Like Natasha Romanov
“Hey. Hey, what are you doing?” Darcy made her way next to the pirate at the console at the front of the shuttle. She had been hunched over something for the past hour, working diligently while Darcy hummed to herself and brushed her hair.
Natasha looked up at the princess, “I’m working on something.” Is all she offered before starting work on her item again.
“I see that. What is it?” Darcy moved closer into the pirate’s space and the redhead sighed, looking up only to find that Darcy’s face was practically resting on her shoulder.
“I- I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that they’re going to come in handy at some point.”
“Them? Let me see.” Darcy reached over and took one of the little devices from Natasha’s lap.
“Hey, be careful with that.”
The princes moved the small, roundish device that had only one small button on top. It was a crude design but certainly impressive considering what Natasha had to work with on their little dead shuttle.
“What does it do?” Darcy moved it around between her fingers, being careful not to hit the small black button.
“Well—“ Natasha took the already finished prototype from the princess, stood up and set the little device on a metal platform that came up just a foot above the floor of the ship. She hit the button and stepped backwards; The weapon zapped and sent a wave of electric energy through the small platform, going dead as it hit the floor. It then sparked and blew up.
Darcy jumped as it exploded into tiny pieces but Natasha already had her hands over her ears. “That’s what it does.”
“How did you make that?” Darcy moved closer to the area of detonation while the redhead took a portable extinguisher and washed the area down with a cold covering.
“I took apart that little taser thing you found underneath the bunk, they’re just as powerful but there’s more of them and they can be stuck discreetly. But, they still need some work, they weren’t supposed to explode.” She explained.
“Yeah? That’s so neat. What are you going to call them?”
“I didn’t really think that I would call them anything, I just though it would be nice to have something to defend ourselves with out here.”
“Well, it seems like you can do that just fine without them but no, you should totally make those a thing—You could call them ‘spider bites’ or something like that.” She suggested, noticing how the little bulge in the middle looked like arachnid fangs.
Natasha chuckled, “We’ll see.” And then she sat back down to continue working on the ‘bites’.
Darcy moved next to her. They had been on the little shuttle for about three days and although Natasha seemed to be handling it pretty well, the princess was going a little stir crazy. She counted herself lucky that Natasha didn’t seem to mind when she rambled on and on because at the time it was the only outlet that she had.
“You know what I miss most about living on Pacis?” Natasha looked up, the princess had been talking for nearly ten minutes and this was the first time she asked a question. It caught the pirate off guard.
“Huh?” She grunted, continuing to work on her new weapons.
Darcy sighed and leaned on the palm of her hand, “Well, pre-occupation, that is. I miss the dances.” Her voice became lower and her eyes were distant as she remembered.
“My city would host the most spectacular, romantic, dances. Everyone would dress up in these ridiculously shiny clothes and just go nuts, politicians, royalty, the common people, everyone would just dance and sing. I miss that. Do you know how to dance?”
Natasha just looked up and laughed in response to that question so the princess continued. “I would get to dance with the most fun people, pretty girls who were twice my age, I used to sneak up and ask them to dance. They would always say yes and I always had the best time as they spun me around. But then, everyone would get drunk then it became less of an elegant dance and more of a party. The whole city would be coated in glitter and ribbons the next day.” She sighed, “Have you ever danced with someone dashing?”
“One time my boss Jack got so drunk that when they saw the Tarmen Lemurs that we were smuggling they grabbed onto my arm and started sobbing.” Natasha said dryly.
“Are they that cute?”
“They’re pretty damn cute.”
There was a pause between them until, of course, Darcy broke the silence, “You’re pretty strange, you know that?”
“And what makes you say that?” The pirate asked coolly.
Darcy ignored her question and stood up, she grabbed the pirate’s hand and tugged her away from the chair. “What are you doing?”
Darcy continued to pull at her playfully, “You said you’ve never danced with anybody, well, I’m going to change that.”
“Here?”
Darcy nodded.
“There’s not enough room.”
“You can’t be so picky, Nat. You’ve got to live in the moment; we’ve got a good 6 feet to work with.” The princess explained with a hint of exasperation in her voice.
The pirate groaned but let herself be pulled up, nonetheless. Darcy put her hand on Nat’s waist and guided her hand onto her own shoulder. They moved side to side for a few minutes as Natasha humored her companion.
“See, that’s not so bad, now that you’ve got the hang of it we can really dance.”
“We aren’t dancing now?” Is all Natasha could say before she was ducked to the side and the Darcy pulled her up and spun her away. She came way to close to the side of the shuttle for comfort.
The princess threw her hands up and grabbed onto Natasha’s hands and they splayed their bodies and stepped in uneven circles. They weren’t graceful or even talented steps but Darcy was laughing out loud at the look on Natasha’s face.
“Oh! That was a smile! I saw that!” Darcy cried as she saw the pull of the pirate’s face as they moved around in chaotic circles.
“I don’t know if this is bliss or if I’m just too dizzy to tell the difference.” She said a hint of breathlessness in her voice.
“Isn’t this fun!? This is what happens when you let life take you where it wants.” Both of them were looking a little dizzy as they moved around the small shuttle, precariously sending their bodies to the edge of their metal limits.
Darcy giggled just as her feet twisted under her and she tumbled backwards, she would have hit the side of the shuttle if Natasha had not slipped an arm around her waist and twirl her much in the same way the princess had shown her a few moments ago.
Darcy’s breath left her as she stared up at the slightly smirking face above her, holding her securely off the ground, flush to the pirate’s body. Natasha’s face seemed to have changed since their encounter with Ward. She just looked… Slightly different.
But now she had the distinct look of a wild cat, hungry and focused. Darcy let out a slightly nervous breath and grinned, “You’re a quick learner.” She giggled.
Natasha smiled slowly, “You have no idea.”
Darcy saw the moment that Natasha’s inhibitions left her and she closed the space between them, going after exactly what she wanted. Their lips met gently and Darcy let her eyes close, imagining where this could go. She supposed that type of thinking that got her into trouble, imagining a future full of sparks and fireworks, romance, and unyielding heroes.
She waited for a moment, waiting for the kiss to deepen or for Natasha just to take her like she had always imagined but instead she felt herself being lifted up and around, back on her feet. Natasha led her backwards onto the little bunk.
She was still standing when Natasha kissed her ever so gently again but as they parted, their eyes were wide open and Darcy saw the pirate’s face fall. Maybe a little bit more broken than either of them would like to admit.
Natasha fell to her knees and dropped her face into the princess’s lap, tears falling onto her thighs. Darcy saw the breaking point and she pushed her fingers through her hero’s red hair as the pirate quietly accepted the feeling of vulnerability. She gave a butterfly kiss to the top of her hero’s head, accepting now that maybe her friend had waited a very long time for this.
Darcy hummed and held onto her body, her dashing hero looked like she was melting but the princess decided that maybe she could do something about that. She had many moments like this in her life, where she realized that her romanticized fantasies of the future were not accurate or fair to those around her however, they were perfect in their own way. Much like Natasha Romanov.