This has been stuck in my head for a while. It was supposed to be a look at Natasha starting to trust her teammates, but I re-watched 'The Incredible Hulk' (Marvel, 2008) to get Bruce's back story right, and consequently he got more of the spotlight than I intended. But anyway…
The Company You Keep
It was a normal Wednesday for Bruce, working on his own projects in the lab while Tony was distracted somewhere else, no doubt causing Pepper or Steve trouble. He figured it was fair to take turns babysitting him, being conducive to sanity and all that.
Looking up from one of his screens, Bruce froze in surprise. Sitting on one of the benches, back propped up against the wall was none other than Natasha Romanoff.
"You scared me," Bruce explained when she looked at him inquisitively. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "How'd you get in?" He realised who he was talking to, "No, wait, never mind that, how long have you been here?"
"A while. You were very engrossed in your work," she offered.
"Yes, I suppose I was. Was there anything you need or…?" he trailed off. He really had no idea why the assassin was in his lab.
"No, just bored I guess." She jumped off the bench in one smooth move. "I'll let you get back to your work, Dr Banner."
Bruce watched her leave, then shrugged off the whole visit and went back to his work.
It was a few weeks later, another Wednesday, when Natasha visited again.
"You really do get immersed in your work," she said from her perch on the same bench.
Bruce shook of the surprise, again, and looked her over; as stoic as ever, dressed casual, no gun in sight but that didn't mean much. "Bored again?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Just got in from a mission and felt too wired to sleep."
Bruce looked down at his watch and found that he had lost a few more hours than he realised and it was verging on midnight. Having an idea he searched his desk and found a stack of papers then stapled them together. "Here," he said, throwing the bundle at Natasha. It was a bad throw but she caught it anyway. "That'll put you to sleep in no time."
"What is it?" she asked, flicking through the sheets.
"Tony's test data for his newest gadget or something. He wanted my opinion on it but I think he's already built it and didn't tell me." He sighed, "His math is always right."
"Annoying isn't it," Natasha smirked.
Bruce chuckled, turning back to his work as Natasha started to read. He would have normally shut everything down and found his bed upon realising the time, but figured another hour wouldn't hurt if Natasha was going to hang around.
It wasn't the third, fourth or even fifth time Natasha turned up in Bruce's lab when he finally surprised her and not the other way around.
"Tea?" he asked as she walked in the door.
She surveyed the room, noting that he wasn't at his usual desk, but at the one across from 'her' bench. He had found an old teapot in his travels around the tower, along with two mismatched mugs and proceeded to make tea, boiling the water in a flask over a Bunsen burner. He hadn't known Natasha would turn up, but just in case he had pulled out the second cup.
"Sure," she said after a second, pulling herself up into her usual seat on top of the bench.
Bruce poured her a cup and passed it over. "If you don't like it, I've got some black tea stashed away, but I've always liked this blend. I found it in a little village –"
" – in Brazil," Natasha interrupted, tasting the tea. "A little village without a name, but the best tea for miles."
"You've been there?"
"One of my missions with Clint in our first year of being partners." She smiled at the memory. "What took you there?"
"One of my stops in my first year of running from the government." His smile was much grimmer.
"But you had time for tea," she said, trying to cheer him up.
It worked. "You must always have time for tea," he laughed.
"A connoisseur then?"
"Tea has a habit of tasting like the place it comes from. Reminds me of all the amazing places I've been, but was a little too distracted at the time to take note."
Bruce only ever saw Natasha in his lab every few weeks, but after that conversation he started to find packets of tea from locations around the world left on his desk every so often.
"You seem restless," Bruce commented.
Natasha looked up from fiddling with some of Bruce's lab equipment with what he could only call a guilty look on her face. "Sorry."
"No, you don't have to apologise." He paused in his work and gave the young woman his full attention. "If you ever wanted to tell me what you are looking for, Natasha, when you come down here, I might be able to be more helpful."
"Don't worry about it, Bruce," she said. Bruce couldn't read her expression as she walked out of the room.
He didn't see her for nearly a month after that.
Bruce walked into his lab one morning and didn't have it in him to be surprised to find Natasha on her bench. He was however a little surprised to see her curled up on her side and asleep. It didn't last long though, his presence alone waking her up.
"That can't have been comfortable. And don't tell me that you've had worse," he added when she went to speak. "I hear that too much from Barton."
"Well, the man does have a penchant for sleeping in trees."
"Would you like some coffee?" he offered. "There's a full pot in the kitchen, food too if you want it."
"No thanks, I'm good."
For the next half hour Bruce went about his work with Natasha's eyes following his every move. Usually he didn't notice it, having had her sneak into the room. But this time he was aware of her from the start.
"Come here," he said finally. "I'll show you what I'm working on."
"I don't think I'd understand it," she said, but walked over anyway.
"If I know how to break into a lab, I'm sure you could learn cellular biology."
"How'd you break in?"
"Pizza works surprising well as a bribe."
She snorted. "Nice. Dr Romanoff and Agent Banner."
"Dr yes, agent no. But here, look at over at this screen. I'm working on a less complicated form of the super soldier serum."
"Bruce…" Natasha said in warning.
"Not as a weapon. This is actually the work that I was so confident in that I exposed myself to gamma radiation…and well you know the rest."
"You became a green rage monster. I already guessed that that wasn't your goal."
"It was actually to become resistant to radiation. I was part of the new super soldier program, but I was never told that. All I wanted to do was create more radiation resistance in the body, to prevent radiation sickness. I got that bit right though. I should have died years ago from that."
"They never told you?"
"No. I only found out after the guy in charge promised to dissect me, claiming that I was government property, and wanting to weaponise me." Natasha was looking at him with a weird expression. "What?"
"I think we are more similar than I first thought."
"I don't know if that is a good thing."
"Neither do I. Now what am I looking at here?"
He pointed to a readout on a computer screen. "I compared Steve's radiation resistance to mine, and as you can see they are quite similar."
She looked at it dubiously, "I'll take your word for it."
Bruce settled himself in for a long, but entertaining, morning of explaining his work.
Bruce started at the sound of a bang as Tony burst into his lab, waving a piece of his suit around, mouth going a mile a minute. He looked over at the clock and saw that it was in the early hours of the morning and that Natasha appeared to be asleep on her bench, feet propped up on a computer and hands beneath her head. He hadn't even noticed her entrance. She shouldn't look that comfortable, he thought as he stretched out his back and waited for Tony to stop talking.
Tony finally stopped talking, but only because he noticed the third person in the room. "If she's spying on your work she's doing a horrible job at it."
"Tony."
"What is she doing in your lab? At…two twenty in the morning. Damn, Pepper's going to kill me. But anyway, you and spidy? There goes the spider-hawk theory."
"Tony."
"Wait, what does Barton know? Now I'd bet on you winning in that fight, but Legolas will not go down easy."
"Tony."
"What else haven't you told me? I thought we had a special connection!"
"Tony!"
"What?!"
"Be quiet!"
"What?"
"One, Natasha is sleeping, so be quiet. Two, no we are not 'together'. Three, did you really just make this about you. And four, Pepper is going to kill you."
Tony cursed and exited the room in the same manner as he entered it.
Natasha had disappeared from her bench during the last few minutes and Bruce figured it was a sign that he should get some sleep himself.
The next morning Bruce was in his lab with Tony explaining a new idea he had for his armour, what he had started to explain the night before. Tony was throwing hypotheses at him that steadily got more ridiculous while he tried to rein it in before Tony blew up the building…again.
Bruce was saved by the entrance of Clint, duffel bag over one shoulder and his weapons case in hand.
"Hello, Clint. Just get in?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah, finished the mission yesterday but only got a flight out early this morning."
"It went well?"
"Yeah, rookie stuff, but they wanted it done quickly."
"I wonder where Natasha is," Tony said suddenly. "Bruce, do you know where she is?" he asked, shamelessly.
Bruce glared at Tony.
"She's on a mission," Clint answered. "She arrived on the helicarrier as I was leaving. Oh, hey that reminds me, Bruce this is for you." Clint fished around in one of his cargo pockets and pulled out a sealed pack of tea. "I was told you collected tea," he said by way of explanation.
"Thanks, Clint."
"Thank you, Bruce." He wasn't quite sure why he was being thanked, but he had a strong feeling it was to do with Natasha. He offered a nod, and just like that the seriousness was dropped and Clint left with a wave. In its place was Tony annoyed at having his fun spoiled and oblivious to the undercurrents.
Bruce found Natasha on her bench, slumped against the wall, feet dangling off the edge. She was still dressed in her S.H.I.E.L.D uniform and her blood covered-face made him think she hadn't stopped by medical on her way back to the tower.
"Natasha?" he called slowly approaching. He tried again once in arms reach without a response. Holding his breath, he reached forward and tried to find her pulse on her neck. She woke up swinging, and Bruce carefully but efficiently blocked her arm. "Natasha, it's Bruce, you're in my lab back at the tower."
"Hey, Bruce," she said, voice raspy.
"Hey, yourself. Why aren't you in a hospital?" he demanded, looking over her injuries.
"Didn't like the doctors. You're probably the only doctor I've ever trusted. So, what do you say to patching me up?"
"PhD not MD." Natasha just looked at him with unguarded eyes. Bruce resigned himself to the inevitable and reached under the counter for the first aid kit. He looked at her again. "Probably quicker to tell me where you're not hurt."
Natasha made a coughing sound. "Ouch, don't make me laugh."
"I'll restrain myself," he said dryly.
Twenty minutes later and Natasha was wearing Bruce's spare set of clothes, he tended to stash sets all over the tower, and covered in bandages. He helped her drink some water; her hands were awkward with bandages, before taking a seat on top of the desk opposite and waited.
"Did I miss anything?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Feel much better."
"I would again like to take this opportunity to explain the difference between a doctor of philosophy and a doctor of medicine."
"You're a better medical doctor than most, Bruce."
He glared at her, but softened it because she looked plain pitiful.
"You never ask questions."
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"Steve would want to talk about it, Tony would just talk too much. Pepper has enough to worry about with Tony and Thor, if he was around, would talk about battle songs. I am a spy not a soldier. I work in shadows and secrets, not the glory of the battlefield. And sometimes I want to forget that, so I come down here because you don't ask, just keep me company. It's nice to feel normal once in a while."
"Natasha?"
"You once said that if I told you what I was looking for, you would be able to help. Well, that's what I was looking for. You were already helping."
"I'm glad I could." Bruce jumped off the desk and headed to the door where he had dropped his jacket.
"Where are you going?" Natasha asked, fear almost but not quite hidden.
"To get my phone. I think Clint would like to know that his partner is not MIA after returning from a mission where she was obviously tortured." He met her eyes square on, "You may have come to me, but I know that I wasn't your first choice."
Natasha was silent but grateful as the doctor pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and made the call.
"Get some rest, Natasha. I'll keep you company until Clint gets here."
Bruce was rewarded with a genuine smile from her as she fell asleep on her bench.
Thanks for reading