Chapter Text
It takes Natasha an indecent amount of time to come up with a costume and bring it to life. She doesn’t know why she’s trying so hard at all (she’s lying, she knows exactly why it’s so important, the reason is the girl with blue eyes and text messages in the early morning paying attention to her). Nat is not original - her hair is made into heavy curls, glitter on her face and a green dress with a fancy cut. She thickly applies shadows on the eyelids and carefully puts eyeliner. Her father uncertainly asks if it's too much, which means it's just right. She has no power over plants, no crazy girlfriend with a bat, but her red hair and green eyes speak for themselves.
Natasha feels like a million dollars.
Clint left to pick up Laura, so Steve and Bucky drop by to pick her up. She sits in the back with a grunt and teases them about their paired costumes, watching Rogers blush from ear to toe. Bucky remains unmoved and just raises an eyebrow. Natasha thinks that they both pretend that nothing is happening between them too obviously. They manage to deceive only each other; typical school drama, from friends to lovers, mutual pining.
It's hard to admit, but it seems only Clint is doing well in their gang with his personal life. Natasha, of course, is not going to voice this out loud. She only checks her make-up in the mirror a few times and adjusts her dress when they drive up to Tony's house. Steve doesn't notice at all, and Bucky just lazily raises an eyebrow at her questioningly, and Natasha shrugs.
Stark House looks like it was decorated by a whole team of professionals. Which is quite possible, knowing Tony. There are illuminated ghosts on the lawn near the house, and beautifully arranged pumpkins on the porch. Inside there is loud music and the hubbub of other people's conversations, and this is what you need. Natasha feels an exciting anticipation of the evening. Everything should be just perfect.
Half an hour passes, and she tries not to look too hard for anyone, but Barton notices anyway and chuckles boyishly while everyone is distracted by the discussion of the latest Ghostbusters movie.
“If you're looking for Hill, I saw her chatting with Carol by the pool five minutes ago.”
Natasha shakes her head. She came here to have a good time. With her friends. But Maria is also her friend, which means no rules are broken. Everything is fine, within reason, according to all the rules of decency. Nat waits another ten minutes before the need to see Maria outweighs everything else. She is bored, and they saw each other briefly yesterday at school.
Maria is found by the pool. She stands with a cardboard red glass in her hands, watching with a grin as Carol Danvers stands on her head for an dare, smiling stupidly at Maria Rambeau. Natasha can't help but smile, because Hill is wearing a replica of a police uniform, and she looks good in it.
“Can cops arrest themselves? Because I think you stole my heart.”
Maria sharply turns her head in her direction, and then grins noisily.
“God, Romanoff, that was awful.”
Natasha shrugs and winks like a real bisexual disaster. She asks, hoping her voice doesn't betray her:
“So, no girlfriend today?”
Maria's face darkens slightly. She stops smirking and shifts from foot to foot, looking away from Nat.
“We had a fight.”
She doesn't say break up. Natasha's heart does somersaults and beats fast, she doesn't know why she's nervous, because the fact that Hill has a girlfriend is not news. She exhales:
“Oh.”
“Whatever. So, Poison Ivy? I knew that I should choose a Wonder Woman costume.”
“You'd make awesome Wonder Woman. Next year?”
Next year they will have already finished school and, perhaps, will move to different states. The next year seems like another century, a distant and uncertain future. Nat tries not to think about what will happen. She is not afraid of change, but she is too fond of what is happening now and what she found in SHIELD school.
She focuses on Maria and what she is saying as she stands next to her in a ridiculous cop outfit with plastic handcuffs on her belt. Maria, an excellent student and an athlete, jokes stupidly and Natasha can't help but laugh.
Yeah, it’s just perfect as she imagined.
***
Maria finds her after training. The track team finishes earlier, and she conveniently seats on the bleachers, from where the cheerleaders' training is perfectly visible. Natasha almost falls out of nowhere, but quickly pulls herself together - no Maria, with her shiny hair and long legs in running shorts, will distract her.
When Natasha approaches her ten minutes later, she sits down next to her with a noisy sigh. Hill squints a little at the sun and smiles at her.
“I left you all the green skittles,” she says instead of greeting and hands Natasha a pack. This is cute. She remembered such a silly detail. It would be easier if Maria wasn't so sweet.
“I would marry you.”
Nat takes out a couple of sweets and pops them into her mouth. Maria snorts. In the light of the rays, her eyes take on a striking blue tint.
“We are underage.”
“This is temporary,” Natasha shrugs and copies Maria’s pose, stretching her legs forward. “We can agree that we will get married if we don’t find anyone before thirty. I saw it in a movie or read somewhere, something like that.”
“Okay, Romanoff,” Hill shakes her head, but smirks. Natasha likes her smirk (this is not news). “Your standards are low.”
“Shut up.”
They laugh, and then playfully fight over the remains of the skittles. Natasha has to remind herself that she can't, they're not dating, and the fact that Maria's face is close to hers during the fight is tempting but dangerous. Natasha looks down at her lips - briefly, accidentally, completely unconsciously - and awkwardly pulls away, clearing her throat and deftly snatching a pack with a couple of sweets from Maria's hands. Maria doesn't resist.
“I won. All mine.”
Although she does not feel like a winner, only one whose heart can not calm down.
***
Natasha is bored. Clint is on a date with Laura, Stark and Banner are too caught up in their new physics project, Steve is working, and only God knows where Bucky is. She absolutely does not want to go home, and even more so to do homework. Natasha decides that if she doesn't find Maria where she thinks she is, she will go home and even help Lena with her homework (her mother complained that Lena lacked discipline and that she needed to limit her time playing video games. Little loser).
Maria is found at the diner, just as Nat thought. Sometimes the actions and routes of Hill are easy to predict, and this makes Natasha calm and joyful inside, as if Maria is a constant. The world around is changing, but she is the one with whom it is safe to be around.
“Drop your homework and let's go for a walk. I'm bored.”
Maria doesn't look up from her notebook, even when Natasha sits across from her and grabs fries from her plate.
“I need to finish it.”
Nat watches her for a couple of minutes, stealing fries. The question, which has been haunting her for a long time, breaks out by itself:
“Why not at home?”
Maybe she should keep her mouth shut, but it’s already out there. Hill looks at her and bites the inside of her lip before relaxing her tense shoulders.
“I don't have the best relationship with my father. I don't want to run into him at home.”
“Sorry.”
Nat doesn't know what to say. It's not the sort of thing people talk about in a diner. But Maria understands this because she says:
“Give me ten minutes?”
“Take as long as you need. I'm going to go get a drink.”
Maria doesn't look alarmed or upset as Nat watches her from the cash register. She furrows her eyebrows as she reads the textbook, and Natasha thinks that trust is something valuable that has begun to arise between them. And the closer they get, the more terrible it is to ruin everything. She doesn't know what she's more afraid of - staying just friends or breaking up because they don't work out.
***
They are sitting on the school lawn during lunch when Tony asks slyly, tossing his apple from one hand to the other:
“I couldn't help but notice you spend a lot of time with Hill.”
Natasha gives him an unimpressed look.
“And?”
“Do you have anything to share with the class?”
She thinks about how her feelings for Maria are shaky and fragile, something she herself can't figure out yet. Involving the guys seems superfluous. Even if they have good intentions.
“Nope,” she shakes her head. Steve smiles reassuringly and, like a real good guy who has every chance of becoming a national hero one day, says:
“Hill is awesome. We work together...”
Nat interrupts him right away.
“Cool. But I have nothing to say. We are friends.”
Tony looks at her strangely and for a second it looks like he's going to continue to joke and make fun of her, but he only smirks one-sidedly, tossing the apple up one more time.
“OK. But if you were something more, we would be happy for you.”
And despite the fact that this does not affect her feelings in any way, Nat feels his breathing become easier.