Avengers: Behind the Uniform

The Blue and the Red

A/N: Hello (from the other side [of the world]) everyone! I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY that I haven't updated recently (or at all) and even though the blame falls mostly onto the start of school and all that jazz, it falls onto me as well so I just wanted to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone for not updating sooner and to promise that I will try my best to put up new chapters more regularly. On a different note, if you like this chapter please give it a STAR or (even better) tell me what you liked about it so that I know what to do more of and if you didn't like it or thought some parts could use some improving, please comment below and tell me – I'm always grateful for constructive criticism!

Winona xoxo

***

Dr Robert Ross stood slightly apart from everyone, occasionally exchanging pleasantries with the people who approached him but mostly kept to himself. The champagne bubbled delightfully down his throat and the suit he wore fit just right. The man, of course, wasn't Robert Ross. He was Dr Bruce Banner and he was a coward. He knew that Agent Romanoff and Agent Rogers were here tonight. Together. For a moment, the champagne wasn't as sweet but he remembered why he had done what he did and forced the issue from his mind. You made the choice to leave, Bruce. You have no right to feel anything but guilty.

He scanned the room again, desperate to see just one familiar face even if it wasn't the one he was hoping to see. His eyes locked on a young couple who had just made their entrance. Everyone was staring at them, women and men alike. They walked like they were royalty. The tall, broad shouldered man swung his gaze from side to side, confidence and arrogance embodied. The woman stepped with elegance and her smile dripped superiority. A man of silver and a woman of gold. How fitting. The man bent his head and whispered a few words to the woman. She murmured something back and then they parted ways, heading in different directions.

Strange.

His gut told him something was going on, that these two needed to be watched, but he was only one pair of eyes. Regretting his choice of going rogue more and more, he kept his sight trained on the girl as she made her way to the other side of the room to introduce herself to a circle of people he assumed to be scientists and dignitaries. She had slotted herself easily between two men, one was slightly eccentric looking and the other was – Bruce couldn't see his face.

He swapped his gaze to the man. It took him a while until Bruce spotted Mr Silver again. He was chatting with one of the many powdered grandfathers in the room. Finding nothing worth investigating, he turned back in the other direction to find Miss Goldilocks. The man she was standing next to was facing her so that Bruce could now see his face but it was the woman who had her arm in the crook of his who caught his attention. She may have had drawn her face differently and donned a wig but when he had seen her green eyes flash he had no doubt who she was.

Natasha.

His feet almost carried him forward but he managed to stop himself before they could trip over the waiter passing in front of him carrying a platter of champagne flutes, mostly empty. The waiter gave him a disdained look, no doubt unimpressed with how his loafers didn't act as a mirror. But Bruce had to give it to him, even when the waiter so obviously thought that Bruce didn't belong here he managed to be polite and cheerful, even offering him another glass of champagne. With the sole purpose of ingratiating him, Bruce accepted and made a big fuss of choosing 'the perfect glass of champagne.'

Chuckling to himself as the huffy waiter glided away, he let his gaze drift back to where he had last seen the partners but they were no longer there. He knew better but ventured into the crowd of people anyway. Bruce had only taken two hesitant steps before he spotted the undercover couple again. They weren't exactly hard to distinguish from the others. People turned their heads to stare as they walked past. Natasha – or whoever she was going by – had her head angled up and was whispering fervently to Steve. He, on the other hand, seemed as unfazed as he always was and was just listening to her as she talked. His whole body ached.