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“How did I end up here?” was usually a question Natasha asked herself in the middle of a firefight or when she watched Clint challenge yet another person to a drinking contest that he always lost, but it echoed through her mind as she handed over her purse to be looked into and wanded by a very chipper person who was definitely not old enough to drive. She bowed low enough that Cooper could adorn her with mouse ears, of all things. This was the price of going on vacation with the Bartons. She wouldn’t change it for the world.
The scenery was almost overwhelming, with colours and sounds jumping at you from every angle. Contrasting jingles sang from each building, and she suddenly remembered why she hadn’t been here before. Sure, cases had brought her to Florida often enough. Lila squealed as she pointed to fellow girls wearing fairy wings, their hair bundled into perfect little buns and their faces gleaming from glitter.
“Can I?” She asked her mother, widening her eyes to cartoonish proportions. Being around the Bartons healed her inner child.
“How about after we go to see some of the princesses?” Cooper whined, and Clint promised him they would go see some other animals and fighters too. He didn’t mind Snow White, Nat knew, because he’d been paying more attention to the film than Lila had. He just liked Buzz Lightyear better.
“Hey, kiddo,” Nat said, strapping on the baby carrier until Nathaniel giggled securely on her chest, “It’s okay. If we don’t get to go there today, when we get back to the hotel, I can do your hair. Y’know, I used to do my younger sister’s hair.”
She winked at Lila, who smiled, grabbed Natasha’s hand and dragged her through the crowd after her parents and brother. They saw Chip and Dale, Winnie the Pooh, and Merida, the kids taking a photo with all of them. She and Laura insisted that Clint take a photo with Merida. By 1300, everyone was melting in the late August heat and humidity, and when Nate began to cry, they decided to stop at a nearby Tavern to grab a very overpriced Disney-themed lunch.
“Oh, hey, Lila!” Clint said, pointing to the statue, “Look, it’s Gaston!” She wrinkled her nose. They sat down, marvelling at how nicely the restaurant replicated the film version. Cooper sat down in Gaston’s chair, easily dwarfed by the large blanket that hung on the back of it. He grinned at his mother as she snapped photos, showing off his newly lost tooth.
“Woah there, little boy!” cried a deep voice, “Who allowed you to sit in my chair?”
“You’re Gaston!” Lila said, maybe hiding behind Nat a little bit. “Gaston” was a giant, but he certainly fit the part. His coiffed and teased black hair was gathered in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, his wig shining from hair spray. The cut ‘v’ into the red costume and yellow collar exposed a bit of chest hair, and the brown faux leather belt highlighted a trim waist. Maybe she was leering a bit.
“Yes, I am, little lady. Best hunter around,” He bowed, extending his hand towards Lila so that she hid even more behind Nat.
“And who might you be?” Gaston said. “You must be the most beautiful woman in your town.” Maybe she blushed; Clint wiggled his eyebrows at her. However, a Disney character hitting on Natasha seemed to be the little boost of courage that Lila needed to speak up, because she angled herself just a little bit farther out from her Aunt’s legs.
“This is my Auntie Nat,” Lila explained. “She’s really, really cool! She can fire a gun and she’s basically a superhero or something-”
“And, and,” Cooper was not one to be left behind, “if you want to talk to Auntie Nat you have to challenge my Dad to, like a, uh, push-up contest or something because she’s really special.” Why had she included the kids in the scheme to get their neighbour and the mailman together? She was oddly proud that they could so easily spot weaknesses. Gaston looked over at her quickly with an easy smile and flushed cheekbones before turning to Cooper and pasting on a grin.
“A push-up contest? Why, little boy, don’t you know that I’ve never been beaten? I’m Gaston, the greatest hunter around.” Was it her imagination or did Gaston seem on the verge of laughter as he appreciatively looked up at her from the knee he had taken to talk to Cooper?
“Well, if it’s for the hand of your pretty Aunt Nat, I suppose I can lower myself to a push-up contest.” Wow, Disney actors went pretty far to sell a character. He could have walked away, but he kept flirting with her to keep the kids out of their shy shells. To be fair, Gaston is a pretty flirtatious character, right? Nat hadn’t watched the film in quite some time. She had learned how to tell when people were lying from years of her career, but this was difficult. He winked at her.
Clint went through the motions of denying the contest. Gaston called him a coward, so Clint puffed up, angrily getting on the ground after adjusting his hearing aids and getting into a plank. He looked up at Laura, who waved him away, her hand in the crook of Nat’s arm.
“Go defend Natasha’s honour, honey.” It was mock-serious, but she was on the verge of laughter as she brought out her phone to begin filming as they began. She leaned into Nat’s ear to whisper:
“This is the funniest fucking thing I’ve seen since Budapest. I can’t believe that you managed to seduce a Disney actor,” Nat threw her a dirty look and opened her mouth to protest.
“No, no,” Laura continued, shaking her head, “I want to see where this goes, and you can’t deny that Gaston is into you.”
They had gained an audience in a circle around the hearth where Clint and Gaston were head to head in a push-up contest. It felt like nearly the entire tavern had gathered around them, even the other actors, who were faithfully cheering on Gaston and trying to conduct a chorus of his song. Unfortunately for Gaston, it seemed that a good amount of the people had heard their conversation, and many kids did not like him. The majority of the crowd was pulling for Clint, and the cheers filled the restaurant as they reached 50.
Lila and Cooper were counting, the audience joining in to shout when they passed 75. Clint would slow down and pick up speed depending on how the crowd cheered for him. She rolled her eyes at his confident grin.
“Gaston!” A man in LeFou’s costume ran into the circle just as both of them had reached 100. Clint had slightly taken the lead over Gaston by seconds. “You must come quickly! We think we found Belle!”
“LeFou, can’t you see I’m busy beating this man in a contest?”
“It’s really Belle, Gaston!” Nat’s laughter fought to bubble over. Gaston threw a glare at his sidekick, pushing himself into a standing position.
“Make no mistake,” He said to Clint, who was panting in a cobra pose. They were both drenched in sweat due to the exertion and the heat. She was unsure whether this was a clever way for the cast members to not have to see who won, because that could easily turn into a problem, or to get Gaston back to doing his job of signing. “I am still the best around. And, I will win the hand of the most beautiful because I deserve the best.”
“But you can’t win her heart,” Lila grinned, “Not like how the beast won Belle’s.”
“I can try,” Gaston flashed a smile at her before leaving. She winked at him, and he stilled before turning away, LeFou in tow, a faint look of shock on his face. Laura wolf-whistled in her ear. The crowd began to dissipate, leaving Natasha and the Bartons standing next to their table, watching Clint sit on the floor as he shook his arms out.
“Clint, please get off of the floor; do you know how many children have probably thrown up on that?” He scrambled to his feet, running his hands through his hair.
…
“You are a godsend, Bruce,” James groaned as he got back to the locker room and took off the wig he wore as Gaston. Bruce grinned up at him from the bench, rolling his neck around and reaching around into his bottom locker to grab his notebook and then began unbuttoning his shirt.
“You don’t usually forget about your breaks, Barnes. Could it possibly be because of the red head you were making eyes at when you left-”
“I changed my mind, you’ve been having out too much with Stevie and he’s turned you into another pain in my ass.”
“So, it wasn’t part of the character, loverboy?” James glared at him, stopped for a moment as he focused on taking off Gaston’s belt to breathe. He decided to ignore Bruce, who, when he had a hypothesis like the good STEM student he was, would chase it like a dog did a bone.
“Who are you texting?” He asked finally, too caught up in Bruce’s far too innocent face as he continued typing out a message.
“Oh, just Steve to discuss who’s making dinner. Uh, did you get her name?”
“The kids called her Nat,” James replied, narrowing his eyes as Bruce continued to text while drinking his water. “What are you doing?”
“Absolutely nothing. Alright, Prince Charming, we’ve got three minutes before you have to be back in signing mode, and I have a bet with Sam and Steve going on who can find her first.”
…
Lila and Cooper were whispering to each other as Laura finished feeding Nate the food they had brought. Well, she would at least have a story when she left. They rode the Goofy rollercoaster- that Lila was barely tall enough for, even after they stuffed her shoes- and began to make their way out of the Magic Kingdom.
“Oh, wait,” Laura said, her eyes catching on a gift shop window, “we need to check on the photos they took.”
“What?” Clint asked, but Lila and Cooper were already dragging them towards the doors, chattering about Gaston and the gifts. The shop looked about as big inside as Cinderella’s castle, and the cacophony that she had learned to tune out began to overwhelm her. Laura made her way to a counter labelled PHOTOS on the left side of the massive room, somehow navigating the maze of merchandise with ease. Lila and Cooper disappeared easily, far shorter than the wooden racks in diagonal rows.
Nat was left alone when Clint, who had Nathaniel strapped onto his chest, followed his children, happily turning off his hearing aids. She was far too caught up in the actor playing Gaston, enough that Clint had heckled her for it when they had left and Lila had tried to provoke her into talking about him. Normally, she would be aware of nearly everything that happened, but she bumped into someone and jumped back.
“Oh, sorry,” Nat said, looking down at the small blond man in a blue polo with a name tag that declared him ‘Steve from Brooklyn, NY’. He looked a little worse for wear, kneeling to pick up the items he had dropped, which were, thankfully, unbroken. She kneeled to help him. He finally looked up at her, his face flushed and his eyes wide until they narrowed.
“Hey,” He said, “Is your name by any chance Nat?”
She raised an eyebrow, keeping her face cool. He was trying far too hard not to look interested as they stood up. Well, he was about Lila’s height, so she could take him in a physical fight. The middle of a Disney store was not the worst place she had gotten into one, but it certainly wasn’t the most inconspicuous and she had promised Laura that she would behave. Unfortunately, that was the moment that Lila came around the corner carrying a giant Stitch stuffie.
“Auntie Nat?” Lila said, her voice muffled and her sight obscured by the comically large stuffed character, “where’s Dad?”
Steve from Brooklyn, NY dropped his badly faked cool facade and beamed at her.
“Hey, there,” he greeted Lila. “Do you need any help with that?”
Lila practically lit up, shoving the stuffie into Nat’s arms. She had been telling everyone about how her Father had beaten Gaston in a push-up contest and Steve from Brooklyn was no exception.
“Y’know, I’m pretty good friends with Gaston,” Steve said and Nat sighed, adjusting the admittedly adorable Stitch.
“Really?” Lila gasped, clasping her hands together, “Cause I’m pretty sure he’s in love with Auntie Nat-”
“Lila,” Natasha groaned.
“Oh?” replied Steve, “well, you should go visit Rapunzel tomorrow.”
“Why?” Lila asked.
“Uh, I’ve been told that her prince looks a lot like Gaston,” He whispered. Lila smirked, thanking him for the information and turning around to Natasha after Steve had walked away, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
“Hey, there you are.” Clint reappeared, Cooper in tow. She gave him a deadpan look as they were joined by Laura, who told them that they’d have to come back tomorrow to pick up the printed photos. In a state of shock, Nat didn’t exactly remember what came next, because before she knew it, they had arrived at the hotel and collapsed on their beds.
“Auntie Nat!” Lila bounced onto the double she was sharing in the same room as the kids, “Are you going to marry Gaston?”
…
Morning in Florida, the city awakes, and once again, Nat was wearing mouse ears. Laura dragged them into the gift shop again, determined to get the photos. Lila pranced over to the large Stitch again, and like magic, a Disney employee appeared to try and help plead her case. Natasha wasn’t paying much attention until she recognised the voice.
“It’s a good price, sir,” said Steve from Brooklyn. “Comes with this autograph book and Stitch pen so you can get all of your character friends to sign it. Weren’t you talking about going to visit Flynn Rider today?”
“That’s right!” Lila cried, spinning around to look at her father, the ribbons around the space buns in her hair twirling, “we have to go, right, Cooper?”
“What-” Lila elbowed Cooper, who hunched over with an ‘oof’ and quickly nodded his head. Clint sighed, running his hand over his face. Before he knew it, they were standing in front of the checkout counter, Stitch’s head vibrating from Lila and Cooper’s joy and Nat had the book in her hand.
“Why exactly do you want to see Rapunzel so badly?” Laura asked as they approached the character and her partner, who were grinning as the photographer coached the small children fidgeting in front of them.
“Because…,” Lila hesitated, “I think Rapunzel’s pretty cool.” Clint leaned over to Nat, whispering in her ear.
“Wait a minute,” He said, “Doesn’t Flynn look a lot like Gaston?” It definitely was. She had spent far too much time thinking about him the night before.
Natasha sighed, looking down at the notebook in her hands. She’d get the autographs for the kids, put the photos in the next page and have it as a keepsake. Maybe it could become something they would laugh about during get togethers. She was able to picture it: pointing out all the funny baby faces Nate made in the photos, and Cooper and Nate cackling as she retold the story of Lila trying to get her to marry Gaston.
“Step right up!” The Disney employee called. Lila ran over almost immediately, tugging at Flynn Rider’s hand and waving at Rapunzel. Cooper was a bit behind, handing over the autograph book and Stitch pen with disinterest.
“Auntie Nat,” Flynn’s head snapped up and he stared at her. Definitely the same character actor as Gaston, she thought as he winked at her. “Come join the photos!!”
“No, no, thanks. This is for you guys.” She waved them off, watching as both kids smiled awkwardly for the photos- Lila far too large and Cooper with a gap tooth as Nate gurgled in Laura’s arms. Flynn snapped the book shut and handed it to Lila with a smile, whispering something to her closely before standing back up and wishing them farewell.
“What was that?” Nat asked when they finally exited the large crowd. Lila pasted on the same innocent facade that she had coached when Lila was young and shrugged, handing Nat the autograph book and pen once more. She squinted at her niece, palming the book and putting the comically large pen into the pockets of her shorts.
“How about saying hi to Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, kiddo?” Clint siddled up to the pair. Lila gasped, running over to join the line. Natasha couldn’t help but glance over at Rapunzel and Flynn, who were taking photos with more guests. His hair looked more natural that day, so she was correct in her assumption that the Gaston costume had included a wig. However, based on his physique, there had only been a bit of padding necessary.
Naveen glanced up at her, flashing a smile and then looked over in the direction of Flynn after Lila and Cooper posed for the photo, shooting him a wink. Flynn’s eyes met hers before he minimally stuck out his tongue at Naveen and flipped him off behind his back so that no kid would see. Nat snorted, covering her nose with her hand.
“Hey, can we go ride some rollercoasters today? You said that the lines were too long yesterday.” Lila rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet, clasping her hands behind her back.
“Sure, sweetheart.”
“No,” Cooper whined, “I wanna see somebody cool like Lightning McQueen.”
“We can do that too, Coop.”
They rode Splash Mountain, and Nat coached everyone in their party to move just a little bit to make sure that Clint received the largest amount of water. Thankfully, their clothes dried rather quickly in the Summer Floridian heat, and the water turned to sweat in no time. Grabbing some lunch, her mind wandered back to the same actor she seemed to keep running into, who winked at her no matter the character. She was clearly imagining things. There was no point in getting invested in staring anything without all of the facts.
Gaston had just been trying to ease Lila and Cooper’s anxiety and make everyone laugh. Flynn Rider had winked at her, but that could easily be explained away by saying that it was meant for someone else. He and Naveen were just playing around; that must be it. It was all explained away. To cement this, she grabbed the skinny autograph book with Stitch on the cover and opened it to the second page, staring down at Rapuzel’s signature, tracing her finger over the twisting ‘R’ and ‘Z’. Looking at the third page, she saw Flynn’s and looked it up online, sighing in both relief and maybe a bit of disappointment, though she would never admit it, when she saw it matched almost perfectly to the one online.
Her eyes darted around the two pages, suddenly catching on the bottom right corner, where a string of something had been carefully written. Natasha squinted, bringing the page closer to her face. Maybe Lila hadn’t been misinterpreting anything. Flynn had left his phone number.
…
“Didya do it, man?”
“Shut the fuck up, Sam. I can’t believe you made that face to me in costume. I had to explain to a bunch of kids that I didn’t steal from you.” Sam cackled, unzipping the green leafy costume he wore and removing his wig. He was on Donald duty for the rest of the day, so he could thankfully remove everything.
“You should know that you’re my least favourite person,” James informed him.
“I should be your favourite,” Sam countered, “considering that this is the closest I’ve seen you have to a crush since you moved down here and I’m the one who dare you give her your number.”
“Hey,” James pointed his finger at his friend. “It’s not a crush; I just find her hot and being around kids is my job. I just followed Steve down here because he had a full ride to Central Florida. I wanted to be a mechanic, but that asshole can’t help himself.”
“You can still be a mechanic,” Sam shrugged, folding up the costume. “I mean, this is only temporary for me, too. I’m applying to be active duty again.”
“What?”
“Yeah, man. Losta stuff is happening. My job is to help people. I like making people smile, which I can do here, but it’s temporary. I wanna be making a difference. And don’t think you can change the subject on me. Did ya give her your number or not?” James chewed on the side of his mouth, tensing his jaw and finally looking up.
“Yeah,” He admitted, “But I don’t think she’ll call. I mean, would you?”
“I mean, you have the day off tomorrow. Why not have some fun?”
“Fun? I’m gonna sleep all day if I can.” Sam laughed, and rolled his eyes. James tried his best to ignore the rolling in his gut, guzzling the water bottle and rolling back his sore shoulders.
…
Nat hesitated. It had been nearly a day since she had seen the number. What if he was busy? What if he never responded? She grabbed the wine glass sitting beside her and downed it. Swallowing her pride and running her tongue over the front of her bottom teeth, she sent the text draft she’d been wallowing over.
“Hey, this is Nat from Disneyworld. Don’t know if it was a mistake giving me your number, but I’m hoping it wasn’t.”
Almost immediately a reply came.
“Definitely wasn’t a mistake giving my number to a pretty lady like you. Any chance you’d like to meet up?” She inhaled, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. Somehow, this chase felt different.
“I’m at Via Napoli Restorante e Pizzeria with an extra seat if you’re free to take it.”
“It’s my day off. I’ll be there in twenty.” Natasha placed her phone screen down, exhaling and widening her eyes and placing her head into her hands. She waved away the waiter after asking for water, explaining that she was waiting for someone.
It was only until she watched several people walk through the doors did she realise that she had no idea what he really looked like, what he was like in person or his true name. It wasn’t as if she could keep calling him Flynn. If Nat remembered correctly, he appeared to be around the same age as her. Flynn Rider’s hair was probably around his natural color based on the lack of easily visible wig.
“Hey,” a voice interrupted her musings, and a man pulled back the chair on the other side of the table. How had he managed to get her view? She was sat with her back against the wall on the furthest corner from the windows. Nat’s head snapped up and she blinked for a moment until she closed her mouth and swallowed the spit pooling, training her mouh into a tentative smile and putting her shoulders back.
“Is this seat taken?”
“Depends,” She answered.
“On what?” He raised an eyebrow and offered a grin in return.
“If you won the push-up contest,” He laughed, sitting down and scooting the chair in with his legs.
“I’m Nat,” She extended her hand across the table. He shook it, maybe lingering a bit too long.
“James,” He said.
“You have no idea how excited my niece is going to be.”