A/N: PACK YOUR BAGS, WE'RE GOING ON A FIELD TRIP.
It all started with a letter.
"Mail call," Tony called as he walked into the lab and plopped and envelope from today's mail on top of Bruce's notepad. Bruce flinched from his computer screen and turned his attention towards the manila envelope.
"I got mail?" Bruce asked as he picked up the envelope and flipped it over to see the front.
"No, it's a death threat from Dr. Doom," Tony joked as Bruce gave him an even stare. "That was a joke!" Bruce turned back towards the envelope.
It was addressed to Dr. Bruce Banner and Hulk at Avengers Tower. Bruce frowned and looked at the top left corner.
"Neman Children's Hospital – Ms. Lisa Fisher," Bruce read aloud. He turned the envelope towards its back and opened it, pulling out a handwritten letter.
"Dr. Banner and Hulk,
It is a pleasure to write to you both. My name is Lisa Fisher. My son's name is Mattie. He is six years old and is an adoring fan of the both of you, and I must say that I am as well. You may not remember who we are, but Hulk had saved my son a few weeks ago from a burning building and brought him to me. I was able to find out who Dr. Banner was when Hulk left Dr. Banner to patch Mattie up. I can never thank you enough for what you both did. However, I have to ask one last favor of you two.
My son has terminal cancer. He has an estimated three months to live. His final wish is to see his two favorite heroes one last time.
I understand if you don't want to come. You both are busy protecting the world. But to me, my son is my world. I would greatly appreciate it if you would come and see him.
Yours truly,
Lisa Fisher"
Bruce looked up from the letter towards Tony when he finished reading it out loud. Tony kept a poker face, but his eyes were hard and wouldn't meet Bruce's. They stayed like this for several minutes until Tony turned and walked towards the door. "JARVIS, call Neman's and let Ms. Fisher know that Hulk and Dr. Banner will gladly see her son tomorrow."
"Wait!" Bruce got up from his chair before Tony opened the door. "Hold on a second. Do you really think showing up in a hospital, filled with injured and sick children, as the Other Guy is a good idea?" Bruce stated more than asked as he marched towards Tony.
Tony groaned and turned towards Bruce, rolling his eyes. "Bruce, we've been over this!" he whined. "He isn't dangerous, there isn't anything there that could set him off, and he loves kids! What could possibly go wrong?" Tony turned back towards the door. "I mean it, JARVIS!"
"Of course, sir."
"Famous last words," Bruce muttered as the door closed on him.
It was the next day when Bruce found himself unconsciously walking in the front doors of Neman Children's Hospital, a bag of toys Tony had handed him as he got out of the car in his hand.
"Hey, it's going to be fine," Tony had said as Bruce got out of the car that morning. "I'll send Happy to get you at 5."
"Can I help you?" Bruce snapped out of the past and looked at the helpdesk. "S-sorry. I'm supposed to see Ms. Fisher today?" he said, finishing his sentence with a question. The woman at the desk looked up at him again and quickly looked back at her computer.
"Yes, Dr. Banner. They're in room 1257. I'll let them know you're coming."
"Thank you," Bruce said as he walked towards the elevator. He pressed the button and the door opened a minute later. Bruce pressed 12 and leaned back against the wall.
The elevator hummed and soft music played around him; a usually calming sensation. Bruce wringed his hands together as the elevator beeped and opened to the twelfth floor. He breathed in slowly, remembering his exercises, and breathed out as he pushed himself from the wall and down the hall.
At room 1257, Bruce raised his hand and paused, knuckles an inch away from the door. He looked down at the bag of toys, the racecars and the Avengers action figures, and thought to himself.
Maybe he should just leave. He could send a letter and the toys and tell the mother and child how much he appreciated them, maybe even leaving a fake note from the Other Guy as well. He wouldn't have to put anyone in danger, the kid could have heard from Hulk, and the world could keep spinning.
"Mommy, when will daddy come over? I wanted him to see my picture." Bruce paused as he heard a young boy's voice coming through the door.
A young woman let out a soft sigh. "Mattie, daddy's just busy. He'll come see you soon. I know he will."
"B-but! I haven't seen daddy in so long!"
"It hasn't been that long, sweethear-."
"Since I started going to the doctor, Mommy! Since then, Daddy hasn't ever been home. I know that he's been gone a whole lot even before I started going to the doctor, Mommy. But, maybe if he comes to see me, I can show him my new drawing and he'll want to stay!"
Bruce felt as if time had stopped. A chill of ice flew through him as he felt his heart grow heavy and break. Before he could even think, his hand flew back to the door and he knocked.
"C-come in!" a surprised voice answered. Bruce opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind him. He looked up towards the end of the room and saw a young, pale boy, who looked too close to death's door than any child should ever be. The only life on the boy was in his eyes. His mother sat at the end of the bed, pushing socks onto the boy's feet. She looked like she was supposed to be a young woman in her prime, at most 25 years old, yet the present situation made her seem closer to death than her son.
The boy's eyes lit up. "OHMYGOSH, MOM! Mommy, look!" he exclaimed as he pushed himself quickly up to sit on the bed. The woman swiftly placed her arms onto her son and pushed him back down with a light touch.
"I know, I see him. You need to settle down!" she turned towards the doorway where Bruce stood. "Thank you for coming. Please, have a seat."
Bruce looked down at his feet, pushing himself mentally to walk to his seat as he sat down across from the boy. The six year-old looked at him in awe, his mouth agape.
"I didn't know anybody could make him be speechless," Lisa Fisher giggled. The boy turned to her, a grumpy look on his face. "Mom!" he whined. Bruce smiled softly and put the bag next to the boy.
"I brought these for you. They're from all of the Avengers," Bruce said softly.
"Whoa! These are for me?!" the boy asked incredulously.
"Mattie, what do we say?" the mother spoke with a smile in her voice.
"Thank you!" Mattie exclaimed as he pulled out several toy racecars, a little sketch notepad and pencil, a toy dart gun, and an action figure of every Avenger. "Ah! These are so cool! They really came from everyone?"
"Yeah," Bruce answered. "Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America picked out the toy racecars, Black Widow got the toy gun, Captain America also got you the sketch book, and To-Iron Man and I got action figures." The boy seemed to come alive at the mention of every Avenger giving him a present.
"So cool!" Mattie exclaimed again as his mother let out a heartwarming laugh. "I love all of this! I'm going to draw everyone a picture to say thanks!"
"I'm sure they'll really love that. They'll probably want to put it on the fridge."
"Like Mommy does?!"
"Yeah, like Mom does." Bruce smiled.
The rest of the morning was spent with Mattie, Lisa, and Bruce playing with his new toys. Lisa let out what appeared to be the first real laugh she had in months as Mattie announced that the King Racecar was bringing his minions to Earth and planned to take over the world with his new master weapon, the dart gun. Mattie assembled the Avengers and led a full-scale attack against the evil racecar race, making Bruce play as Hulk while he took control of all the other heroes and teamed each one of them up with Hulk.
It was close to lunch time and the end of the celebrations of the winning team when Mattie started nodding off.
"Mattie, why don't you take a nap and then after we can have some lunch?" Lisa asked.
"Okay! What does Hulk like to eat? Is there even enough food for him to eat?" Mattie asked Bruce.
Bruce paused and frowned softly, contemplating what Mattie had said. Should he really let Hulk out in a children's hospital? Could he really trust himself with the responsibility of not harming any of these children and their families?
"I hope Daddy can come to lunch too!" Mattie exclaimed. "We can all hang out and play again, right, Mr. Bruce?" Bruce looked at Mattie and then moved his gaze towards Lisa's face.
"…Hulk is coming, right?" the boy asked quietly, sadly.
Bruce clenched his eyes shut and took in a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked determinably at Mattie. "He'll come by after your nap and lunch."
"Yes!" Mattie exclaimed.
"All right, that's enough. You need to sleep now," Lisa said. "I'm going to walk Mr. Bruce out and then I'll get lunch for the two of us, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Mattie answered as he plopped himself down and rolled towards the wall, closing his eyes.
Lisa stood up and motioned to Bruce to walk with her outside. When they walked out of the room, Lisa stayed back near the door and looked down at her shoes.
"I… I just wanted to thank you, for everything you have done for us."
Bruce looked surprised and turned his head away. "It's no trouble."
"No, seriously. You've been so wonderful to him. I really appreciate that," the young mother sniffed and put a hand up to her right eye, wiping a lone tear from her cheek. "His father never wanted much to do with him and was never always around. But when Mattie was diagnosed with cancer, he just, disappeared. It's just-. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you with all of this." Lisa looked back up at Bruce. "I'm just thankful that he can learn what a real father can be."
Bruce looked taken aback, his wide eyes blinking at her words.
"I'll see you in two hours then?" Lisa asked.
"Y-yeah. Two hours."
Two hours passed by in a blink of an eye. Bruce had spent it sitting at a table in the cafeteria, contemplating what he was about to do. He didn't want to scare the mother and son by turning into the Other Guy before their eyes, but he knew that doing that anywhere else would cause chaos. He also didn't know if it was even a good idea to bring out the Other Guy in the first place. Should he just tell Mattie that no? He had only finally made his decision when he reached Mattie's door.
Bruce sighed and knocked gently on the door. Lisa opened it and let him in with a thankful smile. Mattie was sitting up in bed again, a tray with empty dishes on it keeping him in. Mattie looked up at Bruce and smiled.
"Mr. Bruce! You came back!" he smiled widely. Bruce felt a smile of his own tug on his lips.
"Of course I did." Mattie suddenly sat up straight, a look of sudden realization on his face as he reached to the table by his side and grabbed a few pieces of paper.
"Before Hulk comes, can you take these for me?" Mattie asked. Bruce reached out and took the papers, shifting through them all. One was a group picture of a childish interpretation of all of the Avengers, Bruce and Hulk included, with Mattie in the middle and a "Thank you, Avengers!" written on the bottom. The second was a picture of Mattie between both Bruce and Hulk, holding one of their hands in each of his. The bottom of the paper read "Me and my best friends!" Bruce smiled. "Yeah, I'll take it." He put the papers in the bag he brought the toys in. "I'll make sure that everyone gets to see them."
"Thank you!" Mattie exclaimed.
Bruce leaned over to Mattie, his smile pushing down to a more serious look. "Okay, Mattie. You have to listen to me very carefully. I'm going to get Hulk, but he wants to come out and see you as a surprise to you, so I need you to close your eyes and not open them until your mom says so, okay?"
Mattie's eyes widened at Bruce's sudden seriousness and nodded at him.
"I pinky promise!" the child thrusted his pinky towards Bruce. Bruce looked taken aback, but then smiled warmly and wrapped his pinky around the frail boy's pinky. He then stood up and backed away.
"Okay, close your eyes." Mattie willingly complied. Bruce turned towards Lisa, who gave a smile and nodded. Bruce nodded towards her as he unbuttoned his shirt, folding it and placing it next to the bag on his chair. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and pushed Hulk forward. As he felt his bones and muscles stretch at his skin, he whispered a silent plea that this would all be okay.
Hulk blinked and looked around. There was a boy. He couldn't see him. He looked at a lady. She looked scared, but then gave Hulk a smile. "Mattie, Hulk is here," Hulk heard her say.
Boy called Mattie looked at Hulk and was… happy? Hulk was confused.
"Hi, Mr. Hulk!" boy called. "My name is Mattie and you're my hero!"
"Hero?" Hulk mumbled.
"Yeah, my hero! You saved me from a big fire, remember?"
Hulk remembered boy then. "Yes. Hulk knows." Mattie smiled at Hulk. Hulk felt warm.
"Hey, do you want to play race cars with me?"
Hulk's lips stretched over teeth. "Yeah!" Hulk walked to boy and sat down on floor. Boy handed Hulk purple and green car. "Careful," Hulk muttered as he took little car from Mattie.
At 4:30, Mattie started looking tired again. Just like his morning with Bruce, he had played with his mommy and Hulk all afternoon. There had been many giggles from the boy and his mom, and many wall-shaking laughs from Hulk. Their time together made Mattie very tired.
"I think we need to stop for the day, Mattie," Lisa coaxed her son to lie down. The boy let out a whine. "But Mommy! I'm not tired, honest!" Mattie let out a loud yawn. "Sure you are," she smirked. Mattie allowed his mom to tuck him in as he looked at Hulk.
"I guess it's time for me to go to bed, Hulk. I had a lot of fun today!" Mattie smiled.
Hulk turned his head. "Mattie sleep now?"
"Yeah, I have to."
Hulk let out a hum of understanding. "Hulk had fun too." Mattie giggled as his eyelids started to close. "Thanks for being my friend, Hulk." He said as he fell asleep.
"Mattie, friend." Hulk said. He turned towards Lisa, who put a hand on Hulk's arm. "Thank you for everything, Hulk. You're my hero too." She gave him a light kiss on his arm and turned back to her sleeping son.
Hulk looked towards his arm and back at Lisa. "…Thank you."
Hulk left Lisa and Mattie. Bruce moved his hand towards his head and opened his eyes to Lisa stroking her sleeping son's hair. He smiled, pulled his shirt over his head, and grabbed his bag as he walked out of the door.
It had all started with a letter.
Bruce looked up from his drawing of his fan. No, his friend, Mattie. The breeze blew softly through the trees and pushed Bruce's unruly hair around. He folded his drawing up and put it in his suit's breast pocket. He let out a sigh and pushed his hair back in place.
"Mattie," he muttered to himself. "You told me that I, that we, were your heroes. You saw me and Hulk as friends, and not as a monster. You made me remember that I'm human. So, Mattie," he looked back down. "I guess that makes you my hero."
Bruce bent down towards the grave and placed a Hulk figurine next to the newly placed flowers. He then took a paper of his own out of his other pocket, a picture that Lisa took of himself and Mattie, and put it in the figurine's hands.
Bruce put his forehead on Mattie's tombstone. "Rest in peace, my friend; my hero," he whispered. He stood up and turned away. He walked towards the car and got inside. He glanced at the gravesite one last time as the car pulled away.
When the car was gone, a ray of light shined on the child's grave, and some would even say that they heard a young boy laugh that day.
A/N: Thank you all for your support! This was a prompt and idea given to me by my dear friend, Domiwrites (Demonhunterdominion on tumblr). If you want to communicate with me (send me a prompt, ask why I'm taking so long on Raw, send me cookies, etc) you are more than welcome to send me a message here or on my tumblr (wackiejackie1092). If you want to send me a large influx of bees, an invitation to the dog park, seafood, or any hate mail, please send that to Steve Carlsberg.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go curl up with a blanket and unpack from the feel trip. Hopefully Raw will be updated this week.