Chapter Text
After my chat with Lissy, I headed to the roof for an hour and then back to my room only to find Alex sitting outside the door pawing at a white envelope on the floor. The familiarity of her writing offered no comfort though and I picked it up to take inside.
V, I overheard your conversation with Lissy; not intentional, I was just on my way down to talk to her myself. I know she can get out and I know you’re considering going with her. I’ve taken Wanda to the farm, I refuse to risk her in a plan that you have no intention of informing us on. I’ve spoken to Tony too, he knows about the attempt to lure him out. As for myself? You were right, I’m going back to the Avengers Tower. It kills me to leave you but they have a plan, a better one than yours. Stay safe and look after Al. Yours, Natasha.
Fuck, well there’s that.
“Screwed up there didn’t I, puss?” I muttered, picking up Alex to cradle against my chest. She squirmed gently until I put her down, immediately bounding down the hall and slipping into Natasha’s room. Confused, I followed her wondering why she’d left it open after many conversations about her privacy.
Everything was normal but the book sat on the bed, its pages open on a random page. I picked it up, scanning it slightly only to find it all in Russian. Great. Still, it didn’t answer the question as to why she left it out. Natasha was normally obsessive over her books, putting them back as soon as she was done.
Ignoring the voice in my head, I slipped under the covers with a soft smile. It sucked, the entire situation was ridiculous, but I had to work with what I had and right now that was access to Natasha’s comforting scent. I stayed in her room for the rest of the day until my stomach rumbled loudly, alerting me that despite everything going on my body still needed food.
My feet were loud on the floor which was a massive contradiction to the shouting and laughing that normally overpowered any footsteps. It was creepy. Eery. I hated every minute.
Until I got to the kitchen where Lissy was sitting on the island.
“I’m sorry, what are you doing?” I asked, walking forward slowly.
She turned to me, “Making you dinner, you hungry?” I nodded, my heartbeat racing in my ears. “Good, I was thinking tacos?”
“Where is everybody, Lissy?”
She sighed and routed through the fridge pulling out everything necessary for her meal of choice. “Can we please forget about them for a minute and just have a nice dinner together?”
The note, was it even Natasha who wrote it?
“I mean, we can eat sure but I want to know where everybody is?” She nodded to herself. “You haven’t hurt them, have you? That would upset me and you said you never wanted to do that.”
Lissy turned at that and stared at me incredulously. “Of course, I haven’t hurt them Veejay, I just wanted us to be able to spend some time together. One on one.” I nodded and leant over to steal some of the salad she was cutting up, I paused just as it touched my lips remembering Natasha’s warning about poison. The blonde noticed and rolled her eyes, reaching for some cucumber and putting it straight in her mouth with a pointed look. I followed suit, picking at the salad just for something to do.
We ate in silence and she washed the pots quietly. “Okay, what do you want? I’m scared and I want to know where my friends are.”
She turned around slowly, her hands up. “Scaring you was never my intention gorgeous, how about we go and see them.” I nodded at her and followed her out the door. We wound through the compound and then down a few flights of stairs I had never noticed before until we came to a large basement. There, cuffed to the wall, was the entire team. Natasha included.
Tasha looked worse than the rest of them as blood drooled from the corner of her mouth and nose. She looked up at me with wide eyes, pulling harshly at the restraints. I shook my head slightly, hoping she’d get the message and she did falling against the wall with an exhausted frown.
“Lissy, this isn’t okay. You can’t just tie them up.” I said, turning to the blonde who was watching me carefully. “That’s not any way to treat my friends. If you want me, you can have me but you don’t get to hurt them.” Confusion spread over her features and she backed away from me. I could feel myself heating up, getting angry.
“So you want me too?” She asked, timid against the wall.
I shook my head, “Not like this. You don’t get to force my hand, manipulate me with my friends and expect me to come running back to you like a kicked puppy.”
“You need to calm down Veejay,” She muttered, looking desperately at the rest of the team who were all sporting similar smirks. I shook my head again, fighting at the frustration licking at my skin, “Calm down for me, please. You don’t want to hurt me.” She begged.
My eyes scanned over the team who, with the aversion of Natasha, all looked reasonably unharmed. Wanda was crying though and Natasha was still pulling relentlessly against the shackles on her wrist. “I do a bit though,” I said, turning my attention back to the blonde. “See, I really don’t like people who hurt my friends. The people I love.”
Lissy’s eyes turned icy and she pushed off the wall to stalk forward, raising a hand to slap my face, “You don’t love her. You can’t!” She screamed, her tone breathless.
I looked back at Natasha who was watching me with the softest smile, “I do though. I love all of them. So if you don’t back away from me right now, I might do something I regret.” Lissy’s eyes widened and she took a step backwards, faltering slightly.
“You can’t love her,” she muttered repetitively and grabbed my hand. I could feel my skin burning and she noticed as soon as our skin touched, flinching violently. “You’re supposed to love me. They promised you’d love me. Not her. She’s a murderer, she’s broken. Can’t give you everything that I can, you don’t want her,”
A sharp breath was heard to my right and I didn’t have to look to know it was Natasha. My eyes glassed over as my anger took control, fire encompassing my hands as I stalked forward. “You are a murderer. You killed Sasha. You hurt people. You do not get to talk about her like that, ever, especially right now. She is enough for me.”
Lissy turned to look at the people cuffed to the wall, “You did this, you turned my soulmate against me.” She turned directly to Natasha, “And you stole her. Stole her love from me. I’m going to kill you.”
Suddenly, her body was thrown to the side as I pushed the wind against her. She grunted as her body hit the wall, falling limp to the floor. Lissy looked up at me begging as I mentally ripped the cuffs off the team sitting against the wall. I heard a scramble and then a scream as I turned to see Natasha seizing on the floor.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pushing on her neck with my hand.
“Not much, a little molecular move around.” She smirked.
The next time I opened my eyes, Natasha had stopped convulsing now lead silently on the floor taking raspy breaths with Bruce and Wanda checking her. At my feet was a pile of ashes and a single blonde hair… what had I done?
I stumbled out of the room quickly, tripping over the steps leading upstairs. I’d killed her, I’d killed Lissy and for what. She didn’t need to die to stop her hurting Natasha, I shouldn’t have killed her. Oh my god, I killed her. My legs buckled underneath me and I slumped the floor. Suddenly, Tony was in my face, his hands touching my cheeks, my hands anything and everything.
“-Had to, You had to. It’s not your fault. Are you okay?” He was saying, staring back at Steve with a panicked expression.
“I did, I killed her,” I muttered, pushing Tony off me. “I don’t even remember it, just closed my eyes and she was gone. Feel like it’s something you should remember, you know, your first kill.”
Tony furrowed his eyebrows, “It’s not though, is it?”
He was right, Rick and Amanda had died at my hands too. I was a murderer, I’d killed three people that only needed to be detained. I fumbled my way back to my room, pushing the sheets off the bed so I could lie in the middle still warm after the fire.
Later that evening my door was pushed open as red hair swung around the doorframe. “Hi,” She whispered, limping to the bed.
“Hi,”
She grabbed my fingers loosely threading them between her own. “Can’t believe you didn’t recognise my handwriting.”
“Well, you write like a printer… Not sure a fully trained writing analyser could recognise your handwriting,” I countered, looking at her face properly to find the blood had been cleaned and she was only now sporting a small cut on her nose and a busted lip.
“That’s the idea,” She chuckled, wincing as her lips curved into a smile. I leant forward brushing my lips over the cut on her nose. “What about the other one?” She asked when I pulled back, a serious look on her face. Frowning, I simply lifted my hand to brush her lip and tucked it around her jaw pulling her closer to brush my lips over her own.
She laughed again when we pulled apart, bringing her thumb to my lip and swiping. Her finger came back red and she looked at me sheepishly, a giggle burst from my lips as I watched her swipe at her own lip and getting the same reaction. Suddenly, I was hunched with laughter pulling her towards me in glee. She was okay, Natasha was okay and regardless of the unethical method so was everybody else.
Once I had calmed down she lifted her head from my chest, eyes softening as they met my own. “Did you mean it?” She whispered.
“Mean what? I’ve done a lot of things in the last 24 hours.” Natasha rolled her eyes.
“That you loved me.”
Oh, that. “Of course, I love all of you.” Natasha’s face fell and she nodded placing her head back on my chest. “I do, however… love you a little bit differently. I mean, I did just have your blood on my lips I don’t just let anyone blee-“ My remark was cut short as her lips pressed back onto mine forcefully.
She kissed me hard and when I opened my mouth, her tongue was quick to explore my own. My hands raised to cup her face, falling deeper into her hair as she shifted on top of me to grip at my hips. Natasha pulled away, breathing heavily onto my lips and grinning. Her lip was bleeding profusely now, running down her chin in a stream and I’m pretty sure I could taste it, but I really didn’t care.
“I’m in love with you Tasha and I know feelings are hard and I know this is all really strange but I am.” I managed after a minute, wiping away the blood onto my sleeve. She kissed me again until we were both breathless, chests heaving. “I’m not having sex with you while you’re bleeding all over my sheets though,” I warned.
She laughed quietly. “I don’t care.” I nodded silently trying to figure out where we stood, she noticed and her face dropped, “Look V, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know what to do or how to go about this. We need to talk and do a lot of things that I really don’t want to get into right now. So can we please just be us? No labels, for now, no nothing. Just us, doing whatever we want. Just for now.” I nodded at her and she cupped my jaw, pulling my lips down to cover hers once more. “And for now, I want to keep doing this.”
Well, who was I to ever resist her?
She pulled back after a minute hugging herself to me with a quiet breath, “Do you remember what happened?” I shook my head, trying to recall anything from the time I’d closed my eyes. “Do you want to?”
Did I? Did I want to know how I murdered another person? Yeah, I kind of did.
“Wanda showed me after the psycho stopped fucking with my blood, who knew you could be scary V? You had her on the floor and she was choking, screaming. Then suddenly she lifts in the air like she’s been possessed and she just bursts into flames, her entire body just… on fire. I’ve never seen anything like it. Looked like something from Twilight.”
Her explanation made sense, the ashes matching with the story. “I didn’t know you’ve seen twilight?”
Natasha grinned and kissed my jaw, “Oh yeah, Lila is obsessed at the moment. Laura is furious though because it’s not exactly PG but I’ll never deny that little girl anything.” I sighed softly as her lips made their way across my skin, stopping short of my lips. “You make me happy. Even if you can burn people alive. In fact, it was sort of hot. Pun intended.”
“I love you,” I whispered, reconnecting our lips softly. I knew she wouldn’t say it back and I didn’t expect her to. Her being here with me was enough of a reply. “I want to go check on Wanda and then tomorrow I want to know what happened between this mornings conversation and me finding you all down there. But for tonight I want my three favourite girls.”
“Three?” Natasha asked. Then as if on cue, Alex jumped on the bed pouncing onto Natasha with a meow. “Oh, three. Sorry Al,” I pulled away from Natasha and headed to the door to go get Wanda. But I stopped opposite the mirror, staring at the growing bruise I had on my face. Tasha was watching me from the bed, her lips pouted and her eyes sad.
Ignoring my reflection, I turned to press my lips back to hers. “Mm, I like being able to do that again,” She smiled into the kiss and then pushed me away towards the door. “I’m going, bloody hell don’t get handsy.” She smirked and rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the cat.
I walked straight into Wanda’s room and grabbed her hand pulling her through the door and back into my room before pushing her onto the bed. She looked at Natasha who just shrugged her shoulders with a smile as I turned on the TV. “We’re going to sit here and cuddle because I need to be close to you both right now, okay?”
They both nodded silently sharing a smile and curled around my body once I’d been pulled between them. Wanda’s head rested on my legs while Tasha placed a kiss behind my ear and nuzzled into my neck. Peace. Finally. Sure, we had HYDRA to deal with and many more cataclysmic plans to foil but for now, I was calm.
Slowly, the rest of the team drizzled in. First was Clint looking for Natasha but soon joined the huddle, pressing himself close to her with an arm stretched out around us. Steve came next with popcorn and tea for everyone. Bruce arrived accidentally; he was looking for Natasha to check her wrists.
“FRIDAY, please ask Tony to come to my room,” I called a few minutes after Bruce slunk to the bottom of the bed. Tony came in a second later, pouting because he was the last to find out but quickly wormed himself behind Wanda laying a protective hand over her. “I’m sorry she hurt you all,” I whispered.
Natasha shook her head behind me and let her lips fall back to my neck, kissing softly while Tony looked outraged. “Hurt us! She didn’t hurt us, we’re The Avengers. What’s a little kidnapping among friends. Plus, it was cool seeing you in action.”
Wanda smiled at me in agreement, squeezing my hand. Steve shuddered and muttered something about never forgetting the smell. Bruce was the only one looking concerned,
“Veejay, are you okay?” I nodded at him confused. “It’s just, your body went up in a pile of flames too.” I stiffened under Natasha; she hadn’t told me that. The rest of the team went silent too and he looked around fervently. “Oh, were we not telling her that?”
I pulled myself from the mess of limbs and into the bathroom, stripping my top to check my body and sure enough, there were small blisters dotted along my limbs. The door opened and Natasha shimmied around the door, frowning at my skin. “I should’ve told you, I’m sorry.” My mouth felt like cotton as her eyes looked me up and down so I quickly shrugged on a bathroom that was hung up next to me. She reached over and tugged it back open, her fingers dancing softly over the skin of my waist. “You don’t get to be shy now, not now you’re mine.”
Heat rose on my skin as she stepped closer, her soft breath hitting my cheek. She lowered her face to my shoulder, pressing a soft kiss. Then worked her way down, kissing every piece of injured tissue she could find and then some. Finally, she stood up and kissed me softly. “Yours?” I asked once she’d taken a step back.
She nodded a proud smile adorning her lips. “Mine,” She whispered, peppering kisses all over my face until I was a giggling mess underneath her. “Now come on, everyone’s waiting for you to turn the film on.”
I picked up my clothes and dressed quickly, following her out of the bathroom silently. Bruce opened his mouth, probably to apologise but I simply smiled at him and shook my head, there was no need. I was fine. They were fine.
Tony pressed play as the blinds fell and for now, everything was just as it should be.