There once was an abusive jerk...

Tony (again)

Bruce was slowly going better. In a few weeks he stopped flinching every time someone touched him. And a few more weeks later he asked the others to play a board game with him for the first time. They tried not to respond too enthusiastic, but all of them joined and they played until late in the evening.
He still had a lot of bad days though, and most nights were still plagued with nightmares. More often than not he woke up begging for Tony to stop doing whatever he dreamt of this time. Natasha was the one who woke him most of the time. She slept the lightest and her room was next to his, so she slipped inside his room and brushed through his hair while mumbling soft Russian words to calm him. And when one night Bruce was hugging a mug of tea close because he just finished a night in the lab, and he heard strange noises from her room... Well... Neither talked about waking up clinging to each other. They didn't mention the tears from the normally calm assassin.
And if the others noticed their bond having changed, they didn't mention it.

So all together, Bruce was doing a lot better than anyone had expected. Yes he was still nervous, and yes he was always worried about bothering people, but they were fixing him.

So that lead to subject Tony Stark.
Up until then they had postponed the process of actually setting up a process. He was basically just locked away in one of Shield's holding cells. He had tried to escape fifteen times already, he just always failed because Fury was angry at him. And when Fury was angry with someone... He wouldn't let that person out of his sight.

But now they had a problem, because to actually lock the bastard away for the rest of his life... They needed some sort of trial. It would all go very quiet, nothing in court, because they wouldn't want to panic people by letting them know Iron Man was being arrested.
Right now Pepper Potts did an amazing job at letting everyone think Stark was taking a long break after an injury.

So a trial. A silent trial done by the world council. With Bruce as main witness. They had the video images and thanks to a long process a year ago, Jarvis was now considered a full witness. But they needed Bruce to tell them it was really him in this images, that they weren't tampered with. He needed to be in the room and watch the tapes.
And that worried everyone. Because what if he couldn't handle it and went back to start? They didn't think he was ready for it, but... If he didn't testify... Tony might walk.
And that couldn't happen. On the other hand... As Clint said, "I know a guy". They all knew that if Stark was let free, he wouldn't set a step outside before dropping dead. With an arrow, bullet, hammer, and shield, in his face.

But Coulson reasoned that the public wouldn't exactly appreciate that and convinced them to at least try a fair trial. And that's how all of the avengers, including Pepper, Coulson, and Fury, were gathered around a table looking a little off.
"What's wrong?" Bruce asked nervously and glanced at Natasha sitting on his right.
"Nothing... Perse..." She said softly. Eventually she decided to just put it out there. "You have to testify against Stark so he can get a trial. If you do not want to, he will maybe be judged innocent and he will have to be disposed off in another way. It is your choice Bruce." She said calmly as she held his hand under the table.
Bruce paled slightly. "T-Testify... Can't I... Do that on vi-video?" He asked softly, nervously.
Coulson shook his head. "I'm afraid not Bruce, because Stark his knowledge of computers, court finds electrical evidence not as trustworthy as live face to face contact." He explained softly. "I'm sorry Bruce... But like Natasha said, you do not have to do this."

Bruce took a deep breath and looked around the table at his friends. Because that's what they were now, friends. He knew that whatever happened in that court would not change that. He knew they would be there for him afterwards. But most importantly, he knew after this he would never have to see Tony again. And he wouldn't turn his friends into killers just for him.

So he nodded softly. "I want to do it." He whispered. "When is the trial?"

I just want to press that what happens right at the beginning of this chapter may look like Bruce and Natasha slept together, but they didn't. Bruce is still asexual, and I may write something about them separately later, but they just shared a bed together. Bruce is very touchstarved, and enjoys hugs and pats on the back, and cuddling and maybe even soft kisses. He just doesn't like sex. So they had an emotion cuddly night. If you don't like the ship, just look at them as very good friends.