People seem to forget who resurrected half the universe that literally got snapped out of existence.
Bruce Banner sacrificed a lot of things in his life; Betty and his basic human rights to name a few. Though he didn’t expect to sacrifice his well-being to save half the universe and Hulk.
Jolly Green is gone, not like anyone knew.
Nobody really cared. Hell, even Tony hadn’t picked up on his situation yet.
Oh, yeah, Bruce forgot.
Tony was busy with the new Avengers, specifically bonding with Wanda and fixing their bond and having fun with Peter and Morgan like the cool father figure he was.
Everyone was too busy to pay attention to him, and he couldn’t blame them. Blame him for being selfish just this once but he’s tried everything to get people’s attention. He’s tried changing his appearance (that got prostitutes in the alleyways near the tower dancing on him) to starting fights (people are still scared). He hates it, he hates to admit that he hates this world.
He’s dealt with worse - losing Betty - and you know what he’s gathered from his life?
The Universe has a strange sense of humour.
At this point, FRIDAY was the only ‘person’ that cared for him. A fucking A.I! FRIDAY was the only one that would tell him to go to sleep and eat after staying up for a week to find out how to get Hulk back, only running on energy drink-spiked tea and granola bars.
Nobody questioned or batted an eye when he entered the kitchen with a sad and dazed look in his eye, his hip bones and rib cage bulging out of his skin. It was Halloween by then, so Peter and Morgan thought he was dressed up.
At that moment, everyone turned and laughed, a warm feeling blossoming itself in Bruce’s chest. So that’s what happiness feels like? A sense of familiarity washed through him.
Then that familiarity and comfort(he hasn’t felt comfort in ages) disappeared once Wanda walked in with a smile on her face along with Vision.
Why did she get to feel happiness when he didn’t? Was his life that fucked up? Memories of what Wan- she did to Hulk flashed through his eyes and he had the sudden urge to vomit. Nobody turned to look at him when he dashed out of the room with a hand covering his mouth, paler than before.
His lab smelled like vomit and stale sweat for three days.
Tony barely spent anytime in the lab anymore, due to Morgan and Peter. And Bruce didn’t blame him, Morgan and Peter were more important than what colour his suit should be or if the helmet was too tight.
‘ScienceBros’ doesn’t exist anymore, at least, not in Bruce’s perspective. They barely get a glance at each other, and if they did? That was only because Peter dragged him to the lab to show him a new prototype of his web shooters. Which was rare because Tony built a lab nearer to the penthouse so he could drag Peter to bed when the boy was in there for too long.
Bruce scrubbed a hand over his face as his vision got more bleary the more time he spent looking at the hologram of a random experiment.
What was he doing again?
Oh right- well, actually, not that. Oh…nevermind. What was he doing?
“Dr. Banner?” FRIDAY softly asked from above, the same voice she used when she didn’t want to scare Bruce from his stupor. FRIDAY was like a real person at this point.
Bruce sighed and rubbed his eyes, “FRIDAY?” A sudden wave of dizziness washed over him, making him grip onto the counter and lean against it. “May I suggest getting some sleep? Staying up for 84 hours straight and staring at a screen for too long will cause serious eye damage.”
He sighed and rubbed his temples, “Yeah FRIDAY, guess I’ve spent too long in the lab. Save everything for me, will you?” The A.I gave him a small hum of affirmation before he was off, struggling to stand upright.
His arms - he remembered the deafening screams inside of his head as Hulk’s consciousness was trying to battle all the pain - weakened under his weight (what weight?), black dots in his vision.
C’mon Bruce, you can make it. Almost there big guy-
He gasped for air as he fell, he could barely hear the voice of FRIDAY above him….she sounded… alert?
What was going on?
He was just fine….just fin…fi….f…….
Dammit Bruce! Stay awake. C’mon…..
He painfully opened his eyes, he was still on the floor. He heard some footsteps but they weren’t in his direction. C’mon Bruce think, where was everyone?!
…Tony saying something? Uhm- bonding? Wait…that’s it! But… bonding? What was everyone bonding for?
…Family dinners. Everyone was at the family dinner! Family…god, when has Bruce ever been considered family? Maybe- maybe during the Chitauri Invasion, he was pretty close with everyone.
Tony likes to turn off FRIDAY during dinners so they can all focus on each other. FRIDAY will only intrude when there is a real emergency or an intruder of some sort.
Well, him fainting wasn’t an emergency, not really. Unless you accounted for the fact that he has iron deficiency and needs to eat a lot of, well, iron stuff - not like the actual iron but you know.
Okay, maybe it was an emergency but tell that to Bruce’s foot.
Did he even still have this foot?
He quickly looked down - ignoring how his head pounded in protest and black dots littered his vision again - and sighed in relief when he saw his foot. He lowered his head against his shoulder, wondering how someone would react if they found him like this.
Okay, maybe he should alert someone? But who would he alert?
Tony would probably silence FRIDAY for the sudden distraction as he was presumably retelling an Iron-Man story to Morgan. Maybe he could try?
“FRIDAY?” He asked softly, his tone so gentle and quiet that it was a miracle FRIDAY even heard him. “Dr. Banner?” And if her tone somehow made him tear up because of how worried she sounded, FRIDAY didn’t say anything.
“Al- alert somebody about me will ya?” It was hard to speak, his voice rough and gravely from disuse. “Right away sir.”
A few seconds later there were thundering footsteps in his direction and an announcement from FRIDAY. “Lord of Hammers is on his way, Dr. Banner.”
His senses barely registered when there were arms around him and hoisting him up, pulled close to a warm chest that smelled of aftershave and petrichor.
Soon, what felt like seconds later, he was laid down on a literal cloud. Maybe not literal but…it did feel like it. He moaned in relief, not registering the constant blabbering of reassurance from Thor.
A gentle and soft hand - Jane? Maybe Darcy? - was petting his hair twenty minutes later (Bruce thinks, he’s been counting inside of his head; even if he probably skipped some numbers), lulling him to go to sleep.
And so he did.
HULK JUST WANT HOME. JUST WANT PUNY BANNER.
“I’m sorry dear,” that soul thing talked to him. It always talked to him.
“I cannot send you back.” He roared. “WHY CAN’T SEND HULK BACK? HULK WANT BANNER. BANNER NOW.”
Soul lady shook her head in…sadness? “Dr. Banner is not ready to give you a home yet.”
He roared again. And again. He roared until he sounded like he was screaming.
When Bruce opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was how bright the room was. FRIDAY sensed his discomfort immediately and turned the lights down until it was almost dark.
Yeah, that felt better. He could hear, just barely, that FRIDAY was alerting Thor of his awakening, making him sigh.
Dammit, that meant that Thor probably knows something is wrong with him, at least, to the extent of his obliviousness to things around him. Soon the door open, revealing Thor in all his…glory. Or whatever.
What surprised Bruce the most was the look of worry on the God’s face and how his hard and godlike features softened when he found Bruce awake.
“Good morning Doctor.” His usual loud and brash voice with no malicious intent was now gentle and quiet, laced with more worry and pity; something nobody had when they were with Bruce in what feels like forever.
Bruce gulped down nothing, as his voice was still dry from presumably sleeping too long (and probably from not drinking any water during his 84 hour science rave). He gave Thor a small and reassuring - but not genuine, never genuine - smile as Thor walked to his bedside and kneeled down to his eye level.
“Morning? Last time I checked it was 9 P.M.” He said dryly, hoping his sarcastic sense of humour would lighten Thor’s mood, his mood. Luckily that got a small chuckle and smile from the other man.
“You have slept for a great amount, friend Banner. I hope you are feeling better.” And then Thor frowned, “Though I still do not get why you were on the floor. Lady Jane told me it was because of something called exhaustion.”
Bruce just nodded his head in response. “Some things make us mortals crazy, Thor.”
“Crazy?…” He trailed off, not understanding what Bruce was implying. Thank god for that. Thor shook it off and went onto the next topic instead, “I have started on a soup that mother has made me and Loki when one was feeling down. A very good soup.” Then Thor was off, leaving Bruce to his own world.
A warm feeling blossomed in his chest, when was the last time someone cared for him like this? He huffed, was his life that depressing?
Okay, backtrack, maybe it was that depressing but hey, comedic use?
Yeah, no wonder everyone left him.
When Thor enters the room balancing a bowl of hot soup in his hands, it makes Bruce wonder; when was the last time he got a home cooked meal? A full meal even. And when he thinks about it, maybe the last time was a decade ago.
He quietly moaned in delight when he spooned some of the hot soup into his mouth, bursting flavours on his tongue of unfamiliar spices. As he finished, Thor looked a little sad. “I shall apologize as I have to go back to New Asgard, there seems to be a little trouble that won’t solve itself. The team shall be back soon, I shall tell them about your woes, friend.”
Bruce quickly shook his head at that, “It’s fine, I can take care of myself. You go do what ya gotta do, maybe go on a date with Jane.” Thor grinned at the mention of Jane. That got him to exit quickly.
He fell back onto the bed with a full stomach for the first time in years.
Maybe Bruce underestimated the powers of Thor’s mother’s soup. He thought he was gonna be fine the next day and would look not horrifyingly skinny, but here he was, staring at the bony part of his torso where his ribs stuck out.
FRIDAY had awakened him - even if he needed sleep, he was still a light sleeper, no matter how much his body protested against it - informing that everybody was bustling in the kitchen for breakfast, and she thinks Bruce should go eat.
So he decided, you know what? Nobody’s going to notice anyway.
For fuck’s sake he was blind and didn’t have his glasses on and he could still see the skinny parts of his waist. The solution to that? Wrap a blanket around himself and trudge into the kitchen hoping no one would notice.
And, depressingly so, nobody did. They were too focused on Peter adorably playing with Morgan. Jesus Christ, Nat and Clint were spies for a fucking reason! Bruce snatched a plate of waffles along with a big bowl of fruit before exiting, the blanket billowing behind him.
He was two steps away from the entrance to his lab before alarms started blaring. He flinched and jumped back, making him drop his plate of waffles and fruit. He fell back onto his ass, making him groan in pain.
His hands covered his ears, leaning forward in an attempt to stop the ringing in his ears. He groaned again as his hands accidentally slipped from his ears. There were shouts and heavy footsteps coming this way, making him worry.
Was there an intruder?
Then the alarms suddenly stopped and everything went quiet-
“Hey buddy.” He instinctively turned around but as soon as he did that, well, a familiar piece of cold metal was pressed against his forehead. Though, it soon faltered and was off his forehead, a shuddering silence surround… them.
He peaked up through the blanket and was met with the shocked faces of the Original Six, well, not really. Original Six if you excluded Thor and Bruce. Nat had a terrified glint in her eye; Clint and Steve’s eyes were as wide as saucers while Tony, well, Tony look mortified, terrified, and shocked.
He sucked in a breath and gritted his teeth. He was the intruder?! He scoffed and shook his head before standing up, slightly faltering when he felt his head spin. He didn’t feel the sharp pieces of ceramic dig itself into his feet as he looked at his team.
His team.
He sucked in a breath and did a quick breathing exercise - in for four and out for eight - before giving them all a tight smile. He wasn’t the same Bruce Banner that they should know: kind hearted, soft spoken, and dangerous.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” The previously silent room was broken by his sharp tone, his words not laced with the same gentle tone he would normally use.
He had every right to be rude, mean, and rough. Every. Right.
Nat stuttered - fucking stuttered - before making direct eye contact…for some reason. “I-”
Bruce just barked out a laugh. “You’re what? Sorry? Yeah, we’re way past that.” He walked past them, shaking off Steve’s iron grip on his wrist with minimal effort (Hulk?…) and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he stepped into the elevator.
He stared at the wall of the elevator before murmuring, “I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.”
Damn Fury for making Bruce train with the team. How the hell was he going to keep up with two of the world’s best assassins, a fucking God, a spider-enchanced kid, two super soldiers, and a girl with red magic powers that were highly dangerous?
Yeah, he still didn’t know why he was here. Coulson was in the corner of the room, his sharp eye observing everyone and jotting things down on a clipboard. He ignored the part of him that repeated the exits of the room and how this eerily felt like Ross’ experimentations. This wasn’t even close.
He was benched, thankfully, but forced to watch everyone else. He sighed and lolled his head onto the wall, tapping his leg against the floor. His arms were crossed over his chest, sometimes tapping on his bicep in increments of four. He heard some commotion coming from the other side of the room, making him look up.
Wanda was using her weird swirly magic to make Peter unstick from the ceiling and fall - a tight feeling blossomed in his chest - Wanda catching him just as he was hovering half an inch above the ground.
He turned and looked away, looked outside of the window and tapped his fingers against his bicep as he watched the sun slowly set. He was in his own little world before Coulson decided to crash it.
“Banner?” He snapped his head up. The aforementioned agent was standing right in front of him, the sounds of fake battle behind them in the background. “Agent?”
“I believe it is your turn, against Thor.” Fuck.
Why didn’t you think of that Banner?! They always want the Hulk.
Play dumb Banner, play dumb.
“Uhm, with the Hulk?” Not that dumb.
Coulson raised an eyebrow before nodding slowly, “Yes, with the Hulk.” Bruce bit his lip before straightening his posture and squared his shoulders only slightly. “Uhm, I might have to rain check on that.” Please believe the lie, please believe the lie, ple-
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you can rain check on mandatory training Doc.” Coulson bit back, sarcasm and authority lacing his tone. Reminds Bruce of a certain General…
Bruce decided to bite back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you housed the Hulk.” He stood up defensively, raising an eyebrow at the agent. People near them (Bucky, Sam, Steve, and Nat) stopped and turned to listen. Nat clenched her fist.
“I recommend you step aside Banner, before an angry assassin or two gets their hands on you.” He whispered, Bruce being the only one that heard him. Bruce smirked but had his fists clenched behind his back so hard he could feel the pain of his skin ripping open. Act smug before they bug, they say.
“Yeah? They gonna put me in a cage? Experiment on me?” He dangerously whispered back, glaring into the eyes of the other and tilted his head in an act of innocence. The room was deathly quiet, everybody else stopping to look at what the hell Bruce was doing.
Clint was standing by Natasha’s side now, already pulling back his bow.
Bruce could fight all he wanted, it seemed fun. He wanted to experience a black eye that wasn’t from a battle where he was the good guy; no, a small part of him wanted to be the bad guy.
“Zero out of ten, would not recommend S.H.I.E.L.D cages.” Bruce whispered soft and smug, daring Coulson to do something dammit.
But he didn’t, damned S.H.I.E.L.D training. The agent just glared at him before sharpening his tone and words, “Get back to the compound Banner, I’ll call you when Fury will need to talk to you.”
The doctor gave him a grin - baring his teeth more like it - before walking straight out of the training room. He won’t be needed anyway, he just saved them time.
A few hours later, there was still no call from Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D, making Bruce find a book and go up to the rooftop of the compound to read; simply relax. He thinks he hasn’t done that in a while, last time he checked anyway.
Though, then again, he did get FRIDAY to swear on her A.I life to not tell anyone where he was, and truthfully, no one would think to look on the rooftop. Unless you were a genius (former) playboy billionaire philanthropist named Tony Stark.
The familiar whoosh of Tony’s suit made him sigh and put his book down, resting his hands on his chest and look out into the sky. Tony was hovering about a kilometre up above. He stared until the suit finally touched the ground of the roof and Tony stepped out, giving Bruce a smile.
“Mr. Stark.” Bruce registered the flash of hurt that appeared on his features. Tony cleared his throat and stepped a little closer, “Hey big guy.” Bruce resisted the urge to scoff - big guy? You lost the privilege to call me that a while ago.
Instead, he ignored the name and picked his book up again and went back to the page he gently dog-eared. It was silent, for a while, the sunset at its peak when Tony suddenly asked, “Are you okay?”
Rage filled every single part of Bruce. “Am I okay?” He spat, mocking Tony’s tone. He stared into the other man’s eyes, which held shock, hurt, and sadness. Tony frowned, “Simple question big friendly giant, c’mon, are you okay?”
Bruce rolled his eyes and took a sip of his iced tea instead - it was watered down, disgustingly so. “That’s not proper etiquette for answering a question. You gotta say something! English lessons, man, English lessons.”
He raised an eyebrow at the blabbering man, “You didn’t take English class, you thought it was a waste of time.” Tony grinned, “Oh I did, father dearest forced me too but look at me now! Genius former playboy billionaire philanthropist!”
The reminder of father figures made the mood shatter; for Bruce at least. He sighed, “What do you want?” All he wanted was an answer, no games. Tony took a seat at the end of the lounge chair he was sitting on, swatting away Bruce’s legs carelessly. “You made Coulson angy.” He whispered, sounding like a schoolgirl with the newest gossip.
“Yeah? Guess he stole my secret.” Bruce replied bluntly, deadpan look on his face. He wasn’t giving away any emotion, not now. The other man looked thoughtful for a second, “About that, what’s it with you and big green? Didn’t wanna come out?”
Bruce snapped his book shut. He laughed humorlessly, “Huh, so now you care?” The billionaire stuttered, “Wh- what? Bruc-”
“No no no, don’t you dare throw that pitying look at me. It’s like the whole ‘I killed myself thing’ all over again; nobody cares! Nobody will ever care. They pretend to because the human brain is hard-wired to show empathy, I know you show it through humour and buying a shit ton of things nobody needs - that not even a mythical God needs - because dammit; that’s what your parents did, huh?”
Bruce made sure to hit home, he knew how to push Tony’s buttons but he never needed it, never thought he would. He was now standing, pointing a finger at Tony. And when he saw the other man’s eyes start to glaze, he could barely find an ounce of sympathy for him.
A few years earlier, yes, he would feel sorry and immediately apologize but now isn’t a few years ago. And yes, Tony did like to make everything about him at times but right now, Bruce doesn’t think it was intentional.
“At least I had parents!” Tony shot back, no filter in his words. Bruce was happy to see that the other man didn’t feel sorry about what he said. “Low blow Stark, anything else you wanna remind me ‘bout?” He smirked, smirk faltering when Tony looked sorry.
The physicist rolled his eyes and shook his head, arms crossing over his chest. “C’mon Stark, I know you wanna throw the first punch. C’mon! I’m the bad guy aren’t I?” He sounded maniacal, but he didn’t care; this was fun as hell. “Don’t you wanna hear my bones crack under the blow of your-”
Then he stopped, and looked at Tony, like, looked at him and narrowed his eyes. He smirked again. “You’re scared of the other guy aren’t you?” Tony looked defeated. Then suddenly a door behind them slammed open and in walked Nat and Clint in the front with the rest of the Avengers behind them.
Bruce laughed and held his arms open wide, “Here to watch the show aren’t ya?” He felt carefree for the first time in a while. The last time he probably felt this carefree was when he and Betty became sneaky when her father was in the next room.
Nat stepped forward, hands held up in an attempt to reassure Bruce she wasn’t going to hurt him. C’mon, he wouldn’t fall for that. “Bann-”
“Oops, looks like I broke little Widow’s trust. Banner? C’mon, we were on a first-name basis!” He whined, pouting.
Then Wanda had the audacity to step up. “Look, I kn-”
“You know I’m what? Angry? Do better than that Maximoff, angry is my fucking brand.” She stepped back, and he could practically see the red swirling in her eyes.
Oooo, she was angry as well. This’ll be fun. He whistled, “Ya think you could pull your magic tricks Wanda? Or shall I say, Scarlet Witch.” Wanda didn’t like that name, Bruce knew she didn’t. So he barely flinched when he suddenly flew onto the ground, something constricting his lungs - now this was the fight he wanted.
He sat up and threw his head back and laughed, honest to god laughed when he found that Nat held one of her knives to him and Clint was pointing what looked like one of the tranquilizer arrows at him.
“That all you got?” Then he turned to Stark, “You wanna pull out the big guns?” Then he turned to look at the rest of the Avengers behind the two assassins. “What about you guys? Spidey? Care to do a little pew-pew with your webs? And Bucky! What about putting that metal arm to use?”
It all happened too fast as Cap’s shield flew itself into Bruce’s gut, he barely felt it; it was like he was on a cloud. “Phew Cap, you should be glad it didn’t kill me.” He wiped his hand over his forehead and gave them all a bloody grin, happy to taste the blood in his mouth.
The familiar irony taste gave him a sense of comfort. Then a burning sensation wrapped itself around Bruce’s wrists - Wanda’s swirly red magic. Awesome!
His arms were then locked behind his back, Bruce hearing both his shoulders pop out of its sockets from the aggressiveness. “Ah, fun. Aiming to kill me, aren't ya red?” Wanda stepped forward, fierce look in her eyes and arms held at her side, palms facing towards him as almost thunderbolts of red surrounded her hands and went up to her exposed forearms.
“Nobody hurts my family.” Huh, she actually sounded convinced about that. Interesting. Bruce ignored the small feeling of hurt that blossomed in his chest as he responded, “And your ‘family’ was mine at one point too.”
She tilted her head and raised a brow, “Is that so?” She turned to look at the others, “He was considered family?” Steve was the first to answer, with a nod, and he looked disappointed.
Bruce ‘tsked,’ “Damn Cap, that was brutal. Just end me already Maximoff.” She shrugged, “Contemplating about that right now.” Tony then stepped up, “Woah woah woah, what?”
Bruce chuckled, “Worried ‘bout me now, huh Stark? Scared that another death will end up on Wanda’s hand and you’ll have to suffer through her cries once again?”
That was when Clint and Nat stepped up, “Don’t you dare-”
Bruce huffed. “You think those tranquilizer arrows will still work? There’s enough of that stuff jammed in there to take out an entire population of elephants.” Peter spoke up, “So?” He sounded annoyed and slightly worried.
“Just a drop and it’ll kill a grown man.” Tony looked taken aback, “And?…” Then a look of realization dawned on his face. “Hulk isn’t there anymore is he?” He whispered in fear. In fear that Bruce will die if they keep doing this.
Bruce laughed in glee. “Finally! Someone got it. I sacrificed a lot to snap back half of the universe that got snapped out. Not everyone came back. Some might still be stuck in the little world of the Infinity Stones.”
“So…” Steve spoke up, his face full of horror. Bruce shrugged, “Honestly, I was kind of foreshadowing about the whole ‘Hulk isn’t here’ thing. And to think Stark is a genius.”
“Not everything is all rainbows and unicorns. Not everyone has a happy ending. Not everyone has a good support system.” He looked up at the rest of them and bared his teeth once more,
“Welcome to my world, where none of those things exist; where it’s just me and my edging sanity.”