Number Neighbors- Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Chapter 15

Natasha was right that you would be upset at her leaving. You always were. But this time you assured her you'd send her lots of messages and pictures even if she didn't respond.

And she admitted to you that she liked having something light to come back to.

It was another typical night for Nat sleeping in a dingy hotel with three of her fellow Avengers who tended to snore. She wasn't getting much consistent sleep which wasn't unusual for her but she'd already had a bad evening. She and Steve had gotten into a pretty bad argument with Tony over some stupid government thing. He knew they wouldn't want to do it but Nat could see that deep down he was scared so she understood him.

She just couldn't go back to being anyone's puppet again.

When she'd finally managed to dose off her mind was plagued with flashes of red and little girls and rows and rows of women standing in formation. A familiar face among them that she wasn't ready to process just yet.

Springing up in bed, she clutched the blanket at her chest, her breaths coming out in quiet but rapid succession. Guilt wracked her body and at times like this, she'd usually seek comfort in Clint or even ask Wanda to help her sleep but when the panic settled she felt the person she was seeking out the most was... You.

Although she didn't know what you looked like, she pictured your rainbow pajama pants and your favorite duck socks. She imagined soft arms wrapping around her and urging her back to bed.

A sleepy soft voice talking to her about anything and everything until she dozed off.

When she lay back down it was with the image of you next to her, and she fell asleep with you on her mind.

It was the quickest she'd ever recovered from a nightmare and the best sleep she'd ever had while on a mission.

The next day she finished her mission earlier than usual and if her fellow Avengers commented on it then it was simply because she wanted to get home faster and not because she'd dreamt of you all night and wanted to text you back immediately.

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You understood Nat still had work to do and thus would leave you for long periods again, but it still left ample time for your anxiety to creep in.

What if she did see you that night at the restaurant and this was her way of cutting you off because she thought you were ugly?

What if she was bored of your conversations and decided you weren't worth it anymore?

At this point, you were waiting any day for the blocked notification to come up when you sent her pictures throughout your day.

So who could blame you if you were using dates with Leon as an excuse to get her off of your mind?

Even if lately you didn't feel anything with the guy you were with...

It was your third date of the week and honestly, you were a little bored. You'd been walking around New York listening to Leon talk for nearly an hour and the charm was starting to wear off. But anything was better than staying in your apartment all day refreshing your phone and overthinking everything you've ever sent.

When you rounded the corner arm in arm with Leon you were surprised to see a large crowd gathering a little further ahead. You didn't know there was any kind of event happening today but to be fair you'd spent all of your time either with Leon or waiting for Nat to text back. Social media had been pushed to the back burner for a while, and if you were honest- your obsession with Black Widow had dwindled sufficiently in the last month. It was probably for the best, your mother was tired of constantly getting updates on where she was spotted in New York or what happened on their latest mission.