Something From Nothing

Chapter 24 - Hot Sauce.

[ A/N: So...I decided to rewrite this chapter because I really didn't like how it was before. It is still short and probably not very good, even if it amused me to write it ;) so hopefully this is better than before. Also side note, a spider almost crawled onto my face when I was writing this so I am moving house now lmao 😂 ]

3 months after the red room takedown, Peter is still working on Parker Industries, only now he is dedicating a lot more time to it and the company is growing even quicker than before.

However, Peter isn't entirely ashamed to admit that he is just using it as a distraction from his feelings.

Specifically, his feelings for Natasha Romanoff.

He knows he is in love with her but that she wouldn't feel the same, and as such they will remain just friends.

And while Peter values her friendship above all else, it doesn't mean he wouldn't like more.

So he had been throwing himself into work and working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering.

Nat had decided months ago that she wanted to join SHIELD. She had even had an interview...

Of sorts.

Now anybody who knows anything about SHIELD knows that applicants do not interview. They attend the SHIELD Academy.

But Nat has her own way of doing things, and the footage of the 'interview' had left peter laughing so hard that he accidentally snorted his scolding hot coffee (Which is decidedly not fun in case you have never had the displeasure).

[Flashback]

Peter was sitting on the couch trying to decide what movie to watch tonight since it was his turn to pick tonight. Nat had just text him that she was almost home and that she was bringing shawarma.

(Peters pov)
After fifteen minutes, Nat finally walks out of the elevator, food in hand, and places it onto the coffee table.

"Hey. So how was your day?" I ask conversationally. "Did you get the job?" I add with a smirk.

"I have a feeling he is still processing...my application". Nat replied with a mischievous smirk.

"What did you do? I know you said you were going to ask him for a job, but you didn't exactly tell me how, and now you have me curious" I say gesturing to her smirking face.

"If I may boss, I have access to the security footage of the 'interview' that i think you will enjoy." KAREN suggests with amusement in her tone. Interesting.

"Sure K, bring it up on the screen once Nat has gotten comfortable" I say to K before turning to Nat. "Why don't you get changed into some Pyjamas while I plate up the food?".

She nods with a small grateful smile. "Thanks."

I just smile back.

After another 5 minutes, we were both sitting on the couch, with a plate of food on each of our laps.

"Okay KAREN lets see what Nat has gotten up to today then." I say with a teasing smile.

Nat rolls her eyes as K obligingly brings up the footage.

On screen, I see Director Nicholas Joseph Fury...opening his front door?

"You didn't." I say looking at Nat. She smirks. "Oh my god you did! You broke into the house of the director of SHIELD and asked for a job!...I knew there was a reason I liked you." I add teasingly but with a hint of respect at her ballsy move.

Nat just snorts, soon my attention is brought back to the screen though, because Fury turns on his lights, walks into his kitchen, and throws his badge onto the table, before suddenly stopping and looking up to see the figure sitting at his table.

In the video, Nat is just sitting eating a sandwich as Fury pulls out his gun. She doesn't flinch. I didn't expect her to.

"Who are you?" Fury asks her.

"I have been many people." Nat replies ominously. I can see her trying to hold back a smirk in the video.

I snort while she just chuckles beside me.

"Nah I'm just fucking with you. I want a job." video Nat adds. "Sandwich?" She asks after a second, sliding a plate with a sandwich over the table.

I chuckle again. She really is just fucking with him. Its quite amusing.

"No... No I don't want a sandwich! Why are you in my house?" He asks.

Video Nat raises a delicate eyebrow in amusement. "I want a job".

"You're in my house." Fury says again disbelieving.

"Your point?" Nat says "and do not ask me why I am in your house again." She adds as he opens his mouth to do just that.

"Why would I give you a job?" Fury asks seriously.

"How about because I broke into your house?" Nat asks with a small smirk. Fury just looks at her like she is crazy. I huff out another laugh at the look on his face.

"Who do you work for?" Fury asks threateningly.

Nat stands up. Looks him dead in the eye and says "You." Before placing a folder onto the table, and walking out the door.

Fury just stands there with a look of absolute shock and confusion on his face. And yeah...Nat has that effect on people.

As Fury moves over to his table to pick up the folder, he grabs a sandwich and takes a bite of it. His face soon flashes with regret though as he sees a note that was underneath the folder just at the same time as it hits him.

The note reads 'sorry for putting hot sauce in your sandwich XD' with a little black widow hourglass and web pattern sketched across the paper.

I shoot Nat an approving look. Well played.

Fury then moves to the refrigerator and grabs the milk and starts chugging it, but then suddenly spits it out and looking at the bottle sees another note. 'And the milk too XD'.

I snort at that and as Fury runs to the sink to get some water, I pick up my cup of coffee to have a drink of my own.

Fury's next words though have me snorting my coffee.

"Well shit, thats new."

[End Of Flashback]

The next day Fury called telling Nat to meet him at a Diner so that they could discuss her 'application'.

Nat basically told Fury everything about her life, including her real name and how she took down the Red Room. Nat and I had agreed that we wouldn't reveal that we knew each other, if only so we had a wild card to use later. Nat was reluctant at first but grudgingly agreed after I agreed that if and when our partnership came to light, she could give me credit then.

Fury had already developed some respect for her after the 'hot sauce incident' and that was furthered by her honesty about her past, and especially after the stacks of dead HYDRA soldiers she left at the base in Stalingrad, as well as destroying the Red Room and handing over all the information she had on the program and HYDRA to Fury. (Well all the information we had gathered from the bases, not all the information Peter has access to, that would make him suspicious if where she got that much info.)

But Fury is a spy and doesn't trust easily, so although he hired her he told her she would have to work her way through the ranks like other agents, while answering only to Fury.

She was starting with a level 1 security clearance, but Nat didn't care, in fact it was what she had expected. Besides, she could always have KAREN or me give her any information she needed but didn't have the clearance for. But she was happy to work her way up the ranks never the less.

So things were looking up for now. But Peter still had to figure out what he was going to do with himself.