A/N: Big 'Thank You' to KO-rka and RFK22 for your suggestions and comments. Hope you enjoy the update! :)
"I feel like I'm going to throw up." He smirks nervously as his fork tosses his plain white rice across his dish.
Natasha munches on her sandwich slightly concerned, "You've been saying that since this morning."
He sits back, giving up on his attempt to put something in his stomach. She nudges him subconsciously with her knees crossed, glancing out the window of the small shop before refocusing on his pretty brown eyes, "Well for one thing, you're not eating enough so you're probably making yourself sick. Did you take anything for your head ache."
Bruce sarcastically tilts his head, "You confiscated my pills."
Natasha freezes, "Oh yeah, I did. Where the heck-."
"In your pocket." He had a few vials of the simple stuff, but Romanoff made it clear that she would hold onto his stronger pain killers to prevent that temptation to overdose.
She reaches out slipping two his hand. "You're welcome."
"Your idea. Can you spare them?"
"Ha! No I can't. You do look a little green."
He rolls his eyes, "You are very observant."
Miss Romanoff lifts her hand over his forehead. He wrinkles his nose uncomfortable with being touched at the moment; "Green as in 'Green'?"
"No, just green. Not 'Green'."
"Green?"
"Yes, but not-"
"So, I'm green, but I'm not 'green'."
"You're not going green, there's just a little green on your cheeks." She smirks trying not to laugh at his persisting. She knows he's doing it to bother her at this point.
"Like musty green?"
"No, it's that, 'you're going to vomit' green."
He clicks the side of his teeth, smirking sarcastically, "Thanks Natasha, I can always count on you to state the obvious."
Romanoff leans back in her chair, crossing her arms with a smile on her face, "You drive me crazy."
Bruce shuts his eyes as he's about to respond, throat receiving that bitter taste from the pills. She snickers when he makes a noise, "You're such a mess. Are you okay?"
"You're the one with holes in your back."
Her hair reacts in a light bounce when she leans forward, "They're not 'holes', they're cuts a bruises."
"Deep, cuts and bruises."
"They're just surface scars."
"That are probably killing you right now."
Natasha gives a casual shrug, "I've been through worse."
His eyes lower as he shakes his head. She's a spy, a master assassin...There's little that could faze her.
She smiles looking out the window, "I'm feeling, Rockefeller Center this afternoon. Watch the skaters for a little while. You game?"
He shrugs casually returning her smile, "Whatever you want Miss Romanoff. Just remember it was snowing before."
Natasha's quick to stand up urging him to follow behind her, "Come on my huckleberry friend."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The sky looked full of clouds, a little mist in the air supplying an irritating moisture as the two-some walked down the half-emptied sidewalk.
By the time those white icy flakes started to fall, they had already reached their destination. Natasha was quick to lean her back against the small barricade and much to Bruce's embarrassment, catch a few flakes with her tongue. With her head thrown back, those small icy pieces of cotton found their way into her fiery red hair.
She laughed when she saw his facial expression, "What?"
He just shakes his head, "You look ridiculous."
Natasha keeps her eyes focused on a fresh one landed on her open palm, "You've never caught a snowflake on your tongue?"
Banner gives her a look as if to say; Are you kidding? She smirks tilting her head, "You deprived child. Bruce stick your tongue out."
He narrows his focus looking her up and down as she tilts her head back, "Not if I'm going to look like that."
Her eyes close as she keeps her tongue out, "Okay, leave me looking absolutely ridiculous all by myself."
"You don't seem to mind." He leans his elbow on the barricade, still watching over his 'little spider'. It was a shame she generally felt a need to hide that playful, innocent, side of personality. Sure, Natasha could kill someone with her bare hands if she felt threatened, but that childlike innocence and gentle laugh is what made her something special to Bruce. Being around her made him feel human even if she did embarrass him a little.
He's caught off guard when she tosses a snowball into the air, landing right back down into her palm. They weren't even completely aware the weather had permitted such a pile up. He widens his big brown eyes, "Don't you dare!"
She wiggles her eyebrows with a crafty expression on her face, "Would you be angry?"
He smirks raising his eyebrows, "Miss Romanoff..."
"Would you?"
"No, but I don't-"
-Splat!
He jumps when she hits his side with her small creation, covering her face as she chuckles, He bites his cheek trying to suppress his own smirking as he shakes his head for the third time that afternoon. Bruce waits until she bows her head, leaving those small footprints into the pavement a few feet away from him. He slides his hand across the barricade, collecting a snowball a little smaller than his palm, enough to wrap his fingers around it, before tossing it in her general direction.
Natasha smiles, showing a little teeth when she feels the chill on her shoulder. Her body whips around as he glances into the sky, inconspicuously. She snickers, "You big tease!"
She was personally ready to throw another one before he shoved his hand into his pocket, giving her a sweet smile, "I'm sorry Miss Romanoff."
"Why? For having a little fun?"
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him like that, leaning into the barricade, light snow falling around his sweet frame. He was such a soft individual; warm and endearing. Natasha makes her way back towards him, her slender fingers engraving the shape of a heart in her ball of ice. She lets it fall to the ground in slight frustration;
-Love is for children...then again, everyone could be a child at heart.
She looks down at her hands when they meet, reddened from her little game, "My hands are freezing."
He offers an open palm, she gently lays hers on top, only slightly warmer then her own. His gentle rubbing starts with a thumb, "Cold hands, warm heart."
Her eyes meet his. He takes a deep breath before planting a soft kiss on the back of her hand. Her cheeks flush a pinkish color, heart thumping at least twice as fast. He keeps that hold on her hands, opposite fingers brushing a warm sensation over her sore digits. Natasha tilts her head, green-hazel eyes focused on his 'work'.
Bruce glances upwards, her eyes unexpectedly meeting his. If he only knew just how much she cared about that emotional wreck and his big heart.
He glances upwards breaking the silence as he reopens his palm to 'release' her, "We should, head back before it really starts coming down."
She nods in somewhat of a haze, rubbing over her own hand the way he had just done. She eventually rams them into her pockets walking beside him, "Sure Doc."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Well, you could've at least called." Tony keeps his arms crossed, feet on the table in front of him.
Natasha keeps her arms crossed, "Stark! Please, we were gone for five hours what is the big deal?"
He raises his eyebrows like an over-protective parent. His eyes fix in on Bruce who stands against the wall. His head is low and tilted, keeping his hands within his pockets; "The big deal is that Robin Hood made me responsible for you two. I tried calling Brucey, naturally his phone is off. Did you even have it with you?"
Banner shakes his head, his eyes proving he's fallen into a groggy haze, "We're fine. Cold, but we're okay."
Miss Romanoff smirks, "I'm heading downstairs for coffee. You want tea Bruce?"
He sighs standing up straighter as he heads towards his friend. He gives a glance over his shoulder to address the red-haired assassin, "No thanks Miss Romanoff."
She persists, "Herbal, no sugar. I think Pepper has chamomile."
"No thanks Natasha."
She shrugs, her fingers tapping on the door frame, "Okay. I'll be right back."
Tony rolls his eyes, sarcastic grin on his face as she leaves, "I get you're in love but you need to tell me what's going on. I see a snow storm and I'm ready to break out in a suit."
Bruce wrinkles his nose with a hint of disgust, "Knock it off Tony."
He shrugs swiping the screen, "What? I'm being serious for once. Surprised?"
Banner shifts his weight as he paces the lab with his head still bowed low, "Where did you put the stuff I had on the counter?"
The engineer is a bit hesitant to answer, "It's, on the desk. What is it?"
He shrugs casually heading towards the files, "Encryption codes and data."
"For what."
"Pure curiosity."
"About what."
"A potential break through."
"On..."
He smirks glancing at his papers, "Nothing important,' his eyes shift upwards spotting a familiar logo that leaves a knot in his stomach, 'Tony what is that?"
He swipes the screen in a frantic motion, "Nothing. Chemicals, objects, weapons; nothing important."
Bruce twirls his tongue over the inner portion of his cheek, his heart pounds, head spinning in a thousand circles. When Tony sees his sharp eyes narrow, he knows it's over as he struggles to remain inconspicuous, "Business."
Banner stands up straighter still a little suspicious, "Oh."
Stark quickly punches in a few codes to delete his most recent searches and current GPS tracking. He knows if his friend ever finds out about what he knows, Tony is as good as dead.
