#brucemas2020

Hᴀᴘᴘʏ Bɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ, Bʀᴜᴄᴇ ! Vᴀʟᴋʏʀɪᴇ ᴛʜʀᴏᴡs ᴀ sᴜʀᴘʀɪsᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ ғᴏʀ ʜᴇʀ Rᴇᴠᴇɴɢᴇʀs ʙᴜᴅᴅʏ ♡

🧬 Happy birthday!

aka bruce banner’s phone contacts

Tony: “Let me get this straight, you took someone who can at whim turn into the giant green rage monster paintballing, just to pummel him with green bullets...”

Clint: “Yep! And I’ll do it again!”

Tony: “Genuis!”

Bruce *showing off his green bruises to the team*: “Look! I’m the hulk! Grrr!”

A/N: This ist part of @brucemas and a late entry from yesterday. Life got real busy all of a sudden but I hope you’ll still enjoy this.

Special Thanks goes to my best friend / hot chocolat-lover @muffinmiri! You are wonderful and I love you! I’m sad we can’t have our anual christmas lunch date, but we will have one again real soon!

This fic is for my friend Brian, who’s the best RP Bruce I could ever ask for and @krilgarin who puts up with our endless BruceNat shenanigans. I love you two to pieces!

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                                              Coming Home for Christmas

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The world was illuminated by millions and millions of lights. Small fairylights, strung across the sleek walls and railings of the Avengers tower, candles burning dangerously low on pine trees, orbs floating through the air on Stark repulsor-tech immersed the balcony in a glow that cornered on the fantastical.

Natasha sat in one of the recliners, legs tucked under her and a soft red blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She watched as her breath etched fog clouds into the crisp December night.

She had missed the team's Christmas party because her mission had gone terribly wrong and the redhead didn't feel ready to go back inside yet. Her mind was wound up, her muscles tensed and Natasha was ready to break any minute now.

Dried blood still stained her hands and some of her hair had been singed away during the explosion. Hydra had infiltrated an abandoned shield base in upstate New York and Natasha was tasked with investigating the incident. The mission was supposed to be simple, go in, gather the information and get out, but of course it was never that simple.

Hydra had been prepared for a spy and as Natasha was downloading files onto a hard drive, a silent alarm went off. The base self-destruction protocol activated and she barely made it out alive. To add insult to injury she had lost her com so there was no way she could contact the others.

It was a stark contrast to the picture she had found while looking through the glass front that separated the agent from her teammates.

There was a faint, sad smile on her lips. Tony was sprawled out on the floor, cuddling what looked like Mjölnir and the God of thunder snored loudly only a few paces further into the room. The big leather couch was occupied by Steve and Clint. The archer was curled up on the soldiers left, his head resting comfortably on the blonde's legs and Steve had probably been too polite to move and wake up Clint. Empty bottles and glasses were spread all over the room. The only one she couldn't spot was Bruce.

“They celebrated Christmas alright” Natasha thought dryly.

Seeing them like this made the Black Widow angry. They looked like they hadn't even worried about her, like they didn't care if she was there to celebrate with them or not.

This party had been her idea, their first Christmas as a team and now she was the outsider,  bloodstained, alone and cold, like she would never fit in with these people.

Her training in the “Red Room” had taken so much from her, turned her inside out, torn her mind apart and left her body to bleed. The guilt of her past actions came rushing back to her and Natasha had to swallow hard and bite back tears.

The lights made it worse as they danced across the walls, blinking cheerily as if they were mocking her. Little reminders that this should be her home, that she should feel save here, curled up and tipsy with her friends in the warmth of the tower's living-room but instead she sat outside in the cold, to afraid of what she had missed, too wound up and stuck inside her own mind.

The sound of a sliding door tore Natasha away from her darkness and back into the here and now.

“There you are.” Bruce Banner smiled and Natasha could hear the relief in his voice. “And here I thought you would actually miss the party.”

“Well it looks like I already did.”  she answered and looked up. His eyes were surprisingly warm when they met hers. His expression was a mix between a worried frown and a smile, like he couldn't quite believe that she was really sitting there.

“They tried to stay up, but Thor brought some sort of asgardian liquor and well.” He waved a hand framing the scene that had greeted Natasha when she returned to the tower.

“The stuff is deadly, even Steve got drunk.” Bruce let out a soft chuckle and handed her a steaming mug. “You looked like you could need this. I'm sorry it took so long to get out here”

As Natasha curled her fingers around the cup she inhaled the scent of chocolate and burnt marshmallows. “You made me hot chocolate?” she asked in disbelieve. No one had ever made hot chocolate just for her.

Bruce nodded sheepishly and smiled. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave a shrug. “I thought you should have at least something christmas-y today and...” he stopped and looked at her.

“And... I was really worried about you.”

Natasha laughed a little and shook her head. “I am the Black Widow, it's not like anybody needs to” but before she could continue Bruce interrupted her.

“NO! Natasha you don't get it! I am always worried about you! I know you are a super spy, but you are still human! You can get hurt... you could get killed for gods sake! The thought of you not coming back? It nearly kills me every time, so you don't get to tell me that no one needs to worry about you.” Bruce took a shaky breath and it was then Natasha noticed how dishevelled he looked.  

“I will always worry about you because loosing you; I don't think I could survive that.” he continued, softly this time and the agent felt warmth settling into her body.

A soft, happy smile tugged at her lips. “How much of that liquor did you have?” she asked amused, a bit of her spark returning to her eyes.

“More than I should.” Bruce admitted.

Natasha set the mug down on the ground and pulled him into a tentative hug. The scientist froze for a moment but slowly returned the embrace. She breathed him in and finally felt the tension of the past hours leave her body.

“I will always come back to you, Bruce.” she whispered and something between them shifted in a way that felt right, like a missing puzzle piece had fallen into place.

“You better.” he answered “can we stay like this for a bit longer?”

Natasha just nodded and scooted over so he could join her on the recliner and make himself comfortable. There they stayed curled up together.

In Bruce's defence, it was supposed to have been a simple operation:

Investigate the shady scientist’s laboratory, confiscate any dangerous formulas, get home in time for Tony’s birthday party. He’d only brought Thor along in case of complications.

Except that the facility turned out to be a chemical weapons factory, and “investigate the laboratory” became “destroy the laboratory”. Now they’re scrambling through the deserted labs whilst everything crumbles to dust around them. Bruce has a stolen laptop under his arm but hasn’t Hulked off any of his clothing yet. Thor is in full battle armour, and his cloak keeps catching on chairs and door handles. Despite running at full tilt, neither of them are out of breath.

‘I’ve just realised,’ Thor says, ‘it’s nearly 5pm. Stark will wonder – ‘

‘We’re not calling Tony.’ Bruce Hulk-punches the next set of doors open. The corridor ahead smells of smoke. ‘I told him we were at a science conference.’

The way ahead is blocked by a steel girder. Thor lifts it up one-handed and gestures politely for Bruce to go first. ‘Aye, and Stark expects you to call him on time, as you always do. If he suspects something is amiss, he will hasten to join us. Even if he is as drunk as a bilgesnipe on fermented apples.’

Bruce groans, but Thor is right. Bruce prides himself on being punctual, and if they don’t call to explain themselves Tony will assume they’re in mortal danger. He wouldn’t be wrong but he also doesn’t need to know that.

Something explodes overhead, showering them in rubble. ‘Shit. Okay, we just need two minutes.’ Bruce looks to Thor. ‘Give me my phone.’

Thor frowns. ‘Why would I have it?’

‘I gave it to you in case I broke it Hulking out.’

‘No, you didn’t.’

‘Check your pockets,’ Bruce demands, grabbing his elbow and pulling him into a side room. A ceiling beam is hanging down and some equipment is smouldering in the corner, but at least there’s no immediate danger. ‘I’ll tell him we’ve been held up.’

Thor shakes his head. ‘I don’t have your phone.’

Bruce stares at him.

He shrugs. ‘I don’t have pockets, Bruce.’