Battle Lines

A.N.: Drabble prompt by Anonymous on tumblr; 86. "I guess dying with you isn't the worst way to go."

Of course it's only fitting that the first time he sees her in a while, it's them fighting in battle. Not just any battle - nothing with them and the lives they've lead has ever been as simple as that - but more of an all-out war to save the rest of humanity and beyond. The stakes were always high with them almost as if they wouldn't take anything less (and maybe they wouldn't, maybe this thrill has become necessary to some of them; he likes to think he's above that, but he's begun doubting himself over that particular question). Still, they're there - they're all there, people he knows and people he doesn't, people he's grown to trust and consider family over the years and people he's met an hour ago and had to put his life in the hands of just a much and they put theirs in his - all fighting side by side, giving their all, truly bleeding for the world they love, willing to die for what they believe in. A part of him is honored to be in such company.

Since he first saw her again, his eyes won't leave her. He tried to focus on other things, but she overwhelms all his senses. He's missed her - so fucking much, more than he could ever express - and there is so much, so much, he wants to tell her, except now isn't the time and he doesn't know if they'll survive to a point where it will be, if they will ever again have time.

But, the blaze of bullets and gunfire only makes her look more beautiful, even if he can see how the years of this started weighing down on her. Bruce thinks she's wiped the red off her ledger years ago, and he hopes she'll soon be able to see it, too.

Maybe then they'll be able to run with it. God knows he wants to. Oh, how he wants to.

He has a gun in his hand, no matter how much he was against it, and he uses it to help her get rid of one of the attackers that overwhelmed her. She smiles at him, a sparkle in her eye.

"You gonna turn green?"

Bruce laughs. "Give me a second.", he says. "I wanna look at you a bit longer."

Natasha moves closer to him, using her guns to shoot attackers behind his back, her eyes are locked on Bruce's. She shakes her head and kisses him slowly, smiling into the kiss. He returns it; both the kiss and the smile.

"I guess dying with you isn't the worst way to go.", she jokes, and he laughs with his eyes still closed from the kiss, they're foreheads lightly touching.

"I'll take that as a compliment.", he says, his eyes opening. Natasha is overwhelmed by the love she feels coming from that one look. "I love you."

Natasha smiles, kisses him once more and gets rid of her empty guns. "I love you, too.", she says. Natasha turns around, charging her Widow Bites. "And not just because you give me nice toys.", she winks.

Bruce lets the Other Guy take over with a smile on his face.

"Ready, Big Guy?"

The Hulk grunts with a smirk.