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A soft knock on the door and the sound of footsteps followed down the hall not a second later.
Maria knew exactly who it was without having to look up. "You know, you are suppose to wait for permission to enter after knocking.", she said as a form of greeting.
Fury's lip twitched up slightly at the sight before him, his deputy director, the most feared woman in S.H.I.E.L.D, slouching on her couch, half covered in a blanket and mountain of paperworks, not sparing him even a glance.
"This is your day off, Hill. Get up. We are going to see a movie.", he said evenly and that earned him the brunette woman's attention.
She finally looked away from the works at hand and looked up at him, one eyebrow rasing in questioning look. "What?", she asked, thinking maybe she misheard him. Knowing the man, she probably did not.
"We are going to see a movie.", he repeated in an even voice, like it is the most obvious thing ever.
They stared at each others for a few seconds before Maria relented with a sigh and asked, "Why?"
"Because there's a movie I like to see. And we are in a travelable distant from a decent cinema.", he answered, deadpan.
Maria shot him an questioning look again and said, "You are a grown adult, Sir. You are perfectly capable of going to cinema by yourself.", she said in a deadpan voice but her lip twitched upward in a bit of amusement.
"Yes, but I want to go see it with you.", he replied, not bothering to explain himself further.
"Why?", she already know the answer but she pressed just to annoy him.
"Because, Hill, I enjoy your company.", his voice was still deadpan but his eyes conveyed sincerity.
She blinked at him in surprise. She wasn't expecting for him to be open and honest with her in broad daylight, complety sober and neither of them dying.
"Who are you and what have you done to Fury?"
Childish quip, she knows, but that's why she also liked his company. When it is just them, she is not the deputy director hardass Hill, she is just Maria. She can jokes around with him and throws away the ever tiring masks she puts on depending on the situations.
When it is just them, she can just be her, though she will never admit out loud, dorky self.
"Are you coming or not? The movie starts in 2 hours.", he said as he stifled a soft laugh.
"Coming, but relax. We still have 2 whole hours.", she replied as she slowly tried to untangle herself from the blanket and get up.
"Don't underastimate the traffic of New York city in rush hours, Hill.", he quipped back as he watches her struggle against the blanket with an amused expression on his face.
She hates that man so much sometimes she swear.
It took Maria 4 more seconds to get out of the blanket's unforgiving hug and stand up steadily.
She sighed internally as she walks toward the bathroom, "You already got the tickets?", she asked out loud as the anxiety and nervousness creep up in her mind.
Even though this is far from a life threatening mission(she hopes), she still needs everything to be perfect. No cracks in the plan, no unplanned activities and that included making sure they have movie tickets.
"I got them. I already got everything planned out. Just relax and get ready.", he answered her, even to the questions she didn't ask out loud, like he could read her mind. He knows her way too well, and she did not really hated it sometimes.
Her mind eased from the confirmation and she stepped into shower. Just relax and get ready, she thought to herself, trying to mimic his voice in her mind. That amused her more than it should of and she had to stifled a laugh. She is being so giggly today. Probably from the sleep deprivation.
"Oh by the way, wear something pink!", he shouted from the living room to make sure she heard him. "Why?", she shouted back, the confusion and skeptism clear in her voice.
She didn't get an answer.
She just sighed and think of the pink clothings in her wardrobe. Her mind came back blank 'cause she had none.
She got ready quickly and instead of wearing pink like he requested, she pulled out a black t-shirt and dark jeans.
Fury sighed internally as she walked back into the living room. He eyed her all black attire and asked, "Do I need to take you to an optometrist or did you just decided to ignore what i said for fun?".
"I don't have anything pink.", she responded nonchalantly.
"Right.", he said as small smirk formed on his face. "Forgot you are a dark and broody soul."
Maria raised her eyebrow at him, "You are not the one to be judging here, Sir.", she said while looking pointedly at the man's dark clothings.
"Fair.", he replied with a laugh.
"Alright then. You ready?", Maria nodded.
They left her apartment complex and both got into Fury's favorite black BMW X7.
After they put the seat belts on, Maria flicked through the radio station of the car, trying to choose music.
"What songs should I put on, Sir?", she asked quietly.
"Drop the 'Sir'. We are not at work.", he said.
"Okay. What songs should I put on, Nick?" she asked again.
"Taylor Swift.", he said nonchalantly and Maria laughed.
"Really? Romanoff really rubbed off on you huh?"
"Wrong. I was a swiftie way before Romanoff was even born.", he deadpanned.
"Taylor Swift was not even alive before Romanoff was born, Nick.", she said, still laughing.
"Whatever. Just put on the songs, Hill.", he said, trying to stifle a laugh himself.
🎵 Taylor's dreamy voice rings through their car~
"What movie are we watching?", she asked, only now remembering he hasn't told her that yet.
"Barbie."
"What?"
"Barbie.", he repeated. His head turning her way slightly to look at her with his one good eye.
"Barbie.", Maria repeated after him. "Barbie as in the doll and those million thousand cartoons?", Maria asked in confusion.
Fury looked at her in slight wide eyes and then laughed out loud at her state of confusion.
"Really, Hill? You are the second in commend of one of the world's best spy organisation and you don't know about Barbie movie? The most trending movie currently on social media and literally everywhere?"
"I don't use social medias and you know that!", Maria tried to defend herself.
"And why are we going to watch a movie about doll anyway?", she quickly changes the subject. She really needs to get a hold of what's going on with the world, aside from her job, she internally noted.
Fury controlled his laughter before Maria sent a punch his way and answered, "Because I want to."
"..Why do you want to watch a movie about a doll?", Maria questioned him with a small frown.
Fury just shrugged.
Maria sighed and decided to drop that subject. Instead they talked about other random things. The conversation steered toward Taylor Swift and they compared their favorite albums of her.
Nick's was Reputation, unsurprising really. And hers was folklore. She loved the beautiful lyrics and calm tone of that album.
They got to the cinema only 15 minutes before the movie start.
"Told you. The traffic is shit.", Nick said as he looked for a parking spot and she hummed in agreement.
They found a good spot not far away the building and walked into the cinema.
As soon as they set foots into the building, Maria eyes scanned over the crowd and starts to rule out potential threats one by one while trying to take mental note of every emergency exits. Force of habit.
Nick was really not lying about It being the most trending movie currently, the whole cinema was packed with people, and she thinks It might be the most pink she has seen in quite a long time. They stood out so much from rest of the crowd with their dark attire and she did not like it. Too easy to spot. Too easy of a target.
Jeez, maybe It's her that Romanoff really rubbed off on.
She felt a warm hand on her back and instead of all her alarms going off, she relaxed and all her thoughts calmed down.
"Come on, Maria. We are just here to see a movie. Everything's fine.", Fury's voice was soft and quiet as he told her. She nodded. He's right, Maria just hasn't been out of her work in a long time.
"Let's go get some snacks. The movie's about to start."
Whatever the hell Maria was expecting from the movie, based on its name, was definitely not this.
It was not a movie about pretty dolls but instead about the patriarchy and oppression of women, which she already knows about- No. Which she already faces daily.
Her and Nick didn't talk much as they are both not that kind of movie goers. So, Maria just sits back and enjoys the movie, which is a lot easier than she thought it would be.
Nick seems to be enjoying the movie too, if his soft and warm laughs ever so often are anything to go by.
She herself was not really audible about her enjoyment of the movie's humor but she barely held back a laugh at the narrator's 4th wall breaking about how Margot Robbie calling herself not pretty was stupid, cause she was thinking the exact same thing.
The credits rolled.
Maria concluded that from the narration at the begining to till the last line, which caught her off guard she'll admit, the movie was great.
It's not instanly on her favorite movies of all time list or anything but it comes close.
But by the look on Nick's face though, it looked like it is definitely going on his list.
As they walked out of the theater, Nick talked to her about the moments of the movie he enjoyed(which is like every scenes) and sang praises to every aspects of the movie.
She was nodding and agreeing with him, when suddenly, "Ryan Gosling is quite hot.", he said nonchalantly.
She stared at him with 'are you serious' face but after a few seconds, Maria couldn't contain the laugh.
This is a side of the man that she had never seen before.
Nick shoots her a blank look and asked, "What? Am I wrong?". There's a tinest bit of smile tagged on his lips.
"No, you are not.", she replied as she shook her head, still trying to stop the laughter.
Nick just raised an eyebrow at her and smiled before going back to what he was talking. And they continued to talk and talk and talk about the movie and the actors as they leaves the big cinema building behind.
This was definitely way more fun than her original plan of the day.