Idea for an alternate universe Bruce Banner/Hulk
Instead of swapping back and forth, they are physically fused together. With the upper half of Bruce connecting at Hulk's shoulder, replacing his arm.
Think like Funtime Freddy and bon-bon, or the amalgamates from Undertale.
They live out in the woods, and developed a surprisingly healthy relationship due to being forced to rely on each other.
Hulk puts in the support beams of their shelter while Bruce ties it together with rope.
Hulk kills deer and Bruce cooks them.
Bruce stitches Hulk's wounds and Hulk protects him like a human shield.
Not to say there aren't problems between them of course. Hulk sometimes wanders off while Bruce is in the middle of something. And Bruce's morals of what can and can't be done can be REALLY annoying for Hulk.
And if visitors ever show up.... Yeah they're gonna get smashed.
But hey! Bruce will be helping you escape. From his position he can reach down and cover Hulk's eyes, so as long as you're quiet you can get away.
Hulk does NOT enjoy this, but muscles get in the way of flexibility so Bruce is still safe as long as he flattens himself and moves out of the way.
It's kinda annoying that this guy hogs all the au ideas in my brain.
#1 I was thinking about the hulk in the context of the Magnus Archives. Definitely either a victim of the slaughter and web, or more likely, an avatar of the slaughter.
As an avatar he would automatically have a good relationship with the hulk and enjoy causing harm. Maybe he'd even perform for grifters bone.
#2 if bruce completely embraced the hulk from the beginning would he even have an alter ego?
Since the hulk being separate from him is kinda caused by his hatred and denial of it.
But he'd still get the violent urges, he'd just punch someone himself.
"I crave violence, similar to how I crave food, I can ration all I like, but starving the beast only makes things worse"
He goes to rage rooms and lets mma guys whale on him, he always makes sure he's outnumbered just in case he goes crazy.
He has a deal with a local bar that he gets all their old bottles in exchange for a price hike and getting rid of troublemakers. He also has a limit of two bar fights a month or this deal gets cancelled.
#3 then I thought about how if bruce had such good coping mechanisms and was so used to it, it would make sense if he was born with it and had support from his parents growing up.
His mother is a maenad, (the sisters of the frenzy, followers of Bacchus, god of wine, drunken partying, madness and chaos. They could get so drunk they lost all inhibitions or sense of pain, making love and tearing people apart indiscriminately)
He doesn't know who his father was, and he never asked his mother since he knew there were only two options.
Either he was tough as nails and kept up with a sister of the frenzy in the heat of lust, who then decided to leave her.
Or he was a poor fool who thought he could bed a maenad and got taken off the census praying mantis style.
He had to have actually finished, or bruce wouldn't be here, but the second option is still far more likely.
This Bruce has both zero alcohol tolerance and a godly amount, it doesn't matter if he takes a single shot of whiskey or chugs a bottle of laudanum, the effect is the same, a total loss of inhibitions and a violent frenzy.
He also has claws and teeth instead of huge muscles. Though he is strong, it's more supersoldier level.
Still a scientist, with a natural affinity for chemistry.
Now all this talk of alcohol and smashing bottles is making me think of the ship with thor.
