You clutched the wound that was bleeding profusely. You could only whimper and watch on as Bruce annihilated the rest of the men and women, tearing heads from bodies and scattering limbs as though they were grains of rice. An arm fell to your right and you flinched from it, earning a searing pain from your wound. Sliced and stabbed with a knife. That's how you were going to die.
He ripped the last head off and you watched as the spinal chord came with it. You looked away, not shutting your eyes regardless of your lids becoming heavy. You let the cold of the unpolished concrete floor awaken you and keep you from slipping. Tony would find a way to heal you. He had to.
Suddenly Bruce - human Bruce - was standing over you, tearing at what was left of his shorts and applying it to your wound. "I need you to press hard. Can you do that for me?" He asked you as though you were a child.
You nodded and watched as he got another shirt and placed it under your head. His hands replaced yours and he kept his eyes on yours. "(Y/N), look at me. Keep your eyes on me. The others are going to come soon. I promise. You just have to keep fighting until then." But your head was getting dizzy and your vision was becoming impaired. He moved your hair from your eyes. "Keep fighting."
You could only make a grunting noise to assure him that you were fighting. The pain was tearing you apart.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't close your eyes," he said, shaking you,
You nodded softly. "But I'm just sleepy..."
He chuckled, but he was scared. You were both scared. "Don't sleep yet. You can sleep soon. Just not yet, ok?"
"Mhm." But your eyes seemed to close on their own.
He began to panic. "(Y/N), why don't you tell me a story?"
They stayed closed. "A story about what?"
"About anything. Or tell me something about you. Something no one knows."
You racked your brain from something that nobody knew. "Well there's one thing..."
He sighed in relief. "Ok. Tell me."
"But I don't want to. It's a secret."
"Don't worry. Just tell me."
He stared at the blood surrounding you. You were loosing too much too fast, he prayed silently that a miracle would happen and the others would get here faster. He took the cloth off to see the wound before deciding it was too covered in blood to see the extent of it. He pressed back on your wound. "(Y/N), come on. Don't sleep. Tell me."
You sighed. "You're always so pushy."
He scoffed. "Me? Pushy? We live with Tony Stark. How am I pushy?"
You sighed some more. "You won't let me sleep..."
He pushed slightly harder, making the pain keep you awake too. "You know why I won't let you sleep. You know why so don't fight me on it, (Y/N)."
You nodded. "Ok..."
"Good... Now tell me what it was."
You shrugged. "I've never been kissed."
He was silent for a moment. "See? That wasn't hard to say."
You shook your head. "No... It wasn't..." It was the next part you hesitated about. "Bruce?"
"Yes?"
"I..."
"Yes?"
You could feel a warmth begin at your toes and you sighed, feeling relaxed and calm, despite the horrific mess of dead bodies and the blood that seemed to be everywhere. "I'm sleepy..."
He shook you. "No, no, no! Don't go to sleep! You have to promise me not to sleep, ok? Promise me?"
"But I don't want to."
He groaned. "(Y/N), quit being stubborn."
"But I'm not - "
"Let's just keep talking about something else, ok?"
But you could feel it. The warmth was spreading quickly and you knew you weren't close to the end. You knew that this was it. After this, you'd take the one way journey to heaven. The journey that no one came back from. It saddened you to leave, but you knew there was no other option. You began to well up and tears streamed down the sides of your face, mixing into the pools of blood beside you from others and yourself.
"Bruce...?" you asked, timid.
"Yes?"
You took in a deep, hard breath. "Will you kiss me?"
He stared at you for what seemed like eternity. "Would you promise to stay awake?"
You nodded. "Yes."
He moved some more of your hair back, letting it splay out behind you. To him, you'd never looked more beautiful. He wished it had been him that had taken the hit. He was beginning to get desperate to keep you. He smiled softly at you before using one hand to hold your head up slightly, then he leaned in, his face merely centimetres away from yours. You could feel the warmth of his breath match the warmth of your body as he moved even closer, his eyes closing. The moment his lips touched yours, your eyes shut as well.
It was nothing more than a simple peck, but it was enough to convey the desperation between the two of you and rid you of never having had a first kiss. You smiled softy. It was beginning to get hard even smiling. "Thank you, Bruce," you whispered.
He nodded, kissing your forehead. "It's alright. Now keep your promise and stay awake."
Judging by the look on his face, you knew that there was no real meaning to his words anymore. You were too far gone.
You reached up to touch his face. "Bruce...?"
He was beginning to cry. "Yes?" he asked, his lower lip trembling,
"Thank you... For everything..." He'd been the first one to accept you into the team, to hang out with you when the others were busy, to send you to training and pick you up again. The bond you and he shared was different to the others. It was deeper. More enforced.
He kissed your palm. "There's no need to thank me." His hand clutched yours as he placed kisses on it again and again, more reassuring himself than you.
"I love you," you whispered. It wasn't a romantic love, and he knew it. It was just the kind that the universe was good enough to give. The kind that reinforced humanity.
"Please don't leave me - !" And then you found the light.