Venomous

7. Pickup

As I stood there in shock at what I was surely imagining in front of me, I found myself suddenly empathetic of AV's apparent urge to bite heads off people. Most important meal of the day or not, however, I wasn't really a breakfast kind of person. As I continued blinking at the person who was very casually seated at my kitchen counter, she continued to slip on her/my coffee, her green eyes never leaving my face. My eyes finally narrowed. "What are you doing here, Natalie?" She frowned at me.

"That's not my name, princess. You've been busy." I hissed at the nickname, and I watched as Natalie's eyes went wide at the rippling white tendons that were moving like snakes around my hands and arms in preparation.

"So have you, Agent Romanoff." Her name came out in a long hiss that had the faintest bit of Anti-Venom's long, prehensile tongue, and its voice. Her eyes narrowed at the name, and I caught the slightest wince as a reaction to my accusation. She sighed, placing the mug back down on the counter.

"I didn't come here to fight." She blinked as a ropey tendril shot out of my arm, wrapping around the handle of my coffee mug, and pulling it towards me. I took a sip. She still took her coffee the same way. She watched with curiosity and no trace of fear whatsoever. I sighed. She wasn't going to be easy to get rid of.

"Why did you?" I watched as she hesitatingly stood up, rounding the corner of the bar so she could face me directly. I retreated a few paces to maintain some distance.

"Funny thing happened to me the other night." I smirked.

"Oh yeah? In New York? You're kidding." My voice was so full of sarcasm that it was almost palpable.

"Then I get back to the tower, and Maria tells me that an old friend has been promoted, and she wanted me to collect the newest member of the team." I took a deep breath. As I thought about what she was saying, she was busy glancing around my apartment. I was proud of it. It wasn't fancy or expensive, but I had gotten it at a steal and really worked hard t make it a space that I enjoyed. Both of me.

"Is this going to be a problem?" She smirked and shook her head.

"Not necessarily." I raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged at the unspoken question. "I keep my personal life...personal. I don't need the team knowing about our past." I gazed at her unimpressed. She was still embarrassed by me, after all this time. Perfect. This was going to work out wonderfully.

"I'm not thrilled about reliving our greatest hits either Natali..Natasha." Her eyes flashed at the name mix-up, almost like she was sad about it, but I knew from experience that this woman didn't care about feelings.

"It's a deal. Let's go." I glanced around the apartment before moving back to my bedroom to grab a bag. I didn't genuinely know what my new job entailed, but I was going to be comfortable while doing it, at the very least. I looked around my room, taking a few moments to glance into the mirror, seeing AV's face staring back at me. We had discussed this, and for the moment they seemed content to go with the flow. I spun in place at the sound of light footsteps just to find the redhead standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms folded over her chest. I glanced around again, making sure that nothing embarrassing was lying around. It wasn't. A fact that didn't go unnoticed. "You're cleaner than you were when we were together." I huffed and shoved some shirts into the bag, not looking back at her.

"We weren't together, Natasha." I reminded her, "you were there, and I was there, but we were never together." She sighed behind me. Perhaps that sentence had been unnecessary, but I was apparently still salty.

I like her. I will not eat her.

I raised my eyebrows again, glancing into the mirror. I saw Natasha's eyes follow me, and she inhaled sharply when she saw the reflection staring back at me.

"How do you do that? How is this...possible?" I shrugged.

"How did you find me?"  She returned the shrugging gesture.

"Eddie. How did this happen?" I sighed.

"Eddie." My brother and I were going to have a little chat soon. "I didn't realize they'd send an Avenger as part of the welcoming committee." Natalie/Natasha shrugged. When she didn't immediately respond with a sarcastic comment, I turned towards her to make sure that she was still breathing. She was. I wasn't sure if I was happy about that fact or not.

"Are you going to take all day, or..." I scoffed.

"Well excuse me for not knowing you were coming." Natasha rolled her eyes. That was a look I was more than familiar with. "On the subject, do you typically break into new teammates houses and make them breakfast?" Natasha shrugged again.

"Most of my teammates live with me at the compound, so..." her voice trailed off, and the smile was back on her face. I pushed past her exiting the room, and she caught me by the wrist, which was a bad move on her part. Suddenly, I felt a slippery, liquid texture running fluidly up my arms and legs and I only had a moment to process what was happening when the sensation moved up my neck, finally covering my face. Natasha was now face to face with Anti-Venom in extreme proximity. The redhead was already short, I had a good 3-4 inches on her and I wasn't tall by any means. Next to Anti-Venom, she was minuscule. She looked up into our eyes, not blinking or moving a muscle except for the hand that I now noticed was clutching something in her belt line behind her back. Anti-Venom snarled down at her, barring our teeth, pink tongue flickering slowly out of our mouth.

"We do not like to be touched." AV's white eyes measured the woman in front of us carefully. She was watching us intently, and I knew that she was prepared for the worst. It wasn't going to come to that, at least not yet. The fluid sensation began retreating and I backed up a few paces from where we had gotten in her face. Natasha nodded, her left hand finally leaving what was no-doubt the handle of a pistol she had stashed on her person.

"Lock the door, would you?" I used a tentacle to snatch my keys from the entry table before opening the door, swinging my bag over my shoulder, and leaving without a second glance. When Natasha caught up to me in the elevator, she had a smile on her face, and I couldn't really figure out why until we got outside. Then I saw her bike parked next to the curb. "You're shitting me."

"Get on." She was back to all business as I turned to face her incredulity dripping from my features.

"In your dreams." I pulled my keys out of my pocket, unlocking the door of the black jeep a few vehicles down. "I'll follow you." Natasha smirked at me before pulling her helmet visor down, straddling the bike and peeling off into the street. I sighed and pulled out of my spot, flooring the gas and giving the redhead a run for her money.