Hot Beverage
Natasha/Bruce
Natasha makes great hot chocolate.
Twist. Turn. Twist. Turn. Roll over.
It’s the same motion over and over. The sheets are too tight. The bed is too warm and wet soaked with sweat. Everything feels like sand against his skin. His shirt is soaked with sweat and he can feel his chest getting tighter and tighter as the air leaves his lips.
He sits up suddenly in bed body humming like a warning of the green to come. He pants rubbing his eyes blinking a few times before staring at his hands. They would appear normal to anyone else but even he can see the slight tinge of green near his finger tips the pale green that peeks through the translucent skin. His skin can’t be translucent can it?
He checks again feeling the pulse beneath his fingertips. It’s too high but the Hulk is not here. The Hulk is awake fighting to get out banging against the side of his temples for the threat. Bruce grabs his head letting out harsh shaking breaths. He grips his hair tugging on the curls feeling his muscle tense and clench. He grinds his teeth huffing as he reaches out to Hulk.
He finds him in his mind stomping the ground or what his mind thinks is the ground. To him it looks like a sea of endless pink and muddled browns. It’s too foreign and strange but here he is watching Hulk rip trees from the muddled ground tossing them in the air. Hulk screams vocabulary gone, and only primal animal noises left shake the fake reality.
Bruce approaches the screaming behemoth cautiously before letting out a soft whimper. Hulk turns around and sees Bruce. He grins his teeth and bends down his massive frame to get level with Bruce’s view. His thick green fingers clench and unclench as he grinds his teeth snorting as he stares at Bruce.
Bruce licks his lips and let’s out a shaky breath, “nightmare…not real. Safe. We are safe.”
Hulk’s muscles clench as he falls into a sit making the ground shake before him. He crosses his arms over his chest closing his eyes. Bruce edges closer to him and reaches out his hand to touch one of the massive fingers.
“Safe. Promise.”
Hulk says nothing the only motion he demonstrates is the even rising of his chest. He opens his eyes and stares at Bruce fully looking at the worn man. He visibly relaxes muscles becoming loose before nudging Bruce with his finger.
Bruce stares at the room looking around confused. He’s back. This is real. There is no pink and brown ground. He glances at the clock and realizes the time. He’s unsure of how long he was talking to Hulk, but the blankets feel cool. He feels too cold and the sweat he was soaked in feels dry. He gets out of bed shaking and heads out of the bedroom. He needs to be away or maybe he needs coffee. Stay awake keep the nightmares at bay.
He rubs his head forgoing his glasses as he lets his feet lead him to the kitchen. His mind sees no one. He is stuck on auto pilot before he feels pressure against his shoulder and drops the cup he had been holding.
He turns looking at the woman before him.
“N-Natasha? Heh scared me,” he says before looking down at the broken glass. “I’ll get it cleaned.”
He feels her cool hands against his cheeks as she holds him in place looking into his eyes. He hates this. He hates when she stares into his eyes as if she can see the real him. It unnerves him.
She says nothing to him and lets his face go. Instead she watches him clean the glass up in silence. He hates feeling the stare. It makes the hair on his neck stand up when she does that.
“Natasha what-”
“Sit on the couch. You cleaned the mess now sit,” she says in a no-nonsense voice.
Bruce looks at her confused. He needs the coffee now. Not this. He feels the pressure on his shoulder as Natasha grips him firmly. “Sit,” she repeats moving him towards the couch with only her firm grip on his shoulder as any contact.
Bruce has no reason to disobey and just accepts his fate. He sits on the couch and once Natasha finds it satisfactory, she releases her grip from his shoulder and heads back to the kitchen. He feels the static building up around his body just from the simple missed contact. He sighs and places pressure on both his eyes with the palms of his hands breathing. He just focuses on breathing.
He feels fingers digging into his shoulder and looks up at Natasha offering him a mug. It smells sickeningly sweet but bitter. He takes the offered mug expecting coffee but instead sees a brown murky liquid with an equally brown stick from the cup.
This is not coffee.
He glances at Natasha curled up on the couch by him but not too close to do more than touch his shoulder. She sips her hot chocolate staring at him with the eyes over the rim. He offers a small forced smile before sipping the sweet beverage.
It tastes as sweet as he thought it would and spicy. It must be from the cinnamon stick. He looks over at her about to speak before she interrupts him.
“Have you heard of the Little Match Girl?”
Bruce was not expecting that question at all. Sure, a question of why he’s covered in sweat and looks like a hobo would be a good start or why his hands won’t stop shaking, or even why he’s losing time or why his hands haven’t stopped shaking even with his fingers wrapped around the warm mug.
“No.”
Natasha nods her head as if that is an agreement to listen to said story.
“Good then I’ll tell you,” she states before her voice changes to sound like soft whispers. Bruce doesn’t listen or her half way listen’s nerves still too broken from the event tonight. He tries to ignore the what if’s, but he can not shut his brain off. It has focused on one thing and one thing only and he could have killed her. He could have killed them all and no one would be the wiser. Or they would see the Hulk size dent in their lifeless bodies or-
He feels the familiar pressure in his shoulder and looks over at Natasha lips turned into a small smile. Pressure is good…but still he could have killed them. He could have killed her. One day this won’t work. One day she’ll get tired of his bullshit, his nightmares that ruin her sleep or could kill her but until then he’ll just hope the pressure is enough.
He let’s out a tired sigh and watches as she starts the story over again.