ART

Day 11

"Nobody will ever love you as much as an artist can. On your worst days, they will find poetry in the knots of your hair."

Natasha walked with heavy steps to work that morning. She had had the worst morning ever. It was a complete normal morning to begin with, except for the smile that never left her face these past weeks because of a special someone. That special someone even made her distract herself from thinking about the nightmares that had haunted her during the night. Then suddenly when she was going to start her car this morning, it failed her. She tried to keep her calm and tried to start the engine again with no luck. She mumbled a few Russian curses and eventually gave up. She'd just have to walk to work.

She wrapped her jacket that was a bit too thin for this weather, around her body and began walking. Luck didn't seem to be on her side today because only five minutes into the walk, the rain began pouring down over her. She felt like screaming in frustration but settled with a loud sigh and continued mumbling Russian curses during the entire walk to the museum.

When she got into the gallery, Steve was already there, sitting on his usual spot on the bench. Steve smiled when he saw her as always, but noticed that something was wrong. Natasha turned to Maria who stood behind the register.

"You look happy today, Natasha." Maria said with a laugh.

Natasha was soaking wet and her hair that she has spent all morning straightening had now become all curly. Her cheeks had gotten a pink colour from the cold wind blowing in her face and her lips had a slight purple colour from her being so cold. Steve couldn't help but to smile. He found her completely adorable.

"My car broke down." Natasha said, walking behind the counter and taking off her jacket. "And it's raining." Natasha said, pointing at her messy, curly red hair. "Do you happen to have a hairbrush and maybe like eleven cups of coffee?"

Maria handed Natasha a hairbrush before pouring Natasha a cup of coffee.

"You slept bad, didn't you?" Maria asked.

"I thought the dreams would disappear thanks to that tea but it sucked." Natasha said, brushing through her wet, curly hair.

"There's nothing wrong with that tea." Steve mumbled, making Natasha smirk. Just his presence put her in a better mood and she cursed in her mind at how easily he could make her smile.

"Eavesdropping much?" Maria asked Steve.

"He's a stalker, he can't help it." Natasha said. Steve smiled.

"Whatever she said." Steve answered.

Natasha took the cup of coffee, taking two sips right away, feeling it make her entire body warmer.

"I don't mean to make your day even worse, but you do remember you're taking my late shift tonight right? I have that date with Sam."

"Yes don't worry, I remember. How's it going with you two? Is he the new Tony Stark or not?"

"Tony Stark?" Steve asked surprisingly.

Maria looked at Steve and then at Natasha, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You seriously need to teach him a thing or two about politeness, Natasha." Maria said.

"You know Tony?" Natasha asked Steve.

"Yeah, he's a friend of mine."

"And a complete ass." Maria added. Natasha laughed a little.

"Yeah, that's true." Steve chuckled.