Chapter Text
Natasha was not one to show emotions so transparently and Bruce was not one to accept anything so readily.
For five months, Natasha has been making sure she catches the monthly avengers luncheon and every meeting possible telling Fury that she needs to be on top of everything since she can’t trust the boys to finish the god damn job in one sitting without anything untoward happening. It was half the truth, yes they always end up having stupid games, arguing about who is the strongest, ordering all kinds of pizza flavors and test which is the best, doing flight test with Tony’s robots and racing with them, and what not. But the other truth was that, Natasha gets to tease Bruce and gets him flustered every time, it was always fun seeing him blush and stutter like a schoolboy in the middle of serious discussions and a headache caused by the rest of the gang’s rowdiness.
The very first time she noticed how much a softie he was, she thought it was—adorable. She used to shrug off the thought that he was adorable but a year with the avengers has proven that it was not just her observation, it was a fact. Bruce was adorable.
Bruce on the other hand had been dealing with his crush by immersing himself inside his lab that Tony customized for him every time he’s got the opportunity. Goodness, Banner, why are you thinking about her again?
Okay. He knows she’s hot and that she’s fierce and that she’s a force to be reckoned with and that she can kill him any time and that she’s strong and that she’s indestructible and that she’s so beautiful and that she is … she is… Bruce was blabbering again inside his mind.
Natasha was the one who sought him for this project called the avengers. He thought it was a bad idea—no, erase that, he knew it was a bad idea but—there was something in Nat’s face and presence that night that gave him a hint of giving this boyband project the benefit of the doubt.
And god, does he regret.
Using the other guy to save the world was okay but then he gets to live with all this unwanted flashes of Natasha’s teasing and the smell of her cologne and the way she could easily break people’s bones on her mission. Sometimes, when he’s about to fall asleep, he remembers how Nat could take down Tony during their training and how amazed and proud he feels like. Natasha, the ex-Russian spy was something.
She really was.
After crushing aliens in New York, the Avengers were dedicated in improving their team in every aspect possible. Tony and Bruce were always in the lab, making experiments and improving Tony’s technology. Steve was training with Sam and other agents. Natasha and Clint went to secret missions for SHIELD from time to time while Thor would regularly visit when he can since the god of thunder has another world to protect.
Everyone had their own thing but during the luncheon, Natasha made sure she has finished her mission and Bruce made sure he had something to do in his lab to avoid people, specifically that one particular red head. If he wants to focus on how to get to control the other guy then he has got to get his head in the game and stop thinking about how to say good morning in Russian.
“Bruce where are you? Thor brought some Asgardian bread and wine. Cool stuff.”
It was Tony calling, his voice echoing in Bruce’s lab.
“I’m working on the serum.”
Bruce could hear Tony huffing. “Dude. Not cool. Get a life. Agent Romanov’s back. If you wanna know.” He might see Tony but he sure knows that the genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist was smirking. Damn.
Bruce felt annoyed—why should he care if Agent Romanov was there? But on the other hand, he was surprisingly relieved. Well, I guess then it was a successful mission then.
“And?” Bruce replied nonchalantly, trying to hide the shift in his mood.
“Maybe you could ask her to teach you Russian.” Now Bruce was sure Tony was laughing at him.
“W-what Russian?” Bruce panicked, his eyes finally looking up at Tony’s hologram. “Y-you looked at my computer?! It’s supposed to be private!”
“No I did not, I accidentally saw it.”
“You accidentally saw it in my computer which I turned off?”
“Yes, I accidentally did just that.”
Bruce started to feel the anger in his veins as he stared at Tony’s hologram who was confidently smug because he was not physically there. “I swear to god Tony I—“
“Doc?”
Both men were surprised to hear a voice interrupt. Tony cleared his throat, his face lighting up, eyeing Bruce with a hint of a teasing smirk. Bruce on the other hand felt all the green nerves were washed away and was replaced by a blush. He eyed Tony and exhaled before turning.
“I see you got a lot of things going on in here.” Natasha remarked as she eyed the array of test tubes and flasks on the table. Bruce scratched his head and shyly nodded.
“Well—uh—yeah…”
“Hey Agent Romanov, Banner here’s been learning Russian.”
Bruce turned to Tony’s hologram and glared at him. “What the hell man?!” he mouthed and then turned to Natasha defensively.
“I—uh-I –uh w-w-was learning b-because, y-you know…” he was at loss for words, his mouth hanging open.
Nat raised her brow. “Sokovia?”
“Yes! Sokovia! I mean, I would want to understand their language before going to that mission.” Bruce reasoned, rubbing the back of his neck. Damnit, such a bad liar he was.
Tony was literally coughing/laughing in the background.
Nat gave a small nod and then a faint smile appeared. “Let’s hear it.”
“Uh-W-wwhat? N-no, no. I’m bad at it.” Bruce let’s out a nervous laugh.
Natasha just waited. And Bruce realized she was serious.
“O-oh no, really, I haven’t started learning it yet—just searched some good language apps.” Bruce lied, shaking his head and lets out a nervous laugh/sound at the end. God what am Idoing.
Natasha slowly nodded her head understandingly. “Well, okay then—“
But she was cut-off when Tony played a recording of Bruce saying “Hello. Nice eyes. Red Hair and Black Widow.” In Russian.
Bruce’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open while the agent seemed surprised as she listened to the recording.
Bruce looked at the spy in horror, wanting to take it all back. The spy just waited for the recording to finish and then looked at him. “It’s supposed to be nice eyes.” She said in Russian, correcting his pronunciation.
“But thanks. For a starter, that was not bad.” Natasha was impressed.
Bruce was sure he was as red as the skin of an apple. He felt so pissed and threw Tony a death glare. Bruce can’t believe his eyes when he saw Nat gave a fully smile as she walked to the door.
“Your Russian lesson can wait Doctor Banner, Thor’s Asgardian toast can’t.”
Bruce sighed in defeat and waved his hand in the air to cancel Tony’s hologram who was laughing triumphantly at him.