Chapter Text
Maria looked herself in the mirror one final time before going out.
This felt weird, not bad weird, new and scary weird.
She had never been much of a dress woman, but she was trying to change that.
She was wearing a long dark blue dress bought specifically for the occasion, and her fanciest leather jacket, fresh from the wash.
Her hairdo on the other hand was simple, just a neater version of the hair bun she wore to work.
She’d debated for a long time whether to wear nail polish, at the end of the day her cover won out over her comfort zone.
And so Mary Holt took a taxi to a fancy restaurant in downtown.
Natasha was waiting for her at the entrance wearing an equally as fancy dress.
After taking a moment to steady herself, she walked up to the disguised redhead, and smiled what she categorized as her “customer service smile”.
“Hey. Are you Natalie?”
The Black Widow sent her a pleasant smile, that was both completely her, and so fake it looked photoshopped on.
“Hey yourself, I’m guessing you’re Mary? The picture didn’t do you justice.”
Maria had gone along with Natasha’s idea because, well, it seemed fun.
And after FUCKING ALIENS had launched a full scale attack on New York, Maria could do with some R&R.
Supposedly Natasha went on these undercover dates all the time, though usually she just found someone on tinder, without telling them she was playing a role.
It was her way of relaxing, disguise yourself as somebody having fun.
Maria wasn’t one to judge.
Having each ordered a large steak with pommes dauphinoise, (after saving the whole world they felt they deserved something greasy and simple, this was as close as they got to burger with fries) they began making small talk.
Natalie told Mary about her ill-fated job working at Stark’s legal department. In return Mary told her made up stories from working at the FBI.
It was... not awkward, just kind of boring really.
Until Natasha began anxiously tearing at her napkin.
“Can I admit something?” She asked staring at a spot behind and to the left of Maria’s head.
“Of course” Maria answered in what she hoped was a natural tone. Her interest had been piqued.
“The people who raised me weren’t exactly what you would call progressive, so I kind of grew up thinking of girl-girl relationships as a sex thing, not you know a love thing. I learned to accept my bisexuality in my 20’s, but this is actually the first time I’ve you know, gone out with a woman. So there’s that.” Natasha ended her rambling speech, with an awkward bowing motion.
Maria took a few moments to process, she felt like Mary would have done the same.
How much of what Natalie said was inspired by the Black Widow’s own life, god only knew.
It rang surprisingly close to Maria’s own experiences, which she mentally adapted to Mary’s life.
“That’s actually a relief to hear, the last time I had anything close to romantic with a girl, was in my sophomore year. After that I guess I got too focused on work and everything else to worry much about partners in general.” Of course Mary hadn’t had trouble with “don’t ask don’t tell”, Hill figured Romanoff could probably fill in the blanks.
With those admissions out of the way, they were able to talk a lot more freely.
They joked and laughed all the way through the main course.
Then just as dessert arrived Natalie began rambling about star wars, then quickly stopped herself, just as it was getting interesting.
“It tends to scare men off when I get passionate on the first date.” She remarked with a downcast look in her eyes.
“Good thing I’m not a man then. Ramble away.” Mary remarked, chuckling a little bit from the enjoyment of flirting with a woman while stone cold sober (well, way more sober than she had been the last time, some 10 years ago).
Natalie didn’t accept her invitation, so Maria figured she’d have to show her how okay she was with tangents and passion.
So she began telling her about Yi Sun-Sin, hero of the Imjin war, and greatest navy commander that ever lived.
The plan backfired, Natalie (or was it Natasha, it was hard to tell) was so enthralled by Maria’s storytelling, that by the time Mary had finished telling about his heroic death during the battle of Noryang, she had let herself be roped into promising to talk about the Sengoku period.
Eventually they couldn’t draw out the date any longer.
Standing outside the restaurant, holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes, they rocked back and forth to keep warm. All the while waiting for the other to break the silence.
“So... I had fun.” The Black Widow admitted in a voice that was unmistakably her.
“Me too.” Assistant director Hill replied, not sure where the conversation was going.
“Do you think Mary could be convinced to go on a second date.” Yes, yes she could, in fact she was planning it right as they spoke.
“Depends, how would Natalie feel about it?” Maria answered, as if they didn’t both know the answer to that question.
They weren’t ready to leave just yet, even though they both knew they should.
“Where do we go from here?” Maria asked once her heels started cutting off the blood to her toes.
“For the time being, our separate ways, then we can talk about a next time some other day.” Natasha said, a hint of melancholy in her voice.
“Good idea, is it okay if I do something rash first?” Was Maria’s final question of the night.
Natasha nodded her approval.
They leaned closer to each other, still holding unto each other’s hands.
Natasha was really regretting wearing flats. She had to stand on her tippy toes, with Maria bending uncomfortably forward for their libs to meet.
It was chaste, and quick. Almost over before it began.
They both had a dreamy look in their eyes as they pulled away.
Seeing each other again after a moments bliss scared them to pull apart.
They turned away from each other, preparing themselves to find separate taxis home.
“Just out of curiosity Hill, was that you kissing me, or Mary kissing Natalie?”
“Which would you like it to be?”
“Let me get back to you on that one.”