@espionaege / natasha turns in the low light , the quiet thick now that everyone else has gone to sleep . her hand settles briefly on his shoulders and she leans forward until full lips brush across the curve of his cheek . as quickly and gracefully as she leaned into him , the spy is moving away , a half smile dancing on her face . " night , bruce . "
time has ran away from him again , not even noticing that the lights finally dimmed until he was left only with the illumination of his desk lamp . long nights are not unusual for the doctor and the others have gotten used to him missing for hours -- working and burying himself under mounds of research , or sulking in his thoughts with an almost endless stream of caffeine . head propped on one hand , he still fought the urge to sleep while staring at the words and the diagrams that seemed to swim on the paper in front of him . hulk smashes and banner rebuilds . his old mantra reverberated in his mind . sounding like a challenge . almost a taunt . and he was reminded that his goal to redeem the damages of the jade giant is way harder than he thought .
the touch and the kiss were quick and ghost - like , but it was enough to send a blush of red on his cheeks and her words was enough to wake his mind enough to reach back . his hand caught hers and under the minimal light he only saw a familiar swish of red hair . all bruce can offer back was a soft , sleepy smile . he still hasn’t let go of her hand . “ hey . what was that for ? oh , fuck . what time is it ? ”
