Time skip
"Allie! Are you free today?" It was the weekend so you had nothing to do. Amy, George and Mitch went to have fun with their families for the weekend to celebrate the festival that was associated with red and pink. God blessed their family that was whole.
"Yes. I'm free." You replied to Nat as you turned your chair to face her. You were just wasting time watching YouTube on your laptop until Monday comes and school starts again. You were being the kid you never were able to be when you were younger, leaving your homework aside and rushing to your laptop once you were home. But at least your results were good, you kept telling yourself that.
"Get dressed. I'm taking you out today." Nat said quickly before closing the door again. You shrugged your shoulders not knowing why Nat just asked you out. What was she going to do with you on Valentine's day? Even throughout the years with Nat, you've never seen her celebrating this day before.
Nevertheless, you went to change and met Nat in the living room. Without saying anything, she nodded her head towards the garage and you followed along. It was really weird to be brought around without any knowledge but when it boiled down to Nat, you can't say no.
"Where are we going?" You finally asked when you were in her car for a few moments.
"You'll see." She refused to say anything with a smirk.
Sighing, you got comfortable in your seat until Nat told you that you've reached the destination. You knew from the time spent in the car that you didn't go too far, looking out of the window, your suspicions were confirmed as you were still in the shopping district where all sorts of Valentine's Day sales could be seen plastered along the window, displaying respective goods that the shops were selling.
As you walked down the street with Nat's hands in yours, sales person was trying to pass you their brochures in an attempt to boost their sales. There were plenty of people holding roses patiently yet anxiously waiting for their partner to arrive or buying their last minute purchase that they had forgotten.
"Wanda, you can stop hiding around." Nat's voice caught your attention and you looked at her before turning behind to see Wanda appearing behind a light pole. She chuckled nervously as she walked towards us and gave me a small wave.
"So? You're actually going there?" Wanda bumped Nat's shoulder with hers and wiggled her eyebrows.
"I just thought I'll let Allie experience it."
"Yeah yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night."
You looked between the two women, not knowing what they were talking about. Three of you continued making your way there. It was just a short walk but due to the crowd, it was very hard to walk through the sea of people. From an outside perspective, it looked like the three of you were a family as you were walking in between Wanda and Nat.
Standing outside the building, it looked like an ordinary brick building which was quite out of place here. There were significantly fewer people standing outside the door as there were no displays of any kind, no promotions or anything. You couldn't even see what was inside. Double checking that she got the right place, Nat pushed open the door and there were already a few people there talking, mostly ladies.
"You must be Miss Natalie Rushman." An old looking lady spoke.
"That's right. This is Allison and Wendy." Giving Wanda a fake name was as easy as she breathed.
"Nice to meet you ladies. I am Mrs White, the owner of this building. Since everyone is here, let's get started shall we?" She showed us around and to our stations before giving each of us an apron and you took it skeptically. Was Nat going to cook?
"We are going to make Valentine's Day chocolate. You can either give it to your crush, friend or have it for yourself." Everyone cheered before the owner continued again. "Making the chocolate would be easy, but I bet everyone would be excited for the decorating."
The ingredients needed were already measured out and placed on the table. Using the stool provided for you, you stepped on it and followed the steps as best you could. Of course, Wanda was really proficient in this while you and Nat needed some help from the owner and her. Once she was done mixing everything and placed hers in the fridge, she came round to yours to help you.
"You are doing way better than Miss Rushman over there." She teased.
"Just you wait Wendy. I'll destroy your chocolate before you can even see it."
---
Overall, it was really light hearted, Wanda and Nat were teasing and joking around that others started participating as well. There was a period of time where we had moments to spare as we needed to wait for the chocolate to set and harden before we could decorate.
"There are a few ice piping in front of you for you to choose from. For whatever reason if you don't have enough, you can always come and find me to get more." The ladies squealed and started decorating it the way they have been discussing during the break earlier.
Your mind was blank as you stared at the chocolate in front of you. There was only a certain amount of time you had to decorate before it started melting again but you had no idea what to put on it.
You looked around and everyone had a smile on their faces as they transferred their idea to the chocolate. Maybe you should just leave it plain and eat it for yourself. You took a peek at Wanda and she was decorating it with ease. Leaning towards her to steal a glance, she shifted away when she saw you coming closer. You gave her a look but said nothing, who would have thought she had a crush, no wonder she was attending this as well.
Looking at Nat this time, she was also decorating, not as good as Wanda but at least she had some colour on the chocolate already.
In the end, you decided to put a simple note on the chocolate, not really wanting it to be empty.
The owner gave us each a box and a piece of dry ice so the chocolate won't melt before we get home. Each time when there was an opportunity, Nat would try to sneak a peak at Wanda's but she would cover it up and quickly wrapped it up with her magic without letting anyone see. Everyone was happily taking photos of their finished products and posting them on their social media.
"Are you done wrapping, Allie?" Nat asked kindly. You nodded your head and passed it to her. "You want me to hold it for you?" You shook your head but continued holding the wrapped chocolate in front of her.
"I just wanted to thank you for taking care of me." You said shyly as you were looking at the ground, too shy to look at her.
"Thank you. I appreciate it a lot." She placed a finger under your chin and kissed your forehead causing you to blush furiously. Others might be seeing a tomato walking around.
"What about you, Nat? Who are you giving it to?" Wanda asked, knowing you would want to know the answer too.
"I don't know... I think I'm just gonna have to have it for myself." She shrugged her shoulders before we waved goodbye to the owner and headed back to the compound.
"What should we do when we head back?" Wanda asked excitedly from the passenger seat.
"I don't know, watch some random movie and head to bed. This little one still has school tomorrow." Nat said and you groaned at the back seat.
---
Somehow, all of us fell asleep on the couch in the living room. It was surprising that none of the boys woke us up but maybe because Tony was not in the compound with Pepper, because let's be real, he's the only one who would make too much of a fuss and wake us up with the only exception of Thor. He's just naturally loud.
I sneaked away and stood at the entrance of the compound and took out my phone to call Nat. Using the new gadget that Bill gave me, I was able to change my voice to any person I liked.
"See the dials over here? Just turn it until the correct number and you have the voices." Bill explained it to me. "There's all sorts of voices you can imagine there. There's even your voice in it." He said excitedly.
"That's nice, but why is it in the shape of a bowtie?" You questioned.
"I couldn't think of anything else to hide it in."
"This is nice. I'm sure it's going to come in handy. Thank you, Bill."
"Number eleven..." You mumbled as you tuned the dial to your voice. Pressing Nat's number on your phone, you cleared your throat as you waited for Nat to pick up. Your heart was beating on your chest as you waited nervously.
Nat
Hello?
Hey Nat... It's me.
I went back earlier but you were sleeping so I decided not to disturb you...
Y/N!
Why?
You need your sleep.
It's not everyday you get a chance to rest.
Where have you been?
Are you going to be done with your mission anytime soon?
No... I'm getting tied up.
It's probably going to take a long while. Sorry.
I miss you... a lot.
Everyone's missing you too.
I'm sorry.
At least you have my phone number now.
I don't know where my previous one went.
You heard Natasha pull away from her phone to check the caller ID on her screen.
You're giving me your number?
Just a head's up,
you're going to get voicemail quite often. I'm rather busy.
But let's not talk about this.
I saw a peach shaped chocolate on the table
and I got tired waiting so I took the liberty to eat it.
Hey! It's not a peach shape...
If you were here so long, you should have woken me up!
Despite its shape, it's really tasty.
Where did you get it from?
I'm not going to tell you.
It's my secret.
Okay okay, I conceded.
I heard from Bill that you're taking care of the kid name... Allison?
That's right, she reminds me of you a lot.
That day, it was a long night talking through the phone as you continued to take bites of the chocolate until your phone ran out of battery. You missed being able to talk to her as yourself and hated seeing her being sad that you weren't there.
Posted on 19 Jun 2022