#short!readerxnatasha

As you were leaving the compound for the night, you were approached by Tony Stark, and, behind him, Steve Rogers keeping his distance by leaning on a wall further down the hallway. For how long he’s been doing his job, the super soldier wasn’t very good at looking inconspicuous. In a very ‘Tony’ way, you were offered living quarters in the compound, ‘free-of-charge, no expense to you’. After the number you’d received from you landlord hours ago, you weren’t going to turn this down.

So here you are now. Boxes of your belongings finally all in one place, your, arguably, oversized bedroom at the Avengers Compound. Well, it’s more of a mini studio apartment due to the area between the bed and the door. In other rooms that you’ve seen—Tony, for some reason, decided that you’d need guidance on setting up your space—most people had some form of entertainment and seating situation. The best you could do to recreate that was your two-seater sofa and the tv you’ve had since you first moved into your own place. In any other space, that would be a great set up, however, in the size of the space, it looked pathetic. There wasn’t much to be done about though, and it was good enough for the one body that would be occupying the space. Plus, it left you enough room to neglect unpacking your boxes for a while. Carrying them in one by one, with the cold weather outside, had left you exhausted and, quite frankly, your fingers were struggling to thaw themselves out.

That’s how you ended up in the kitchen. Your container of instant hot chocolate, thank God, had been in the easiest box to access. Finding a mug, however, was proving impossible. It had almost been half an hour of you searching through every cupboard in there and all you gained was the knowledge of where to find baking trays, pots, pans and every item of dishware that wasn’t a drinking receptacle. Eventually, you registered, at the edge of your vision, someone enter the space, reach up high and place a mug down onto the counter, pour themselves a coffee and leave again. So that’s where they are.

Approaching the counter, you assess the best way to access that cupboard. You know that you’re not even going to reach it on your tiptoes. You huff, knowing that you’re about to gymnast this shit. You check for anyone else entering before you embarrass yourself in front of anyone important.

“Okay, lets do this. Before anyone can witness it.”

You place your hands onto the counter surface and lean onto them, hopping up high enough to get you foot up next to them. You swing around and raise onto your knees, shuffling down to be in front of the right door. You were almost there when a voice from behind stops you dead.

“What are you doing?” Natasha.

You can tell from her voice that this is entertaining to her. She leaves you no time to respond, though, as you’re gently pulled backwards, off the counter and feet flat on the floor.

“I just wanted a hot chocolate.” You reason, acceptance of defeat present in your tone.

“And you were going to make it with that?”

You scrunch your eyebrows confused at her disgust until you follow her point at your instant mix. You roll your eyes.

“It’s easy and quick, and I’m frozen and tired!”

“It’s not even worth the water, move.”

There’s no way you’re going to let her boss you around the space after those insults. You tense slightly and cross your arms, staring the widow down.

“No.”

It’s her turn to roll her eyes now as she effortlessly sweeps you off your feet and seats you on the island opposite the surface she needs to work. You watch her silently as she pulls down two mugs, glides around to pull a pan out of one of the cupboards you practically climbed into earlier and retrieves both milk and chocolate out of the fridge.

“I can’t believe you.” She begins talking as she stirs the chocolate into the milk.

“What?”

“You work with the Avengers, and you don’t even respect yourself enough to make a good hot chocolate.”

“You’re mean.” You pout in response, even if she can’t see it from where she’s standing.

A clinking of mugs distracts you from your eyeline into the back of Nat’s head. A turn of your head lets you identify Tony carrying, what must be, a whole shelf’s worth of mugs. In his journey to the kitchen though, one must slip from his grasp because not even seconds later, you’re left flinching from your spot on the island, closing your eyes in a wince.

“Sorry! I’ve ran out of thinking space.”

“You’re going to have to get used to that.” Natasha quips, now holding a mug in front of you.

“What, Iron Man smashes a mug every month?” You carefully wrap your hands around the mug, letting her slip her hands away. Nat chuckles and Tony rolls his eyes as he deposits the remaining mugs onto the counter space.

“No. But he does hoard his mugs and then dumps them all in the shared kitchen space!”

She’s projecting in his direction as he slowly makes his way back to his lab.

“Oh, and Tony?”

He stops and turns to look back at the two of you.

“Yes, Spider Lady?”