To Go Unseen (A Natasha Romanoff Story)

37 [Houston]

They spent the rest of the day trying desperately to forget their problems, which wasn’t entirely easy at first. Houston was hot for February and Natasha found herself almost, keyword almost, glad that her hair was so short. They explored the city until they were both exhausted and James took his every opportunity to kiss her and for a second, in his arms, she could nearly forget who she was and what her life had become. She could almost forget that they weren’t two ordinary lovers on an ordinary vacation. She could pretend. But as good a liar as she was, she wasn’t skilled enough to lie to herself for long.

They did everything they could think to do. Museums for Natasha and walks by piers for James. A corner taco restaurant for them both. A cheap bus tour. Selfies in front of landmarks.

And oh, how James’ face lit up. Natasha was terribly distracted by him and found it more satisfying to watch James marvel at the city around them instead of watch the city itself. He caught her doing this a few times and gave her a smart grin.

“And if you look to your left, you’ll see your boyfriend,” James teased her, mimicking the tour guide’s voice quietly. Natasha rolled her eyes and she didn’t respond because all she could think was, ‘you sparkle more than the city itself.’

“If I ever lost you,” she finally said after a while, musing solemnly, and James looked back over. They were sitting on the tour bus, on the top section where the wind blew both of their hair in their eyes and Natasha had to tuck strands behind her ear for the millionth time. She didn’t finish her sentence.

A gloved hand wrapped around hers gently.

“You won’t,” he said. “I promise.”

She looked down at their hands and then back up at his face, where the wind plastered too-long brown hair across his forehead. “The nicest restaurant in DC,” she whispered over the scream of the wind and the growl of the road. “Take me out to dinner. When this is all over.”

She studied James’ face for his reaction. He recognized the phrase, the promise, and his smile fell, thinking about it. He opened his mouth and then closed it and then opened it again. He tried to smile at her.

“Kiss you all night,” he finished finally and she stared at him. Then, “what are you thinking about?” He asked.

“You,” she said quietly.

Later that evening, after it got dark and they had finished a dinner of Texmex on the pier, Natasha and James found themselves at the nearest nightclub they could find.

James had been a little nervous about the idea. After all, he’d said, he hadn’t been to a place like this since before the war, and they were bound to be different in the twenty-first century, but Natasha wanted to dance and he gave in.

It may be worth mentioning that they ran into some trouble trying to get in as they realized James had no ID whatsoever, but given that he had the Black Widow with him, he was snuck inside relatively quickly.

Once they got in the club and adjusted to the screaming stimulation of the experience, the people and the sounds and the lights, and James was no longer in danger of being thrown out, Natasha ran out to dance.

She was stunning on the dance floor and she knew she was. She could feel the music pounding in her chest, like the bass line had replaced her heartbeat and thinking about it too hard made tears spring to her eyes and she stopped and blinked them away, surprised at the well of emotion inside her. What hurt her more, she wondered? The fact that she loved how dancing replaced her heart? Or simply the dancing itself?

Natasha shoved the feeling away. She was an expert at shoving it away and she became all swaying hips and wide smiles and ba-thrump ba-thrump ba-thrump bass line.

It was dark and strobe lights flashed and it was so loud that she could only see James’ lips moving and she couldn’t hear his voice at all. She laughed and put his hands on her hips and pressed herself against him, away from the people behind her and around her, and slung her arms around her shoulders. If they couldn’t talk, at least they could dance, and that was perfectly fine with her.