The Black Widow

Darling. Sweetheart. (NatashaXAlexei)

*During CA: The Winter Soldier*

AN- let's just imagine the whole dialogue is in Russian, because ugh, effort.

An/ let's also realise this was written before the black widow movie was out, and focuses on this pair as Ex lovers like the comics.
~~~

Alexei whipped round, weapon raised and fired a shot at the first thing he clocked eyes on. The shine of a glass bottle hovering over the counter of his small apartment kitchen.

It shattered loudly, shards of broken glass blasting to several sharp pieces and littering the counter as well as the floor beneath it. The liquid in it dripped off the edge as it puddled among the shards, leaving the neck of the bottle still suspended in mid air, clasped beneath a slim hand.

"Well...there goes the peace offering." Natasha murmured, eyebrows raised as she drew her gaze from where the bottle had been, up to Alexei and dropped the remains of the bottle onto the floor. She was perched on the counter, the black suit that covered her body making her blend into the darkness within the apartment. A shadow from the past.

Alexei kept his weapon pointed at her for a long moment, but his elbows had slackened, jaw hanging open a little as he stared at the redheaded woman in front of him, watching her move into the light. Gliding off the counter onto her feet, she brushed some of the droplets of liquid off her thigh as the scent of the liquor filled the room. Vodka. Of course.

He lowered his weapon, hands hanging loosely by his side as he stared at her, swallowing so his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. A whirl of different emotions whirling through him. "Natalia..." 

She looked the same, only more mature. Sleek but strong in her black suit with red hair straight to her shoulders.

"Darling." She drawled, her boots crunching over the glass shards on the floor as she moved into the open living space. "Sorry it's taken me so long to reconnect, but I didn't try too hard to look for you, being a dead man and all..."

Alexei watched her every move, his hand still aware of the gun in held in it. "How did you find me? After all this time?"

The woman scoffed slightly, still making her way to him as she navigated passed the furniture she wasn't even looking at. "Because I started looking. Really looking." She was in front of him now, staring up at him with a mild disinterest. "I suppose some part of me knew."

It was his turn to scoff now, curling his lip at one side. "There is no way you knew, every precaution was taken to make you believe I was dead."

"Yet here we are." She raised her brows, stopping in front of him. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

He didn't reply, just gave her an unwavering stare.  She was close enough that he could see the speckles in her emerald irises, the contour of her cheekbones and jawline that lead him to glance at the necklace around her neck. He traced the chain with one finger, hooking the gold arrow beneath it with mild disinterest. "From an admirer? Lover?" He asked, noting how she blinked twice at his second guess.

"Jealous?" She asked loftily, her smugness disappearing when she felt his finger hooking the small detailed metal work tug at it lightly in a threat to snap it from its chain. She gripped his hand tightly, narrowing her eyes at him when she felt the metal strain at the back of her neck. "You break that, and I'll break your fucking neck." She warned in a sickeningly sweet tone.

He laughed lowly, making a show of spreading his fingers wide so the necklace was free from his clutch. "Still a short temper, I see." He moved against the resistance her hand gave to stroke her cheek. "Do the Americans tolerate that? The ones you're working for?"