Incredible Hulk, Emil Blonsky/Bruce Banner, Contention
When Blonsky slams him against the back wall of the abandoned warehouse, the Hulk is the last thing on Bruce Banner’s mind. The former captain’s mouth is hot on his own, a contrast to the freezing air. The man’s stubble grazes Banner’s chin and he tangles his fingers in Blonsky’s hair, pulling them closer together, all tongue and teeth.
Another fight – all they do is fight. There is nothing sacred here, only need exists, and the gaping certainty that they are both completely isolated.
Blonsky is rough and tactless, pent up frustration channels into their contact, and he bites down on Banner’s lip. Blood drips down their chins, but is ignored. Bruce angles his head, the other man’s tongue sweeping the inside of his mouth, and Blonsky’s body presses against his own – heat rolling off him in waves.
The man still wears something of his former bravado, though now with a colder scorn – he blames Banner for everything – the Abomination, the Hulk, New York. But with nowhere else to go, they are bound together – each man suffering in his own right. And Bruce has tried so hard to understand him.
He feels the soldier’s strength when he grips his arm; can feel muscle and sinew underneath the clothing – all marks of a life lived for combat. Banner remembers well the map of white scars on Blonsky’s back, crisscrossed and stark against his skin – war wounds, bullet wounds, each one deeper and deadlier than the previous.
The soldier’s hair falls forwards, longer now without the need for military neatness, Banner would offer to trim it, but he knows any offer of help would be met with that same bitter anger.
Blonsky’s hands are on him and they grasp at his skin, leaving livid red marks, digging into his ribs. Bruce clutches the other man’s jacket and drags him even closer – the cold around them biting at any exposed skin – they are practically melded together, the angles of their bodies coordinating more completely than they ever could. The soldier smells like grass and rain, and something else – an individual scent of earth and sweat that has become familiar to Bruce – everything about their lives now is this forced closeness.
Their lips and teeth clash, closer than close – Banner’s hands tighten in the other man’s sweat-damp hair, grazing against his scalp. Not catharsis, not quite that – but almost, maybe. Blonsky’s breathing is ragged and his hands trail up beneath Banner’s shirt, over his ribs and down his back, leaving red scratches in their wake. Bruce’s breath catches in his throat, and there is a moment between them when the kiss breaks – a moment of unambiguous sexual electricity, that momentarily spurns Blonsky.
The soldier breaks from him, an embittered sneer on his face, and runs a hand through his hair and over his unshaven jaw. They stand at an impasse, panting clouds into the cold air. Bruce lets himself sag against the warehouse wall, regaining eye contact with Blonsky.
“Are you-?”
“Don’t even say it.” Blonsky grits out, and then snaps at him, “If I needed your concern I’d ask.”
Banner raises his eyebrows and breathes in deeply – almost sighing with exasperation, “You don’t have to be here, you know. I managed for years without anyone. No one is making you stay, not me, at any rate.”
The former captain crosses his arms, his lip curling, and glances to his right, then back at Bruce.
Bruce continues, “If you are as tormented as you act, then why not leave?” He waits for the soldier’s response, crossing his own arms.
Something seems to have gone out of Blonsky, and there is a slump in his posture, “I cannot control it,” he says, “and you know how. You asked why I’m here; that’s why.”
Bruce shakes his head and uncrosses his arms, “I’ve told you before, the progress I’ve made is – it’s minute, and you – the anger that you have – I don’t know how to control that. If it can be controlled at all, that is.” What he does know and does not say though, is why Blonsky stays. He has seen the fear in him, and recognises that bone-deep imbedded terror of the uncontrollable that only Bruce can comprehend.