(Takes place the same day as the previous chapter) 

Word Count: 2,079

   Thor walked to his room after finishing dinner and a movie with everyone. Well, everyone except Bruce. He was probably still working on the paper. 

   Rumbles of thunder sent vibrations through the compound. The storm that started an hour ago was practically on top of them and had grown heavier. 

   The god stopped in front of Bruce's bedroom door, which was just down the hall from his own. It was almost nine. He wondered if Bruce was finished with the paper. Softly, he knocked on the door. 

   "Go away," a muffled voice replied from inside. It sounded a bit like Hulk's. 

   "Banner? It's me, Thor. I was just wondering how your paper was coming." 

   "Oh, I-I finished it." Thor's eyebrows furrowed in concern at how stressed his friend sounded. 

  "May I come in?" 

  It was quiet for a few beats. Then: "S-sure." 

  Thor slowly pushed the door open to see Bruce sitting on the edge of his bed, bundled in blankets. 

  "Are you cold, Banner?" Thor asked, confused. 

  The small man shook his head. 

  Thor sat down beside him. "What's ailing you, then?" 

  Bruce sighed. "This is gonna sound stupid, and I know I'm talking to the God of Thunder, but I don't like storms. They're loud and they scare me." 

   "Ohhh," he replied softly, studying the green-tinted man.. "That's not a stupid fear. If I could, I would stop this storm for you, or make it move. Unfortunately, I can only create them." He shifted a bit closer. "However, if there's anything I can do to help, I'm completely willing." 

   "Thanks, Thor, but I don't think--" his eyes caught on something outside. "Actually...could you get the bird feeders off of my balcony? I don't want the seed getting wet and molding." Bruce blushed a little. He liked feeding birds. They were soothing to watch. 

   Thor smiled. "Of course." He got up to open the balcony doors. 

   "Oh, there's an umbrella hanging on my coat rack. I don't want you getting soaked just for that." 

   The blond nodded and grabbed the umbrella. Opening the door, he quickly walked outside and unhooked the two songbird feeders and the hummingbird feeder.

  "Great! Could you put those in my bathtub?" Bruce got up and followed Thor into the bathroom, still bundled in his blanket cocoon. "I'll get the wet seeds out." 

   The god helped the smaller man unwrap the blankets twisted around him. Bruce then grabbed a trash can sitting by his desk and returned, shaking the wet birdseed into it. He glanced at the other two feeders in the bathtub. "Oh, you didn't need to grab the hummingbird one. It has mostly water in it anyway. Thank you, though." 

  "Why do you feed birds?" Thor asked curiously. 

  Bruce blushed once more. A lot of people didn't understand his hobby. He knew Thor wouldn't make fun of him for it, though. "It helps calm me down. Birds can be really fun to watch. They come in different shapes and colors and it can be fun to see how many different kinds you attract. Some of them also have really pretty songs that they sing to attract mates." They were both quiet for a moment as Bruce finished shaking out the wet birdseed. "Did you have any birds on Asgard?" 

  Thor thought for a second. "Mmm...yes. I recall the palace having ravens, falcons, owls, and doves in art and ceremonies. I'm not sure about these smaller birds you speak of, though. We don't feed them like the Midguardians do. Is it necessary to feed birds here? Can they not find food for themselves?" 

  Bruce walked back into his room and sat on his bed, pulling the blankets over him again. Thor sat beside him, genuinely interested. He also figured their conversation would help take Bruce's focus off the storm. 

   "Birds here can definitely find food for themselves, but sometimes putting food out for them can help them. They won't have to travel as far to find food and they have a greater opportunity of finding a mate. It's like a social gathering place. Plus, some birds like hummingbirds have such a fast metabolism, that they constantly have to find sugary flowers to survive. At night, their heart and breath rates actually slow down and their body temperatures drop in order for them to conserve energy when they sleep--Oh, I'm sorry, I started rambling." Bruce seemed to sink deeper in his blankets, embarrassed. 

   Thor frowned, pushing some of the blankets back to make eye contact with Bruce. "No, no, I love listening to you talk about something you're passionate about. When the rain clears, I would very much like to see one of these hummingbirds." He also would very much like to punch the person who caused the scientist to apologize for his interests. 

  "Oh, I just didn't want to bore you. Most of the time, people don't know what I'm talking about, or they just don't care to listen. Most people like small talk, but I can't stand it." 

   "Well, I think it's very unfortunate that people won't take the time to listen to you. You're a very interesting fellow, and we can talk about birds all day if you want to, including Sam and Clint." 

   Bruce chuckled at that, but then flinched and covered his ears as a large crack of thunder echoed right over the compound. He curled up inside of his blankets. 

  Thor hastily leaned forward, wrapping his arms around the ball of blankets. "Shh...it's okay, Bruce. You're safe here. The thunder won't hurt you. The sun's going down. It's getting lower--"

   "Thor" Bruce's voice could barely be heard under all the blankets. 

  "Hm?"

  "I'm not going to Hulk out. It's the noise. It's too overwhelming. I have sensitive hearing." 

  Thor had a sudden idea. "I'll be back in a minute," he said, standing and jogging out of the scientist's room. 

  Bruce grunted in response and continued to plug his ears as more thunder rumbled. 

  Thor passed Tony in the hallway. "Hey, Lightning McQueen, are you the cause of this?" He pointed at the ceiling. 

  Thor shook his head. "Not this time. I wish I could make it disappear, though." 

  Tony looked at his phone. "The radar shows it'll be another thirty minutes before it passes. Let's hope there's not any wind damage." 

  Thor nodded hastily. "I'm sorry, Stark, but I must excuse myself."

  "Okay…" Tony replied in confusion, his gaze following the god as he ran down the hallway to his room. 

   Thor was back in Bruce's room a few minutes later. "Here, Steve gave these to me because apparently Clint snores when he stays here and he's in the room beside me. I've never used them, though." Bruce pokes his head out of the blankets to see him holding a pair of earplugs.

   "Aw, Thor, thank you so much. These will help a lot! Could you also grab the headphones on my desk? They're noise cancelling." 

   Thor grinned. "Of course." He handed the earplugs to Bruce and fetched the headphones. "Is there anything else I can do?" He asked, crouching to Bruce's eye level. 

   "Well, I usually like to wrap my arms around something to help ground myself, so could you--" 

   "Absolutely!" Thor stood up and wrapped his arms around the bundled smaller man. "You didn't have to ask." 

   "I was going to ask for a pillow, Thor," he mumbled against his chest. "But this works. Thank you." 

   "Oh," the god chuckled, slightly embarrassed. Maybe he misread Bruce's feelings for him. 

   A few minutes passed. "Hey Thor? I'm getting kinda hot. Could you help untangle me from these blankets? I'd still like to hug you, though. You seem good at that." 

   The god hoped Bruce couldn't see his blush, being that the only source of light was coming through the windows. Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the room. He helped unwrap the man from the blankets and he counted at least five. 

  Thor sat in a more comfortable position on the bed, arms outstretched for Bruce. He crawled over to meet him. 

  "Ow!" Bruce yelped as his hand touched Thor's. A literal spark flew between them. "You've never done that before! That was like a static shock on steroids!" 

   Thor withdrew from him. "I'm sorry, I guess I got a little excited. That sometimes happens when I get sudden surges of emotion. Ever since my hammer was destroyed, I've had to learn to regulate that, since it helped me harness my powers. Maybe hugging isn't such a good idea." He hung his head, reaching behind him to give Bruce a pillow. 

   He gently set a hand on the god's knee. "I'd like to try again." 

   Thor took a deep breath, then nodded. "Just promise to tell me if I'm hurting you." 

   "I will." Bruce put his earplugs in as more thunder rumbled, then crawled over to Thor, wrapping his arms around him. Despite having his ears plugged, he could still hear the larger man's heartbeat. It was soothing. 

   Thor carefully rested his head on top of Bruce's and ran a hand through his soft curls. Being close to Bruce was nice. His hair smelled like honey and teakwood. He was soft and squishy, just like hugging a pillow. But ten times better. 

  Bruce was surprised about how cuddly Thor was. He expected hugging a man as toned as him would be like hugging a rock. However, he felt completely safe and secure in the God of Thunder's arms. Ironic, right? 

   The smaller man began to worry. Straight people did this, didn't they? Or maybe Asgardians were used to physical contact like this. How was Thor viewing this? 

   "Thor…" Bruce began after a few minutes of blissful silence. "You said you thought you were excited, and that's why you shocked me. Why were you excited?" 

  Thor took a deep breath. He didn't want to sound weird. "Well...I always get excited to see you, Bruce. You care about my thoughts and feelings, and that makes me feel happy. So I guess I was excited that I finally got to return the favor by helping you." Of course, Thor was also excited about the possibility of them being more than friends, but he didn't want to make that weird. Bruce was probably just into women. 

  "Oh," Bruce simply replied. That wasn't the type of excitement he thought the god was experiencing, but the pure joy that radiated from Thor didn't disappoint him in the slightest. 

  They stayed like that for a while, just embracing and listening to the sounds of their breathing and the storm outside. Eventually, a yawn escaped the smaller man. He shifted to check his watch. 10:43. 

   "Hey, Thor, this has been great, but I think I'm going to go to bed. I don't want to fall asleep in your arms because that would probably get awkward." He chuckled. 

   Thor nodded. "Okay. Are you sure you'll be fine? I'm happy to stay." 

   Bruce nodded. "I think most of the storm has passed. You can go to bed." 

 "If you insist." Thor slowly got up, Bruce following him. "Goodnight, Banner. It was nice talking to you."

  "Goodnight, Thor. I, um...I'm sorry for taking your evening away from you." Bruce said sheepishly. 

   Thor waved a hand. "Pfft, I loved every minute we spent together. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I only planned to continue listening to my playlist until I fell asleep anyways." 

   The taller man leaned forward, crushing the smaller man in one last hug. "Sleep well." Bruce felt slight pressure on the top of his head. Did Thor just kiss him!? 

   You're going crazy, Bruce. You're reading too much into this situation.

   "Um...y-you too." He stuttered out, watching as Thor pulled away and left, softly closing the door behind him. 

   Bruce sighed and straightened the blankets on his bed before brushing his teeth and swapping out his earplugs for his headphones. He sat and reflected  about how thoughtful it was that Thor brought him those earplugs, and that he wasn't insulted by Bruce fearing his natural element. What in the world did he do to deserve the god's kindness? 

    Laying down, he scrolled through his phone and then thought back to Thor's playlist. He went to YouTube and searched "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift, falling asleep by the second chorus.