Body and Soul: The Endgame Fix

Part 6: Safe Sex

Summary: Bruce brings Natasha upstairs. Being separated for five years is one complication. Natasha being worn out is another. Dealing with Bruce's physical changes is a third. Will intimacy be the answer to their problems or just the beginning?

Notes: It's still the day before Halloween of 2023 and just after lunch. They just had a kiss and Bruce carried Natasha over the threshold.

Hell, yes! We earn our mature rating.

If you want to get in the mood, look up a version of "Body and Soul" by songwriters Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, John Green, and Robert Sour with Frank Sinatra on vocals.

Part 6: Safe Sex

He carried her up the steps two at a time till they arrived at the top where he set her down on her feet. "Next choice," Bruce announced, "you look like you're about to drop. Would you like a smaller quiet room by yourself to get some rest or would you like something suitable for two with me there?"

"I was hoping you'd stay with me because I'm not sure I want to sleep alone or wake up in a new place by myself either."

Bruce grinned, "The master suite it is then."

At the end of the hall, he opened the last door on the right to a large bedroom with exposed stone walls that had been roughly plastered over on two sides and left rustic. The windows on the outer back wall were huge and included French doors that opened on a balcony. As she looked out, it was easy to see the fall gardens were still green, and further away the river flowed between stony banks.

Bruce set her bag down on a chair and joined her at the windows. "The glass is the same tech as in the Tower. All we have to do is tell Friday to set it on opaque or just leave it on 'privacy' mode."

Nat brightened up at the familiar name. "You have Friday here?" He hadn't audibly used the Interface yet that she'd heard him.

"Indeed, you do, Ms. Romanoff," said the familiar lilting feminine voice of the Interface over an intercom. Friday had been one of Natasha's favorite parts of living in the tower, aside from Bruce of course. Besides Pepper, Friday was the only other "female" with whom she'd been able to interact while living there, especially late at night, and she'd made a few tweaks to Tony's programming. This place was quickly feeling more like home to her.

As Nat surveyed the room, she noted the bed was much larger than a normal King and the headboard was of hard maple with clean Craftsman-style lines. The bedding and sheets were shades of pale blue and cream with several pillows stacked a bit haphazardly like he'd thrown them back on the bed after he'd made it that morning. The other furniture and some low paneling on the two finished walls were matching warm tones of maple. Bruce grabbed a loose t-shirt off the far side of the bed and tossed it across the room and into a clothes hamper next to the bathroom door. "Sorry, didn't exactly expect you," he apologized and put the pillows in slightly better order.

"Big bed," she said, thinking he looked a little nervous.

"Tony made the frame. It's all custom. I'd have just put the mattress on a riser, but he insisted it would have looked weird and messed with the aesthetic. Plus, risers a little hard to move, I guess. We were looking for applications for a new carbon-based material, so I think that had something to do with it, too."

"Hey, who could turn down a carbon-based bedframe?" Natasha said with a smile and a shrug as she ran her hand over the quilted spread on top.

Bruce opened a few drawers in the largest dresser and moved some things to the other side of the mule chest, which left her with plenty of room for her things.