MCU (Avengers) Imagines Part Two

Natasha Romanoff X Fem!Reader - Everybody's Fool

A/N - This chapter is based on the song 'Everybody's Fool' by Evanescence. It contains the outing of an LGBTQ+ character without their consent. If this is likely to effect you, please do not read this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.

You had been aware from the moment you had gained public attention that you would have to keep your dating life private. Sure, that made actually dating a hell of a lot harder, but it was the safest way to keep a successful career. The world wasn't a perfect utopia; you never expected it to be. But it was still too cruel for you to trust it with your true self just yet. 

Part of you hoped that you would find the person you wanted to spend your life with before ever having to announce your sexuality. It would be easier that way. You would have a shoulder to lean on, someone to support you through the horrible comment you knew you would receive. You'd watched other people in your position come out before. You'd seen the way people had belittled them and bullied them, and the idea of going through that alone had been enough to put you off for some time. 

Of course, that often meant playing the part of a straight girl. It meant listening to men's attempts to flirt and trying to find some way to turn them down without just coming out. It meant hiding each and every relationship you had ever had, and burying crushes until you knew whether you could trust someone enough to actually admit your feelings. 

You'd even had to hide it from the security detail that had been assigned to you by the company you were working with. They'd made it very clear that safety was a priority, and who better to hire than real life superheroes. 

Captain Rogers wasn't the easiest man to get along with. He was serious about his job, 'the mission' as he called it, and didn't have much interest in getting to know you. But Natasha was nice. The two of you had been getting on swimmingly, even when you received some disapproving looks from Steve. You'd wanted to confess to her from the first moment you'd met, but had quickly dismissed that idea before you could make such a ridiculous decision. 

"So, what do you do for fun?" Nat hummed, her legs flung over the side of the armchair she was lounging in as Steve made a final check of the house's perimeter. 

You shrugged slightly, sitting crossed legged in the middle of the couch. "I don't go out much. Too many prying eyes." 

"Paps or fans?" 

"Both," you murmured, picking at the corner of your nails. "It's overwhelming," you added softly, glancing up to find her watching you. 

Nat let a smirk pull at her lips. "Scared of being caught misbehaving?"

Your chest tightened at just how right she was, but you quickly forced a laugh, shaking your head. "I don't misbehave."

"Oh sure you do. There's no way you're this perfect by nature," she muttered, turning around in the seat to look at you a little more closely. "Bet you're a trouble maker when there's no one around to catch you."

You shook your head. "Nope," you murmured, offering up a small shrug. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm the classic good girl stereotype. Rarely drink. Don't do drugs. Don't smoke. God, I barely even swear," you chuckled.

Nat's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sure," she hummed, clearly not convinced by your attempted lie. 

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that one of your old friends had decided to sell you out. And with one head line, you'd gone from every parent's dream role model to one of the most hated women in the world. 

You'd still been half asleep when you'd glanced at your phone, noticing the abundance of notifications, opening the first to see a screenshot of a magazine's front page with your face plastered onto it. Above the picture, in bold lettering it simply said: "Lez-Be-Friends?" followed by a smaller: "Y/N Y/L/N has lied for long enough."

Your stomach dropped, your mind going fuzzy as you clicked on another notification to see the exact same screenshot. You switched over to twitter next, typing your own name into the search bar and seeing a magnitude of posts pop up on the screen. There were nice ones, sure, but the ones that stood out the most were the not so nice ones. They varied really. Some were complaining about how you were a liar for hiding your sexuality. Others practically losing their mind about how you were spreading the homosexual agenda. And then there were the others; the people who now hated you so much that they were sending death threats. 

Locking the phone, you dropped it into your lap, lifting your hands to massage at your temple. How could this have happened? You were always so careful about who you told. God, half of your friends still didn't know.

A knock on the door startled you slightly, and you quickly wiped at the tears you hadn't even noticed forming. "Who is it?" you called out, glancing up as the door opened slightly. 

"You saw the article, huh?" Nat started, a frown painting her features as she leant in the doorway. 

You shook your head. "Just the headlines." You paused for a second. "I'm trending on twitter," you added softly, your breath catching in your throat. "I wasn't ready to tell people," you finally murmured, tears making tracks down your face as Nat finally stepped a little further into the room, pressing the door shut behind her. 

"Do you know who sold out?" You shook your head, and Nat sighed. "Damn. Would of liked to have a little look at their private information; see how they like having everything plastered on a front page." A small snort slipped out of you as Nat came to sit on the edge of your bed. "This'll blow over, you know?" she hummed, patting your hand lightly. 

"Will it?" you uttered, attempting to wipe away the tears that just wouldn't stop coming. "It really doesn't feel like it will."

Nat hesitated for a moment. "Way I see it, you've got two options. You hide out and hope it all goes away; pray that people forget this all happened. Or, you stand up, you say 'Yeah, I'm gay and I'm still super talented and cool' and you show them that this is nothing to be ashamed of." She shrugged slightly. "I know this wasn't how it should have happened, but you are going to become a role model to so many young kids questioning who they are, whether you like it or not. If you handle this right, you could make a huge difference to them-"

"I don't know how," you uttered, and Nat fell silent. "I've never been out before. I've never had to actually be gay. I don't know how to become some kids lesbian role model."

A small smile pulled at Nat's lips. "There's no right way to be a lesbian; you just have to be yourself. Quit hiding. Let everyone see the real you without worrying what they think."

You took a deep, shaking breath, nodding slightly. "This really sucks," you murmured, reaching out to pick up your phone again, only for Nat to snatch it from you before you could unlock it.

"I think we'd be better off avoiding Twitter for a little while," she hummed, one brow raised as though waiting for you to agree. When you nodded, she placed it back down on the mattress. "Come on, you need to eat something," she told you, gesturing her head towards the door as she stood up.

"Nat?" you uttered, watching as she turned back to look at you. "Thank you." 

She offered you a small shrug, smiling at you so sweetly that you felt your stomach do a somersault. "No problem."

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