Natasha Romanoff x Reader
Word Count: 561 words
A/N: Have forgotten how to write because I have the mind of a fish. trying to get back into it. Fluff.
You notice one day that Natasha is insecure.
It’s almost funny to you, the concept is so surreal.
Her confidence is why you started talking.
She’s driving you home and she glances over.
Her smile is nervous and you don’t understand why.
Before she pulls up outside your building, she tells you thank you.
Her voice is hoarse and you’re surprised.
You give her a gentle smile back.
Your eyes meet.
Understanding settles between you.
Natasha kisses you.
Your voice is hoarse when you murmur thank you too.
Natasha stays over that night.
Your lives starts tangling together.
It feels good.
She taps your waist when she walks around you.
The gesture is light as air, it makes you feel settled.
Natasha sings when she cooks.
You ask her if it makes the food taste better. She sticks her tongue out and offers you a forkful.
Natasha tells you that you’re shit at video games.
Her voice is so pitying that you feel like you’ve been diagnosed with ineptitude.
She plays Mario Kart with you every single night.
She teases you about your driving, but her smile is excited.
She keeps asking you to play again.
She straddles you on the sofa and tells you that you’re a danger behind the wheel.
You are her friend.
You are more than that too.
But, being her friend feels special.
You want to celebrate every part of loving her.
She trusts you.
You don’t realise at first.
She starts telling you about the missions she goes on.
At first, she only tells you vague locations.
Then, she starts to debrief little fragments.
One day, you find her caught in a silent storm of tears.
She lets you hold her.
Things are different then.
She invites you to sleep over more and more.
You start splitting your time between apartments.
One afternoon, you arrive earlier than expected.
Natasha glances guiltily at the sofa when she lets you in.
You see your usual pillow lying there.
You realise that she holds it when you’re not here.
That night you tell her that you love her.
Her smile is wide.
Her eyes fill with relieved tears.
She was waiting for you.
Natasha starts holding your hand when you walk together.
She asks your opinion about everything.
She starts playing your favourite music.
Natasha gives you her favourite book.
The pages are worn and you feel like she’s written on every page.
You borrow her laptop and learn that she’s looking at new apartments.
You think she’s moving away.
Natasha finds you crying.
She starts crying too.
You’ve never seen her so scared.
Her words are disjointed when she tries to tell you about family.
About what she’s never really had.
About what you mean to her.
Natasha tries to tell you that she wants to live with you.
She can’t meet your eyes.
Her fingers are tapping, and the sound slips from rhythmic to compulsive.
You wonder if she’s counting out your last seconds together.
You watch her wait for you to leave.
Things slide into place.
Your voice is careful, but it’s also certain.
You ask if you can be her family now.
Natasha cries harder.
You touch her tapping fingers and they stop moving abruptly.
You kiss her knuckles.
Natasha is not a time or place.
Natasha is not fleeting.
Natasha is your family.