Chapter Text
Setting:
Friday June 19, 2015
10:42 PM
Stark Industries
New York, New York
Avengers Tower: 83rd Floor.
Six Weeks after the events that took place in A Shot in the Dark & What Comes to Light.
Last text from Natasha to Maria: 4 weeks and 6 days ago
Last text from Maria to Natasha: 4 weeks and 6 days ago (left on read)
Last time Natasha and Maria were together: 5 weeks and 6 days ago.
—- but whose counting?
Tony was wondering the halls of the tower late on this Friday night, he didn’t think anyone was around and he was ready to quit for today. He noticed someone was still on the 83rd floor even though most of the lights were on a low energy conservation dim since it was so late. He could see one light on. He realized it was Maria’s office and he debated about going to see her, and decided he would at least tell her to leave, it almost 11 PM… on a Friday. He should be the only one there.
“What are you doing here?” Tony asked as he took his usual place in Maria’s doorway.
“Working?” She asked looking up at Tony from her computer.
“You’re 25, why aren’t you out with friends or something? Go on a date, live a life, leave.” He demanded in a friend like way.
“I’m 32.” Maria reminded.
“Everyone is 25 until they are 40, you’ll understand later.” Tony said dismissively.
Maria looked at Tony skeptically.
“Go ahead try and call me out on that math.” He dared in a jesting tone. Maria just rolled her eyes.
“It’s almost 11 on a Friday, where are your friends?” Tony asked and Maria thought about who her friends were and then smirked.
“Probably also working.” Maria said with a little grin.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you have to get a life. What happened to surfing, remember you were going to take up surfing or knitting or near space ballooning or something?” Tony joked
Maria looked at Tony like he was nuts.
“Don’t you have to check on your cat?” Tony asked.
Maria again looked at him with wondering what he was talking about.
“I don’t know you seem like the kind of person who would have a cat.” Tony explained with a slightly negative but joking inflection.
“What does that mean?” Maria asked giving Tony some side eye.
Tony tried to shrug innocently but he had a big smirk his face.
“Don’t diss cats.” Maria said defending them.
“You’re the one who thinks it.”” Tony said with a laugh.
“I can hear your tone.”
“So you have one?” Tony asked menacingly.
“No.” Maria said with an eye roll.
“Can you come here?” Tony said with a wave of his hand.
Maria looked at Tony like she didn’t love the way he was waving her over there and she didn’t move until he fixed it.
“Sorry. Can you please?” He tried not to roll his eyes as he changed his method of asking her to come out into the hall.
Maria walked over the doorway, he waited her to step out into the hall. When she did he shut her office door behind her.
“Go home.” He said.
Maria looked at him.
“Go home.” He repeated.
“All my stuff is in there… how am I supposed to get home?” Maria asked looking at Tony with obvious look—she couldn’t just leave.
Tony did a dramatic sigh, she ruined the cool thing he was trying to do. He opened the door for her.
“Go get your stuff and then go home.” Tony said with a sigh as she ruined his cute little bit.
Maria just looked at him like she didn’t love this whole thing.
“Will you please?” Tony asked much nicer.
“Are you like a herding dog or something?” Maria sassed as she went into her office to grab her bag and leave she guessed now since Tony was ushering her away.
“Yeah and you are a stray cat who won’t leave.” He sassed right back.
As Maria walked out of her office he shut the door behind her. She gave Tony an annoyed look at his comment and that he was forcing her to leave before she wanted to.
“Go, make a friend who is not 25 to 40 years older than you.” Tony muttered.
Maria rolled her eyes dramatically at that comment.
“Please.” She muttered under her breath.
“You can do it.” He said smugly and patronizingly.
“You made me be your friend and I don’t like anybody.” Tony said with a grin as he walked her to the elevator not convinced she wouldn’t actually leave if he didn’t escort her out of the building.
Maria laughed at Tony’s joke and she reluctantly walked with him to the elevator.
“What is near space ballooning?” Maria asked as they walked.
“Its when you take plane to edge of almost space and jump out with a balloon and then ride fall with the balloon to the ground.” Tony actually wasn’t sure what it was but he saw it mentioned on something and popped into his head, just made up this answer.
“Tony, you would die…” Maria pointed out.
“I actually don’t know but it has something to do with a balloon and being near space.”
“Well that part I figured out on my own…” Maria mumbled.
“Go do it, and then tell me what it is.” Tony said as he looked at his phone. Maria rolled her eyes.
Pepper heard voices laughing, she could tell one was Tony’s and that he was talking to a woman. She was surprised someone else would be there besides her and Tony. She eavesdropped on the conversation around the corner in the hall close to the elevators. She realized it was Maria. Despite her friendship with Maria, a small part of Pepper was becoming a little uneasy about the closeness Maria and Tony had found recently. It just seemed a little weird. Why were they always together now?
She didn’t know if Maria dated or anything and it really didn’t seem like it but she spent an awful lot of time around older men. It gave Pepper a bit of an unsettled feeling. She had never worried about it before, but now Maria and Tony had become so friendly and they clearly shared something based on what they went through. Pepper noticed that way that Tony talked to Maria and about Maria had changed, like he did genuinely care about her beyond more than just an employee. She understood they were friends now but it just seemed like it was getting uncomfortably close and it was happening so quickly.
Tony and Maria ran into Pepper around the corner.
“Maria, what are you doing here?” Pepper asked, feigning that she was surprised and hadn’t been listening in.
“I’m leaving.” Maria answered.
“Good.” Pepper responded. “Stay away for the whole weekend. If you can resist the temptation.” Pepper joked.
“She will, she’s going ‘near space ballooning.’” Tony added in jokingly and Maria shot at a look at Tony and shook her head.
“What is that?” Pepper asked genuinely curious to Maria.
“Yes, what is that?” Tony repeated like a brat.
“I..” Maria paused she looked at Tony.
“He’s making that up?” Pepper asked.
“Yeah.” Maria agreed.
“Okay, goodbye, goodnight. Go home, get rest. Enjoy your time to yourself.” Pepper said to Maria as she pressed the elevator button for her. When the elevator opened Maria got in alone and headed home.
Pepper and Tony waited for the next elevator to go upstairs.
“You’re kind of a powerful guy you can’t be alone with young female employees at midnight.” Pepper warned Tony.
“Kind of?” Tony asked as if that was the sticking point of what Pepper said.
Pepper just looked at Tony with a displeased look on her face.
“It’s not inappropriate…” Tony glared back at Pepper, he was stunned she was even suggesting it.
“Mm..” Pepper hummed under her breath as she looked at Tony. If Pepper thought it was questionable what were other people going to think.
“It’s not like she’s 20.” Tony said with a shrug.
“You are not making the distinction you think you are.” Pepper snapped back at him. Tony looked surprised and shocked, a little offended. What was he being accused of here? He was just being friendly there wasn’t anything between them.
“I’m just saying based on what happened people are going to talk. And that’s not really something we need right now.” Pepper clarified.
“Who cares what people say?” Tony shook it off.
“Can you just be careful, spend less time together? Why are you even bothering her?”
“I didn’t even know she was here.”
“Why are you even on this floor?” Pepper asked. Tony didn’t answer.
Pepper huffed as she looked straight ahead in the elevator.
Mostly, she didn’t think she had to worry about Tony or Maria or more accurately Tony and Maria but deep down it just gave her a feeling she couldn’t shake. Especially when Tony wouldn’t answer why he was even near Maria’s office at all.
Then Pepper looked at Tony suspiciously.
“Why did you ask her to go with you that night?” Pepper asked him seriously. She had been wondering this for awhile.
“She was around.” He answered casually. “Thank god I did because I don’t know that we’d be here otherwise…” Tony pointed out.
Pepper wondered if maybe Maria and Tony should take a break from each other. Maybe Maria should take a break from this whole place. She hadn’t even taken time off from all of the awful things that just happened to her. It was like she and Tony just went right back to work as if nothing happened.
Stark had projects all over the world Maria could go work on and get away if she wanted, she was going to have to talk to Maria about it later.
—-
As Maria took the elevator down alone she started thinking about the time she was leaving here with Natasha, after they decided to just be friends but then Maria kissed her unexpectedly a week later, in this same elevator. Maria went back to Natasha’s apartment that night, an she was lost in a daze recalling what happened.
—- Flashback: 5 weeks and 6 days ago.
It was the morning after and Maria and Natasha were in Natasha’s kitchen
“What is that?” Natasha asked looking in the frying pan on the stove that Maria was cooking something in but she seemed to be neglecting for the moment as she was on her phone.
“A scramblette.” Maria responded casually like that was a real thing.
“What is a scrambelette?” Natasha asked cautiously making a face at the brownish bumpy egg lumps in the pan.
“Well, I started to make scrambled eggs, but I forgot and left it too long so then I decided to make it an omelette but then I forgot I decided to make it omelette and tried to scramble it, so now it’s … that.” Maria said as as she looked at what was cooking up in the pan and the mess she made of it. She made a face and then she turned the burner off and moved the pan away from the heat. It did not look appetizing at all but it did smell okay. Maria dumped it in the sink, she was going to redo it.
Natasha looked at Maria suspiciously and biting on her own grin as Maria explained what she did.
“How can you not cook food?” Natasha asked playfully.
“Uhm, did you not see the scrambelette I just made?” Maria asked sarcastically.
“Do you want to go out for breakfast?” Natasha asked under her breath
“Yeah, that’s probably best.” Maria mumbled.
—-
Maria and Natasha sat across from each other in a diner booth. Things were awkward between them as they once again had no clear place or direction of their ‘whatever they were doing’ relationship. And once the conversation had changed from what they were going to order they sat there in a familiar yet awkward silence across from each other.
“Fuck. I probably should have let your pan cool before I put it in the sink, that’s a thing, right?” Maria mumbled
“Are we talking about it?” Natasha asked kind of abruptly.
“The pan?” Maria asked not sure what was Natasha was on about, but then she realized.
Natasha stared at Maria
“Oh. Well, you’re the one who said you didn’t want to talk about it.” Maria looked back at Natasha with a sigh, it was like the second they left Natasha’s and were existing in the real world they felt like they had to address and talk about real things.
“I don’t want to talk about it if we are going to ..” Natasha paused, if they were going to what? Break up? Were they even together?
“Going to what?” Maria asked, she had the same question.
Natasha looked down at the table, she was in a hard place, she had a hard time committing to any one person but she similarly had a difficult time letting people go. Maria wasn’t even the only person she was having these issues with and even this exact conversation! It was like the one consistent thing in her life was having this conversation over and over again with people she felt attached to.
If she let Maria go, she might not get her back when she was ready for something more, but if she stayed with Maria she worried she couldn’t really genuinely commit to her the way she deserved, she was struggling with that already. From the conversation they had a week ago it sounded like Maria just wanted to be friends and not pursue this anymore, but then Maria kissed her in the elevator. So Natasha figured she was struggling with the same back and forth that she was.
“Well I thought we were done talking about it after you told me we had to stop this and then you… well… we’re here…” Natasha pointed out.
Maria sighed, this was true, it was Maria’s fault, she closed the door and opened it again. She was trying to straighten her life out, but she couldn’t make everything work out just right.
“Now we are here…” Maria repeated with nothing else to say, because she didn’t know what to say.
“Do you see other people?” Natasha asked, more curious than bluntly.
“Do you?” Maria asked back instead of answering.
“Sometimes.” Natasha admitted rather quietly and then waited for Maria answer.
“Yeah, sometimes.” Maria echoed.
The two women glared at each other.
“Why is this so hard?” Maria asked abruptly. She’d broken it off with people before but this one hurt in a way she couldn’t explain, like she knew she’d never find a person that was so in tune with her personally like Natasha but that was also the reason why they struggled so much, and they really struggled. They were too much of the same in some areas that it made things challenging in a very consequential way.
“I don’t know, but it is.” Natasha sighed. That’s what Maria said to Natasha when she told Natasha not come with her, that she was too important to die over what was happening. Natasha didn’t understand that. Why did Maria say that? Maria obviously really felt that deeply since she took a bullet for her, literally.
Natasha started thinking about the argument she had with Maria in her office. When Maria told her not get involved and not to help her anymore. Maria was acting like her boss, not a partner, and not even a friend. When it happened, Natasha was so mad at Maria. Then she didn’t listen to Maria and almost got them both killed, and she wondered how Maria felt about it. Natasha was still frustrated that she had messed up so badly, but between the argument and the unexpected arrival of Yuri to her original plan to help Maria and May it just threw her off her game.
Maria had a different view about the situation, but it took her awhile to realize it. If Natasha hadn’t come she definitely would have had to leave with Yuri and who knows what he would have done to her, probably almost certainly have killed her and she had nothing but Pepper’s little stun gun to help her. Natasha didn’t almost get Maria killed, Maria stopped Natasha from being killed, and Natasha being there helped Maria get enough distance from Yuri to disable Yuri. It was complicated, but Maria didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her, especially because she had messed up with Yuri so badly.
“It’s okay to just be friends.” Natasha shrugged she said it like she was saying out loud to herself.
“I think that’s what we are?” Maria questioned.
“You were a very good friend last night.” Natasha joked as she bumped Maria’s ankle with her foot under the table.
“Oh yeah, was I?” Maria responded sarcastically.
“And an amazing friend this morning.” Natasha teased
She knew Maria was very private did not even like to joke about this stuff in public.
“Will you stop it?” Maria huffed under her breath.
“What we should have done is stayed in bed until lunch time and then…” Natasha stopped talking as the server placed their food in front of them.
“You girls can always get these to go if you have somewhere you’d rather be…” The older woman server joked teasingly as she smiled at them before leaving.
Maria stared wide eyed at Natasha.
“C’mon that was funny.” Nat joked to Maria’s glared.
Maria shook her head no but she was trying to suppress a smirk that she could not hide.
“Yeah it was.” Nat laughed as she pulled a piece of bacon off her plate and bit into it.
Maria didn’t say anything as she dug her fork into her food.
“I can’t believe you did’t ask them to make you a scramblette.” Nat really joked with a big smirk on face.
“Will you shut up?” Maria said over laughs and Nat laughed at her own joke too.
Then Maria stared at Natasha who was staring at her food and started eating. They were just friends now, right? She wondered. This was it? They were closing the door for real after this morning and everything was good between them? These were probably things she should have said out loud, but she didn’t she sipped her coffee instead.
—— RETURN TO PRESENT
The elevator door opened as Maria exited the office and then the building. She didn’t have any friends to go see, who in their 30s hung out at 11 PM on a Friday? Her friends were probably sound asleep now, or away working. At least she knew one friend, for sure, was far away working. If Maria wasn’t working this weekend she was going to have to spend her time thinking about this, and she really did not want to think about it.