Iron Woman - Home?

Chapter 30

She made herself a small salad while I sat at the breakfast bar.

I was on my phone, looking like I was typing but I was really scanning her for her new gear. Bruce could only be so accurate.

Thankfully she didn't notice as I made a new file called "Webbing."

Maybe they'd think it was for Peter or something. If they ever saw it...

I wasn't really hungry so I just sat in silence on my phone while Nat ate her lunch.

I did have social media, so I scrolled through my Instagram feed.

I had months worth of unchecked photos, so honestly I don't think I got halfway through them. Oh well.

I wasn't on it much anyway.

My profile was private, and I never posted. I just wanted to see what others were doing.

Not in a creepy way though I swear!

Nat finished lunch and I asked if she wanted to go down to the pool with me.

"Sure. Lemme just get on a bathing suit," she said, putting her plate in the sink.

"Ok," I said, going off to my room.

I really hoped Tony had some bathing suits in here. Sure enough he had a bikini and a full piece. Both black

I needed a tan, so I put on the bikini. I used the full length mirror in the closet to examine myself.

The stitches in my side had dissolved, leaving behind a scar, but the surrounding area was still a little bruised. I'd be fine. I loved scars honestly.

As weird as that sounds, I felt like they told you something about the person. They made me feel stronger, like I had been through more. They showed I could take the pain.

I pulled a towel from my bathroom, not knowing if Tony had any down by the pool.

When managed to get out the door without anyone seeing me, and down to the pool, I saw Nat was already waiting for me, laid back on her beach chair.

"How the hell did you get down here so quickly?" I asked, spreading my towel out on a chair next to her.

"It's a gift," she said, smiling a little.

I smirked innocently and laid back.

I closed my eyes against the blinding Malibu sun. I didn't apply sunscreen because I never really burned. I was told that even when I was young I never got more than dark tan. Never red.

If my cheeks were pink it was most likely from windburn.

We just laid there in silence for a while.

I heard Steve yell on the balcony, but I tuned it out. It may have been an hour before Natasha spoke up.

"How are you?" she asked. I opened my eyes and squinted at her.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was fine.

"I mean how are you? You're a part of this team now, and as much as you're Tony's daughter and a friend, I don't know much about you. Your past, your emotions. Anything," she said, now sitting up to face me.

I swung my legs over to look at her, and immediately let my emotional guard drop.

I kept it up most of the time as a protection, and honestly I doubted the guys wanted to hear my emotions. I had too many of those.

"Well my mom and dad were murdered when I was 2. My aunt and uncle died in a car crash when I was 11. I'd like to think of myself as a teen genius with a metal suit, and that's pretty much it," I summed up.

Honestly, what more was there she would want to know?

"I know all of that," Nat said.

"So what more do you want to know?" I asked.

"Faith, there is so much more than that. I can see it," Nat said.

"Like what?" I asked, now getting a little annoyed.

"Why'd you start doing what you do? How's things with Peter? Why are you the way you are?" she said calmly.

I sighed.

They were rational questions, and I honestly didn't mind the one about Peter. I could trust her, I knew that much.

And Steve was great to talk to and all, but I needed a girl's advice.

I wasn't the best at this stuff anyway.

"I started working with tech because of Tony and because, quite frankly, I had nothing better to do. I was more advanced than anyone my age so I got a hold of whatever wires and pieces of metal I could and then made something out of it. I got better at making stuff out of trash when I lived by myself in that basement. And Peter? My god he's amazing. He's funny, smart, strong, brave, and don't judge me for saying this but... damn he's hot!" I said, earning a snort from Natasha, "And why am I me? Well when you lose people year after year you end up losing a lot of yourself. When my parents died I lost the ability to feel sadness. Imagine being 2 and coming home to find blood flooding your kitchen. When my aunt and uncle died I lost the ability to feel most of anything. I cut myself on a piece of shrapnel a few months later, and I didn't even feel it until I looked down on a blood-soaked arm. And I've never really been open to people so that's just me."

Depressing, but it's all true.

Losing my family took away a lot from me. But I've also gotten a lot of it back. I had a dad now. And "aunts" and "uncles." And a boyfriend.

I was actually starting to enjoy life for the first time in a long time.

Natasha looked almost sorry for me as we sat knee to knee on the chairs.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down.

"For what?" I asked, putting my facade again.

Nat looked up and I thought I saw tears briming in her eyes.

"You're 15. When I was your age, I had gone through everything you have and I know how it feels. It feels like your world is falling apart and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It's Hell on Earth," she said.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then shut it. What the fuck was I supposed to say to that?

"I'm sorry," I said to her, placing a comforting hand on her knee.

Nat shook her head and blinked away the tears.

"Don't be," she said, her voice returning to normal, "I'm fine."

I guess I wasn't the only one who kept up a facade.

I gave her a weak smile of understanding as I laid back onto my chair.

I think I fell asleep because when I woke up Nat was gone.

The sun was ¾ of the way across the sky, but it hadn't yet touched the horizon.

It was still scorching under the late Malibu sun, so I decided to go inside.

I noticed I had turned a light shade of bronze as I looked in my mirror.

I wanted to work on Nat's new Widow Bites, so I went off to the lab. 

*A/N*

we love a sappy tea session - had to through it in there though

I know its a lot and totally shit writing but I want you guys to really understand the character (s)

also watching Spiderman: Homecoming last night... now ive been every marvel movie ever!!