Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~1,100
Characters: Natasha, Wanda, Sharon, Maria, Darcy, Jane, and Pepper
Prompt: "Are you sure we're allowed to be in here?"
For: mrshobbes
A/N: Absolutely no plot whatsoever. Just a little fluff and lady bonding.
the most wonderful time of the year - day nine
It's not really a bachelorette party, but, a week before the wedding, Pepper decides that they should do something for Natasha to celebrate, since Tony took Steve and the guys to LA for the weekend to watch the Dodgers. The trip is something of an engagement gift for Steve from Tony that they just didn't make time for until now, and the others tagged along because it's close enough to the wedding that they figured they might as well make it a bachelor trip or something. Natasha knows it's just another excuse for them to hang out, but whatever. It's cute how they pretend that they don't care about spending time together, even when they keep making plans. And Natasha hardly minds having a weekend to herself.
There's a hotel that just finished construction a few days ago, and the owner has been a vendor for Stark Industries for a few years now. He invited Pepper to stay in a suite for the night, a few days before the hotel is supposed to open. The staff will already be there, and so will a few other guests that their management team personally invited, too. It's kind of a test run, but mostly an excuse to celebrate the grand opening a few days early. The fact that all of the guests are pretty prominent faces in the public will be good press for him, too.
Pepper asks if she wants to see the suite with her, and it's pretty much a given that the girls are invited, too.
"Too easy," Sharon is saying, twirling the stem of her wine glass between her fingers as they all laugh. The five of them fit comfortable on the bed, that's how big it is, with Natasha and Sharon leaning up against the headboard and Wanda curled up between them with her head in Natasha's lap, and Darcy and Maria laying at their feet. And Jane and Pepper dragged the lounge over, along with one of the end tables, so they had somewhere to put the wine. "I had him in the palm of my hand with two words," Sharon laughs. "It was actually pretty sad."
"I'd expect a little more resistance from a felon," Jane comments, and Sharon laughs, leans over to clink their wine glasses together.
"Some girls are no better," Wanda says with a bit of a giggle. "You should hear some of the lines Pietro drops on them. Used to drop on them," she amends quickly when Darcy shoots her a (playful) glare. "And why were they so charmed by someone who stole?"
"Your brother is a hard person to say no to," Darcy says, and Wanda wrinkles her nose, half-heartedly tossing a pillow at her. "Hey, you'll make me spill!"
"Is it just me, or is anyone else getting warm?" Maria asks as she sets her wine glass down on the table and then stretches her arms over her head. Her shirt rides up, revealing the scar she'd gotten from a knife that nicked her hip a few missions back. Darcy reaches over and brushes her thumb over it, and Maria gives her a little smile and shrugs.
"Well, if anyone wants to cool down," Pepper starts, pulling the keycard out of her pajama pocket, eyes twinkling, "I might have an idea."
... ...
"Are you sure we're allowed to be in here?" Jane's voice echoes through the empty glass room housing the swimming pool, and Pepper just grins at the girl and shrugs, pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it onto a lounge chair. Natasha wonders if she'd been planning this all along, and that's why she told them to bring bathing suits, just in case.
It's dark outside, but the lights from the pool are bright enough that it's fine. It's actually really nice like this.
Maria's already stripped off her shirt, too, and she walks over to kneel at the edge of the deep end, dipping her hand in the water. Wanda catches Natasha's gaze, a wide smile tugging at her lips, eyes gleaming, and Natasha chuckles and shakes her head, but doesn't say anything as Wanda slinks over to where Maria is standing. She's gotten a lot better at espionage now, but Natasha's fairly certain Maria is mostly just playing along as Wanda makes her way over to her. And then, as soon as Maria is standing again, Wanda sort of charges at her and sends them both splashing into the deep end, water spilling over the edge and hitting Natasha's legs. They're both laughing as they resurface, and Maria splashes Wanda with water.
Sharon comes up behind Natasha, gently nudging forward by her shoulders, and Natasha laughs and pulls her wrap off. Then Sharon grabs her hand and tugs her along, squeezes their fingers together as they jump over the edge and into the water.
Fuck, it's cold. It's also really, really refreshing.
Natasha can hear Wanda and Sharon laughing as Natasha resurfaces and combs her wet hair out of her face, and Maria grins at her, half-heartedly splashing water in her direction. She's about to do the same, but then Darcy's voice echoes around the room as she says, "Come on, Jane! Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud."
"I'm still pretty sure not allowed to be in here," Jane says, but the girl has a smile on her face, too, so Natasha knows that she isn't against this at all.
Wanda lifts her hand out of the water, fingertips glowing as she flicks her wrist and sends a small wave of water over the edge, hard enough to reach Pepper, Jane, and Darcy where they're standing a few feet from the edge. Jane sucks in a gasp as she's doused in water from the waist down, and Wanda just flashes a smile, wiggling her fingers at them.
"Alright, alright!" Jane laughs, finally shrugging out of her cardigan and tossing it onto the floor, right onto the puddle that Wanda's made, but she doesn't seem to care.
Darcy squeals when Jane pushes her in, sort of flails and yelps her name, but she's laughing too hard to actually be upset, so it's fine. Then Pepper gives Jane a little shove from behind and sends her almost face-first in the water, and then laughs when she tugs her shirt off and Sharon whistles. Pepper sends more water in Natasha's face when she jumps in, but she just laughs when Pepper apologizes – they're swimming; she's not going to get upset about her face getting wet – and tugs the elastic from Pepper's ponytail, tossing it out of the pool.
Jane yelps when Sharon swims over to her and tries to dunk her under the water, and Wanda flicks water at Maria and Darcy and then swims away, and both girls are laughing as they swim after her. Pepper playfully shoves at Natasha's arm, smiling widely.
"I think we'll have to do this again," Pepper says, glancing around the room as the girls' laughter echoes through the air. "Send the boys away for a few days so we can play."
Natasha laughs and nods. That can definitely be arranged.
