Work Text:
Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll light those ears
I'm sick of all the insincere
She finds him, eventually. It didn't take her as long as she'd thought, considering she wasn't actually looking for him. She walked up behind him while he sipped his coffee, saw him reach for the gun under his stupid hoodie. "You bastard, you utter bastard."
His hand fell away from the weapon and he relaxed. "I'd remind you who you are speaking to, Agent Romanoff."
She gracefully collapsed into the chair across from him. "I'm no longer an agent, and you're not my boss anymore. So shove it."
He raised an eyebrow.
She stared at him until he looked away. Victory won, she waved her hand to signal the waitress. "Coulson."
He refused to flinch, refused to look back at her. Refused to let her win this little game they're playing. "I had my reasons."
She nodded, not expecting any other answer from him. "I'm sure they were very good ones." That finally got Fury to look at her, surprised at her easy acceptance. Now that she had him, she went in for the kill. "My problem is, the Battle of New York was two years ago. The Avengers are formed, we've more or less stayed together, or at least in touch. It's not like no one knows Phil's still alive, he's been running around with his team for months now. Steve, Clint, and I are all over level 7, yet you didn't tell any of us." She paused, watched him tense for the final blow. "What the fuck, Nick?"
He paused, considering. How much truth to give away. "We didn't know."
She looked shrewdly at him. "Didn't know what?"
"What he'd be, after."
"Too bad you didn't know any supergeniuses who could help you maybe figure that out, or help monitor him." She leans forward, palms flat on the table in front of her. "Oh, wait."
Nick sighed. "Stop it, Natasha."
She leaned back in her seat. "No."
"What do you want me to say?"
"The goddamn truth, Nick."
He leaned forward, glaring at her so hard she can tell even through the sunglasses. "You are treading a very fine line, agent. We may be something approaching friends, but you are about to cross a point you can't come back from."
Natasha calmly sipped her tea. "I am aware of that."
"So what is so important, that you are willing to keep on going anyway?"
She's sick of this. He might be a master spy, but she was created for this at the age of 9. Even he can't out-manipulate her. Just like she couldn't get the truth out of Loki with lies, so too will truth be necessary for truth with Nick. No more games. "Over the years I've taken a lot of shit from you, and I had no problem with it. I'm not naive; I'm nobody's child. I have stayed loyal through every lie, and scheme, and manipulation, and never once thought about walking away; that's the job."
He sipped his coffee. "So what's the problem then, Natasha?"
She leaned forward. "I was trained for the job, they weren't." She gestured vaguely, but there was no doubt who 'they' meant. "You've let those men think Phil was dead for two years." She paused, reined in her emotions, refusing to allow him to see them all, naked and bare. He hadn't earned that right back, yet. "Clint thinks he's dead."
He refuses to be moved. "Barton was trained for this."
"You fucker." The words are said tonelessly, almost entirely without inflection, but she sees his flinch. The minute tick of his good eye is as close to a full body recoil as her soft words are to a scream. She's finally gotten to him.
She has been lied to, deceived, led to believe the man in front of her is dead, been given the run around, and left behind. She has never seen any reason to give forgiveness, because she has never seen anything to forgive. She has never wavered in her confidence in him.
She will not forgive him this.
Nick stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to speak again. She has nothing left to say. He is mired so deeply in lies and deception, he cannot find a truth to give her. And she is done with lies. Finally, he puts down his mug and stands. "Well, this was fun. Do not find me again, unless it's to be useful, agent."
He's three steps away from the table when she speaks.
"We're out there, spilling our secrets, revealing our souls. And you're here, safe and sound, with no judgment, no condemnation. Everyone thinks you're dead, and Maria's out there paying for your sins."
He freezes, but does not turn around. Natasha throws some bills on the table, then gets up and stalks past him. She gets to the curb, summons a cab. She looks out the back window as the car drives away.
Nick still hasn't moved.
This time
Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics ever jump in line
I'm gonna give all my secrets away