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The day Maria shows up at the facility with her hair cut to about two inches, Natasha doesn’t fight the smile on her face. She does try to make it a little less “absolutely delighted” and maybe more “smug”, though.
“I always said you’d look good with short hair,” she says, walking over, and Maria rolls her eyes. She doesn’t seem wary when Natasha lifts her hand up, so Nat goes ahead and buries her hand in what is left of Maria’s hair. Maria’s eyes slip shut for a moment.
“I didn’t actually come here to show off my new haircut, you know,” She says, and Natasha grins, but the smile softens when her hand drops to Maria’s neck and the other woman lets out a soft sigh.
“You seem tense,” She observes. “You should relax a bit more. When’s the last time you actually took time off, huh?” She’s rubbing circles into Maria’s shoulder without thinking about it, but doesn’t bother to stop once she notices.
“Probably that party Ultron crashed, whenever that was.” Maria seems a little distracted, and she’s leaning into Natasha’s hand. Which stops moving when she processes what Maria’s said, prompting her to open her eyes again.
“Really?” Natasha’s eyebrows rise, and Maria nods. “Okay, whatever you came here for, can it wait?”
Maria’s looking at her like she’s trying to figure out her motives, which is fair, but Natasha doesn’t think it’s difficult to guess what she’s getting at. “It’s not urgent,” Maria eventually replies, and Natasha slides her hand down Maria’s arm to grasp her wrist.
“Come on, then, you need some down time,” she says. She leaves her grip gentle, though, loose enough that Maria could pull away if she wanted, but she doesn’t, and just follows Natasha as she turns and walks.
She leads Maria to her room and gently pushes her down on the edge of the bed. “Wait here,” she says, and Maria just nods. She’s watching her as she walks away, and Nat makes sure to move quickly once out of sight, finding what she wants in the kitchen that’s thankfully nearby and making it back to the room before Maria has a chance to second guess humoring her. She hopes, anyway.
When she comes back in, Maria’s slipped down the top half of her tactical suit, leaving just a tank top, and is rubbing a hand against her shoulder; she must be more tense than Natasha even thought. Or maybe she just trusts you, something in Natasha’s head says, which she quickly quiets.
Maria looks up, and then raises her eyebrows at the bottle Natasha’s holding. “No glasses?” She asks, and Natasha shrugs.
“I always drink from the bottle,” she responds, and a smile curves Maria’s mouth. She doesn’t complain, though, and Natasha passes her the wine once it’s open. She takes a drink as Natasha sits on the bed, slightly behind Maria. “So what is the deal with the hair?” She asks.
Maria shrugs. “Practicality, mostly.” She says. “I can manage the longer hair, but,” she pauses when Natasha’s hands reach her shoulders again, and Nat can hear her swallow. “It’s easier to not worry about putting it up every time I have to, uh.” Nat’s pressing her thumbs firmly against Maria’s skin, and she smiles when she hears a soft sigh. She finds a particularly bad knot of tension and presses more firmly, working it out. “Jesus, Nat,” Maria says, and it’s nearly a moan.
Natasha manages to only pause her hands for a moment at that. She moves, though, shifts so that she has one leg on either side of Maria and leans closer. She weighs her options, and speaks, trying not to let too much of her uncertainty show in her voice. “Would now be a bad time to tell you how attracted to you I’ve always been?” Her voice is low, and she’s leaned close enough that when Maria turns her head around to look at her, their noses almost touch.
Natasha pulls back, not wanting to make Maria uncomfortable, but Maria just follows her automatically. She can’t help licking her lips when Maria’s eyes flick down to them, and yeah, okay, this might actually be happening. “It’s mutual,” Maria says, and her voice is low and rough and a shiver dances down Natasha’s spine.
“Can I kiss you?” Natasha asks after a moment, and when Maria nods, she pulls herself around so she’s straddling Maria’s lap. She pulls the bottle of wine from Maria’s hand and sets it on the floor, and she can see the other woman’s eyes dilate further, but when she kisses Maria, it’s gentle. She can feel the gasp against her mouth, and she lifts her hands to cup Maria’s cheeks. She pulls away after a moment and watches Maria’s face.
When Maria opens her eyes, there’s surprise in them, and Natasha worries for a moment that it was too gentle, that Maria was looking for heat and sex and instead Natasha gave her soft and lo- no. She pushes the thought down. But Maria’s expression shifts to one of wonder, and she leans in and kisses Natasha again, wrapping her arms around Natasha’s waist, and it’s just as gentle as the first time.
And Natasha can feel some of the emotion behind it. She thinks, oh, and when Maria pulls away again she traces her thumb against the other woman’s lips. “Hey,” she says, and she thinks she means to say something else, but Maria purses her lips against Natasha’s thumb in a kiss and the warmth in her chest washes everything out.
“Hey,” Maria says back, and it sounds breathless.
“This isn’t what I was planning when I dragged you to my bedroom,” Natasha says, because she doesn’t know what else to say and her thinking’s a bit fuzzy in general. Maria laughs softly.
“It’s not what I expected when I showed up here,” she says. “But I don’t mind.” She slides a hand up Natasha’s back to rest against her neck, and pulls her in again.
And they kiss, and kiss, and kiss, and the rest of the world can wait.