Because there's not nearly enough written about the friendship between Thor and Natasha.
Enjoy.
"So exactly how old are you, Thor?" Captain Rogers asked as he tipped his beer back to finish it off.
"Almost 1,500 years." Everyone's eyes widened and Thor grinned. He would never tire of that reaction. "I have learned this is quite different from your human life spans."
Barton laughed. "Yeah, you could say that."
"Time must feel totally different to you," Banner mused.
Thor shrugged. "It is what I am accustomed to."
"What's the legal drinking age on Asgard?" Stark asked from the bar, hands busy mixing himself another drink.
"Trust Tony Stark to be asking the hard hitting questions," Natasha remarked wryly.
"I choose to accept your words but not the tone, Widow," he lobbed back while pointing an accusing finger at her.
Thor seized the slight lull to answer the question that had been posed. "We are babes for-"
"Against my better judgment, I'm gonna stop you right there, because that word has a different meaning here," Stark interjected as he sat back down.
"Babe?" Thor guesses.
"Technically it's correct," Natasha jumped in, silencing Stark with a look, "but colloquially it's used to refer to, uh, a beautiful woman."
"Such as yourself?" Thor asked. He was familiar with the standard of beauty on Asgard, and Darcy had been diligent in providing education on earth customs, including the 'who's who of Hollywood' as she called it. It seemed to follow, by his understanding at least, that Natasha would fall under that description.
Barton and Stark both burst into laughter, while Banner and Captain Rogers shifted uncomfortably. Natasha, for her part, sent deadly glares to her partner and Stark which quieted their laughter quickly.
"Y'know, this guy's really starting to grow on me," Stark said with a wide grin.
Thor frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"
Captain Rogers jumped in. "No, not at all. Stark is just being crass, as usual. Agent Romanoff is-"
"Right here and able to speak for herself," she interrupted. "And really, Cap...Agent Romanoff? We fought aliens together. I think you're okay to use my first name." Cap smiled bashfully and nodded. She turned back to face Thor before continuing. "You didn't say anything wrong, Thor. In fact, it's very kind of you to say."
He smiled. "I merely speak the truth. You are not only a beautiful woman, but also a skilled and fierce warrior. Fine qualities in a woman."
"Uh, yeah, thanks," she replied, the slightest hint of awkwardness seeping into her tone.
"You're not going to jump in here to defend your woman, Barton?" Stark prodded.
Barton shrugged. "First, she's not 'my woman.' And second, she can handle herself. Doesn't need me. Never has."
Natasha smiled at his answer as she finished off her drink.
"Guess that answers the question of who wears the pants in your relationship."
Thor frowned as he tried to work out the meaning behind Stark's words.
"What was your childhood like?" Captain Rogers asked, obviously eager to get away from the apparently uncomfortable topic.
"It was wonderful," Thor answered. "Loki and I spent much time together, him causing quite a bit of mischief and me usually the victim of said mischief."
"And that was fun for you?" Banner asked, one eyebrow arched doubtfully.
"Yes," Thor answered with a wide grin. "I have many fond memories of our time together. And of course my mother and father loved to spoil us, though never to excess."
"Isn't the very definition of spoiling meaning to excess?" Stark offered.
"Glass houses, Stark..." Natasha said, with a tone of warning. Thor frowned again, trying to understand the meaning of yet another confusing phrase.
"Oh, whatever, Natalie."
Thor's frown deepened. Natalie?
"She's not wrong, Stark," Barton pointed out. "You grew up pretty comfortably."
"When did this become about me? We're talking about Thor."
"I thought everything was about you, Stark," Natasha said with a smirk curling on her lips and an eyebrow arching in a challenge.
"What of you, Captain Rogers?" Thor asked, doing his best to guide the conversation back to the topic at hand, and away from phrases with which he wasn't familiar. "What was your childhood like?"
"Well, I was a lot smaller."
"That's what growing up means, Cap," Barton interjected with a grin and a laugh that Cap pointedly ignored.
"What I mean is, I was pretty sick most of the time. It was a different time o' course, medicine wasn't as good as it is now and water wasn't always the cleanest. And of course, we were at war so that changed everything too. But still, Bucky and I had some good times," he finished with a fond smile.
"And you, Banner?" Thor asked as he turned to face the doctor.
The man shrugged. "Pretty standard except I always had my nose in a book. Never blew up the house with any experiments but did set fire to a few things over the years."
"So you always had a love of science?" Thor confirmed.
Banner nodded. "Since I can remember, yeah."
"Then you were truly destined to be a man of science," Thor declared.
Banner shrugged. "I guess."
Thor turned his head toward Barton, now eager to learn more about his teammates. It was increasingly clear to him that he didn't know much about his new friends, and the conversation was proving fruitful in providing some details.
"Me? Nothing special," Barton said with a dismissive wave. "Ran away to the circus at one point though."
Thor frowned, unfamiliar with the term. "The circus?"
"It's, uh, like a carnival or a festival I guess you could say. It's where I learned to shoot a bow."
"That's not in your file," Stark accused.
Barton arched an eyebrow. "It's not relevant to my file. Besides, I don't hear you offering up nuggets about your childhood."
"You want the Tony Stark biography? To sum up, unlike Bruce I blew a lot of shit up and set a lot of things on fire. Luckily my dad figured out pretty early on that I needed a place to mess around with stuff so he gave me a workshop to do my building and engineering in. Most folks would say I grew up exceptionally spoiled. I would argue not everything about my life was great. But it is what it is, and we're here now. And, as Barton said, it's not relevant to my file, so not up for public consumption."
Thor turned his head toward the last member of their group, but found an empty space on the couch. "Where'd Natasha go?"
The rest of the team exchanged some looks that Thor can't quite decipher, but takes to mean they all understand and know something he isn't privy to.
"Just refilling my drink, Thor," she said, reappearing seemingly out of thin air. "Now, are we going to talk about this boring shit all night, or are we going to eat some dinner? Because I, for one, am hungry."
There's a stunned silence that lingered for a few seconds before Barton piped up. "Dinner sounds good. What're you in the mood for? Chinese?"
"We had Chinese last time," she argued. "Thai?"
"Cap can't handle the chopsticks anyway."
"I can use a fork!"
"That's not allowed," Stark interjected. "Breaks the unspoken code. Like eating pizza with a fork and a knife...you just don't."
"Indian?" Banner offered.
"Missing your adopted home?" Natasha teased.
"I could do Indian," Stark agreed. "There's that place...what's it called? Nana's?" he guessed, snapping his fingers for emphasis.
"Don't pretend like you actually know the names of places beyond Burger King and McDonalds, Stark," Barton accused with a laugh.
"I will have you know that I know more than a few places. Probably keep a few in business, come to think of it. And anyway, JARVIS knows the name, right J?"
"I do indeed, sir. Shall I place the same order as last time?"
"Fine by me...unless there are any objections? No? Excellent, make it so, J."
The food had arrived not long after, and despite Darcy and Jane's continued efforts to introduce him to all the different kinds of Midgardian food, it was a variety he had not yet had the pleasure of trying.
His new friends and fellow warriors had explained the dishes to him, warning him of the spice. But the flavours had been rich on his tongue and reminded him of the more rare meals they had at their feasts on Asgard.
Stark and Banner had disappeared shortly after their meal, presumably to spend time in the laboratory as they tended to do on most days when the team's skills were not needed in battle. Captain Rogers had left not long after that, explaining his need to catch up on some paperwork - a concept with which Thor was only beginning to understand thanks to Jane's explanations. Barton had disappeared at some point after their meal to "make some calls" as Natasha had explained.
And so it was only he and the Lady Natasha left in the common area.
"You done, Thor?" she asked.
He met her gaze and offered a warm smile. "Yes."
"How did you like it?"
"It was delicious. It reminded me of some of the food we have on Asgard that's served during our feasts after great battles. They are laborious dishes only served on the most special of occasions, but are always eagerly anticipated by all."
She smiled as she began to close the containers that still had food in them. "You know, I have to be honest, I never would have guessed Asgardian food would be most like Indian food."
Thor laughed deeply, the sound reverberating from his belly. "What did you expect?"
She shook her head, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I don't know… Fish? Definitely potatoes, for some reason. Maybe sausages?"
"We have many different dishes that feature a variety of meat and plants. From what I understand, that is also the case here on earth, but the flavours and cooking style vary by location on the planet?"
"Yeah, that's right," she answered, nodding as she began to stack the containers, presumably to carry them to the kitchen area. Thor moved over to assist her by taking a stack before she could add them to her pile. She smiled gratefully before beginning to walk.
Suddenly he remembered that he had heard nothing of her childhood during their earlier discussion. His curiosity for his fellow warriors had piqued, given that he knew little about them beyond what they had told him and even then it seemed they were not prone to share often. Natasha in particular seemed to be quite private with her feelings, and really anything beyond what was strictly required for their activities, so all he knew of the woman they called the Black Widow was that she was a highly skilled fighter despite her small stature.
"I'm curious," he began somewhat tentatively, "what was your childhood like?"
She paused her action of stacking the containers into the refrigerator to turn around and face him.
He saw something in her eyes that told him it wasn't a topic that she wanted to discuss so he began to backtrack quickly, offering her a way out if she wanted. "I only ask because you were the only one to not speak earlier. I do not mean to pry. You do not owe me any explanations."
She smiled, but Thor could tell it was only for his benefit. "It's not something I talk about really. It…" she trailed off as her brow furrowed, clearly searching for the right description. "It wasn't so much a childhood as a time when I was a child."
Thor frowned as he tried to understand her meaning. Wasn't the time as a child specifically called childhood? Why would she make the distinction?
"I didn't grow up in a regular place," she elaborated, but Thor knew this was her way of providing more information without actually providing more information. Loki had often done the same. "It was more of a, uh, school, I guess you'd say."
He frowned more deeply, confused by her explanation. "Like an academy?" he asked. They had those on Asgard. Some children with aptitudes for certain things were tutored in academies for those skills. He'd been taught all manner of things as a result of his path to the throne, but many other Asgardian children were more focused in their study.
She tilted her head, considering it. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"And that is not the norm for Midgardian children?"
Her head shook immediately and fervently. "No, no, how I grew up was not how most kids grow up."
He thought back to the other things his new teammates had told him of their youth. It seemed none of them shared any particular experiences to make them similar. "What is the norm here?"
Natasha closed the refrigerator after stacking the last container of leftover food. Her expression was thoughtful. Almost wistful if Thor were to put a name to it.
"It's different for each country, but generally kids live with their family, go to school, and grow up learning skills that are applicable later in life."
"Such as?"
She shrugged. "Again, depends where they are, but just general stuff. I'm not really the person to ask though. Jane might have a better answer for you."
Thor frowned as he tried to piece together the fragments of information she'd given. It was clear to him that she believed she hadn't had a "normal" experience as a child.
"And what of your parents?" he asked. Had they been warriors too?
Her lips pursed before she pushed past him gently on her way back to the sitting area. "I didn't know them." Her tone was matter-of-fact and a bit brusque, and he realized instantly that this too was a sore subject for her.
His thoughts turned to his own parents for a moment, recalling the love and enduring wisdom they had imparted to him over the years. He felt a sadness grow within him as he realized that was something she clearly hadn't had. "I'm sorry," he offered gently.
"Me too," she said softly as she picked up her mobile phone from the table and slid it into her pocket. "But I think I'm going to head to bed. Goodnight, Thor."
He blinked at her sudden words of departure and suddenly worried he'd offended her. "Natasha," he began hastily as he reached out to grab her arm gently to halt her movement. She looked up at him, head tilted in a silent question. "I meant no offense with my questions. I merely sought to learn more about you as my fellow warrior. If you wish, I will refrain from asking more questions. I can see you value your privacy."
She eyed him for a moment silently, her gaze searching him for something he can't guess. "Yes, I do. But that doesn't mean I won't share things with you. It just means that there are things I don't talk about with anyone."
He nodded his understanding. Everyone had their secrets, and he was no exception.
"A girl has to have some secrets, after all," she added with a teasing smile.
He grinned, understanding the sentiment of her joke. Then his expression sobered for a moment. "Thank you," he said solemnly, knowing she had chosen to be vulnerable with him to explain her hesitancy to him.
She smiled again. "Goodnight, Thor."
He nodded in reply. "Goodnight, Natasha."
He watched as she disappeared down the hallway and into the elevator and he wondered if she would ever feel comfortable sharing more. She had said her youth was not the norm for a Midgardian child, and he got the impression that was because it was worse in some way. From the little he knew of her, Natasha Romanoff was renowned as a skilled warrior and master in espionage and trickery. These were the types of skills honed over years and years, and not ones easily picked up. He thought back to how early on his father had begun to teach him fighting styles, and he began to wonder how early in her life Natasha had started to be trained. Perhaps this academy she'd attended had been a specialized one, focusing on those skills she now possessed.
Perhaps one day I will learn of her story , he thinks to himself as he heads to his room, resolved to make an effort to continue learning more about his new teammates.
So...thoughts? Feedback? Suggestions for future moments to cover?
Let me know - always game to hear what y'all think.
More to come.