Right by your side | Natasha Romanoff

16 | Winter break

You were absolutely not paying attention in class that day. But it doesn't matter, you already knew what was taught in class and always scores the top of the class together with Conan so the teachers couldn't really say anything.

Finally it was the end of the day and you waved goodbye to your friends before getting into Nat's car.

"You had fun in Bill's house yesterday?" Nat asked as drove us back to the compound.

"Yeah! We played lots of games and Bill made a drone for us!" You said as excitedly as you can. You had already planned for this lie yesterday when you told her you were going to stay over at Bill's house. The drone wasn't ready yet but it was getting built for George, Mitch and Amy. They love playing games and often ask if Bill has any new inventions. Bill was getting better at inventing things, at least they were useable this time.

"That's nice. You managed to skip Sam's horrible cooking yesterday. Plenty of us came out during the night to snack because we couldn't swallow the food he cooked."

You giggled at your seat. Sam's cooking does need a lot of improvement. Whenever it was his turn to cook dinner, you would always have a heavy lunch to last you till the next day.

"Hey kid! Glad to see you around again!" Tony said as soon as you walked in the compound. He used to oppose having a kid around, saying it was dangerous, so why the sudden change in attitude? Did Nat threaten or do anything to him while you were gone?

"Come into my lab. I have something to show you." You at Nat for confirmation before placing your bag on the side of the couch and following him.

Tony led me to his lab and nodded at a chair for me to take a seat. "So...?"

"I want to show you this." Tony asked FRIDAY to play the clip and it showed the night you changed into an adult body in the compound.

"Care to explain why Y/N came out from your room and you came out of Y/N's room?" Your heart was beating in your ears as he waited for an answer. You were stunned, there wasn't going to be any other explanation for this, you can't get out of it. It didn't occur to you that Tony would look through the CCTVs.

Slowly, you told him what happened the night you turned into a child and surprisingly, he said he was going to keep it a secret for you.

"Surely you could use our help. It's better with us since we have a team." Tony tried to persuade you to accept his help. He listed all the pros and cons and even offered to bring you away from America to keep you safe.

"NO! This is MY case and I will deal with it. I'm not going to just leave the country." You got up from your chair paced around.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Tony smirked and used his tool that he's been playing with to hit my forehead.

"Ow." I rubbed my forehead. "Wanda knows about this too but Nat can't know about this."

"I'm sure she wouldn't want to know that the child she has been caring for is her crush."

"Tony!"

---

Weeks passed and it was finally winter break. People were getting ready for Christmas and the exterior of the compound was lit with Christmas decorations. Tony was blasting holiday music in the compound much to everyone's demise. It seems like there were only 20 songs in the playlist and it kept repeating and repeating.

"Allie, it's me, can I come in?" You heard Nat knocking on your door so you gave her the go ahead to come in.

"Can I help you?" You placed down your phone and gave her your attention.

"Are you sure you're seven year old?" Nat stood at the feet of your bed and looked at you.

"W-what? Nat, what are you talking about?" You fumbled on your own words. Has she found out about your secret? Did she check the CCTVs? You should have asked Tony to delete them. What is she going to do?

Nat laughed slightly and apologized. "I'm sorry, I was talking about how you don't act your age, you don't ask for toys and attention. I didn't mean to scare you." You followed along and laughed nervously with her, relieved that she didn't find out the secret.

"I was going to ask if you are still up for ice skating since-"

"Yeah sure!" You cut her off, showing a bit of the impatient attitude that you think a child would have. You burst out of your room, running into Wanda's without knocking. "Wanda! Nat is inviting us out for ice skating!" You said in a high pitch voice but eyes were glaring at her asking her to join.

Before you got her reply, you dashed off to one last place before meeting them at the garage.

"Alright, I'm ready!" You hopped in the car and buckled your seatbelts.

We arrived at the indoor ice skating rink and there were quite a number of people. Everyone ranging from all ages was with their families and friends. Laughter, screaming and crying could be heard.

Ice skates appeared in your face and brought you out of your trance. You took them from Nat and gave her an appreciative smile. "Let me know if it's the wrong size." All of you went to a free seat to put them on.

After securing them with the laces, you walked over to the rink with them. "Do you know how to skate?" I looked at Wanda and she skated away gracefully with hands behind her back. "Looks like one knows how. What about you?" She glanced down at you.

You took a couple steps before getting wobbly on your feet, your arms flailing about to keep your balance but you ended up falling on your bottom. "It's alright, I can teach you." Nat stretched out her hand and picked you up from the cold ground. Looking up from below, she looked absolutely stunning with her clothes and the lights surrounding her multiplied her beauty.

"Thank you." You accepted her help and she began teaching you step by step.

Posted on 8 May 2022