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Life at the newly rebranded ‘Avengers Tower’ had settled into a chaotic sort of peace. For the first time since the start of their relationship, Natasha and Maria weren’t constantly running covert missions or watching their backs. Instead, they were learning to live around geniuses, gods, and super soldiers – apparently their world’s new normal. It certainly wasn’t quiet, but it was theirs. And for now, at least, their relationship was still a secret. Nat and Maria were happy. Which, naturally, meant it was only a matter of time before the rest of the Avengers found out.
Their relationship certainly hadn’t been without its ups and downs – they had broken up a few times, even had a couple “this time we’re really done” declarations, but it had never lasted very long. By now, the people closest to them knew they’d always find their way back to each other. Before the Avengers, Strike Team Delta had turned this inevitability into a betting pool (how long until they got back together?). Clint had never once managed to beat Bobbi or Laura, and still hadn’t lived down the time when everyone else on Delta had spotted the relationship and he was left oblivious. Now, though, he finally had a chance to redeem himself – because this time he was the first to know.
Nat had told him that they weren’t exactly keeping it a secret, just… not advertising it. If anyone asked them directly, they’d tell the truth.
But it had been a couple of months. And no one had asked yet.
***
Natasha still got nightmares sometimes, remnants of the Red Room, mainly when Maria wasn’t around. She would probably never be fully free of them. Her girlfriend was currently on an assignment from Fury, leaving Nat alone for a few nights. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but she did miss Maria a lot while she was away. And it always seemed to manifest in sleep difficulties.
It was 4am. Natasha made her way down the dark corridor and softly asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to call the lift. When she normally had a nightmare, Maria would talk it through with her, or just hold her until she fell asleep again. But Maria was away, and Nat didn’t see herself falling asleep any time soon. So she figured getting a cup of tea would be better than dwelling on dark memories of the past.
The kitchen-diner-lounge filled almost a whole floor of the tower. When she moved in, it had Stark’s taste written all over it, but in the last few months evidence of the team had made its mark. A small record player and carefully curated stack of vinyls in the corner, put there by Steve. A thick blue regulation-issue blanket thrown over the couch. They all think it’s Nat’s, but she stole it from Maria, and it still smells like her. Bruce’s zen sand garden thing on the coffee table, next to Thor’s Asgardian goblet (he was banned from using the normal mugs because they kept suspiciously breaking after he used them). The massive stack of movies by the TV that Steve hasn’t seen yet. Natasha smiled at it all.
The lights from the city came in through the floor to ceiling windows, and provided a soft glow that negated the need for overhead lights. She headed towards the kitchen corner, the only sounds the soft hum of the fridge and her muffled footsteps. In the semi-dark, she filled the kettle with a familiar ease, and stood by the widow while it boiled.
The sound of the water hid the footsteps of a fellow Avenger making their way towards the kitchen. But it would take more than that to spook Natasha. She turned around, making eye contact with Steve.
“Tea?” she asked softly.
Steve smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes, and nodded. Nightmares for both of us, then, Natasha thought, reaching for the tea jar. She dropped a decaf bag into each mug – one printed with a red, white, and blue popsicle, the other from some Halloween range, covered in cartoon spiders. It doesn’t take much to figure out who chose them.
Nat passed Steve his mug, and gestured over to the sofa, eyes questioning. He gave her a quiet, grateful nod before walking the few steps and sliding into his usual spot, Natasha following suit. They both sipped their tea. After a moment, she spoke. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Steve huffed a soft laugh, but sounded tired. He looked at her, clearly trying to decide on his answer. Natasha tilted her head, “You don’t have to. I just find that it helps me, sometimes.” Steve seemed to take a moment to think about this. He wasn’t sure who she was telling her nightmares too - he would have guessed Clint, but he didn’t live in the tower full time. But he trusted Natasha, and he knew she wouldn’t judge the things his mind created in the dead of night.
He looked down at his tea, gathering himself. “It’s the same one as always. I get him back, but then he’s gone again. Every time. And I know what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t change anything. I just have to watch him fall over and over and over.”
Natasha know how Bucky had died, and it was clear that was who Steve was referring to. Something in his tone made her chest tighten. She’d suspected for a while that there was more than was written in the history books when it came to Steve and Bucky. She wondered if he’d ever told anyone this before. “You… cared for him. More than a friend?” She tried to keep her tone gentle and not pushy.
Steve’s eyes flicked up, surprised by such a direct question about something that had been so off-limits for so long. He didn’t speak for a few seconds, letting the question hang in the air between them. Eventually, he looked back down to his tea. “Yeah,” he said. “Something like that.”
Natasha nodded, expression thoughtful. She let Steve’s admission settle, understanding the weight those four small words must carry for him. “Must’ve been hard. Keeping that to yourselves back then.”
Steve looked at her, and for the first time in a while, he let his guard slip. She wasn’t pressing. She wasn’t shocked. She wasn’t treating it like some monumental confession. And for that, he felt incredibly grateful. “It wasn’t exactly a safe thing to share,” he said, the tension in his shoulders easing a bit as he leaned back into the sofa pillows.
“Still isn’t, sometimes. But it’s a lot better now than it used to be.” Natasha studied him over her mug, her expression gentler than he’d ever seen it. “Doesn’t make it hurt any less, though.”
Steve glanced up. “You lost someone?”
“Almost,” she said. “More than once. She’s incredible at surviving things she probably shouldn’t.” A momentary pause. “Although she’d say I am too, which is probably fair.” Natasha smiles faintly, but it’s haunted by some of the closer calls her and Maria experienced over the years.
Steve studied her for a moment, processing everything Natasha said. He met her eyes, and the look they shared was vulnerable, and filled to the brim with quiet understanding and mutual respect. “Hold on to her.”
“Yeah,” she said quietly, fiddling with a dainty hourglass necklace that Steve had somehow not noticed she was wearing. It looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he’d seen it. “I plan to.”
***
A week later, Maria was home and everything felt right again. They were in the private lab that was only accessible by the Avengers and their closest friends. Natasha needed to fix one of her widows bites, but didn’t want to ask Stark – the last time she did, he’d tried to add missiles to it. It had nearly blown up the lab up when the electrical current caused the missiles to fire unexpectedly. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. So she had waited until Stark was out on a date night with Pepper, and then invited Maria for their own date night in the lab.
Maria had taken the ‘date night’ part of that very seriously, and had showed up armed with a picnic blanket, a massive pizza, a bottle of red wine (and mugs), and a variety of sweet treats for them to share. And Liho. The cat was currently sprawled, purring, on Maria’s lap – something she did only for them, and sometimes Clint if he was very lucky. The cat was still warming up to the rest of the Avengers, with Bruce nearly fully accepted, followed by Steve, Tony, and finally Thor (who was far too loud and chaotic for her). But she would never purr as loud for anyone other than Nat and Maria.
Natasha had finally finished with her tinkering – it had taken a lot longer than expected, but only because Maria kept distracting her with smiles and food and kisses. She set the bracelets aside to finish charging, and then dropped down beside her girlfriend on the blanket. They stayed that way for a while, enjoying each other’s company while time held its breath around them.
“You realise this might be one of the most romantic things we’ve ever done,” Maria said, topping up Natasha’s mug of wine.
“Says the woman who brought wine into a weapons lab,” Natasha murmured back, taking the mug without complaint. “What about Prague?”
Maria’s laugh filled the room, soft and unguarded. “We weren’t technically together when we went to Prague, that doesn’t count. Although your acting was impeccable, as always.”
“I wasn’t really acting though, was I?” The looked at each other, nostalgic smiles playing across their lips. Prague had been their first mission together, undercover as a couple at a fancy gala. In that moment, it was easy to forget the rest of the tower and its inhabitants existed at all.
Bruce had only come down to the lab to check on a sample he’d left earlier. He paused when he reached the cracked-open doors, soft blue light spilling into the corridor along with the faint sound of voices. Through the gap, he saw the Black Widow sitting on a picnic blanket next to the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Liho purring like an engine on Maria’s lap. Natasha’s head rested on Hill’s shoulder as she absently stroked the cat’s fur. Bruce hesitated, not wanting to intrude on the cosy, intimate scene. He backed away as quietly as he could; the sample could wait. As he crept back down the corridor, he heard Natasha laugh – a real laugh – and smiled. They both deserve that peace, after everything they’ve been through, he thought.
****
It was a few days later, and the morning was unusually calm. The team had stayed up far too late the night before introducing Steve to the Mission:Impossible movies – Clint’s idea, of course. It had quickly spiralled out of control once the spies of the group decided to fact-check every scene. Most of their commentary consisted of, “That would never work,” or, “I tried that once,” – usually followed by either “it actually worked,” or “it failed miserably.” They occasionally launched into exceedingly detailed debates about how they would’ve pulled the mission off. There had been alcohol involved. It got loud. By the end of the night, everyone’s sides hurt from laughing.
But Nat and Maria were both morning people, and perfectly capable of functioning on very little sleep. So they were up early, enjoying the rare peace of an empty kitchen – Maria at the stove making eggs, Natasha pouring coffee, their conversation easy. A cool draft slipped through the open window, brushing against Maria’s bare arms. She shivered slightly, and Natasha glanced up, already reaching for her jacket. She draped the Avengers branded fleece around Maria’s shoulders, not breaking the conversation.
A large figure in the doorway causes them to look up. Thor stood there, eyes bright.
He strode in, beaming, and as he made his way over to the assigned ‘pop-tart cupboard’, he said, “Lady Natasha, you have bestowed your cloak upon the fair Lady Maria! A sacred offering of wardship and devotion!”
Maria choked on the mouthful of coffee she had been about to swallow. Natasha just blinked, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly. “She was cold, Thor.”
He placed a hand over his heart. “A gesture most tender! May the Allfather bless your house!”
Natasha shook her head in exasperation. “We don’t have a house.”
“Then you shall! With banners and hearthfire!”
He gathered his pop-tarts and turned to leave before they could comment, humming what sounded suspiciously like a wedding march.
Maria, finally recovered from her spluttering, remained rather flustered, “Do you know what just happened?”
Natasha replied, “I think we got married?”
Maria snorted a laugh and muttered, “He’s gonna tell everyone, isn’t he?”
“Relax. It’s Thor. No one will take it seriously.”
*****
Avengers game night had started to become a weekly tradition. The game changed each week -they’ve played board games, card games and various other party games (choice of game tended to depend on how much alcohol was consumed). There had been a lot of alcohol consumed on this particular evening.
As Natasha and Maria took their place around the coffee table, making sure not to sit too close, they surveyed the scene before them. There were two longer sofas, a couple of armchairs, and two beanbags. Bruce, Tony and Steve were lined up on the other sofa, opposite Nat and Maria. Thor had taken one of the armchairs, and Pepper had taken the other. There was no visible sign of Clint (yet), although Natasha had heard him making his way through the vent directly above them.
Suddenly, the vent cover swung open and down Clint jumped. While everyone was pretty used to this behaviour by now (especially Nat and Maria, who had been dealing with Clint’s antics the longest), it still seemed to catch them off guard in moments like this. Tony flinched away from the archer, a small yell of surprise escaping.
“Fucking hell, Legolas, you gotta stop doing that!” Clint simply laughed at him, while Steve furrowed his eyebrows at the language. Nat isn’t really sure why he always makes a big deal out of it – he was in the army after all, surely he heard far worse there. Still, it gives them all a laugh every now and again. Tony muttered a few more complaints about ‘goddamn Merida over there’, but eventually settled back down – now with a whisky and a bowl of crisps in tow. Clint threw himself into one of the beanbags.
Tensions were low, spirits were high. It was time for Never Have I Ever.
They didn’t play it with any particular scoring in mind – just using it to figure out who had done the weirdest stuff. There were many gems throughout the evening…
Tony asked, “Never have I ever fallen asleep on the roof.” Clint drank (“What? It’s got a great view!”), and Nat sighed and also had a sip.
Bruce asked, “Never have I ever ‘challenged someone to combat’ before 9 a.m.” Thor took a hearty gulp.
Steve: “Never have I ever used a multimillion-dollar suit for a snack run.” Tony shrugged as he drank, clearly not bothered by the implications.
Clint: “Never have I ever climbed out a five-story window – without safety gear – for reasons that were not mission-related.” Natasha raised her eyebrows, but drank none-the-less.
She replied to all follow-up questions with, “That’s classified”, much to the rest of the team’s annoyance (and Maria’s amusement – she was the reason Natasha climbed out the window, of course). To get Clint back, Nat asked, “Never have I ever tried to train a random animal to follow me home.” He had a drink, sighing at the memory (it, predictably, hadn’t worked).
Steve, with a very pointed look at Tony: “Never have I ever taken the last doughnut and blamed someone else.” This was met with a very loud eye roll and a sip of his drink, all while maintaining eye contact with Steve.
Deciding to mix things up a bit, Tony asked, “Never have I ever fallen for a target.” This was met by momentary silence, before Thor guffawed and had a drink.
“She struck me with her axe. It was magnificent.” Everyone laughed and tried to explain that that wasn’t really what Tony meant. In the momentary distraction, Maria locked eyes with Natasha and took a sip; technically, Natasha had been a target before she was a colleague. After sharing a secret smile, they looked back to the group to see who was going to ask next. Someone pointed out that Bruce hadn’t asked anything in a while.
“Never have I ever… uh… dated someone from work.” He supplied. Clint burst out laughing. Every single person around the coffee table drank, and Bruce’s eyes widened. “Ok, I need to get this all straight…” He looks around trying to figure out if he knows who everyone is drinking for.
“Well, Tony and Pepper, obviously,” Both dipped their chins in acknowledgement, Tony also blowing Pepper a kiss. It occurred to Bruce then that Natasha and Maria must be referring to each other, but he knew it wasn’t his place to say anything about them. Instead, he just shakes his head, “Ok, I got no clue, you guys gotta tell me.” He looked at Steve, figuring it must be something from the 40s.
“Where I’m from, gentlemen don’t kiss and tell.” The group collectively huffed a laugh, but didn’t push. Natasha met Steve’s eyes with a subtle smile and a tiny nod. They looked at Thor next, figuring he might have an answer that was easier to obtain.
Thor did not pay any heed to Steve’s ‘kiss and tell’ ethos. “I once courted a shieldmaiden stationed with me in Asgard’s third battalion!” They all nodded, no one was surprised. They looked to Clint.
“You’re not getting out this Barton. Go on, who’d you date?” Tony asked.
“A very nice woman from the old S.H.I.E.L.D. roster who eventually realised I wasn’t a complete disaster.”
Natasha raised her eyebrows and muttered, “Debatable,” under her breath. Maria snorted quietly, nodding at Natasha in agreement.
“Oh ha ha.” Clint said, but smiled along. He missed when they all worked together.
The room fell relatively quiet, and Natasha realised everyone was now looking at her and Maria.
Smirking, Natasha said, “It’s not up for discussion.”
“Very classified,” Added Maria.
Thor nodded solemnly to himself, clearly believing he alone had uncovered a great secret – and generously choosing not to comment. Bruce just smiled into his drink, also convinced he was the only one who’d put the pieces together. Clint, of course, laughed loudly, finding the entire situation endlessly entertaining. Tony threw his head back in dramatic frustration, groaning at the ceiling. He knew there wasn’t a chance in hell he was getting any more details out of either of them.
But Steve… Steve watched Natasha. He watched how she angled her body towards Maria, their knees brushing. How they looked at each other, fighting to hold back smirks, eyes bright. He saw the kind of silent exchange only people who knew each other deeply could manage, a whole conversation held in a single glance. Comfortable. Familiar. Quietly intimate. He was already drawing the lines between the dots. And then he saw it – Maria wearing the small hourglass necklace Natasha had been wearing during their 4 a.m. kitchen conversation. Everything clicked. Under his breath, so soft no one would hear unless they were really listening, Steve murmured, “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Natasha’s eyes lifted, meeting Steve’s gaze. He held it, and they shared the smallest nod off acknowledgement and acceptance. Then she turned back to Maria, relaxed and unbothered, letting the moment dissolve into the hum of the evening.
******
A few days had passed since the eventful game night. Pepper was briefing a few of the Avengers (and Maria) on the updated security protocols for the Tower. Around the large table, Nat sat in her usual spot next to Maria. Their thighs brushed under the table – a quiet, familiar point of contact neither of them thought twice about anymore. They’d gotten significantly better at keeping such things subtle compared to the start of their relationship.
Mid-discussion, Maria reached for her water and accidentally knocked her pen off the table. She muttered something under her breath, leaning down to get it-
-but Natasha’s hand was already touching her arm; a soft, silent I’ll get it.
Natasha bent, retrieved the pen, and placed it back in Maria’s hand, intentionally grazing their fingers for half a heartbeat. Maria gave her a soft, small, instinctive smile of thanks before returning to her notes, expression all business again. The whole exchange lasted maybe five seconds.
Pepper had glanced at them when the pen fell, but got straight back to the discussion without reaction or delay, there was no hint she’d noticed anything unusual.
But Pepper Potts noticed everything.
That evening, curled up in Natasha’s room with a blanket and a very sleepy Liho sprawled across their legs, Maria noticed an email from Pepper drop into her inbox:
Subject: Noted.
Body: I approve. Please refrain from further PDA in the briefing room. – P.P.
Maria, cheeks burning, buried her head into Nat’s shoulder as the other woman’s warm laugh rumbled against her cheek.
*******
Everyone important in the tower knew now, except Tony. Nat and Maria had decided to do what they had done with Clint (aka absolutely nothing – just stop hiding it and see how long it took him to figure it out himself). Bets had been swapped, and J.A.R.V.I.S. had been instructed to capture Tony’s reaction on video from as many angles as possible. Somehow, it had been nearly a whole week since that decision was made, and still no revelation!
It was yet again another movie night. Maria was sitting between Natasha’s legs on the floor, Nat gently braiding her hair. Most of the team was already there – they were just waiting on Bruce and Tony to finish up in the lab. Clint had just arrived with the takeaway (Thai food) and was distributing it out.
Tony and Bruce walked in. “I thought I smelled food,” said the former, eyebrows wiggling. They took a spot on the couch, and it was in that moment that Tony noticed the two women on the floor.
“Pad Thai and a green curry?” Clint asked, holding up the two containers.
“That’s us, Clint,” Nat said, letting Maria reach out and take the food from him. “You want to split it, детка?” (Babe). Maria smiled warmly over her shoulder, then started to dish out half of each container onto each plate.
Tony’s wide eyes were glued to them, his brain trying to assemble the puzzle that was realisation. The gears were turning, slowly. He may be a genius, but clearly not when it comes to things like this.
Natasha could see him from the corner of her eye. It was time to seal the deal. As Maria finished plating the food, Nat got up to move from the floor to the sofa. She took her plate in one hand and helped Maria up with the other. As they went to sit down, she pulled Maria close and kissed her gently on the cheek.
Nat didn’t think it possible for Tony’s eyes to get any wider, but alas.
“Okay, you all just saw that, right?!” Tony looked around at everyone, the lack of reaction making him think he was going crazy. “They’re… you’re…” He spun back to look at the couple.
“Yes, Tony, we’ve been dating for, like, four years,” Natasha provided between mouthfuls of Pad Thai.
“FOUR YEA– wait! Why are none of you surprised?!” He looked around at everyone. “Don’t tell me you all knew?!?!”
Clint just shrugged, trying and failing not to laugh. “This is old news, Stark!”
“It is true, I found out many moons ago!” Thor added proudly.
“Yeah, I’ve known for a while,” Bruce said, giving Tony an apologetic smile.
“And what about you, Capsicle?”
“I figured it out a couple of weeks ago,” Steve said, going back to his meal.
Tony threw his hands up. “Unbelievable. You’re all fired.” He froze, then turned to where Pepper was laughing from the other sofa. “No! Not you too?” he asked with mock betrayal.
“It’s not my fault you’re as observant as a rock,” she said.
Hands quickly exchanged money, and Clint (very loudly) celebrated his first win. Nat and Maria looked at each other - their secret was out, finally! This was just the start of another whole adventure.
********
Later that night, after the chaos had died down, Bruce was in the kitchen with Steve as they topped up their snack bowls for the rest of movie night. “They make sense together,” he said softly, so only Steve would hear.
The other man met his eyes briefly before glancing back over to the two women on the sofa. He nodded once in agreement. “They do.”
As Natasha and Maria curled up together, the TV played a period romance they had watched long ago, when they first got together – the one with the soothing soundtrack that Maria liked. Nat kissed the top of her girlfriend’s head and smiled.
It was the quiet moments, after all, that felt the most like home.