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Loki wasn’t afraid of many things. He wasn’t afraid of heights or fire or water or any of those small things that many seemed to be afraid of. No, it was more the thought of what each of these could do to him that made him anxious. The cracking of bones after a fall, the searing burns that flames left behind, the powerless feeling of not being able to use magic underwater. That was the sort of thing that frightened him, though he loathed to admit he was afraid of anything at all.
What truly terrified Loki, however, wasn’t a thing at all. They were people. Beings. Creatures. Whatever they might be called. The Mad Titan was among them, as were his children. They had beaten him, tortured him, messed with his mind. All for a plan that was destined to fail.
But Thanos wasn’t the one who Loki was currently in close proximity with on a daily basis. No, that would be the Hulk. The very same Hulk that had, years ago, threw him around like a ragdoll. The beast was powerful enough to match Thor in a fight. Hel, he had defeated Fenris while the wolf was under Hela’s control then went on to throw himself at Surtur as the monster started his attack on what remained of Asgard. Loki felt he had a right to be afraid of him.
Every time that Loki found himself in the same room as the beast, he was tense. He was always prepared for the Hulk to pick him up by the ankle and once again smash him around like a toy, flinching whenever the creature moved suddenly or made a frustrated noise. It was becoming exhausting, and he was sure that the others had started to notice his anxiety around the beast. None of them seemed to be afraid of him in the same way Loki was even though they had all seen what he was capable of. They knew he could kill any one of them if he wanted to, yet they trusted that he wouldn’t. They believed that he was on their side. That he was a hero.
But Loki just couldn’t shake the feeling that the monster was out to get him. That he was simply waiting for the right time to strike. Maybe that was what Bruce wanted, too, considering he hadn’t reverted back to his more fragile, human form. Maybe he was actually in control of the shared body, planning when would be the best time to corner and kill him.
This thought standing out like a warning in his mind, Loki took to avoiding the Hulk like the plague. That proved to be difficult considering the beast followed Thor and Brunnhilde around like a lost puppy. Anywhere they went, Hulk followed. And although Thor had given Loki permission to go wherever on the ship he wanted, whenever he wanted, he felt the need to stay close to his brother. He needed to regain his trust, especially if they planned to return to an Earth that would be far from happy with his return. Having Thor on his side would make everything so much easier. So, Loki settled with ensuring that he never found himself alone in a room with the Hulk.
That plan lasted for a little over a week.
There was no day and night in space, but the Statesman was set on a cycle that was meant to simulate the different lights of the sun and the moon. The lights were bright during the day and dim at night, creating some semblance of a schedule for all the creatures onboard. Most of the creatures, at least.
Loki had never had a consistent sleep schedule, but it had become worse since Sakaar. He simply couldn’t sleep around people he didn’t trust, and there was no one he trusted on Sakaar. While he quickly gained a private room, he always felt he was being watched. He kept a dagger tucked beneath his pillow, often fighting to stay alert even as sleep tugged him towards darkness. He couldn’t allow himself to go unprotected. Especially not in a place like that.
It was better now, being on the Statesman , but he still struggled to sleep most nights. He supposed that was why he found himself wandering the halls in the late hours of the artificial night. It had been hours since he had first lied down, after all. Thor had dozed off almost immediately, his soft snores filling the makeshift living quarters. He seemed constantly worn down these days, though Loki supposed that was expected between his healing wounds and the endless responsibility that had been dumped on his shoulders. Thor had good reason to be exhausted.
Loki, on the other hand, hadn’t been injured badly in the escape. He had been sick that first day from the heat of the fire he had started, but it had hardly lasted a full cycle of the lights. His burns and bruises were mostly recovered now, leaving behind only a dull ache of soreness. Knowing this, he had tried to convince Thor to ease up on his duties. He offered to help take some of the load off, give his brother a chance to rest, but Thor kept insisting he was fine. He still let Loki help, delegating certain tasks to him and the Valkyrie and Heimdall, but there was still plenty more that could be done.
But Thor was persistent and stubborn and wasn’t ready to admit that he needed help, so Loki found himself with a lot of downtime that he didn’t necessarily want. If he were going to be awake, he would rather be doing something more productive than roaming the Statesman . Loki never got what he wanted though. This proved to be all the more true when he wandered into one of the larger storage rooms and saw green.
“Sh*t.” The curse was hardly more than a breath of air, but it caught the creature’s attention as if it had been a roar. The Hulk lifted his head, blinking at Loki through always-angry green eyes. Loki suddenly wondered if he was actually asleep in his and Thor’s shared chambers and this was the nightmare he had been given.
“Puny god,” Hulk huffed out, voice quieter than Loki had ever heard it. He didn’t make any move to attack him, yet Loki found himself frozen in place, staring at the beast with scared eyes. The creature simply tilted his head curiously before raising up to stand nearly twice Loki’s height.
Loki snapped out of his daze then, quickly taking a step back as the Hulk took one forward. It took him by surprise when the monster stopped suddenly, seemingly sensing his fear. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved. They simply took each other in, tension heavy in the air.
Somewhere in that moment of silence, an idea squeezed its way to the front of Loki’s mind. It was a terrible idea, really, and would likely be his final demise, but… he was curious. The words of a Midgardian phrase his mother taught him when he was a child pulled itself from the depths of his mind. Curiosity killed the cat , she had told him and Thor when she found them sneaking out of the palace. Loki couldn’t quite remember now what they had been planning, but the phrase had stuck with him through all the centuries he had lived since. And my kittens don’t have nine lives.
“Hulk.” Loki knew he had the creature’s attention the moment the word left his mouth. The beast looked at him with something akin to childlike wonder, cocking his head in a silent question as he continued to study the man in front of him. His expression morphed into surprise when Loki reached forward with a slightly trembling hand.
Loki braced himself, certain that the monster would retaliate. If he was quick, he could get away. He could teleport himself to the other end of the ship, lock himself in another storage room. He could even return to the Commodore , leaving the Statesman and its passengers behind. It wasn’t as if anyone would be shocked by his sudden change in heart. Some might even be relieved when he disappeared. Except—
Except Hulk didn’t attack. Instead, he reached out his hand in turn, waiting for Loki to take it. Still, Loki hesitated before reaching forward and grabbing ahold of the oversized green fingers. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he reached forward with his magic, poking his way into the mind of the monster. The amount of anger he felt was overwhelming, but he didn’t dare let go. Enchantment wasn’t an easy trick, after all, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to make it work a second time.
Loki forced his breathing to even out as he dug deeper into the Hulk’s mind. Memories of the fight with Hela shone vividly in the forefront of the Hulk’s consciousness, but that wasn’t what Loki was looking for. No, he was looking for…
“Hey there, big guy.”
The Hulk jerked suddenly and Loki felt the connection break. He stumbled backwards, watching with shocked horror as the Hulk started shaking his head, moving around in a frantic manner. He didn’t know what to think when the creature started to punch himself. Not until the beast started to shrink, Doctor Banner returning in a way that looked terrifyingly painful.
Loki wasn’t sure how long he stood there, watching as Bruce shuddered and heaved in harsh, deep breaths. The doctor curled in on himself almost immediately, eyes wide with a mixture of raw emotion Loki didn’t dare try to decipher. Instead, he pulled himself out of his trance and used his seidr to conjure loose, hopefully comfortable clothing to cover the now-naked scientist.
Bruce startled as the clothes appeared on his skin, seeming to only just realize that he wasn’t alone in the storage room. Still shaking a bit, he raised his head and looked around until his eyes found Loki. The man opened his mouth then as if to speak, but the sound that came out was hardly human. It was more like that of a puppy who had just had its tail stepped on; startled, frightened, and mildly confused. Once again, Loki raised his hands in a way that he hoped conveyed he had no ill intentions.
“It’s— it’s okay,” he managed, taking a nervous step towards the Midgardian man. He tried to soften his voice as he spoke, not wanting to startle him further, but comforting others wasn’t his forte. Thor had always been the overly-supportive friend, always seeming to know exactly what to do or say in these situations. Loki had been on the receiving end of that never-ending compassion many times in the past, yet he still found it difficult to replicate.
“Loki?” Bruce raised himself up on his forearms to get a better look. His voice sounded hoarse and tired as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. “What— what are you doing here?”
“I—” Loki stopped himself, feeling a knot catching in his throat. It hit him suddenly that he definitely shouldn’t have done any of this. Not without permission, and definitely not for his own gain. He guessed that Thor was right when he said he never changed. That he was still the god of mischief. “I’m sorry. I was just—”
“Hey, hey, no.” Bruce was quick to cut Loki off, stuttering slightly as he stood and leaned against a crate along the wall. “You don’t— you didn’t do anything wrong, I’m just— I wasn’t expecting—” Bruce groaned and held his head in one hand. “No offense, but I didn't expect you to do… whatever that was you just did.”
“I like you better than him,” Loki murmured, crossing his arms across his chest and rubbing at his elbows. “No offense.”
“Yeah? None taken,” Bruce replied, chuckling shakily. He closed his eyes then, leaning his head against the cool metal wall of the Statesman . “Thank you, Loki.”
“You— I—” Loki was confused. Why was the man thanking him? He had literally just entered his mind without permission, putting him through something that he could see took a toll on him. And that was just what he had done in the past five minutes or so. Why—
Bruce turned then, blinking up at him. “I was afraid I might never be able to turn back,” he explained. “I told Thor, back on Sakaar. I don’t know if the Grandmaster did something to me or… or if I’ve just lost control… God, two years.”
Loki frowned then. “If you didn’t think you could turn back, then why did you join the fight in the first place?” He asked. “Asgard was never your home. You had no reason to fight alongside us.”
“Yeah, well,” Bruce started. “I’ve hurt a lot of innocent people since… this happened to me. People that I care about. Children. There’s been so many… and I know that I can’t go back and reverse what I’ve done. I can’t save the people I’ve already killed. But I can fight to protect people who are still alive.”
“Do you not… does that truly help?” Loki asked, sighing softly. “Do you not still feel guilty for your past?”
“All the time,” Bruce told him, smiling sadly at him. “But it does help. Did it not make you feel better? You fought with us too. You helped save your people.”
“I don’t believe that I could ever do enough to atone for my sins.” Loki watched as Bruce slid down the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest. There was a question in his eyes and Loki hesitated before slowly sitting down in front of him, pulling one leg up and resting his chin on it. “But… I guess it did make me feel better. In the moment, at least.”
Bruce hummed softly, rocking slightly in place along the wall. He seemed paler than usual, Loki realized. His cheeks were flushed red as if he had a fever. His eyes were dim. “Are you ill?”
“Hm?” Bruce looked up again, raising an eyebrow. “Oh. No, I just— I mean, the Hulk is literally a poison, so I guess, kinda? It’s hard to explain. I’ll be okay once I’ve rested.” His cheeks flushed darker as he realized he was rambling. “Sorry.”
Loki shook his head. “There’s no reason for you to apologize,” he replied. “I should leave you be, let you—”
“Could you stay?” Bruce raised a hand to cover his mouth as soon as he asked, but lowered it when Loki simply raised an eyebrow in question. He sighed and looked down at his feet, obviously embarrassed. “Make sure I don’t… you know..?”
“I… would you rather me ask Thor to sit with you?” Loki asked after a moment. “Not that I mind, or anything, it’s just.” He gestured to himself vaguely.
“You’re not so bad,” Bruce admitted. Loki could tell there was more he wanted to say, but he didn’t. If Loki knew what the words he held at bay were, he would probably be glad. “Maybe not completely sane, but are any of us, really?”
Loki laughed at that and Bruce blinked in surprise before smiling at him. “I suppose you’re right,” he replied, the corner of his lip quirking up in a grin. “Perhaps we could start over. Now that we’ve established that there’s a bit of a monster in everyone.”
Bruce chuckled and nodded, holding out a hand. “Sure.” The man waited until Loki took his hand hesitantly before continuing, shaking their hands between them once in the way Midgardians always did when meeting someone for the first time. “I’m Bruce. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Loki,” he returned. “It’s a pleasure.”