Natasha Romanoff thought love was for children. But then she met Bruce Banner when he joined the Avengers, and she found that she was seriously mistaken.
Bruce wasn't super tall, but about average size for a man in his early forties. He had a slight build, not like Steve or Thor, but more like Tony. She liked how he didn't bother to shave his chest, because she liked the look of it.
His brown eyes were what caught her eye first. They were always filled with excitement and nervousness, and were always lit up whenever he talked about some big experiment or project he was working on with Tony. Clint could see the same light in his eyes whenever he or the other Avengers mentioned her name, or whenever Natasha entered the room. It was obvious that he felt something for her.
Natasha liked big guys. But something about Bruce intrigued her, made her want more. In all honesty, she wanted to get to know Bruce. To be in a real relationship with Bruce. Not like those one night stands for missions, or those times of desperation with Clint. But she wanted to know everything about him. And she accepted the challenge.
Soon enough, Natasha knew everything about him, even the little details that usually don't matter to anybody else. Like the fact that he always drinks chai tea in the early mornings while he works in his lab so he doesn't go off the walls like Tony does. She also knew that he only sleeps on his back when he doesn't have nightmares. He keeps a list of every person he's accidentally killed or maimed as the Hulk. His nose twitches when he's angry but won't turn into the Hulk. And she also knows that the Hulk looks out for her fiery red hair on the battlefield during missions.
Bruce Banner though he couldn't love ever since Betty. But he was wrong about Natasha Romanoff.
Natasha was skinny and not short, but just the right height for a woman in her late twenties. She was muscular, but not to the point of being overdone. She wa extremely beautiful and sought out after a lot, but she always turned them down.
Bruce loved Natasha's red hair. The way it bounced around every time she trained or got into a fight. It was like a drug for him. The Hulk also liked it too, but in a completely different way. The redness of her hair would stick out like a beacon, and it assured the big guy of the fact that she was still alive.
Bruce was fascinated by the sparkling blue eyes that never seemed to lose their curiosity. They always reflected urgency and happiness whenever he looked into them, and he loved it like crazy.
Bruce was interested in the spider that definitely lived up to her name. Sure, he lusted after her when he saw her in her SHIELD jumpsuit, all hot and sweaty after a mission. But he also wanted to spend time with her. To take a page out of Steve's book and be chivalrous to her. So he made it a goal to learn everything about her.
Bruce knows Natasha from cover to cover. He knows that she has to sleep on the left side of the bed or else she can't sleep. He knows that she wakes up at precisely six in the morning to make herself a white chocolate mocha coffee and then sleeps for another five hours. He knows that she loves puppies to death. He knows that she's always wanted children but couldn't have any. He knows that she loves the Hulk and the fact that he loves her hair. And he also knows that she has never had a serious relationship before, or even a genuine first kiss with someone who really cares about her and loves her.
Natasha Romanoff could tell you anything and everything about Bruce Banner, and vice versa.
So it was no surprise that she starts to enter his work lab at six in the morning with her coffee and his tea and then conks back out on his couch for five hours. It was no surprise that she's memorized his list of accidental killings forwards, backwards, and scrambled all over. It's not even a surprise when she purposely makes Bruce angry just so she can have a good conversation with the Hulk sometimes (as long as Tony's far, FAR away).
It's not a surprise to the Avengers that Bruce starts to sleep on the right side of Natasha's bed so she doesn't accidentally sleep there and then get no sleep. It's no surprise that for her birthday, Bruce gives her a Dalmatian puppy named Confetti. It's no surprise that he always opens the door for her, pulls out her chair, and carries her back to her bed when she falls asleep in his lab late at night.
Bruce asked her out after a year of this. Natasha said no, and told him that she was scared to be in a real relationship. That was also the night she had her first, real kiss. And Bruce was a complete gentleman, especially to a woman like her.
Their wedding five years later was simple and sweet. The Avengers, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and even Loki came to the wedding, with Fury as the priest.
Two years later, they adopted a sweet little girl from France named Elise. The Hulk simply adored Elise. She was like a sister to him, and she loved having him around to talk to, even if he was a split personality of her father.
But sadly, all good things had to come to an end
Natasha was killed on a mission by a SHIELD mole, and Bruce died shortly afterwards by grieving himself. The doctors said that he died because she had died.
But at their funeral, all of the Avengers, Fury, and Maria, all swore that they could see two guests there that were Bruce and Natasha. And then they disappeared right before their eyes. Their love was everlasting, even in death.
Bruce and Natasha were meant to be, even if they weren't supposed to fall in love again in the first place. But what destiny did just for them was something that the rest of them had sought out after, and never received it in the end.
Destiny liked playing with people. And playing with Robert Bruce Banner and Natalia Anastasia Romanova was the right thing to do. And their love and legacy would be leaving a trail behind them for a very long time.