A/N: I know ever since Infinity War, we hate words such as 'balance' and 'snap'. Anyway, I could not think of a better title. So, I am still writing 'Sweet as Pain', I just really wanted to get this out there. Thanks for reading!!

Disclaimer: Not Mine!! It's called Fanfiction for a reason.

Bruce was happy to have some good news for once. Tony was alive and the titan was dead. Of course, their lives being what they were, bad news just had to accompany it. The stones were destroyed. There was no way to bring the vanished back. Half the universe was dead. They all felt guilt. They had failed. In the most important battle of their lives, the battle with the most at stake, and they had failed. At least the other's had been useful. At least the other's had brought their A-game. What use had he been when Tony, the Spider kid and Strange had been whisked off to space? Nothing. The battle that occurred before that? Nothing. While he loved the Hulk-Buster, it wasn't broken in. He wasn't used to it. He didn't bring his A-game.

The Hulk was a coward. He would fight gladiators for two years, (or was it more? Loki said time was all whacked up on Sakaar.) He would fight Chituari, droids, people, gods and goddesses- really anyone he knew he could defeat. The minute someone held their own against him, the minute someone actually hurt him, Hulk hid like a coward. No, bully was more like it. Only fighting those weaker than him. It was despicable.

And you wonder why you have issues. You both hate each other. Only you don't hate him, you hate yourself for letting him take control. Bruce had just stared at Loki, wondering which of the them he was talking about. It hadn't taken long to realize Thor's brother hated himself. The god of Mischief made several types of projections. Sure, apparently he was known for his magical projections, but Bruce noticed he also projected his self-loathing onto others. He acted like he hated everyone, yet the only person he hated was himself. Well, himself and Thanos. Somehow, Bruce had gotten roped into being Thor and Loki's family therapist. That had been super fun. Needless to say, there was a lot of shouting. Then, after Thor left, Loki stayed and talked a bit longer.

Bruce had no idea how he hadn't hulked out after the shouting match he just sat through. Thor had already left to check on the rations. Loki, for reasons only known to the god of Mischief, had stayed. Thor's brother was picking at his palm.

"Uh, is there something you need, or...?"

"I don't want to worry Thor, though I have found this talking quite freeing. I haven't told him the whole story, as I said I don't want to worry him. If I told you, would it stay, as you Midgardians say, confidential?" Even with his mind screaming bad idea, (probably Hulk too) Loki had piqued his interest. Loki wasn't exactly open, which made Thor frustrated, which then caused Thor to shout, Loki soon following suit. This was incredibly out of character for the god and Bruce couldn't help agreeing.

"Sure."

"Of course, I have something for you in return. You and your beast have problems, no?"

"I wish I had never created him."

"And you wonder why you have issues. You both hate each other. Only you don't hate him, you hate yourself for letting him take control." It was a couple minutes before Loki continued.

"I can merge your conscious' together so that you are one being instead of two. Though it takes a lot of focus, time and energy from both of us, so we would have to wait until we are on a planet. You don't have to decide right now. I'm probably the last person you want in your head."

Bruce never answered the trickster. Maybe it's time to.

"I should leave, Thor would be safer without me."

"Even if that were true, he wouldn't be happy. Besides, where would you even go?" Loki didn't even think about before replying.

"Svartalfheim." Where on Earth is Svartalfheim?

If Loki was alive, that's where he should check. Even if he survived having his neck snapped, there was still a 50/50 chance he was dead. He thought about telling Thor, but didn't want to get his hopes up. Where's that blue lady, what's-her-name? Nebula. She and the raccoon had a ship, maybe he could hitch a ride.

Turns out, no, he couldn't hitch a ride. Also turns out, he was surprisingly good at stealing escape pods. I'm going to regret this. Luckily, he was also decent at flying. Yeah, apparently after you escape an insane planet on a ship with no guns, these things just came to you. What was not easy, was trying to spell Svartalfheim. Eventually, Bruce just typed in Heim and scrolled every planet that ended in heim until he found something that roughly resembled Svartalfheim.

Twenty three jumps later, Bruce arrived on a black, deserted, desolate planet. This is depressing. Of all the places to live, why would Loki choose here? Also, what the heck do I do now? He had not thought this through. Great planning Bruce, what are you going to do, search the entire planet on a slight chance Loki is alive?! Wonderful planning.

Pretty much. Six hours of flying across the dreary planet. He really wished he had brought a deck of cards. Or food. Maybe a book. Anything to pass the time, really. Hopefully the others weren't worrying about him. Why would they be worried? You only stole a pod and have been gone for six hours. All of this was going through his head when Loki decided to give him a heart attack.

"What are you doing here?" Bruce yelped, falling out of his chair at the sound of Loki's voice behind him.

"I live here, I think the better question is why are you here?"

"How did you get in here? Didn't you say you couldn't teleport, that it was just cloaking yourself and what-not?" The god of Mischief rolled his eyes.

"I said teleporting was difficult, not impossible. Why are you here?"

"Thanos won. We killed him, but he won."

"Is Thor -" Loki swallowed.

"Is Thor alright?"

"Thor's fine. I was, uh, wondering about what you offered on the Statesmen. Does that offer still stand?"

"Of course. Merging your two conscious', yes? It will not be comfortable. It'll be easier to do it if your other half was present."

"That may be a problem. The coward hasn't come out since the Statesmen."

"Of course he hasn't. I apologize, this will be unpleasant." Before Bruce could ask what the heck that meant, Loki stepped forward, flattening his palm to his temple.

Memories flashed by, too quick to see them. He caught glimpses, though it was mainly emotions. A funeral. Grief. Guilt. A city on fire. Anger. Rage. Disaster everywhere he went. Pain. Then the emotions increased tenfold. The familiar throbbing in the base of his skull as he held Hulk at bay. No, that was current. Bruce hadn't felt pain like this since the first time Hulk came out. That much radiation should have killed you.

Usually, when either one of their conscious' came out, they fought for control, forcing the other into a submissive, dormant state. It was painful and exhausting. It was much worse with a third party holding the two together. His skull felt ready to split. The familiar sensation of his skin stretching washed over Bruce as Hulk came out for the first time in a month.

Loki pulled harder at his conscious, tying it to Hulk's. Then he was standing in Hulk's form, though fully present as Bruce Banner. He glanced down at his hands, not quite believing what he was seeing. The best of both worlds. Loki was standing with his arms crossed, obviously pleased.

"Good. You will not tell anyone that I am alive, nor come back here. I tied your conscious' together, I can always untie them. Also, it's been a day, so you may want to come up with a plausible excuse."

An entire day?!

"Thor?"

"Definitely not. Now, you best get home."

"Take care of yourself." The god of Mischief merely nodded, disappearing in a flash of green. It then occurred to him that the pod was extremely cramped and his fingers wouldn't work on the small keyboard. Fumbling for the better part of half an hour, he finally managed to type in Earth. Only for the map to autocorrect to Terra.

Take care of yourself. If only he knew this wasn't the final goodbye.

A/N: I couldn't really dive head on into Bruce's memories too much since I've never seen Hulk. The next chapter will either be Bruce's or Loki's. Eventually, I may do a prequel about Thor and Loki's therapy, though I should probably finish at least one of the stories I'm writing right now... Thanks for reading!!