6. ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɴᴏꜱᴇ

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x GN!ReaderWarnings: Mentions of blood and injuries, Suggestive themes.Words: 16.5k+

"Can you fucking slow down?"

The wind was annoying. Just like your companion. The person you were sent on a mission with. To fucking Russia. Don't get me wrong, you have nothing against Russia, but that specific place you were sent to seemed to be entirely covered in snow. And to make everything worse, you couldn't reach or at least see that safe house for what felt like hours by now.

"It's not my fucking fault you have short legs and can't keep up." You said, fully annoyed and not in the mood of keeping up with her shit.

"And it's not my fault that you're a dickhead who can't slow fucking down." She replied in the same tone as you.

You closed your eyes briefly, not stopping your walk, wanting to get away from this situation as fast as you could.

"Calm down, act like she's not here." You mumbled to yourself, trying not to give in your anger.

You'd been walking through that Santa land for the last three hours, listening to constant complaining and getting irritated even more by every second, cause you couldn't get to the place where you finally would be able to rest.

You were walking ahead when you spotted something. And no, it still wasn't that fucking safe house. It was something that looked like a snowstorm.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." You said to yourself at the sight, but your teammate heard you.

"What? Can't stand a little bit of snow? I know you're a fragile jac-" she started, but you cut her off.

"Could you just shut up for a second?" You stated, again irritated by her voice.

"Listen, I didn't want to go on this mission with you eit-" She started again.

"Oh my God, just shut up, Natasha, and look." At this, she actually looked in the direction you were pointing at.

When she saw what you were talking about, she instantly shut up and her eyes widened.

"Thank you." You said sarcastically. "Now keep moving. If we are not fast and fail to find our shelter, we will be screwed." You added and started walking again.

You were kinda thankful for that snowstorm. From the moment Natasha saw that she'd been quiet. You didn't have to listen to any of her bullshit. You continued your walk, hoping it would end soon.

After what felt like years, you saw the place you were staying at.

"Fucking finally." You said aloud and started moving faster in the direction of the house.

"Geez, couldn't you walk any faster?" And here we go again. "You could at least wait for me to catch up to you." Natasha said to you.

"Yeeaah, no, I'm good." You replied still walking. "I'd rather be in that house before I get smashed by that snowstorm."

Sparing a glance at the red-head, you saw her rolling her eyes with an annoyed expression painted on her face.

After a while, you got to the house and started looking for keys in your backpack.

It was full of everything and the pocket with keys was guarded like some royalty, everything was pushed against it and it made it difficult for you to grab the item you needed.

"Don't tell me you lost the keys." Said Natasha, coming up and standing next to you.

"I didn't lose anything besides my patience for you, so I'm asking again, just shut up for a second." You replied, finally reaching the keys and seeing not so happy look on Natasha's face. This actually made you feel better.

You stood up, put the keys in the hole, and opened the door.

"After you, Your Highness." You bowed dramatically and put one of your hands around your stomach while outstretching the other in the direction of the door.

You heard scoff and could only imagine the roll of her eyes. After she got in, you followed suit and closed the door.

You put the bags on the floor and started looking around the house. When you got to the living room, you spotted a fireplace and some wood. You immediately started lighting up the fire. When you took care of that, you moved to the kitchen and looked for some food. There was a lot of stuff. Guess S.H.I.E.L.D. had gone grocery shopping, sweet. You took some things from the fridge, spices from the cupboard, and started making pasta.

"Y/n, where the hell are you? We have to prepare gear for tomorrow." You heard Natasha's voice getting closer to you. "And what are you even doing?"

"Some poison shit, hopefully, you eat some." You replied, not looking up at the red-head.

You turned around to take some more spices when you saw the look on her face. She was leaning on the door frame with arms crossed over her chest and clenched jaw.

"Don't worry, it would not kill you." You said. "Just make you quiet for a while." You added, mumbling under your breath.

"You are annoying, you know that?" She said to you while moving to one of the stools and taking a seat.

"Wow, who would've thought." You said with a sarcastic smile. "Guess we have something in common after all." You continued, still making the food.

Not getting in the conversation any longer, you got back to your previous action.

After a while, the food was ready. You grabbed yourself a plate and put some pasta on it. You took a seat at the counter and started eating.

"You can take some if you want. As you can see I'm eating it, so it's not poisoned. Yet." You told Natasha, mumbling the last word.

"How nice of you." She replied sarcastically, but got up, took some food, and started eating.

She didn't say anything, but when you glanced at her and saw a pleased expression on her face, you smirked.

"That good, huh?" You asked.

"Let me eat in peace." She replied, glancing at you and then back at her food.

"Well, when I wanted to walk in peace, someone couldn't keep their mouth shut." You said quietly to yourself, but by her annoyed look, you could tell she heard you, which only made you smirk again.

When you were done, you got up, put your plate in the sink, and head in the direction of the stairs.

"I'm gonna go and take a shower." You told her while leaving the kitchen.

"Can't you wash your plate?" She called out to you.

"Nah, I'm good. I'll leave it to you." You shouted back.

You took your bags and headed upstairs. When you got to the bedroom, you took some underwear, a dark-grey t-shirt, and black sweatpants, and walked to the bathroom, locking the door. This shower was all you needed. Warm water hitting your skin. You almost melted at the nice feeling. You spend there fifteen minutes before you got out and put your clothes on. Next, you brushed your teeth and got out of the bathroom. When you got in the bedroom, you saw Natasha getting in bed.

"What are you doing?" You asked her confused.

"I'm going to sleep if you couldn't tell." She replied, not sparing you a glance.

"Yeah, but why here?" You asked again, gesturing with your hands around the room you already settled in.

"I knew you were dumb, but I didn't know you were that dumb." She said after she got under the covers and looked at you.

"It's not funny, why couldn't you take the other bedroom when I already put my things here." You told her a little bit annoyed and still confused by her actions.

"There is no other bedroom, idiot." She answered. "And there is only one bed." She added after a second, looking at her phone one last time, before plugging it into the charger and putting it on the nightstand.

"This has to be some kind of joke." You said to yourself, not believing the situation.

"It's not, so suck it up or sleep on the floor." Natasha said, getting comfortable in bed and closing her eyes.

There was no fucking way that you would be sleeping in the same bed as Natasha Romanoff. That woman had been a pain in your ass since the day you two met. To be honest, you didn't even know what had happened. You just knew that at some point, probably at the very beginning, she had decided that she hated you and you had decided that you were not gonna let her treat you like shit. So here you were, hating each other to the point you could barely be in the same room without an insult being thrown at one another.

How you ended up on a two-week mission together? Oh, you knew how. And now that you found out that there's only one bed, you were gonna kill your sister for putting you in this shit.

"Floor is comfortable enough." You said while making yourself a bed on the floor.

You'd rather sleep on the rocks than in the same bed as that woman.

Laying down, you closed your eyes letting yourself drift off to sleep with only one thought in your mind. When you get back home, you were gonna end Maria Hill.

——

The next day you spent scouting the area. Taking notice of every possible exit, how many guards were there, and how heavily armed they were. It didn't look that bad. But being on alert wouldn't be a bad thing, because you never know what could happen.

"Could you move yourself a little?" You asked your companion. You even managed to do it politely. But hearing her response, you regret it in an instant.

"Of course, it's the only thing I ever wanted to do." She replied sarcastically, looking at you and then got back to looking through her binoculars. "You could've claimed that spot earlier. Find some other one." She added emotionless.

You looked at her a bit annoyed and then not thinking too much about anything, you just pushed her, causing her to drop from her spot with a squeal and making space which you gladly occupied.

You took your binoculars, ignoring the daggers she threw in your direction, pretending like nothing happened.

"You are an asshole, you know that." She told you, getting up and moving to the spot next to you.

"Yeah, tell me something I don't." You replied in a bored tone, still observing the base.

You slightly pulled your head away from your binoculars and in the corner of your eye, you saw Natasha looking at you irritated. She changed her position, so she was lying on her side while you got back to your previous actions.

"I honestly don't know how I managed to keep up with yo-" She was cut off with your hand being put on her mouth while you still were looking at the base.

"Be quiet for a moment." You told her, paying more attention to what was happening down near the base.

She grabbed your hand and pulled it away from her mouth, making you put it back on its previous spot. "What the fuck are you doing. Don't put your hands on me or I'll bre-" She was cut off once again. You grabbed her binoculars and pressed them lightly to her mouth, making it impossible for her to talk.

"Just shut up and look for God's sake." You told her, not tearing your eyes away from the action unfolding before you.

After throwing you one more glare, she finally looked where you were looking. What you saw was about eight people in heavy armor, transporting something. It didn't look too big, but it didn't seem to be that small as well.

"What do you think it is?" You heard from your side.

You squinted your eyes a little, trying to do anything to catch a better view of whatever that thing was.

"I would say that probably some kind of weapon." You paused. "It doesn't look big and it's not too small. It could be that thing Nick told us about."

She hummed. "That one which he barely has any intel about?"

"Yup." You observed a little more. "We could try and find it."

She lowered her binoculars and looked at you. "Are you crazy? We don't know what it is. And Fury told us to get the files and get out of there." She told in a stern tone.

"Yeah, well, if we are going to be already inside of the base, why can't we look for it? And if we manage to get that, I'm sure Nick will be happy about that." You told her, taking one last look, noticing that eight people who brought the thing here had left the area, before slightly standing up and gathering your stuff.

Natasha was still lying on her side, propped up on one of her elbows and looking up at you. "Or he will be pissed off and make us do something we will not like."

You stood up to your full height while Natasha was gathering her things. "If he makes me train the recruits like the last time, at least I will have some fun watching them suffer." You told her, shrugging your shoulders and throwing your backpack on your back, strapping it over your stomach.

You didn't know if your eyes deceived you, or she really smiled at that but you brushed it off and situated the backpack so it wasn't hurting while carrying it.

"Yeah, it's the only thing that brings you joy. Other people's suffering." She told you, standing up.

"You have to make the best out of the situation, Red." You told her, making her roll her eyes at the nickname. "Let's get back. I don't need another snowstorm on my way." You told her and started moving in the direction of the safe house.

"Yea, I need a shower." She told you, following you.

"I know, I could smell you from miles away. And it's not pleasant." You told her with a disgusted face, earning a sharp glare at which you smiled and kept walking.

——

For the next few days, you and Natasha were coming up with the best plan of getting intel and remaining undetected. The second part wouldn't be that easy, but still possible. However, part of your idea wasn't something Natasha liked.

"I'm telling you. We see someone, bang." You said, making a banging motion with your fist. "And there is no trouble anymore." You added, opening your arms with a smile on your face.

"We're not going to kill them." She deadpanned.

You dropped your hands at your sides. "Why not? It's not like they are some sweet, innocent girl-scouts who try to sell you their cookies." You told her.

"We don't kill. We can only knock them out." She told you, standing up from the stool and moved to fix herself a cup of coffee.

You huffed, throwing your head back. "Come on. Nobody's gonna know."

"Fury's gonna know." She replied. "And your sister is gonna know." She added turning to you.

You rolled your eyes. "Maria would be proud of my super-duper, excellent, there's-no-better-in-the-world plan of sending them to sleep." You told her with a small smirk, sitting on a stool.

You started playing with papers on the counter while she grabbed the cup of coffee, went back to her seat, and leaned on the counter with the cup between her hands.

"In this case, I don't think that saying 'sending them to sleep' is suitable." She told you, looking at you and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Well, we will send them to sleep forever then." You replied, shrugging.

She looked at you and by the look on her face you could tell she was done with you. "We are not killing them. End of discussion."

You groaned. "Romanoff, you are no fun." You said, leaning back in your chair and crossing your arms.

"How is this fun?" She asked you with a tilted head and furrowed eyebrows.

"However I want it to be." You told her matter-of-factly, grabbing fries and starting eating them.

"No. I told you already." She replied holding up her cup of coffee and taking a sip. "Now let's ge-"

"Fucking party-pooper." You mumbled under your nose, but the pen thrown at your head indicated that she heard you.

Your hand flew to rub at the spot you'd been hit. "What the fuck?" You said while looking at her with furrowed eyebrows.

She just glared at you with narrowed eyes. "Stop pissing me off and get to work." She told you sternly.

You scoffed lightly. "Well, I already told you about my plan wh-" You started, but got cut off.

"Which is a shitty plan." She deadpanned with another glare.

"An amazing plan." You exclaimed throwing your hands in the air.

She sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead with her hand. "We're not gonna kill th-"

"Send them to sleep." You corrected her. Well corrected in your opinion.

"No." She told you again, before taking a pen and a piece of paper to scribble more ideas. "If you think of something helpful, then let me know, if not, leave me alone. I don't want to look at your annoying face longer than I need to."

You huffed at that, standing up from the stool, and started heading upstairs to the bathroom, mumbling how Maria would go with that plan and how Natasha is a total buzz-kill, along the way. That earned you another thrown object at you and you threw your middle finger over your shoulder in response.

——

You were woken up by something hitting your face. You slowly opened your eyes, rubbing them a little with your palm. When they finally adjusted to the lights, you were met with the red-headed devil's daughter. She was looking down at you with a blank expression on her face.

"What do you want?" You groaned out while turning on your stomach and closing your eyes.

You heard scoff and that made a small smile appear on your lips. "Get up. We have to prepare ourselves for today."

You hummed. "Well, who needs to prepare, may they go and do just that. And let me sleep." You replied, getting comfortable, trying to go back to sleep.

"Stop being childish and get your ass up. We don't have a whole day." She told you and you felt a pillow colliding with your head.

You just reached your hand above your head to grab the pillow and put it under your head, mumbling that it was just what you needed.

You thought that she finally let you be when you felt a kick to your leg. You ignored it, quietly saying small 'fuck off'. It didn't seem to do the job, because not even a second later you felt another kick. This time a harder one.

You lifted up your head lazily, leaning on your hands, looking at her with your eyes half-closed and a small frown on your face. "Do you have a problem or something?" You asked her.

"Yes, with you." She told, crossing her arms over her chest.

You furrowed your eyebrows and started waving one of your hands. "So why are you here? I didn't call for you. I was having an amazing sleep until you came. You may go now." You replied.

She rolled her eyes. "You are so dumb, I honestly don't know how you've survived this long."

You turned your head to the small coffee table where your phone was, still in a sleepy daze. You unlocked it and saw that it was 5 AM.

"What the fuck, Natasha. Are you crazy?" You asked her, looking back at her. "I mean I know you are, but still. Can't you read the time or something?"

She looked at you annoyed, shifting her weight to one of her legs. "If you don't get up right now, I swear I will do something to you." She said getting kinda angry, but you didn't care. She took your sweet sleep away from you. And nobody should do it.

"Why can't you just go and bother someone else." You told her, putting your head back on the pillow, getting comfortable.

"We are here alone, idiot." She said matter-of-factly. "Believe me, if I could, I would go to someone else."

"Well, go outside, build a snowman, and go bother him. He will not be able to hear you, so it's not likely for him to develop any mental illness." You told her. "Thank you for neurosis by the way." You added closing your eyes.

Suddenly, something hit your back. You immediately opened your eyes to see a shoe lying next to you. "The only way to get a mental illness is by spending time with you. And get the fuck up, Y/n. We don't have time."

You just gave her a bored face. "Yeah, well, if you think I'm gonna get up at 5 AM, then think again. Even though it's not your forte." You told her again, making her scoff and roll her eyes, before storming out of the room.

Satisfied with your accomplishment, you got comfortable on the floor and closed your eyes again to get some more sleep.

You almost drifted off to sleep when the next second you jolted up, leaning on your arms. The ice-cold sensation running through your whole body, your clothes entirely soaked, goosebumps appeared momentarily.

You slowly turned your head to your right to be met with the demon in the human body, arms crossed over her chest and a satisfied smirk plastered on her face.

"What the fuck, Natasha?" You asked slowly. At that moment, you were fucking pissed off.

Her smirk only widened. "Oops, looks like you have to get up and get changed. You will lose your precious sleep, what a shame." She said feigning concern. "I'll be waiting in the kitchen. Meet me in 5." She added sweetly while walking out of the bedroom and throwing you an innocent smile over her shoulder.

"What a bitch." You murmured, getting up and heading to the bathroom, grabbing your mission clothes on the way.

——

You thought that getting to the safe house was the worst journey in your entire life. You found something worse. A four-hour walk. To that stupid base. Through the forest. With constantly complaining little demon by your side. You were internally groaning, praying to anyone who could make her shut up.

"I can't believe I have to be with your dumb ass here. I could be anywhere else than he-" You internally groaned at her passionate monologue, tunning her out, ignoring the rest of what she was saying.

"Sweet God, please, take the ability to speak away from her." You prayed quietly under your breath, not stopping your walking.

Unfortunately, it didn't work as fast as you would want to. "I really don't know why they paired me with you. I could do this on my own without being anywhere near you." She continued, not running out of words, but you were certainly running out of your sanity.

You rolled your eyes, muttering further prayers, getting more and more irritated with your 'oh so lovely' teammate.

"You always screw everything up. And never listen to what others say." She didn't stop. At this point, you weren't sure if it was even possible.

"Making reckless decisions, like on your last mission when you blew up an entire warehouse. What were you even thinking? That this would magically so-" This wasn't the end of it. She had more. She always had more bullshit to say and now you had to listen. You couldn't just leave like always and it was pissing you off.

You massaged your temple with your hand. "My neurosis is going to have neuroses. Please, somebody make her shut up."

She, still being in her own scolding-you world, continued with passion. "And don't get me started when we were on a mission with Clint. You almost put a bullet in his head. Then you persuaded him to plant fucking bombs. Again." Her ramble didn't stop. You wanted it to stop so bad.

You closed your eyes for a brief moment while muttering. "Dear Lord, I'm begging you. I will do anything. I will even do Maria's paperwork for a week, even though I hate that shit." You really hated that shit and hoped this prayer would help.

"Or how you are always late. Like always. You are so irresponsible. When we have a meeting, you always are the last one to get there. I honestly can stand many people, but y-"

Seems like God really liked you after all. With one last squeal leaving her mouth, she shut up. Fucking finally.

You looked up at the sky with relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much." You didn't stop walking, hearing a groan behind you.

"Could you stop and help me?" She asked you, irritation laced in her tone.

You looked over your shoulder, slowing down a bit. She was laying in the snow. How ironic. She was talking about standing and yet she tripped, falling face-first on the ground.

"No, thanks." You replied with a fake smile.

She rolled her eyes, groaning. You turned your head back to face what was before you. "You are a real dickhead." You heard and smiled at that.

"Why, thank you." You replied sarcastically, still with a smile. "I thought you wouldn't notice that amazing trait of mine." You added when she caught up to you.

She huffed, dusting herself off. "Can't believe you're such an asshole." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at you. "Would it hurt to help me one time?"

You scoffed. "Since when do we help each other?" You asked. "And aren't you all Ms. Independent and rest of all that shit?" You added with a raised eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes, scoffing as well, and narrowing her eyes at you. "Stop calling me that."

That made you smirk a little. "Why? Aren't you a little Ms. Independent? You always say you are." You replied and decided to play with her a little longer, to piss her off more. "But if not, I could always take care of you." You added, winking at her. You smirked wider, satisfied when your innuendo made her jaw clench.

"I forgot how much of a jackass you actually are." She told you, turning her head, so she looked ahead.

You gasped slightly. "Oh, excuse you. Didn't you just implied a minute ago that you would want me to help you at least one time?" You said. "And now when I'm offering help, you insult me." You put your hand over your heart pretending to be offended. "Wow, Romanoff, I didn't expect this from you." You added with clear sarcasm in your voice, letting your hand drop on your side.

Her jaw clenched so tightly you thought it would break any second. "I don't know how people can like you. You are nothing but an irritating dick." Seeing her that angry made you smile. And that made her angry even more. "Wipe that shit-eating grin off of your face."

"Or what? I'm just smiling. You can't forbid me from smiling. I am allowed to do simple things, Natalia." You told her, making her stop for a second. You threw her a wink and continued walking. "Move your ass. We don't want you to freeze here, sunshine."

——

After getting rid of some of the guards by knocking them out and hiding their bodies in a small room, you were on your way to the control room, where the files that Fury wanted were supposed to be.

"Where to now?" You asked the red-head, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder to catch a sight of the screen of a small device she had in her hand.

"Right around the corner, then straight ahead, and left around the next corner." She replied moving forward. You following her, looking behind you from time to time.

When you were about to turn left around the second corner you caught a glimpse of someone. Natasha was too preoccupied with looking at the screen and didn't notice.

"It shou-" She started, but you quickly put your hand over her mouth and pulled her to you, then against the wall while shielding her with your body and looking around the corner for potential threats.

She swatted your hand away with a scowl on her face. "What the fuck are you doing?" She whispered angrily, eyes burned with rage.

You glanced at her. "Oh, I'm sorry for saving your unable-to-shut-up ass." You told her sarcastically after you made sure nobody was around.

She narrowed her eyes at you and you were sure she wanted to burn you with the intensity of her stare at that moment.

"Move your ass and let's get it over with." You said and started silently walking in the direction of the control room.

"MoVe YoUr AsS." You heard Natasha mocking you behind you.

You got to the door and you put your hand on the doorknob lightly, you twisted it and opened the door slowly without making any noise. You went in first to make sure it was safe. You turned to Natasha and motioned her with your hand to come in. She immediately headed for the computer, plugging in the USB, and started downloading the intel.

You were standing by the door, which you left slightly open, so you could peek out and make sure nobody was coming. After some time you leaned against the wall, still keeping an eye on everything around you.

"Shit." You heard Natasha mumble.

You looked at her and saw that her eyebrows were furrowed while she was typing quickly on the keyboard. "Fucking ancient garbage."

You glanced outside the door one last time before making your way to her. "What's wrong?" You asked, standing behind her.

"88% is downloaded already, but the rest is protected with some code." She told you still furiously typing. Her eyebrows furrowed even more in irritation.

You put your hand on the table and leaned forward a little to have a better sight of what was on the screen. In the corner of your eye, you saw Nat tense up slightly and her typing slowed down but not even a second later she got back to the previous speed. After a moment you saw 'Access denied' in red letters.

Natasha slammed her hand on the table in frustration. "Fucking shit. I'm gonna throw that thing out of the window." She hissed and got back to typing. Again, the same text appeared on the screen and by the look on her face, you knew she was ready to break the screen with her fist.

"Move." You told her calmly. She looked at you even more irritated.

"What? You're gonna play in a hacker now?" She asked, not making any move that would indicate that she was gonna give you access to the computer.

You slightly tilted your head at her. "It's not time for your ass being sore, because you can't hack to the files. It's important, so move." You told her seriously. She scowled at you again, but moved away, making you room. "Go to the door and observe the hallway."

You heard scoff and started typing on the keyboard. "You want me to go sightseeing? Oh, how lovely." She told you sarcastically.

"Just go make sure that nobody is coming here." You told her somehow still calmly, how you managed that, you honestly didn't know.

Your eyes were glued to the screen, typing different codes, trying every little trick you had up your sleeve. After the fourth failed attempt it finally worked. The rest of the files started downloading.

"Got it." You told her when the downloading ended and took the USB. You turned your head to Natasha, who was standing by the door, leaning on the wall on her side.

She looked at you. "Great. Now stop playing Mitnick and get back to work." She told you, still not in the mood you guessed.

You walked towards her and handed her the drive. "Actually, Mitnick is the best hacker, so I'll take it as a compliment, Red." You smiled at her, knowing it would piss her off ever so slightly.

She rolled her eyes, pocketing the drive and gripping her gun. "Just shut up and let's get out of here."

You took your gun as well, making your way out of the room. You looked around and fully stepped out, Natasha following you. "You got the exits marked on that map?" You asked referring to the device you previously used.

"Yeah, we should get to the nearest one by walking straight ahead and then right around the second corner." She replied, looking at the small screen.

You were walking in silence, not wanting to get caught. You turned around the corner and saw the exit. Well, it was supposed to be the exit. Something didn't sit right with you.

"You sure it's here?" You asked Nat, eyeing the whole hallway carefully.

"Yes, I am. Shut up and walk." She whispered back, not stopping her movements.

The closer you got to the door, the more suspicious you were getting. It just wasn't right. Usually, bases like this one had exits far away from other rooms, yet there were multiple doors on both sides of the hallway. The door that was supposed to lead outside didn't have a warning light above it. And the door itself wasn't big or armored like it should.

"Nat, I don't think it's the rig-" You wanted to explain to her but she cut you off. Of course, she fucking did.

"Listen, I know what I'm doing. You have a problem with something, hop the fuck away somewhere else." She whisper-yelled at you, not slowing her walk.

When she got to the door and grabbed the doorknob, you felt something unsettling in your stomach. "Wait, do-" You tried, but you were too late. She opened the door and there was another empty hallway with a door at the end of it.

"Stop being irritating. I just wanna get out of here so I don't have to look at you any longer." She told you coldly, starting to step into the room and moving towards the door.

And then you saw a shadow in the distance. "Natasha." You rushed to her, trying to grab her and pull her out of the hallway, but as you did that, you stepped in as well and the door slammed shut behind you.

You quickly examined new surroundings. There was nobody beside you two. You saw two hallways, one on the left and one on the right. Natasha turned to you abruptly and glanced at the door that you came through a second ago.

"What the fuck have you been doing all day today? You really need to calm down." She told you, turning away.

You laughed sarcastically. "I need to calm down? If I remember correctly, it was you who wanted to go full Black Widow mode on a fucking computer, because you couldn't hack to the motherfucking files." You replied, getting angry.

She turned back to you so fast you thought her head would fall off for a second. "It's not my fucking fault they got it secured and that shitty thing didn't want to work." She replied harshly.

You smiled sweetly. "Oh well, so how did I manage to get the intel?" This made her jaw clench.

"Fuck you." She said and turned again, heading to the door. You started following her, glancing around. That unsettling feeling came back. And the closer to the door you got, the more it grew. When you were in the middle, where other hallways started, you heard the clicking of metal. You looked around the floor and when you spotted a small thing that could do big things, your eyes widened. You grabbed Natasha by the waist, turned her around and away from the thing, moving in the direction of the door as fast as you could.

You didn't have much time. After a second or two, the explosion erupted, throwing you away. You felt heat on your back, but you tried to ignore it. It wasn't that bad. You curled Nat in your arms, trying to shield her as much as you could while trying to maneuver you two mid-air, so she wouldn't take the full impact when crushing in the wall. You turned you two to the side and when you met the wall and fell down, you secured Natasha more with your whole body.

When it calmed down, the alarm went off and you quickly looked around, standing up. You heard footsteps from the distance and you looked at Natasha who was leaning on the wall with closed eyes.

You got to her in seconds, crouching down to be the same level, and put your arm under her shoulders to help her up. "Come on, Romanoff, we have to get out of here."

She groaned loudly. "Fuck." She breathed out while standing up with your help and holding her ribs.

When you fully stood up, she stretched to the side a little with a hiss. "Okay, no time for a workout. We have to move." Her only response was a sharp glare.

Footsteps were getting louder and louder. You looked at Natasha one last time to make sure she was fine, then took out your guns and moved to one of the hallways, pressing your back against the wall while Natasha did the same with the second hallway. You heard footsteps more clearly now and counted to five, before slightly uncovering the side of your body and firing bullets at the enemies who just came out of the corner.

You were shooting like crazy, killing one by one, but it seemed like there was an infinite number of them and you were running out of fucking bullets. It didn't look good.

"These fuckers keep coming and coming. We have to think of something quickly." You told Natasha through the sound of fire shots.

"No shit Sherlock." She bit back at you. "How did you come up with it?" She added with sarcasm laced in her tone.

"Don't forget it was your fucking brilliant idea to get here when I tried to stop you." You replied annoyed. You had enough of this shit. "We need any kind of plan and we need it now."

"Yeah, I didn't know that, cause I'm stupid like you." She said irritated.

You really wanted to punch something. "Shut up for once and think." You gritted through your teeth, completely fed up with her.

"I can try and open the door." She said while reloading her gun after she shot the last two men on her side

You glanced at it. It was pretty massive, but right now it looked like the only way out.

"Okay, I will cover you." You replied.

As soon as she got there, she got to work while you were making sure none of these bitches would get to you.

You were reloading your gun when you felt something ripping the skin on your shoulder. You looked behind you and immediately shot the man.

"Fucking bitch." You muttered to yourself, looking at the spot you were hit. In the corner of your eye, you saw Natasha glancing at you. "How is it going?" You asked her.

"I can't open this." She huffed frustrated, pulling at the door.

You looked at her. Her eyebrows were furrowed and anger was written all over her face. "Keep trying, if it still doesn't work, we will think of something else."

You saw her nod, so you got back to shooting. One hallway was empty now. People came only from the other one, making it easier for you to keep them away. You checked your magazines, you had only three left and you didn't know how many more people were in this base.

You heard a loud groan behind you, so you looked over your shoulder. "I can't fucking open this." She said clearly angry, but you could tell that there was helplessness in her tone. "It won't even budge." She added, kicking the door.

You started thinking, trying to come up with anything. Taking a glance at the empty hallway, you made up your mind.

"Do you still have the device?" You asked her. You were relieved for a second, people stopped coming, which gave you time to think properly without any interruptions.

"No, I threw it away, because I didn't like the color." She told you with a sweet smile. "Of course I have it, idiot." She almost growled at you, still trying to open the door.

You rolled your eyes, ignoring her comment considering the fact you were in deep shit. "If we go this way." You said, pointing at the empty hallway. "Where is any other exit?"

She looked at the small screen. "Um, it's in the middle of the base. We would have to go through half of the base to get there." She told you, looking up at you.

"Then let's go." You told her, already moving in that direction.

"Are you crazy? You don't know how many agents could be there." She told you, catching up to you and grabbing your arm to stop you.

You turned to face her. "So you want to stay here when they know that we are here?" She didn't say anything, just clenched her jaw a little. "Thought so." You ended and started moving again.

——

For the most part, hallways were empty. It was kinda suspicious, but you didn't exactly complain. You were low on ammo and the closer to the exit you got, the more relieved you felt.

"Where now?" You asked when you were nearing another branching.

"Left, then right, and straight ahead." She told you.

You were moving quietly, so it would be harder for enemies to find you. After taking a few more steps, you heard the loud sound of multiple footsteps from behind you. It was so loud you were certain they were running. So much for not being found.

You looked over your shoulder and then at Nat. "Run." You said, picking up your pace.

"What?" She asked you like you were crazy. "They will hear us."

"They will get to us faster if we don't start running, so run." You told her looking at her, then over your shoulder again, putting your hand on Natasha's back and pushing her forward. When the footsteps got even louder, you two almost sprinted.

When you were nearing the corner, behind which should be a door leading outside, you saw agents running at you from the other side. There weren't many, but still.

"Fuck. Run faster." You exclaimed while pointing your guns at the enemies and starting shooting, Natasha doing the same.

You glanced over your shoulder once more and saw that more agents were running towards you. You knew you would be dead if you didn't do something quickly. You didn't have any cover. You run to the nearest door and kicked it. It budged a little, but nothing more. You kicked it once more with more force and thank God it flew open. You grabbed Natasha's arm and almost threw her to the room, before getting there as well.

"You really should stop doing that." She stated angrily, before situating herself by the door, so she could shoot at the agents.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you wanted to get killed." You replied calmly, but raising your voice at the end while doing the same but on the other side of the doorframe.

"It still doesn't mean you can fucking touch me or push me, dickhead." She said, throwing you a glare.

Despite the situation, you hummed and nodded. "Right, forgive me, Your Highness." You told her dramatically. "I would bow, but well, it doesn't seem like a right time." You added and reloaded your guns.

"I swear I will shoot you." She replied.

"I wouldn't dream of anything else." You said, shooting the last agent. Not hearing anything, you peeked out of the room and saw empty hallways. Well, besides the bodies on the ground.

"Okay, let's move." You said and went out of the room, then turning around the corner. There you spotted the door at the end of the corridor. "Fucking finally." You breathed out, moving faster.

You got to the door, Natasha standing behind you. You tried to open it, but of course, it couldn't be that easy. Why would it? You started trying anything to just open it.

"Wait. It's locked by something else." Natasha said and you looked at her. "There's a small panel." She pointed at something barely noticeable.

You were about to get to work again when you heard footsteps. "For fuck's sake. I'll deal with them, you deal with this." You told her.

You readied yourself. By the sounds, you could tell there were not more than five people and when the first one rounded the corner, you immediately shot him in the head. The same happened to the next one. The third one got shot in the chest. The next one in the leg and chest. When you were about to fire at the last one, he shielded himself with one of the dead agents and fired at you.

"Duck." You yelled, hoping Natasha would get that.

You quickly shot him in the head and after you saw his body drop, you turned to Nat.

"Are you okay? How is it?" You asked, standing beside her.

She bit her lip in concentration. "I almost got it." She told you. "Fuck, I can't reach the wire."

"Let me try." You told her.

"You wanna hop in and save the day?" She asked you sarcastically.

"Not the fucking time." You replied. She huffed and moved away.

You tried to reach it and when you almost got it, you heard a shot. You turned around so fast you could get dizzy at that point and pulled the trigger. In the next second the guy at the other end dropped to the floor with a bullet between his eyes.

You heard a sharp intake of breath and looked at Nat. "Fuck." She breathed out and when she was about to collapse, you quickly caught her with your arm under her shoulders.

"So much for not killing them." You said to yourself. "Where?" You asked her, keeping her up.

"My side." She told you and closed her eyes for a moment.

You looked at her side. It didn't look bad, blood wasn't pouring out fast, but you never know.

"Put the pressure, I'm gonna open the door." You told her and kept your arm under her shoulders still giving her support while you reached for the wire with the other one. After a moment you finally grabbed it and pulled with force to break it. You heard a click and immediately reached for the doorknob, pushing the door open.

You looked back at Nat. "Can you walk?" You asked her, searching her face for any hints of any emotion.

She groaned. "Yeah, I can, I'm not disabled because of a stupid bullet." She replied harshly, gritting her teeth.

"Jesus, calm the fuck down, I just asked." You told her slightly irritated, you tried to be nice, but guess you shouldn't.

"Whatever, I don't give a fuck. Just move and don't touch me ever again." She said, pushing you off of her and started walking.

You closed the door behind you and followed her. She was moving slowly and you could say that it was getting harder for her with every step she took. When she staggered, you quickly put your arm under her arms like earlier.

"I told you to get the fuck off of me." She grunted, trying to get away from you, but you pressed her to your side. You heard her breath hitch and thought it was probably because of the wound.

"You can barely walk, so be quiet and accept my unexpected kindness." You told her, keeping her pressed to you.

When you were sure that you were at a safe distance from the base, you gently pushed her against a tree, still holding her.

"Can you manage to stand on your own?" You asked her in a soft tone.

"No, I need you, my knight in shining armor." She told you sweetly with a smile, but you knew better than that.

You glared at her. "Listen, it's not me who is shot, so stop these stupid comments. If you want to, I can keep moving and leave you to yourself." You told her seriously, making her shut up and slightly clench her jaw, throwing you a small glare. "Can you manage to stand on your own or not?" She closed her eyes briefly and nodded.

You took off your jacket, then your sweater, putting it between your legs to hold it and put your jacket back on, and hung your sweater on your shoulder. Then you were about to reach for the zipper of her catsuit and ask for permission, but before you could she slapped your hand away giving you a death stare.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She seethed angrily. Pure hatred could be heard in her voice.

You tilted your head. "I was about to ask for permission, not that you know. I'm not that much of an asshole." You replied. "I need to put something on your wound to hopefully stop the bleeding, considering it's not pouring out like a river. So can I?" You added.

She was looking at your face intently, searching for something, what it was, you had no fucking idea. "Fine, but one wrong look and you're dead." She said sternly.

"Yeah, like I haven't seen boobs in my life." You replied, unzipping her uniform.

She grabbed your wrist. "I'm fucking serious." She said with a dangerous look in her eyes while staring right into yours.

You gave her a blank expression. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in your boobs." She kept looking at you and after a while loosened her grip on your wrist, letting you pull the zipper down.

You helped her get her arms out of her catsuit and pulled it down so you could have access to the wound. It didn't look bad, but it wasn't great either.

"Could be worse." You muttered. "I'll clean it up a bit." You used the sleeve of your hoodie to clean around the wound and she looked at you with a raised eyebrow. "What? I don't exactly bring soft towels with me on a mission."

She just rolled her eyes at you, so you continued. When it was decent you circled your arms around her waist to tie the hoodie, making sure it was pressed against the wound. Next, you gently and carefully pulled up her catsuit, trying not to move the temporary 'bandage'. When she put her arms in, you pulled the zipper up. Then you looked at her and saw that she was already looking at you with an unreadable expression.

"What?" You asked with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

"Nothing." She replied.

You quirked an eyebrow at her but decided to let it go. You turned around and crouched down. "Get on my back."

She leaned out to the side. This time it was her who quirked an eyebrow. "Sorry, what?"

"You can apologize later for being a bitch, now get on my back." You told her again.

She clenched her jaw and you saw her fists clenched as well. "I wasn't apologizing. And I'm not getting on your back, I can walk just perfectly."

"Listen, we have at least a three-hour walk ahead of us. Despite your wound not being that bad, it doesn't mean it's all peachy. So, get on my back and you will be able to go back to being all Ms. Independent as soon as we get back home." She clenched her jaw, but in the end climbed on you. You grabbed her under her tights and felt that she tensed at that, but you didn't care. After a second she put her forearms on your shoulders, making them dangle in front of you.

"Try to be pressed to my back in a way that you put pressure on the wound."

——

You were walking for some time now, you felt like your legs were burning, but you wanted to get to the safe house as fast as possible. There was no wind so that was a plus, snow still didn't help, but you couldn't exactly get rid of it. You mentally thanked Clint for dragging you with him to go hiking.

There was complete silence, none of you said a word during the walk. You huffed out a breath, trying to get rid of the hair that fell on your eye. You didn't have a haircut for a while and you desperately needed one. Then you felt arms going around your neck and something pressing to the spot between your neck and shoulder. Natasha's head. She was...cuddling to you? Your eyes widened.

"Romanoff, don't fall asleep." You said in a stern tone and making sure that she would hear you.

"I'm not sleeping, idiot." Despite her obvious frustration in a voice, you felt a little relieved.

But then you got confused. Your eyebrows furrowed in thought. "So wh-" You paused, thinking if there was even a point in asking. "Nevermind."

"It was nice until you opened your mouth." She said, her voice a little muffled. Probably because her face was pressed to you.

You rolled your eyes and focused on not tripping while walking. That damn hair still annoyed you. You tried to blow some air again, but it didn't help and you huffed irritated. Then you felt one of Natasha's hands pull away from your neck and pulling your hair away from your eye.

You were shocked and confused. Why did she touch you? I mean yeah, you were giving her a piggyback ride, but to this moment she was keeping her distance away from you as best as she could, even when being on your back.

"Thanks." You mumbled, still not sure what else to do with that situation. She only hummed, putting her hand back around your neck and her head to its previous spot. "Don't sleep."

You could practically feel her rolling her eyes. "I'm not. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able, because of your constant 'DoN't SlEeP'."

"Even when injured you can't stop complaining." You said under your breath.

"I only ever complain about you." She told you matter-of-factly.

"Oh, now I feel special." You told her in an 'awe' tone. "Am I special to you, Natasha?" You asked, looking back at her.

She lifted her head and looked at you. "I would have to be seriously sick for you to be someone special to me." She told you and put her head back down.

"Wow, and here I thought we had something serious." You told her sarcastically, looking ahead, and not stopping your walk.

——

You finally got to the safehouse, tired like never before. When you reached the door, you turned your head slightly to Nat. Sometime during your walk, she shifted and her head lied on your shoulder with her facing the side of your face. You looked at her and she was already looking at you.

"Can I put you down, so I can grab the key?" You asked her.

She was looking at you for a second, before tightening her legs around your waist.

"It's not necessary." She told you, patting your shoulder. "You can just let go of my legs."

Your face flushed with confusion. She didn't want to get away from you as fast as she could? Weird as fuck, but probably it's because she had lost blood and she didn't even know what she was doing. Or she thought it would annoy you. Anyway, you brushed it off, let go of her legs, and started looking for the key.

You opened the door, grabbed her legs, and entered the safe house. You kicked the door shut behind you and moved to the living room.

"Okay, now get off and we have to take care of that wound properly." You told her, crouching down.

You didn't know if you heard a small whine or if your mind played tricks with you. She climbed down and you helped her sit on the couch, then went to the bathroom to grab a first aid kit. You got back to the living room and helped Natasha out of her catsuit, leaving it hanging around her hips. You kneeled and situated yourself between her legs.

"Okay, if something hurts just tell me." You told her and carefully untied your hoodie from around her.

"The only thing that hurts me is your presence." She replied and hissed when you were pulling your hoodie away from her wound. You smiled and arch an eyebrow amusedly at her words.

"Nah, I think the lack of it hurts you." You said, getting everything you needed to clean up her wound.

She scoffed, turning her head a little to the side. You cleaned up the wound and got to the proper work with that. When you were done and about to stand up, Natasha put her hand on your shoulder.

"You got shot." She told you, looking at your shoulder.

Your eyebrows furrowed and your eyes traveled to where she was looking. You spotted a small wound. Oh right. You got shot when she tried to open the door by the first 'exit'.

"Huh, I forgot about that." You muttered to yourself, but she hit your head upside down.

"You forgot? What the fuck, Y/n? What if it was something serious?" She almost lashed out at you.

You being you, let a smirk paint on your lips, lifting your one eyebrow. "Are you concerned about me, Ms. Romanoff?" You asked teasingly.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "No, I don't give a fuck about that, but if something happened to you, I would have to take the consequences." She replied.

You only smiled at that. You tried to stand up again, but she grabbed your hand and pulled you on the couch while she stood up. Her catsuit still hanging around her hips, the only thing covering her upper body was her black lace bra.

You smirked again, spreading your arms on the top of the couch. "Well, simple 'thank you' would be enough, but if that's how you wan-"

She clenched her jaw, narrowed her eyes a little, and kicked you on the shin cutting you off. "In your sick dreams, Hill." She said. "I'm gonna go change, then help you with that wound. Sit still and don't do anything." Then she kicked you again.

"What the fuck was that for?" You whined, leaning down and rubbing the spot she kicked.

"Bye~" She told you with a sweet smile and a small wave of her fingers while going upstairs.

You sat straight up and started taking off your jacket. "Don't do anything my ass. What am I? A five-year-old?" You grumbled to yourself. "I know how to do things."

You fumbled a little with your t-shirt and took it off. Then you examined the small wound. "It's barely a scratch." You cleaned up the mess you did when you were helping Natasha and sat back down.

You took gauze and poured some vodka you used earlier. As you were about to start cleaning the wound, you felt a sharp hit on the back of your head. Instantly your hand flew there.

"The fuck?" You said out loud and turned a little to see Natasha rounding the couch.

"I told you not to do anything, dumbshit." She said, walking towards you. "You are so annoying that you can't even listen for once."

You rolled your eyes. "It's just a flesh wound, it's barely there." You told her, trying to start cleaning it, but she grabbed the gauze from your hand, sat down next to you, and did it herself. "Okay, you wanna play nurse."

She pinched you on your side, making you look at her just to be met with a glare. "Shut up, and sit still."

"Sweet Jesus." You mumbled, earning another pinch from her. "Okay, stop with the pinching."

In the corner of your eye, you saw her smirking. You turned your head to look at the small wound, but the next second your head whipped and faced the wall before you. All because dear Natasha grabbed your jaw and forced it to do that.

You decided that you didn't have enough strength to deal with her. That walk really wore you out.

A minute passed and you saw her picking up a needle. "What are you doing?" You asked her slowly, turning your head to her slightly while putting your hand on one of hers that was holding the needle and lowered it down.

She quirked an eyebrow at you. "I'm going to stitch it." She replied and swatted your hand away while bringing the needle to your shoulder.

You grabbed it again. "And why would you do that? It's not that bad, it doesn't need stitches." You reasoned with her.

You saw how an amused expression took over her face. She let a smile appear on her lips and narrowed her eyes a little while tilting her head to the side.

"Are you afraid of needles?" She asked with a teasing tone.

This caused you to raise your eyebrows. "No, I'm not. I just don't know why you would stitch it when it doesn't need to be stitched." You replied honestly. You weren't afraid of needles. You had been stitched up countless times by now. You just didn't know why she would want to do that and why she was helping you with something so small like your flesh wound.

"Are you sure? Cause you act like you were a little terrified, I don't want you to shit in your pants." She paused. "Nah, I think I do." She added and moved the needle to your shoulder and started stitching it.

You were looking ahead of you the entire time, thinking about a shower and sleep. You were tired as fuck and your legs were sore from all this walking. After some time you turned your head to Natasha to see if she finished. She was already looking at you. You looked down at your shoulder to see that it was done and then back up at Nat, feeling her staring at you.

You furrowed your eyebrows a little. "Everything's done?" You asked and it seemed like your question snapped her out of any trance she was in.

She took her hand off of your shoulder and cleared her throat a little. "Yeah." She replied shortly and looked at you again.

You slowly stood up. "Okay, thanks for that." You said pointing at your shoulder. "I'm gonna go take a shower." You added and started walking upstairs.

"I'll clean here a little." She said and stood up as well, grabbing all the things.

"You should go and rest. You still have the gunshot wound." You told her and headed upstairs and to the bathroom.

After fifteen minutes you got out and changed into some black sweatpants and a dark-grey tank top. You came out of the bathroom and put your mission clothes on the dresser. You heard the door open so you looked up and saw Natasha already looking at you again. She shook her head a little and moved to the bathroom while you laid down, getting ready to sleep.

You almost let dreams take over when you heard the bathroom door open and silent footsteps. They stopped somewhere near you for a second and then moved towards the bed again. You shifted a little to get comfortable and finally relaxed, letting yourself fall asleep.

The next day you would go home and get some peace. The week in hell with the devil's daughter finally came to an end.

——

Three days had passed since the mission in Russia. Everything got back to normal, you were doing your training, supervising other agents who were assigned to train newbies, and you were doing your paperwork, and of course, Maria's as well. After all, you promised it to God for making Natasha shut up. Speaking of her. This was one thing that didn't get back to normal. And to be honest, you didn't know if this was something good.

Currently, you were going to the cafeteria with your sister to grab some food and catch up on everything that happened when you were gone.

You grabbed two trays and put some food on them, then went to the table that your sister sat at. "Here's your food, m'lady." You told her, sliding her tray in front of her.

"Thanks, Y/n/n. I'm starving." She replied almost instantly grabbing the burger and taking a big bite.

You chuckled at her and sat in front of her. "Anything fun happened?" You asked, eating your food as well and taking a sip of your drink.

She hummed while chewing. "Not really. Unless dates with mission reports are what you call fun, and I know you don't."

"No, not really." You said chuckling.

You talked for a while longer and then focused on your food. You liked spending time with Maria. It always felt comfortable with her and you knew you could tell her anything.

"Is Natasha sick?" You blurted out. Maria stopped eating and looked at you confused.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and then opened it again. "No. Why would you think that?" She asked genuinely curious.

"Well, it's been three days since we got back and she did not once insult me." You told her and she just got more confused.

She squinted her eyes and blinked a couple of times, tilting her head. "Isn't it a good thing?"

You looked her dead in the eyes. "Maria, we're talking about Natasha Romanoff, a woman who can't stand a second without throwing an insult or a glare my way when we are in the same space." You replied, completely serious about the situation.

She closed her eyes briefly and sighed, then looked back at you. "Don't you think you exaggerate a little? Maybe she just thought that this feud between you two was unnecessary."

You let out a snort. "Oh, yeah. And what else? She's gonna come up to me with a bright smile on her face, grab my hand, and lead me outside to some lovely spot on a mountain, so we can watch the mesmerizing sunset together?" You told her sarcastically, but it didn't seem to amuse her. Your face got back to neutral. "It's not normal, Maria. It's Romanoff." You added, stuffing your face with fries.

"She's not that bad, Y/n. Maybe she's tired of constant arguing with you." She tried to reason with you.

You scoffed. "I know she's your super bestie and all that shit, but she's a nightmare." You ate more fries, before continuing. "She didn't say anything bad about my ideas when Clint asked me for help with his next mission." You said it more to yourself than to your sister.

Maria sighed again, slumping in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. Probably done with your shit by now. "Y/n, I don't think she sees it li-"

"Talking about that. She didn't even throw me a glare. Not once in the last three days." You cut her off narrowing your eyes, looking at nothing in particular. You were stuffing your face with more fries while thinking intensely.

Maria shut her eyes closed and shook her head. She took a deep breath and looked at you. "Look, I just think that she's trying to have a normal relationship with you, like at least being your acquaintance, not a foe."

You hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah, I don't buy that shit."

Maria lightly slammed her hands on the table while standing up. "Alright, enough of your antics. I'm going to my office."

You looked at her in confusion. "What? But it's only 3 PM."

She looked at you with what you call a 'mother look'. She had always done that. Ever since you two were little and you threw some sticky shit at her head. She had to cut her hair short and she didn't like that. If it wasn't for your mom, Maria would probably drown you in the lake. Now, every time you say or do something she finds dumb or irritating, she gives you that look.

"I'm not gonna listen to these irrelevant things that leave your mouth." She told you with a serious expression.

You opened your mouth in disbelief. "Are you betraying me? This is unbelievable. I never thought this day would come." You told her slowly, kinda offended.

She exhaled through her nose, closing her eyes again while raising her hand to her temple. "I'm not- For fuck's sake. I just think you are too hard on her."

You gasped at that. This one truly offended you. "Now I totally feel betrayed. She started all that shit. Don't you remember?"

"Yes, I do, but she was new here and-"

"And she didn't like the fact that she had to listen to me, because Nick made me her superior." You told her. "She had a problem with me the second she found out about that and she didn't even know me."

"I know, Y/n." She replied calmly now.

"That's why I don't believe she wants to be 'acquaintances'" You paused and looked at the table in deep thought. "Maybe she's planning something." You mumbled to yourself, but Maria heard you.

"Okay, I'm done. I'll meet you later." Maria said aloud and started walking out of the cafeteria while you were thinking what that Russian spy could have in her mind to be prepared for any threat.

——

You were on alert for the entire next three weeks. Expecting anything to just suddenly happen. But nothing happened. And to make it worse, the lack of insults and glares from Natasha didn't help to ease your mind. You didn't know what was in her head, but you wouldn't let her catch you off guard.

You were in the living room of apartment in S.H.I.E.L.D. that only you, Maria, Natasha, Clint, and Fury had access to. Considering you were the ones with the highest ranks in the agency, you had your separate place from the rest of the agents.

You were playing a game on your PS5, shooting at drug dealers with some dope-ass gun. You wanted that gun in real life. You heard the opening of the door, but didn't care and continued what you were doing. By the footsteps, you guessed that that person went to the kitchen and you weren't wrong cause after a minute, Natasha entered the living room with a bottle of water and an apple.

She looked at the screen and sat down, then took out her phone and busied herself with it. You glanced at her. She didn't say any snarky remarks about you playing that game. She always said something about that. You decided to ignore it and focused on playing.

"Fucking bitch, don't go there." You mumbled to yourself when one of the NPC's that was supposed to help you with your mission ran to the building, causing the enemies to detonate the bomb. "Stupid ass fuck." You said louder.

You had to resume the mission and because of that you lost your bonus which was 250k dollars. "I can't believe that shit." You muttered under your breath.

On the second attempt, you were so close to the end, so close to finishing the fucking mission when the same NPC stopped literally three steps in front of the checkpoint. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." As you were about to push that dumb bitch yourself, they got shot in their empty head. "You fucker. I swear I'll shoot you myself the next time." You almost shouted at the TV screen. You were so done with that hoe.

The next twenty or so minutes passed with you still playing after you tamed your anger issues and Natasha reading a book. It was too quiet. She didn't say a single thing. You didn't know what to think about that, but it couldn't be anything good.

You glanced at her. She was entirely focused on her book. Her body was tilted to the side. She had her legs tucked under her, her arm rested on the armrest, and her cheek was pressed to her fist while the other hand was holding a book.

You glanced again. "Are you okay?" You suddenly asked. Still playing, eyes on the screen, but glancing at Natasha.

She looked up with a little frown on her face. "Yes." She replied a little confused and got back to reading.

You hummed in response, but it didn't sit right with you. Her behavior wasn't hers. It didn't make sense. You glanced again, narrowed your eyes the slightest bit, and pursed your lips. "Are you sure?" You asked again. And again, making her look up at you in clear confusion.

"Yes, I am sure. Why wouldn't I be okay?" She replied, reading her book and glancing at you, waiting for a response.

You glanced again. "Just asking." You said with a shrug. She looked at you but brushed you off.

You sat in silence for the next twenty seconds. "You sure you're-"

She dropped her book on her lap and looked at you again. "Okay, what is it about?" She cut you off abruptly.

"Nothing, nothing." You replied quickly, looking at the screen while slightly putting your hands up in defense. "Just making sure."

She narrowed her eyes at you, not believing you even the tiniest bit. But decided to drop it and focus on her book.

After long forty minutes and a couple of your wary glances, she got up and started walking out of the room. "I'm gonna get food with Maria. We will be back in an hour at the latest." She told you, grabbing her jacket.

"Okay." You shortly replied. When you heard the door closing, you started thinking again.

She definitely planned something. She never came to the same room that you were in by her free will and when she was in the same room while you were there, she always had at least a couple of snarky remarks about it. You would figure it out after you stop playing.

You heard the door open again. "Hey, Y/n/n." You heard Clint's voice from behind you, so you looked over your shoulder.

"What's up, birdboy?" You replied with a smile.

He smiled back, jumping over the couch and next to you. He leaned forward to take another controller and waited for the game to find it, so he could play with you.

"Not much." He shrugged nonchalantly. You narrowed your eyes. "Besides the fact that some amazing woman gave me a yes as an answer." He added with a confident smirk.

Your eyes widened. "You fucker, you finally proposed to Laura?" He only nodded, smiling like an idiot. You gave him a bear hug, squeezing the life out of him. "Congratulations, I'm so happy for you two."

"Thanks, Y/n/n." You both pulled away with huge smiles on your faces. "But it's thanks to you, your advice, and your reassurance." He told you.

"Nah. You would've done it either way, I just gave you a little push." You replied honestly. Clint was a great guy and there was no way Laura would say 'no' to him.

"Thank you so much." He said. "And you will be my best person, I don't want anyone else. You are my best friend and I've always seen you as my sibling." He told you, tearing up a little.

You groaned. "I've always seen you like that too, but don't cry Francis. I don't like that sappy shit." He laughed at that and nodded. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks. And you are the first one to know." He said turning to the screen.

You smirked at that. "Oh my, Ms. Rushman will not like it." He laughed again, patting your shoulder.

"No, she will not." He said chuckling. "And she hates when you call her that."

"Oh, I know. That's why it's my favorite thing to do." You said with a smile.

Clint shook his head and started choosing his character. When he was ready, you two started playing. It went for hours with a lot of curse words and extremely loud shouting.

——

Another two weeks passed and still, nothing happened. You would observe Natasha every time she was in the same room as you, looking for anything, any hint that would help you figure out what the fuck was happening. But you found nothing. And it started pissing you off and making you somewhat nervous.

You waltzed into Maria's office, door slamming in the wall with all force, and your face full of seriousness. In the corner of your eye, you saw Maria jump in her chair, but seeing you she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Okay, I don't know what the fuck is happening, but it's certainly nothing good or normal." You said standing in front of her desk.

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking up at you with a tilted head.

You looked at her with a 'really' look. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that it's been over a month and she still didn't say or do anything like she normally would." Maria didn't seem to understand. "Natasha, I'm talking about Natasha." You told her with a defeated tone.

She made an 'o' shape with her mouth, before squinting her eyes a little in confusion. "And why is it a problem?"

"We talked about this couple of weeks ago. You know what the problem is." You started pacing back and forth. "She's planning something." You muttered, biting lightly at your thumb.

"Stop being paranoid. She's not planning anything." Maria told you and you turned your head back to her.

"And how can you know? She's been nothing but bitchy little shit since she met me." You told her and started pacing again.

"First, don't call her that." She said.

"It's true." You replied abruptly.

Maria heavily sighed. "Second, I don't think she's planning anything and I think she's just trying to be civil with you."

You snorted, loudly. Maria looked at you with a disapproving look and shook her head. "She is not. It's Natasha Romanoff, my personal demon. And it's not a metaphor."

"Y/n, she's not that bad, she's rea-" Maria tried again, but failed.

"She's been trying to make my life a living hell since she met me." You stopped walking. "No, scratch that. She didn't even meet me and she already tried." You started pacing again. "I don't know what was the reason, maybe she wanted to feel closer to home or something."

You heard a thud and looked at Maria. Her head rested on her desk while she was groaning. "Y/n, I'm begging you, stop this nonsense." She lifted her head tiredly. "She is not that bad." And when you tried to say something, she pointed a finger at you. "And she's not the devil's little daughter or any of your stupid nicknames for her."

"Every one of my nicknames for her is accurate." You told her slightly offended. "And my nicknames are amazing, so fuck off, sis."

"Just talk to her then and find out what this is about." She suggested you while putting her hands on the desk.

You scoffed. "You want me to talk to her?" She nodded. "Nah ah. She's been like this for over a month and I genuinely am concerned about my life."

At this, Maria closed her eyes, breathing heavily through her nose and massaging her temples. "God, please give me patience." You heard her mumbling quietly.

"I should ask him for protection. I don't know what threat can come at me and when." You told her waving your hands in the air. "All I know is that it will be on the red-headed dwarf's commands and it doesn't bode well for me." You told her, being completely serious.

"Listen, I love you, I really do, but you're talking total crap right now." She told you, still massaging her temples.

"Am not." You exclaimed, crossing your arms over your chest. "May I remind you that she fucking tasered me because I took the last piece of pizza." Maria was just looking at you. "It was everybody's pizza, we had a fucking movie night and I got tasered because according to her I took her food." You exclaimed loudly.

"This was one time." She told you.

"She still fucking tasered me, Maria." You almost shouted, waving your hands in the air. "And what about all those other times." You started and she leaned her head on her hand. "For example, when she poured ice-fucking-cold water on me because I didn't want to get up from the couch and make a room for her when there were two other couches, completely unoccupied." You defended yourself. "She could sit on the other motherfucking couch, but noooo, she had to sit on the one I was lying on."

"Okay, maybe you're right a little." She told you.

"A little? You wanted to say I'm motherfucking damn right." You replied, pointing at yourself.

"But it wasn't that bad." She started, but you cut her off.

"Bad? It was January and I came home sweaty and exhausted. I got sick for almost two weeks and couldn't go on missions."

"You've done a lot of shit to her too." She said, pointing at you.

"Yeah, like what?" You asked.

"Like putting green dye to her shampoo." You smiled at that. "She had to cut her hair a little and wait for it to grow to its natural color."

You chuckled and nodded to yourself. "That was a good one. I will never forget her face."

"You were calling her Joker's princess." You just shrugged at that. "And you've done a lot of other shitty stuff. Like painting her guns pink, or hiding her favorite knife in the freezer. Or when you put up a trap above the kitchen door, she walked through it and a bowl with flour dropped on her." You wanted to butt in, but she didn't let you. "And then you jumped out of the corner with your water gun and sprayed water all over her."

"She wanted to kill me." You said remembering her reaction. "Okay, but still. I'm not playing here. And I'm not talking shit."

She put her hands on her desk and gave you her 'mother look', again. "Yes, you are. Stop acting paranoid and think that maybe after all this time she wants to be civil." You opened your mouth, but Maria was faster. She pointed her finger at you. "No, shut up. Here, you have a mission. You're leaving in two hours, go and get ready." She told you, rounding her desk, then pushed the tablet in your hands, turned you to the door, and pushed you outside, slamming her door shut behind you.

You turned back to the door and stood there dumbfounded with a slightly opened mouth and furrowed eyebrows. "What the fuck just happened?" You asked yourself quietly, before shaking your head and going to your room.

——

The next couple of days passed with you mostly hanging out with Clint and helping him with wedding preparations. I mean, with the things that Laura, Maria, and Nat let you two take care of. There wasn't that much because of it. According to them, you wouldn't know what to do, so you and Clint just left them to it. Surprisingly, Natasha didn't rain the hellfire upon you when she found out you were the first one to know about the engagement. It made you only more suspicious.

Despite everything, you let yourself think for a really short millisecond that Nat may actually want to be civil with you. But it disappeared so fast you weren't sure it was really there.

Thanks to the mission Maria sent you on the day she so 'politely' walked you out of her office, you got a day off. You were walking around the apartment and to the kitchen to make something to eat. Everybody else was out, either on a mission or doing paperwork.

You stood by the stove and took out a pan. You threw some vegetables and chicken breasts with some spices. You were mixing everything when you heard the front door open and then someone entering the kitchen.

"Morning." You heard from behind.

"Morning." You replied, looking over your shoulder to see Natasha. "You're not working?" You asked confused. You thought that only you had a day off.

She shook her head. "Nope. Fury told me that there's nothing more for me today and that I can go home." She said, taking off her jacket and putting keys on the countertop.

You only hummed in response and got back to cooking. You took out another, this time a smaller pan, and started making sauce. You were mixing things in the first pan from time to time and adding ingredients to the second one, mixing as well.

You heard footsteps and a second later in the corner of your eye, you saw Natasha approaching you. "What are you making?"

You looked at her and back to the pans. "It's classified." You replied with a small teasing smile.

She stood beside you, putting her hands on the kitchen counter, and leaned forward to get a better look. "Oh really?" You hummed in response. "Well, it looks good." She said.

She took her hands off of the kitchen counter and moved behind you. After a moment you felt her hands on your sides and felt her moving you to the side a little. "What are you doing, Romanoff?" You asked her suspiciously, looking down at her.

She stood on your other side now, in front of one of the pans, taking a spatula from your hand while you were mixing the sauce with your other hand. She shrugged and started mixing the food in the pan in front of her, grabbing the handle of it. "Nothing. Thought I'd help a little. This looks good and I can't wait to eat some." She replied looking up at you briefly, before looking back at the food.

You squinted your eyes at her. "Like I'm gonna give you any." You said teasingly. You were almost sure you saw her smiling.

You were cooking together, you let her be in charge of one of the pans. She added some spices of her own and some other ingredients. At some point, she took out a fork, put some food on it, and tasted it. She hummed and took some food again. She blew on it a little, keeping the other hand under it, and the next thing you know she was holding it in front of your face.

"Try it." She said, still in the same position.

You looked at her, then started eyeing the fork warily and looked back at her. "It's not poisoned, is it?" You asked jokingly, but still a bit suspicious of her actions. She never acted like that.

She rolled her eyes and smiled again. What the fuck was with those smiles? Why was she smiling at you? You carefully moved your head to the fork, all the time looking at Nat. When you took the food to your mouth, you looked down, chewing. It was good, really good. You hummed and nodded your head a little.

"It's really good. I like it." You said, turning back to the pan with sauce.

"It will be even better with this sauce." She said, mixing food in the pan a little more, not to get it burned. You hummed at that and nodded again.

When the food was ready, you sat down and started eating. You glanced at her from time to time, trying to come up with anything about why she was acting completely different towards you.

You couldn't stay silent anymore. "Are you okay?" You asked her.

She looked up from her plate. "Yeah, why?" She replied, eating more.

You shrugged. "Just asking."

"You were asking me the same thing a couple of weeks ago." She pointed out, looking at you while putting a fork full of food in her mouth.

You brought up one of your hands to your cheek and scratched it a little. "Just making sure everything's okay." You told her. "And normal, without surprises." She looked at you at that a little confused but nodded slowly.

"Everything's fine. No need to worry." You would take the second part as teasing, but she said it in a different tone than she normally would.

You nodded. There was a comfortable silence when you decided to break it again. "Did you hit your head?" You asked suddenly.

She looked at you with furrowed eyebrows. By her expression, you could tell this question completely got her lost. She gently lowered her fork on her plate. "What kind of question is that?" She asked slowly, probably trying to understand what you were getting at.

You got up, taking your plate, and moving to the sink. "Just asking. Cause you know, You're kinda~" You trailed off, trying to find the words.

She finished her food and put her plate in the sink as well. "Kinda?" She asked, leaning her side on the kitchen counter, crossing her arms over her chest, and looking at you with a raised eyebrow.

You pursed your lips in thought. "Kinda." You dragged out the word. "You're acting kinda weird." You finally stated.

She quirked her eyebrow even more. "Weird? Weird how?" She asked.

"You know. You kinda haven't insulted me for over a month now." You told her.

"Yeah, and?" She replied, trying to keep her cool, but you saw how she tightened her palms around her arms the slightest bit.

You titled your head from side to side a little. "And haven't even thrown me a glare." She nodded slowly. "And haven't said any snarky remarks about my ideas or when I play games."

"I don't get it." She told you and you weren't sure if she was honest.

"You've been acting differently since we came back from our mission." You saw her shoulders tense up a little when you said that, but she tried to hide it by straightening up.

"Yeah, well, I was tired after that and had to let my wound heal. I didn't talk much with anyone." She tried to brush it off with a shrug.

"So you're not planning some shady shit against me?" You asked.

She tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would I do that? And no, I'm not."

You hummed. "And you're sure you're okay?"

She clenched her jaw slightly and hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, everything's great." She replied slowly as if trying to reassure herself more than give you an answer.

"It's just not normal for me that you don't say anything bad about me." You told her. "I mean, you always had something mean to say."

"Let's just leave it, it's nothing important." She said quickly.

"You sure? From my perspective, you don't act like yourself." You told her and she was looking at you intensely. "It's just, you can barely survive a couple of minutes without throwing something at me, either it's a comment or a thing." She still didn't say or do anything. She was just looking. You felt like she was looking in your soul. "And you never were in the same room as me for longer than five minutes when it was only the two of us in that room."

She nodded and hummed, not breaking eye contact even for a second

"Something happened?" You asked her narrowing your eyes. "Are you sick or anyt-" You didn't get to finish what you wanted to say.

She abruptly took steps in your direction, hastily grabbed your face, and pulled it down to... kiss you? She was kissing you. Holy fuck. Your eyes widened, just to close the next second when you kissed her back, grabbing her by the waist.

You felt different emotions at once. Confusion and shock, but happiness and something you never felt with anyone before. You didn't know what it was, but you liked it. You were kissing slowly but passionately until the need for air became unbearable. You both pulled away and she leaned her forehead on yours.

"I like you." She whispered against your lips, still keeping your head down. You were looking between her eyes. "Like, I have feelings for you."

You were frozen, stunned, even more shocked than when she kissed you. You wanted to say something but your mouth didn't let any words out. It didn't even open. You just stared at her.

She probably took it as a bad sign. She let go of your face and stepped away from you. "I-I-I, uh, um" She started stuttering. "Just forget I said anything and what happened." She said quickly and started to move past you to walk out of the kitchen.

You grabbed her hand and turned her around. "Wait." She looked at you warily. "I just, I mean, I thought you've hated me." You said.

"I don't think I have for a really long time now. And on that mission, everything just cleared for me." You were looking all over her face, looking for something, but to be honest you didn't know what. "It's fine, you don't have to say anything."

She wanted to move again, but you tugged gently on her hand. "Wait, wait." You said quickly, closing your eyes briefly in the process. She turned to you again. "I, uh, I'll be honest, I don't know how I feel, I thought you hated me and I was too focused on not letting you treat me like shit to even let myself think about you differently." You saw her swallowing thickly. She nodded her head slowly and looked down while fiddling with her fingers. "But." You continued and she looked up at you. "If you are okay with that, I would like to try and see where this will take us." You added with a small smile.

She smiled instantly but then frowned. "Wait, but don't you hate me?"

You pouted a little and slightly bent your legs, arching your body to the side. "I don't think I ever hated you. You just were a bitch to me and you know I don't let anybody play me or treat me like I'm nothing. So I kinda just 'defended' myself by being mean to you as well." You told her smiling.

She giggled at that. "Okay, that kinda makes sense." She said nodding.

You stood up straight and tugged gently on her hand, pulling her a little bit to you. "So? We're going to try?" You asked looking down at her.

She stepped closer to you and put one of her hands on your neck while the other one played with the collar of your t-shirt, all the time she was looking at you. You put your arms around her waist to pull her even closer, lowering your head to hers.

"Yes, I would really like that." She whispered to you, rubbing her nose against yours.

"Me too, Ms. Independent." You whispered teasingly, earning a slap to your chest, making you chuckle.

She pulled you in for a kiss, wrapping both of her arms around your neck. This time it was sweet and gentle. You could do that all day. You both smiled to the kiss so widely that you couldn't kiss any longer.

"Sorry for being a bitch to you for those couple of years. I just hated the fact that I was supposed to be bossed around and I took it out on you." She said quietly, looking into your eyes.

"It's fine. I wasn't exactly innocent as well, so I'm sorry for being an asshole." You replied pulling her flush against you, making her peck your lips and tighten her arms around your neck.

The rest of the day you spent cuddling and talking, clearing everything up between you two.

——

A couple of years later you knew, you were one hundred percent sure that you made the right decision giving you and Nat a chance, and you were more than happy that she did the same.

You were sure when the two of you blurted out those three words at the same time on one of your date nights, smiling like idiots at each other, not seeing anything or anyone else, getting lost in each other's presence.

You were sure of that the moment she told you 'yes' with tears flooding her eyes, pulling you for a sweet and passionate kiss, holding you so close and tight that you couldn't escape even if you wanted to. And you didn't want to. You wanted to hold her like that forever.

And you were sure when she was wearing a beautiful white dress and you held her hands in yours, standing at the altar, looking deep into her green eyes that were your favorite, and you could get lost in them every time you looked at her. The ones filled with happiness and pure love, accompanied with her big bright smile that told you everything you needed to know.

But you let it fully register in your mind and sink in when you were outside at the porch at the back of your house. Sitting at the round table, looking around at the empty field covered with multiple yellow flowers, then at the sky painted in blue that could easily calm you. And finally, your eyes landed on the green. The same green you'd loved for so long and always would. The same mesmerizing eyes you wanted to look into for the rest of your life. Those eyes were the first thing you saw every day as soon as you opened your own in the morning, and the last thing you saw going to sleep. And when they looked up to meet yours, your heart fluttered and you instantly smiled, getting the same in return.

Then they dropped to a small human on her lap. She whispered something with a smile still on her face and earned herself giggles as a response, making her smile even wider. She kissed the small girl's head and the three-year-old bolted up and run to her siblings, her red hair dancing around her face. She was like a small copy of her mother.

You heard scratching of the floor and looked in the direction of the sound. Your wife stood up and walked towards you while you smiled brightly and opened your arms. She sat on your lap and put her arms around your neck, leaning her body on you.

You turned your head to her. "I love you so much." You told her quietly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.

She smiled so wide you could swear her face could break any second. She kissed you and pulled away slowly. "I love you too, more than you could ever know." You would never get tired of it.

You both kissed one more time, before turning your heads in the direction of the other part of your happiness. Three kids were running and laughing all over the yard. Natasha lifted her legs and put them on yours, leaning more into you.

'Hating' each other was just a small bump in the road to being in love with each other. Like many other small bumps during your relationship that led you to this moment. You wouldn't change it for anything.

Because all this time, ever since you met Natasha, everything you always needed and wanted was under your nose.