FOR JOEY OR SCAR SINCE I HAVE ONLY KNOWN THEM FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS, BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT HERE!” 
 
“I LOVE YOU!!!!!!” Thor screamed, and Bruce felt like he was screaming inside.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

There was silence that was enhanced by the sound of Thor hiccupping from his screaming. If Bruce’s heart weren’t switching between pounding at the walls of his ribcage like an innocent prisoner and freezing over completely from shock, it surely would have broken into a thousand pieces from the muffled hiccupping breathes coming out of Thor.  
 
But Bruce’s heart didn’t break, even though he thought it would be enviable with the almost fact-like way that he had been denied true and honest love from anyone. He thought it would be completely obliterated by Thor, who had become a large part of his heart.  
 
He stayed still and felt his heart calm from a screaming framed prisoner to a butterfly's wings in a hurricane. Bruce felt a little lightheaded, but that was almost gone with another full body shutter that Thor gave with another heart wrenching sob. 
 
Bruce blinked and gazed at Thor for a moment. Thor’s face was in his chest and it seemed like he was almost more vulnerable and raw than any other time that Bruce had seen him. Thor had broken down to tell him that... that he loved Bruce. Bruce had been through more nervous breakdowns, meltdowns, panic attacks, and anxiety attacks than probably anyone could ever count, and he knew that it took a lot out of a person to say all of that. To be that raw and honest. 
 
Bruce stared at Thor and broke the silence in the most inelegant way possible. “Holy shit.” 
 
“Yeah.” Thor said weakly against Bruce’s chest. 
 
“You love me.” Bruce said a stupidly stunned way that bordered on awed and giddy. 
 
Thor sighed again, as if he was unloading his troubles from his shoulders and heart. “I do.” 
 “You really, really love me.” Bruce said like a broken record with a smile spreading over his face.  “I would think that’s obvious with all the screaming.”  
 
Bruce gently grabbed Thor’s shoulders and pulled him, so he could look him eye to eye. He looked down at Thor, who looked as emotionally vulnerable as Bruce felt. 
 
He drew Thor closer and studied how his blue eye flickered uncertainly in the start light. Bruce’s hands moved to the sides of Thor’s face and he caressed his cheeks, reviling in the feeling of Thor’s beard at his fingertips. 
 He leaned in closer and smiled. He rested his forehead on Thor’s and closed his eyes.  
 He could practically feel Thor’s confusion. He then took a breath of courage and dipped into Thor and gently pressed his lips on Thor’s.  
 
He pulled away and opened his eyes at a slack-jawed Thor.  
 
“I love you too.” He whispered with each syllable of his confession as soft Thor’s lips. 
 
Thor blinked and then a smile hit his face and his face began to flush. “You do.” 
 
“I love you so much it scares me.” Bruce admitted, and his thumbs started to create soothing circles on Thor’s face like Thor had done to him so many times. Thor closed his eyes and leaned into Bruce’s hand. Bruce could almost hear the sappy string romance music in the background. 
 
Bruce smiled and then looked to the side. “And my heart almost flatlined the time you massaged me.” 
 
Thor choked on his laughter and looked at Bruce with wide eyes that looked like a shocked cartoon character. “You almost what?” 
 “When you did the massage after the sixth step, I .... it- um...” Bruce blushed and looked away.  
 
He bit his lip in embarrassment and tried to pull away, but Thor whimpered, and Bruce kept his hand where it was. “When you did that... I- um... got excited to say the least. I - umm- god this is embarrassing- I panicked after enjoying it for a bit because I didn’t want you to know that I felt about you in that way. I didn’t know, and I didn’t see any chance.”  
 Thor snickered. “Trust me, you weren’t the only one.” 
 
Bruce whipped his head in Thor’s direction and he fought the blush on his cheeks. “Pardon?” 
 
Thor smiled at him softly before his eye left Bruce’s face in some form of embarrassment. “You weren’t the only one.... How did you charmingly put it...? Oh yes,”  
 
Thor looked Bruce dead in the eye and smirked in that cocky way that Bruce saw most frequently when they spared. It was an expression that graced many of his waking moments in the showers after a long day.  
 
 “Excited. I was... Excited.” Thor said after a long and dramatic pause 
 
The way that the word rolled off Thor’s tongue made Bruce shiver. He was looking at Bruce through his lashes. Bruce gulped and felt his stomach warm. Christ almighty. Thor was going to kill him. 
 
Might as well fight fire with fire. 
 
Bruce did the same as Thor. Trying to mimic smoldering eyes, a carefree but heated smirk, and a soft but thundering voice that demand to be listened to before a passionate kiss. A kiss that was frequently imagined and now entirely possible.  “Care to explain?” 
 
He felt like a bit a fool and his nervousness probably showed in his hands and the licking of his lips. But the cheap imitation seemed to work, and Thor looked like he need to be rebooted. Bruce could smell ozone in the air, the electronic lights above flickered slight, and he felt his fingers tingle like he was worn socks on a felt carpet.  Bruce was guessing it was a good thing. 
 
Thor gulped and tried to look away for a second. But Bruce gripped his face and turned his head back to face Bruce. “You didn’t answer my question, my king.” 
 
Bruce felt himself blush and he felt almost high with excitement and embarrassment. He usually never felt this confident with ... well, any kind of social situation. It was going to his head. 
 
Especially since Thor kept delivering him the reaction he was hoping for.  
 
Thor was sucking in deep and deliberate breathes, staring at Bruce with dilated pupils, and looked like he was trying to keep himself still. That wasn’t happening. He was fidgeting and clutching his pants.  
 
But the thing that ensnared Bruce’s focus was when Thor... whined.  
 
God, that made Bruce just want to kiss the fuck out of Thor, push him down into the sheets, and start kissing (and biting. Biting and bruising his neck. Sucking dark marks onto Thor’s skin to watch it fade and then renew his claim on the demigod) his neck. Hulk and Joey were very enthusiastic of that thought. Very. 
 
And Bruce was tempted. Very. Now that first kiss was out of the way, Bruce found himself wanting another. 
 
But Scar nudged his way in his head to point out that they should talk and have a good understanding before anything else. This whole mess was caused by cultural misunderstandings. It would be best to end that here before they got ahead of himself. 
 
Bruce took a deep breath and steadied himself like he had that night with the bath. “I’m serious Thor, tell me. Don’t dangle information like that.” 
 Thor laughed hoarsely. “I was-” 
 “Excited?” Bruce really couldn’t help himself. 
 
Thor blushed, and a small spark of electricity came off his shoulders. “Yes, that. I was excited when you told me to...” 
 
Thor trailed off at that point.  
 
Bruce encouraged him with his thumb caressing Thor’s cheek. Thor hummed a thank you before continuing.  
 
“I told you-” Thor chuckled nervously and said, “Gods- you probably don’t completely remember this, because you weren’t all there but,”  
 
Thor paused and swallowed. “You asked me-”  
 
Thor stopped himself and smiled the smile that started this flirty mess.  “How to you want me?” Thor said in a soft voice that sounded like he had been fucked seven ways to Sunday.  
 Now Bruce was the one who needed rebooting. 
 
Logically, he knew that Thor was probably mimicking him since he was a big drama queen (king). However, that was hot, and Bruce is very fucking gay (or bi, whatever). 
 Before this he would have closed his eyes and taken several deep breaths.  
 After the confession, Bruce was frankly tired of denying himself. 
 He pulled Thor back into his orbit and let himself kiss Thor.  
 
It was unlike the first kiss that he had experienced with Thor. Unlike a light press of the lips that was light on its own but with the additional heavyweight of the enormous confession behind it; in this kiss, he bit and was more savage with his motions. It was an acceptance of this. A refusal of denial. A cry of love and lust. 
 
His hands went to clutch the back of Thor’s head and angled his head for a better position. 
 
Thor was hesitant and first with his lips. He didn’t want Brue to feel like he was pressure and Bruce hummed at that. Thor was sweet and loving, even in a moment of passion. That’s why Bruce loved him after all. 
 
Thor’s strong hands were eager and ran to embrace Bruce’s back. Bruce opened his mouth and engulfed the hesitant nature of Thor. Thor moaned in his mouth. 
 
Bruce pulled away for a second and looked Thor in the eye, “I won’t break.” 
 
Thor blinked, dazed. He gaze rose from Bruce’s mouth to his eyes.  
 Thor nodded. “Right.” 
 
Thor pulled him in slowly and softly, like he always did with everything he cared about, and started the kiss this time. 
 He was quicker and more bruising and starting to take control of the kiss, biting Bruce’s lower lip and licking into his mouth. Bruce was starting to feel light headed. 
 He pulled away and he felt half-drunk from the kiss. “That was ....” 
 
“Perfect.” Thor finished.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

They sat there, content in the kiss but orbiting and getting closer. Scar coughed in his head. They should talk about the courting. 
 
Bruce hummed and steeled himself against the warmth in his stomach. “Do we have to do the courting ritual again since I didn’t do most of the steps and wasn’t aware that this was happening or do, we get married straight away.” 
 
Thor breath seemed to catch in the interruption and his eyes jolted from Bruce’s lips to his eyes.  
 
His laughter was soft, and his smile was softer, though he still looked a little rattled from the flirting... and the kissing. Bruce could relate, his lips were still tingling from a combination of Thor and sparks.  Thor looked at him fondly, “You’ve pretty much done most of the steps.” 
 
Bruce screwed his eyes up in confusion. “Wait, when?”  Thor straightened up and left Bruce’s palm and subsequent orbit. “You made me clothes that weren’t the ones I had during Ragnarök.” Thor said and held up a finger. “So, you gave me an initial courting gift.” 
 
“But that was because your other one was getting dirty and I wanted you to feel better.” Bruce said.  
 
Thor smiled lovingly (he can say lovingly now without feeling like a conspiracy theorist, this is new). “You still thought of me and cared enough for me to make me a gift. It still counts.” 
 
Bruce blushed and rubbed his neck. “I guess.” 
 
“The meal was shared. So, you did the second step with me.” Thor said and held up another finger. Two. Peace sign. 
 
“I had several people come up to me and tell me that you and I are a good match.” He said rather smugly at that and held up another finger. Three. “They said that I seemed worthy.” 
 
Bruce blushed and buried his head in his hands. “Oh, by Odin’s beard.” 
 
And then he realized what he said and groaned. He wished the heat of his cheeks could melt something so he couldn’t physically look at Thor. “God, I’ve been on this ship too long.” 
 
Thor laughed heartily. “A proper Asgardian tongue for the Prince-consort.”  
 
“Please Thor, just continue.” He pleaded and was glad that his hands were hiding his face which was burning. 
 
“Fine.” Thor snickered. “You’ve constantly been around and on good terms with Heimdall and Loki when we are all technically living under the same roof, you’ve helped me with politics and being a king more than once, and I already know all my important dates and have written them down. I have three possible dates for our wedding. So, that's steps four, five, and six done.” 
 
Bruce raised his head out of his hand in slight shock. 
 
“You’ve planned that far ahead. I mean we really haven’t gotten together yet.” Bruce said and then thought about it. 
 
He thought about all the times that they had bickered, ate together, fought together, slept in the same bed, and bathed with each other. God they’re like an old married couple.  
 
Bruce almost snorted at the realization before feeling a grin slowly conquet his face. “Holy hell, we’ve practically married for months, what am I complaining about.”  He clicked his tongue, thinking about other lost opportunities that dampened his mood a tad. “Though we should probably still have a wedding. And we should have at least a couple hundred dates before.”  Thor gave a small grin as he nodded. His fingers twitched in his lap when he said, “Asgardian weddings take a while to plan and picking proper dates that don’t fall on any day that has emotional attachments is important. The nearest possible wedding date is three years in the future. We’ll have plenty of time.” 
 
Bruce looked at Thor and slowly nodded. “I guess we do. Carry on.”  Thor smiled. 
 
“We bathed together and cleaned each other. So that’s number seven. And you made me this necklace and you told me that you designed the beads yourself. So, you did the last one too.” Thor held the necklace up and the starlight glinted on the gems made into beads. 
 
Bruce had gotten the gems when they had one of the few Planet-Side stops. They had made a stop on some red and green desert planet market and he saw the gems when he was there. The gems looked like a purple and red galaxy with a supernova explosion in the middle. They sparkled as he brought them up to the light and he smiled at how the light traveled through the gem.   The wind had picked up and his hair had smacked him in the face. Then he remembered the bead against his ear, since it was almost flung into his eyes. He had been struck with an urge to make something similar for Thor. Something that he could look at and feel happy and giddy. But still safe and platonic.  That had backfired in a spectacular fashion. 
 
But Bruce wasn’t unhappy with the consequences. He smiled at looked at Thor. 
 
A tall blond man with a heart of gold, a lone eye that shone as bright as the sapphire supernovas that spun past the window, and stronger than anyone that Bruce has ever known. Calloused hands, kissable lips, a clever tongue, and a quicker wit. 
 
Thor. He is friend, sparring partner, kindred spirit, wanderer, prince, and his king. Now... his boyfriend, a partner, his fiancé, a promise. Maybe he would soon be his husband, an oath. He couldn’t wait for braids and knots to be tied. 
 
For sealed deals with kisses, and ‘death do us part's. Only for Three years of waiting.  
 
That is a sentence that Bruce would be willing to take. The time is short and his love (and loved one) are unbreakable. 
 
“That’s.... God, we’ve been so stupid. Christ.” Bruce laughed at himself and then sighed with fond and half-hearted exasperation at the mess of his love life. He looked at Thor and smiled as he raised his eyebrows.  “Why can't we ever have anything the easy way? Like a stereotypical coffee date and easy romance?” 
 
Thor smiled and leaned into Bruce. His hands left his lap and came to swim around Bruce’s face, and took temporary rest at Bruce’s temples like a pilgrim, before wandering through Bruce’s hair and onto the back of his scalp. 
 
His voice was soft and would have been hard to hear if he weren’t two inches away from his face. “It’s harder because the end result is always more satisfying in the end.” 
 
His lips were soft, Bruce knew that know and it would be his doom. It would be a kind and soft torture. 
 
Bruce wanted to start at once.  
 
Bruce closed his eyes and let himself get pulled into the riptide named Thor. “Isn't it?” 
 
And the riptide pulled him into the most poetic kiss that he had ever experienced. 
 
Thor’s lips laid and embraced Bruce’s, almost as soft as the first but not as light. Almost as passionate as the second, but not as hot and heavy. It was a soothed longing, made possible with their hands gripping each other tight to sandwich their bodies in the kiss, their eyes closed to the pleasure, their stops and starts to whisper soft and sweet every things to each other, and the peace in their minds that was rapt in the kiss. 
 
It was so quiet. Bruce thought, as well as he could, that he could probably hear a pin drop outside the steel door. It was that quiet. 
 
It was nice. 
 
Apparently, Bruce likes to Jinx himself because the book start beeping. He wanted to throw himself out of the airlock to the crushing confines of space as Thor pulled away. 
 
Thor raised an eyebrow, “Alright, I know that it’s not just a coincidence. What is going on, love?”