I don't think of you at all…

Chapter 1. Regret and False Hope

Lately, I don't think of you at all

Or wonder what you're up to, or how you're getting on

Bruce

The heat blazed down on to the grey tarmac filled with congested traffic. Bruce Banner wiped the trickling sweat with his backhand. The area upon his forehead was dry and sticky, until moments later moisture appeared there once again. The air was clogged up with smog and clouds of engine smoke, and traditional Indian music bellowing out of the taxi radios. Bruce could still catch the noise of horns bleeping and rundown engines chug in his surroundings.

The male flopped his arm out of the open window of the vehicle, feeling the fresh wind and glowing sunlight against his skin as the taxi slowly conveyed. Bruce's eyes hung with exhaustion, as the past few nights of India's summer heat wave kicked in. Causing Bruce too become quite restless.

His vision was focused on the scenery he was gradually passing. The dismantled shacks and polluted atmosphere reminded him so much of the time he first met Natasha. All them years ago back in Kolkata, when they were both so oblivious to their feelings towards each other…

-Flashback-

Bruce was stood facing Natasha in an old run down shack on the edge of the city. With only a table to separate them. The Assassin was casually sat on a rusty wooden chair looking up at him for a response.

"So Fury's not after the monster?" Bruce asked curiously.

Natasha replied honestly. "Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?"

Natasha began to get reluctant, "Talk to Fury, he needs you on this-"

"He needs me in a cage?" Bruce's voice rose slightly.

"No one's gunna put you in a cage-" Natasha responded.

Bruce suddenly slammed his hands down on the woodened table to close the distance between them. "STOP LYING TO ME!" he bellowed out.

Natasha instantly reached for her gun from under the table and pointed the weapon directly to his face. With a startled look across her complexation, Bruce knew that when he first saw her a few minutes before that she wasn't a woman to mess with. Her stance was well structured and a resting firm face was everything to give Bruce all he needed to know about her.

Natasha was not one to be played, but before she was assigned to this mission she knew it was a risky one.

"I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you would do. Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess. Okay? Natasha?"

Black widow thought for a moment. Is it safe? Can she trust him? But eventually she went with her gut feeling and lowered her gun.

"Stand down… Were good here." Natasha sounded through her earpiece before reconnecting her eyes with his.

Bruce was relieved that he wasn't a target anymore, and more relieved that she put some trust in him as they had only just met each other. But if Bruce knew then what was going to happen between them two, he probably wouldn't have started it in the first place for Natasha's sake as well as his.

In the end of it all Natasha still thought that she was sent there to recruit him for a reason, but deep down she knew that nothing lasts forever and either way it wasn't going to last.

-End of flashback-

Bruce deeply regrets the way he left things, He didn't even say goodbye to the poor woman and just left her there to deal with everything whist he ran away. However, he knew that he couldn't stay and that would be the best for both of them in the long term. He pictured that Natasha had moved swiftly on and tried her hardest to forget about him, even though it took her by surprise by falling for him. Hoping that she would keep herself safe on missions and enjoying the attention of all the other guys on the team, he'd never want her to go unnoticed.

A loud beeping noise, distracted Bruce from he's thoughts and turned his attention on the road works four cars ahead of him in the cue of traffic. The taxi driver continued to beep his horn in frustration.

"Tum ghabarao nahin. Main yahaan se chal sakata hai." (Don't worry. I can walk from here.). Bruce fluently spoken Hindi to the driver before handing him rupees.

The doctor grabbed his leather wore out satchel and set off down a narrow side street. He was journeying towards a homeless shelter for the unfortunate families in the area that had lost their homes to a recent earthquake a couple of days ago. Wondering if they needed some help and assistance.

Natasha

Meanwhile, back at the new Avengers facility in Upstate New York. Natasha was hammering the life out of an innocent punch bag in the Gym. She found that harsh training and physical abuse to herself would help her forget everything around her and all the problems in her life.

She had just got back from a mission in Nigeria, trying to stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos. The mission was successful, but there was still complications and major causalities throughout the time they spent them. That is why there was a meeting scheduled at 11 for when Tony and General Ross arrived to discuss the new supervision for the team. Natasha wanted to get some training in before this heated discussion on the future of their lives and let off a bit of steam.

Once the red head was finished with her work out, she sat herself down and leant her back against a wall. She wiped her head with a towel and downed the last mouthful of her water.

Natasha sat there admiring the silence, she hated to do this to herself but it was the only coping mechanism she could handle without having thoughts of him.

She felt weak at even the thought of him in her mind, how could he say them things to her and feel those feelings but not act on them.

This gym looked a lot like the one back in the Avengers Tower, which didn't help her mind cast back to a certain memory…

-Flashback-

All the Avengers where living in the Tower and getting along as one big family. Over the past few weeks the group has all had their fair share of taking the blame of failing their pass missions to try and receive the spectre. Frustration and guilt was hung over them like a black cloud.

Natasha finally give up the idea of sleep, after an hour of trying and travelled down to the gym to carry out her daily workout session to waken her up. It was 5am and she had a good feeling that not a soul was awake in the tower and that this could be a good time to relieve her stress and sleep deprivation.

But when she arrived upon the gym area, the redhead wasn't aware that is was already occupied.

"Oh Hello." Bruce greeted Natasha.

Natasha stop in her tracks before responding, "Hi". She was secretly hoping that she could have time to herself before a 'boring day at the office'.

Bruce began to stammer around at her presence, "I didn't realize that you'd be up so early, I could go if you like…"

"No, please stay… I could use the company. I couldn't sleep that's all" Natasha knew it was safe to slightly let her guard down around Bruce, they have grown at closer over the time period of living together.

Natasha sat down on the bench and reached for her right shoulder, rotating her arm in pain. "Are you okay?", Bruce asked noticing the expression on his teammates face.

"Yeah I just pulled a muscle the other day on a mission and not being able to sleep hasn't helped in the slightest" Natasha explained.

Before she knew it Bruce had walked across the room and sat down next to her on the bench, massaging her shoulders.

"Your very tense, I hope this will help you relax" Bruce gently rubbed Natasha's shoulders relieving her stress.

Natasha didn't hesitate and let him continue. 'It was actually quite nice and relaxing, if only he could do this before I go to bed every night to help me sleep better-' Natasha's thoughts suddenly stopped. Why was she thinking about Bruce massaging her before bed, obviously this wasn't right and the lack of sleep was messing with her mind. So before things got any further she jumped back into her own personal space and walked away from him, over to the punch bags.

"Did it help?" Bruce asked hopefully.

"Yes. Thank you." Natasha replied coldly, with a forced smile.

Bruce had noticed for a while now that she had been treating him differently but just couldn't put a finger on it. He was still eager to spend more time with her whilst they were alone for once.

Natasha began to throw some harsh punches upon the punch bag opposite her, Bruce just watched her body move around the bag with delicacy and passion. Bruce watched her until she was finished and made her way over to the shooting room.

Out of the blue Bruce asked something Natasha would never thought she would hear from his lips.

"Can you teach me how to shoot?!" He bellowed out.

Natashas mood just got more positive, she was about to learn the hulk how to use a gun.

"Yeah sure. Grab a gun and we will get started." Natasha seemed confident within her shooting surroundings and glad that she can teach Bruce a thing or two.

The couple entered the shooting room and Bruce stepped back whilst he watched Natasha demonstrate the basics of how to hold a gun and shoot it.

Bruce was so impressed at how Natasha was so skilful and talented at this sort of stuff, and he didn't have a clue. Then again this is how scrambled her brain must be when he talks to her about science.

Once she let Bruce hold the gun and shoot for himself, he looked like a lost puppy trying so hard to find his way back home.

Natasha deep down enjoyed spending time with the doctor and teaching him things she was knowledgeable about. But she couldn't stand to watch anymore of his inaccurate gun holding for much longer.

The Assassin slowly come up behind Bruce and reached for his hands, she positioned them carefully on the gun without making the situation awkward. Their bodies were so close now that Natasha's body was literally wrapped around Bruce's from the back.

Once Natasha finished up making Bruce's stance look better, he couldn't bring herself to move away from him and Bruce didn't make a scene about it either. Their faces was right next to each other, they slowly turned to face each other but what they didn't know was that how close they was. The was a few inches between their lips and neither of them was going to waste any more time. They grow closer and closer with either passing second until Bruce moved away reluctantly and exited the shooting room without another word. Leaving Natasha their wondering what she had done wrong.

-End of Flashback-

Natasha shook the memory out of her head. It hurt too much to think about the two of them together even when their relationship was barely blossoming at the time. If only she knew then what she knows now, would she even think twice about it?

She swabbed the remaining sweat from her forehead and threw the dirty towel on the floor before stand up and walking out of the gym to get ready for the meeting. She needed to get back into the real world, not dwell on something that's never going to change.