Scarlett Johansson | One-Shots (1)

⚠️ NR - She left. Pt. 1

Warning: angst
Prompt: Write a story about a character who's trying to fill an empty space, literally or metaphorically.
———————————————————————
3rd Person:
The apartment was dark. Too dark. Callie laid across the sofa in the living room, staring up at the ceiling. She felt paralyzed. She had cried so much in the past few days, there might not be any more tears left. She planned to stay on the couch until she died, she didn't care.

Callie longed for the warm feeling of her now ex-girlfriend's touch. She wanted everything to run through New York to the Avengers' compound where Natasha resides. Callie was sure Nat would be back there. After all, Nat didn't live with Callie in their apartment anymore.

"This isn't working," Nat had said. And when Callie had asked why Nat had responded, "I just don't feel the same."

A sudden pang of sickness washed over Callie as she thought about the day Nat walked out. Why wasn't Callie enough? What could she have done to make Nat stay? All Callie ever did was love Nat, no matter what happened between them. A tear slipped from the corner of Callie's eye. She cried herself to sleep that night.

-

A week later, Callie felt ready to start doing real human things. Nat had already taken all of her things, which wasn't a lot of things, so there wasn't anything of Nat's that Callie had to discard. Callie didn't know whether to feel lucky or hurt that Nat packed up so quickly. It was like she had been planning this breakup since the day they moved in together.

Callie cleaned her apartment of all the trash she had left around when she didn't care what her home looked like. Home. Callie wasn't home. "Home" wasn't a place for Callie. "Home" was Natasha and now Natasha is gone. Callie thought they were forever, they even talked about what their future would look like. Callie tried to push down the thoughts of Natasha telling her how many kids she would want, the pets she wanted, where she wanted to move to after retiring from the Avengers. Would Natasha say those same things to someone else?

Callie sat with her computer in her lap on the sofa. Cleaning had tired her out. She scrolled through the internet and came across an advertisement for plants. Callie found herself shopping for plants. She even had a small smile tugging on the corner of her lips. Callie purchased the plants. She purchased many plants. Big plants, small plants, hanging plants, tiny plants for windowsills. She closed her computer. A second went by and her phone started to ring from an incoming FaceTime call. Tony Stark. She picked up the call and the two best friends talked until they had nothing left to say.

-

Callie's plants had come. She had them delivered so she didn't have to leave the house and run the risk of bumping into Natasha. Callie filled her apartment with the various plants. There were a lot of plants. Callie hadn't realized how many plants she had purchased until this very moment. Did she really care? Not really.

The plants had filled her living room and the rest that didn't fit were scattered around. She kept a cute baby cactus in her room's windowsill. She named him Henry. She loved Henry. Callie made him a paper tophat, nothing special, but the lined-paper tophat completed Henry's look. The plants made Callie feel happy. That night was the first night she didn't cry herself to sleep.

-

Tony stopped by Callie's apartment. He hadn't seen her in a month and was starting to get worried. He knew she was alive since they'd been texting and calling but he had to see her in person. As he walked into Callie's apartment, he immediately pointed out the living room filled with random objects. He felt claustrophobic with all of it.

"You need to stop buying things," Tony said.

Callie shrugged, ignoring her friend's comments. She scooted her newest addition to her plant collection into her living room's corner. Stepping back, she admired the jumble of plants, paintings, and other miscellaneous items.

"I think it looks great. What do you think?" Callie asked Tony.

"I think you need to stop buying things," he repeated himself.

"Why? I enjoy my things. They make me happy. I don't see a problem."

"I do. You're hoarding."

"I'm not hoarding. I'm collecting." Callie walked out of the room, Tony followed.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about." Callie tidied up the clutter on her kitchen counter.

"Callie..." Tony stopped at the entrance of the kitchen. He watched her walk back and forth, back and forth as she put various things away.

"Tony, stop studying me."

"I'm not." Tony threw his hands in the air in defense. "I'm just worried, that's all."

Callie froze. Her hands rested on the edge of the granite countertop with her head hung. "She left."

"I know."

"I thought that maybe if I filled the empty spaces with things, I could forget the empty feeling Nat made when she left."

"And how's that working out for you?"

Callie whipped around to face Tony. "You're irritating, you know that?"

"That I do know."

"It's not working, by the way. I still miss her. I still hate the emptiness, the cold. I don't think there are enough objects in the world that can fill the space she left."

"You'll find someone new. Someone else to fill the space, the feelings." Tony stepped toward his friend, placing a hand on her back. For a moment, Callie imagined Natasha's hand on her back but when she turned around, all she saw was Tony.

"I don't want anyone new. I want her." Callie's eyes swelled with tears.

"You can say that all you want now. But when you find that special someone, you'll quickly change your mind."

"If you're wrong and I'm hung up on Nat for the rest of my life, you owe me a shit ton of make-up plants." A smile cracked on Callie's lips.

"I'll buy you all the plants in the world if I'm wrong. But I'm never wrong." Tony pulled Callie into a hug and she dug her face into the crook of her best friend's neck. It was nice to have a friend. Especially Tony. He always knew what to say. He was a good friend to Callie.

Callie stayed in Tony's hug for a long time. She loved his warmth and strength that made her feel protected and loved. As much as she missed her ex-girlfriend, Tony's platonic love for Callie was like a super-stick bandaid on her broken heart. It wasn't a permanent solution, but it was enough to hold her together.