Chapter 12

A/N: Happy early new year!

The day after their intense conversation in Bruce's lab the two Avengers were quietly sitting on the edge of the roof of Avengers Tower watching the sunset along the New York skyline. It was something Bruce hadn't seen in a long time. It wasn't something he would do on his own.

"Is this where you disappear to when you have a fight with Clint or Tony pisses you off?" Bruce asked glancing around. She shrugged and curled a strand of her hair around her ear.

"Sometimes…" she said vaguely. He paused as he felt the distinct embarrassment she felt yesterday when he was bugging her about not having many girly- his eyes twinkled.

Natasha froze. His eyes were not supposed to twinkle.

"You go to the shooting range more often don't you?" he asked with a slight twitch of his mouth. She groaned and banged her head against her knees.

"Will you never let that conversation go?" she asked in defeated. He grinned.

"No – it's too much fun to bother Natasha Romanoff – the dark and deadly spy that has hundreds of SHIELD men falling to their knees being reduced to a girl with too many manly skills," he said with the damn twinkle.

"I regret starting to see your mischievous side," she muttered beside him. He chuckled and gave her a warm look.

"Not many people take the time to," he said softly. Natasha paused as a weird feeling started to creep up on her. It was too damn soft. She didn't want to analyze it and quickly shoved it away. Bruce noticed her internal battle with some unknown emotion and waited for her to continue the conversation. Natasha stared at her knees for a moment before she glanced up at him with a determined look in her eyes.

"Have you ever seen a black lily?" she asked suddenly. He furrowed his brow at the sudden change in conversation.

"No…but I've heard of them. Don't they symbolize death or something?" he asked in confusion. She nodded and leaned her head against her knees.

"But just because it symbolizes something as multifaceted as death doesn't mean it only has negative connotations," she said looking up at the cloudy sky as it started to clear above them.

"Suicide is death," he pointed out warily. She shot him a warning look.

"Suicide is a manipulation of death. That's not the type of death I'm talking about," she said quietly. He sighed.

"I don't understand Natasha," he said reluctantly. What was she trying to say?

"You know how generally everyone wants to stay young forever?" she said still avoiding his question. He nodded slowly.

"Yes – no one wants to grow old and wrinkly…" he said slowly. It was common sense. She glanced at him and smiled weakly.

"I do," she whispered. Now she had lost him.

"Why?" he asked staring at her cautious eyes.

"Because having the opportunity to grow older, live your life to the fullest and die peacefully is a privilege many people don't get…especially not the agents who work in our field," she said softly. He paused as the realization of what she has been trying to tell him this whole time finally hit him. He nearly stopped breathing as the statement slowly sunk in. He can't believe he didn't see it.

"You're right Natasha. Growing older is a privilege," he whispered with a faraway look in his eyes. She caught the double meaning in his voice and gave him a curious look before it faded and was replaced with quiet understanding. Bit by bit Natasha Romanoff was peeling back the many layers that hid the real Bruce Banner. The man behind the hulk. The man no one bothered to get to know anymore because he had hid himself so well sometimes even he didn't know where the young scientist who got caught in an unexpected explosion disappeared to.

"When did you stop aging Bruce?" she asked as the stars started becoming visible in the night sky. He froze as she continued to watch the scene above them reveal all the secrets that were hidden in the far corners of the visible universe. Maybe one day they would see a full starry sky in New York City.

"10 years ago," he said shutting his eyes tightly. She figured it out too fast. He looked mid-thirties for a long time.

She nodded and didn't probe any further. He was grateful.

"You know …it's a dark flower – but it's still beautiful. Someone…someone once told there can be beauty in darkness...and that brilliant things can come from painful experiences," she said quietly. He smiled softly. She was trying to reach out to him – even though her words couldn't quite connect her feelings were broadcasting loud and clear. He was making her nervous. He had the strange feeling that for once it wasn't because of the other guy.

"I think he is a very wise someone," he said without looking at her. She tensed – he was too perceptive for his own good.

"Yeah a wise-ass that likes to annoy the shit out of me," she muttered grumpily. He felt the friendly affection mixed in with her honest annoyance.

"Isn't that what best friends are supposed to do?" he asked giving her a slight smile. She froze. Oh hell no.

"Don't you dare compare my best friend to yours," she said dangerously. Bruce nearly burst out laughing at the horror mixed with intense disgust she was feeling.

"Life is full of all sorts of ironies Natasha," he said with a chuckle. She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah? It has absolutes too – I will never, never, never hang out with Tony Stark by my own choice," she promised darkly.

Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha

The next day.

Natasha painfully stood in front of a wary looking Tony Stark. Damn you karma.

"Give this to Bruce in 3 days okay?" she said holding a piece of paper in her hand while she determinedly looked away. If she stared at his face too long…she might shoot it. Then who would give Banner her note?

Tony slowly took the paper from her outstretched hand.

"What is it?" he asked curiously. She glared at him.

"None of your god damn business," she hissed. Tony raised an eyebrow as he watched her twitch. Oh this was interesting.

"It's killing you to keep standing here and being civil isn't it?" he said dryly.

"You have no idea," she said dangerously. Tony gave the weird darkness hovering around her a cautious look.

"I'll be off to put this in a safe place now…" he said as he inched away from the volatile Russian. For once he wasn't going to piss her off.

Later that afternoon while Natasha was supposedly about to go on a top secret solo mission Bruce was quietly making his way down a SHIELD hall. He was still being employed as a scientist for SHIELD and so he was here more often than he would like. Bruce was lost in his own thoughts as he rounded the corner and accidentally crashed into the soft frame of another agent at SHIELD.

Oomph!

He looked up at the familiar brown eyes that reminded him of someone he was starting to get a little bit too attached to. Except when he took a closer look he was stared at the distinct figure of a man. What the heck?

"Oh my god - I'm so sorry!" he said as he quickly got off the poor man and helped him to his feet.

"It's okay Bruce. You were always a little absentminded when roaming the halls," the man said rubbing his head. Bruce paused in his apologies.

Wait a minute...

"Um does everyone think that around SHIELD...?" Bruce asked slowly. The man paused.

"What? No - I just noticed you did that after crashing into me several times last week," the man said in confusion. Bruce froze - he didn't remember that.

"Um...when was that exactly?" he asked nervously. The unknown redhead gave him a weird look.

"Are you feeling okay Bruce? You don't look so well..." the man said holding the back of his hand to his forehead to check his temperature. That was when Bruce felt the frightening sparks. No...

Bruce froze as he felt his face start to heat up. Was that his heart racing or a blender going off somewhere in the distance?

"Bruce...why are you turning into a tomato?" Clint asked from behind him. Bruce spun around and stared at the archer who had an odd knowing look on his face. Bruce stared at him for five seconds - nothing. He looked back at the redheaded man standing in front of him giving him a worried look.

Sparks went off in his chest - holy shit.

"Oh my god. I am not gay. I am sooo not gay. Oh my god!" Bruce exclaimed in horror before he quickly backed away from the two men standing in front of him and hightailed it out of there.

Natasha gave Clint a bewildered look.

"I never said I thought he was gay..." she said in confusion.

Clint gave her crossdressing for her mission a once over. She even looked hot as a man. No wonder Bruce couldn't hold it together.

"I'm going to let you figure that one out on your own Tasha," he said patting her on the head and walking away. Clueless Russians he thought as he shook his head. Utterly clueless.

Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha

Natasha and Bruce were standing next to each other with matching bewildered looks on their faces. Bruce still didn't know the truth about the gay incident. Whether he knew it was her or not didn't matter – he would still die from the embarrassment. However at the moment they had a serious problem - of epic proportions.

"You're crazy! I don't see anything wrong with the little guy!" Bruce said staring down at the little dinky robot that had followed them upstairs from his and Tony's lab. She gaped at him.

"Move over Banner. Your old eyes are making you blind!" she huffed as she pushed him out of the way and crouched down to take a look at the robot herself.

"Hey! I have perfect vision!" he said defensively before he instantly regretted it.

She blinked.

"Why do you wear glasses then?" she asked in confusion.

"Ah..." he said so eloquently. She raised an eyebrow as she waited for an explanation.

"It just makes you look smarter okay?" he said in defeat as he finally caved. She snorted.

"I knew you enjoyed being a nerd Bruce," she said shaking her head at the depressed scientist.

"Most 40 something year old scientists wear glasses..." he muttered childishly. Natasha gave him a wary look.

"Sometimes you act like you're one hundred something...and other times you act like you are on the same level as Tony Stark," she said blankly. Bruce looked highly insulted.

Cough. A little spurt of oil flew through the air and splashed Bruce right in the eye.

"Ouch! Oh my god!" Bruce shouted as he covered his abused eye. Natasha quickly grabbed a tissue paper and a bottle of water from the table beside them.

"Hold still Banner!" she said angrily as she tried to get the oil out of his eyes.

"That is very easy to say but difficult to do," he muttered as she skillfully rinsed out the oil.

"Honestly - the weirdest things always happen when you are around," she said shaking her head in disbelief. Bruce looked up at her with one eye still shut and gave her crooked smile.

"At least it keeps things interesting right?" he said as she stared into his eyes to see if there was any oil left.

"Sometimes I yearn for a boring day Bruce," she said with a heavy sigh.

"Liar," he whispered. She flushed.

"It's true!" she huffed. He grinned.

"No it's not," he said confidently. She huffed and gave up.

"Open your other eye Bruce - let's see how it's doing after that accident," she mumbled in defeat as she sat in front of him literally centimeters from his face.

They both noticed their proximity at the exact same moment and went bright red simultaneously.

"Hey Tasha! Do you know wh-" Clint froze as he walked into the room and watched two frazzled avengers instantly fly apart from each other. Oh now he was curious.

"Did I just interrupt something?" he asked suggestively.

"NO!" they both shouted instantly turning an even darker shade of red. Clint raised an eyebrow at the two suspicious avengers.

"Are you sure? I can go..." he said slowly inching back out the door. Natasha narrowed her eyes. He was making this a hundred times worse than it was.

"Stop making this sound like something it's not Barton!" she said darkly. Clint grinned.

"So you weren't just about to share a clandestine kiss with our resident genius who is sometimes a little green around the edges right?" he said before he dashed out the door. His work here was done. If Natasha and Bruce's faces could get any redder...

"CLINT BARTON YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!" Natasha screamed as she ran after the laughing archer as he fled for his life.

And so the doctor was left with silence - and a robot.

"Tony set you up to this didn't he?" Bruce said looking back down at the little robot that was no longer squeaking pitifully. If robots could look sheepish...

Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha Brutasha

Bruce groaned as he woke up late that afternoon of the last day of the year after a much needed nap. He had stayed up all night yesterday working with Tony on one of his major projects that was due soon. He yawned as he looked around for his glasses on his side table and froze when he found a neatly folded letter sitting underneath them.

Hi Bruce,

This is super cheesy – I know it's cheesy because when the Cap says it's cheesy I know I have crossed the line. But whatever. I thought you would find it fun if I wrote you a letter because I know you once said no one sends letters anymore. So here it is. I'm going to guess and say that you haven't seen New York fireworks on New Year's Eve in a long time – if ever. I don't know if you even like fireworks…frankly I don't know if I like fireworks myself…I'm rambling. This is why I don't do letters. So getting to the point of this painful piece of pathetic writing. Do you want to watch them with me from the roof tonight? I thought it'd be a nice place to watch fireworks from. No crowds. I don't like crowds either.

- Natasha

Bruce sat frozen to the spot on his bed he was kneeling on as he read and reread the short letter over and over again.

Someone wrote him a letter.

Natasha wrote him a letter.

She wanted to spend New Year's Eve with him…just him.

He slowly fell over onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling still in shock.

20 minutes later.

"Bruce why on earth have you been napping for so-" Tony froze as he stared at the unusual scene in front of him. He walked up to his dazed best friend and slowly took the piece of paper out of his hand. He never did read Red's secret note.

He stared at it. It was shit.

He glanced down at his nearly comatose best friend.

"It's far too easy to please you Bruce Banner. You simple, simple man," Tony said shaking his head like Bruce had a disease or something.

"Hmm?" Bruce said still staring at the ceiling. She wrote him a darn letter.

Later that evening.

Bruce was sitting by himself on the roof as he waited for Natasha to finally her make way up here and join him. Funny she never told him exactly when to come up here. How the hell did she know when he was coming? Crazy spies.

He paused as he suddenly felt waves of nervousness brush against his consciousness. For once he wasn't the one being nervous.

Suddenly a metal chain entering his line of vision and hanged in front of him. He glanced up at the awkward looking Russian spy holding onto the silver chain and looking anywhere but at him. It was sort of cute – her embarrassment was like a fluffy cloud brushing against him. If he told her that her emotions were anything close to being soft she would literally murder him – or at least try to.

"What's that?" he asked curiously without mentioning that fact that he could sort of tell what it was for based on how she was feeling about it.

"It's your New Year's Eve gift…" she mumbled. He raised an eyebrow.

"I can honestly say I have never received a New Year's Eve gift before…" he said warily. What he didn't say was that he hasn't gotten any gifts for any occasion in a long time. Other than all the things Tony has given him and done for him. He practically adopted Bruce into his little family. Tony was like the brother he never had…but did best friends really count? She snorted.

"Just look at it," she urged gently. He raised his hand and carefully turned the front of the tag towards him. It was a personalized military identification tag – with his name on it. It was so – practical.

It was so Natasha.

"Look at the other side," she said quietly handing him the entire chain. He turned it over and stared at the dark red nearly black lily embed in the metal. He smiled gently.

"Thank you Natasha," he said softly. It didn't matter if this was the first gift he was given in years. It was still the best gift he ever got in his life. The deep blush on her cheeks was an added bonus.

"Now you're not allowed to forget who you are and the only type of death you're allowed to have," she said firmly. Bruce blinked. Oh dear god she was talking about their conversation from the other day.

"Natasha you just ruined the moment," Bruce said dryly. Now the blush had taken over her face.

"I did not! I just explained the gift to you!" she said heatedly. He sighed and pulled the chain over his head and let it hang on his chest in front of him. It felt like it belonged there.

"You are also being morbid a minute before the New Year," he said shaking his head at her. She gaped at him – literally gaped at him. He lightly fiddled with the chain – it was a nice piece of someone else to carry around.

"Well it's better than being morbid at the end of an old year then at the beginning of a new one," she muttered under her breath. He laughed.

'I'm pulling your leg you know that right?" he said smiling at her frustration. She froze.

"You bastard how could you!" she shouted smacking him against his shoulder. He grinned. The perks of being a superhuman – it didn't hurt to be slapped around by a girl as much as it was supposed to.

"I actually just lied about lying," he informed her a moment later. Natasha groaned and banged her head against the wall behind them. He laughed at her dramatics. He never knew it would be this much fun bugging Natasha Romanoff. No wonder Tony took so much glee in pissing her off. But Bruce liked their calmer conversations too.

They stared down at all the couples standing along the busy streets of New York waiting for the New Year to commence. They were all standing fairly close to one another. Bruce froze as he just realized the New Year countdown tradition he never had to worry about – because he hasn't spent the last couple of seconds of each year in the presence of a girl since he was in university. And that was a long time ago.

Bruce suddenly went bright red at the countdown started. Natasha smiled warily without looking at him. She gently took his hand in hers and gave in a light squeeze.

"Friends can do a countdown too right?" she said softly. He sighed in relief and thankfully felt the blush in his face fade. She was too perceptive sometimes. He lightly squeezed back.

"Yeah – yeah friends can do it too," he said with an odd look on his face. Why was he slightly disappointed in that thought?

"5,"she said giving him a sidelong look.

"4," he said matching her calm look with a nervous one of his own.

"3,"she said as a slight smile threatened to appear on her face.

"2," he said as the crowds across the city all held their breath for the final moment of the year.

"1," she whispered before the entire sky exploded in a million colors.

"Happy new year Natasha," he said as he watched the bright fireworks in awe. Nobody ever forced him to come out and watch them before. He hasn't seems the brilliant light show in years.

"Happy new year Bruce," she said with a small smile in her voice. He froze as a pair of soft lips ghosted against his cheek.

He quickly glanced to his left.

She was gone.

A/N: I hope you thoroughly enjoyed that. Let me know if would like some more fluff or action next. Haha. Happy early new year.