Number Neighbors- Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Chapter 7

Nat quickly became your new internet best friend- if not your only friend. She started opening up her humor to you after you trauma dumped and in return, you began sending her memes as a symbol of your alliance.

 Occasionally she would humor you with a random picture of a sunset or a tree. You'd already known she lived somewhere in New York thanks to the area code on the phone number but you enjoyed experiencing the small window into her life and the fact that she was comfortable enough to send you those pictures.

It was a huge step in your friendship in your opinion.

The two of you began texting almost nightly, you would share something about how work was going (not the same job as before that one kind of um- fell to pieces-literally), and some nights you'd share how you felt about coming home and being alone all the time. She always listened and provided a substantial amount of comfort and advice- and though she never said anything you had a feeling maybe she was going through the same.

She never opened up as much as you did, although there was one brief mention of a single sibling. But the way it was phrased made you too afraid to ask her about it. You could feel how ice-cold the topic was from across the phone. You wondered if she regretted telling you or if she even realized she did.

—-

Nat loved her Avengers family with everything she had but there were some things she just couldn't share with them. Talking to you- a kind of- complete stranger on the internet was almost therapeutic for her. Maybe it was just wishful thinking but even over text you had a warm and open energy about you. Maybe you wouldn't judge her for everything she did-though you'd probably be biased based on your admiration for her.

She wondered if you'd have that same energy in person. Wondered if you were the kind of person to talk with your hands or if you kept to yourself more. She knew plenty of people who were open over text and shy in person.

Sometimes you reminded her of Wanda. She thinks the two of you would get along. Not that you'd ever meet. You were Natasha's secret guilty pleasure, and despite the small desire- she knew you two would never meet.

Without the heat of being "The intimidating Black Widow," Nat felt more inclined to show you her more witty side, often ending in you sending a blurry picture of your middle finger or on one very specific occasion- A voice memo of you sneezing. Something about emphasizing your point of being "allergic to stupidity".

She refused to admit she laughed at it for longer than she should have.

She told herself not to get too attached but in her line of work your overwhelming positivity and constant shenanigans were a welcome change from her often gloomy occupation.

Nat was used to texting you every other day by this point, when she began going on more frequent missions she found herself worrying that you would think she was ghosting you so she told you her work was complicated and sometimes required her to go offline for long periods of time.

You told her you understood and sent her a meme about the economy before going into a long tangent about how jobs these days expected over achievement with minimal pay and it was outrageous.

She didn't quite understand why she was so worried about what you thought of her. Normally she wouldn't care what anyone thought of her. The other Avengers were lucky if they got a text back from her on the same day- let alone more than a one-worded response.

She guessed maybe it was because she wasn't used to hearing such good things about herself, the government was scared of what she could do (rightfully), the public had conflicting opinions about her- and most of the time it was only kids that looked at her without any fear or contempt. But you talked about how much you admired her bravery as an Avenger but also as a woman in such a public light with so much pressure on her shoulders. She was the first female Avenger after all.

One evening she made the mistake of telling you she didn't think 'Black Widow' was all that. She had to sit through two hours of angry paragraphs from you and links to several videos of herself from the battle of New York and doing interviews for cable shows. She'd ended up apologizing and agreeing with you that she was the strongest Avenger.

In reality, she sat on her bed for nearly an hour after your conversations with unshed tears she refused to let fall. That was the exact moment her heart had decided you weren't a stranger to her anymore- and she didn't have it in her to argue against it.

Your resilience was a trait she'd learned to admire, especially when it came to her... but not when it came to her choice of colored attire.

         Y/n🍦:

Y/n🍦:

I'm seriously considering the

possibility of you being a robot.

What do you think?

Nat🔪:

I think you're an ass.

Y/n🍦:

I'm just saying-

gray is so monotone and you're

Too fierce for that

Nat🔪:

So what color would you give me?

Y/n🍦:

Maybe black?

Hmmm

Nat🔪:

Wow, a striking upgrade

Why not just suggest dark gray?

Or how about light black?

Y/n🍦:

No, you're obviously too

Sassy for black.

I'm thinking...

Red.

Your ability to perceive Nat through the screen never failed to amaze her. Truthfully she didn't want to plaster her favorite color over everything because she was scared it would make things too personal. Too homey. But here you were guessing her favorite color just from her online personality.

Truth be told, this was the most openly herself she'd been in a while. She wondered- if only briefly- if you could guess everyone's favorite colors that easily-

or just hers.

Nat🔪:

Yeah.

I can see it.

Nat couldn't keep the grin from overtaking her face.

You were something else, weren't you?

It was dangerous how easily you could brighten her day.

She found herself not caring as much as she usually would about that.

A/n: Seems like Nat is getting attached whether she wants to or not- I think she secretly wants to tho ;)