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Bruce Banner had always wanted a family, and ever since the accident he had thought that it was something that would never happen. He had been hunted down for years, having to leave the one love of his life behind. Bruce had gotten bitter after that. He started believing that he really was a monster, someone that could never be loved. No one ever told him otherwise so it became a truth to him. After his... depressive episode (as he would call it) he began to try and help people. He had picked up a lot of medical knowledge, and to be a research doctor, like he had been, you did have to go to medical school. He wasn’t a true doctor, but he did have the knowledge to be one. He felt like maybe by saving peoples lives this way it would make up for the countless numbers the Hulk had taken.
When he had been “asked” to help S.H.I.E.L.D search for the tesseract he had been very wary. S.H.I.E.L.D had helped Ross find him last time, and he was supposed to help them now? He was supposed to believe that they actually wanted his brain power and not the Hulk’s destructiveness? It wasn’t like they really gave him a choice. It was either go with miss Romanov or have to let the Hulk out and get shot at. Bruce decided it would just be easier to go with Romanov, besides he had almost have a year free of the Hulk, though that did make the Hulk angrier and less reasonable. It’s why Bruce was so fidgety. He was always nervous because the Hulk was always restless nowadays. He was searching for the smallest reason to come out, like how Bruce hated being on planes, or how Bruce didn’t like being in large crowds, especially when those people all had guns and military training. As soon as Romanov was told to take him to the lab he was relieved. It was a setting he was used to and one that he would calm down in. Just him in his lab. No one would be there if he accidentally Hulked out or something.
When Loki was brought in with the scepter Bruce was suddenly on edge all over again. He hadn’t known that Fury had a cage that was obviously meant for him. He made himself stay calm during the debriefing. All he needed to do was find this tesseract and he’d be free to go. There wouldn’t be any need to Hulk out and no one would get hurt. He’d just be put back in Calcutta to mind his own business. That plan pretty much went to shit. Loki had had his own plan going on and an explosion went off in the lab. Bruce had already been toeing over the line before the explosion, so it was impossible to keep Hulk from coming out but damn did he try. He knew it wasn’t Natasha’s fault but she had been the last person he had felt anger towards and Hulk was only going to listen to that. He at least gave her some time to run away.
The next thing Bruce knew he was waking up in a pile of rubble with an old man standing above him. Bruce was more than confused, but grateful for the clothes, and embarrassed that he had flashed the poor guy. After having been prompted with some questions that were really making Bruce re-think himself he made a very stupid decision. He went back to New York. Back to where the tesseract signal was coming from. Back to the fight. He tried to make an apology and it seemed to be accepted, though Bruce couldn’t help but notice the archer that was picking up arrows in the background. Bruce kept a blush off of his face. He had to focus on what he set out to do. It was time to try and be the hero, not the monster. He was less than shocked when he saw the giant alien fish thing coming straight towards them and began to walk towards it. He smirked just the tiniest bit when he heard the captain ask if he should get angry. He gave the team a sad smile, telling them he was always angry before finally, willingly, letting the Hulk out.
It seemed to have worked because the next thing he knew Captain America and Tony Stark were helping him up and offering him clothes to wear. Bruce didn’t complain as he got dressed, but he was awfully confused as he was brought to a Shawarma place with the rest of the team. They didn’t hate him? Did he actually help? He must have for the others to actually tolerate him.
The next couple of days after that had been alright. Tony was giving him a place to stay and insisted that Bruce wasn’t being a bother. Bruce didn’t know if the other was really lying or not, but he hoped that Tony wasn’t. For once in a long while Bruce actually felt like he was living a normal life. It was only a couple of weeks after that when the team had to start training so that they worked better together on missions. At first it had been awkward. Bruce kind of sat off on the edge and watched the others train together, learn each other’s strong points. Bruce couldn’t really do much. Sure he knew some fighting styles, but that was only because practicing them took focus and a calm mind. As the days went on he found himself watching the archer more and more often. The first time Clint had caught him Bruce’s face went as red as a tomato and he left the training room quickly. What he hadn’t known then was that Clint had been watching Bruce as well. The two had crushes on each other, but Clint didn’t think Bruce swung that way, and Bruce thought Clint would be appalled by him.
The two started dating soon after that, though they kept it a secret from the team. They didn’t know how the others would react and they didn’t want to deal with that. They had their ups and downs. Bruce worried about Clint constantly when he went off on missions. Clint was doing his best to convince Bruce that he wasn’t a monster and that the Hulk wasn’t either. Sometimes this turned into fights, other times Bruce would just hide himself away until Clint made him come out. All in all the first few months were very rough, but they made it work.
***
Bruce and Clint were very good at keeping their relationship a secret. It had almost been, what two or three years since they started their relationship. They had married in secret a year in, and nine months after that they had their first child. See Clint knew how much Bruce loved kids and wanted a family. Clint loved kids too. He had always wanted to be a dad but he didn’t want to turn into his own father so he never said anything about it. Clint finally brought around the idea of a surrogate and Bruce was shocked, not because of the surrogate but because Clint wanted to start a family with him. He worried for months after that, even when the surrogate was a couple months in. It only stopped when she had the first ultrasound. From that moment on Bruce was brimming with pride, going into a frenzy of setting up a nursery, making sure that Bobby, their surrogate, was well taken care of and protected. Clint thought it was adorable.
Fury was the only one to know about the two’s relationship, and at first he was pissed that Barton hadn’t said a thing, but once the initial fury wore off he sighed and looked at the two. It was obvious that Clint would protect Bruce until his last breath and it would explain why the Hulk seemed to always catch Clint on missions nowadays. He helped the two set up a safe house that would be kept off Shield’s records and off the radar. The two both had a lot of enemies and Fury would not want to deal with the Hulk after someone hurt his Cupid.
Bruce felt like he had gotten the house in perfect shape when their first kid was born.
***
It had been two years since then. Natasha knew because it was hard to keep a secret from her, but Bruce didn’t mind. She kept his Hawk safe on missions. Bruce had stopped going on missions. He said he’d only go if they really really needed the Hulk. The rest of the team had no idea about the family and that was kind of how Bruce wanted to keep it.
He mostly stayed at the house with their daughter Rebecca, who was about three now, and their son Oliver. Rebecca was biologically related to Clint (since he had been the one to donate the sperm to the surrogate) and Oliver was adopted, but he was just as much Bruce’s son as Rebecca was his daughter. Clint had been the one to bring Oliver home after a mission with Natasha. They had been checking up on the old Russian Red Room. It turned into a whole month operation. Natasha and Clint helped get the children out of there. Clint had found little Ollie hidden away and balling. The small child had an old bandage wrapped around a nub of an arm and Clint couldn’t just leave him there, so the next thing Bruce knew Clint was home and carrying a one year old that was wearing a teddy bear onesie and holding a new teddy bear close. Bruce wasn’t mad at all, a little surprised sure, but not mad.
***
Clint was on another mission. Bruce hated it. He was always worried but he knew his Hawk would keep himself safe. He had been making breakfast when Rebecca ran in, crying and holding her hand over her head.
“Oh baby what’s wrong?” He asked gently as he picked his daughter up. She had curly blonde hair and Clint’s greyish blue eyes.
The girl sniffled and curled up against her father’s chest. “I-I was playin w-wid my dollie’s a-an I stood up a-an the table huwt me papa!” She blubbered as tears streamed down her face.
Bruce frowned and kissed the top of her head. “Oh that table’s being mean again. We don’t like meanies in this house now do we Becca? Let’s get you some ice for you boo boo and then I’ll go tell that table to knock it off.” The little girl nodded and wrapped her arms around her father’s neck. Bruce got out an ice pack and put it on her head softly, telling her to hold it there.
He then walked them over to the table and frowned, “Mr. Table you’ve been very naughty today.” He said and “spanked” the table. Becca smiled a little and kissed her father’s cheek. “Tank you papa.”
Bruce chuckled and kissed Rebecca’s nose. “No problem sweetie pie.”
Oliver came in giggling, being chased by their dog Lucky. “Papa! Papa Lucky likes poptarts!” He said excitedly as he pet the dog. Oliver loved the dog because he was missing an eye and Oliver felt like Lucky knew what it was like, since Oliver only had one arm. Oliver was one of the happiest boys though.
Bruce laughed and grinned at Oliver, “He does? Well make sure he only gets a little. We wouldn’t want Lucky to get a tummy ache now would we?”
“Uh uh!”Oliver giggled and pet Lucky happily. “Pappa whens daddy comin home?” He asked innocently.
Bruce sighed a little, “I don’t know buddy, but he’ll be home soon enough okay?” He said gently, kneeling down so that Rebecca could hop down.
Oliver nodded with a small frown. “I miss him...”
Just as Oliver had said that the door opened. Oliver and Rebecca gasped, they ran with Lucky to the door, squealing when they saw Clint. “DADDY!” They both said in unision.
Clint laughed and dropped his bag, picking up his little munchkins when they jumped into his arms. “Hey guys! Have you been good for pappa?” He asked gently as he carried them back inside. The children nodded happily and nuzzled against Clint gently.
He chuckled and grinned at Bruce, though he still seemed a little shaken up. Missions were more dangerous without Shield to back them up. He was just glad his family was safe. He let Becca jump down and run off to grab some pictures she drew for Clint before gently rustling Oliver’s brown curls. He chuckled and kissed the boy’s cheek.
Bruce smiled, “The kids were great. Oliver can count to ten now and Becca is getting really good at her ABC’s.” He said proudly.
“Wow, you guys sure are smart.” Clint chuckled, letting Oliver squirm out of his arms.
Becca came back and grinned proudly as she showed Clint the drawings. “This one is you and papa on da porch havin a pic nic, an this one is Lucky diggin a hole and papa’s grumpy cause it was his flowers.” She giggled. “An’ this one is you an auntie Nat savin the world! A-an this one is a pretty flower I saw when we walked Lucky, and this one is Ollie with a cool robot arm!” She declared happily as she showed Clint her crayon scribbles.
“Wow, Becca bear when did you become such a good artist?” He asked with a grin as he picked her up. “These are all going on the wall.” His daughter’s eyes sparkled with joy.
Bruce chuckled and went off to grab the tape. He was just walking back into the room when he heard Oliver crying. He quickly rushed in, seeing the lamp broken on the floor and Clint putting a bandaid on Oliver’s foot.
“Daddy hit da lamp...” Oliver sniffled as he glomped onto Clint.
Clint’s brows furrowed and he looked up at Bruce with a look that said ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’
“Daddy the lamp was mean and naughty...” Oliver whimpered.
Clint hit the lamp, “Uh... bad lamp. Bad naughty lamp...”
Oliver smiled a little and nuzzled closer, glad that the lamp was punished for being naughty.
Bruce chuckled and went to grab the broom to sweep the debris up. “I’ll explain it to you later.” He promised and kissed Clint’s cheek.