Peter & Natasha
Peter always wished he could stay until the end of every Avengers party, whether it was Christmas, New Year's Eve, or whatever. Even though he was still quite small, and by ten o'clock he was yawning with fatigue, he always reluctantly pushed it until an amused Tony sent him to bed and he obeyed him without much grumbling.
"But I'm not tired," he still said stubbornly to Natasha, as she agreed to accompany him to his room, put him to bed, and stay with him until he fell asleep. Peter might have hoped a little that he could persuade Natasha to return with him back to the Avengers because it was Aunt Nat and Aunt Nat might allow him.
But the redhead just laughed. "You've told us that at least ten times. But every time you thought no one was watching, you yawned. You won't miss anything, baby," she told him, bending down to beep on his nose. Peter laughed and began to change into his pajamas as Natasha pulled back the curtains on his window.
"It's not fair anyway," he continued to grind as he slipped into bed and snuggled under the duvet. Natasha sat on the side of his bed and adjusted his duvet. Peter rolled his brown eyes at her and blinked quickly as he tried to drive away coming fatigue.
"What isn't fair? There will be no more fun now, and we'll go to bed in a moment so we can wake up early tomorrow and unwrap Santa's presents," Natasha told him to reassure him, though it didn't seem like the party would end soon. Rather, it was the other way around, and it was only now that the fun began to take off. "Are you excited? You're sure to be the first to get up, aren't you? And were you good at all?” She teased him.
Peter jumped to his seat. "Of course I was good!"
Natasha laughed. "Yeah. I know you were, but good kids don't excuse anyone either and don't want to stay at parties when they have long since slept," she teased. Peter puffed his cheeks and lay down again, but he could never be angry with Aunt Nat. Instead, he kissed her goodnight and she gently pinched his cheek.
"Will you stay here?" He asked her, rolling on his side.
Nat smiled and adjusted his duvet. "I'll stay," she promised him, intending to keep her word. She stroked his brown curly hair, and Peter closed his eyes as she began to glaze him gently. Natasha watched him with a strange mixture of love and melancholy.
She knew she would never have children. She had long come to terms with the idea — she had to come to terms with it because she had nothing else to do — that she would never become a mother. And she guesses it was better that way. After all, she had been trained as an elite assassin, and she had experienced and seen so much that she still had some memories to keep in mind because they simply could not be suppressed. And for her child to have a murderess mother? A secret agent? No, she couldn't do that. Plus, it would be risky. Natasha was not naive. Precisely because she had seen so much, she also made many enemies. And they could attack her out of revenge at any time. And to have a small child through whom they could blackmail her, or perhaps force her to watch them hurt him... No, it was good that the Red Room had secured it like that. Nothing could distract her.
She decided to bury her motherly instincts deep inside. She was Black Widow. And Black Widow had no feelings. She couldn't have. She naively thought she had everything under control, but as soon as she met Peter, she knew she was wrong. He gave her so much love and she could only help him but to give it back. How could she be cold and withdrawn whenever he appeared near her? He was their sun.
Natasha smiled and stroked his cheek. She noticed that Peter was asleep. She could get up and go, and yet she remained. She looked at his innocent child's face and wondered how it would feel if she were a mother. Surely it would be very similar to Peter's case, only those feelings would be even stronger and more burning. No, it suited Nat the way it was. It had to. Being Aunt Nat was a wonderful thing for her, and little Peter had to be adored even by someone like her. Agent, assassin, sarcastic redhead, cold and withdrawn Russia, Ice Queen, Black Widow.
Every minute she spent with him, she pushed Black Widow into the background more and more. She became Natasha. Who she was before they made her an elite assassin in the Red Room. When she was with Peter, Black Widow didn't seem to exist.
The boy awoke the best she had in her.