MARVEL IMAGINES

BRUCE BANNER || Helping Hand

You hovered in the doorway of the labs, textbook clutched under your arm. You bit your lip out of an anxious habit, telling yourself that this probably wasn't the best idea.

Bruce Banner was a busy man.
Bruce Banner was also the hulk.

Putting those two things together creates a reasonable excuse as to why you were a little scared to ask him for help. Before your time with the Avengers, you learnt quite quickly that asking for help wasn't the best idea in your family. For your family, asking for help meant that you were week. You were brought up in a family that should never ask for help.

So understandably, seeing everyone so open to their weak points and troubles was a complete shock. You were beginning to ask for help for some things, but they were to people you knew well. Bruce, however, you barely knew.

"Y/N?" His cool voice brought you crashing out of your thoughts, "what are you doing here?" He was sat at the workbench, his body turned to look at you. He was as shocked as you were to be seen.

You felt your face become hot as you tried to speak.
"I— I"

Bruce's eyes glanced to the textbook in your arms. "Do you need some help with your homework?" He asked, eyebrow quirking upwards. You nodded glumly.

"—you don't h- have to! I would... I would really appreciate it, though." Your voice was quiet, nervous.

Bruce waved dismissively. "Get over here! Grab a stool from over there and come sit." He pointed swiftly over to the other bench before patting the tabletop next to him.

Sheepishly, you grabbed a stool with your free hand, taking it to where Bruce was. You placed your textbook down whilst you figured yourself out. You eventually turned to Bruce, meeting his small smile.

"So I've been struggling with this part for a while..." you opened the textbook to the page you marked, running Bruce through on the basics of what you needed to do. Without a second thought, he jumped into helping you however he could. Dragging graphs, short anecdotes to help you remember things, simply showing you time and time again until you could do it fluently.

He treated you like the young adult you were, not like the small and dependent child your previous family thought of you as. You were finally beginning to understand the true meaning of family.

—
WRITTEN BY ELLE