Part 7 - 2012
“You ever go to college?” Nat asked you while you browsed the shops on the high street, nudging the Trinity College hoodie you’d given her.
“Yeah, a few times, gotta boost that CV”
She laughed, “uh huh, I’m sure they don’t question the degrees being done in the 1960s”
“That much I can fabricate”
“So which degrees?”
“Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Russian, English… Might need to redo computer science actually, I think it’s progressed a bit since”
She tilted her head at your comment questioningly, “when did you do it?”
“Oh, 19…53? that’s when I started. University of Cambridge”
“Yeah it’s changed a bit” she confirmed,
“Did you do any?” you asked back. She nodded.
“I’ve done some online degrees. Criminology, biology. I did do a computer science degree as well, part of some undercover work in 2006″
You faked a gasp, “oh, wow, did you have a laptop and all? How new-fangled” you joked, smiling when she laughed again. You were glad that this side of her never faded, that she was still relaxed enough to laugh with you. It had taken a large part of those first few years to break that down, and you’d feared it would be lost in those other 190 years apart.
Natasha’s style was different from yours, that much was clear. You gave nervous thumbs up at how she looked trying on outfits, but your mouth dried up every time she emerged. The leather jackets (of which she apparently needed many) made her look badass, and she always paired it with tight-fitting t-shirts and jeans. It was stylish… and also hot.
“yeah, looks, um, looks very good” you croaked. She raised an eyebrow with a knowing smirk.
“That’s your only comment?”
You pulled yourself together and returned the grin, very obviously looking down at the outfit you were wearing; old jeans and an oversized t-shirt. “I can’t exactly comment on style”
“Yeah… you can’t” she agreed, looking you up and down. You may have said it first, but you couldn’t help but frown, she wasn’t meant to agree. “You’re close though”. At this she moved forward, tucking half the shirt into your jeans. In doing so, her fingers brushed against your waist and you stiffened. While she was still looking away you shot your gaze to the ceiling in frustration, this was getting embarrassing, you couldn’t handle a simple innocent touch?
She grabbed a belt off of the rack and thread it through your belt loops. Then took a step back to appraise her work, “See. Stylish”
You had to admit it did look better than the teenage boy look you had been rocking before. Not that you’d ever really cared about what you looked like before, but for Nat you wanted to put some more effort in. So someone as stylish as her wouldn’t have to trudge around with you. That was the only reason, not that you wanted to impress her or anything.
“Alright, alright, it’s better, sure” you admitted, removing the belt and scooping up the clothes Natalia had liked, bringing them to the till.
You grabbed Nat’s wrist when she tried to find her card. She sucked in a breath in… annoyance? You weren’t sure, but you kept her hand steady as you produced your own card, ready to buy the lot.
“You only got a belt, I can pay for my own clothes” she whined, but you shook your head,
“nuh uh, I can take this one”
“but it’s only fair if I pay”
The cashier laughed at the antics but presented you with the card machine. “Oh look, it’s done. Too late Tsarevna” you shrugged when the payment went through, releasing her arm… which she promptly used to lightly slap your chest.
“Hey, I just paid for your stuff and that’s how you react?” you teased through a frown.
She sighed overdramatically, “thank you Y/N”
“So, what next? Loki did a lot of damage so I guess you’re stuck here for a while”
“There’s worse places to be”
“…Not a great answer to the ‘what’s next’ question”
“Well,” she flicked the large hat you’d put on, “miss floppy hat, you probably need to get back inside soon. It can’t be giving you much protection”
“It’s not, no” you frowned, “my skin does feel like it’s on fire right now”
“Y/N what?!”
“It’s ok, I’ve tested it. I can last a bit longer without getting damage” you shrugged.
“We’re going home right now.”
Once off the mains streets, you ran, leading Natasha through the back alleys of your home town at the speed of sound (actually, just under, a sonic boom tends to draw attention) until you arrived back at your house.
“I’ll be in the basement,” you said, handing the bag of clothes to Natalia for her to put away. Then you headed downstairs, closing the shutter door behind you and sealing out any trace of light. Your basement was a great setup; a lounge, kitchen, and bar all in one, and zero windows so it was pitch black.
Seeing in the dark wasn’t exactly like it was in the light. You could see perfectly well, every detail as clear as day. In fact, it might have been even better, the dark was, after all, what your eyes were made for since the transition. But the vibrancy wasn’t there.
It was what you had missed most when you were turned initially, when the smallest sliver of sunlight would have burnt you to a crisp; colour. Just the intensity of colour and the warmth of the sun. It was why you constantly risked going outside in the day. But now you had to rest, let your eyes return to their natural state in the pitch-black room.
Natalia joined you soon after, and thankfully also didn’t feel the need to turn the artificial light on. “How long did it take you to stop burning up?” you asked, patting the seat next to you.
She shrugged, leaping gracefully over the back of the sofa to take her seat, “Red Room always sent me on night missions so it was a recent discovery. I just had to run outside to avoid capture and then realised it wasn’t hurting”
“Risky”
“Yep”
“Well, um, I’m glad you didn’t die” you muttered. You kept your head facing forward but you could see the smirk and head tilt out of the corner of your eye.
“You’re glad I didn’t die?” she teased and you nodded mutely.
“D’you need any blood?” you asked suddenly, standing up and pacing to the mini-fridge in the corner. She watched you in amusement, waiting a few seconds before replying, “I suppose I could do with some. Do you have any blood bags?”
Now it was your turn to tease her, “I sure hope that’s not how you refer to people Tsarevna”. She sighed and you tossed a bag at her, which she caught with grace.
“Um, uh… I’ll be upstairs,” she said, racing off before you could even comprehend it. You hesitated, not expecting her to hurry off, but shrugged. She’d rarely ever fed in front of you when you’d lived together, perhaps she just liked the privacy.
———————————————————–
The next month passed incredibly quickly, the ease you had always felt around Natalia having returned at once. Even if she was Natasha now, and even if you were really struggling to hide your ever-growing crush.
You carried on with your daily routine, doing everything you had been doing before the red-head came back into you life, only now you had company, and it would be a lie to say you had missed it.
Natasha had to keep working, but often remotely from your house. Small things, like reviewing files or coding, she did on her laptop. (You tried to help but she was right, coding had changed since your degree in the 1950s). But she did also have more demanding tasks, taking missions for SHIELD, mostly the ones in the British Isles, and some in Western Europe too.
You always felt… odd, when she was gone, far more worried than you should be about a vampire/trained assassin. But you’d seen her get hurt before, and going another 190 years without her, or, forbid, an eternity, was out of the question for you. So you’d see her off anxiously and greet her with relief at her homecoming. You shouldn’t worry really, she was rarely gone longer than a day.
———————————————————–
A rapid knocking on your bedroom door woke you up that day. You rarely needed to sleep, but you’d been holding it off for a while to build excitement before your birthday, so you had been genuinely exhausted when you’d gone to bed that night.
Natasha had not gone for the same route. “Wake up, Y/N!” she yelled, “get your ass out of bed and open this door”
You grinned despite everything, you were rested enough, even if it was- you checked the clock and groaned- 6:30 AM, great.
Natasha almost fell through the doorway when you opened it, her knocks not ceasing until that moment. She stood herself up, regaining her balance, then grinned widely at you, “happy birthday”
“Thank you Nat” you smiled back, holding in a laugh at her dishevelled state.
“Come on, I baked you a cake”
The laugh broke through at that, “yeah, I can see. Did any of it actually go into the oven?” Her responding glare would have been more menacing if her face and clothes weren’t splattered with flour and cake batter. You could even see where she’d run her hand through her hair by the white mark it had left behind.
You followed her to the kitchen, the small cake (clearly you were right that not all of it had gotten in the oven) was decorated with a red 216 in icing. When Natasha moved to the other side of the counter from you, you paused, grin fading from your face, “please don’t get stabbed this time” you told her seriously and a knowing expression crossed her face.
“So long as you don’t get kidnapped either” she replied
“I’ll try my best”
“You better. Now come on, enough of that conversation, eat some cake”
You smiled up at her, cutting into the, very solid, sponge cake. “Thank you, for this”
“Always. I can’t have you forgetting your birthday again”
“216, 217 next May”. The two of you were silent for a moment as you served the cake slices, but she smiled at your reply.
At last she looked up, eyes seeming to analyse your face. “When was the last time you had a cake for your birthday?” she asked seriously, not looking away even when you did.
“Would have been my 26th. Haven’t had many close friends since then”. She leapt over the counter, pulling you quickly into a hug,
“I’d offer to bake you 190 cakes to make up for it, but when you taste this you might not want me to” she admitted, having had her first bite already.
You raised an eyebrow, trying it for yourself; only to open your mouth and let the mush fall back out. “Yeah, you’re right. Please don’t”
“You’re a vampire now, it was always going to taste of nothing” she laughed,
“Sure, sure, but the texture shouldn’t be solid. I swear you used to be a better cook than this”
“Well, it was a lot easier when you’d pretty much eaten nothing warm in your life. Now you have standards to compare me to.”
“I guess we can stick to blood bags” you suggested, “and give this to the birds”
“Oh, I have more news to give you” Nat announced later on in the day, waiting for you to ask for elaboration before continuing. “Stark tower’s been fully refurbished, and now it’s Avengers tower, so we can move in whenever we like.”
“How long’s that been done?” you asked. It was clear she was excited about moving in, and if she said it had been finished the minute before, you wouldn’t have been surprised.
“A week”
“A week? And you didn’t want to move in sooner?”
“Sure they’re my friends and all” she explained, “but I thought it would be nice to have a birthday celebration alone, just like the old days”. She looked nervous at the admission, eyes darting around to various locations on the floor.
You stepped forward, lifting her head up to look at you. “It was perfect” you reassured, “but we can move there as soon as you want”