𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗡 | 𝗡. 𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗙𝗙

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𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

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Natasha was beginning to feel anxious again.

They'd made it home safely with their acquisitions, with Truth playing a handful of Justin Bieber songs to fully assimilate Natasha into the American culture while Natasha endured to the best of her ability. Despite a few rough patches, it was possibly the best day she's had in a very long time.

And, that said a lot considering that they only went shopping.

But then as they grew closer to the Triskelion, it became apparent that she would have to make a fundamental decision.

They had accumulated a total of twenty-two bags, many filled to complete capacity. It was lucky that the car had a few jumbo bags for them to fill with the smaller ones, but even Natasha couldn't bring everything up to her apartment by herself.

Truth had offered to walk her to her door and make dinner at her place, being the thoughtful person she was, but, all Natasha could think about was how Truth had taken the step to invite her inside her space, and even let her handle her weapons (a second occurrence now). While she knew Truth wouldn't fault her for it, Natasha wanted to have the courage that she had.

She really wanted to try.

And so, she let Truth in.

And the first thing the other assassin did upon stepping inside Natasha's apartment was drop her bags by the door and beeline for the growing stack of books Natasha had left against the wall of the hallway.

She didn't touch anything. Instead, she crouched and tilted her head to better read the titles on the spines.

"Did you steal these?"

Natasha huffed.

"No. I got them from the library."

Truth hummed.

"But you're not gonna give them back, are you?"

At that, Natasha shrugged.

"Depends."

"On?"

"If I like the book or not."

Truth smiled as though Natasha had given her the right answer.

"Have you read any of them yet? Anything you'd recommend?"

Natasha turned thoughtful as she studied the pile. She took the question seriously, mentally running through books she thought the other woman might like before putting her own bags down next to Truth's and disappearing further down the darkened hallway.