because it's a reunion that was way overdue.

enjoy.

Bruce's eyes close and his face contorts into a grimace as the energy from the gauntlet surges through him. The pain is excruciating, but isn't limited to one kind of sensation. It's an explosion of sharp and ragged jabs to his every nerve ending, and then a strange kind of numbness settling into his arm. It's a raging fire rushing through his body, followed by a tsunami of water drowning him. It's lightning crackling through his veins and then thunder roaring in his ears.

He can feel the stones forcing their power onto him even as they steal away his own energy, but he fights against it, holding up his right arm with his left, and concentrating on bringing everybody back. Everybody. His expression tightens even further and he can't help the roar of pain he lets out as he brings his fingers together and snaps. His eyes open long enough to be blinded by a brilliant flash of white and then they fall closed as he passes out.

Hulk wakes to a sky of orange, with no memory of transforming from Banner and no feeling of the scientist in his mind. It's a new sensation, because in the past he's always been at the very least aware of Banner in his mind, even if he doesn't let him have any control. He sits up and scans his surroundings, frowning as he finds nothing. No buildings, no people, no roads, no ground...just...orange for as far as he can see.

He lets out a deafening roar of frustration as he spins around again and again, looking for something... anything . On his fifth turn, he spots something in the distance. He's puzzled by its sudden appearance, but begins moving toward it quickly anyway. A familiar energy begins to surge through him as the potential of a fight swells, but when he gets close enough he stops to look at the unknown object and only finds more confusion spreading in him.

"Hey, Big Guy."

Hulk whips around at the unexpected voice with a wave of rage simmering just under the surface, ready for a fight. But vague familiarity tugs at him as he watches the familiar figure walk past him, never dropping eye contact as she moves to stand in front of the unknown object he'd been walking toward. She's completely unafraid of him - something he's not used to.

"I've missed you," she says, a little grin tugging at her lips.

The sheer familiarity of her washes over him as he grits his teeth and growls while trying to wrestle with his temper.

"Sun's gettin' real low."

He lets out a loud huff of frustration because he knows this routine and knows it means giving up control to Banner. Even still, his hand rises to match hers because he craves the familiarity and understanding in her actions. His eyes watch her face carefully as she smiles at him, and his harsh features soften at the calmness in her gaze. He mirrors her movements and then shivers at the touch of her hand to his forearm. He feels his control wane as her fingers trail down to his wrist and then to his palm, the familiarity of her touch and gaze allowing him to relax.

Hulk stumbles away a few steps and falls to his knees as Banner begins to take more control and his body shrinks down.

Bruce's eyes open and he finds himself in a world with no edges, and no real visible delineation between ground and sky. Just swirls of varying hues of orange and a ground that appears to be holding him up but he wouldn't quite call solid.

He blinks in shock when he glances down at his body and realizes he's human again, and then frowns when he doesn't feel any trace of Hulk lurking in the back of his mind like he used to when he'd transform back and forth.

Am I…did I die? he wonders as he turns his hands over a few times, examining the human form he hasn't seen for years. Not since he'd gone into the lab the final time before completing the process to merge he and Hulk together.

"Hi Bruce."

His head whips around at the sound of a voice that's so painfully familiar and his jaw drops open in shock. "Nat?"

She smiles then, one of those enigmatic ones that he'd always loved. She's wearing a familiar black and white dress, and her hair is shorter and redder than when he'd last seen her. She's leaning on the other side of a bar that's inexplicably with them in the middle of all the orange nothingness, complete with liquor bottles and glasses lining the open-backed shelves.

"How'd a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?"

"Fella done me wrong."

"You got lousy taste in men, kid."

"He's not so bad…"

He blinks rapidly, because he can't believe what he's seeing. "It's- Is it-?" he swallows as he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment and then forces them open quickly. "Is it really you?"

She smiles again as she tilts her head. "Well, last time I checked, there weren't too many other people who could be me," she answers with an oh-so-familiar arch of her eyebrow. "Or so I've been told anyway."

"Was I the Hulk again?" he asks, unable to explain the revert back to how things were before eighteen months of scientific process in the lab to meld the two of them together. Another glance down confuses him even further when he notices he's fully clothed. That never happened after a transformation. Ever.

She nods. "It was nice to see him again." His brow furrows at her answer and she shrugs. "It's been awhile."

"I… I don't understand," he says slowly as he looks around. "What is this place?"

She shrugs. "Does it matter?"

Bruce stares as he lets her question linger, and realizes that maybe it doesn't. He'd thought he'd never see her again…and yet here she was in front of him looking every bit the enigmatic, unique, and amazing woman he remembered.

"Nat," he says with an exhale that's got grief and longing rolled into it, mixed in with some exasperation because he can't understand how she's apparently okay with everything that's happened and their presence in an orange world of nothingness.

"What?" she says with a light laugh. The laugh sounds almost carefree, but he isn't naive enough to believe she hadn't sussed out every inch of emotion in his tone - no, he knows she's teasing him. She'd always known what buttons to push .

He stares at her, drinking in every detail he can. Her eyes are lighter, like they haven't lived years filled with the weight of a failure to save the world...like they haven't lived years with the aching loss of friends and family. In fact, they're almost alight with mischief like they used to be when she'd flirt with him, or when she'd tease Steve, or bait Tony into a rant of some kind.

But Bruce sobers instantly when he remembers Clint falling to his knees on the platform and being unable to answer when they'd asked where Nat was. They had all understood it was possible to lose someone -it came with the territory of being a hero after all- but it had still been an unexpected punch to the gut when she hadn't reappeared with the rest of them.

"I'm sorry," he says, his head shaking gently as he frowns and tries to rein in his emotions, lest they overwhelm him. "Nat...I'm so sorry."

Her grin disappears and a frown creases her brow. "Why?"

"The stone… You-"

"Did what had to be done," she finishes for him.

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing," she interrupts firmly. "We needed the stone, and it required a sacrifice. Did you really think I was going to let Clint do it?"

Bruce looks at her sadly. "I thought we could bring you back. That's why I'm here, isn't it? I was trying to bring you back along with everyone else."

She smiles, but this time he can see that it's tinged with sadness. "It doesn't work like that," she replies softly.

"But we have the stones," he replies stubbornly. "We have the stones and we can-"

A single, slow shake of her head. "It doesn't work like that," she repeats, and it's then that he sees the tears in her eyes. "You have to go back, Bruce."

He shakes his head immediately, because he's not ready to leave her.

"Job's not finished," she says with a smile that flickers onto her face only briefly as she tips her chin to him to emphasize her words. "World still needs you to be a hero."

"Not without you," he says as his jaw clenches with the effort of holding off his grief, but he feels tears pool in his eyes despite the effort. He doesn't know where they are, or even why he's seeing her, but he's not ready to leave her. "Come back with me, Nat," he begs. "Please."

Her chin trembles for just a moment and he sees a tear slip down her cheek before her telltale strength settles back in. "I can't," she whispers, her voice husky with emotion that she's trying to hold in. "Believe me, I wish more than anything that I could, but I can't."

He reaches a hand up to wipe away the tear and is surprised when her skin is warm and soft to the touch. He slides his hand to cup her cheek and she leans into the contact as she closes her eyes, letting a soft sigh slip from her lips. He drops his hand from her face to wrap his arms around her tightly, and he feels her reciprocate immediately. His eyes close and he breathes in the familiar scent as he holds her tightly.

"Nat..." he whispers before the words he desperately wants to say get stuck in his throat. The same words neither of them had dared to think about when they were dancing around what they might've had the chance to explore.

"I know, Bruce," she murmurs, hugging him a bit tighter. "Me too."

They stay like that, just holding onto each other for a long time - not long enough - before she slips out of his grasp. "Time to go, Bruce."

He's shaking his head again instantly. "It's not fair," he whispers.

She regards him for a moment with eyes that are still watery, but her gaze is filled with a strength that he can't understand. How can she possibly be so strong in the face of these circumstances? "Life never is," she replies, reaching a hand up to cup his cheek tenderly. It's his turn to lean into the contact, eyes slipping shut for just a moment as he commits the feel of it to memory.

"We never got to see..."

She smiles sadly again. "We missed our window, huh?" He doesn't reply and just stares at her, the lost and unexplored time between them feeling like a dead weight pulling him down. "Thank you," she whispers suddenly, as though desperate to let him know.

His brow furrows. "For what?"

She just smiles enigmatically and leans forward to kiss him. Then there's a blinding flash and suddenly he's looking up at the concerned faces of Tony, Cap, Clint, and Thor. Natasha is nowhere to be seen, and reality crashes down on him just before a storm of missiles do.

His eyes flutter open to find Tony in front of him leaning back in a chair, feet propped up on a desk as his hands fiddle with some mechanical object. "Tony?" he says, voice rough and feeling like he hasn't used it in days.

Tony's feet swing off the desk and he turns around to face Bruce. "What's up, Doc? How ya feeling?"

Bruce frowns as he sits up, looks around, and immediately recognizes the old Avengers tower. "Why are we at the Tower?" He pauses as he remembers Tony had told him he'd sold it years before when they fully moved operations to the Compound. "And also how?"

Tony flashes a trademark grin. "Well, let me just start by saying that I'm touched you picked the Tower. Really, brings a tear to my eye."

"Tony," he warns out of habit, all too easily recognizing when Tony is enjoying himself a bit too much.

Tony sighs dramatically before leaning forward in his chair. "Not really any easy way for me to say this, so I'm just gonna rip off the bandaid, yeah?" Bruce opens his mouth to respond, but Tony doesn't stop to let him, instead continuing on. "You're dead."

Bruce blinks as he processes the blunt words. Faint memories of drifting away begin to flutter into his mind. He had theorized that the amalgamation between he and Hulk would extend his lifespan, but the damage from the stones had evidently impacted things more than he'd thought. He'd lived another few decades after the time heist and battle, but eventually began to wither long before he'd guessed he would.

"And this is like, the in-between place. You're dead, no going back from that, but you're not in the afterlife yet either," he explains, hands gesturing almost wildly. "Your soul's gotta heal first. Why, exactly, I don't know, but those are the rules. Non-negotiable, or so I've gathered."

Bruce has so many questions, but for some reason he comes back to "So why the Tower?"

Tony grins again. "Everyone conjures up a place that's comforting to them so their soul can heal. Me? I woke up on the beach by the lake where Pep and I built our house. Capsicle on the other hand, he woke up in his childhood bedroom with his mom."

"So I picked the Tower?"

"Apparently. Like I said, I'm touched," he says, pressing a hand to his heart and bowing his head slightly. "Means the world to me, my favourite science bro."

"If this is the transitional place...what are you doing here?"

"Well thanks so much for that warm welcome," he replies dryly as he leans back in his chair and begins fiddling with the object in his hands again.

"Tony," Bruce warns again as he shakes his head.

Tony's gaze slides back to Bruce as he grins widely and spreads his arms out as though presenting himself proudly. "I'm your guide."

"Guide?"

Tony puts down the object he'd been fiddling with onto the desk and stands up before offering a hand to help Bruce to his feet. "Someone's gotta explain this place to the newbies."

"And they voted you in for that?" Bruce replies, doubting that Tony, as big-hearted as he is, could be a wise choice for people to get their guidance from.

Tony chuckles. "Again, thanks for that vote of confidence, Bruce. But no, I'm your guide, not everyone's. Every soul picks a person who's already, uh, transitioned to be their guide."

Tony? Bruce thinks, My soul picked Tony?

"I know what you're thinking," Tony offers. "I was kinda surprised to get this gig. There's a certain red-head I thought you might've gone for considering your…" he pauses and looks thoughtful for a moment, "well I don't know that I can quite call it a romance, but whatever it was."

Bruce's eyes widen. "Nat's here?"

"Well, yeah…" Tony frowns in confusion. "She beat both of us here."

Bruce's mind flashes back to the orange nothingness where he'd held her before she told him he had to go back and be a hero. He'd never told anyone about it, not even Clint. He'd held it closely to his chest, treasuring that final moment he'd been granted with her, but he'd thought about it a lot. He still couldn't explain it, at least…not fully, but the closest he'd come to a theory had been that they were in some sort of place governed by the soul stone because she'd sacrificed herself for it. Anxiety had gripped him at the thought of Nat being all alone there, and he'd prayed with every fibre of his being that he was wrong. She deserved so much more than that.

"Right," he mumbles. "Of course."

He can feel the heat of Tony's gaze but doesn't meet it and instead looks at the floor.

"So, you ready for the grand tour?" Tony says finally, breaking their mini stalemate.

"You tell me, you're my guide."

"How do you feel?"

"How am I supposed to feel?"

"Healed."

"Well, I suppose I feel alright…"

"Then let's get a move on, Jolly Green Giant. There's this great little American diner and they have the best cheeseburgers you'll ever have…"

Tony had shown him around a bit, and then kindly offered to let him stay with him as he acclimated to his new surroundings. Bruce had declined politely, and so instead he'd led him to the house that was apparently his.

"Right, this is your stop. Think you've got enough of the lay of the land?"

Bruce blew out a breath. "I think so."

Tony eyes him critically for a moment. "You sure?" Bruce nods. "Well if you need anything, hit me up."

"Actually," he calls out just as Tony was opening the front door to leave. "Do you know where Nat is?"

"I'm impressed, Bruce. I had money on you asking much earlier on."

Bruce rolls his eyes. Some things never change.

"Head over to the Compound, you'll find her there."

"The Compound?" he repeats. "Avengers Compound?" The Avengers Compound is here?

"Yeah," Tony nods. "Head down toward the lake...well, the other lake that is. Not mine."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Tony."

He waves him off. "Give Red a kiss for me." Bruce's eyebrow arches at the suggestion. "Hey, don't give me that look. Me and Nat are basically besties now, what with being the co-saviours of the universe and all."

Bruce shakes his head. Yeah, some things neverchange.

He takes a few minutes to explore his house before giving up and deciding to head over to the Compound to find her. Time had done a lot to ease some of the pain of losing her but he'd never quite come to terms with the loss, so he's eager to find her. He has no illusions about whether what they might've had once upon a time was still on the table. He knows that chance evaporated the moment Hulk had left her behind and disappeared into space. But losing her so suddenly had left him without closure of any kind...

It takes him only a few minutes to walk over to the Compound, and his breath catches at the sight of her silhouette on the dock. The faint red, gold, and orange hues that are peeking out over the horizon remind him vividly of the orange nothingness that he'd been in with her, and his heart swells with relief that she isn't stuck alone somewhere. But even as relief washes over him, his brow creases with a gentle frown when he begins to wonder how long she's been here since she did technically die in the past...

He's so caught up with his thoughts that he stumbles when his foot catches on a root, and the sound causes her to turn around. Her expression brightens as she sees him and she immediately gets up and makes her way over to him quickly.

"Hi," she says softly, a warm smile curling on her lips as she wraps her arms around him.

"Nat," is all he can manage before the words get caught in a lump in his throat along with the emotions of seeing her again. He is painfully aware of how many years it's been, and yet in many ways it feels like just yesterday he'd last seen her.

His arms wrap around her tentatively because he's having a hard time reconciling that she's actually here with him. She relaxes into his hold in a way he's never seen before, and he wonders how much different this Nat here in front of him is from the one that had grinned at them all on the platform and teased 'See you in a minute.'

They hold each other for a long time, and for Bruce it's utter relief and happiness that he has her with him again. Once upon a time they had both wanted to explore something more with each other, but it had never been the right time. Somewhere along the way they had accepted that their brief flickering of the start of something had been more than either of them ever expected to get. Instead they'd shared a friendship and an understanding of each other on a level deeper than most, even if they didn't talk as much as they probably should have in the latter years.

"I've missed you," she says softly as they break the embrace.

"Would you believe me if I said I've missed you more?"

"No," she says, another smile curling on her lips. He grins back at her and her smile widens. "Let's sit," she suggests, nodding behind her. "I want to watch the sun come up."

He nods in agreement and allows her to lead them over to the dock where she'd been sitting before. "It's beautiful," he says, eyeing the warm hues that are painting across the sky and expanding slowly. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds, but then she reaches over and gives his hand a squeeze. He squeezes back and then tugs gently to get her to look at him. "I really missed you, Nat. Losing you…it was hell."

"I heard you had a disagreement with a bench," she teases gently, a little smile tugging at her lips.

He barks out a laugh at her dry delivery. "To be fair, my disagreement was not actually with the bench. It just bore the brunt of my emotions."

"The poor bench," she says with a shake of her head and a breathy chuckle.

"It was among its people," he offers with a lopsided grin. "I tossed it into the forest."

She snorts and then laughs heartily. "Well, if it was among friends…"

Their laughter dies down and they fall quiet as their gazes drift back to the spreading shades of red, gold, and orange. Bruce's thoughts turn once again to their shared moment after he snapped his fingers and he can't help but tell her how glad he is to have her with him. "I'm really glad you're here," he says, giving her hand another squeeze.

Her brow creases with a gentle frown as she turns to look at him. "Did you not expect me to be?" she asks, and then her expression falls.

His heart squeezes in his chest as he realizes what she'd inferred from his words. He shakes his head quickly. "No, that's not- That's not what I meant, Nat. You're worthy of peace and rest and being here in heaven or the afterlife, or wherever this is," he explains, the words tumbling out of his mouth as quickly as he can manage. "I just mean, after the last time we saw each other, I sorta thought you'd be stuck there."

Her frown deepens. "Stuck where?"

"The orange..." he trails off, searching for an appropriate descriptor, "...nothingness."

Nat is quiet for a moment before she answers slowly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Bruce. After I-" she stops abruptly, as though trying to choose her words. "After I died, I just woke up in that transitional place. There was no orange nothingness…"

He blinks and it comes to him all at once. Of course . It was a hallucination...or maybe a vision from the Reality stone?

"Bruce…" she prompts.

He sighs lightly and tips his gaze to meet hers. "When I had the gauntlet and we were trying to bring back everyone...I tried to bring you back too. I passed out after I snapped my fingers, and woke up in this…"

"Orange nothingness," she supplies.

"Yeah," he nods as he gathers his thoughts. "But you were there and had done the lullaby, because I had apparently been the Hulk again. We talked and I asked you to come back with me, but you said you couldn't. I begged you, but you said it didn't work that way and that I had to go back and be a hero for the world again." He pauses for a moment, but she doesn't say anything and so he continues. "I woke up shortly after, staring up at the concerned faces of Cap, Tony, Clint, and Thor, but you were obviously nowhere to be found."

"A soul for a soul," she murmurs. He frowns because Clint had never offered details and he'd never asked. "That was the deal to get the stone. One of us had to lose that which we love. An everlasting exchange."

He sighs heavily. "I really thought I could bring you back with the stones. I tried...I really did." He feels her squeeze his hand. "I thought about it a lot after the battle, and I wondered if the orange nothingness was something governed by the soul stone. I guess it was just a dream or a hallucination or maybe something from the reality stone, but I thought maybe…"

Her head tilts slightly. "You thought maybe…"

He exhales. "I thought that maybe because you had sacrificed yourself for the stone that you were stuck there forever."

She blinks as she processes his words. "I'm glad I'm not," she begins slowly, her words and tone carefully neutral, "but if it had been necessary-"

"No," he interrupts, "don't even say it. You didn't deserve that."

"Maybe not, but if it had been necessary, I would have done it."

He stares at her, finding an all too familiar strength in her gaze. She had always been willing to do the things other people ran away from. "I know," he says sadly. "But I'm glad you didn't have to. I wish you hadn't been forced to-"

"Bruce," she murmurs, "I did what I did to save my family." He opens his mouth to reply but she presses on. "And I'd do it again if I had to. But what's done is done. It was a long time ago, and we're here now."

She turns to look out over the lake again, and they fall into a comfortable silence as the sun creeps up over the horizon, flooding the world with light and warmth.

"Where was your transitional place?" he asks gently, curiosity building in him. Her life had been filled with so much pain and tragedy…

She smiles. "Here."

"The Compound?" he clarifies.

"Just up there," she explains with a nod and gesturing to a patch of soft grass about a dozen yards away.

"Why here?"

"I think it was the first place I really felt I had a place of my own."

He nods in understanding. She had thrived as an Avenger. Despite the circumstances, watching her step up to lead what was left of them in the aftermath of the Snap had been amazing.

"When we first moved into the facility I used to watch the sunsets and sunrises here. They were...calming."

There's the faintest pang of regret in his heart because he knows that was a time when she was hurting because he and Hulk had left so abruptly. "Nice spot," he agrees.

"People used to join me sometimes. Wanda would come and watch the sunset while we worked on her meditation. Steve was the only one ever up early enough to join me for the sunrises, and he always brought me a thermos of coffee along with a blanket. Sam would come and watch the sunset sometimes, and he'd bring alcohol," she finishes with a grin that makes Bruce laughs.

"Tony ever join you?" he asks.

She shakes her head. "Nah, he was already retired by that point. Actually," she pauses thoughtfully, "I think it was 'active duty non-combatant' he went with."

"He definitely would have brought some good alcohol if he had."

Nat chuckles. "I bet he would have. Probably would've had some fancy chairs installed too. You know how he likes to put his mark on things."

Bruce laughs. "Speaking of. Think you could show me around the place? Tony gave me a quick tour that mostly revolved around cheeseburgers and his place, but I'm thinking there's a bit more to it than that."

She grins widely and laughs. "Yeah, I can do that."

so...thoughts? comments? love to hear what you think.
been avoiding Bruce for awhile because his character was intimidating to me, but couldn't put it off any longer.

also - thoughts on other characters to explore?