Whatever it Takes: Endgame

Chapter 4

Natasha walked into the lab while Bruce was working to drag him out. He had been in there all day and it was almost 6:00 at night.

She, Scott and Steve got a hold of half of the team, plus Rocket and Nebula, while Bruce contacted Thor. Most of them would be at the compound in the next few days. Meanwhile Scott and Clint were helping Bruce in the lab, but as usual, Bruce was the last to leave.

"Come on," Natasha told Bruce while tugging on his sleeve.

"I just need to save this, then I'm all yours," he said.

She waited until he took his glasses off and tuned to face her, then she took his hand and they went to the elevator. They made room for Scott, who was getting off, then stepped in.

The ride up was quiet until Bruce said, "Scott's killing me with his 'Back to the Future' references."

"You want him out of the lab?"

"Please?" he joked.

"Promise to get some sleep tonight?"

"Only if you promise the same."

When the door was shut, Natasha turned to face him and asked, "Hungry? There are still leftovers from the other night."

"Sounds good. I'm not really in the mood to cook."

They ate leftover Chinese food while watching "WarGames," which Natasha quoted when she didn't have a mouthful of food. If Bruce minded, he didn't tell her, but he also knew this was one of her favorite movies.

While they were washing the dishes that had piled up after dinner, Bruce accidentally splashed water on her, but couldn't seem to contain his laughter as he said, "Sorry!"

She grabbed the nozzle and playfully sprayed him head to toe while smirking. By the time she put it back and turned the water off he had hugged her to him.

"Bruce!"

He laughed in response, causing her to smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he closed the gap, pressing his lips to hers. She deepened it, causing it to go into a full on make out session.

Bruce broke the moment when the need for air was too much, then pressed his forehead to hers.

"I adore you," he said.

"I adore you too."

"Marry me. Tonight?"

"What," she asked, wondering if he was serious.

"Let's just elope."

"What brought this on all of the sudden?"

"I've been thinking about it for a few months," he admitted. "But we don't have to if you don't want to."

"Is this about Vormir?"

"No," he said softly as he shook his head. "The truth is, if we didn't know what was coming then I would have married you sooner. I love you Natasha Romanoff and I want to be your husband."

She could see in his eyes that he was being truthful, but mostly she just saw his love for her. The truth was, she had wanted a life with him for six months and she was tired of waiting.

"Romanoff-Banner."

"What," he asked with a slightly confused facial expression.

"After we get married tonight, I want to be Natasha Romanoff-Banner," she explained.

He seemed touched as he asked, "You want to hyphenate my last name with yours?"

"Yeah," she answered with a soft voice.

"You really want this?"

"I've wanted to marry you since you proposed." She started teasing him, "If I knew eloping wasn't out of the question, I would have brought it up sooner."

He chuckled and closed the gap between them to kiss her softly. When they parted, she cupped his face and brought their foreheads together.

"We need to change," she said with a small smile, reassuring him that she wanted this.

"You're positive? I know we haven't talked about the wedding a lot –"

"We can always have the big ceremony later. All we need for this is Clint and you can call Tony."

"I love you," he said with a look of awe.

"I love you too."

After cleaning up the water, the couple changed out of their wet clothes and into dry ones. They didn't dress up, just put on their normal everyday shirts, pants and shoes.

The town hall wasn't that far and they made it before the place closed. They didn't have official wedding bands, their witness was Clint, who walked her to Bruce and Tony was there via FaceTime. But it was all they needed.

Note: Married Bruce and Natasha! Yay!