The next minute, the elevator stopped and opened at the lab and Natasha stepped out, seeing that both Bruce and Tony were hard at work on an experiment of some kind.
Tony caught sight of her before Bruce did, and elbowed his friend lightly, nodding towards the elevator as he said, "Honey's home."
"Oh, am I your 'honey' now too, Stark?" Natasha asked with a teasing grin. "You think you're up to joining my merry band?"
Bruce scoffed as he started towards her and Tony snorted, answering, "I doubt Pep would appreciate that."
"Besides," Bruce added, sliding an arm around Natasha's waist. "I doubt Steve would be willing to share you with Tony."
"Oh, yeah," Tony smirked, looking at Bruce out of the corner of his eye, still mostly bent over his project as he said, "And my best friend would have no qualms with it whatsoever?"
"Didn't say that," Bruce answered, gesturing for Natasha to take a seat on the countertop.
"Because you totally have issues with sharing your girl?" Tony asked, and Natasha was almost surprised to hear that same note of friendly sarcasm and nothing more pointed in the tone.
Bruce pondered that for a second as he took Natasha's pulse and then replied, "I just love her enough to realize that as good as she is for me, she deserves to be able to be that much good in other people's lives too."
It was Natasha's turn to scoff as she broke in, saying, "You've got that backwards, Bruce; it's me that needs you guys."
"The best relationships are two-way streets," Tony said before shrugging, "Not that I would know. That's just what Pepper tells me."
"You do too know," Bruce answered with a role of his eyes. "You and Pepper have a great thing going, and it's okay for you to knock the 'playboy' part out of your list of attributes for her sake."
Tony snorted, asking, "Who would've thought that I would be the one to settle down into a more normal relationship than Captain America?"
"Normal's overrated," Bruce answered easily before asking Natasha, "How bad is it today, darling?"
"Not too horrible. Just the normal bumps and bruises… and someone came after me with a sword when my back was turned towards someone else."
"Meaning what medically?" Bruce asked whilst cringing.
"Cut across my back, not deep, but Steve said it was probably about five inches long."
"Then I'd better take a look at it," Bruce answered. "Take off your shirt."
"It's your shirt."
"I noticed."
"And that is so my cue," Tony said, bounding towards the elevator. "You kids have fun now."
Bruce rolled his eyes at Tony's mouth, commenting as Natasha slipped out of the gray t-shirt, "At least he means to be harmless about what he says."
"Harmless but annoying," she agreed.
"Tony will be Tony," Bruce answered nonchalantly, going around the counter to look at her back.
Natasha inhaled, asking, "How bad is it?"
"Not as bad as it feels, I'm sure," he answered. "Nothing physically worse than you're normal post-mission Natasha…" he came back around the counter to look her frankly in the eye as she shrugged his t-shirt back on, asking, "So why did Clint say this was a hard mission for you?"
Natasha swung her feet idly, looking down at them instead of at Bruce, not at all surprised that Clint had ratted her out.
He slipped one of his hands over one of hers, probing softly, "Darling, what is it?"
She sighed, "I never got a good look at my mark's face, and they didn't tell me the guy that I killed was fourteen… not until I had already done it."
Bruce sighed, wrapping her in the circle of his arms and letting her burrow her face into the curve of his neck. She wouldn't cry again, they both knew that. She had already cried in the car with Clint, but sometimes she just needed to be held more than once, and any one of her three were more than willing to oblige.
After another moment of remaining in his arms, Natasha sat up and jumped agilely off of the counter, asking, "Are you going to come back to our place with me?"
"Of course," Bruce answered, keeping an arm around her shoulders as they went into the elevator and got off at her floor.
The sight that met them in the entertainment room was both familiar and oh so comforting. No matter what she had just been through on a mission, this would always be awaiting her when she got back to the Tower. Clint, Bruce, Steve, a nice cry, a hot shower, a quick examination, and – once all of that was over – the king-sized hide-a-bed in her couch, a bowl of popcorn, and a movie of her choosing.
And there it was, all spread out nicely before her - Clint pulling out the hide-a-bed as Steve came in from the kitchen with a huge bowl of popcorn.
"All better?" Clint asked her as he settled onto the bed with the other two guys.
"Much better," she answered, kneeling down in front of their extensive movie collection.
Deciding to be arbitrary, she closed her eyes and grabbed randomly, drawing out Disney's "The Little Mermaid." After sliding the movie into the DVD player, she crawled onto the bed, settling into the spot that they had left open for her.
Once he had figured out that there was more than one man dating Natasha – it had only been Clint and Bruce at the time – Tony had bought the huge couch – but mostly the even bigger bed that went with it – as an expensive joke of sorts. Although it had since been explained to the billionaire that not even Natasha slept with more than one of her guys at once, the bed had still come in handy for evenings like this.
They were sprawled across the bed, and she had Bruce on one side of her with his arm now around her waist, Steve on the other side absently holding her hand, and Clint at her head, his fingers toying with the edges of her red curls. It almost made up for what she had just seen and done in Morocco. She felt good now. She felt safe and at home, even… happy. And for that she could thank her three guys.
And there you have it. I rather enjoyed writing this actually; what do you guys think about my writing something else in the same universe as this? Yay or nay? Reviews are my new best friend; if you want to drop me one, it's very much appreciated. Thanks!:)