The Younger Agent - Natasha Romanoff x OC

Chapter 41 - That Ain't Bubblegum

Nat nodded along half-heartedly. Eleanor knew that she couldn't make her feel better, but she desperately wanted to, even though she was hurting too. She just squeezed Natasha that little bit tighter, "Do you need anything". 

"Can you just talk to me?".

"Yeah", Eleanor frowned slightly not knowing what to talk about, "Anything in particular?".
"No, I just love it when you ramble on about things". 

Eleanor couldn't help but blush at that, as usually half the time she thought that Natasha was just acting like she listened along, as that's what most people did. She didn't know that Natasha actually enjoyed hearing her rambly monologues about different theories. 

The next few hours were spent with Natasha curled up into Eleanor, listening to her thoughts on multiple universe theory, aliens, space, why Cathy from reception needs to learn how to park properly, how to make your cheese sauce smooth and not lumpy, and a lot more. To anyone else, this would have been a mind-numbing few hours. But Natasha clung to every word. She loved hearing her voice, and how passionately she would talk about the most mundane things, it was her best medicine. 

Soon though, they got a bit peckish, so decided to venture down to the vending machine, and just as predicted it was nicely stocked, making Eleanor rub her hands together in victory.

Natasha chuckled and got a snickers, Eleanor was taking a lot longer, analysing every item on show. Starting from the top, chocolate bars, M&Ms, snack packs, gum, a SHIELD USB stick, more snack packs- "Wait", Eleanor mumbled, training her eyes back to 510, the pink sticks of bubblegum.

"Will you just hurry up El, I was comfy back there", Natasha complained, but she soon moved back to the vending machine when she saw Eleanor frantically ordering a bubblegum stick, "What are you-".

"That ain't bubblegum". 

Nat looked to the back of the row and saw that there was something in there that was indeed not bubblegum, "Right, quick, quick". 

"I'm trying these things are slow as fu- no! Don't get stuck you piece of shit", Eleanor started shaking the machine and banging on the window, making people look at the pair with judgey glances. 

Nat turned to give them awkward smiles and nods before turning back to Eleanor, "Hurry up!", she whisper shouted. 

"Got it!", the last stick of actual bubblegum was unstuck, so now she could pay for the USB stick. It fell to the bottom, so she quickly grabbed it and handed it to Nat who hid it in her pocket. 

"Steve", they both said when they looked at each other. He was the only person who could have done this, and he was being very secretive as is. 

"We'll wait for him at the end of the hall, he'll come back for it if he has half a brain", Eleanor suggested as they slowly moved to the end of the hall. "Gum?", she offered Nat as she stuffed a piece in her own mouth, she shrugged and took one. 

It was about an hour before Steve showed up again, and they were cursing him for being so careless with intel. It was a pretty good hiding spot, but leaving it there from 4 am until later in the morning? Not a smart move. 

He did eventually show, but he was wearing sweats and a hoodie, with the hood up. Both Agents frowned slightly, it looked obvious that he was hiding from someone, the only question was who?

They walked forward to confront him anyway, Nat walked past him and looked into her reflection in the vending machine, seeing that Steve was also looking at it, and she blew a bubble. 

Steve turned around to face her and waited for a nearby Doctor to leave before grabbing Natasha from under the arms and pushing her into a room, then shoving her against a wall.