Forever and Always

Silence. The bright lights of the room shown down, making Bruce sweat. He stood, waiting. He felt the bodies around him shift. He blinked, slowly, holding his breath.

It's the final countdown~

The kids around him sprang into action, pushing him along with him. He was shoved around for a bit until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Thor said, pushing him until they were out of the crowd. He smiled, and Bruce sighed.

"No. I hate gym. I despise it, if we could stop gym I would totally vote to see it destroyed."

"Okay, violent."

Bruce laughed, elbowing Thor in the shoulder. Well, in the elbow, he couldn't reach his shoulder with his own elbow. A couple seconds into the mile run and he already hated it. Bruce, if you couldn't tell, isn't very physically capable. He's as sharp as a whip, according to Thor he was the smartest person in the school, but when it came to gym, he sucked ass. Thor had taken to running with him, choosing different partners so they could talk as Bruce tried, and Thor succeed.

"Hey, hey, Bruce."

"What?"

Thor grabbed his hand, snapping his fingers into a strong grip and yelled:

"We're faster together!"

Bruce stumbled behind him, racing to keep up with Thor's long strides. He did that almost every mile run, most of the time he would almost pop Bruce's shoulder out of place and he'd be sore for weeks. This time Bruce was determined to keep up with him. Running hand in hand, Bruce didn't have time to think as his legs worked, all he could focus on was his breathing and trying not to die. About 5 minutes later, thanks to Thor dragging him, he completed the mile and all but collapsed onto the gym bench. He pulled the inhaler from his pocket and puffed, a second later he coughed once more.

"I hate when you made me promise to do stuff like that. You just wind up hurting yourself." Thor said, plopping down next to Bruce. He pat Bruce's back, hugging him close. Bruce coughed some more before his asthma calmed down. He sighed, and muttered something.

"Excuse?"

"If I don't, then I'd never be able to pass gym, also, it's not as bad as it used to be." He said, louder. Thor sighed, patting his arm.

"I just, you hurt yourself to get good grades a lot and I don't think that's very healthy."

"Oh, it's definitely not. I just get scared to ever get anything other than an A." He said casually. Thor made a concerned face, squeezing Bruce closer to his side. Thor always got worried when it came to Bruce and his grades, as his father had always had the most strict expectations for his young child, if he didn't meet those crazy expectations well... it wasn't pretty...

Darkness. He couldn't see, he couldn't smell. He wedged his eyes open, they were stuck with tears and snot. He inhaled deeply, unclogging his nose.

Copper, red, that's all he could see, all he could smell. He hurt, he was tired, and cold. He was dying.

A young Bruce lay in the snow, bleeding out, he had, at some point, managed to crawl his way outside. His face, his chest, and shoulder, not to mention his leg, which had been shot.

He panted, trying to cry out but finding himself unable too. He gagged, inhaling as much air as he could. The snow was turning a deep shade of crimson, he couldn't breath. He couldn't feel. He was dying.

"Bruce?"

Thor stood, staring at the limp form of his best friend. It smelled, it stunk so much of metal that he had to cover his nose with his shirt. He shook, staring as the head of his friend shake and turn over, staring at him with dark, blank eyes. It was close to midnight, he had been over at his friends house. He was lucky he had stayed as late as he did.

Bruce didn't talk, he only breathed in heavily, wheezing. Thor hurried, picking him up and running to his house, he slammed the door open and began yelling for his mom, his dad, Loki, anyone to help him. His dad came running out, looking around.

"Thor, do you know what time it i-"

Odin stopped short as he stared at the scene before him. Thor bloody, clutching a barely breathing Bruce. He ran out, grabbing shoes and his car keys and grabbing the two boys. He buckled the two into the front seat and slammed on it. They reached the hospital quickly, and got into the ER even quicker. Bruce was pretty bad off, he needed a big blood transfusion, the cuts had to be stitched up, and his leg that had been supposedly shot was sitting up in the air, he would go into surgery later. He woke for small periods of time, looking around. Once he spotted Thor, he reached out his hand, whispering something in his ear.

"Mommy's gone. She's cold."

Thor didn't know what that meant, Odin did.

An hour later, a police report came in. Two adults found dead, son shot.

Bruce woke after the surgery, unable to move. He unwedged his eyes, looking around at the white walls.

He was questioned by police and friends alike, turns out he had been sleeping on and off for like 3 weeks. He was so tired, and yet he knew he couldn't rest. Thor walked in with flowers, they smelled good. They didn't smell like the smell of a hospital, clean, like mom's cleaner. He missed mom. He wished she would visit. Hopefully she would have warmed up by now. He didn't wish father would come. He was dehydrated. He was hungry. He wanted his friends. He smelled the flowers, the nurses made sure they wouldn't faint. They made sure he didn't faint, either. He missed mommy, he wanted to see her. Whenever he asked to see her, the doctors would apologize. He didn't know why. He wanted to see her.

He found out that he wouldn't see her again a few weeks after he was shot. He was quiet. He didn't cry. He was broken. The only good thing was that father was gone, too.

He spent a couple months like that, sitting, waiting, never to see his parents again.

 Thor stood outside the bathroom, listening to the sounds of puking. Bruce had run off a few minutes after he finished the mile and was currently throwing up in the restroom. Thor guessed he knew why Bruce was throwing up, it was evident to him, not to anyone else, though. The toilet flushed and a few seconds later, Bruce emerged from the bathroom, pale and tired.

"You're-"

"Gross, I know." Bruce cut him off, waving his hand trying to dismiss Thor.

"No, you're either sick or stressed. Which one is it."

"What?"

"Sick or stressed, which one. Either way you're going home, young man." Thor folded his arms, staring intently at Bruce.

"I uh... I guess I'm stressed. All this stuff that's been happening lately." He shrugged, looking down at the floor.

"Alright, let's go talk to coach."

Walking down the halls was quiet. Bruce didn't want to talk and Thor respected that. All he needed to do was tell the teacher that Bruce threw up and he could go home. Thor wished he could wait for May with Bruce but decided that Coach would probably shoot his idea down.

"Hey, Thor? Can you uhm... can you wait with me? I just, I... you don't have to but I'd like you there."

Never mind, he was going to make coach let him stay with Bruce. The gym doors swung open, Steve gave a questioning glance towards Thor, he shrugged, mouthing "I'll tell you later."

Coach was waiting for them. She was a very intense person but if you tried your hardest in her class, she liked you. She was tall, a little shorter than Thor but, he didn't mind. She was strong, too. She could probably bench two of him if she tried. Her short brown hair fell into waves, poking out from under her cap. She wore the gym shirt and a pair of sweats. He glanced up as they approached.

"Thor, Bruce. What's up?"

"Bruce threw up, he needs to head home. Can I wait with him in the lobby?"

"Why do you need to wait with him, he's a capable kid."

"Yes, but he's been super stressed lately, and he asked me to stay with him."

Coach paused, thinking, before she agreed. Her only rule was that he needed to come right back after Bruce's parent got here. Thor nodded and they shuffled out of the room. Bruce needed to stop in the locker room to grab his things, shoveling his clothes into his backpack and walking out of the room. Thor followed close behind, holding his hand out just in case Bruce wanted to take it. He did. They walked to the front office, calling May and apologizing.

"Yeah, Thor's with me... I will, we'll just be in the cafeteria... Love you, I will, bye." Bruce hung up the phone, sighing before he turned around and smiled. "May says hi."

They walked to the cafeteria, the wide hallway leading gave them some space to breath. They plopped down on the benches, sitting next to each other. Just like in elementary. Thor squeezed Bruce to his side, he felt Bruce's tense muscles relax into his usual arm mass. He realized that he knew hardly anything about how muscles worked because that thought he just had made absolute no sense.

"I wish I could go home. I could take my pants off."

Bruce laughed, Thor loved it when Bruce laughed. He felt his phone buzz, his mom texted him.

"Do you want to go home, too? I heard Bruce is stress sick."

"Yeah, he threw up."

A few minutes later, he got a response:

"I checked you out."

He jeered in victory, telling Bruce to hold on as he ran back to the locker room. Grabbing all his stuff and not even bothering to put it into his backpack, he ran back and saw Bruce walking out the doors.

"My mom checked me out, I can come with you!" He said, reaching Bruce's side.

"Sweet! Cool, I think Hulk'll be happy to see you."

"I hope he is! I'm happy to see him, and I haven't even seen him yet!"

Bruce chuckled as they walked into the cold air. The shorts they were wearing didn't help with the whole cold situation but, they still walked slowly. They both got into the backseat, May didn't question why Thor got in, his mom probably told her. Now, he had a whole day to spend with Bruce, his only goal to help him relax!