#reader x natasha romanoff | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goldenempyrean · 2 years

Text

“Totally Fine”

Okie dokie, hello there! I present to you a sick!reader x Nat fic ;)

Once again, big thanks to @lyak12 for the ideas!

In this fic, the reader and Natasha live in a shared apartment just a short drive away from the Avengers compound.

Summary: A sick reader tries to hide their illness from Natasha, but that doesn't go well...

Warnings: Minor Angst? Its just hints but I figured I'd just warn you anyway

Wordcount:2,315

Any spelling/grammar/incorrect word errors are mine, honestly, I'm a lost cause, even Grammarly can't spot them all :)

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Opening the door to your shared home you finally allowed yourself to sigh as the warm heated air hit your face. Finally, you felt a small sense of relaxation begin to wash over you, you almost momentarily forgot the hell of a had you had just had… Until a sharp tickle at the back of your nose snapped you back to reality and you stumbled into your house unsuccessfully attempting to stifle two itchy sneezes into the crook of your elbow.

"Hehktshoo! Hh...Hh-h'ktshi!"

It was then that you noticed Natasha. She was wearing a lowcut vest top along with cosy pyjama bottoms and was leaning against the doorway connecting the cloakroom to your living room, she was smiling yet you couldn't help but notice her eyes glancing over you, and for a moment her face was difficult to read. You couldn't think about it any longer as her soft voice cut any remaining thoughts off.

“Bless you, baby, how was work?” Natasha asked her voice laced with an audible sense of sympathy.

You finished hanging your sodden coat and swapped your shoes for some comfier slippers before answering, “It was alright. It dragged though.” You punctuated your sentence by loosely hugging her as you both made your way towards the sofa.

Settling down you allowed yourself to fall into the arms of Natasha. She smiled down at you and you made yourself cosy, nestling in her the warmth of her arms. Speaking of warmth, why was it so damn cold in there? You felt yourself shivering despite the face you were under a bundle of layers.

Breaking the silence you spoke up, “How was your day off sweetie?”

“It was good thank you, would’ve been better if you were here though,” Natasha replied as she winked cheekily at you.

You thought this was hilarious as you burst into a bundle of laughter, though this had more than the desired effect because after a few seconds you began coughing harshly into your elbow, turning away from Natasha you continued to splutter. Taking a deep breath you composed yourself and sheepishly looked back around at Natasha who had begun rubbing circles on your back in an attempt to pull you out of your coughing spell.

Your apology was already on your lips but somehow she managed to speak first, keeping constant eye contact with you, “Are you okay? Your chest sounds terrible, are you feeling okay?” Her voice was laced with worry and you couldn't help but feel your heart drop at the sound of it.

“Natasha I’m fine, I feel fine. Just like how I said I was fine this morning.”

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

That morning you had woken rather earlier than usual, even before Natasha which was a rarity as she liked to start the day bright and fresh. Rolling over you silenced your alarm, you didn't want to disturb your sleeping girlfriend. When you stood, however, the room span woozily around you as you stumbled to the ensuite. Jeez, I must've stood up too fast, you thought to yourself as the room returned to its normal state. It was then that you noticed the uncomfortable feeling of congestion slowly settling in your sinus’… Great, that was just what you needed, what an excellent to start the day. You almost scoffed at your own sarcasm before looking over yourself in the mirror, seeing your dishevelled appearance. There were obvious bags under your eyes and your skin was paler than usual, plus there was an uncomfortable amount of hair plastered to your forehead. A sharp itch at the bridge of your nose caught your attention as your breath promptly started to hitch. Knowing what was coming you tried your best to quietly stifle the following sneezes, trying your hardest to be silent.

"hhHxxnt! Hh..hHkxxt!- Hhehh-Hikxxt! Hh...h.."

Thankfully you managed to stave off the fourth sneeze as you listened carefully for a few seconds. Phew. You had managed to avoid waking Natasha. Pawing at your nose, you swiped a small handful from the box sitting atop the sink. You attempted to blow your nose, trying to get some form of relief from that uncomfortable congestion yet were met with resistance, unwanting to make any noise you gave up and threw the tissues in the trash. Time to finish getting ready for work...

You had almost successfully managed to tiptoe across the room and shut your bedroom door when a quiet voice arose from your shared bed, “Sneaking off without saying goodbye?” Natasha pushed herself upright and as you quickly walked over and kissed her forehead softly, how she could look so perfect after just waking up was something you couldn't understand.

“I was trying to let you sleep in darling.” You cringed at the sound of your voice. Why did you have to sound so nasally? You flashed a smile to not raise suspicion and swirled your way to the door. God, How you instantly regretted that as you were left desperately clutching onto the door to avoid falling over, trying to play it off you quickly spoke, "Well I gotta get going, don't want to be late. Have a good day Natty."

"Wait-", Her voice caught your ears and you poked your head back around the door, you were slightly caught off when you saw her brows furrowed at you, "Are you alright?" She asked sincerely.

"I'm fine Nat, go back to sleep baby. I'll be home at six." You assured her, flashing yet another fake smile.

Luckily Natasha seemed to buy your story as her posture relaxed and she hummed softly before mumbling, "Have a good saving the world, love you."

"I love you too." With that you were off, you finally released the breath you didn't realise you were holding. Why did the thought of Natasha seeing you weak make you so nervous? You've been dating for over eight months now yet and despite being fully comfortable with her you still opt to hide your weakness'. Maybe you were just overthinking everything, luckily you didn't have a chance to let your mind dwell on the thought as you drove over to the compound, praying your day would go smoothly.

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

"Y/N?" Natasha repeated for the third time, you didn't realise you were completely zoned out as she pulled your focus back to the present moment.

"Sorry, I just spaced for a second there, what's up?" Your breath hitched at the end of your sentence as that familiar itch in your nose made itself present. Shit. Not now...

"I was asking if your sure you’re alright, you’re not yourself tonight, I-

Nope. There was no way you could hold back that growing tickle and you hastily turned away and burrowed ur face in your hand as the wet sneezes tore themselves from your body.

"Hhae'ttshoo! Hheh-..Hi'tshiew!-"

"Oh! Bless Yo-"

"Hi-HI-HIT'ShiEw! heH-…Hhah'ktshi! Sorr- Hh.. Hki'tshiew!" Sniffling wildly you started to frantically apologise for your horrendous outburst, your face burning red with embarrassment. Your hand was still held firmly to your face and you were overwhelmed with relief as Natasha sympathetically handed you the tissue box.

Any remaining self-dignity you had left and you wetly blew your nose, instantly turning your tissues into gooey, damp messes. Natasha waited for you to finish before she finally retorted "I- First of all, bless you, darling." It was here that her tone changed significantly, "Second of all, why didn't you tell me you were sick. Don't hide things from me." The harshness in her words was something you had rarely heard from her and it temporarily stunned you. You didn't know how to react, maybe it was the mindnumbing ache in your temples causing you to be so out of it, unsure of what to say next you began apologising.

"I didn't want to worr-"

Natasha tutted, cutting you off as she continued her sentence, "I don't want to hear it right now. Now let me feel your forehead, I say this in the nicest way possible, you look like shit Y/N... I'm worried" She admitted that last part in a murmur just barely louder than a whisper, causing you to question whether she had said it at all.

You didn't really have a say in the matter, her hand was already reaching out and within a moment her hand was gently laid on your head, Natashas face changed from one of irritation to one of worry, you were even sure you heard a slight gasp and Natasha fully realised the extent of the situation. Her heart dropped as she felt the heat radiating from your body, you definitely had a fever, a particularly high one at that.

"Hhh'ishiew!"

Your sudden sneeze not only startled you but it seemed like it caused Natasha to regain her composure, the realisation of how she had previously reacted finally hit her and she sheepishly asked, "Can I hug you?"

Rubbing your nose against your hand you nodded, you felt her warm embrace surround you, it was the most comfortable you'd been all day. You longed to stay there forever as Nat sniffled, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to snap, you just really scared me for a moment and you didn't deserve that. Now please baby, let's get you to bed."

You knew she meant her apology, even in the dim light you could see the small prick of tears in her eyes, a sign she was being truly honest. The idea of going to bed wasn't bad either as you allowed her to gently cup you into her arms in bridal fashion. Burrowing your head into her chest you began to mindlessly mumble to yourself. You only did this when you were feeling particularly shitty and Nat knew this. She held you closer and you sank further into her arms... Only you had to pull your head away moments later as your nose began to make itself known once more.

"Natty- I have...Hhehh to sn- Hhh sneeze-" Your breath was hitching wildly as you tried to avoid sneezing over your girlfriend.

"It's ok. Just let them out, you'll feel better."

"But-" You had no time to argue as the sneezes you had been trying so hard to fight off finally won their battle and tore themselves from your body, sending your head snapping forward with everyone.

"Hh'h'tchi!! Hih-…HhIShIEW! Hh-hEhh.. hheh'tsh! …Hxxxnt! He-Hhk'kiktShIEw!"

The sneezes had left you a sniffling mess and you had most certainly sneezed all over Natasha's chest, she didn't even seem to mind however and blessed you delicately after every single sneeze. She was more concerned with your state of health and she finally lowered you into your plush bed, handing you the tissue box from her nightstand just moments later.

No longer feeling embarrassed you allowed yourself to blow your snotty nose but still found yourself apologising for the 'grossness' afterwards.

"You can never be gross Y/N. You're sick. This is normal, just try and get some rest."

You sighed. There was no use fighting it now, you finally admitted it to yourself as you lowered yourself within the sheets, and Natasha once again put her hand on your forehead.

"I'm getting you something for this fever. You're completely burning up."

As Natasha left the room you felt your eyelids grow heavy and you allowed yourself to fall into a soft slumber.

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

"Sweetheart," Natasha's comforting voice pulled you from your sleep as she sat on the edge of your bed holding a small cup of pills, "You need to take these for me, sweetie, they'll make you feel better I promise."

Doing as you were told you obediently took the pills which she had offered out to you, it was then you noticed the assortment of items spread across your nightstand. There were several bottles of water along with an extra box of tissues and a small packet of cherry cough drops. "Natty, you didn't have to get me all this."

"Your right, I didn't have to. I wanted to, now is there anything else you'd like princess." She asked, her kind-hearted nature shining through as she gently pushed a fallen strand of hair behind your ears.

Looking up at her, all your fever clouded brain could think about was one thing, "Natasha?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Lie down with me?"

"Of course sweetheart."

Falling into the safe arms of your girlfriend, you breathed a sigh- this time a sigh of relief, finally you could release control and let yourself be taken care of by somebody who loved you. Fatigue slowly whisked your mind away and you drifted sombrely back to sleep.

#sick reader #reader x natasha romanoff #marvel snzfic #marvel sickfic #snzfic #snzfuck #snzkink #sickfic #fluff #angst #sick reader x natasha #goldenempyrean

212 notes · View notes

weirdness2020 · 4 years

Text

Avenger Imagines

Imagine, being in love with Natasha, and being Tony’s little sister. Tony just found out about your crush and tries to tease you, so you tease him about his crush on Bucky.

#tony x bucky #reader x natasha romanoff #stark!reader #winteriron #crushes #siblings

17 notes · View notes

welldonebeca · 7 years

Text

Imagine: Waking up from a big surgery and having Natasha by your side.

Imagine: Waking up from a big surgery and having Natasha by your side. Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Your eyes took time to get used to the light above you, and you groaned when you realized how your throat was aching.

“Y/N.” You heard, and your girlfriend’s hands quickly touched yours.

“Nat.” You smiled weakly under your oxygen mask.

“Hello.” She caressed your face.

She looked tired, like she had been there for hours, waiting for you. Knowing her, she actually was.

“How are you feeling?” The Russian inquired, her face softening while looking at you.

“Sleepy.” You sighed. “How long is it been?”

“You left surgery two hours ago.” She looked at her watch. “They took four hours, almost five.”

“The tumor is gone?” You asked, you eyes full of hope.

For the latest year and with Natasha by your side, you fought a battle against a lung cancer before you could have this surgery.

“All gone, baby.” She assured you.

“Good.” You whispered, closing your eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Forever Tags: @lilasiannerd @andyl394 @vaultingphilosophy @wayward-oneshots

363 notes · View notes

higherfurther-romanova · 4 years

Text

Princessa

Warnings: Smut… Smutty fucking smut… Language, Honestly just pure filth…

Word Count: 905

A/N: Thank you for the request :) I need to stop writing this shit at two in the morning... jesus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~⧗~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Almost ready, princessa?” You say in a low tone as you walk into you and Natasha’s shared room.

Her face grew red at the name. “Y-yeah.”

You guys were getting ready for a party Tony was hosting downstairs. Just with the team and close friends. You had just got done defeating an army of robots, doesn’t make much sense, but doesn’t change the fact that it happened.

You walk up behind her and brush your lips across her ear.

“You look so beautiful... “ You whisper in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

She turns around in your arms and kisses you desperately. You smirk into the kiss and pull away.

“Let’s go.” You grab her by the hand and lead her to the elevator.

You get downstairs and see that they’ve already started. You look down at the invitation and then up at the clock, realizing you misread the time and you’re two hours late. You shrug and walk out. You look around and see Wanda standing there awkwardly. You walk over to her with a warm smile.

“Hey, kid.” You smile.

“Hi..” She mumbled.

“You okay? Can I get you anything?” You ask.

She shakes her head.

“Well… Nat and I are headed over to the bar, care to join us?” You motion over to the bar where Bruce is talking to someone.

“Sure.” She smiles a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~⧗~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A lot of the team has left, and now it’s just 8 of you. The boys are taking turns trying to lift Thor’s hammer. Just doing typical guy stuff, Bruce and Tony are talking about stuff from the lab.

“Lady (y/n), would you like to give it a go?” Thor interrupts your thoughts.

You look at the hammer and shrug. “Why not.”

You wipe your hands on your dress and grip the handle and pull up as hard as you can. You feel it start to lift up a bit, but you don’t want anyone to notice, so you let go quickly. You look over at Thor and his eyes are wide. He must have seen it move a bit.

“Miss Romanoff?” Thor asks.

She smiles. “No. That’s not really a question I need answered.”

You sit down next to her and pull her into your lap. Once she settles down, she feels the toy through your dress. She jumps a little and covers her moan up with a cough.

“You okay Nat?” Wanda snorts, seeing the way Nat jumped.

“Of course.” She grits through her teeth then looks at you.

You push yourself against her again, making it seem like you were just moving to get more comfortable. Nat coughs again and grabs you by the hand, dragging you out of the room to the elevator.

“Guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” You chuckle.

Once the elevator door closes Nat pushes you against the elevator door, smashing her lips into yours. You flip her around, so she’s now pinned against the wall.

“Someone’s getting ahead of themselves…” You husk in her ear.

The elevator gets to your floor and you pull her out, taking her to your shared bedroom. Once you’re on the other side of the door, you pull her against you, cupping one of her breasts in your hand from behind. You grip her waist with your other and push her ass against you.

“Fuck, (y/n)...” She sighs.

“Do you want this…” You mumble in her ear.

She nods desperately.

“Words, baby doll.”

“Yes.. please (y/n)... fuck me…” She moans.

With those words falling from her lips, you push her down on the bed gently. She wraps her legs around your waist and pulls you closer. You grind your hips against her core, earning a small moan. You kiss her passionately then pull away.

“Strip.” You command.

“Yes, daddy.”

She stands up and you sit down. She moves in front of you and strips slowly, so slow it’s painful. You pull your dress off and grab her hand, leading her on top of you. She leans down and crashes her lips into yours, lowering herself onto the dildo. A small breathy moan comes from the back of her throat. You put your hand around her throat and squeeze gently, flipping her so you’re on top. You start pounding into her. The room is filled with the sound of your skin slapping together and her moans.

“No one can fuck you like I can, baby…” You husk.

She shakes her head.

“Is this what you wanted? You wanted me to destroy your perfect pussy, eh?” You smirk down at her.

“A-ah… (y/n).. Please…” She begs.

“Please what…” You ask innocently, knowing full well what she wanted.

“L-let me come... “ She pleads.

You start pounding into her faster. At speeds you didn’t even know you could reach. She starts shaking and moaning under you again.

“Come, baby doll. Come for me.” You grunt.

You saying that was enough to push her over the edge. Her eyes screw shut and her hands go straight to your hair. Her legs start shaking and her walls clench around the toy. You keep pushing in and out of her, working her through her high. Once she’s back down from cloud 9, she pulls you into a desperate kiss.

“You’re in for a long night, darling.” You whisper against her lips, the way she heats up at your words not going unnoticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~⧗~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#reader x natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff #Natalia Romanova #natasharomanoff #black widow smut #black widow #black widow fic #natasha romanoff fic #subnat #dom!reader #marvel smut #its two in the morning help

330 notes · View notes

writemarvelousthings · 7 years

Text

A Matter Of Truth

PAIRING: reader x Natasha Romanoff

WORD COUNT: 1.9k

WARNINGS: tiny bit of swearing

REQUESTED BY: @mcuimxgine You want nat? i’ll give you nat! (i love her way too much)Could you do a Nat fic where the reader and her a secretly dating and when ever one of the avengers or someone hits on her she gets really really jealous. And like they have to go undercover and the reader has to hit on some guy to get information, and Natasha gets really really jealous, so like once their target leaves she basically power walks to the reader and makes out with her. Making the avengers (expect clint bc its clint) shocked

Ayyyyyeeeee my first Natasha fic! Thank you Hannah for requesting this, I hope you enjoy it darling xxx

GIF NOT MINE

You liked to think of yourself as an open person, you welcomed interactions with friends and strangers alike. Maybe it was your trusting demeanor that made people tell you their secrets, their fears, passions and desires. To say you were a successful spy was an understatement; you served the Avengers well in this regard. But even though you extracted other people’s secrets for a living, keeping your own was hard. Especially when you wanted nothing more in this world than to scream out at the top of your lungs that you, (Y/N) (Y/L/N) were in love with Natasha Romanoff despite your promise to her to keep it a secret.

Keeping a relationship from your friends was harder than it appeared. You didn’t want to lie to your team makes but Natasha insisted, not that either of you was worried in the slightest at what the others might think of the relationship (if the far off gazes that Steve and Bucky gave each other were anything to go by) You both new that given the chance an enemy of yours or even Natasha’s could exploit your relationship, use either on against the other. It was difficult but the less people knew, the better. However sometimes that didn’t sit well with your girlfriend.

“I should clip his wings” Nat grumbled as she ran your fingers through your damp hair, massaging your scalp. You chuckled moaning in appreciation as her fingers found a pressure point.

“As entertaining as that would be, attacking Sam out of the blue would raise some suspicion don’t you think? The whole point of a secret relationship is not to draw attention” you nuzzled closer into the crook of her neck, the TV forgotten as it played on in the background bathing the two of you in the cool blue light.

“Still, it’s tempting “

“Sam thinks Im single, regardless of how much you want to use bodily force, he’s not going to stop” you lean up on your forearm looking down at your sullen girlfriend.

“Just so you know, your mine” you rolled your eyes at the possessiveness in Natasha’s tone leaning down to give her a quick kiss.

“And just so you know I’m not anyone’s to have” Nat smiled up at you.

“Love you”

“I love you too”

“Ok so here’s the plan” you resisted the urge to scream at Steve, the man had a tendency to go over, and over and over the mission even before you stepped out of the Avengers Facility.

“Buck, Wanda and (Y/N) will pose as guest all arriving at different times. You three need to keep the target and his guards distracted. Sam, Nat and myself will entered the building through the back gather the intel and be out hopefully before anyone realizes anything is a miss.” Steve eyed you all sternly. Bucky who normally would be side by side with Steve was dressed in a sharp suit, if you had noticed the man was looking good you were sure Steve had noticed that little fact as well. Accompanied with the holographic flesh arm Bucky looked every bit of the rich anonymous businessman. Wanda and yourself were dressed up to; the low swooped back of your dress certainly caught the attention of Wilson and Natasha, not that she let on to anyone.

“Yes Sir” you gave Steve a mocked salute earning a few laughs from your teammates.

“Glad to see your looking forward to the mission” Steve rolled his eyes as he secured his shield to his back.

“For once I’m not going to be covered in blood after a mission, allow me to celebrate this rare occurrence Rogers” You cast a look over to Natasha who shook her head at you.

“Come on kids, wheels up in two minutes” Clint called from the pilot seat of the jet. You all moved in your respected modes of transportation, you were lucky to catch Nat’s eye before she boarded the plane.

“Be careful,” you mouthed to which she replied with a wink.

The mansion was lavish and enormous, you were silently thankful that you arrived with Wanda. Bucky had arrived ten minutes before the two of you and was already chatting to a small gathering of people by the bar.

“Any sign of the target?” Natasha’s voice sounded in your earpiece.

“Not yet” you replied as you snatched a champagne glass from a passing waiter, you eyes Wanda as the two of you split up casually walking through the crowd.

“Champagne? You really are enjoying yourself (Y/L/N)” You could hear the smirk in Sam’s voice.

“Remind me who will have to scrape blood off their boot’s tonight Wilson”

“Sam on your six” Steve warned, there was faint grunting followed by a sharp snap.

“You were saying feathers?” you swallowed a smile at Bucky’s quip.

“Target is here, he’s on the move” Wanda’s voice suddenly cut through the team banter.

“Where?” Bucky demanded

“He’s making his way towards you (Y/N), looks like he’s heading for the door to your left” you looked accordingly to see your target heading straight in the direction Wanda had described.

“Someone stall him, we’re not even in the building yet” Nat hissed, thinking fast you moved to the left angling your shoulder and letting out a surprised gasp as the target barrelled into you spilling your champagne onto the floor and on the skirt of your dress.

“Watch where you are…. oh” the target looked apologetic as you stared back at him wide eyed.

“Oh I am sorry” he looked down at the damn stain on your dress.

“No the fault was mine, never block the way of an exist. It’s what they first teach in a fire drill right?” you joked.

“Target is stationed, good job (Y/N)” Bucky praised, you dared not look in his direction. The target laughed agreeing with you.

“I believe you’re right, let me get you another glass and you can tell me more about what you know about fire drills” the target smiled at you.

“As long as you can handle it” you laced your words with a sultry tone that no man could resist.

“What’s wrong with you?” Your ears perked up at Sam’s voice.

“Nothing” Natasha dismissed and the coms went silent again.

“Sir you really need to…” one of the guards tried to pull his boss away.

“Andrew can’t you see I’m entertaining a guest. It. Can. Wait” his decision was final, you let him lead you away from the main crowd to a more secluded part of the party, Bucky hovering near by as Wanda looked on from afar.

“So your drinking my champagne enjoying the party, how come I don’t know your name yet?” he peered over you from his own flute his eyes trained on you.

“Isn’t it more mysterious if you don’t know” you arched a brow at him, now you had his attention.

“Why got a lot of secrets hiding in that pretty dress of yours?”

“I guess you’ll just have to find out” you watched as he grinned at you.

“Jesus he’s eating out of the palm of your hand (Y/N)” Bucky’s looked on in slight awe of you

“Seriously, what is your problem tonight?” Sam’s disgruntled voice came through your earpiece.

“Nothing” Nat hissed

“Will you two knock it off, (Y/N) see if you can get anything out of him. This place is a fortress” Steve ordered. You leaned further back into the couch relaxing slightly, you watched as the target did the same.

“What about you” the target looked confused for a second. You looked around at the partygoers, spotting Bucky and Wanda seemingly milling around.

“A guy like you, a place like this. You must have secrets practically filling the walls” he threw his head back and laughed.

“What kind of guy do you think I am sweetheart” you smiled giggling softly.

“Come on, not one secret basement, or room stacked with files. You’re Batman aren’t you?” you leaned in

“Because if you are, I can keep a secret” you watched as he leaned in his lips brushing your cheek. You resisted the urge to shiver.

“Sorry to disappoint sweetheart, but I’m not batman. Nor do I have room filled with file; this isn’t the seventies anymore darling. But I may have a basement” you looked at him with fake surprise.

“Really?”

“Yeah really, it was already built in when I bought the place. It’s a great place to keep secrets. Although I’ve extended the house so it’s quite small under the front half of the house. I can take you down there if you like?”

“Good work (Y/N) we’re on our way keep him occupied” Steve voice rang in your ears as you felt the targets hand brush up against your collarbone.

“I promise it will be more exciting down there than it is up here”

“I’ll keep him distracted, the guy looks like he’s going to eat her alive” Bucky radioed in to your rescue. Suddenly there was a loud crash and an angry cry.

“What the hell, this is Gucci you idiot!” Bucky angered cried cut across the party. The target looked up to see what the commotion was.

“Excuse me darling, I’ll be one moment” you watched slightly revealed as he hurried into the crowd of people. Standing up you made a bee line to the exist Wanda followed moments after you as Bucky took his ‘anger’ out of a poor defenceless waiter as the target tried to make peace. All the while the rest of your team extracted the information they needed.

Despite the fact that you wanted nothing more than to bathe in disinfectant you had never been happier to comeback from a successful mission. You didn’t have to fight off any goons, or get covered in blood. The only injury you had sustained was the slight throbbing of your feet from your heels.

“I honestly don’t know how you do it (Y/N) I really don’t” Bucky shook his head, still in amazement at your performance at the party.

“Call it my superpower,” you laughed as the three of you entered the communal living area.

“Good work team, mission was a success thanks to oh…” Steve trailed off at the sight before him. The moment you had walked through the room Natasha practically launched herself at you, her hand cupped the back of your neck as her other arm held the small of your back. You squeaked in surprise dropping your heels onto the floor with a thud. You didn’t back away, wrapping your own arms around her welcoming the sudden display of affection. A few moments passes before Nat pulled away and rounded on everyone in the room.

“She’s mine, and only mine. Wilson if I see so much as a suggestive glance I’ll cut your fucking balls off. And you” she pointed viciously at Steve.

“If you make her talk to disgusting, pig headed egoistical men again because you didn’t look at a fucking blue print I will make you regret waking up from the ice. And you” she turned to Bucky, her expression softened.

“Thank you for getting her out of that situation” you watched as Bucky let out a sigh of relief, thankful to still be in the Black Widow’s good books.

“I’m sorry, we wanted to keep this to ourselves for a while” you tried to explain your arms still wrapped around Nat’s waist.

“No one knew about us, I swear” the guild of keeping the secret was finally catching up to you as you made your excuses.

“Well…” Natasha trailed off; you frowned at your girlfriend’s sheepish reaction.

“Clint knew”

“Of course he did, why am I not surprised” you teased.

“But Clint knows everything” Nat wined softly as you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah I do” you all looked towards Clint’s voice that echoed from the kitchen in surprise.

“Now that’s out of the way, where do you guys keep your snacks I’m starving!”

#avengers imagine #reader x avengers #reader x natasha romanoff #reader x black widow #reader x marvel #natasha romanoff imagine #black widow imagine #marvel imagine #reader insert marvel #writemarvalousthings #writng

929 notes · View notes

alittlebitoffanfic · 9 years

Text

How to Avenge 101 [Part 18]

[Master list] [Part 17] … [Part 19]

A/N: This is a MONSTER of a chapter. Not kidding. But it’s to say thank you to everyone who’s been so patiently awaiting this part :) You are all fantastic. Really. Also…sorry to all the Steve shippers – you might want to go and re-read Cold Showers after this one. I promise he’ll be back soon! (Plus I’ll also re-read this over tomorrow and probably edit the bits which obviously don’t make sense…right now I’m too tired!)

Word Count: 8,313

Warnings: Slight cussing, mention of previous injuries.

“So tell me exactly what stealth training you’re up to today?” You asked, eager to avoid the subject of Clint’s payback, in the vague hope that it’d mean he’d also forget about it. You’d noticed the huge crates littered across the room, as well as the various other obstacles places on top of each other, but that wasn’t unusual to see in here. Your eyes were immediately trying to remember the placement of all the obstacles.

“Nocturnal Hide and Seek.” Clint casually folded his arms across his chest. “No powers though.”

Ah – this was always fun.

“Assume you’re hiding? Doing a poor job of it Hawkeye.” You joked, smiling at him.

“You’re hilarious.” Clint turned back around, now calling across the hangar space to the women on the far side. “Ready for round three?”

Wanda nodded at Clint as she continued to listen to whatever last piece of advice Natasha was giving her, thoroughly absorbed what she was learning.

You turned to face Bucky. “We’re going to want to move to the edge of the room for this.”

Together you shuffled back near the door, Clint jogging to a control panel nearby, about to press some interesting looking buttons. You heard the shutters start to come down over the glass behind you, slowly blocking out the last of the natural lighting. Wanda finished her conversation with Natasha, and then took her stance on the floor. It looked like Nat was going to shadow her moves around the room, as she stayed close.

“Thirty seconds starting… now!” Clint called out before pushing all the switches in front of him in unison. The room fell into near total darkness. Your senses instantly reacted. You couldn’t exactly help it – it was what your specialty training was about. Your eyes instantly started to analyse the different depths of darkness around you, forming the looming shapes of the scattered crates. The tranquillity always made you feel oddly comfortable. Already your body had tensed, frozen in position to not make your clothing rustle as you felt yourself come alive, being in your element, wanting nothing more than to scale the nearest box and join in.

You blinked once as your night vision kicked in fully and your hearing picked up. Your heart instantly also tried to drop to a slower rate, to reduce the sound of your heartbeat and breathing so you could focus on what your senses were picking up about your surroundings. You could tell Bucky’s warmth remained still beside you. In fact, aside from the knowledge he was there, it would be hard to even tell he was next to you– his own body obvious well used to remaining silent. Deadly.

You heard the familiar click of Clint using his bow, followed by the soft wurr of an arrow and rope slicing through the air. (You rarely heard him pulling back the drawstring unless you were right next to him, just because his bow was so suitably designed to be silent.) A small shuffle later and you heard his body whispering through the darkness as he started to make a path across the room.

Briefly, you looked back over to where Wanda was standing, still waiting to be given the go ahead to find Hawkeye as he prowled around the area. You knew he wouldn’t make this easy for her – he’d refuse to be a stationary target for one thing. Clint had a thing for making training exceptionally difficult, especially if he knew Natasha was trying to help the recruit or agent to practice certain specific skills. You were fairly certain by now that it was their personal way of trying to one-up the other. Guess they had to get their kicks from somewhere.

Wanda was still waiting, but you could tell she was scanning the area for any sounds. Although any small noises were amplified due to the acoustics of the room, they also echoed, throwing off the exact positioning of where someone might be (unless you were used to it). Clint was being surprisingly quiet at the moment, not giving much away, although you caught a movement out of the corner of your eye as his bow gleamed for a fraction of a second, lurking teasingly behind Wanda before moving on again.

Although eager to see this all pan out, you suddenly realised that Bucky was still standing beside you, in near absolute darkness, probably slightly clueless about what was about to happen. Or maybe you weren’t giving him enough credit – it wasn’t hard to figure out what ‘Hide and Seek in the dark’ entitled. But did he realise he had to stay completely silent now too? Or else Wanda could be sent in entirely the wrong direction (and you definitely wanted to see her get one-up on Clint). You probably had nothing to worry about, seeing as he stayed silent 99 percent of the time anyway, but just in case…

Turning your head, you glanced at him as he too examined the area, flitting his eyes around the place looking for more signs of Clint. It felt like watching a cat stalk its prey. He seemed to be interested in what was happening, although sensed your gaze on him. He spared you one glance before returning to trying to find the target in the dark. You hadn’t even had time to raise a finger to your lips to tell him to remain quiet. Oh well, he’d get the picture soon enough. You twisted your head forwards again, already hating the material of the hospital robe simply because you knew it would make such a loud rustling at your every movement.

“Go.” You heard Nat’s voice echo through the room. And the hunt was on.

Wanda peered through the inky darkness, staying still as she probably tried to calm her own heartrate to see if her hearing could pick anything up. These first few moments in the dark, before her eyes fully adjusted to the dimness, were the most precious moments to use her hearing, you knew that from experience. You were just wondering if Clint would play fair when out of nowhere an arrow struck the ground, making a dull echo spin across the room as it rolled harmlessly away. Clint was obviously using blunted arrow heads. However, it had landed about five metres away from where Wanda was standing, making her jump about a foot in the air and spinning around to the source of the noise instantly. Instant bad decision. You knew Clint’s patterns by now – he’d only use an arrow to tease or to disguise him making another loud noise elsewhere in the room. He prioritised using his visuals over his hearing for obvious reasons. Plus he always preferred to stay up high to press his advantage. Your eyes went back to the rafters immediately, already trying to spot his figure up there. You could tell Bucky was looking up as well, and you couldn’t help but be impressed by his abilities.

Go Wanda, you need to move before he starts playing with you, you thought to yourself. Hide and Seek quickly became Cat and Mouse if you stayed still for too long. It wasn’t only that Clint was a target in this scenario; Wanda also had to catch him without being too loud herself. As soon as you let Clint take the upper hand he’d start to have some fun, which would make the agent become frustrated. You of course knew this from personal experience. And frustration led to erratic decisions which were often noisy and gave away your position in the dark. However, you were glad that Clint wasn’t playing fair by using his arrows – it meant Wanda was already at a very capable level.

Patiently you watched as she scampered over the floor to stand in the shadow of a crate. Good tactic – disguising your own body in deeper shadow was a good method of camouflage.

You couldn’t help but find yourself marking her progress as she continued to hunt for Clint, as if she was your protégé, not just being trained by Nat. She was often too loud with her first couple of steps on the tiled floor, not helped by her choice of footwear. But her small figure worked in her favour for presenting a smaller target in tight areas. She was loud as she climbed up a container, but it meant she realised Clint would always prefer the higher ground, which was good insight into her target’s habits. She appeared to be methodical about where she was going, which was an excellent choice in not attracting attention with sudden movements, but you felt she was being too slow – Clint would get bored soon and move on to another perch. You kept calm however, trusting that she’d learn these things eventually, the same way you had. It always made you smile at how far agents grew after every training session. It was immensely satisfying know that there was always improvement as well as new ways to grow.

You occasionally caught Nat’s figure, remaining completely silent in the background, always letting Wanda choose her own course and not interfering, watching as intensely as you and Bucky were.

Several silent minutes passed as she got closer to where Clint was lurking. Twice he escaped her, the first time he was very close to being cornered. You could tell that Wanda was starting to get irritated now though. You couldn’t put your finger on how you knew it, but it was there – this slowly growing impatience with the whole thing. You noticed it more obviously in the way she stood, more rigid than adaptable, as she had been at the beginning. A few rounds of this would easily take its toll on anyone who wasn’t used to it.

Eventually she did manage to grasp at Clint’s quiver as he darted behind her in one daringly provocative move. You smiled at her success, clapping your hands enthusiastically as Nat sidled away with a grin on her face too, announcing Wanda’s victory (and of course Clint’s defeat) as she turned the lights back on. You had to blink a couple of times in order to get used to the artificial glare of bulbs again. Clint had been a bit too reckless with that last teasing run and it had cost him this time. You already knew that next time he’d be using more arrows and noise to distract her and keep her on her toes.

“Good job.” Clint gave her an affectionate smile, which made Wanda’s face light up in return as they both walked towards the nearer side of the hangar. “Although I still think you’re cheating.”

“You cannot just accept that I am better than you.” Wanda shrugged, joking back with him easily.

“Ready for a bit more practice with your footwork?”

The pair continued talking but you could tell Clint kept looking over at you and Bucky, keeping a close eye on you as well as Wanda. You ignored him, spinning to face the man next to you.

“What did you think of that? I wish I could show you my moves out there but alas, this darn leg keeps me on the ground.”

Bucky of course didn’t reply, although he did give you a look you might have hesitantly called disbelieving.

You weren’t sure you liked this almost playful side to the Winter Soldier.

“Well I didn’t say that my injury kept me out of trouble! What do you think – best two out of three?” You raised your gauntlet hand, giving him a cocky smile back. “I’ll give you a fighting chance.”

Truthfully, you did wonder how you’d do against the Winter Soldier in these conditions. He was far stronger than you, but this was about agility, swiftness in decision making, disguising your movements. You only had to touch your opponent to win. Ignoring his clear advantage in fighting, you knew he was quick and clearly he knew how best to assess situations around him in order to find targets… It would indeed probably be a close match, even if you had both of your gauntlets on. Maybe you’d only be in the advantage if it was something to do with climbing buildings or something? But then you knew he too was excellent at free running across cities…

Your brain continued to try and figure out how you’d get the upper hand over him in a friendly environment, even as you heard Nat approaching. You glanced over to her as she stalked towards you, her shoes clicking on the ground as she walked and ringing through the hangar space. It worked to emphasise just how quiet she’d been before whilst tailing Wanda in the dark.

She nodded towards you, her red hair bouncing softly from the movement. “Are we allowed to speak freely with our current company?”

“Of course, although I’d avoid using complicated language around him.” You grinned, deciding to ignore who she was making the pointed comment about. “You know how Clint has trouble understanding more than monosyllabic words at his age.”

“You do realise I can read your lips from here right!?” Clint’s voice rumbled.

You waved at him, as if placating a puppy. “Carry on.” You returned to Natasha’s attention, who was already staring Bucky down. You sighed. “Please play nicely.”

Nat’s face remained perfectly composed, her poker face not letting anything slip before replying. “Just checking.” You suspected that if Bucky was an ally, this frosty demeanour of hers would drop – she obviously knew that working together was far more effective than keeping useless feuds alive. But with his current status being unknown, she’d be acutely aware of any threat to her, the team and the whole area. And then Bucky was of course just judging everything as a threat, until proven otherwise.

Although fascinating to watch the two assassins watch each other, inspecting and assessing every minute detail of the other, it didn’t exactly leave you feeling comfortable standing between them. You’d hardly have a chance to stop them if something unwarranted started, what with you being hurt.

“Coulson cleared him.”

“Did Coulson also mention the break in from last week?”

Your eyes went wide. “No, he certainly didn’t.”

Clearly Nat had known this was going to be your response, as always three steps ahead of you with her talent at procuring information. Sometimes you wondered if she saw you as a rookie, still in need of her guidance. But then you’d see the special looks she’d shoot you when you asked provocative questions at Coulson, proud that you were unafraid to ask and also respectful of your own skills. You knew in her eyes you weren’t ever a rookie – you were an equal. You weren’t comparable; you were a team.

“Falcon was the only one left on duty.” She pursed her lips, as if trying to decide whether to let any more information slip. You could sense she was repressing an emotion connected to the event – you could see it in her eyes – but you couldn’t tell exactly what. Part of you wondered why she’d brought it up. Was it to specifically tell you something? In which case, why didn’t she mention it to you at another occasion? Or was it because she suspected Bucky…?

“I saw him soon after I arrived and Sam seemed fine.” You continued to watch Natasha, trying to understand what she was hiding (without much faith that you’d find out). “Where are they keeping the spy?”

“Oh he wasn’t a spy, he was a thief.”

“Well, what did he try and steal?”

“He didn’t try, he succeeded.”

You looked around, incredulous at this information. “Why didn’t I get told until now?”

Nat seemed distracted, seeing something on your shoulder and raising her hand to brush it off you. You thought this was a kind gesture until you noticed she was carefully watching Bucky as she did so. He’d remained completely still by your side the entire time since the lights had come on, and you didn’t notice his any chances in his demeanour at her contact, although you sensed that he was watching Natasha’s hand carefully. Ultimately he remained, if possible, even more silent than usual.

But whatever Nat had seen had clearly been the reaction (or lack of) that she’d expected, as she turned back to focus on you, dropping her hand down. “I thought Coulson would have told you.”

“Why me specifically?”

She gave you one of those smiles she reserved for when you asked good questions, making you feel warm and pleased with yourself.

“There were certain…striking similarities. I just thought you’d want to know that little bit of information though.”

“I know you know something Romanoff.” You said, folding your arms defensively.

“I know many things.”

“Yes, but I meant specifically about the break in.”

She shrugged, a tiny smirk playing on her lips. “You should watch the news more.” You knew she was toying with you, dangling information that you now really wanted just out of reach. Deciding she wasn’t going to tell you anything else, you settled on having to ask Falcon yourself.

At last she turned back to Bucky, ignoring the way she’d made you simultaneously frustrated and intrigued. She seemed to have that effect on you far too often.

“So is he joining us for a training session?” You didn’t miss the glint in her eye this time. She was meant to be playing nice – although thinking back to your instruction earlier, she hadn’t actually agreed to that.

“No, he is certainly not.” You spoke firmly, resting a hand on Bucky’s arm in case he got any ideas. Not that you’d be able to stop him from barging forwards, but still. He seemed unaffected by the gesture, although this time Natasha watched the movement like a Hawk. What was up with these two?

“You know, she used to technically be the best Dark Hide and Seek champion here.” Nat gestured at you pointedly, which made you want to blush and roll your eyes at the same time.

“Nat, don’t go telling everyone! How can I retain my modesty?”

“I did says used to.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Well, you were gone, so I decided to take advantage to top up my own skills.” A sly smile appeared on her lips before she turned back around and stalked back to Wanda, her hips swinging with every purposeful stride.

“Har har, you’re hilarious Nat.”

“Did I say I was joking?”

You narrowed your eyes at her retreating back, childishly sticking out your tongue. When you were fully healed you were so going to take her on. You couldn’t deal with all this frustration she was making you feel right now.

For the next few hours Bucky remained unemotional and uncommunicative as the three agents in the room tried to give advice to Wanda about her stealth work, although he was closely watching your every interaction. You could feel his gaze heavy on you as you animatedly tried to describe to Wanda what the best method was for stepping with quicker, lighter footsteps. Natasha rolled her eyes at your advice, always having her own methods. But then, her tactics were generally in sync with the way she was trained to take down numerous guards by hand. In her eyes, silence was useful for the offensive. Your specialties lay in silent reconnaissance and reporting; noiselessness was nearly everything you relied on all the time in order not to make contact with the targets.

By the end of it you could tell that Wanda had just had too much information given to her at once – she needed time to process it. Clint however didn’t seem phased by this; insisting that Wanda was more than capable of covering up her footsteps and knowing where other people were without the help of our training. It made you wonder what powers she had to be able to cover up her tracks...

Deciding that the best way to pluck up the courage and timing to ask these pertinent questions would be to join her training, you squared your shoulders and tried to do so. At first you tried to show her yourself the difficulties in footwork by standing on your more stable leg and trying to mime the ways in the air, but you quickly ran out of energy and patience. You wanted to show her how sounds differentiated on materials, but Clint had sent a glare in your direction before you’d even suggesting climbing the boxes. You were sure you could have managed, especially with your gauntlet on, however you acquiesced to the non-verbal warning. Bucky also looked very wary, having to stand near you, and therefore Natasha, Wanda and Clint, so you had to try another tactic.

Instead you and Wanda both sat on the floor as you tried to tell her the nuances between echoes. Bucky lurked somewhere behind you and Natasha was in charge of using the machines (and giving alternative ideas). You got Clint to run about the room, first in the light, then in the dark, and several times with Wanda’s eyes closed, all the time trying to get her to listen to her senses. The awareness of her surroundings could tell her if there was a flutter of air nearby to signal his passing, or find the darkest of shadows to hide in.

It seemed to leave a good impression on her, although you didn’t have time to start your bonding session as Clint, now exhausted, swept past you and pushed a card into your lap. You picked it up, seeing you face on the pass.

“Collected it up from your room.”

“Thanks.”

“Next time make Romanoff run around as your guinea pig.” He grunted, moving past you all to get out of the door. As he did so, you suddenly realised how exhausted you were from all your talking and standing. You’d taken a toll on your body without even realising. Now you were starting to regret walking everywhere instead of having Bucky carry you, shuffling awkwardly on the floor as you forced yourself to concentrate. You wanted to get out of this horrible, crinkled hospital gown too.

As if he and Wanda had read your mind, or more likely your body language, they both rose from their spots. You could tell Bucky had advanced to stand slightly behind you again. The hairs on the back of your neck were always acutely aware of when you were being watched and that man had hardly stopped his scrutiny. Wanda stood, offering you her hand to get up. You smiled at the gesture, raising your own hand to grip hers before you realised it was your gauntlet arm. Laughing it off you switched hands to grip hers, which were dainty and also surprisingly cool compared to your warm palm. Thanking her, you dusted down your ‘borrowed’ sweatpants before standing up again, stretching this time.

“Time check?” You asked, already knowing the training session was at and end now. You were fairly certain Natasha and Clint had made the session run far longer than usual just to exhaust you and keep Bucky under their watchful eyes, knowing that you’d want to chip in if it was about stealth or agility. You weren’t completely blind to their antics although you appreciated the way they subtly showed they cared for you.

“Just passed eighteen hundred.” Can Natasha’s reply from the machine’s controls. You didn’t want to know what she was up to, pressing all those buttons.

“Crap.” You looked up at Bucky. “We need to get back.”

“For what?” Wanda and Nat chorused.

“Paperwork.” You replied, nonchalantly. Both women in the room narrowed their eyes at you in disbelief.

“I will walk with you.” Wanda interrupted before Nat could get there first. It took you aback for a moment, but couldn’t see the harm in her accompanying you back. You gave a shrug to Bucky, turning and taking a step without thinking. Straight onto your injured leg. You nearly crumpled instantly, grabbing onto Bucky’s arm without thinking in order to steady yourself.

“Sorry.” You mumbled, but you’d already been swept back up into his arms without a moment’s hesitation. Now he was impatient to move. Marching back out of the door, Wanda had no alternative but to catch up to his quick movements. Secretly you were glad he was carrying you. Your leg was throbbing a little painfully all of a sudden.

“You should take a right.” Instructed Wanda. You frowned as Bucky gave her a quick glance and followed her directions towards Block A. She continued. “I thought I should walk with you in case the Captain showed up. I can distract him.”

“Thank you.” You responded. You felt like you’d made a lot of progress with your friendship with her today. A good sign, surely. “I hope your brother didn’t cause too much bother today.”

Wanda grinned at that. “He likes mischief.”

“And you don’t?”

She shot you a look. “We all have to make our own fun sometimes.”

You gave a bark of laughter at that. You liked this side of Wanda – the guard was still up, but she was no longer being so defensive towards you. Telling her all your training secrets probably helped to show her you never meant any harm to her or her brother. But then again, she’d been friendly since you’d woken. Maybe she’d been talking to Pietro about the mission and he’d said something about taking it easy on you because of your injuries or something.

You asked her if he had, but she gave a small smile and changed the topic back to a particular stealth element you’d been trying to explain earlier about changing breathing patterns. By the time you’d finished talking to her you’d reached your room.

“I would like to train with you again, once you are healed.” She said as you swiped your hand next to your door, unlocking it with your fingerprints. Bucky strode in like he owned the place, although immediately scanned your room for every tiny detail. You hoped this wasn’t going to be awkward.

“I’d like that too! Thank you!” You called as the door closed behind you, Wanda’s figure already retreating back down the hallway.

Bucky seemed at a loose end as to what to do with you now you were both in your room. Someone had made your bed neatly, which you were super thankful for. You asked him politely to put you down on the bed, which he did before stepping back and softly glowering at you.

“What’s up chum?”

He folded his arms. Had he found the training session that dull? Probably – his stealth skills were undoubtedly pretty excellent. He’d probably sneered at all your comments to Wanda. You squirmed uncomfortably at that thought. You didn’t care that he’d overheard all your tactics, you were more worried that he might find them pathetic and unorthodox compared to his own… You tried to stop those thoughts continuing. You were probably upset because you were tired and hungry was all. No need to doubt your abilities, they’d got you this far.

“We have an under half an hour until we can start using the documents. Until then, I suggest we order some room service.” You pinged the intercom off your robe, pressing the first button you saw on it. You requested F.R.I.D.A.Y. to deliver as much food she could find in a ten mile radius before flopping back on your bed. You felt drained but you knew you had to get back to concentrating for the next part. Closing your eyes, just for a moment, you enjoyed the feeling of the soft bed.

“You need rest.” Bucky’s voice reverberated around your small room. Ah – it seemed he was back to talking now you were in private again.

“Are you going to keep stating facts, or are you going to help me?”

“Both.”

“Aha – I know you must have smiled when saying that.” You opened your eyes to look at him but he was already gazing out of the window. No luck. You let out a small humph, sitting back up.

“Hospital ward.”

“What about it?” You sounded grumpy even to your own ears. And your leg was still twinging.

“You should be there.” He growled back, clearly annoyed that you hadn’t deduced that from his previous two words. You studied his face closely, looking at the way the purple under his eyes looked very intense. He was the one who needed some good rest. Besides you had a promise to keep and sleep wasn’t going to stop you this time.

“No. Now pass me a t-shirt from over there.”

He plucked the garment up from where you’d gestured. As he did so you finally unclipped your gauntlet from around your forearm, sliding the metal off your arm and rotating your wrist. Even though the gauntlets were comfortable enough to wear for days on end, you enjoyed the freedom and weightlessness that accompanied their removal. Plus you had to take it off if you intended to slip on a clean shirt.

That’s when you noticed Bucky’s sharp eyes on you, locked onto your now gauntlet-free arm.

“Are you ok?” You asked as he stayed frozen, a t-shirt still clutched in his fingers.

He didn’t reply, keeping his distance across the room.

“Do… do you want me to put it back on?” You inquired, confused. You felt as if you’d done something wrong, a bad feeling coming over you.

“Removable.” He swallowed. He looked disappointed and…hurt?

What had you done?

“Bucky…what have I done wrong?” You scooted to the edge of your bed, coming closer to him but still leaving him some space. “Should…do you want me to leave?”

Bucky had expected that question a long time ago now. He knew you weren’t really comfortable in his presence. No one was, and no one should be. He was a monster, a machine. Of course you weren’t like him – that thing on your arm was part of you but it was detachable. Now you were vulnerable. He should have realised you’d want to escape as soon as possible. That didn’t stop him from asking you one last question though. “Do you want to leave?”

“No, of course not. We’ve got work to do together. But…I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me.” Your answer took him by surprise. He watched you rub at your wrist absentmindedly, the one which had been encased in metal all day. “I’m… Look this is hard to get out. I don’t want you to feel trapped in this room with me. I want you to trust me – all of me with and without my weapons.”

Bucky didn’t know what to say to that. You had the situation completely wrong, how did you not know that?

You screwed up your face before looking down at your palms and letting out a sigh. “Do you think I’m a monster for this?”

Bucky didn’t reply.

This conversation was so over.

Thankfully a knock at the door interrupted the intense feeling that had settled in the room. You rushed over to it, stoically ignoring your leg for the moment. Opening your door you found Natasha with a large cardboard box perched on her hip and three plastic bags held in her arms and. The smell from them was so delicious; it made your stomach rumble.

“If you’re about to make a joke about ‘needing a hand’, please don’t.”

You glanced to where she was looking; suddenly realising you still had your gauntlet clutched in your grip. Sheepishly you gave her an apologetic grin, noticing she’d changed out of her gear from the training room into a beautiful light blue top and grey pencil skirt combo.

“You’re lucky; we were ordering some for ourselves anyway when I intercepted F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s message requesting food to the front desk. Thought you might appreciate some sustenance for the long night ahead.” She thrust two of the bags in your direction and it took all of your resolve not to stick your face into one of them. Next she traded your gauntlet to shove the box into your arms before returning the metal arm on top. It was heavier than you’d expected. “You’ll need these too.”

“What long night ahead?” You tried to sound nonchalant.

She rolled her eyes at you. “Never go undercover. You’re a terrible liar.”

“Am not.”

“Well regardless,” she tapped her ear piece with one elegant finger, listening to something. “I believe you’ll be able to access those files you didn’t put on your computer, in approximately three minutes. And his room is the floor below, number five.”

“Do you know everything around here?” You couldn’t help but sigh.

“Spy, remember?” She shrugged at you, a smile dancing on her lips.

“Yeah, yeah.”

She gave you a frown suddenly. She lent forwards, close enough that you could smell her intoxicating perfume. Everything about her drew you closer to her. “Stay on guard. Keep your intercom close.” She whispered in your ear, giving you a warm squeeze before leaning back and returning to her usual level of volume. “Don’t let your food get cold.”

“Goodnight Nat. Thank you for the food.”

“Goodnight Agent.” She said as the door closed with a click, already pacing back down the hallway. That was the second woman you’d closed the door on this evening.

Busying yourself, as if the conversation before had never happened, you trundled over to the desk, dumping a bag on the bed as you went and putting the box by your desk. You glanced at the clock on your computer. It was three minutes to seven. She does know everything; you thought with a grin, bad mood vanished. You were prepared to concentrate now.

“Your food is in the bag. Try not to spill it, okay?” You hoped Bucky wasn’t picky about his food. You set about opening up one of the food containers, finding a fork inside that Natasha had obviously put in there for you. As you tapped on your computer you tried a forkful. It was still a little too hot, but you savoured the taste, feeling instantly more awake.

Tapping away at the screen you finally opened the files. Your screen was soon filled with far too many open windows – even Maria would have been distressed by it all. Deciding that looking at a screen all night wouldn’t be all that productive, you started to print out selections of the documents. Most of them were reports that hadn’t yet been updated to the map showing the hotspots of enemy activity for the last month. Some of them were from specific missions; others were from intercepted telephone records, newspaper prints and even just ‘suspicious activity’ rumours. Even after printing out nearly half a tree’s worth you couldn’t find the blueprints of the maps. Instead you’d tried to place the papers in some kind of organised pile, which failed miserably when they slipped off your desk.

You let out an exasperated sigh, reaching over to grab the fallen papers, picking one up from random from the floor. It was filed from another Agent’s work in Nepal two days ago, but at least you found it easier to read from paper than on the screen. It hadn’t even been transcribed into digital print yet, so you had to decipher the handwriting.

You turned your head to look at Bucky, who had evidently opened his own food bag with suspicion, but was now reading a paper he’d swiped from the floor.

“Please eat whilst you snoop.”

He looked up briefly to raise his eyebrow at you.

“My bedroom, my rules.” You shrugged.

“What’s in the box?” He asked. You looked back at the object in question, also curious. What had Natasha given you?

“I don’t know.” You lent over in your chair, moving your gauntlet aside carelessly. You knew Bucky was watching it warily again, but chose to ignore him in case it led back to the frozen atmosphere you’d almost experienced earlier.

You twitched open the box to find… “Maps.” You said. You uncurled one fully before doing a double take between Bucky and the parchment. “Recording everything from the past five years. These must be the hardcopies. How on earth did Nat get to these?”

You shuffled back onto your chair, already in action. “You get these sorted, spread them around the room so we can see them in order. We’ll go through systematically from the absolute most recent reports and work backwards so we can develop our own map with all this stuff on it.

Bucky set to work instantly, emptying the box into the middle of your bed. You twirled back around in your chair to face your computer, moving the stack from the desk to the floor and starting your investigation.

Initially the first half an hour sped past as you sorted out a working system for you both, Bucky being your legs, placing documents on the relevantly dated maps and you reminding him to take another mouthful of food.

“You too.” He suggested, noticing your dish was barely touched. You didn’t remark on his thoughtfulness, instead guiltily taking another bite to placate him.

However the hours after that trailed slowly. You both were exhausted and there was simply too much information for two people to sift through, even if you had basic data identification skills as part of your training. You’d barely even touched the surface of these documents and so much of the most recent evidence was based on hearsay and guesswork. Even the increasingly frequent encounters with HYDRA that Coulson had described earlier to you weren’t complete evidence. Most of them listed the details of finding the enemies, but with their scattering so quickly there was no way to tell if they were scouts or near actual hidden bases. Plus you then had to gather numerous reports on the same area to even build up a picture of what had happened there during one week. How were you meant to form a picture of several years to base your guesses from?

You’d tried to colour code the documents, with red as confirmed locations of HYDRA threats, but the maps were mostly littered with orange marks – the colour you’d chosen to show where they’d been spotted but no confirmed bases. You glanced at the clock to find it was flashing midnight. Your eyes felt sore and you had to stifle a yawn as you turned back to look at Bucky. Even he was no longer standing behind you or pacing impatiently – having resorted to sitting on your bed as he scanned his share of documents too. (You’d carefully given him a large pile of reports you were sure had little to no mention of Steve in, just to be on the safe side.)

You rubbed at your eyes, fighting to keep them open just for a bit longer.

“Do you want to go to your room?” You finally asked. Your voice was slightly hoarse from issuing constant orders for him to place the papers in the right spot in the room, which was now a swirling mass of potential paper cuts. You’d even started to stick things to the walls.

“No.” Came his curt reply.

“Look Bucky… you need to at least shower and take a break. We can’t do much if we’re not aware of what we’re actually reading anymore. And we need some more space.”

“Do you need to rest?”

You narrowed your eyes at him. This was clearly a test. If you said you weren’t tired, you were certain he’d respond by saying he would carry on as long as you would.

“Soldier, do you really think I’m the type of girl who likes to remain in medical clothes all day?” You gestured to your top, never having swapped it for the t-shirt earlier.

“Fine.”

“Good.” You stood, stretching your sore limbs out. “Fill up that box with these documents and we’ll go and use up another room’s floor space. Bring the last two maps too. I’ll be right back.”

You shuffled to the bathroom being careful of your injuries. Peeling out of your clothes you tossed them to the corner of the room. You wanted to burn the hospital gown, although the sweatpants (while long) were super comfy. In the mirror you noticed the bruising across your hip was already tinging a horrible green colour and was painful when you prodded it. Your shoulder faired a little better. You turned away from the person in the mirror to splash a little cool water on your face to try and wake up again.

You slipped on the top Bucky had picked up before, which you had scooped up along with a change of underwear and a pair of shorts before entering the bathroom. You couldn’t face putting on tight leggings over your leg right now. You also added a large hoody, one you’d secretly taken from Falcon a long time ago, feeling a slight chill. You rolled up the sleeves to your elbows seeing as they were so long anyway.

You moved back into the bedroom, where Bucky looked up from his papers briefly to inspect your attire. His eyes lingered on the bandage which started at your knee and ended at your ankle on your right leg. You stared back at him, noticing his tired face. Even though he’d clearly had another good meal, he still seemed pale.

“Follow my lead Soldier.” You said, carefully moving across the paperwork and picking up your own stack. You made sure to bring your intercom and building pass in your pocket as you put on a pair of trainers. Bucky walked closely behind you as you staggered down the metal steps and thankfully not encountering anyone. You managed to keep your footsteps virtually noiseless anyway.

Your mind and body were certainly tired, but you were fighting the fatigue as you reached his room. You used your key-card to open the door this time, seeing as the fingerprint scanner would have been wiped for Bucky’s use. Half stumbling inside you found an exact copy of the room you had found a few days ago when you had first moved in. In fact, you judged that his room was nearly directly under your room, but two apartments along. Hmm. You stored that away for useful knowledge in the future.

“Move the bed to the side and we’ll start from the opposite wall.” You nodded to him as he followed your instructions, putting down the box on the bed for the moment too. Which made you wonder why he was allowing you to be so authoritative? You’d expected some resistance. Maybe it was because he really was exhausted. Could you use it to your advantage?

“Now open a window, please?”

“Why?” He asked immediately. You noticed he was giving the area a sweep again, as if the place might be rigged. You couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to live in a head so fearful of being caught… You had to help him.

“Because, if you’re not going to shower, I need a way to not be suffocated by your stink.” You gave him a friendly wink.

He sent you a glare right back. However you didn’t expect his next move, where he stormed past you to the bathroom. He didn’t quite close the door behind him, which was how you heard it when the taps started running. Even though you were now so curious to see what he was up to, you somehow managed to refrain, instead sitting on the floor, back against the bed as you started to place the documents you’d been carrying into neat piles around you.

“Ow. Damn.” You grimaced as you nicked your finger on the edge of the paper, sticking it straight into your mouth to stop the blood from escaping. At the same time Bucky reappeared in the room. His hair was sopping wet, hanging around his face, and he was finishing off drying his face with a hand towel. It was his shirtlessness that was really throwing you for a loop right now though.

You caught each other’s eyes, locked across the room. You with a finger in your mouth. Him with his beautifully toned body, which was littered with tiny old cuts and the odd bruise which you could detect with your keen eyesight. You briefly looked at the way his metal arm was moulded with a pink puckered line to his shoulder, but it didn’t faze you. It was just part of him was all, not worth thinking about. However, you were very thankful that he’d at least kept his trousers on; otherwise there would be no way you could get back to your assignment.

Right – the work you had to be doing so he could be relocated somewhere safe.

That work.

What work?

You couldn’t stop your scrutiny, blaming it on your tiredness. Scanning him up and down you were fully engrossed in the way that a bead of water had made an escape down his chin, which was slightly grey from stubble, and was making a bid for freedom down his torso. You gulped, certain that his eyes moved to your throat, and you felt a blush rise to your cheeks.

“Do you think I’m a monster?” He whispered.

“Never.” You frowned at him, replying instantly as you dropped your hand from your mouth.

“You should.”

He didn’t say anymore, tossing the towel behind him to pick up his top again. He gave it a rough shake, sending dust everywhere. There was no way he could put that back on his body, it was clearly in desperate need of a wash.

“Here.” You pulled off the hoody you were wearing, suddenly far too hot in the small room anyway. You waved it in his direction, finally freed of his intense gaze and staring at the floor instead. “Wear something clean at least.”

He took it from your outstretched hand, giving it a cursory glance before putting it on instead of his top. He didn’t need to push up the sleeves as you had.

You coughed, clearing your throat slightly in order to calm yourself down.

You were now both without your armour or defence. It was an oddly intimate thought.

Both of you set to work scanning more paperwork in comfortable silence. He set up his side, leaning against another corner of the bed. With your sneaky sideways glances you could only see his outstretched feet from around the corner, still in thick boots and looking mightily uncomfortable.

Several more minutes dragged on. You kicked off your trainers to get more comfortable as you tried to understand Fury’s handwriting. It was awful, though you’d probably never tell him that for fear of your job. The room was almost calming with the regular shuffle of paper.

You occasionally clicked on your intercom to see what time it was, or grunted when you came across a particularly useless source. But more often you yawned. It was still dark outside the window, but you could tell the sun was getting closer. You felt your eyes getting droopy.

The pile in front of you didn’t seem to be getting any lower. Your senses were definitely dulled too – you weren’t even aware of Bucky’s sounds in the room anymore. In fact, you’d just re-read the same sentence seven times in a row, not once going in. You no longer cared about admitting defeat for the night. You’d made some progress after all.

As you continued you slowly came to the realisation that you no longer had the energy to walk back up the stairs. Your leg continued to twinge too, and you just hoped that tomorrow someone would find you with some sort of drug that would help. You really should have got some instructions on what you were meant to do. Weren’t you meant to have changed the dressing on it yet or something? Your thoughts were starting to wander…

“Bucky…is it ok if I crash here?” You stifled yet another yawn. Your eyes were already closed, being so tired from staring at words for so long. The patch on the floor you’d been sitting on was warm and comfy, even though you knew it really wasn’t – you were just that tired.

Bucky didn’t say anything. Your back was still against the bed, so you were unable to see what type of glare he was shooting your way. Reluctantly you pulled yourself closer to the corner, turning your head to see if he was listening. Instead you saw his eyes had fluttered closed and his chin was resting on his chest which was rising and falling slowly. He was sitting in just as awkward position as you against his side of the bed, already asleep, paper still clutched in one of his hands. Well, at least now you knew that he wasn’t going to carry you upstairs or to the hospital ward.

“Buck?” You tried to get the energy to move over to him. Failing at that, you tried to grab his hand. He should at least get to sleep on the bed. You felt another yawn. Nope – you were too tired for this.

You reached your other hand up, dragging to duvet off the bed to fall over your head. You tried to tug it over to Bucky to keep him warm too, but your eyes were now so heavy you didn’t know if you even succeeded in that.

You tried to touch his hand again under the covers, but it was too late. You were comfortable and warm. You slipped onto your side, comfy against the blanket, stretching out your feet.

And you slept.

72 notes · View notes