Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 38: It's Not All Romance (But We Try)

The sound died out and they turned back to the water again, staring for a while. But the air was lighter, a happy kind of atmosphere between them.

''Can I tell you a secret?'' Katya mumbled suddenly. Natasha hummed, her interested eyes landing on the side of her face. ''I didn't have a favorite flower until you brought me flowers for the first time. Roses. They became my favorite right there and then.''

''Shit, that is romantic,'' Natasha muttered playfully, slightly frustrated because Katya managed to make herself look romantic. ''Why didn't you just tell me?''

''Because you were so insecure back then,'' she answered honestly, smiling at the memory that popped up thinking about those roses. ''I still see you standing at my apartment door at HQ, afraid you did something wrong, took a step too far, by giving me those. I needed to reassure you.''

Natasha laughed lightly. ''I was. Really insecure. I don't think I've ever been more out of my league than trying to win you over. Every move I made, I thought I would send you running. I couldn't lose you again.'' She shook her head as she chuckled, shifting her stance. ''I felt like a damn schoolgirl.''

Katya chuckled. ''It was adorable.'' And vulnerable. That was just Nat, not the SHIELD spy or the Black Widow. Just Nat, risking getting her heart broken by her crush. 

But Natasha didn't agree, grimacing from secondhand embarrassment. She was glad she only had to win someone over once in her life. ''You know when I knew you would stick around?'' She turned the tables around, the mischievous sparkle in her eyes not meaning much good. ''When I found you in my bed after that Rio mission.''

''Oh god,'' Katya muttered embarrassed, dropping her forehead to her underarms to hide her face. She'd really hoped that Natasha had never seen that, because she teased her about it for weeks afterwards. And apparently, that same teasing was back now. 

Natasha's smile was so wide it showed her teeth. ''Four AM, and you were passed out, in my bed, curled up in a little ball.''

''I missed you, okay?'' Katya laughed. ''You were gone for three weeks. I got homesick,'' she pouted, recalling how she broke into Natasha's apartment at 1 AM because she missed her and thought her smell would help. 

It did. She did feel less alone with Natasha's pillow tugged against her chest, but she hadn't planned on falling asleep. That just happened. 

''That was adorable,'' Natasha beamed, ignoring how Katya had called her her home. ''I knew I had you right there and then.'' 

Good thing she never told Katya how it startled her so much that she pulled her gun on reflex, only to have her heart completely melt at the peaceful look on Katya's face and her rhythmic breathing. 

At that exact moment in time, it was one of the best things that had happened to her. After all, it's what she had dreamed of for months. To not come home to an empty apartment, to silence. 

All she wanted was for someone to wait up for her, check her for injuries, ask her how the mission went, and snuggle up to her in bed afterwards, relaxing all her mission-tense muscles. Someone to care. In another way than Clint or Fury.

''And now you sleep next to me every night,'' Katya lightly teased.

Natasha hummed knowingly, a relaxed smile on her lips. ''Is that a glow-up or what?''

''I think 2009 Natalia would be ashamed how soft I made her, talking to me about romance and flowers,'' Katya teased.

''No, she wouldn't. Because that's all she missed and wanted in life. To be loved by you.'' Her cheeks turned slightly red at that confession. Usually, she was very smooth, but something had her a bit embarrassed now.