Natasha never quite saw herself as the kind of person to get deeply attached to anyone or anything. Being a spy definitely helped to seal that kind of personality into her, so that even her teammates found any meaningful conversation difficult. A part of her knew it would be best to work on that kind of mindset if she was to work with a team, but it wasn't going to be easy to remove. Perhaps it was just her training on a personal level; some part of her mind now engraved with the instinct to assume that any fondness people had for her was a ruse to get something. Those who trained her, those few who were but hazy figures in her nightmares, drilled in that there was no such thing as friendship or family or love for her. If there was no place in the world for Natasha, there was no one to love her.

There was one day, however, that would keep her awake in later nights to ponder that till her brain ached.

It was a fairly casual Thursday then, and she was the only Avenger staying behind because of her fractured shin from a previous battle. She spent the better part of her day in Ophidia's room, carefully stationed near the headrest in a sideways laying position. The snake-haired child sat in similar position against Natasha's stomach. She never noticed before that day, but Ophidia had recently taken to studying the woman and then mimicking her movements. If Natasha brushed hair out of her face, Ophidia would bat away her coral snake (much to its confusion). If Natasha ever bit her bottom lip in thought, Ophidia would do the same (carefully, so as not to cut her lip). It was cute to Natasha, and a little endearing if she could admit it to herself.

In any case, the duo were watching some typical movie about teenage girls having some sort of sleepover, complete with all the typical cliches a movie plot like that could have. Nat was wondering just how much more of the nonsense she could stomach in the movie when it came to the usual pillow fighting scene. The moment the giggling, mid-30's actors pretending to be teens started to swing their pillows at each other in mock play, Ophidia twisted her head back to look at her redheaded teacher. "Why are they doing that?"

Natasha, not even batting an eye by now at how the kid could turn her head 180°, blinked. "It's called pillow fighting. People do it for fun, sometimes. It's harmless too since you're just using pillows as your weapons."

Ophidia looked deeply enlightened. "Oh, "

The former SHIELD agent never really saw it coming after that. She just went back to watching the movie again without really paying any attention to anything. Her peripheral vision failed to catch Ophidia shifting in a suspicious way, not until it was far too late to move. Before she could even process it, Natasha had hit in the face by the larger side of a fat pillow. Sure, it didn't hurt in the slightest, but it completely stumped her brain for a few seconds.

She finally noticed a grinning snake girl sitting on her knees, snickering as she held the pillow to her side. "Got you!" She announced proudly, an exact phrase from the movie they were watching.

Natasha might have been momentarily surprised into shock, but she quickly snapped out of it. With a devilish grin, the woman reached for her own pillow just behind her. "Oh really?"

With a squeal of laughter, Ophidia lept from the bed and narrowly avoided the pillowed swing at her. The child kept up her infectious giggling as Natasha hopped on one foot to chase her around the small room, occasionally swiping at her and missing. It was almost like they were playfully mimicking the pillow fight madness going on the tv, given how they both made awkward swings at each other. Natasha didn't even move as fast as she could have to chase her, enjoying the peals of laughter coming from Ophi. She was pretty thankful the other Avengers couldn't see this.

Eventually, she sped up just enough to catch Ophi with a soft slap from the pillow and promptly turned to hop onto the bed in a quick getaway. "Alright! Now you gotta catch me." Natasha had to keep going slow for the girl, as it took some time for her small body to actually follow her over the bed and then back around it to start all over again. Ophi never seemed to get frustrated with her lack of progress though, only moving faster to see if she might finally be able to tag her. Natasha finally rewarded her determination by purposely moving just slow enough for the child hit her leg with the pillow. Natasha seized herself up and moved a hand to her heart dramatically. "Oh no! You got me! I'm dyyying, bleeegh!"

She fell over backwards onto the bed and managed to keep herself from smiling or twitching or even breathing. She knew the kid would become curious about her tall friend's fate, climb onto the bed to inspect her and then...she would strike! Tickle attacks always crippled the kid. Natasha waited patiently for the feeling of a small child climbing up, poking and prodding her.

Natasha frowned when she heard a sniffle, squinting out of one eye.

The woman quickly sat up to look, then kneeled down in front Ophi with a deep frown. "Hey, Hey! Wait, I'm-- I was just kidding, Ophidia. Look, I'm alright. I'm alright, see? Look."

Natasha internally cursed herself for going into such a morbid act and for frightening the poor child. Surprised yet tearful, Ophidia blinked at seeing Natasha alive and well. With a whimper, the girl suddenly rushed forward to wrap her arms around Natasha's neck; as if to assure herself that everything was alright. Nat was frozen by the action performed by the girl, by the weight of her settling onto her body and the warm tears hitting her shoulder. She wasn't even aware of what Ophi was doing to her until finally clicked in the form of deja vu, from what her earliest days of training told her.

A hug.

It made sense that she hadn't recognized what it was. She never actually got a hug in her life, from anyone; even Clint. Her earliest trainers kept drilling it into her mind that she would never receive any real affection or love, for she had no place in the world. It was impossible to love someone who didn't deserve it, according to them. She only ever got see hugs from other people, from civilians and from other agents and anyone who wasn't Natasha Romanoff. She only ever got to witness that and feel confident that she wasn't weak like them. That she would never be weak enough to allow anyone to trick her with that and hurt her later. That's what was taught to her for so long.

But this was so different; so very different. With anyone else, her mind would be able to come up with ulterior motives for the hug, like being the first step in gaining the trust of an agent. But with Ophidia, a young and helpless little girl, there was no ulterior motive she could think of. Of course there was no logical reason for the hug aside from...no. That was impossible, wasn't it? Love was impossible for Natasha Romanoff. She couldn't accept it. She wouldn't ever receive truthful love. Like this. Like this hug.

"I'm s-sorry…" Ophidia moaned pathetically into her neck.

Natasha snapped out of her thoughts, out of the tears running her own eyes. As sudden and confusing as the was, she wanted nothing more than for Ophidia to be happy again. She completed the hug for herself with shaky hands, unsure if she was even doing it right. She coughed to clear the lump in her throat. "It's...Its okay. I'm fine. It's okay...Its okay."

Love?

...maybe. Just maybe.