#thorbruceweek2019

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

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

"But what in the hell are you doing?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because if their first kiss had been bad

Oh boy.  

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

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

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

“Please?”

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

“I can’t make that promise.”

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

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

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

“I think we’re goo-”

Tony really didn’t know what he was expecting. 

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

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

Now they lay on their sides facing each other, bodies pressed tightly together. Bruce was tucked against Thor’s chest, his arms bent and pressed between them, his nose nudging at the hollow under Thor’s collar bone. Thor’s arms were wrapped tightly around him, a thumb running back and forth over the bumps of his ribcage. Bruce hummed happily, wiggling to feel the pressure of Thor’s arms and the various pillows surrounding their little nest. He squeezed an arm out from its pleasant confinement to pull their blankets slightly higher, sinking into the warmth, enveloped by softness on all sides.

“How?”

Bruce hummed questioningly, unsure if Thor had even spoken at all.

“How are you managing to bounce your leg while lying down?” Thor shifted back slightly to look at Bruce, smiling at his wonderfully rumpled state.

Bruce hadn’t been aware of it, but sure enough his leg was jiggling where it lay on top of Thor’s.

“It’s not a problem,” Thor hurried to clarify when it seemed Bruce would stop, one large warm hand moving to pat Bruce’s thigh, “it’s nice to feel you’re happy.”

Bruce’s heart felt like it was melting at the blunt acceptance and invitation to carry on and he beamed at Thor, squeezing his arms around his waist. He nudged their noses together and they both giggled, laughing with the same air trapped in the small space between them.

Thor wriggled closer again, the shifting of the mattress rolling them together, and rested his forehead against Bruce’s. “I am also very happy to be here,” he whispered, “even if I’m not redefining the limits of what should be physically possible to show it.”

“Oh shut up!” Bruce poked Thor in the side. He tucked himself back into his cozy little nest, hidden beneath blankets and wrapped in Thor’s arms. The dull sound of the rain hammering on the tiles above carried on, the room becoming darker as night fell. Bruce was still wiggling happily, prompting soft chuckles from Thor every now and then but the sound was a pleasant disruption.

The note he left was short and, he would later admit, callous. Just three words and nothing else.

Be back soon.

The trigger that made him cram a few possessions in his old rucksack and plan a route back into obscurity was a nightmare. He hadn’t had it for years and yet that night he had awoken from vivid images of a cage, of his friends trying to rescue him, of their deaths. It was enough to remind him that familiarity was a luxury he should not indulge in. 

He tried to reason with himself, to ask why he would throw away everything he had over a stupid premonition that had yet to come true. 

Because you knew it wouldn’t last forever, he told himself bitterly. And he had nothing to say in retaliation, so he left with a shuddered sigh.

Thor awoke to find Bruce’s side of the bed was cold, meaning he had left hours ago. He tried to convince himself that the note was earnest, that Bruce would indeed be back soon without ceremony, but worried glances in his direction from the rest of the team confirmed what he refused to believe.

“He’s done this before,” Steve said, his voice even and reassuring, like how he spoke to civilians. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon, like he said.”

And Thor wanted to trust their leader but a tired sigh from Stark made him push for details the Captain wasn’t willing to divulge. Tony nodded towards the sanctity of the lab; a cruel place to discuss Bruce when his absence there would be felt the most.

“He… thinks of himself as a weapon. As a bomb we’re all happy to leave ticking in the corner, ready to go off any second,” Tony analysed as he threw virtual maps into virtual trash cans a little too forcefully.

“But he has control over the Hulk.”

“I know that, you know that, Bruce… won’t accept that. He’s also scared the military will try to capture him again and if we try to rescue him…” Tony slammed his fist onto the workstation angrily. “You want to know my theory?”

Thor shrugged.

“You’ve made him too happy,” he pointed an accusatory finger, “You flirted with him and made him want to be in a relationship again after years of living as a hermit and now, because he thinks he’s undeserving of a happy ending, he self-destructs.”

“That’s not fair,” Thor said, unsure if he was directing this to Tony or Bruce. 

“No it’s not,” Tony agreed all the same. “I thought I made him happy with this home and the lab and then when you came into the picture I was so fucking certain he was finally settled.”

“So should I try to find him?” Thor asked miserably. 

And Tony wanted to say no, to let Bruce hide in the wilderness for all he fucking cared because he was angry and exhausted, but he knew that wasn’t how he really felt.

“Please.”

Hours later and Thor prepared to travel to the first of many suspected areas where Bruce might be hiding. He didn’t know what he would say or do when he saw him but he had to try. 

Needless to say he was stunned when Bruce walked back into their room that moment, face wet with tears as he threw his rucksack down in disgust.