Smile (pt. 1)
Natasha stepped out into the night with a smile on her face. After spending the last few hours watching videos of football tryouts and training on YouTube in Carol's crowded room, the crisp autumn air felt nice against Natasha's warm skin. Getting to know the other girls had been nice, but she welcomed the quiet calm of a long drive home.
Natasha practically skipped down the walkway towards her car, which was parked on the street next to the curb. She took once last deep breath before sliding into the driver's seat. That's when it happened: her stomach growled. It was a loud, unmistakable sound, reminding her just how long it had been since lunch. She'd texted Clint earlier to let him know that she probably wouldn't be home in time for dinner. Natasha's stomach growled again.
"Alright, already! I'll get a burger on the way home. Just be quiet. Geez."
Natasha started the car and pulled away from the curb. Carol's house was only a mile or so from the school. If her memory proved correct, there was a fast-food burger joint a few blocks from Marvel High, and it was on the way home, too.
A few minutes later, Natasha pulled into the Burger King drive thru. After she'd given her order and waited in line, she drove up to the window to pay and collect her meal. When she pulled up, however, two things happened.
First, the lady at the window told her a mistake had been made and directed Natasha to pull around and park in front. "Someone will bring your order out to you," she'd said.
Second, just as Natasha was following the lady's instructions and pulling forward, she thought she caught sight of a familiar face. Natasha's suspicions were confirmed when she drove around the building and pulled into a parking spot out front. It was there in that parking spot, parallel to a large window, that Natasha had a perfect view into the restaurant.
And of Tony Stark.
Natasha was surprised to see him sitting there, at a table in the corner, bent over a pile of books and papers, totally alone at 7:23pm on a Friday night.
At 7:24, Natasha got an idea. She pulled out her phone, opened the mobile M3 app, and sent Tony a message.
N. Romanoff: Do you know a good burger joint? I just got a craving.
As she waited for his reply, Natasha watched Tony carefully, her eyes occasionally drifting back to the app, watching for the exact moment when the message was received.
It didn't take long—it was less than two minutes, in fact, before Tony checked his phone. Natasha watched as he read the message, look around and then back at the phone. Several minutes passed. The lady came out with Natasha's order, and Tony still hadn't replied. The little dot by Tony's name was green and her message was now marked "read." What is taking him so long? Natasha was about to march inside and find out, or maybe just drive away, when her phone buzzed.
T. Stark: Well, good is subjective. Me? I'm partial to Burger King.
Natasha grinned.
N. Romanoff: Burger King? Hmm. That sounds pretty good. And they have a drive thru, right?
Natasha grabbed her bag and stepped out of the car. Her phone buzzed again.
T. Stark: Yeah. The one by school does, for sure.
N. Romanoff: Good to know. Thanks.
She opened the door, careful to enter in a way that she could remain unseen until the opportune moment. Her phone buzzed a third time.
T. Stark: So, uh, you heading that way now?
Instead of responding, she pocketed the phone and crept up behind Tony. Natasha waited until she was standing directly behind him. For a moment, she watched with a smile on her face as Tony stared at his phone.
Then she stepped to the side and asked, "Why? Did you miss me?"
Tony jumped at the sound of her voice. "Woah! Geez! What the…oh, Natasha, hey! Why are you, er, how are you here? I mean, uh, hi?"
"You okay there?"
Tony's hand rested over his chest as he tried to calm down. "Yeah. No. I'm good. You just surprised me is all."
Natasha gestured towards the door. "I can go, if you'd like."
"No!" Tony shouted. "I mean…you don't have to…not if you don't want." He cleared his throat. "What I mean to say is, you're more than welcome to stay and join me…if you want."
Without hesitation, Natasha slid into the seat opposite Tony. They sat in silence for a bit while Tony collected himself.
"So," he said, "when you messaged me, you were…?" he pointed in the general direction of the parking lot.
"Yup."
He frowned, not quite making eye contact. "So that means…?"
Natasha couldn't help but smirk. "Yup."
Tony's tongue was pressed against the inside of his cheek, forming a slight bump just above his jawline. Finally, "that was mean."
"Sorry," Natasha said with a smile.
Tony's eyes narrowed. Now that his breathing and speech were back to normal, he didn't seem too upset.
"Liar," he said.
Natasha was about to protest when she spotted the playful gleam in his eye.
"Harsh but fair," she replied. "Does this mean you didn't miss me?"
"What?"
"I asked if you missed me."
Tony looked confused for a moment as he tried to recall when she'd asked him that. Then realization dawned on him.
"Ah! That must've been when you were trying to give me a heart attack. Mhmm. Easy to miss during a time like that, don't ya think?"
Natasha made a tsk-ing noise. "Excuses, excuses." She opened her to-go bag and unloaded the contents while Tony watched.
"Damn. Five cheeseburgers?" he marveled. "A woman after my own heart."
Natasha snorted. "More like heart attack. This is one of those moments when my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Want one? Or two?"
Tony shook his head. "I couldn't possibly…"
"It's no big deal. You'd be doing me a favor, really. I don't want to make myself sick. Got a big day tomorrow," she said, sliding two cheeseburgers across the table.
Natasha tore the wrapper off one of the remaining burgers and took a huge bite. After a moment's hesitation, Tony hesitantly undid the wrapper of his own burger.
"If I eat this, technically you bought me dinner," he mused.
With her mouth full, Natasha couldn't respond, so she opted for questioning him with her eyes.
"And I just want you to know," he continued, "that I don't put out on the first date."
Natasha stopped chewing for a fraction of a second before suppressing her surprise. He was clearly messing with her.
Of course, he doesn't think this is a date.
She finished chewing, swallowed, and took another bite, letting the silence between them become awkward.
After Tony stewed in his own discomfort long enough, he laughed. "I was just kidding about that, by the way."
Natasha paused, raising her eyebrow.
"I would totally put out on the first date," Tony joked, "but only cause it's you."
Natasha stared at him until he started to squirm, then went back to eating her cheeseburger.
"I-I gotta say, it's hard to get a read on you," Tony finally admitted.
Having finished the first cheeseburger, Natasha crumpled up the wrapper and shoved it in the open bag. She wiped her hands on a napkin, making sure to take her time. She was enjoying Tony's superficial anguish.
"I'm an open book. Ask me anything," she finally said.
"Anything?" he asked.
Natasha nodded.
Tony appeared to mull this offer over for a bit. "You said you had plans tomorrow. What's the occasion? Lots of homework, going out of town, big date, family stuff, insert other examples here so you don't notice that I asked if you were going on a date…you know, things like that?"
A smile tugged at one corner of Natasha's mouth, but she fought to keep her expression neutral.
"Nope. No date," she said, taking pity on him, "…for now, anyway."
Tony nodded. "Cool, cool."
Natasha unwrapped a second cheeseburger. "I have football tryouts tomorrow," she said casually.
Tony stopped his distracted head nodding. "Football tryouts?"
"Mhmm," she mumbled, her mouth full of cheeseburger.
"Huh. I was not expecting that."
Natasha swallowed. "Why? Is it because I'm a girl?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Natasha looked at him thoughtfully. "Well, the coach and the players seem to think that girls—myself included—have no business on the team."
Tony waved his hand. "Pfft. Screw 'em." He leaned forward. "I don't know what other girls you're talking about, but you want to know the first thing that crossed my mind the very first time I saw you?"
"Um…that's gonna leave a mark?" she guessed, referring to her fall on the bleachers.
Tony shook his head. "No. I saw you before that. At lunch."
Slowly, Natasha set her cheeseburger down, waiting intently for Tony to continue.
"I watched you walk in, and I was immediately enthralled by how you carried yourself. You moved with confidence, determination, self-assurance. I won't pretend to know much about you, but everything I've learned so far has only reinforced that initial opinion. You are, without a doubt, one of the most competent young women I've ever met. If you say that you're capable of playing football, then I believe you."
"Wow, Tony, that was incredibly insightful...a tad cheesy, sure, but also sweet."
"Yeah, well, I am—on occasion—not a total idiot," he said with a self-deprecating grin.
"I doubt that," she teased.
Tony's hands flew to his heart. "Natasha, you wound me."
Even though she laughed, her next words were said with utter sincerity. "I doubt you're a total idiot more than just occasionally," she clarified. "Don't get me wrong, you're a nerd, but I can see that you're an old soul no matter how hard you try to hide with all of your jokes and seemingly endless charm."
"So, what you're saying, is that you think I'm charming?"
"And you just proved my point…nerd."
They took their time, eating and joking, talking about anything and everything. An hour passed and then two, and Natasha finally realized how late it was after looking around to see the restaurant devoid of customers. She pulled out her phone to check the time and was met with a barrage of messages from Clint and several missed calls.
(7:38) Clint: When are you getting back?
(7:52) Clint: Hellooooo?
(8:13) Clint: If you don't text me back soon, I'm going to read your diary.
(8:14) Clint: And don't say you don't keep a diary.
(8:47) Clint: So, apparently, you don't keep a diary. Also, your room was like that when I went in.
(9:03) Clint: Nat, where the hell are you?
(9:15) Clint: Seriously, Nat, why aren't you answering my texts or calls. We're getting worried.
(9:53) Clint: Nat! If you don't text or call in the next five minutes, my mom is going to call the cops! We're freaking out.
She looked at the time and the time stamp of last message.
"Crap!"
"Everything okay?" Tony asked.
"Uh…one sec."
Natasha pressed the dial button by Clint's name. He answered after just one ring.
"Natasha! What the hell? Where are you? Are you okay? Who are you with? Are you hurt? What's going on?"
"Clint! Clint! Calm down."
"I AM CALM!" he shouted.
Natasha waited silently.
"Ahem. I may have freaked out a little," he said after a moment.
"You think?"
"Just a little."
Natasha sighed. "Well, to answer your many, many questions: I'm at Burger King. Yes, I'm okay. No, I'm not hurt. Tony's here. We got to talking, and we just lost track of time. I'm sorry." She realized, too late, that mentioning Tony in this instance was probably a bad idea. She closed her eyes, hoping he hadn't noticed.
"Tony? Tony…Stark?"
Natasha winced. "Yeah."
There was a stretch of silence, then, "oh," followed by another stretch. Finally, "I guess I'll see you when you get home."
"Clint, I—" Natasha started, but she saw the screen flash on her phone. She pulled the device away from her ear, and her stomach immediately twisted into knots.
"He hung up on me," she said, her voice sounding small to her own ears. She looked up at Tony. "He's never hung up on me before."
Tony offered her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."
Natasha swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. "Yeah…me too." She sighed. "I guess I gotta head home. It was nice talking to you."
"Yeah. Same."
Natasha grabbed her things and slid out of the booth. "See ya."
"Yeah..."
Natasha held back the tears threatening to fall until she was safe inside her car and the doors were locked, then she cried the whole way home.
*Song Inspiration: "Smile" - Uncle Kracker