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"Someone did something right." Yelena teases, laughing.
"Shut up!" Natasha orders as she tries to write up the report on her latest mission for SHIELD.
"You never come back on the next day. And I always know when you had fun." Yelena continues to tease, making Natasha grimace in disgust. "What? We're adults, that's perfectly normal."
"It's weird talking about sex with my little sister."
"I've never said anything about sex." She plays innocent, and Natasha stares at her without patience. "Alright, but we've been trained to do that."
"We weren't trained to know if someone had sex."
"No, but it's part of it. And being sisters helps."
"It helps you talk nonsense." Natasha mutters loud enough for her to hear.
Yelena ignores it and sits down on the couch where she was lying and leans forward where her sister was sitting on the floor using the coffee table for support. "The question is: am I wrong?"
Natasha stared at her blankly and turned her attention back to the report, ignoring the blonde, who just smiled victoriously.
She was right. The guy Natasha spent the night with was different. Usually, it was a quick thing, just a short diversion with no attachments. She always came back the same night or in the early hours of the morning, but this time, she came back in the afternoon the next day. That's probably what made her sister notice, since even though she didn't actually live in the redhead's apartment, she spent a lot of time there, having a spare room full of her things.
"Well?" Yelena insists.
Natasha sighs and stops writing. "He talked to me."
"Is that it?" She questions as if it were nothing. "That's it?"
"Yeah."
"You're not that easy."
Natasha rolls her eyes and loses patience. "The details are none of your business. Good night, Yelena." She picks up her things and goes to her room, ignoring the blonde's theatrical falsehood.
~~~~
"What's her name?"
"What?" Bruce, who was distracted by his thoughts, fumbled with the book he was pretending to read when his cousin startled him.
"What's her name?"
"Her who?" Bruce remains confused, and Jennifer rolls her eyes.
"The woman you spent the night with."
"U-uh..."
She sighs and takes the book out of his hands to see if her cousin concentrates. "You look obviously in love!" He adjusts his glasses and blushes, making Jen smile. "What's her name?"
"Jen..." Bruce tries to dodge the question.
"No! You're not getting away with this."
"It was no big deal."
"My nerdy, shy cousin spent the night with someone. That's definitely something!" Jen says, and Bruce glares at her, slightly annoyed. "What? Don't look at me like that! I didn't lie."
"It was a one-night thing. I doubt I'll ever see her again."
Jen makes a disappointed face and throws herself down on the sofa next to him. "You seem so interested in this mysterious woman."
"She's nice." Bruce takes off his glasses and starts fiddling with the frames. "It would be nice to see her again."
"Why don't you go after her? Just call."
"I don't have her phone number."
"How..." Jen is surprised by this and at the same time understands why her cousin doesn't have many suitors. "You didn't ask for her number? That's one of the most basic things to get when you meet someone! Unless you don't want to see the person again!"
Bruce settles into the armchair he was sitting in, and Jennifer realizes there's more. "What? What did you do? What did you didn't do?" She corrects herself.
"I don't even know her name."
His cousin stares at him speechlessly, realizing that THIS is why he doesn't date much.
"Cousin.... do you know anything about her?"
"She likes vodka. She thinks hotdogs are ridiculous because they're just buns with sausages. She has two brothers, the youngest is 'her Jennifer'. I think she's Russian, but she doesn't have an accent. She knows how to make good paper airplanes, she's very intelligent, and she even understands when I explain something in my field. Oh, and she has red hair and likes Star Wars too."
"At some point in the middle of your apparently long conversation, did you think to ask her her name?"
"Uh... actually, now that you mention it... I don't think I told her my name either."
Jen slaps herself on the forehead, completely shocked by her cousin. Wondering how the hell that creature managed to get not just one, but seven PhDs, as well as several awards, which was even the reason he was at that fancy party the day before.
"You're unbelievable, Bruce." She says it but smiles, and Bruce realizes that it was really quite stupid.
But perhaps it was his stupidity that led him to have an incredible evening with that redhead. When she approached him and started flirting, he didn't even think she was interested in spending the night with him.
They chatted briefly and he mentioned that he didn't like parties in general, which made her ask if he didn't want to go somewhere else, but instead of going to a room as she had imagined, he took her outside and they walked together to a square, chatting the whole time. The square had a beautiful lake and a bridge, where they both stopped to observe the surrounding nature.
They went to a stand selling hot dogs and ate one despite the woman's complaints. They went to a snack bar and ate, joking that it was real food and not those rich people's "snacks." They used the napkins to show off their origami skills, and he gave her a paper swan.
Bruce doesn't even remember when he learned to do it, but that's all he knew, swans and airplanes.
After that, they went to a motel and spent the night together.
When he woke up in the late hours of the morning, he could see the beautiful woman sleeping in his arms, and he was even more in awe of her. He snuggled down and went back to sleep, and this time, when he woke up later, he was alone, with only a note from her.
~~~
Bruce surprised her. He was obviously shy and uncomfortable in large crowds and parties like that, even if he was one of the ones who would receive the award. She had already finished her mission, and it was so easy and quick that she decided to go for a little fun. But it turned out to be more fun than she expected.
She thought he would be easy, but he was stupid and silly in an endearing way. He surprised her when he took her for a walk instead of going straight to the point. But it didn't take long to realize that he was the insecure, self-deprecating type. He didn't believe that someone like her would be attracted to someone like him.
In the end, he made her night a thousand times better. Even listening to him talk about nuclear physics was cool. He made her smile and made her open up and show a bit of herself, feeling that he deserved it for being so nice to her.
They did go to bed, and it was certainly an experience to remember. He was so nice to her that Natasha decided to stay a little longer. Normally, she wouldn't sleep and would just leave when he fell asleep, but this time, she slept comfortably.
When she woke up and found herself cuddled up to him, she felt her cheeks heat up like they hadn't in a long time. It certainly wouldn't happen again. She had more control than that, but it was nice.
Natasha smiled and ran her hand through his hair, enjoying the warmth and the strange but pleasant feeling. She finally worked up the courage to get up and left him with another kiss, carefully taking and putting away the paper swan.
When she arrived at her small apartment, she put it next to her lamp, next to her bed, and when she returned to the living room/kitchen, she found her sister sitting on the couch, stroking the black kitten, Liho, that Natasha had recently adopted.
Natasha just ignored the drama, rolled her eyes, grabbed a sandwich she had put away, and went back to her room.
"Wait! I want to know how the dat... the mission went!"