maria hill one shots

lunch

For years I had been working at SHIELD. I'd climbed my way up the ranks with hard work and effort, hours of physical training every morning and hours of coding, deciphering and training my mind every night. For years I had done everything in my power, the tasks I was assigned and extra work I assigned myself, to make myself the best agent I could be. My efforts were recognised by the director of course, and I would regularly be promoted or given pay rises. However, even with my status as a level 8 agent, only one below the deputy director herself, I still wasn't happy in my job. Because no one knew me. 

Most people make friends with their colleagues within months of working together. Most people have at least a group of people to gossip with over cheap cafeteria burritos at lunch. Not me. It wasn't a choice I made for myself. Not actively at least. For the first few years of working here, making friends didn't even cross my mind - I was so insanely focused on my work that I forgot social interactions even existed. By the time I realised I wanted at least one person to talk to, it was too late. Everyone had separated into their own friendship groups and I became that one colleague they seemed to avoid. I was labelled the weird one, the lonely one, the nerdy one. I was the isolated one. And so here I sat, alone, in my usual seat in the corner of the cafeteria in SHIELD HQ with my floppy slice of pizza and a can of coke. 

To fill the time, I did my usual. I chewed the end of my pencil as I puzzled over the answers to the sudoku on the scrap of paper in front of me. A stopwatch ticked by on my phone. I wanted to beat my record time. You can get quite good at puzzles when you have no friends. I never usually struggled with sudokus, but today's seemed extra challenging, so I took a large gulp of coke and span the pencil between my fingers. My eyebrows furrowed tightly in frustration. 

"Middle one is 8." A gentle voice interrupted my thoughts and a finger pointed to the exact middle box of the sudoku. I scanned the rest of the boxes to check. The mysterious voice was correct. It was 8. I quickly scribbled in a messy 8 before going back to chewing my pencil. No one had ever even acknowledged my existence before, let alone spoken to me. I tried to ignore the mixture of anxiety and hope at the prospect of someone not being totally disgusted by the thought of being seen with me. In order to avoid the complete and utter disappointment of noticing they'd already left or seeing a mocking expression on their face, I trained my eyes onto the puzzle in front of me. 

I did this for a few moments. Until the chair opposite me scraped obnoxiously across the linoleum floor of the cafeteria and a figure took a seat in it. I gulped loudly and risked a glance upwards. I expected the worst. A colleague come to mock me, or a younger agent who was dared by their friends to sit with me. However, I was even more shocked to see Deputy Director Maria Hill sat in the chair across from me with a delicate smile on her face. I felt my eyebrows furrow again in confusion. Was I in trouble? Did I forget to do some work?

"You need to relax your brows, Y/N. You'll have wrinkles before you're 30." Maria noted, her warm smile still on her face. I rubbed my forehead and gave her a soft smile back. "I saw you struggling with that sudoku and thought I could help." Maria offered. 

"Normally I don't struggle. But today, they put a really tough one out." I reply, tapping my pencil repeatedly against the table. 

"Mmmm. I chose today's one. You seem to be too good at them so I wanted to challenge you." She responded, tilting her head down towards the piece of paper in my hands. 

"You know I do sudoku?" I asked. "How do you know that? I literally thought no one noticed me." I laughed awkwardly.

"I've always noticed you. You've always seemed content to be alone so I never bothered you. Today I decided I wanted to talk to you, so I may or may not have made the sudoku harder so I had an excuse to." Maria answered. A blush spread across my face at the thought of her noticing me and wanting an excuse to talk to me. Although, I had to correct her on something. 

"I never wanted to be alone, you know? It's just that I never approached anyone so no one approached me. Until you." I admitted with a slight frown.

"I'm sorry. If I'd have known I would've sat with you sooner."

"Don't you think I'm weird?" I asked genuinely. Everyone seemed to think it, why should Maria be any different?

"No. Actually, you remind me a lot of myself when I first joined SHIELD. I was so focused on my work that I forgot I needed to make any friends. And then I was the lonely agent in the corner for a while. Until Phil Coulson showed up and sort of took me under his wing." Maria explained. I nodded as I took it all in. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's never too late to make friends, you just have to find the right people." Maria held out her hand for me to shake and I slowly took it. 

That lunch, Maria and I continued to talk over sudoku. We shared random facts and sung stupid songs and laughed over things that weren't even funny. The next day, she sat with me again and handed me a crossword to solve. This went on for weeks with various puzzles and board games to test me. We got closer the more time we spent together and I found myself feeling things I didn't know I was capable of. Not only had I made my first friend at work, but I seemed to have developed my first crush. 

One lunch, a few months after the first sudoku, Maria sat down with no game or puzzle in her hand. I looked at her sceptically. 

"You always bring a puzzle. What's going on?" I asked. 

"I want to take you out. On a date." Maria blurted out abruptly. I tried to stay calm but my heart was going a million miles per hour. Nothing could have prepared me for this moment, but I wasn't complaining. Never in a thousand years would I complain. She looked down and anxiously fiddled with the rings on her fingers. Maria was the most level-headed agent in SHIELD yet here she was flustered and full of nerves at the prospect of asking me on a date. I blinked at her before placing a hand on top of hers. 

"Where are we going?" I question, giving her a smile. 

"I found this museum not far from here. It's a bunch of interactive puzzles and stuff. I thought you might like it." She replied quietly as if she were nervous to hear my response. 

"I'd love that. Thank you." 

Maria once told me it's never too late to make friends and sometimes, just sometimes, you get a whole lot more than you bargained for. I ended up with a girlfriend and I couldn't be happier. Who knew a sudoku could form a friendship that would turn into a relationship? I certainly didn't.

A/N: This is my first Maria one shot! I hope you all enjoyed it.