Echoes of Eternity: The Timeless Promise

Chpt. 6

A/N - The photo above is not mine - it was created by pabloruizzx on Instagram. I only edited to the face. 

Barton Residence - 2018

Y/N POV

As soon as I stepped into the old farmhouse, my nose was hit with the most potent rotting smell. Natasha looks weirdly at me when she sees my nose scrunch from the smell as I walk through the living room and enter the kitchen. "What's with the face?" She questions. I pull away from her, trying desperately to figure out where the smell is coming from. When Laura gets back and this smell is still here, it'll be World War Three, and we will be attending Clint's funeral.

"You don't smell that?" I question, giving her a curious look. She merely shakes her head, and I only sigh in return. Of course, my heightened senses would pick it up before anyone else's. Natasha leans against the island and watches me grab a garbage bag from under the sink. I start rummaging through each cupboard, throwing out anything that is expired or mouldy.

When I opened one of the cupboards with the coffee filter, I remembered why we came in here, so I dropped the half-full garbage bag by the fridge before pulling out a couple of filters since they were the thin kind. I can feel Natasha's eyes on me, watching my every move, and I swear I heard her chuckle when I stopped mid-task and switched to making coffee.

Ignoring her, I lift the lid and place the filters in the tray. Grabbing the coffee pot and turning on the tap, I fill it with water. I pour the water into the water basin before putting the pot back on its pedestal. There is a light chuckle behind me when I stop to look around the kitchen, trying to figure out where the coffee grains are. I must have had a perplexed look on my face because a moment later, Natasha walked over and held the coffee tin.

She stands before me with a smirk on her lips. Our gaze locks as she holds out the tin. Our fingers brush as I wrap my hand around it. I hesitate, not wanting to break this connection, as I'm mesmerized by her curious, beautiful emerald-green eyes. "The pantry." Her voice is soft as she answers the question I never intended to ask.

A bright smile appears across my face as I pull the tin from her fingers. "She used to keep it with the filters," I added extra coffee to make it stronger since I didn't need or want to sleep despite the exhaustion running through my veins. 

"You know you can sleep. I slept in the car, and it is only fair." I shrug at her statement as she goes back to leaning on the other side of the island to study me.

As the coffee brewed, I opened the fridge and immediately got hit with the rotting smell in full force. From the corner of my eye, I can see Natasha make a face before walking over to the fridge. "Laura's going to kill Clint when she comes back to this." I chuckle as I start throwing almost everything that's in the fridge into the garbage bag. 

Natasha pulls out a rotting salmon and throws it quickly into the bag. When we finish, the fridge is almost completely empty, and I'm secretly cursing Clint as I tie up the bag and walk it outside about ten minutes later. When I walk back in, Natasha is cleaning the fridge thoroughly with paper towels, soap and water.

Luckily, Laura is a stickler for order, so the cupboards are still the same way as I remember. I grab two coffee mugs and pour both of us coffee. "Uh. I'd offer you milk or cream, but since we just tossed it, all I got is sugar. Did you want any?" I ask softly as she discards the used paper towels and huffs and closes the fridge door.

"No, I'll take it black, thank you." She hums as she takes the cup in both hands. "What about you?"

Shrugging, "Um. Never really like anything in my coffee. I prefer it black. Black like my soul." I chuckle dryly, and I'm met with a quizzical eyebrow raise followed by a shake of her head and a nose scrunch. Her nose scrunch melts my heart as I give her an eyebrow raise of my own, questioning her actions. "What?"