Summary: We're back in the present on Monday, October 30, 2023, and in the bedroom at Bruce's house. While Natasha naps, Bruce finds out there's a lot of paperwork in her near future, but Natasha has other things on her mind when she wakes. She's pretty persuasive. Yes, this is a "mature" chapter.
~o~
Bruce watched her eyelids flutter as Natasha presumably went into the REM stage of sleep. That was probably good because she needed the deep rest. He hoped Carol and Nick wouldn't destroy and contaminate everything before he could find out what happened to Nat while she was in stasis. Then, more lab reports had pinged in on his phone with surprisingly good levels for the early toxicology results though a few hormones were running a bit high. He was really more concerned about what she'd been exposed to for so long that might not be immediately evident.
He quietly slipped out of the bed and stretched out his shoulders and loosed up his spine before putting a pair of fresh underwear on and sitting down at his desk in the far corner of the room. He emailed one of the Personnel Officers he still knew at S.H.I.E.L.D. to let her know what had happened and see what Natasha would need to do to get her various accounts and files back opened and her bureaucratic life back. The reply came back very quickly. There were plenty of other people in similar situations, so there were now websites for government services and "identity recovery" offices being set up. Luckily, his contact could help former Agent Romanoff get the process rolling, but she'd have to be the one initiating any action. Swell.
Bruce then checked the government page for the official Decimation Death List. The only good news was she hadn't been added, so her social security number was probably still active. She'd have to decide if she wanted to report the kidnapping as identity fraud. Obviously, the paperwork was going to take some time to navigate.
He thought about all the confusion just in Bridgewater and wondered if it would be easier to set up new accounts than resurrect the old ones for her. He'd kept Robert Bruce Banner's identity intact though it wasn't strictly accurate anymore. Physically, his fingerprints, retinas, voice, skin tone, weight, height, and sizes had all changed. When Banner and Hulk came together into Bruce, they had all changed inside as well, but that wasn't reflected in his official records. Bureaucratically, his life would have changed more if he'd been trans or just decided to change his name, so he wasn't about to complain. Luckily, the local DMV had taken it all in stride when he had his driver's license renewed the first time. He'd quickly learned a smile and friendly enthusiasm smoothed over a lot of potential road bumps.
Bruce picked through his wallet for the information on one of his small local accounts and added Natasha's name onto it via the local branch bank online, so she'd have that resource to draw on till hers were set up. Then it hit him, Nat might not want him doing this, so he stopped after he'd set up the basics for the account. Natasha would have to confirm it with her social security number and other information in person anyway. She might want to do her own email and phone service for the burner Clint had given her, too. He wanted to do more, but he made himself stop.
Over the last few years, Bruce had noticed this type of compulsiveness on his part was something he had to be careful about since the merger. He'd double dipped on an obsessive streak for guarding and caregiving from both personalities, and that triggered some anal-retentive tendencies to try and fix everything possible. The savior and the martyr roles were also deeply ingrained in him. Banner and Hulk had never been that far apart in those respects. They had embraced and accepted their shadows. Now, he was all of them, and he'd found balance and peace of mind. He hoped now he'd finally lucked into happiness with Nat again.
Bruce thought about the school projects and individuals he'd work with over the last few years. He had to be careful and let others do their own problem solving sometimes and work toward sustainability so programs would last after he'd helped get them going with some well-placed resources or a little media promotion or networking to get them connected to others. Tony had called him an old hen more than once, but he had a solid track record as a mentor and benefactor, especially on the education projects. Bruce was really proud of the local people who'd completed training programs or gone to college and now graduate school in a couple of cases. Yah, Stark was one to talk, considering all the support he'd given to STEM graduate projects alone.
Bruce nearly jumped when Natasha put her hand on his shoulder. She'd pulled on his old blue plaid checked shirt she'd claimed earlier. Her platinum blond hair was a little tousled and he noticed her auburn roots were showing like a touch of phoenix flame. He was happy to notice some of her spark seemed to have rekindled, too. Bruce thought she looked gorgeous, especially when Friday automatically brought more natural light back into the room. He wanted to hold her close and protect her, but he was just as concerned about smothering her.
She stepped in close and rubbed the back of his neck. "I recognize that guilty, conflicted look. What's up?"
"I was checking to see what you'd need to do to get the official back-from-oblivion paperwork started, and then I put your name on one of my bank accounts without asking you first. Sorry. I get on these jags where I try to fix everything." He took off his glasses and smiled at her apologetically.
She chuckled, "Remind me to hit you up when Girl Scout cookies go on sale."
"I have a freezer full," he admitted. "I don't do 'No,' so well. Not for a while anyway."
She slipped her arm around his bare shoulder and gave him a hug and a kiss on his temple. "Hate to tell you, but you've hardly ever said, 'No,' to a friend or a box of Thin Mints." She well knew Uncle Bruce used to be one of Lila Barton's best customers. "So how much can I take you for, Doc?" she joked as she looked over his shoulder.
"A lousy ten grand in that little cookie jar unless you open up a line of credit. Then the sky's the limit, Babe," he drawled in a bad James Cagney impersonation. She rolled her eyes. "I'm not worth as much as Tony, but I can support you in the manner to which you're accustom, Ms. Romanoff." This time she giggled. He could have bought her anything she wanted, including an island or two, and possibly a planet if Rocket wasn't scamming him for fun. "You have to be feeling better, right? Geeze, I've missed that smile, Nat. I've missed your voice."
"Ditto!" She stretched her arms above her head and rolled up on the balls of her toes. "Yes! Surprisingly, a three-hour nap helped." She closed his laptop, and he pushed his chair back from the desk and extended his bare muscular legs. Nat smiled when she saw he still preferred blue cotton boxers.
"You're not angry with me, are you? I'm a little more compulsive than I once was," he admitted.
"If it means you're a little more spontaneous, I don't see a problem with it." She played with his hair, thinking it was one physical thing that hadn't changed except for a little more gray like he'd brought back from Sakaar, but she missed his curls from years ago. Maybe he'd grow it out again if she asked.
Bruce almost shivered with excitement at her touch, he liked the feel of her hands on him so much. "I'm . . . I don't want to take away your autonomy. I did that to Hulk for years, so I have to be careful about it creeping into relationships." The fake Natasha had also accused him of doing it to her, so Bruce was admittedly sensitive about the issue. His default was to step back because he'd become more deliberative and weighed his options with care now that he had breathing space and a clear head. He knew how intimidating he could be without saying a thing since he literally was the Hulk in the room.
Nat chuckled, sounding more and more like her old self. "Banner, I'd like to see you try." She moved his computer well to the side and sat down on his lap, and he leaned back a bit more in his chair, shifting to accommodate her. They were still both studying each other, taking in changes and adjusting. It occurred to her his skin really wasn't a uniform shade of light green at all. Natasha ran her hands over his abdominals and up his ribs to his chest and shoulders to the scars he'd earned in vain while trying to bring her back. As rough as his right arm and shoulder looked, they were apparently a big improvement. He didn't flinch when she explored the scars, but he studied her face intently for her reactions. Nat realized that even after all the Skrull had put him through and the pain it had caused, Bruce had still loved her that much anyway. He'd never given up hope in them finding their way back to each other.
She leaned over him, staring into his warm brown eyes for a moment, and then closed her eyes and kissed him on the lips. They were the same mix of softness and firm intent she remembered. This time, he quickly responded with sincere ardor, returning her kisses generously as he moved his caressing hands to her shapely backside. She could still taste a little of herself on his lips, and it spurred her on. Leaning in, Natasha flattened her body against his and ground her hips into him, and he groaned, bracing his shoulders against the reinforced chairback as he arched his back, pressing his hips into her. She pulled back a moment, "I'm willing to give this a try. How about you?"
"I don't want to hurt you, Nat. We don't have to, you know? I am an adult, so I can get around the limitations of . . ."
Nat put an index finger on his lips. "Shhh, let me tell you a little secret: it's mostly a matter of getting good and warmed up," she assured him. "I want you like I've had you before. There's no reason we can't reinvent what we had. I want that physical intimacy with you again."
He smiled suggestively, "I think I can help you with that." He held her close in his arms and rocked forward to get up out of the chair, carrying her to the bed. Not for the first or last time, she noted how much more at ease he seemed and how confidently he moved. The nervous, edgy awkwardness was either dialed back or just gone. Perhaps now that his size didn't fluctuate, he was better able to attune his perceptions with his body?
"Not so fast," Natasha said as he set her down on the edge of the bed. She guided him so he was standing right in front of her. Nat rubbed her face against his crotch, feeling him noticeably stiffen under the cotton fabric. She breathed him in. He smelled mostly the same: a milky caramel and salt scent with just enough musk, but now there was a little bitterness like green matcha beneath the rest. She kissed his stomach and tugged his briefs down slowly a little at a time, kissing and licking as she descended. He was solid and muscular without being vein-poppingly so. The trailing hairline was the same from his chest south and a freckle or two she remembered well hadn't changed. This was still the body she'd known, just buffer, greener, denser, and more of it. Roughly two feet and at least 700 pounds more of it. Still, not that far from the upper end of normal limits.
Natasha looked up and smiled mischievously as she palmed him with her right hand from beneath, and he sighed, finally giving himself over and moving with her touch. "You're quite the handful, Doc." He answered Nat with her favorite lopsided smile, one that both sides of him had always shared. That little bit of guilt and worry he always had was still there, too, just slightly shifted now to focus on his size and concerns for her. She was going to do her best to get him to let that go. "Trust me, Bruce."
"I do, Nat." He thought that was pretty obvious considering what she was doing to him at that moment. "Oh, that feels so nice," Bruce told her with a sigh as she nibbled at him through the cotton fabric. "Babe, I've missed you."
Since the accident, making love had always carried the possible threat that he might Hulk out and lose control. That danger and other things had unraveled his relationship with Betty. It had taken years to minimize the risks once his pulse rate and any adrenaline spikes were under control, and then he'd negated them as the transformation's triggers. Unfortunately, living on the angry edge had been miserable for both Banner and Hulk. By the time he and Natasha were physically intimate after he'd returned from Sakaar, accidental transformations were even less of a concern since Hulk was absent from the equation. They only had just a little over a handful of weeks together after the world went to hell, but it had been good, and he'd clung to his memory of what they shared—what he doggedly still felt they shared—and what they'd planned to have together through those bleak years of rejection.
From Natasha's perspective, what she'd come back to was a 90-degree shift from his condition since she'd left. She'd never thought of Hulk as a monster once they were past their first encounter, but she instinctively knew he wasn't Bruce either. She also knew something eventually had to happen between them, which was why she'd worked so hard to be the buffer between the two. When she'd said good-bye to Bruce that morning roughly five years earlier, Natasha expected him to return, and she'd be supporting him as he and Hulk found a healthier middle ground. Yet, she could never have predicted the metamorphosis she'd awoken to find had happened without her. Hulk wasn't a ominous presence hidden or lurking or threatening, he was already there merged seamlessly with Bruce. On the plus side, now there was nothing catastrophic to fear from him. On the other, Natasha wasn't sure how the inner relationship worked with them melded together now. Intimacy-wise, she thought the emotional elements might be a bigger challenge than the physical ones.
"I hope you still like most of the same things we've done before. You'll have to let me know if anything different turns you on or off now," she requested. He'd been pretty amazing, so she hoped there weren't too many changes.
He grinned, almost reading her mind as she continued her ministrations on his fast-swelling cock. "Just to be clear, all of me loves and desires you, Natasha. I have no internal conflicts where you're concerned." In fact, they'd both agreed they wanted her rather desperately and had from the beginning in some hopeless way without expecting there'd ever be a fruition. He tenderly stroked her face with his right index finger, glad that the nerves were repairing and he could feel how soft her skin and hair were.
"Good, we're on the same page, Lover." She slipped his waistband below the curve of his magnificent thick glutes and then down his muscular thighs as his erect penis came free of the constraining fabric and asserted itself. "Wow, nicely proportioned!"
"Well, everything matches," he said with a humorous shrug.
She certainly hoped he'd forgotten that damned zucchini joke of Tony's, but somehow, she doubted it. "I love that you still blush under the green." She leaned forward and kissed the base of his veined jade shaft and playfully licked her way up its length while Bruce closed his eyes and let out a sighing groan of pleasure.
Oh, those playful lips and tongue of hers! "That feels so good, but shouldn't I be paying some attention to you, Nat?"
"First things first. Keep in mind, getting you warmed up gets me revved up, too, Big Guy." She enjoyed touching him, feeling the soft flesh give way to swollen engorgement that pulsed and quivered with desire in her hands. His milky caramel and salt smell had her almost squirming.
"Please let me help you out with that," he pulled open a drawer in the nightstand, which held a variety of supplies. He handed her an almost new tube of lubricant, but he kept looking for something. "Aww, shit. Condoms. I haven't kept any of those around since I first moved here. Damn, I'll need to do a custom order."
"You're not putting off radiation anymore, right?" Nat asked.
"No, it's well sequestered now unless I need to utilize the energy."
"So, what are you worried about then? We're both sterile. You're not going to poison me or create a toxic biohazard."
Bruce looked pensive for a moment and then he laughed. "You know, you're absolutely right," he said with a relieved chuckle. "I guess that emotional rut is carved so deep I just fell right into it."
"Silly physicist forgets he has a biology degree, too?" she teased.
"Tis I, the 900-pound worrywart. Sorry, I couldn't completely edit that characteristic out or I would."
"Seriously, you tried to do that? Edit your personality?"
"I'm kidding. I mean, there are some proclivities that run in clusters with physical traits, but I'm overstating it. I . . . are you sure you're even interested in this?" The other Natasha said she was not just disinterested but disgusted by it, so he felt compelled to ask her first.
"If it has to do with you, yes, I'm interested. Make that intensely interested in anything you're willing to share with me, Bruce." That really was the honest truth because she wanted to know all that she could.
A relieved sigh came out of him before he realized he'd been holding his breath. "Okay, we can talk about it sometime later then and I'll bore your socks off. Thank you."
"They're already on the floor, and I'm far from bored. Come here now." She stood up on the bed, so they were eye to eye with her hazel-green ones full of sensual playfulness. "I'm looking forward to learning everything new about you and discovering all I can with you. I have five years to make up for. Just the kiss deficit alone is staggering. Our new intimacy starts here, Doc. Now, get in the middle of the bed."
"I'd like to make a down payment and kiss you first . . . if you're willing, of course." She threw her arms around his massive neck, and he held her to his chest, stroking her back as their lips melded together. He maneuvered them so they smoothly twisted without stressing his injured arm, and with feline-like fluidity, he stretched out on the bed with her on top and him on his broad back in the middle.
"Well, well, that's an awfully smooth move for you, Dr. Banner," she said as she sat up straddling him. "I have yet to see you do anything klutzy today."
"The day is young," he said with a shrug. "Maybe I'm less distracted than I used to be? Less to worry about? Fewer calculations to avoid destruction?" This was all true, and after years of pain and sensory issues, he'd spent the last three feeling comfortably at home in his stabilized and innately powerful green body.
"Maybe," she said with somewhat narrowed eyes, but it wasn't all that much of a mystery. "I will get every detail out of you eventually about how it all works. You were always a good dancer and one hell of a lover, but you've taken more headers and banged every door frame I've seen you go through up till today."
"I still do that, but now I win," he said with a playful grin.
"I'll bet you do!"
"That's also why I like the mostly open floor plans and higher ceilings here. I don't have to bang my head either."
"Smart. I hope the bed's as well thought out." She'd be shocked if it wasn't.
"Tony and I designed it and he welded the frame. Before you ask, the floor beneath the wood and subflooring is reinforced concrete with nanotube fibers. Any other questions, Inspector Romanoff?"
"I'm sure I'll think of more before long." She'd retrieved the lube and a box of tissues from the night stand. Natasha warmed some clear gel up in her right hand before wrapping her fingers around his thick, hard shaft and easing her hand up and down his length. He was sizeable, just like in his former body form, but that just made her all the more eager to work with him. "So, been taking matters into your own hands in my absence?"
"Yes, when I needed to find some relief. Keeps things a lot simpler."
"No 'Hulkies'?" she teased.
He snorted, "Aside from being assaulted by thirst tweets? No, no Hulkies or anyone else. There have been plenty of offers, but you know I'm not that kind of guy." He'd never slept around casually, especially after they'd merged, but there had been some very persistent people aside from the woman waiting in the HX. Bruce still wasn't comfortable with being hit on almost daily if he was out in public. The catcalls he somewhat expected. He'd dealt with those even before Sakaar then after he returned when people started to recognize him and feel less fearful about Hulk.
Now, he occasionally did get treated like a side of beefcake, especially by tabloids and a certain part of the population, mostly younger and mostly female. Bruce hadn't asked for notoriety or any of the attention unless he was promoting worthy causes or doing PSAs, but he got questioned about dating almost every time a mic was shoved in his face since he'd merged and taken on a more solo public role. It definitely wasn't far from the pro-wrestling gladiator vibe like on Sakaar. He'd learned to smile charmingly and say, "No comment," since he'd learned, "Hulk smash!" could quickly get him into trouble. The young woman in the HX had said, "Smash this," and he'd not stuck around to ask what.
The truth was he'd been way too traumatized by the fake's reactions to him and then too busy to consider that sort of "moving on" at any point after that. In fact, it hadn't been two weeks since he'd thought he'd lost Natasha for good. He probably would not have stayed celibate forever, but he'd been in a perpetual state of mourning since he'd had the big fight with the fake Natasha and then not returned to the compound for roughly two years before the Time Heist.
"Do you have Hulk's memories now, too?" Natasha asked and nudged him back into reality.
"Yes, I do, and you could say he has Banner's as well," he teased. "I suppose it's fair to say you're sort of dealing with a half a virgin. Think you can handle that?" The look he gave her was flirty, and definitely all Hulk, but there was sincerity in it, too.
Natasha could give as good as she got from either of them. "No action on Sakaar either? Now, I really am revved up. You should have said something before if you really wanted 'deflowering.'"
"Well, people make assumptions, so who am I to burst their bubble?" he teased back.
"So, I get to pop your cherry?" she asked archly, running a fingernail down the valley between his pecs so the muscles rippled with a shiver.
He flexed them again for her when he saw she liked him doing it. "Technically, half a cherry, but it is a pretty ripe one."
"Then let's get on with it, Big Guy. Let me see that hand." He started to offer his left hand and she shook her head. "I want the one you sacrificed for half the universe and for me." She took his damaged right hand and touched the silvery scars where the Infinity Stones had burned into his skin. She then held it palm up in her left. The flat of his hand looked almost untouched while the fingers and the skin up past his wrist was close to normal. From the forearm to his collarbone, the skin was half a shade darker and had a bit of a scar-tissue shine. She was looking forward to getting to work on rebuilding the muscles there the old fashion way. He would be able to keep up with her training now, she thought ruefully. "Do you remember this?" She used the fingers of her right hand to trace from his damaged inner forearm down to the pulse point on his wrist and then his palm.
"Yes, it's ours. Just ours," he murmured quietly in a low voice as his gaze locked on hers. They could both feel the connection they'd forged was still there. He let go of his Hulkish fears about crossing a line that had kept her safe and on a pedestal: the object of his worship and repressed desires. He felt unmasked, suddenly more naked and vulnerable now than his physical body or Banner's had ever been. Not only did both parts of him know the aching truth now, so did she. His heart, his vulnerabilities, his desires were in her hands.
On some level, she'd known since Hulk had first whispered, "Sorry," in that deep, resonant voice of his after the Battle of New York before he'd diminished into Banner. They'd built on that mutual bonding over regret and eventually worked out the Lullaby, despite all of Banner's misgivings and initial objections.
Now, Natasha smiled without trepidation or fear because the protective layers were gone, and there was only love and acceptance for him as he stared defenselessly into her hazel-green eyes. "I've missed you. Now, we'll have more that's all of ours." She kissed his wrist and palm and his fingers; then, she took his index finger and licked it before guiding it past her lips. She took in his middle and forefinger and sucked as he gently moved them in and out of her mouth for a few moments. Natasha shifted and took off the shirt she'd claimed and tossed it out of the way. She guided his hand to her mons, and he palmed her. "Firm pressure is good. Use your middle finger first." He quickly discovered she was already wet, which he found both exciting and reassuring—she really did want to be intimate with him! He followed her instructions, circling her clit slowing before inserting his finger, and she half purred, half moaned in response as he caressed her.
He fell back on shared memories and remembered how to cup her pubic bone just right and she squirmed with pleasure at his touch. "Oh, that's it!" With care, he slipped the second finger in, too, and penetrated her deeper, gradually widening his fingers' spread as she accommodated them. "Good, you've got the idea." She squeezed her breasts as he watched her, and Bruce thought of the things he wanted to do for and to her. He was done with being just a passive voyeur, reigning himself in. Now, he'd truly be her lover.
With his left hand he reached down and stroked himself, making sure his hard cock was good and slick for her. She leaned back and he removed his fingers, so she could reposition herself over his eager rod. She was riding him on top, so she'd have as much control as possible. He could feel a thrumming pulse going through him as he rubbed the sensitive head of his member against her wet opening. "Tell me what to do, Tasha."
She reminded herself that he wasn't physically that much bigger than some professional athletes and this was still someone—two someones—she'd loved for over ten years in a number of ways. "Hold my hands and tuck your elbows in close to your ribs," she explained. They'd tried the position before with Banner, so he knew what she meant. The mechanics were obviously a little different now, but it was a good choice because she could put her weight on her arms and legs while controlling his penetration. Once she was comfortable, she eased onto him slowly. Between her state of arousal and the lube, she was able to take most of him in slowly without discomfort. Once the dark green head pushed inside, the rest slid smoothly into place and he filled her completely. "Oooh, Bruce!" It felt different, but it felt good.
"Are you okay?" The warm, soft sensation of her walls wrapped around his shaft had him intensely focused. She was so slick and tight, but not too tight for him. Words couldn't describe how wonderful and comforted it made all of him feel. It was new and yet familiar. The weight of her body pressed against his was exciting to him, too. He wanted to thrust, but didn't dare till she was ready and said it was safe.
As she adjusted to the full sensation, Natasha relaxed a bit, and it began to feel quite enjoyable. "Yes, this is good. Let's keep going." She started moving up and down on his shaft, angling forward a bit till she found the best position and then rhythm. "Okay, if you're ready, move with me," she said breathily. Bruce brought his knees up for support and rocked his pelvis to match her. His thrusts were firm, but he was careful not to jar her. "Don't you dare try to get me to come first, Banner," she warned.
"Why not? You're doing all the work." It only seemed fair and it was a pretty deep kink for him.
"Nope. Your turn," she insisted. At some point they were going to talk about his chivalrous attitude, but that would save for later.
"Okay, but I want to touch you. The skin-to-skin contact is really important. I love touching you, and I've felt starved for you all this time." He brought her right hand to his mouth and kissed it and let it go, so she could reposition it on his shoulder. Bruce ran the backs his undamaged fingers through her hair. He reached under her arm and settled the palm of his hand on her right breast and gently squeezed and manipulated her flesh where she'd lost some of her weight while in stasis. She sighed and he moved his attentions to her left side, feeling her areola tighten and the nipple become erect against his palm. Bruce took her hand again and leaned forward and kissed her right shoulder and licked along her collarbone to her neck. He'd marked her there before, but he hesitated, settling for kissing lower to her chest and playing with her right breast with his tongue.
"Oh, you're such a mama's boy through and through," she chided him. Bruce used his lips and tongue to make her squirm with pleasure as he sucked and marked her above her right breast. He switched breasts to her left one and started pleasuring her all over again. "You're making this difficult on purpose," she accused as she kept up her movements.
"Sorry," he said with a look that was anything but. She knew he appreciated every part of her. Bruce quit distracting her with his mouth, but he kept running his hands tenderly and meticulously over her from her shoulders and arms, down her back and thighs to her feet. "I've lain here awake so many nights wanting you, Nat."
"We'll make up for it," she assured him and bore down on him, quickening her hip thrusts onto his firm jade tool. They were recognizing each other's rhythms and subtle signals again. She'd been afraid that connection was gone, but they were finding it with little sparks and jolts and their tension grew toward mutual climax.
He could feel himself tighten from his balls to almost his navel, and the pressure that had been building up began to top off quickly as she rode him harder. The sight of her intensity above him made him think of every sensual thing he'd imagined doing with her for so long. It came at him like the heady rush he'd experienced as the half universe worth of lives returned to existence when he bent the Stones to do his will. There had been a seductive chorus of ethereal voices echoing the Mind Stone's initial contact when he'd picked up Loki's Staff so many years before. Back then, it had pushed Banner to lose control, but this time he'd been prepared to meet and master all of them head on. Natasha had paid for the cursed orange gem with her life, so he was there to collect for all that she'd paid. If fighting was necessary, he'd claw back every soul he could . . . including hers.
To his surprise, the stones had been eager to act. He quickly perceived intent and focus were the key, but they all sang that they expected him to pay a price. Bruce gathered and held their vast power back while groping for a way to defy the Soul Stone and find her. He'd pushed hard, wanting to bring her back yet failing before he at last snapped his fingers in resignation. He was certain he'd seen her in that moment like a sleeping queen, waiting for him, but then she'd been swept away in a flooding cascade of souls flying by. Was she really gone or had she opened her eyes and reached for him?
Briefly, Bruce felt echoes of that powerful life energy surge through him now as she rode him, but this time the euphoria wasn't tinged with the sadness of failing her. Bruce sensed the possibilities for a future with her were once again almost endless. He hadn't lost her and the Stones laughed at their joke on him, the fortunate fool after all. His damaged hand prickled for a brief instant.
"Take me, Nat! Almost there . . ." Bruce felt himself crest the edge, hanging there for those few brief focused moments, and then his core seemed to explode in a delicious spasm of release inside her. "Aahh! Tasha! My Natasha!" he groaned. The sense of joy and connectedness he remembered was indescribably strong. His whole world came back into perspective, and it all made sense for a few moments. Come back to me! "I love you, Nat. I'll never leave you," he swore. This was the only way.
Bruce rolled his hips to grind against her. He deftly applied his left thumb to her nub to give her one more circular tease of pressure, and she tightened up with her own spasm. A few more bucking thrusts and she was there with that quivering release of her own. He touched her again and a jolt of intense pleasure made her gasp.
"Oh, shit! Yes! I love you! Oh, Bruce." He absolutely adored how she glowed as he supported her torso with his strong, steady hands. Nat caught her breath. "No more trading up bodies, Banner. I'm at my limit." He laughed, setting off a tiny echo of ripples from her. "I'm not kidding, we're riding this relationship until the wheels come off, okay?" Bruce grinned up at her with her halo of tousled blond hair as her skin flushed pink underneath his hands. She smiled triumphantly and let him ease her collapse onto his torso.
Before long, Bruce could feel himself diminish and pull out of her. She cuddled and climbed a little higher on his chest so she could see his face better. "How did I ever get this lucky?" he asked.
Nat grinned down at him. "Musta done something right, Doc." She stretched on top of him, matching his contours. "By the way, that's a whole cherry's worth in my book," she kidded as they lay there satiated and relaxed. For a first time, it was especially good she decided. It was easily on par with what they'd had before, despite the physical challenges, she mused while playing with his dark chest hair. She'd certainly be sore, but damn, it had been worth it!
Bruce shifted and brought up his left arm to prop up his head. "Wow, so that's sex," he said, quirking an eyebrow. He'd felt it in a completely different way with his whole being now instead of just secondhand echoes through Banner's half of him. "Totally worth the wait," he sighed contentedly, floating along on a swell of endorphins as he stroked her backside with his injured hand. He could feel the scars were putting off some heat, but he barely noticed since it wasn't uncomfortable.
"So, you weren't kidding then?" she asked. "As Hulk, you never were intimate with anyone before now?"
Bruce shook his head. "The Hulk part of me? No, never as Hulk. Just Banner, and before you ask, neither half was a real peeping Tom. We were both pretty private in that respect. Until our memories integrated, we only shared vague impressions."
Truthfully, Natasha was relieved Hulk hadn't been a silent partner or a captive third party while she and Banner were together after the Snap, but that made her more curious about Hulk's perspective. "Let me get this straight, no sex. Not even on Sakaar? I would have thought you'd have been the center of attention there, Hot Stuff," she teased him.
"I was. I just wasn't that interested in sex as a recreational activity with someone who was enslaved. I wanted something real, like this." He leaned forward and touched his forehead gently to hers, and they cuddled. "I wanted love . . . the whole package with you, Tasha. I just never thought it was going to be possible." Hulk had carried that torch for her longer than he was willing to admit to anyone—himself included—until both Banner's and his memories had integrated and there was no way to deny it. They'd both loved her. They'd both lost her. Now, they were all together safe and whole.
As they lay there together sharing the afterglow, Bruce realized he wanted to have a home and a family with her, too, but he'd wait for her to bring that up. He didn't want to rush and get ahead of things. There were so many kids who needed a good home, especially because of the Snap and the Return, since not everyone had survived either event—careful as he'd been in crafting his wish with their tech Gauntlet as he focused all that raw power: To a safe place in the present, bring back every life Thanos took and snapped away. He'd added . . . and bring back Natasha safe and whole to me. Oh, yes, that last part is what had burned him almost to the bone as the Stones gleefully extracted their price and a bit of punishment as well, but he'd had to try it. He couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't. Safe and Whole. That's why they'd laughed at him, paying double the price to undo something that hadn't really happened while she lay in stasis at the bottom of the lake waiting for him.
Natasha ran her left hand along his injured arm and intertwined their fingers as he responded to her caress. "Even if you aren't the luckiest, you're definitely the most determined guy I know, Bruce," she admitted.
Just another fool who got lucky, he thought. "So, my winning personalities and stubbornness wore you down?"
"Well, that and you trusted me, even after I couldn't keep my word to you and the times I second guessed you." The Helicarrier being attacked and even Sokovia seemed like so long ago to him now, but he knew exactly what she was bringing up.
"That's all water under the bridge and a few drops in a big ocean now. I may be a scientist, but with you I went with my gut and my heart, Natasha. I've never regretted that where you're concerned." He'd brought his damaged hand up to touch her cheek, and she kissed his fingers before laying her head down on his chest. Bruce stroked her silken blonde hair. He could feel her heart beating and calming down as she relaxed on top of him. As far as he was concerned, his wish for her to come back to him safe and whole had happened whether or not the Stones had a damn thing to do with it. For Bruce, at the moment, that was everything.
Words: 6740
Endnotes: Thank you to EmilyGrace13 and Autumn_Froste who again saw an early draft of this part. Any mess ups are purely mine.
No, we'll never see anything this explicit in the movies, but that's what fanfics are for. It's my head canon that MCU Hulk would still be a virgin, mainly because of being repressed and therefore lacking experience, but definitely not asexual. Probably because of Ruffalo's performance, I can't imagine Bruce or Hulk being ace or even "gray ace," so yes, I see the combined character as pretty darn sexy and confident in his skin. I know that "Professor Hulk" is not everyone's cup of java, but I think Natasha would have still been just as attracted to him. To say that his size and appearance are a "deal breaker," seems incredibly shallow, so I wanted to see her pursue him and view any physical challenges as minor elements rather than roadblocks. Since seduction and sensuality are part of her skills set, she'd not have a problem figuring sex out with him. The tougher part would be renegotiating the emotional elements as she pieced together what parts of their emotional landscape must have changed. As happy and confident as he seems, Bruce has taken a ton of damage from someone with her face, so they are both reconciling doubles—old and new, true and false—to find each other.
A couple of gripes: You do not know the discussion and calculations that went into this and the previous "mature" chapter, but I definitely disagree with Markus and McFeely's condescending little snipes about Natasha not needing a two-ton boyfriend to complicate her (now mentally unstable) life. Not only are they wrong about Natasha, they didn't even consult ILM about Bruce/Hulk's stats. At 7'5", he's three inches taller than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and weighs between 900-1,200 lbs., around 40-50% heavier than André the Giant because of Hulk's density. A ton is 2,000 lbs., so even a ballpark guestimate is nowhere near one much less two. Again, laziness, sloppiness, prejudice, and shaming are M&M's calling cards when it comes to anything related to either Bruce/Hulk or Natasha. Fie upon them!
On a related note (and I will stop the venting), Joe Russo, that endless fount of trolling BS, wants to come back to the MCU to direct the Fantastic Four because—get this—he and silent Anthony are even BIGGER fanboys of Ben Grimm, THE THING, than they are of Captain America. This actually explains a lot about why they nerfed, undermined, and tried to make a joke of Banner and Hulk consistently over the past two films. My, could this be a case of the grudges of ten-year-olds getting writ large? (I'm imagining wee little Joe making Anthony be Hulk, so Joe could pretend to be the Thing and beat on him.) May karma come home to roost when someone else gets tapped to direct.
If you'd like to see the cover edits for each part, check out my Pinterest board. This one includes a shirtless Bruce Hulk edit and a tousled Natasha.
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Next up: Part 12: Reemergence. If I don't think of a better title. Natasha takes a look around the place and continues to piece details together.