Chapter 2
He knew who exactly would be in there, yet he didn’t know if he could do what he was about to do. He’s known everyone on the team for seven months now, and everyone’s familiar with each other, so this shouldn’t be an issue, right? Stephen was anxiously gripping the strap to his book bag as he sucked up the guts to open the door. Once he had, he walked in and set his book bag down on the floor near the back wall trying to ready himself for whatever was next to come. He leaned against the back wall before he began to speak, as he awaited the rest of the shots from the current round finish up.
“You’re still here after three hours we’ve had off so far?” He’d chime in once the gun stopped. He kept a straight face as he spoke, yet his expression was soft, along with the joking tone in his voice. Although he was intimidated by the lady he stood in the room with, especially as she held a weapon, he was trying his best to play it off and appear as calm. The redhead had only noticed he had entered the room as soon as he spoke.
She never took her eyes off the targets that had just been shot at as he spoke. "Yeah, the last few missions weren't exactly relaxing." Natasha put the gun down and looked at Stephen, then glares at the book bag that laid on the cold, concrete like floor as she removed the headphones that were basically safety procussions. "You're not going to read those here, are you? It's quite the noisy place." She said, directing her eyes back to the boy’s face.
Stephen began to speak again as he also directed his sight towards his book bag. “Oh, no, not here. I uh, was taking them with me to the common room as I thought I’d come in and see if you were interested in taking a break soon. In order to relax and all.” He raised a single eyebrow looking up at the lady who was slightly taller than him. “We could grab Bucky since the only thing he seems to have done for the past three hours is run repeatedly.”
The adult female hummed. "Sounds like a good plan." She said as she put the gun back in the support attached to her belt. "Though he’ll probably look like he just spent two years in Budapest." She cracked a smile at the boy as she spoke.
He didn’t expect such a response from her, at least not towards him. He straightened up before speaking once more. “Well I’m in no rush, so please take your time. He bent down and picked up his book bag, slinging it across himself once more as he checked to make sure none of the randomly placed buttons he had collected had fallen off.
Before he could say anything else, she spoke up again, breaking the momentary silence between the two. She nodded and adjusted the bun in her hair. "We can go now- and we should, since there’s the probability that he may have already worked himself too far." She admitted with a sigh, walking outside without waiting or looking back.
“Sounds like a deal. I wouldn't be shocked if he did already push himself too far." He responded as he smiled a bit.
She chuckled. ''Who knows? That's just his nature. Keep up, already.'' She said as she walked.
Stephen quickly went to catch up to her. He wasn’t used to getting such a casual response from her, let alone anyone on the team, maybe aside from Tony. “Does seem like himself to do so.” He’d pause for a bit. “Quite odd for us to get time off like this, isn’t it?”
“I don’t blame him.” Natasha said without further word on the manner, she then looks at Stephen. “Quite odd for you to have this time off. I do whatever I want.” She replied with a certain sass in her voice, moving her head forward.
He’d redirect his eyes to the floor again instead of the woman he was following. “That’s true.” He’d look back up at her. “It’s nice you do that though.”
''It's kind of nice to be able to.'' She gave him a quick glance. ''I spent all my life being forced to do things, so this feeling of freedom is... Relaxing? I don't know.'' Natasha shook her head with a low chuckle.
“Oh, so did I. The idea of doing something that wasn’t ordered for a long period of time is… Frightening.” He’d say as he tightened his grip on the sash of his book bag.
''Takes a while to get used to it.'' She admitted, taking a turn and walking forward until they stumbled in front of the gym. ''Here we are. I better not walk in there and find him dead.''
“That would be unpleasant to say the least.”