Summary:What if Stark had recruited Skye at the beginning of Iron Man Two? Natasha Romanoff now has her hands full with not just one loose canon genius, but two of them. At least her undercover persona Natalie Rushman has the patience of a saint.
Fic following the Iron Man film with the addition of Skye! Also known as Iron Man 2 but better because of Skye and Natalie.
(Part 1)
Notes:(See the end of the work for notes.)
Work Text: "This is your set-up?" Tony Stark remarked looking around the van parked in alleyway two blocks from the Tower, "Those servers look like they can barely run a game from the 80s."
Skye stared at the man in bewilderment, brain struggling to catch up with what was happening. One minute she was halfway through tapping into the Stark Tower network, the next minute Tony Stark is literally standing right in front of her.
On the plus side, at least he wasn't the homeless man she'd been expecting when the door was wrenched open.
"…They're custom built?" she replied, unsure of what the hell was going on.
"Must've been," Tony agreed, stuffing his hands into his crumpled suit pockets.
She just stared at him, glancing behind to see if he had anyone with him, but he looked to be alone.
"Could you please put that down now," Tony said, pointing to her hands, she looked down finally realising she was aiming a can of pepper spray at his head, "I'd quite like to keep my eyeballs intact."
"Sorry," she mumbled, dropping her hand, "Habit. You know some people see a van and think, 'ooh l'll have that' and then you've gotta fight off a bunch of bums armed with a crowbar…yeah, pepper spray…"
She inwardly cringed as soon as she'd finished talking, but he brushed her off, nodding to the hack still running on her PC, "Pretty impressive hack you've got running on me, kid. Why don't you come work for me, instead of sending all my sensitive information to those cyber punks on the internet? I'll make it worth your while.
She crossed her arms, "Why should I? Technically right now you're breaking and entering."
"If we're talking breaking and entering I think you hacking Jarvis has me beat." Tony quipped, "My other options certainly include arresting you."
Skye gulped, but he just shrugged, "That wouldn't be very fun though. I've never seen anyone bypass my firewall before, and yet here you are running a hack from this shit hole of a tech base. No offence."
"Plenty taken, but thanks."
He patted the battered side of the van, "Bring this round to the Tower – you can park in the garage. I'll give you room and board, all expenses included. As long as you promise not to turn on me, of course."
"Why should I trust you?"
Tony scoffed, "I've been tracking your hacks for a week. I'm impressed, and I have a vested interest in keeping someone who can hack my suit on my side."
"I want a hot tub," Skye said finally, "And a really cool breakfast bar, and a really fast car."
He shook his head with a smile on his lips, "Let's start with a salary first shall we?"
***
Skye whistled quietly to herself as she admired the sleek interior of Tony's tower. It was crisp and clean, and so corporate that she struggled not to wrinkle her nose. She could see a fancy office on the other side of the glass, where currently the blonde woman – Pepper Potts, had dragged Tony into as soon as he'd introduced her to Skye.
Which was a little insulting.
"You can't just pick a teenager off the street and hire them at your will!" Pepper cried, hands flinging around as she reprimanded him, "There are things called contracts and interviews and background checks and NDAs."
Although her voice was somewhat muffled by the half wall of glass separating Stark's office, Skye could hear them clearly. She busied herself with fiddling with the nice new laptop Stark had placed in front of her, pretending not to feel out of place.
She definitely was – she'd hardly showered this week and yet her dirty shoes were upon marble floors that gleamed with a fresh coat of polish. Marble!
"She's not a teenager," Stark defended, "She's…How old are you Skye?" He called out from the office, swivelling around in his chair to look at her.
"20!" Skye called back.
"Practically 30," Tony continued, "And I am paying her you know. All by the books. I'll have Natalie do all the paperwork crap."
"She's a major security risk," Pepper argued, "If someone breaks into your house, you don't invite them in!"
"You do if you want to find out how they did it."
The clicking of heels sounded from the elevator, resonating around the room. Skye glanced up as a gorgeous young woman strutted confidently toward them, chin up and shoulders back. Skye tried not to stare too long as the woman adjusted the folder in her arms, red hair bouncing in time with her heels and resting across the low neckline of her fashionable black dress.
Skye estimated this woman couldn't have been too much older than she was, but the way she carried herself was worlds apart from how Skye was slouching in the office chair in ratty jeans and her favourite green jacket. She fingered the end of her braid self-consciously.
The woman's eyes drifted over her briefly, expression imperceptible but Skye thought the way her pretty eyes lingered might mean was at least a little bit curious as to who she was.
The woman cleared her throat as she approached the pair, "Mrs Potts? I have the paperwork you requested."
Even her voice was soft and silky. Skye huffed, watching as she surveyed the room, pleasant smile lingering.
"Thank you Natalie," Potts assuaged, her eyes telling Tony the conversation wasn't over despite the interruption.
He simply shrugged, throwing Natalie a coy smile before rising from his chair, he turned to Skye instead.
"You, with me," he said, snapping his fingers, "There's a project I want your expertise on."
***
It only took Skye a day or two to get used to The Tower, and her nice new fancy apartment and an actual, real job. Although Tony didn't exactly carry himself with an air of professionalism and so she figured if she didn't act super professional either it didn't really matter. Well, not to him anyway. All she'd promised him was not to contact the Rising Tide, and she hadn't.
He'd been keeping her busy, and so she was becoming absorbed in her work. Skye had her head down, eyes transfixed on her phone as she pieced together some more code to hack a website, so she didn't notice the person in front of her until it was too late.
They collided head on, her eyes snapping up as she stumbled backwards, and papers went flying between them onto the floor. She dropped to pick them up, looking up to find the assistant – Natalie, staring down at her in shock.
"I am so sorry!" Natalie apologised, bending down gracefully, barely even teetering on her high heels as she helped Skye pick up the papers that managed to look less boring and official when she touched them with her red manicured hands.
"My fault," Skye smiled easily, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Silly me."
Natalie accepted the papers Skye held out with a thankful smile, and Skye was determined not to admire the shade of her lipstick, or the way her perfectly fitted dress accentuated her curves. She felt underdressed in her plaid shirt and jeans, even though it was her favourite plaid shirt and Stark had made good on his promise of lavish accommodations so her appearance was at least better taken care of. Natalie looked like she had her life all put together, not a strand of pretty red hair out of place.
"It's Natalie, right?" Skye offered, standing up to hand Natalie a final piece of paper.
Natalie nodded her head, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, almost as if she was shy. Skye tracked the movement, nervously fiddling with the bracelet around her wrist. Natalie intimidated her the same way Pepper did. Not that Skye had anything against powerful businesswoman, her feelings were quite the opposite…
"I'm afraid I've seen you around, but I don't know…" Natalie trailed off.
"Skye," she introduced, ducking her head shyly. Natalie held her hand out for a handshake and Skye accepted after a momentary surprise, forgetting that they were after all, in a business environment. Not that working for Stark felt like work at all.
Natalie shook her hand firmly, before drawing back with a nice smile, her eyes seeming to never leave Skye's own. It was entrancing.
"Well Skye, I was just about to head down to the cafeteria for coffee," Natalie offered, "If you'd like to come with?"
"Oh, uh, sure!" Skye replied, flabbergasted that Natalie was offering coffee with her. Then again, she reminded herself, it was probably what normal colleagues in a normal business would do. Not as though it was a date.
"So what's it like to be Stark's PA?" she asked, hurrying to match Natalie's quick pace as she they entered the elevator, "I can't imagine he's fun to deal with."
Natalie smiled softly, "I manage."
"Right, yeah, I'm sure you do," Skye fumbled, "You seem very…business-ey."
And oh god Natalie definitely thought she was an idiot, could this elevator go any slower?
"Business-ey?" Natalie questioned, eyebrow raised.
"Professional! That's the word I mean. It's not a bad thing! I just mean like, intelligent and, and formal…"
"Thank you Skye," Natalie said, and Skye wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
Thankfully Natalie had far better social skills, "So what about you?" she appeased, stepping out the elevator onto the cafeteria floor. There was a low buzz to add ambience to their discussion, the Tower had many office employees. Although Skye learned quickly that Tony had limited time for anyone who wasn't Pepper, or Happy, or her now (apparently.)
"What do you do for Mr Stark?" Natalie asked as they joined the small line.
"Oh, I'm a tech consultant," Skye replied diplomatically, and shrugged, "Always been good at CS and Stark have some really cool tech, and the AI? Insane stuff."
Natalie smiled in agreement, "Where did you go?"
"Where did I go…?" Skye frowned, picking up her order of a caramel, pumpkin spiced latte.
"To college?"
"Oh," she blushed, "I'm kind of…self-taught?"
"That's very impressive," she allowed.
"What about you?" Skye said, "Now don't tell me it was some fancy law school like Harvard."
Natalie smiled shyly, taking her own standard cup of coffee, "Harvard."
"Damn yeah, you must be crazy smart," Skye joked, but the reminder of her lack of education made her a little uncomfortable and out of place, and it must have shown on her face as Natalie said,
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Oh no it's fine," Skye scoffed, brushing it off as they found an empty table, "I don't think I'd like college much anyway. Me and academia don't get on."
"No?" Natalie smirked, surprising Skye as it was the first time she seemed anything but the professional woman, "What about the frat parties? And the boys?"
"Wow Natalie," Skye teased, smiling over the lid of her coffee, "Not just a fancy stuffy lawyer now, huh?"
"You thought I was stuffy?" Natalie asked, but her smile and the twinkle in her eye (that Skye was sure must be imagined) let Skye know she wasn't upset.
"Only a little," Skye replied, pinching her fingers together with a squint.
Natalie laughed, Skye couldn't help admiring how she tossed her hair back and her nose scrunched up just a tiny bit.
She beckoned Skye closer, and Skye leant forward (heart thumping) as she said in lower voice, "Well between you and me, this is actually one of my first jobs. I spent more time in Japan doing some modelling then in legal. I studied fashion before law school."
"A model?" Skye raised an eyebrow, "I suppose the killer outfits make sense now."
"Why thank you," she blushed, before running her eyes down Skye's plaid shirt, bomber jacket and multitude of necklaces, which was Skye's turn to get flustered, "I think your style is very cute."
Her tone was flirtatious, but she couldn't really have been flirting, could she? She was still staring at her, green eyes flickering between hers.
The moment broke as her phone went off with a beep and she sprang into action.
"Sorry that's Mr Stark," Natalie said gathering her belongings, glancing down to her phone and Skye tried to her hide her smile at the formality of it all, as she straightened up. It was a shame.
"Does he want you to iron his underpants?"
She smiled mischievously, Skye liked that look on her, "Not yet."
***
"No don't be stupid," Skye rolled her eyes at Stark, pointing to another line of code on the holoscreen, "You can't keep an obvious exploit in the iron suit coding open just in case you need to use it. You're supposed to close it so that someone else doesn't."
She crossed her arms, now familiar with Stark's lab and the machinery running in the background. And familiar with Tony's unflappable confidence.
Stark rolled his eyes back, "Well what if no-one else is smart enough to exploit it? What about then? What if I need my suit remotely?"
They were both too engrossed to notice the door pushing open, or the clicking of heels that proceeded it.
"Your arrogance is shocking," Skye retorted, "I could get in from my van with a laptop I won on a bet, you're not the only hacker in the world, idiot."
Stark waved her away with his hand, "Yeah, yeah you're a genius whatever. Tell me, did I hire you to insult me or to work for me?"
"Same thing."
Natalie cleared her throat. Stark whirled around in his desk chair to face her, "Can't you see we're working here?"
Skye frowned at his rudeness, shooting Natalie an apologetic smile, saying, "We really weren't that busy."
She could see the way Natalie fought to keep her cool, but it was impressive how she met Stark with a pleasant smile, only her eyes giving away her irritation.
"Mrs Potts would like to know if you would be joining her for dinner at The Richmonds this evening?" Natalie asked politely, "It's in only a few hours."
Stark checked his watch, deflating in his seat as he ran a hand down his face, "I suppose so, but god it's exhausting. They have the worst singer."
"I'll confirm the table booking."
She was still staring at Stark, and Skye titled her head, watching the flirtatious nature of the act. Was Natalie sleeping with him? She pondered it. No, Natalie seemed like the type to simply use her attractiveness to her advantage, just like Elle Woods would.
Good for her.
"Will that be all?" Stark huffed.
Natalie turned to Skye, catching her eye, "Would you like a coffee?"
"Would love one," Stark answered dismissively, already turning back to his holoscreen.
Skye smiled apologetically again and made a face behind Tony's back, but Natalie only winked at her and turned on her heel. Skye even didn't try to hide her staring as she walked away.
Stark snapped his fingers, "Eyes front and centre."
***
The code scrolled endlessly up her screen, her eyes scanning it left and right to find the weak spot she was looking for.
"That looks very complicated," came a voice from above.
Skye jerked out of her coding trance, whirling around to see Natalie's face very close over her shoulder. She accepted the coffee that was placed into her hands in a daze.
"Sorry I didn't mean to pry," Natalie apologised sheepishly, "Thought you looked hard at work and deserved a coffee."
Skye accepted the caffeine gratefully, "Caffeine is always welcome, thank you."
She took a sip and smiled, taking in the sugary mix in her drink, "You remembered my coffee order?"
"Of course," Natalie replied breezily, "I'm not Tony Stark's personal assistant for no reason."
"I suppose not," Skye said, trying not to get lost in Natalie's eyes, and definitely NOT looking down at her cleavage that showed through her white button up.
Work colleagues. Work colleagues didn't ogle each other. It was unprofessional.
She tried not to blush, remembering Pepper Potts' lecture to both of them about professional standards. Granted, Stark was the one being lectured about ogling, but Skye hadn't been spared for her lack of paperwork management, and for being late and hacking JARVIS to change Stark's alarm clock…
Natalie eyed the scrolling code behind her, moving just a little bit closer over her shoulder so that Skye could swear she felt the tickling of her hair by her ear, "What are you working on? If I'm allowed to ask. You look like you've been on this for hours."
Skye bit her lip, glancing at the virus she was running, "Technically no I can't tell you," she shrugged, "But you're Stark's PA and I'm sure you signed hella NDAs too. I'm looking into this Russian guy called Vanko. He's that electro dude that attacked Tony in Monaco. Pretty scary stuff, right?"
"It was pretty scary," Natalie admitted.
"I forgot you must've been there," Skye said, "Stark didn't invite me along," she pouted at that, "I always miss out on the cool stuff. What was Monaco like?"
"Hot."
Goddammit, Skye wished Natalie would break eye contact like a normal person. Especially when her voice husked so smoothly around the words.
She absently fiddled with the coffee lid, "I bet."
A scuffling from the door broke her from the spell, as Tony strode into Skye's office space. He had the entire lab to himself, of course, but when Skye needed a break from him she hid in the office adjacent.
Tony eyed them with suspicion, "What are you two gossiping about?"
Natalie snapped to attention, "Mr Stark!" and Skye had to hide her laugh.
***
They'd gotten over the Monaco incident, and Skye had unearthed a lot of concerning things about Vanko that indicated that he knew how to build weapons similar to Stark Tech and he knew a lot of programming too. His firewalls were certainly no joke.
Tony didn't look healthy. He was acting strange – even more stand offish than usual.
Skye eyed Tony's neck cautiously from across the lab, he pulled his collar sleeve higher, "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to stare?"
She looked back to her laptop and shelved it for later.
Naturally she waited to accost Natalie, who was really her only friend in the company, but also the only other person she felt she could approach who was close enough to Stark. She was still scared of Pepper, not that she'd admit that.
Once Natalie emerged from his personal office, she practically pounced, blurting, "Do you think Tony's okay?"
Natalie furrowed her eyebrows and adjusted the concealer still clutched in her hands, "What do you mean?"
"It's just…" Skye trailed off, doubting herself, "He has this blue vein thing going on in his neck," she gestured to the area, "It doesn't look good, and he's been acting weird and with this party tonight…"
"He'll be fine."
Natalie sounded so confident, but… "His google searches were really weird," Skye continued, "Like top 10 funeral speeches and ten things to do before you die-"
Skye startled when she felt Natalie's grip on her wrist, nothing painful, but just enough to break her from her thoughts.
"Skye," Natalie asserted, and distractingly Skye could feel where her fingers wrapped around her wrist, "There are some things about Stark that he doesn't want people to know. It's part of the confidentiality of working for him." She raised a pointed eyebrow and Skye shame blooming in her chest.
She nodded, trying not to feel like a child left out at a party. She hated that feeling. Hated people keeping secrets from her, but Natalie was right. She was supposed to be confidential, and maybe hacking his google searches wasn't very confidential.
"However, your concern is noted," Natalie placated, smiling encouragingly. Maybe when she noticed how deflated Skye was.
"Come, I'll help you get ready," Natalie offered, already walking away down the hall, "There's still some time to kill before the party, we might as well get to know each other better."
"Aren't you still on the clock?" Skye hurried after her.
"Aren't you?" she countered.
Skye sighed instead of answering, "But you're like some cool model fashionista. My wardrobe sucks."
Natalie ran her eyes down Skye's outfit, who tried not to squirm, "I'd say you're doing alright."
They entered the elevator, and apparently Natalie already knew which floor housed Skye's apartment as she correctly pressed the right button.
"Have you been spying on me?" Skye joked.
"I'm a good PA," Natalie reminded her, and smiled coyly, "And I thought it would be good to know."
Skye refused to let the thundering of her heart show on her face. Work colleagues. Just gals being pals. Natalie was probably the type to do face masks and watch sex and the city and do yoga to relax.
Natalie let Skye take the lead up to her apartment, and waited behind her, even standing a little too close, as Skye penned in the passcode and unlocked the door.
Skye suddenly felt embarrassed. The apartment was in pristine condition, but very empty. The apartment had no personal touches, and all her belongings were still packed in a bag under the bed. Save the few dresses she actually had in the wardrobe. Even the kitchen counter was spotless, since Skye ate all her meals in the canteen.
Natalie tactfully didn't say anything about that.
"Through here?" Natalie indicated, jerking her thumb toward the door of her bedroom. Skye nodded, following dumbly behind her as Natalie strode into her bedroom and immediately over to her closet.
"I'm sorry it's not much…" Skye trailed off, as Natalie skimmed through her dresses.
"I can work with it," Natalie shrugged, before taking out the hot pink dress with a smirk. She held it up to compare against Skye and nodded, "This is the one."
Skye frowned, "That was quick."
Natalie raised an eyebrow, as if daring Skye to disagree, "This is the one."
Skye swallowed, and took the offering, just as Natalie began to rifle through her vanity. She winced, not really having much in that department either and she liked Natalie, but she still had to grit her teeth when anyone went through her belongings.
She was just glad anything important was kept under the bed, packed and ready to go.
"I'll um, just go get changed then…" Skye said awkwardly, jerking her head toward the bathroom as she shuffled away.
"Take all the time you need!" Natalie called out after her.
She quickly freshened up, splashing water against her face, before deciding that she was going to get a shower anyway, despite the fact that Natalie was waiting in her room. She was quick, suddenly feeling self-conscious as began towelling her hair. Trying to regain confidence she twirled for the mirror, the dress did fit her well, and would be the kind of eye-catching attire you'd think to wear at a Stark party. She shuddered, thinking about all the press and the noise, and probably dozens of other pretty girls.
But at least there would be alcohol.
"You okay in there?" came Natalie's muffled voice from the other side of the door.
Skye jumped, "I'll be out soon!" she called back.
She rifled through her discarded jacket, fisting the SD card she always kept on her person. It used to contain only her files, but now it had important information Tony needed on Vanko. Usually it was in a pocket, but the dress didn't allow for that. She slipped it into her bra. At least she had one more back-up USB tucked away in Tony's lab.
Feeling suddenly nervous, she opened the door, finding Natalie beaming at her as she laid out some jewellery and make-up on her vanity.
"Does the fashionista approve?" Skye asked, gesturing to her hot pink dress. Natalie smiled, eyes lingering on the fit of the dress.
"Very much so."
Skye tucked a strand of wet hair into her ear, cringing at the feel against her skin.
"Damn you really are efficient," Skye said, indicating the assorted make-up and prepped Stark hair dryer, "Sure you don't want to be my PA?"
Natalie smiled, eyes never leaving hers as she said, "You can handle being handed things. Unlike Mr Stark, so I'd say you don't need a PA 24/7."
"God yeah, he does have some weird ass quirks," Skye muttered, flopping down onto the vanity stool to do her hair.
She still felt some tension in her shoulders, mainly from having Natalie so casually in her room, and she'd never been too keen on other people being in her spaces. A lingering feeling from the foster homes and nosy foster siblings no doubt. The tension soon dissipated, as Natalie played pop songs and goaded her into conversation about meaningless things like fashion and Stark's worst habits and Skye relaxed into trying to persuade her to stand-up for herself more and stop him from using her like a doormat.
She'd simply shrugged prettily at that.
Skye had to hold in her breath when Natalie did her make-up, her steady hand cupping her face, her thumb on her cheekbone as she applied the eyeliner expertly to her lash line. She had her glossy lips parted as she concentrated, eyes never leaving her task, and only a slight quirk to her brows.
She only smiled pleasantly when she saw Skye staring a little too long.
"All done," she said, turning Skye's face gently left and right to admire her handywork.
Skye couldn't help but feel sad as her hands left her face and she sat back and checked her watch, "I'm sorry I'll have to go get ready myself, Pepper wants me there early to do damage control."
"No matter how early you are, it will still be too late for that," Skye quipped, running a hand habitually through her neatly curled hair.
Natalie nodded in agreement, "Put that bracelet on," she nodded to the gold bracelet she'd laid out, "And then you're all set."
"See you there," Skye managed to smile.
Natalie winked, "It'll be fun."
***
Watching Stark show off how well he can pee in his Iron Man weapons wasn't quite Skye's definition of fun. Amusing, maybe, but she couldn't feel relaxed when he was so obviously out of his goddamn mind.
"Hey," Natalie said, suddenly appearing at her side. Skye visibly sighed with relief, turning to her, but coming up short when she eyed her ruffled leopard print dress, and extremely sheer balcony neckline. It wasn't exactly what Skye had pictured the professional woman wearing, but then she remembered Tokyo and the modelling.
"Wow you look great," she complimented, proud of her steady her voice was, before tugging at her own dress, and indicating to the room of bikini clad girls, "I feel overdressed."
The crowd began to part as Stark was suddenly staggering his way through the crowd toward them, having abandoned his DJ station. He managed to avoid the hands reaching for him as he did so, despite how he was stumbling all over the place.
"Well, aren't my two ladies looking like a treat?" he said once they were together, unabashedly eyeing them both, eyes lingering longer on Natalie's cleavage. Skye cleared her throat.
He turned to Skye with a raised eyebrow, "I didn't know you wore dresses. You should do it more often."
"Can I slap him?" Skye growled to Natalie. She calmly placed a hand over her fist, Skye scowled as that was a clearly a 'no.'
"When I said to do whatever you wanted to do," Natalie said to Stark, "I didn't exactly mean this."
"Why not? It's what I want?" Stark shrugged, before swaying and curling his lip up at their empty hands, "Why don't you two have drinks? It's my birthday!"
He flagged down a passing waiter, shoving a cocktail into each of their hands as he careened closer, the liquid spilling onto Natalie's wrist. Natalie was pressed so close to her side that Skye could feel the way she tensed and gripped the stem of the glass.
"Well since you two won't appreciate me," he sniffed, turning to the closest girl, and pulling her in by the shoulder.
"You should have let me slap him," Skye sulked, as they watched him shamelessly look down the girl's top, "I don't know how you put up with his misogyny."
She took a sip of the martini as they watched him demonstrate his iron suit to a girl, the blasters lifting her into the air.
"Nope none of that," Natalie said, plucking the cocktail straight from Skye's hands.
"Hey!" she pouted, glaring at her, "Gimme."
"Don't forget I know you're under 21," Natalie said, taking a sip of Skye's drink.
"I'm 20 and like, a half," Skye protested, "And my birthday is just a made-up date anyway, so my alcohol please?"
She held out her hand, but Natalie's face scrunched in confusion, "How can your birthday be made up?"
"Did I say that?" Skye fiddled with a strand of hair, "I just meant that uh birthdays are just made-up dates in general. Like why assign so much meaning to them, you know?"
Natalie narrowed her eyes, "Doesn't matter. You're still not drinking underage."
"Come on! We've literally spoken about frat parties! Don't tell me you didn't drink at 18."
"Not at a Stark party I didn't," Natalie asserted, eyes scanning over the crowd instead of Skye. Skye tried to take that as a distraction to steal the Martini back, but Natalie expertly moved it out of her way without looking.
"Natalie, please?" Skye pleaded, hand resting on her shoulder to pull her attention back. She caught the way Natalie's eyes flickered down to her hand, nerves fluttering in Skye's stomach, but she simply shook her head at her pleading, "You can't be that much older than me, I thought we were allies?"
"I'm 24," Natalie answered, "That's 4 more years' worth of life experience."
"3 and a half," Skye countered.
Natalie only sent her a challenging look, "It's not good press."
Skye gestured to the party around her, "This entire party is 'not good press'! A lot of these girls look underage!"
She frowned at that sudden realisation, and in her assessment of the party her eyes landed on a distraught looking Pepper, holding a gift that was obviously meant for Tony, but he was distracted by the blonde who was sitting with her legs around his shoulders.
It was an open secret that Pepper, and Tony had a strange sort of relationship, and that Pepper didn't pursue him, but actually wanted to. Skye suspected Tony felt the same but was being childish and running away from the commitment.
She wouldn't tell Natalie, since she was her friend, but she knew Pepper thought Natalie was sleeping with him.
Her heart sank at the hurt look in Pepper's eyes though, watching Tony flirt with everyone else.
Natalie followed her gaze, sliding a hand around Skye's forearm, to stop her when she made a step in Pepper's direction, "Leave it be."
Perhaps Natalie already knew.
"He's being an ass," Skye seethed.
Natalie smiled in sympathy, "Come dance," she said, taking up her hands to tug her over to the dancefloor, "We might as well enjoy some of the party."
Skye let her pull her into the throng of people on the dance floor, gyrating to the beat of the generic pop music booming around them. Skye wasn't a stranger to dancing and did her best to relax. The crowd pressed them in closer, but she was surprised when Natalie's back ended up pressed against her front, Skye was honestly a little flustered as to what to do, especially when Natalie giggled and swayed her hips against her. Was this just gal pal behaviour…or? Either way Skye thought it was wholly unfair that Natalie was allowed to get this drunk when she was banned from any alcohol at all. In protest, she grabbed the nearest drink from the tray, managing at least three gulps before Natalie caught on and tried to reach for the glass.
Skye held her back by the waist. Skye carefully reading her for any sign of discomfort, but Natalie placed her hand over hers, leaning into it. Okay then, maybe not so straight behaviour. Natalie's eyes narrowed, and she stalked forward, Skye walking backwards and raising the glass over Natalie's head to stop her reaching for it. She was only a few inches taller than her, but it was incredibly entertaining to fluster the professional woman so easily.
She couldn't help but laugh as she crept further backward, until they were off the dance floor, and Natalie suddenly surged forward to pin her against a pillar behind her.
Skye squawked, caught off guard as Natalie was suddenly pressed against her. She could feel the rise and fall of Natalie's chest against her own and smell the perfume on her neck and martini on her breath. The glass was plucked from her hands neatly, forgotten about all together.
Natalie tilted her head, brushing their noses close together, no doubt feeling Skye's hitch of breath on her lips.
"Is this okay?" she whispered, lips brushing over Skye's she was so close. Her eyes flickered to her lips and up to catch her eyes, a hint of nerves and uncertainty in her gaze.
"Yes," Skye whispered, surging forward to capture her lips. She moaned in spite of herself when they connected as she felt Natalie's soft lips mould with her own, Natalie's tongue immediately sliding against hers. She could taste the sweet alcohol in her mouth, and the faint taste of her lipstick as she ran her tongue over her teeth. One of Natalie's hands came up to rest on her exposed collarbone, fingers teasing into the top of her dress and leaving a burning trial against her skin, the other one sliding into her hair to pull her closer.
Skye held her by the hips, the material of her dress smooth under her fingertips as she pressed her closer. A sudden explosion made forced Skye apart from Natalie with a shriek as shards of glass shattered and rained down onto the floor.
Her heart thumped with adrenaline, from both the kiss and the explosion, pumping all the way into her throat. She turned to see cheering Tony smirking at them with his iron blasters raised, and the crowd cheered as he aimed another of blasters at a watermelon a girl threw up into the air.
"For fuck's sake," she could swear she heard Natalie utter in a voice uncharacteristically dark, alongside something in another language she couldn't quite catch. She couldn't be certain, as another explosion drew her attention and Natalie was rapidly pulling away, face buried into her phone with a deep frown.
She didn't even get a chance to talk to Natalie about the kiss since Rhodey demanded they all leave the party and Skye lost sight of her in the commotion that followed, Stark rounding on Rhodey and flung him through the wall.
She scrambled for her own phone, trying to furiously exploit the gap in Tony's code, but it wasn't easy to do on a good day.
"Skye!" The voice shook her from her phone, looking up just in time to move as a chunk of the wall was blasted a few feet to her right, the blurred figurines shooting past her. Her body felt high on adrenaline now, registering that Natalie was in front of her looking at her in panic as the room began to empty. She didn't have time question her disappearance or sudden reappearance either as Pepper appeared from across the room.
"Natalie!" Pepper yelled, striding toward them angrily.
"Miss Potts!" Natalie replied placatingly, hands stretched outward in a form of surrender.
"Oh don't you "Miss Potts" me, I'm onto you! You know what ever since you came here-" Pepper growled, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"Hey!" Skye interrupted protectively, "None of this is Natalie's fault! Stark's the fucking idiot here-"
"Oh don't get me started on you," Pepper rounded onto her, "If you're so clever why don't you shut down both of those suits right now-"
The ceiling collapsed before Skye could reply. She shrieked, barely comprehending as suddenly cement was crashing from the ceiling and Natalie was in front of her, pushing her behind her and away from the wreckage.
Happy ran toward them, yanking Pepper to safety. Skye stared at the Iron Suits fighting in bewilderment, letting Natalie tug her along and into the crowd of girls.
"Everyone out!" she shouted at them, "Go home!"
She turned to Skye, grip still firm on her bicep as the girls dispersed around them, "Disable his suit remotely if you can, someone needs to stop that idiot from hurting himself," she said, "But get out of here, I'll text you the address of a hotel," she fished out a credit card from her purse and pressed it into her hand, "This is Stark's money, go wild, he deserves it."
Skye nodded frantically.
"What are you going to do?" she frowned.
"Get on the phone with his PR team," Natalie sighed, "And clean up this mess."
Skye winced in sympathy, and let Natalie tug her over to the stairs.
At least she could come up with some creative ways to hurt Stark's wallet, starting with a spa day for Natalie.
She remembered to check for the SD card as she descended the stairs, frowning when she came up empty. It must've fallen out of her dress on the dancefloor, or maybe when the fight broke out, "Shit."
***
Natasha tossed Skye's SD card to Agent Coulson, grateful to be able to walk in the comfort of her suit rather than the mini-dresses and stiletto heels. Not that she couldn't run an operation dressed in those too.
"That's got everything we'll need to know on Vanko," she assured Coulson. He nodded, tucking the card into his jacket. She smirked as she wondered what he'd say if he knew where it'd been.
Stark was a class-A asshole and flirting with him sometimes felt like grinding her nails on a chalkboard. Skye on the other hand, she sweetened the mission considerably. She smiled, remembering the kiss and the adorable scrunch of her nose when the explosion had torn them away from each other.
"Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact," Fury said in his departure from his 'little talk' with Tony.
"So is Skye in on this too?" he scowled when Fury departed, eyeing Coulson, "Is she one of your suit spooks?"
"No," Natasha shrugged, grateful to feel her hands resting at her sides near her holster.
"So you're just going to kiss and not tell?" Stark accused her, eyebrows raised. Natasha titled her head and stared at him,
"SHIELD can have you arrested if you tell anyone without our authority that I'm a SHIELD shadow."
Stark held up his hands, "Trouble in paradise, I get it."
***
"Is this an expo or a funeral?" Skye said, as both Natalie and Pepper slid into the back seat of the silver car in their neat black dresses. Natalie's updo was of course, as neat, and well-crafted as ever.
"We don't want to bring too much attention to ourselves," Natalie said easily, as Happy pulled away from the curb, "Plus it did say black-tie event on the memo."
Skye didn't miss the amused way her eyes ran over Skye's denim shirt.
"You're staying in the car with Happy," Pepper reminded her, "If things go wrong, you've got the kill switch."
Skye nodded, tightening her hands around the laptop in her lap, "It will only work on Stark tech. And maybe if Vanko starts to interfere."
"Hopefully it shouldn't come to that."
They enjoyed the car ride in silence. Skye steadfastly avoiding Natalie's piercing gaze that she could feel on the side of her face. They hadn't spoken at all about the making out they did at Stark's party. Natalie had been only professional smiles and acquiesce to Tony's every whim and request, and Skye was too embarrassed to confront her about it.
Skye waited in the car as instructed, listening to the classical music that Happy chose. She scanned the frequencies, detecting the iron suits Hammer had in the basement. She tapped into the network, it took 10 minutes, but it all seemed fine, all systems running programming straight from the PCs at the expo.
She sighed, kicking back in her seat. Maybe this was going to be boring.
Suddenly the system shut down completely, none of the network connecting to the suits anymore.
"Happy alert Stark that the suits have been compromised!" she said, dialling Natalie on speed dial. She picked up in one ring.
"Skye, what's wrong?"
"You're in danger. The whole system is compromised. They're not controlling the suits anymore. I think Vanko is, you should get out of there!"
She could hear shocked gasps coming from the other end of the phone. Stark must've arrived.
"I'm on my way, can you shut Vanko out?"
"No not from here," Skye cried frantically, "The software has been entirely overridden. I'll try find his IP, but his hack is linked to GPS co-ordinates."
"Stay on the line," Natalie ordered. Skye rose an eyebrow at her change in tone, "Rhodey's suit has been compromised, can you kill switch?"
She tried to reset Rhodey's suit, fighting against the malware software, but suddenly a shot rang out. She ducked, her eyes widening as a bullet hole had almost pierced the glass.
"Get down!" Happy ordered, and Skye shrieked as saw the men in suits converging on them, trying to fold herself as small as possible into the footwell.
Her phone was still connected, and she could faintly hear down the line as the controllers were panicking that Vanko locked them out, and then Pepper crying out in shock as Natalie gruffly ordered, "Where is Vanko?"
She heard the muffled reply of, "My facility!"
"I'm headed to you, Skye, get Happy to start the engine," Natalie came through clearly.
"No!" Skye shouted, panicked as one of the man tried to yank open the door, "We're under attack! I don't know who it is, but they're in suits and they've got guns!"
She could hear them yelling from outside for Happy to 'hand over the girl'. One of the men did something and a small explosion rocked the car, Skye screamed, as the car titled, and the locks came undone.
One of the men reached in and grabbed her by the hair, she could see he had tattoos on his hands as he yanked her out of the car. She tried to kick out at him, but he pressed a gun to her head, she could feel the cool metal against her temple. Happy was trying to punch his way out of the guys holding him back, and he managed to slug one in the nose. It was four armed men against two, and they stood no chance.
They grabbed her laptop, one of them kicking it to the ground and she watched as it smashed in front of her, and she couldn't help but cry out as their hold tightened, "Please don't kill me!"
He laughed, dragging her back, "We don't want to kill you."
His Russian accent was thick.
"Don't kill me either!" Happy called out, but one of the men knocked him on the temple with the gun and he crumpled.
She wanted to scream, but the man holding her clamped a hand around her mouth. He whirled her around and she saw just in time as Natalie came running out of the expo building and straight toward them, Skye's eyes widened.
More men seemed to be appearing close behind her.
"Run away little lady," the man ordered to Natalie. Skye pleaded her to listen.
Natalie reached into her handbag casually, and suddenly the arms around her went slack and the gun clattered to the ground. Skye wrenched out of his grip, seeing the man writhing in pain as an electric shock pulsed through his body. She scrambled back, gripping onto the edge of the car as Natalie round house kicked two of other men, punching one unconscious in one swift jerk of her fist.
"What the hell, Natalie!?" Skye exclaimed, reeling back in shock away from her friend, "Did you just kill a man with your bare hands!?"
"Get down," she ordered, pressing firmly on Skye's shoulder as she brought them both to a crouch, behind the safety of the car as the other men opened fire.
Skye stared dumbly at her as she checked on Happy's pulse, dragging him further under cover.
She reached under her dress, Skye blushing as she caught the strap of what looked like a garter belt before Natalie slid a gun out from under her dress. Natalie had a thigh holster???
"Who the hell are you?" Skye marvelled, as Natalie cocked her gun and returned fire around the front of the vehicle, "Oh my god, are you a spy?"
"Will you shut up?" Natalie said, immediately making Skye snap her jaw closed at the order, "I'm trying to keep you alive."
"Oh my god you're a spy," Skye whispered again, fingers touching the ground to prove this was real, "That's so hot."
"They've retreated," she said, and turned to Skye, gripping her face in her hands, "Did you get hurt?"
Skye shook her head vehemently, as Natalie checked her pupils, "But the laptop's smashed, I can't stop Rhodey."
"That must've been why they targeted you," Natalie nodded, "Take you out of the playing field."
Skye nodded in agreement, following blindly as Natalie wrenched open the door to the passenger side of the car, and turned to Happy to grab his top half.
"Grab his legs," she ordered, and Skye hurried to grab his legs, heaving as they lifted Happy into the seat. He flopped forward, Natalie barely catching him in time to stop him from hitting his head on the dashboard.
"Is he going to be okay?" Skye wondered.
"He's fine. Can you drive?"
"Technically," Skye squeaked, as Natalie tossed her the keys and got into the back.
"Technically?" She repeated, an eyebrow raised as she checked for any other assailants in the back.
"Minor fake license issue," Skye muttered, before shoving the keys into the ignition, wheels squealing as she pulled away from the curb.
"You must be SHIELD," Skye asserted, as Natalie checked her guns. Natalie didn't reply, simply stared at her through the rear mirror and unzipped her dress. Skye blushed.
"Eyes on the road."
"Are you getting changed?" Skye exclaimed, switching lanes carefully, "Is a wardrobe change really necessary right now?"
"A bullet proof suit is preferable to a dress," Natalie muttered, sliding into her suit as she checked her widow bites were still charged.
"Is your real name Natalie?" Skye asked, eyes narrowing as she turned off the highway, "Is that why Stark has been acting really paranoid around you? I knew you hated his guts."
Natalie ignored her, and static sounded as she started up a radio comm in her suit, "Agent Romanoff coming in, Coulson you there?"
Skye wasn't privy to the reply as Natalie shoved the earpiece into her ear, "Affirmative. I've got Baby with me heading toward Hammer Security. Baby was targeted by unknown hostiles, possibly Vanko's men. The suits are still in play, Metalbird is handling the air and The Dragon is still at the Expo."
"Baby?" Skye blushed, "That's my superspy codename?"
Agent Romanoff smirked openly at her, eyes twinkling with obvious amusement.
"Pull over here, Baby," she said, nodding to the entrance of the security complex.
"Pulling up out front isn't very covert," Skye argued, but pulled up all the same, "Romanoff."
"No time for covert," Romanoff muttered, climbing out of the car as soon as Skye pulled up the handbrake. She scrambled out of the driver's seat to join the secret agent. She was momentarily taken aback by the change into the form fitting suit and how she'd let down her hair so it fell in coils around her face. Which whilst hot, didn't seem particularly practical.
"Sit your ass back down in the car," Romanoff ordered, blocking her with an arm over her chest.
"Hey no, I'm coming with you!" Skye protested, pushing past her arm, "You need me to hack the suit! I can even do it from my phone if-"
"Stay in the car," Romanoff ordered, eyes taking on a hint of steel that Skye chose to ignore.
"No."
"Ass. In. The. Car."
"Stop talking about my ass," she ducked away from the arm before she moved to grab the doorhandle.
Romanoff spun her around, "It's a nice ass," she said flippantly, pushing her backward until her back hit the car again.
Skye blushed despite herself, "You're just flirting with me because you're a superspy."
"Maybe, maybe not."
She pushed Skye back down into the seat. Skye scowled, trying to get past her but her hand was suddenly cupping her cheek, fingers moving to her neck.
Her nose was brushing Skye's and Skye's breath hitched and then - a clink echoed in the silence and the agent pulled away, smirking in triumph. Skye's mouth fell open as she tugged at her hand, realising she had been handcuffed to the car door handle.
"Fuck you!" she yelled as Romanoff ran off. She yanked on the handcuff, but she was fastened securely.
"Later!" the super-agent called back behind her, scanning a key card to access the door.
"Natalie I swear to God!"
But Natasha had already run off into the building without her.
At least Agent Romanoff underestimated her, she knew how to get out of handcuffs with a trusty hairpin, and Romanoff had left plenty on the seats, even if it did slow her down by five minutes.
"Holy hell," she breathed in awe, following the path paved by unconscious security guards as she ran down the corridor.
She found Romanoff hacking into the suits, the code scrolling past in Russian.
"So, you're a hacker too?" Skye asked, watching as Natasha easily found her way into Stark's suit code. Although Skye narrowed her eyes as she noted her own USB plugged into the computer, and that the virus attacking Starks' suit was indeed her own, although she was doing a great job running it.
"I thought I told you to stay in the car," she scowled, not taking her eyes of the screen as Skye saw her slowly gaining access permissions.
"I got bored."
"You're such a child."
"Well at least I didn't handcuff anyone against their will!" Skye protested, rubbing the faint line of red on her wrist.
"You liked it," Natalie smirked, quirking an eyebrow at Skye's show of indignance.
"Did not!"
"Sure," she returned, just as she gained system access and pulled up Starks' camera feed, "Reboot complete, you've got your best friend back."
"Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff," Stark said, surprisingly sincere. Skye scowled, how come Stark knew?
"Well done with the new chest piece, I'm reading significantly higher output and your vitals all look promising."
"Yes, for the moment I'm not dying," Stark said.
"Not dying?" Skye questioned, at the same time as Pepper, "What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you were dying?"
Agent's Romanoff's hand came to rest on Skye's, tearing her away from the argument, "I've got Rhodey, but the others are on a different access key. Think you can hack it?"
"Well you are using my software," Skye said, knocking Romanoff aside with her hip, "I think my memory is good enough to recall how you got that, Miss 007."
"Standard espionage practice," she teased, or at least Skye thought it might be teasing as she concentrated on shutting down as many of the Hammer suits as she could. The Russian only slightly confusing.
"Sure," Skye muttered, "I bet Pepper loved that side of Natalie."
"Not my type," she shrugged, "And it's Natasha."
"Nice to meet you, Natasha," Skye said, clicking a final piece of code in place, "And you're welcome," she added, as the suits all powered down and crumpled to the floor.
"Thank you Skye!" Stark replied,
"Good job, Baby," Natasha said, in her usual sultry voice, and Skye knew she was fully enjoying the blush that she couldn't help as it crept up her neck.
Stupid super spy, with the stupid codenames.
***
Skye glanced around the empty room nervously as she entered. Although it was hardly a room, and more like a massive warehouse with very indiscreet S.H.I.E.L.D logos on the walls. She wasn't really sure what to expect, only that Natasha had told her the Director wanted to meet with her.
There was a table with two chairs, in front of holograms scrolling through seemingly unimportant news reports.
There was also gun on the table.
Skye bit her lip, staring at it as she took the seat clearly meant for her.
She glanced around, spying the agent dressed in a suit with his hands folded just across from her at the entrance, but he wasn't really looking at her.
It was tempting, why would they just leave a gun here? She sat on her hands to stop herself, but then she got bored. Where was this guy?
She stared at the gun again.
She picked it up, weighing it in her hands, it was cold, and heavier than she expected.
"Put the gun down before you shoot yourself in the goddam foot."
She jumped, meeting the eye of the leather jacket clad guy that was suddenly in front of her.
Skye put the gun down instantly, before narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms, "Why did you have it out in the first place? Not very smart leaving a gun out in the open."
"I wanted to see how long you could resist picking it up," he sighed, taking the seat opposite her. He threw down a SHIELD emblazoned file in front of them. So this was the Director, then.
"What?" Skye questioned, with a confused frown, "…Well how did I do?"
"Five minutes. Better than expected," he said, titling his head as he analysed her. She tried not to squirm under his piercing gaze, it reminded her a lot of how Natalie – or Natasha – had looked at her.
He slid a file toward her, "Agent Romanoff's assessment report."
She glanced at the front page, seeing the words 'Hacker' and 'Threat Assessment'.
She instantly flipped through it, coming across words like 'impulsive', and 'naïve' and 'stubborn', but also surprisingly words like 'intelligent' and 'perceptive' and 'valuable'.
"Why are you showing me this?"
"I had Romanoff study you initially to assess your threat level to both Mr Stark and to SHIELD," Fury explained, "You were an unknown. You still are – largely. And although you think you were being real slick with it, we know you've been messing in some of our SHIELD files too. You're lucky Stark got to you before we did."
Skye gulped, fingers tapping nervously on the table.
"But," he said, leaning forward in his chair, "She also recommended you as a recruit."
Skye's eyebrows rose, "She did?"
"Uh huh," Fury said, "and I don't disagree."
"Why should I join you?" Skye asked narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms as she leaned back in her chair, "I'm making big bucks with Stark and my apartment is really nice."
Fury hummed, producing a second file from a drawer, and slapping it down in front of her. She recognised it instantly, grabbing for the redacted SHIELD file. Heart sinking as she saw all the important bits still blacked out.
"I'll give you access to this file, unredacted," Fury promised, "Alongside any resources you need to investigate whatever this is. Once you tell me why it's so important to you."
"It's…It's all I could find," Skye muttered, thumbing through the document, "There's nothing else on me. No birth record, no hospital record, nothing. I tried everything, it only leads to SHIELD."
Fury eyebrows rose in surprise, "You want to find out where you came from? You think this file is about you?"
"And my parents."
"You might not like what you find," Fury warned, face stern, "There's a reason this file is so heavily classified."
"It can't be worse than what I've imagined," Skye replied, voice cracking slightly and unable to help the tears welling up at the thought. She swallowed them down, wanting to save face in front of this formidable agent.
Fury looked sceptical, but she could see the gears were turning rapidly in his mind.
"So I take it you're on board?" he questioned, eyebrows raised.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Will there be a jacuzzi?"
"Don't push your luck."
***
"So apparently I'm assigned to the same 'handler' as you," Skye said, swinging her legs off the side of the building, "So that makes me a super spy."
She'd badgered Natasha until she agreed to take a break from sparring and join her on the roof of the top-secret base, boringly called 'The Hub'. She'd been stationed there to complete the mountains of paperwork and assessments and fitness tests Coulson had thrown onto her.
She liked him. He was goofy.
Natasha snorted, coming to sit next to her on the ledge, "I recommended you for the control room running back-end. I'm sure you'll be working with Coulson in comms, not on the field."
"Nah," Skye disagreed, "I'm sure they'll put me in the field once they see how great I am under pressure."
Natasha scoffed, "Hardly."
Natasha was still sweaty from her workout, hair pulled back into a braid and still dressed in her training gear that gave Skye an excellent view of her abs. Skye focused on the view over the city extending in front of her, rather than on Natasha, lest she do anything stupid or make even more of a fool of herself.
It was funny, everyone else in the building was so afraid of Natasha. It had been amusing to watch the entire training room wait with bated breath when she'd interrupted the 'big bad Black Widow' at the punching bag. Natasha had only rolled her eyes and flung a towel in her face.
Although from what Skye heard, she did get special treatment.
"Agent Hand, that one with fake red extensions said it was weird though," Skye continued with shrug tucking her chin onto her knee, "She didn't think I had the clearance or 'necessary talent' to be placed on Coulson's team. I know I'm brilliant, but I kind of have to agree that I'm not exactly Seal Team 6."
Natasha shrugged, "I have no idea why. Sometimes Fury makes decisions that are a mystery even to me."
Although secretly Natasha thought it might have something to with her willingness to tolerate working with Skye (and likely mentoring her, if Fury was crazy enough to throw her into the field), but also because most other agents were afraid of her. As they should be.
Skye groaned at the mention of mysteries, "Urgh, SHIELD has so many secrets," she sulked, "It sucks. It's like you can't even ask what's on the menu for lunch without being shot on sight."
"Mm," Natasha hummed, "Judging by the quality of the chicken nuggets? Perhaps there's a good reason."
Skye laughed, "Only Level 8s get to know what's in those nuggets, and it sure ain't chicken."
Natasha laughed with her, nudging her with her shoulder in jest.
"You know, you're much more fun than Natalie was," Skye admitted, scrunching up her nose, "I mean don't get me wrong you did an excellent job working Stark-"
"And you," Natasha interjected.
"And me," Skye rolled her eyes, at the reluctant admission, "But I like you better when you're not pretending to tolerate him or wear those tight little dresses."
"You loved those tight little dresses," Natasha smirked.
Skye blushed in spite of herself, and grumbled, "You can't do that anymore."
"Do what?" Natasha questioned eyes alight with mirth, and Skye knew her voice was deliberately sultry – damn her.
"Flirt with me," Skye mumbled, hiding her face in her hands.
"Who says I can't?" Natasha disagreed, Skye unable to help feeling the burning touch of her hand as she wrapped it around her waist.
"Because you're not trying to fake it to spy on me anymore," Skye offered lamely.
Natasha smiled, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face – she still wore it in the same cute little hair do with the two loose strands framing her face. Skye's mouth going dry, when Natasha hand came up to cup her jaw and bring her closer,
"Are you going to stop me?" She husked, and Skye could feel her breath on her lips. Skye didn't move, willingly letting The Black Widow pull her into a kiss. She didn't reciprocate passionately immediately, still hesitant to lean into it, but Natasha had a wicked way of coaxing her with her tongue, her thumb brushing against her neck and into her hair. She melted when she felt Natasha tug gently on the hair at the base of her neck, tasting the strawberry Chapstick from Natasha's soft lips.
Natasha pulled back, Skye's eyes fluttering open, as the assassin pressed one more chaste kiss to her lips before hopping up to her feet.
"I'll see you around, Skye."
"Yeah," Skye replied, more than slightly out of breath as she stared after her, "See you around."
***End Credits scene like a true Marvel film should😉 **
"I've assigned Coulson to the new kid, like you asked," Maria Hill said, tucking the tablet under her arms as she closed to the door to Fury's office, "I can't say I'm not surprised. Sure, she's intelligent and bound to cause trouble, but I wouldn't have placed her with the same handler as Romanoff and Barton."
Fury smiled and shook his head, cracking open a beer by whacking into onto the side of his desk. He could barely believe the events that led him to his next risky recruit. He seemed to be hiring a lot of those lately.
"Well Hill," he said, raising the beer up in a mock salute, "We've got ourselves a living, breathing 0-8-4."
He raised the beer to his lips, and Maria's shocked expression said it all for him.
Notes:Haha and we all know how well that 0-8-4 turned out...
I really hope you enjoyed this fic! It became much longer than I hoped, but I just couldn't get Natalie x Skye out of my head! Please kudo, comment and let me know if there's any other Skye x Natasha headcanons or prompts you'd love to see. I may be doing some more one-shots in the future :)
Series this work belongs to:Part 1 of The Multiverse of Quack Next Work →