Natalia Romanova was the golden child in the Red Room - the star pupil, the teacher's pet, the best of the best. Everybody knew it, including all the girls in her cohort, including Y/N Y/L/N.
But just as she was the favourite, Y/N was the least fav...
Chapter Eight: "Everything we went through... you didn't owe me a thing."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
33 years old
With majority of my life going to utter crap quite quickly, it was hard to expect anything more.
But a year had passed since I'd been freed from Dreykov's control, no longer a weapon to be used by anyone, and everything was going great. Better than great, in fact.
For the first time, ever I think, I was truly enjoying life. I'd been promoted to an assistant manager at the stationary shop I worked at and though some may have believed that was boring, I loved it. Meeting the regulars, helping people find the right items for their various craft projects, chatting the day away... it was a dream. Such a massive change of pace to what I'd been used to. And I thought I'd get bored of it, missing the action I once had, but I honestly didn't.
The repetitious routine of waking up early, watering my plants, having breakfast, saying hi to my neighbour, doing a full day's work and coming home to unwind for the evening, only to do it all again the next day, was a dream. It was so easy for me to find joy in the little things – deciding whether to have a coffee or hot chocolate with my biscuit, trying out a new recipe, making plans with some friends from work – and I wasn't sure I ever wanted to give it up.
Everything I'd fantasised about whilst being in the Red Room and graduating as a Black Widow was finally true. Well, save for one little detail... but I tried not to dwell on that because that was impossible.
Yelena and Nat had visited once more in person since our Scotland trip, staying over for a week to get a glimpse into my new life. Yelena loved it, but I think she just loved trying new things. Nat didn't hate it, but I knew it wasn't for her... which hurt a little, since she was the one thing missing, technically speaking, but those were dreams from an old me. I was just grateful for our friendship now.
It was my turn to visit them in New York soon enough and I planned to stay for a week, excited for the break from work and mainly just looking forward to seeing them both again. Though, the first day I was arriving would also be the day I would finally meet Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye AKA Nat's best friend, the one who'd given her an out.
It was Nat's idea to invite him, since it was apparently long overdue for them to see each other again since she'd been on the run and he happened to be in town. She thought it would be nice for Yelena and I to meet him, too, like we had with Vision and Wanda, and I wasn't opposed to the idea... but I was a little nervous.
This was the man who had taken her in, given her another chance at life. The man who she only ever spoke highly of, looked up to, considered true family. It was a little intimidating to say the least, but I was also curious to know what he was like.
When I got to New York after a very long and tiresome journey, the first thing I did was sleep in the comfy hotel I'd booked. Yelena had offered to have me stay with her and Nat, but her flat only had one room and there wasn't much space since it was bought for only her and Nat occasionally stayed with her when she wasn't off freeing Widows.
