Natasha
Clint was the first. Her first American friend. Her door to the new life.
He trusted her. And she trusted him—the best decision of her life.
He is small. Easy to underestimate. He doesn't need to show off. He doesn't need to prove he is the alpha of the pack. He just is one.
He takes care of her family. He takes care of everybody around him. Cats and lost souls, too.
She knows that without him she wouldn't be who she is now.
Bruce was the one who got away. She loved him. She loved all of them, but she loved him differently.
He sees the monster in him and looks him in the eye. He could see her dark side, too.
She tries to take it lightly. You don't always get what you want. That's life. But it hurts to see him with anyone else. She doesn't let it show.
Pepper is a friend. And more than a friend. She loves men too much to love her wholeheartedly, and she's sorry for that, but they are the same, she understands.
They don't meet often but they have fun together. They play like wild and free teenagers neither of them ever was. For those moments, days, weekends, all the worries of the world melt away.
Tony is a friend. A good friend. A painfully close friend and that's why they are hiding their friendship from the world. And often from themselves, too.
They banter because the closeness is too much to bear. It's too much to know, that someone else near you knows too well what it's like to be raised to be something without asking what you want. How it feels like to be deceived by people close to you.
What it feels like to be hurt, physically and mentally. What it feels like to be the one whose actions have killed more than you can count. What it feels like to feel guilty.
What is living like without really trusting anyone ever again? You always have to watch your back.
Many people don't get it, but he does.
They pretend they don't know that the other knows, too.
She's working for him now, taking care of Darcy like Clint takes care of his kittens found in the forest.