#bruceweek2019

[midorilied]

Bruce Week 2019 Day 7- Gentle, Gift

There is strength in softness.

Decided to paint the last prompt- sorta like it, sorta regret it.

Previous Bruce Week drawings

[whoopsimobsessedwithmarvel]

It's Hard to Talk

(Why can't you hear me?)

.

My contribution to Bruce week! I love my boy, so here he is. Loosely based off of the prompt 'quiet strength'. Not beta read, I appreciate any feedback. 💕

.

Some days, Bruce finds it hard to talk.

Some days it feels like the weight of the world is resting in his lungs and there is a Boa-Constrictor wrapped around his voice box.

Some days his mind is made of cotton wool, and thoughts buzz with white noise, and his lips are made of lead, too stiff to move.

Some days it feels like the blink of an eyelid or a single footstep could send him over the edge. Like everything is clouding around him and all he can hear is his mind whirring and his anxiety screaming over and over, a lifetime of screams.

Living with the Avengers doesn't help on these days. There are times where he just wants to run away again, because everything is buzzing, and the LEDs are too bright and Thor is just, too loud.

Bruce knows he should tell them. He knows that if he told them, things would change at the drop of a hat. Tony would dim the lights, and Thor would try to be quieter, and Steve would let up on his booming post-workout motivational speeches. He knows they all care. But it's hard.

He wants desperately for things on these days to change, but its extraordinarily hard to communicate when it hurts to blink, and talking feels like it would bring on the oncoming storm. So he waits. Waits until he's okay again. Then he'll tell them.

Except, when he's okay again, Bruce can never quite bring himself to tell them. He forgets what it's like on the bad days and decides that the noise isn't quite that bad.

(Of course, then he has another bad day and isn't that just a vicious cycle?)

Other days, it starts out fine. He sits with his tea, trading easy humor with Tony, and he can breathe. There's no pain or hesitation, and he can just talk.

But then someone will start to yell or put their hand down too heavily or slam the door or break a glass, and he's back in the bad place, and he is silent and submissive.

None of this is seen.

The noise causes a distraction that Bruce can easily slip away in, leaving the others only to wonder where he wandered off to now.

The only person who would understand, he thinks, might be Clint. He's seen Clint flinch at loud sudden noises, and those shoddy Shield-issue hearing aids can't be much of a help. From what he can gleam from random conversations, they have similar backgrounds - as much as he wished they didn't.

Sometimes he thinks about letting it all out; finally talking everything through, to Clint, to Tony, to Thor, Steve, Natasha, Hell even Pepper. He thinks about how he could finally release himself from the tight-fisted hand of his childhood, and let his demons go. His teammates wouldn't mind at all, he knows they wouldn't, but he just... Can't.

It's awkward when they have 'team bonding nights' where everyone will go round and tell tall tales of their escapades, while Bruce stammers out the same story of some kid he helped in India.

They all fuss and tell him not to be so shy; to brag about what he's done, but he's not shy. It's just hard. He could talk the ear off an elephant on a good day. But today it's hard. He's worked so much and come so far. But sometimes it's hard.

And that's okay. It's never going to stop being hard, but the hard days come less, and the good days will become normal days. Wishing away the time won't help, so for now he is quiet. For now, he is brave.

[bruceweek]

Out of pure curiosity, why don't you allow shipping?

Short Version: To make sure everyone can enjoy every fanwork.Long Version: Bruce fans aren’t as high in numbers as fans for other characters, meaning we don’t get hundreds of fanfiction for the event. People have different ships and different tastes. We don’t want to place even more limits on the number of works everybody can enjoy.For example:Person A has one ship for Bruce. We get 10 fanfictions on a day, but only one includes Person A’s ship. So they might only enjoy one out of 10 fanfictions.

By making sure we don’t have ships, Person A might still don’t wanna read about a specific topic or theme but they might still enjoy 7/10 fanfics. I hope this explains it well.

[midorilied]

Bruce Week 2019 Day 6- Doubt, Secret

When you keep disappearing into the desert with no explanation, some people began to take notice.

Previous Bruce Week drawings

[midorilied]

Bruce Week 2019 Day 1- Control/Soul

Wanted to participate in Bruce Week again, even if everything I make is pretty simple. Hope that’s fine.

Previous Bruce Week drawings

[midorilied]

Bruce Week 2019 Day 5- Quiet Strength, Beginnings

You said it yourself, I’ve bottled you up for years. Why stop now? What he put me through, as a kid- you don’t survive that by being weak.

Previous Bruce Week drawings

[midorilied]

Bruce Week 2019 Day 4- Wonder, Game

Ended up more Thor-centric then intended but this prompt was hard. Could’ve gone obvious and used Pikachu but I think Thor would like Lucas?

Previous Bruce Week drawings

[midorilied]

Bruce Week 2019 Day 3- Mirror, Night and Day

A little more abstract, but I was thinking about all the nights Rick spent outside when the hulk was locked up, remembering the incident that he blames himself for. Yeah...

Previous Bruce Week drawings