It's not that Natasha minded when Clint crashed on her sofa between missions or while he waited for his travel arrangements home. She actually liked having him around during their downtime, he helped her to unwind and eased her out of mission mode. She looked forward to ordering pizza and playing cards or dominos while working through a case of craft beer, or getting chinese and settling into her sofa to watch movies and play drinking games. She liked taking him home to her mothers for dinner, and watching them fuss over him because he didn't have his mom to fuss over him anymore and Natasha didn't mind sharing hers with Clint every once in awhile. What Natasha did mind was that Clint always left her apartment smelling like man stink and aftershave, untidy, and a little bit gross.
Erika Miklosa, one of Natasha's favorite sopranos, sang Der Holle Rache Kocht in Meinem Herzen from act 2 of Die Zauberflöte, or the Magic Flute in english, while Natasha bopped around her apartment cleaning up after her weekend with Clint. She had on a pair of black Pink! boyfriend shorts and a heather blue sports crop, and softly sang along with the Queen of the Night as she sprayed down her sofa with febreze and wiped down her surfaces with lysol. She was so lost to the ease of cleaning and her opera that when she heard a knock at the door she didn't even think when she went to answer it.
"May." Natasha said with a warm smile. "Hi!"
"I come bearing the insane amount of candy you ordered from Peter's school sale." May said as she held up a box with 'Ms. Natasha's Candy' scrawled across it in Peter's handwriting. "You really didn't have to order one of everything you know."
Natasha laughed as she invited May in, taking the box from her and carrying it over to the coffee table. "What I don't keep I can give away. My Mum has a huge sweet tooth, not that she'd admit it."
The first thing that caught May's attention was of course what Natasha was wearing and how it showed off her muscular and toned body, her pale skin, and a smattering of freckles here and there. The second thing she noticed were the bruises. On Natasha's upper arm, where it looked as if she'd been grabbed hard enough to leave thick finger shaped marks. And on Natasha's side, where it looked like she'd been kicked a couple of times. This wasn't the first time May had noticed bruising on Natasha, though nothing quite as bad as the massive black and blue patch on the redhead' side. May had also seen the other woman sporting a busted lip, a butterfly bandage near her eyebrow, and splinted fingers. She'd also taken note that Natasha had started having the injuries after she'd stopped working for her cousin, and the man with the dark blonde hair started staying over more often.
"Nat," May says the other woman's name gently but with a firm tone. "You know that we're friends, and I hope you know you can come to me and feel safe."
Natasha looked at May with a bit of a confused look but she smiled as well. "Of course I know we're friends, May."
"Good." May said with a nod and then came right out and asked, "Is your boyfriend doing that to you?"
May was indicating her bruised side and upper arm and Natasha blinked. She'd completely forgotten about the guard at Roxxon who'd gotten in a lucky kick last week. Looking back up at May Natasha looked confused. Boyfriend? She blinked as she thought through what May was saying, and then, "Oh, you mean Clint? No, May, he's my best friend, not my boyfriend. And the bruises," She reached for a hoodie to put on. "They're work related."
"You get knocked around a lot as an executive assistant?" May asked, watching Natasha closely to see if the other woman was lying. She was genuinely concerned for Natasha's well being and safety.
"I sucked as an executive assistant." Natasha replied. "I'm working for a personal security outfit these days, and sometimes things get a little rough." She could tell May wasn't quite believing her, and she couldn't really blame her. Natasha couldn't tell her the truth about being a SHIELD agent, so everything she told her was a half truth, except for this. "Trust me, May, if any man or woman that I was dating ever tried to lay a hand on me, they'd regret it real quick."
For a few long moments May stood there looking at Natasha, reading her. She believed that it wasn't the dark blonde haired man, Clint, but she also knew Natasha wasn't being totally up front with her. Deciding to let it drop for now May relaxed. "I used to work for a women's crisis hotline." May explains. "I hope you don't think I was being too nosey, sometimes old habits die hard."
"I don't." Natasha reassured. "It's nice to know someone cared enough to ask."
When Natasha smiles at her May smiles back. "Are you listening to opera?"
Natasha laughs. "Yeah, I have strange taste in music."
May's smile grew as she admitted, "It's not so strange, I'm a bit of a fan myself."
Natasha makes coffee and the pair sit at her small dining table and talk while sharing some of the candy May had brought. They talked about their favorite operas, the first ones they saw live, and how they got into it. For May it had been her great grandmother, and of course for Natasha it had been her Aunt Maria and her Martinelli grandfather. Natasha also talked about her love of ballet, and May admitted she had no dancing skill whatsoever. The conversation drifted towards their college years for a bit. Natasha said she'd studied language and linguistics, as well as international communications, while May had focused on urban planning and public management. Talking about college gave May a chance to admit to having a crush on a girl in her class, even confessing that she'd daringly kissed her one day after a late night study session.
"What happened?" Natasha asked as she poured what was left of the coffee from the pot into the mugs.
"I freaked out and ran off." May answered with a shrug. "Convinced myself that I was just curious and it didn't mean anything."
Natasha looked at May with a reassuring and warm smile as she asked, "Did it? Mean something?"
"Looking back, yeah it did, which is why it scared me." May confessed. "After I fell in love with Ben I didn't give it a second thought, but after he died and I was trying to put my pieces back together, I decided not to ignore that piece of me anymore."
"I grew up in a loving home with two women who are insanely in love with one another." Natasha says softly, a loving smile in place as she speaks of her mothers. "So me liking both men and women wasn't ever something I didn't know wasn't normal. But I know my experience is the outlier. My Ma was raised catholic so coming to terms with herself was hard for her, and my Mum, well, while not as religious, she's very English and for a long time was forced into being a proper lady and nearly lost herself trying to fit into the mold that she was expected to fit into. I find the three of you incredibly brave and strong for coming to terms with who you are and laying claim to it."
May blushed. "You make it sound heroic."
"It is." Natasha smiles. "My Ma, she works with kids coming to terms with their sexiutaly, being true to yourself in a world that is trying to tell you not to be yourself, is hella brave."
They talked a little longer after that, until May had to leave to pick Peter up from his school club meeting. Several days later when May found herself in a jam, she had to work the weekend and Peter needed to go to the zoo for a science project, Natasha offered to take Peter and help him with his project. It had been a long time since Natasha had been to the zoo and as soon as they stepped through the front gates she was flooded with memories of time spent there with her Aunt Anna and Uncle Jarvis, Sharon, and her mothers. Peter's project was to pick an animal and write about it's exhibit and the ways the zoo educated people about the animal. He didn't want to do anything that other kids in his class would do, so Natasha suggested they have a look at the reptiles, insects and other such creepy crawlies. Peter thought maybe he'd do something on a cool snake like a boa or a cobra, but then they were drawn to a zookeeper who was talking about spiders and letting people touch a tarantula. Peter was scared to touch it at first, but then Natasha let the zookeeper put the massive furry spider on her hand and it crawled up her arm, and Peter thought she was amazing.
Not only did Natasha let a spider crawl up her arm, but she told Peter all about the spiders they looked at in their exhibits, including the black widow spider which she found personally amusing. When she mentions that science and technology often takes inspiration from spiders, aspects of their webbing being used in high tech clothes for example, Peter looks at her with such awe that she's fairly sure he likes her better than Tony now. "Do you have everything you need for your project now, little spider?"
Peter nods. "I think so. It's going to be the best one!"
"I know it will be because you're a really smart and creative kid, Petey." Natasha says as she puts her hand on his small shoulder. "Come on then, let's go find a place to eat before we hit up the office store for your supplies."
As Natasha helped Peter with his school project she got the feeling that the boy was a lot like Tony in that he was advanced for his age when it came to his smarts, but unlike Tony, Peter was allowed to simply be a normal kid for his age. Which, given the amount of loss the boy had faced in his handful of years on this earth, was remarkable. Natasha didn't know a lot of kids, pretty much just Clint's, but Peter was clearly special with his pure heart and innocence. How could she not fall for the kid?
When May finally got home from work Peter's poster board was nearly finished and Natasha was covered in gossamer strands of cotton string from helping him make spider webs. Seeing Natasha like that with Peter sat beside her on the floor in front of the coffee table did something funny and unexpected to May's heart. She hadn't felt that kind of warmth since Ben died. It was a kind of warmth she wasn't ready to deal with just yet, but it wasn't unwelcome. She just wasn't sure what to do with it yet.
A couple of weeks later when Peter's class project is selected for the school science fair and wins for his grade group, he can't wait to tell Natasha and bolts from the elevator before May can stop him when it reaches Natasha's floor. He rushes down the hallway with May telling him to wait for her but he doesn't. He runs to Natasha's door and knocks, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waits, his ribbon and certificate in his hands ready to show her. Only it isn't Natasha who opens the door. The woman Peter finds himself face to face with is an older, like way older, older than Aunt May old, woman who looks kind of strangely familiar but he isn't sure why. Her hair is brown, with bits of silver, and her eyes are brown. She smiles softly at him but he's suddenly very nervous.
"Well, hello" Peggy greets the little boy at her daughter's door.
"Hi." Peter replies, his voice soft and slightly trembling. "Hi, um, is Ms. Natasha home? I'm Peter. She's my friend."
Peggy's smile brightens. "I've heard quite a bit about you, Peter. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm Mrs. Carter, I'm Natasha's Mum." Turning a bit Peggy calls out into the apartment, "Nattie, you have a visitor at the door."
When Natasha appeared over her mother's shoulder she instantly chuckled at the look of awe on Peter's face as he looked at her mother. "Hey little spider, what's up?"
When the woman said her name it clicked for Peter and his eyes went wide. "She's in my history book." Peter whispers as he looks at Natasha and then back at Peggy.
Natasha laughs. "Is she? You'll have to show me." When May finally arrives, stepping up behind her nephew she puts her hands on his shoulders as if to keep him from sprinting off again, "Hi May."
"I'm so sorry." May says with a shake of her head and an amused smile. "He was excited to show you his science award. We're interrupting, we'll come back later."
The boy blinks and then remembers why he was there and his excitement is back. He holds up his ribbon and certificate and says, "Nat look!" Before his aunt can pull him away from Natasha's door. "My spider project won the science fair!"
Natasha held out her hand for a high five which Peter had to jump up to reach. "That's awesome little spider! You worked so hard on it and I'm so proud of you."
"One of my prizes was getting to use the school's new 3D printer." Peter rushes on as he hands his ribbon and certificate to his aunt. Then he shoves his hand into the pocket of his hoodie and pulls out a small 3D printed black widow spider attached to a key chain. "I made this for you, to say thank you for helping me."
"Oh Petey." Natasha said as she took the gift and accepted the hug that came with it. "I love it, buddy, thank you."
"I know you have better manners than this, angel." Angie's voice called out from inside the apartment. "Are you just gonna keep your friends in the hallway or invite them in and introduce everyone?"
"Sorry Ma." Natasha replies with a roll of her eyes and a smile for May. She invites May in, Peter still attached to her side, and introduces everyone. "May, these are my mothers, Margaret and Angela Martinelli-Carter. Mothers, this is May Parker and her nephew Peter."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, dear." Peggy says as she shakes the younger woman's hand. "Natasha's told us a lot about you two."
"It's nice to meet you both as well, Mrs. Carter." May replies warmly.
Angie smiles at the younger woman and the small boy. "Nattie and I are making raviolis from scratch, would you like to join us for dinner?"
"Thank you, but Peter and I already have plans." May replies.
Peter looks over at his aunt with a bit of a pout. "But Aunt May, I wanted Nat to come, she helped me with my project, she should get to celebrate too."
"How about we hit up Serendipity3 this weekend to celebrate?" Natasha offers up. "My treat."
Peter liked that idea and was happy to agree to it which made Natasha smile. The way Natasha smiled for Peter and for May did not go unnoticed by her mothers, which of course Angie pounced on once May and Peter had said their goodbyes and headed off to their own evening plans.
"May seems really nice, angel." Angie said as she and Natasha returned to Natasha's tiny kitchen.
"She is." Natasha replied with a warm smile. She then spends ten whole minutes talking about May and only stops when she notices the way her mother is looking at her. "What?"
"You like her." Angie says bluntly and with a huge smirk. "You should ask her out."
Natasha groans and shakes her head. "Ma, we're just friends."
Angie hums in that way that means yeah right.
"Angie love, leave her alone." Peggy says as she walks into the room to refill her wine glass.
"Oh come on, English." Angie whines softly, playfully. "You can't say you didn't see it."
"See what?" Natasha asks, her eyes darting between her mothers.
"What we may or may not have seen between them doesn't matter." Peggy's voice is firm but just as playful as Angie's whine. "It's what Nattie sees, and if she sees May as just a friend, leave it be."
"But it's been forever since she's had anyone steady." Angie continues.
"She is standing right here." Natasha grunts.
Angie pats Natasha's cheek. "Yeah, we know." She smirks, and taps the tip of her daughter's nose. "We just want you to find some happiness, Nattie."
"My life really isn't accommodating to long term lasting relationships, Ma." Natasha tells her with a long sigh.
"Bullshit." Angie replies as she points her sauce covered wooden spoon at her wife. "Your mother is proof it can be done. You just need to find the right person, angel."
Natasha smiles and kisses her mother's cheek. "But Mum found you, Ma, and you're one of a kind. So that's not really a fair example."
Angie rolls her eyes but she's laughing. "Maybe you should try using that Carter charm on May Parker and see where it gets you."
"Ma." Natasha groans again.