The Younger Agent - Natasha Romanoff x OC

Chapter 130 - Retirement Home

The group agreed to wait until the following day. Tony lived even further upstate in New York and it would take a few hours to get there as it was, and there was no point in aiming to get there in the evening and have to travel back to the compound late at night. The best thing to do was to get a good night sleep and head out early the next day. That way, if Tony agreed with their batshit crazy plan then they had the rest of the day to talk about it. Plus, Scott didn't seem in any fit state to be travelling any more hours with how jittery he was. If they asked Tony to talk to this guy now, he'd think he was on crack.

So, they ate, they talked, revelled in camaraderie, and the fact that they had a goal. Eleanor and Nat had been left alone in this big building for far too long. It was nice to have familiar company. They slept relatively well. Natasha was still restless during the initial part of the night, which meant that Eleanor was restless from occasionally having the other woman's foot tap against her calf, but it was a better night than most other nights.

Eleanor was anxious about seeing Tony again when morning arrived, however. The way he left with Pepper had been abrupt. If it was like a breakup it wasn't amicable. He was unwell from the space travel, angry at the world, at himself. Angry at the Avengers on Earth who had failed to stop Thanos. They hadn't talked much since then. Tony had reached out a while back to apologise for initially resenting them for everything that had happened, trying to get rid of any hard feelings, and using the opportunity to announce Pepper's pregnancy.

She hadn't met Morgan yet. Natasha and Eleanor had known Tony and Pepper for thirteen years now, so it stung a little. But if Tony wanted distance then he could have distance. The same with Bruce, and Thor... and Clint.

Her knees cracked as she stood up from the bed, a reminder that her body was getting on a little. Natasha simply chuckled and looked at her from within the vanity mirror that was across the room, tying her hair in some kind of side braid. "You about to go shoot some arrows?", Eleanor joked in retaliation to the mockery.

"Shut up", Natasha scoffed, tying the band at the bottom. Eleanor scrunched her lips to the side as she sauntered up to Natasha and trailed a finger down the braid. "I love when you braid it now you've got two colours".

Natasha hummed a little, "You like?". Eleanor nodded as her wife stood up from the little stool and guided Eleanor by the shoulders to sit at it and smirked at her through the mirror. "What can I do for you today, ma'am?". Eleanor's eyes lit up, the hope striding through Nat's veins was allowing her personality to shine again. "What do you suggest?".

Natasha's fingers glided through Eleanor's hair, combing out any tangles as she gave it some thought, "I'll do those double ones you used to wear all the time", she spoke softly, moving to part her hair down the middle, her fingers softly starting the braid. Seamless due to how many times she'd done this throughout her life. Eleanor was always a bit jealous of the skill. She was able to braid her hair, yes, but it always took about three attempts before it looked good enough to leave the house in, and the self-restraint to not smack the brush against her head like a thirteen year old struggling to do a ponytail with no bumps.

Her eyes fluttered shut as Nat continued her work. It was small intimate moments that Eleanor loved the most about a relationship. The small touches. "All done", Nat pressed a kiss to the top of her head, her chin moving to to rest there after. Eleanor smiled softly as her eyes met hers in the mirror again, "Love you".

"Love you too", the older one grinned and just hoisted her off of the stool, "Let's get going".

—

The drive over felt like it was hours and hours due to the anticipation in the air. Eleanor wished teleportation existed, but then there would be the issue of breaking and entering, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea. The car was nice, Steve had clearly managed to wrangle something up from someone, possibly even Tony himself seeing as he had a garage full at the compound he never used anymore. Eleanor wished to be able to drive some of them but the keys were at the little cabin that Tony had taken up retirement in.