It was cold. Freezing, to be exact. Siberia would've been the last place he'd think she would've chosen to hide but it was also stupid of him to not expect this from her. The one,. Natasha Romanoff. The woman who dropped off the face of the earth six-maybe seven years ago? Ty definitely wasn't keeping track anymore. Rolling his eyes the teenager pushed open the wooden door, brushing some snow off the handle as he entered.
Being 19 now he didn't really focus on most of his childhood anymore and considered it to be dark - he had a cavalier view towards the whole experience.
Recently, he found himself going through the minuscule amount of things he had left from the days he still lived with them -Dom, Nat, Tweety, Loki, Kitty- and found an envelope titled "Classified Information". Figuring that it probably wasn't so classified anymore, Ty opened it, finding inside coordinates to multiple safehouses that Nat used-though probably not anymore. Usually when he came across this kind of stuff he burned it. Not that he actually cared if their information went public but for his own reasons. But this document was different. One of the safe houses was starred with Russian writing next to it that Ty didn't even try to decode. In his mind it would be much easier to just go to where this spot was marked on the document.
Nevertheless, that landed him in the middle of nowhere Siberia. Fantastic.
When he entered the house though the only thing he felt was shock. His face was blank and expressionless, only because there wasn't a way to express what he was feeling at that very moment. It seemed euphoric. He moved to shut the door before walking slowly around the safe house, hoping to God it didn't have some kind of booby trap, and knowing Natasha she sure did love those.. The safe house seemed to be untouched; perfect condition. The walls though, the walls were what drew Ty's attention directly. They were scattered with pictures, pictures that he had drawn so many years ago. He must've been no older than six or seven. "Kept them huh?" His voice was semi-sarcastic but also held a tone of nostalgia mixed with sadness. He hated to admit how much he missed Nat sometimes but the truth was that he did. The pictures were hanging up on the fridge, next to the TV, sitting in a small pile by the couch. Not only were there pictures that he had drawn, but also pictures of him. He always thought that Nat had disapproved of him. He never saw her keep pictures that were taken, think that she always threw them away or burned them.
But here they were. Pictures from Christmas parties at the Stark Tower, pictures from his sixth birthday, pictures of him, Nat, and Liho, pictures of him in the tub trying to pull the cat in-some of them pulled a few laughs out of the teenager though quickly subsiding. A frown formed on Ty's lips. He wished he would've known that she cared. That she wanted to keep him safe and healthy. All he wanted when he was little was her approval which was something the assassin had a very...difficult time giving away.
A short sigh left Tyler as he entered into one of the small, one person bedrooms, where he noticed something poking out from underneath the large satin white sheets covering the bed that draped to the ground. He bent down to pull the object out from under the bed which happened to be bigger than he originally thought. It was a duffle bag with a small white tag wrapped around one of the canvas handles. Reading the label on the tag aloud in a mumbled voice, "In case of emergency…". Tyler's eyebrows furrowed as he unzipped the bag, freezing up when he saw what was inside. It was all stuff for him. There were a few of Nat's things but most of the space was filled up with stuff Ty had needed when he was younger. There was a stuffed dinosaur toy, tons of little boy pajamas, underwear, clothes, even a few more toys that Ty loved to play with, the bubble bath soap that made the bubbles green and fascinated him as a kid. Digging through the bag further he found a gun-obviously, and a white sweater. The white sweater that he had saved up all his money for months as a kid to buy her.
Running a hand through his dark hair, Ty didn't know what to think. All the memories he had blocked out from his childhood came rushing back to him. Realizations came to him that he hadn't recognized before. Realizations that Nat did, in fact, love him. That she cared immensely about him. She seemed to have kept most of the things from his childhood, it was like she cherished it in a way but kept it hidden and to the side. Thinking back on her actions, the little things really, Ty understood it all. Everything she did was for him to grow up happily and safe-sure she had faults...and lots of them, but now he could tell that she put everything she had into the little family they were apart of. The way she would kiss his forehead when he was angry, or tickle him for information instead of hitting like she did to Dom and Tweety, the way she would sit with him some nights until he went to sleep. It was her definition of love.
She always told him that love was for children. Well, he was her child and he was loved. Maybe that wasn't the way she had meant it and it probably wasn't, but Ty interpreted it in that way.
He decided to move from the bedroom, lest he get more emotional or nostalgic than he already was. The next thing on his mind was food. As usual. He entered the spacious kitchen and immediately went to the freezer. All the food was wrapped in a fancy paper that said "S. H. I. E. L. D, Grade A -" and was marked with what food it contained. "Vegetables, vegetables, blah blah…" Ty muttered as he dug through the freezer, which was surprisingly large. When he moved to the second shelf he noticed one pack that was wrapped, said, "Pancakes" and on the white fancy paper, underneath the word SHIELD was a handwritten note. He recognized Natasha's handwriting immediately. He had always tried to copy it as a kid. It read: "These are for TyTy's meals, 2 for breakfast don't let him convince you for more". A large grin couldn't help but spread across his face. He took out the bag and pancakes, setting three on a plate to microwave. He wondered what Nat would think of him now. He had proved her wrong and survived past puberty, he thought she would probably be quite proud of him honestly. But all and all he knew he would never know for sure. "Thanks mom…" He said quietly into the empty house as he stared at the microwave as it went around in circles.
Once the pancakes finished, Ty took a seat on a tall barstool, looking over and around around at all the poorly drawn pictures he had made for her while he ate.
"You did good, Natter."