Marvel one-shots and short stories

Bruce Banner/Thor Odinson, meeting the family

"Are you sure about this?" Bruce asked his boyfriend again.
"Yes!  There will be a feast in our honor.  I will introduce you to my parents and friends," Thor answered boisterously, trying to comfort the smaller man.
"That's great and all but crowds of loud angry people and I don't exactly get along." Bruce tried to explain.
"Why-oh," Thor realized what his boyfriend was worried about, "you are worried about Hulk?"
"Yes," Bruce answered simply, playing with a loose string on his shirt hem.
"I am sorry that this worry plagues you.  Is there anything I can do to help you?" Thor asked, speaking softer than the loud declarations he had previously announced.
"I-I don't want to mess with your time with your friends and family," Bruce said, cutting himself off from asking a favor.
"You are not a bother to me, and even if Hulk is forced to make an appearance, that would not mess things up," Thor assured Bruce.
"Ok.  I just-can you stay with me?  It's just that it'll be safer for everyone if you're there to keep an eye on me." Bruce requested.  Thor's response was to pull the smaller man into a strong hug.  Bruce buried his face in Thor's chest and tried to calm himself down again since his heart rate and blood pressure had been slowly rising throughout their conversation.  He didn't exactly want to Hulk out while discussing his concerns about Hulking out.
"I would never leave you alone if you asked that I not," Thor squeezed Bruce a little tighter, knowing that the pressure and his voice would help to quell the spike of green that had entered Bruce's eyes as they discussed the smaller man's fears.
"Thank you," Bruce said, his voice muffled.
Thor pulled back and held Bruce at an arm's length to observe the Hulk or not Hulk status of his boyfriend.  When he seemed happy with what he saw, he spoke again.
"Are you sure you want to do this?  If you are truly unhappy then we will not go." Thor assured him.
"I..." Bruce trailed off for a moment, glancing over to their packed duffle bags before looking back at Thor and answering, "Yes.  I want to go."
Right on cue, the rainbow beam from the Bifrost shot down in front of them, causing Bruce to jump.  Thor first placed their bags in the light, so that they would be sent ahead of the two men.  Then, he held his hand out to Bruce, which the smaller man promptly took and moved closer to the god.
Together they stepped into the beam and were swept away.  Bruce squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed Thor's arm with his other hand, trying to not let his heart rate increase exponentially at the feeling of suddenly being shot across space.  When they arrived, Thor loudly greeted the other man in the chamber.
"Heimdal!  It is good to see you again, friend!"  Thor grinned at the older man before realizing that his left hand was still being squeezed.
"Bruce?  Are you alright?" Thor asked quickly and softly.
"Y-yeah.  Just a second." Bruce managed to force out and he fought to get his breathing and heart under control before opening his eyes and taking in the room they had been transported into.
"Th-this place is cool," Bruce said, saving all of the measurements his brain was helpfully providing him with and focusing on them.  This helped to calm him down, and he slowly relinquished his death grip on his boyfriend.
"The palace is this way," Thor said.  When Bruce looked over to his, he saw that the larger man was already holding both of their bags and he let Thor begin leading him down the rainbow bridge that led from the Bifrost to the main part of Asgard.  Thor led him straight to the palace, where they were quickly escorted to their room by a guard.
"Wow," Bruce said as soon as the door had shut behind them.  He quickly began rambling about how impressive Thor's home was and how interesting the design was, how could they have accomplished this all so fast in their society, and how he was kind of looking forward to the events of the next few days now that he was here and on and on and on.  While he was rambling and pacing the room (which he didn't notice), Thor had been unpacking their things and putting them away before he caught his boyfriend's arm and turned Bruce to look at him.
"Are you alright?  Honestly." Thor asked.
"Yeah.  I got a bit thrown off and almost Hulked out on you in the Bifrost 'cause it was really disorienting but I'm good now." Bruce said quickly, throwing a fake smile on at the end.
"I asked you to be honest," Thor repeated, his eyes searching Bruce's face.
"I... I'm a bit off still.  I'm sure you could tell, given that I was rambling about the design of this bedroom for a minute straight." Bruce explained, his face falling.
"Alright.  Can you explain it any further?  Or do you need more time to process?" Thor asked, leading Bruce to the edge of the bed for them to sit together.  Before responding, Bruce took a deep breath.  Thor waited patiently for Bruce to get his thoughts in order.
"I feel sort of disconnected.  I don't know why but ever since we stepped into the Bifrost something's been off.  It's like I'm seeing this stuff and my head is processing everything but nothing is clicking.  And add on top of that the fact that Hulk has been trying to come out ever since the Bifrost as well.  I'm stuck between Bruce and Hulk and so it's like I'm underwater, nothing looks, feels, or sounds quite right." Bruce tried to explain, staring down at his hands.
"Bruce." Thor brought a hand to Bruce's face, cupping his cheek and tilting his face toward Thor's.
"Yeah?" Bruce said, staring into Thor's eyes.
"What do you need from me?" Thor asked, "we don't have to leave this room for another half hour.  What can I do to help you?"
"Can we just... cuddle?  That sounds stupid no never mind." Bruce asked before turning his whole body away from Thor partially and burying his face in his hands, overwhelmed.
Suddenly, Bruce felt Thor's arms coming around his frame.  Thor tightened his hug around his boyfriend and pulled him back towards him.  After a moment of rearranging, they were sitting up against the headboard of the bed, with Bruce practically in Thor's lap, and Thor was holding Bruce close, letting him get lost in the sound of Thor's heartbeat.
They sat like this for the next half hour, until they were disturbed by a sudden knock on the door.  The sound caused Bruce to jump, but he was quickly calmed with the realization that he was still in Thor's arms and he was safe.
"Are you feeling any better?" Thor asked Bruce gently as the smaller man worked to untangle himself from Thor.
"Yeah.  A lot more grounded.  More like Bruce and less like Hulk." Bruce answered with a soft, real, smile.
"I am glad to hear it.  We must go greet my mother and father.  Are you alright with that?" Thor asked, making sure.
"Yes.  I am." Bruce answered clearly.
The two of them made their way down to the throne room.  When they entered, Bruce's mind continued its diagram and calculations of the Asgardian palace while Thor conversed for a moment with the guard.
"We are allowed to approach.  My father is still in a meeting with a general, but my mother is here." Thor explained, leading Bruce down the hall to the thrones at the head of the hall, where a woman was sitting.
"Mother!" Thor exclaimed in joy.
"Thor.  It is good to see you after so long." the woman, Thor's mother, rose from the throne she had been sitting on and came forward to hug her son.
"Mother, this is Bruce.  Bruce, this is my mother, Frigga." Thor introduced them when he was released from the hug.
"It is good to finally meet you," Frigga hugged Bruce as well.  His first instinct was to tense up at the sudden contact, but Frigga, similarly to Thor, didn't immediately move away but instead gave him a moment to relax in the hug and to hug back.  After a moment of reciprocated hugging, Frigga pulled back to glance over Bruce, scanning for indications of what this man's personality was.  Under her hard stare, Bruce didn't waver but simply held eye contact with her.
"It is good to meet you as well.  Thor has told me quite a bit about you." Bruce stated.
"How was the Bifrost?  I've been told that it can be rather... disconcerting the first time." Frigga asked with a look of concern.
"It was quite strange," Bruce admitted simply, glancing at Thor, trying to figure out how much these people knew about him.
"Well, I am happy to see that you made it here safely," Frigga said, her expression softening to motherly love towards this stranger.  As she observed this man with her eldest son, she realized how good Bruce was for Thor.  She had never met Bruce without Thor, but she could assume that the same was true that way.
"Mother, do you know how much longer Father will be kept up in his meeting?" Thor asked when he noticed Bruce beginning to fidget in the uncomfortable silence.
"I believe he chose to simply retire after the meeting, so as to have a moment to himself before the gathering tonight," Frigga explained apologetically.
"Ah, that makes much sense.  If we could, I would like to take Bruce down to the hall in which the festivities will be occurring, so that he knows where we will be?" Thor asked for his mother's permission to leave the throne hall.
"Of course.  You might also consider taking him to see the observatory, he may find it intriguing." Frigga suggested.  Thor nodded, turning and leading Bruce out of the room.  When they exited the room, Thor quickly turned to Bruce and took his hand.
"Was that alright?" Thor asked.
"Yeah.  A little stressful but not all that much beyond the normal 'meeting the parents' stress.  I'm kind of... glad that your dad wasn't there, 'cause I think that would have been hard." Bruce admitted, squeezing Thor's hand.
"Do you have any questions before we continue?"
"Yeah.  Do your parents know about the other guy?  Or your friends?" Bruce asked, tapping his free hand against his leg unconsciously.
"No," Thor took Bruce's free hand in his as well, "I did not want to force you to come here with that possible prejudice.  I did explain that they should not try to push you in any way, and suggested that it would end poorly for all involved."
"Ok.  So next is the party room?" Bruce asked with a grin.
"Yes," Thor said with a chuckle, releasing one of Bruce's hands, "let us go!"
Thor once more led Bruce down several flights of stairs and several halls until they finally reached the 'party room' where the event later that evening would be taking place.  When they entered the room, Bruce looked around at the architecture first, adding it to his picture of the palace, while Thor greeted his friends, Lady Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun.
"Friends!  It is good to see you!" Thor let go of Bruce's hand and went to embrace his friends.
"You brought a Midgardian?" Lady Sif asked incredulously.
"Yes, this is Bruce.  Bruce," Thor called his name and got his attention before continuing, "this is Lady Sif," Thor gestured to the woman with black hair, "Volstagg," the man with a long red beard, "Fandral," the man with blonde hair, "and Hogun," the man with long hair in a bun.
"Hi.  It's nice to meet you," Bruce said with a small wave, hugely contrasted to the other five large and loud people in the room.
"I was showing him where the festivities of the night will be taking place," Thor explained their presence in the room before turning to Volstagg to discuss a recent battle quite loudly.
"Ah.  This is the man Thor was warning us to not disturb?  The way you were described," Sif began to circle Bruce like a shark, putting him on edge, while continuing to speak softly, "we were picturing the man Thor was courting to be one of a large warrior species.  Not a small human male."
Bruce had decided to try and stay perfectly still while being examined, but now was beginning to fidget slightly.
"He can't even hold still for thirty seconds?" Fandral added in.
"He is small, even by most human standards," Hogun commented.
When Thor glanced back at his boyfriend, he saw the way Sif was standing behind Bruce and the way he was being looked at by the others.  Like he was fresh meat.  However, these were not the things that drew his attention.  No, what caught his eye was Bruce's eyes.  Which had turned a bright green color.
"Sif," Thor said calmly.
"Yes, Thor?" Sif answered.
"What are you doing?" Thor asked.
"Just seeing what your new boyfriend is made of.  He can't even hold still under inspection." Sif said with a chuckle.
"Stop," Thor demanded, "and step out from behind him."
"Fine.  But I still don't see how he's supposed to be a threat to us," Sif said, walking to stand over by Hogun.
"Believe me, he would be," Thor answered Sif before turning his attention to Bruce, "Bruce?  Are you okay?"  Bruce didn't respond and simply kept staring at Sif, his arteries beginning to gain a green tint.
"Why is he turning green?" Volstagg, the only one who hadn't been messing with Bruce, asked.
"He-," Thor hesitated, considering if it was safe to tell them before continuing, "you have heard of the Hulk on Midgard?"
"Yes," Fandral answered curiously.
"He and Bruce are one and the same.  If his heart rate keeps increasing because he continues to feel threatened he will 'Hulk-out' as he calls it, and become the Hulk both mentally and physically," Thor explained, keeping his eyes on Bruce.  As Thor had been talking, some of the green had been receding from his veins, and Thor now believed it to be safe to approach Bruce.
Before actually touching the smaller but slowly growing man, Thor gestured for his friends to leave.  When they had left the hall, he began to speak quietly and calmly.
"Bruce, can you hear me?  I need you to focus on my voice.  They're gone, the threat is gone, and it's just you and me.  I'm safe and you're safe.  Hulk doesn't need to protect you right now." Thor explained, carefully putting his hands on Bruce's shoulders.  When this was met with a slight twitch and the disappearance of the green from the other man's bloodstream, Thor pulled him into an embrace, wrapping his arms around Bruce's frame and pressing Bruce's ear against his chest.  Bruce whimpered quietly and melted into the embrace, pressing into Thor's chest to make them impossibly closer.
"Are you back?" Thor asked, only to be met with another whimper.  After waiting a few minutes more, during which Thor talked constantly about nonsense, letting Bruce focus on his voice and the vibrations in his chest, Thor tried again.
"Bruce?"  This time he got a response.
"Hm?" Bruce said, his response muffled by Thor's chest.
"Are you back?"
"Yeah," Bruce said.  Thor could tell by Bruce's tone that the smaller man needed another few moments.
"Do you want to go back to our room now?" Thor offered.
"Yeah, that was really close," Bruce said, nodding as much as he could with his head pressed against Thor.
"Alright," Thor said, pulling away from the hug and taking Bruce's hand.  Bruce quickly grabbed onto Thor's arm as well, trying to keep as much of the grounding contact as possible.
"Banner," Sif started when they exited the room, "I wanted to apologize for my behavior.  I did not intend to alarm you so much, I merely intended to give you what Midgardians refer to as the 'shovel talk'.  If I had known what the reaction would be, I would not have gone so far."
"It's okay.  Well, it's not.  And you gave the shovel talk wrong.  It's just supposed to be you telling me that if I hurt Thor then you'll hurt me.  It's not supposed to be an attack.  And I overreacted since I've been on edge since I got here, so some of the blame does fall on me." Bruce answered.
"We're all to blame," Fandral commented.
"Yes, to an extent we are.  If it happens again, you will all regret it.  Now, we are going back to our chamber to rest before the festivities begin." Thor said, and he led Bruce away.
When they returned to their room, Bruce froze for a moment before letting go of Thor's arm and he began pacing up and down the room's length, shaking his hands out and trying to calm his heart rate down the rest of the way.
"Bruce?" Thor asked cautiously after a moment.
"Yeah?" Bruce froze and turned to Thor.
"Come here," Thor instructed gently.
Once more, they ended up on the bed cuddling.
"Do you still want to go to the party tonight?" Thor asked.
"Yeah.  Maybe not for very long though, but I am supposed to meet your father." Bruce answered quietly.
"Ah.  Well, whenever you want to leave the event you can tell me and we will, okay?" Thor said.
"Yeah.  How long do we have until it starts?" Bruce asked.
"Around 15 minutes."
"What?!" Bruce exclaimed, trying to move out of Thor's arms.
"Shh, shh, calm down," Thor said, rubbing soothing circles on Bruce's back.
"I am calm," Bruce claimed angrily.
"No, you're not.  And if you explode in a room full of officials it won't go well.  We both know that.  So just stay here for a few more minutes, I won't let us be late."  Thor assured Bruce, who promptly leaned back into the embrace and refocused on calming his heart rate.
"Alright," Thor said after another 5 minutes, "now we can get ready."
He released Bruce, who quickly ran into their bathroom while Thor changed into the 'official' clothes of the prince.  When Bruce returned, he quickly changed into the clothes Thor was holding out to him.
"Wow," Bruce said, "these are sooo soft!"
"Yes," Thor chuckled, "I thought you would appreciate it.  Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah.  Ready as I'll ever be," Bruce took Thor's offered hand.
When they arrived in the hall, the festivities commenced.  After about an hour, Bruce felt comfortable enough to leave Thor's side, having met the king and been fine.  Only around ten minutes had passed with Bruce being separated from Thor when things started to go downhill.
"Midgardian!" A shout came from the other side of the room.  Bruce looked up in time to see a large Asgardian man stumbling up to him.  It was obvious that he had consumed way too much liquor.
"Can I help you?" Bruce asked, unsure of how to react to this.
"Yes!  I have many questions about Midgardian mating!" the man announced loudly, getting the attention of Sif and the warriors three who quickly realized what was happening, and that Bruce's normally brown eyes were turning green already.
"Um... I don't think I can be of much assistance," Bruce said, trying to escape the conversation.  When he tried to sidestep the man, the Asgardian grabbed his arm.
"I think you can," the man declared.  He pushed Bruce back against the wall, causing Bruce's blood to start running green.  As Bruce began to grow, Sif and her warriors stepped in.
"Meldun.  Can we help you?" Sif asked, placing herself quickly between the Asgardian and Bruce.  While she engaged the man, Meldun, in conversation, Volstagg and Fandral pulled Bruce toward the exit and out into the hallway, while Hogun went to get Thor.
"Thor!  Banner needs you." Hogun said once he had gotten Thor's attention.
"What happened?" Thor questioned as he followed Hogan to the exit.
"Meldun was coming on to him and it scared him.  Sif is dealing with Meldun, and Volstag and Fandral got Banner into the hall." Hogun explained.  His explanation was quickly followed by a loud roar, silencing everything in the hall.
"Bruce!" Thor exclaimed, breaking into a run.
As they passed Sif, they saw that she had pinned Meldun against the wall, and it looked like he would be regretting his choices for a while.  When they got out of the room, they saw that Hulk had fully emerged, and had slammed Fandral into the wall.  Volstagg was now trying to talk Hulk down from a distance.
"Hulk!" Thor called.  Hulk quickly spun around to see Thor.
"Banner not safe.  Danger." Hulk explained.
"It's alright.  The danger is gone, my friend.  I swear to you, it is safe now." Thor was very happy to find that the Asgardian pants had been able to stretch and morph to mostly stay intact.  Sadly, the same could not be said about the shirt.
"Danger?" Hulk asked.
"No.  Just a drunk idiot at a party who scared Banner.  He's safe, I'm safe, you're safe." Thor reiterated.
"Banner met Thor's parents," Hulk grunted.
"Yes, he met my parents," Thor answered.
"Hulk meets Thor's parents," Hulk demanded.
"Okay, yeah.  Volstagg, can you get the king and queen?" Thor asked, keeping his voice level.
"Yes, King Odin, Queen Frigga, could you come into the hallway please?" Volstagg asked, breaking the silence of the banquet hall.  The couple quickly followed him out into the hall.
"Bruce Banner?" Frigga asked after a moment.
"Hulk," Hulk said, pointing at himself.
"Mother, Father, this is Hulk.  Bruce's alter ego who comes out to protect him." Thor explained.
"Ah.  So you are the warrior!" Odin exclaimed.
"Yes.  Hulk smash." Hulk answered.
"You protect Bruce?" Frigga asked, stepping forward.
"Yes.  Banner in danger.  Hulk comes out," Hulk answered.
"Why was Banner in danger?" Frigga continued.
"Mean man," Hulk answered simply.
"Mother, it has been... taken care of by Sif," Thor informed her.
While the three members of the royal family discussed what had happened, Hulk began to shrink down into Bruce once more.
"Um, Thor?" Bruce said weakly.
Thor immediately spun around and reached out just in time to catch his boyfriend as his legs gave out underneath him.
"Mother, Father, we will be retiring to our chambers," Thor informed them.
"It was a good party," Bruce said as loudly as he could as Thor swept him off his feet and carried him off down the hallway.
The two men spent the night cuddling and holding one another close, basking in the safety and warmth of each other's arms.