painting memories, old and new
“steve, i’m scared. what if something goes wrong? what if-“
“bruce, it’ll be fine. thor’s a really nice guy and brings a positive energy.” steve patted bruce’s shoulder.
“i would be ranting to tony, but...” bruce pointed to the cafeteria window where tony and stephen were talking and laughing.
“do you think there’s something going on between them?” bruce shrugged.
“that’s not important right now. we need to talk about how we’re going to stop me from pissing myself in front of-“
“banner! there you are. when are we going to begin our project for art?” thor’s voice boomed, causing a few students to turn.
“i-“
“uh, bruce, i should go.” steve ignored bruce’s pleading look for him to stay. “i promised nat and sam that we’d go to the cafe.”
“alright. see ya, steve.” bruce weakly waved.
“farewell.” thor sat down next to bruce. bruce slight nudged away from thor. “so, do you want to do start the project now?” bruce sighed, there was no way he could escape this. he was bad at lying and even worse at lying to thor.
“sure. let’s do it in my room.”
bruce smiles softly, watching as thor collapsed onto his bed.
“so, what shall our theme be? nature? loss? love? there are others on the sheet.” thor asked, staring at the ceiling. bruce looked at the sheet that told them the different themes. their task was to research what colours and techniques artists use when they’re painting the different themes and explain why they’re effective. then, they had to paint their own example.
“not love. i don’t know about loss. maybe happiness? but that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?” bruce groaned, struggling to choose a theme.
“maybe nature. i would like to see thunder drawings.” thor chuckled, making thunder crashing noises. bruce’s smile widened as he shook his head.
“i think we should do one about loss.” thor sat up on the bed, peeking his head to the side.
“are you sure it won’t bring anything up that’s too personal?” bruce’s smile faded into a frown.
“well, if we want to make our own piece, it has to come from the heart, doesn’t it?” thor stared before nodding slowly.
“i guess so.”
the two boys had almost finished their art piece. the only thing left was the original piece.
“what should we draw?” bruce asked thor, who just frowned in response.
“i am not too sure. have you ever lost anyone close to you?” bruce’s heart stopped.
“m-my best friend.” he paused, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. “betty...”
“what happened to her?” thor placed a comforting hand on bruce’s shoulder. and although bruce was going to regret putting his head on thor’s shoulder, but he wasn’t thinking about that right now. all he thought of was betty. the first person he felt comfortable around. the first girl he fell in love with.
“she died in a car accident when she and her parents were heading to this party. the last thing she texted to me was a confession text, telling me how much she loved me. i replied but...” tears started to fall. “she never read it.” thor wrapped one arm around bruce whilst he sobbed.
“oh, banner. i’m so sorry.”
“it’s okay. it’s a thing of the past.” there was a negative, yet comfortable silence that took over the two before thor spoke.
“i’ve lost quite a few people in my life. so many, that i’ve learned to get used to it.” bruce looked at him, gesturing for him to continue. “my mother was the first. she had simply died of old age, but it still managed to destroy my world. then, a couple of my friends went out and got murdered. fandral, hogun and volstagg. i lost another friend, sif, to suicide. my other friend, heimdall, died of a diesease at a young age. i almost lost loki and my older sister hela to suicide as well. luckily, i was able to stop them.” bruce stared at thor in disbelief and sympathy. he couldn’t believe thor had gone through so much, yet the blonde male acted like none of this ever happened to him.
“thor, i...” bruce stared at thor’s ocean eyes. he slowly lifted his head off the other boy’s shoulder. thor rested his hand on bruce’s left cheek and stroked it softly. bruce noticed that thor had tears trickling down. “thor...”
“it’s okay, banner.” thor’s eyes wandered down to bruce’s lips. bruce couldn’t help but notice that.
“uh, thor?” thor leaned forward whilst bruce just stayed still, a blush painted upon his face. what is he supposed to do? should he lean in? is it too early? is thor even going to kiss him? all his thoughts went out the window when he felt a pair of lips on his. bruce was too shocked to kiss back and suddenly the lips were gone.
“banner, i-” thor was interrupted by tony and pepper barging in.
“oh, hey, brucie. hey, point break.” tony waved at his two friends.
“tony, the least you could’ve done was knock. you interrupted their studying.” pepper told tony, who just rolled his eyes.
“yeah...” bruce muttered looking at thor, who was trying not to look back at him. “...studying...”
this was going to be a crazy week.