Chapter 5
"I know."
"Know what? That I eat take out for practically every dinner or the fact that I wrote a book?"
"I know that you are the Hulk."
That silenced any thought that Bruce was having. The Hulk didn't care. For some weird reason that Bruce didn't understand he was happy that Natasha knew.
"Wh... what do you mean?"
He had been leaning on the counter at this point but Natasha's words caused his elbow to slip off of it. This made him stumble backwards which then caused a chain of events that led to Bruce ending up on the floor with books scattered around him.
Natasha found this hilarious and couldn't contain her smile. She lent down to where he was on the floor and took his wrist, which he had landed on, into her hands to check it.
Bruce was blushing at Natasha's actions and that was not something he would ever usually do. The Hulk was just happy. He could feel none of the his usual anger radiating through him.
"Umm... it'll be fine. Just a sprain."
"You would know wouldn't you."
"Is it really that obvious?"
"Only to those who know what to look for."
"And what is that?"
"A massive, green, strong person. From there you just have to follow him home, surprise him and then make him fall flat on his face when you confront him."
Now they were both smirking though Bruce still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that she hadn't called the Hulk a monster.
"Massive, green, strong person? Not monster?"
"I don't believe that the Hulk is a monster. We give people and things the name monster when we are frightened of them. I am not frightened of him."
Bruce sighed, his smirk had been wiped off of his face.
"You should be."
"I don't think I should. I don't think that anyone should. The Hulk wants to help and in this world we need all the help that we can get."
Hulk do good with Natasha now!
Natasha could tell when Bruce's thoughts shifted and was slightly confused so sent him a look.
"The Hulk agrees with what you have said."
She smiled before saying,
"Why of course he does, because it is all true."
"I doubt we could tell if you were lying anyways."
"Nope."
They were still sat on the floor next to each other but were now smiling. Natasha got up from where she was sitting and started rummaging through cupboards.
Bruce got up off the floor but before he could ask what she was looking for she had ducked into his bedroom. He stayed where he was and waited for her to come back. He trusted Natasha and it was not like she could really make his mess of an apartment any messier.
About 30 seconds later Natasha came back into the room with a bandage in her hand and some medical tape in the other.
Bruce looked at her curiously.
"It's for your wrist."
"Ohh."
Natasha got Bruce to sit on one of the chairs behind the counter while she grabbed his sprained wrist and started to bandage it so that it would be supported.
"What are you going to do now that you know about the Hulk?"
"Nothing."
The answer was immediate and left Bruce slightly shocked.
"Nothing?"
"Yep."
"Your not going to tell the other Avengers?"
"No. I know that you don't want them to find out because otherwise you would have already told them. Besides they will end up finding out in the end."
"So I have no hope of keeping this a secret?"
"I think that the only thing that you can hope for is how long it takes them to work it out."
"Great."
True Natasha style she walked to the nearest window and slid it open before squeezing halfway through it.
"They will probably end up recruiting the Hulk for the Avengers anyways."
With that she was gone.
Honestly that could have gone way worse. His secret was still a secret even if he had been warned that it wouldn't be for long. He had also managed to spend an extended period of time with Natasha and only managed to slightly embarrass himself.
He started to pick up the books before getting changed and getting into bed.
The next morning Bruce was a little apprehensive. He trusted Natasha, he really did, he just still wasn't sure that she would keep his secret.
Though when after an hour nobody had mentioned The Hulk he decided that he was safe and that Natasha had kept her promise. They had been playing video games on the TV for the last hour and everybody saw him relax after a while. Tony was in his lab so it was only really Clint and Steve who where playing with him though they were both trying to teach Steve how to play. Natasha was hiding in the shadows watching them with a smile on her face.
After another hour Bruce decided to go down to his lab just to get a new bandage as the one that Natasha had put on the night before was falling off and was too loose. Natasha followed him but from a distance and she always stayed in the shadows.
Bruce knew that Natasha was following him as he made his way down to his lab but didn't say anything.
Once he got to his lab he grabbed the med kit that he had in there and placed it on the counter. After 5 minutes of struggling to put it on himself he decided to ask for help.
"Natasha I know that you are outside the door. You can come in you know."
Natasha stepped into the room at this point. Her expression was unreadable.
"You heard me?"
"I felt a pair of eyes watching me."
"Ohh... Would you like some help with that?"
"Yes please."
Bruce handed Natasha the bandage and she got to work wrapping it around his wrist.
