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Romantic

Fluff

Robbing you of smut ;3

You had known Natasha for as long as you could remember. The places that you had grown up in weren't exactly the same, though they might as well have been. Natasha grew up in the Red Room, a brutal Russian organisation that indoctrinates young girls to fight for their agenda, ripping away their autonomy in the process.

You grew up in a Greek organisation, η ακαδημία αρποκράτους, also known as The Academy of Harpocrates. It was incredibly similar to the Red Room. Young people, regardless of gender, were snatched or brought from families and placed into the Academy. The agendas were similar in that they were for self-gain. The Red Room fought for hidden domination, The Academy fought to see the collapse of society to allow them to rebuild, their approaches tended to be more devastating compared to the Russian organisation. But the aim was the same.

Growing up, the organisations collaborated once a year. They thought it was important for the children to spar with those from the other organisations. The two had different training and fighting styles, so sparring against other kids from the organisation allowed them to practice fighting against those with different fighting styles and techniques. It prepared them for the real world of missions and assignments.

It was efficient. No other communication was allowed other than sparring. Children from both organisations were kept apart, the collaborations were mostly held in Russia, and the Greeks would stay on the other side of the building from the Widows. The two places may collaborate and have similar sociopolitical views, but they were in no way complete allies. There was always the opportunity for one to stab the other in the back for self-preservation.

Friendships were forbidden within their own organisations, so if they caught any communications from external ones then it was a guarantee that severe consequences would be had.

Which is why you had to be sneaky.

The first time you and Natasha met, though you didn't remember it, was when you were two. Of course, at that age, you weren't brought along to the Red Room to spar, but you were brought along so that you and the others your age learnt that there were more people in the world than in the little bubble that you were being raised in.

Though you did wonder why you were told you could go and see other children if you weren't allowed to interact with them. But even at your young age, you knew not to question your superiors and just tried to find a crumb of fun on the trip. It was weird being outside of the Academy as those four walls were the only ones that you had ever known. Having been sold at the ripe old age of 4 days old, you weren't really aware that there was much else around the world as you had never been allowed to leave. Until your first collaboration trip.

On day three of the trip, whilst standing by your handler in the Russian's training room, you looked around in awe of how different it all looked. In actuality it didn't look very nice, it was cold and gloomy, but it looked vastly different to your training room at home so your focus was on that.

You took notice of the dark hardwood flooring and cream walls and black arches, with small windows on the side, not allowing for much light. You thought it looked really cool, your training room had a padded cream flooring and the walls were mostly made out of glass. The contrast piqued your young mind.

Though you were soon distracted by noises from the fight that had started, and so snapped your head around to see. But instead of the fight, you ended up staring into the eyes of someone your age with green eyes and red hair. It didn't take long for her to look in your direction with the way that you were creepily staring, and when eye contact was made you both gave sheepish smiles followed by a shy wave.

You let out a small giggle when the young redhead pulled a funny face away from the eyes of her handler, to which you were promptly told to shut up by yours. It should have scared you, but when you saw your counterpart stifling her own giggle, you couldn't help but just smile as you apologised.

Throughout the different sparring sessions for the older kids, you both kept making eye contact and had your own silent competition of who could make the funniest face without the adults noticing. It was the most fun you had had in your entire life. Literally.

So, when it was time to go back to Greece, you both didn't want you to leave. When your handler took your hand and began walking out of the room, you turned back to the young girl who gave a small wave as she frowned. You smiled slightly to try and cheer her up and reached out towards her and did a grabby hand with your tiny fist, which seemed to lift her spirits until you turned the corner. What you didn't know, is that you would be seeing each other exactly a year later, every year.

Up until the age of 8, your interactions were limited. Though your faces when you spotted each other from across the room were priceless. It wasn't always a guarantee that you would see each other the following year, in the organisations that you were in tomorrow wasn't promised. So, when you saw that the other had lived to see another year, you were both ecstatic.

The grabby hand when you left to go back 'home' had become a sort of tradition. Even if your handler was watching you as you left, you made sure to clench and unclench your fist with your arm by your side. It was a 'see you soon, and stay safe', and the other always took notice.

When you reached the age where you were allowed to start sparring was when the interactions picked up. Age 9 was the cutoff point for the collaboration, a random age but it was deemed the point where you were trained enough. There were a few people your age that now reached the threshold, so you hoped that you would get paired with the person that you had made friends with over the years.

You waited in anticipation as you lined up opposite the Russians, you kept your gaze forward just like you had been told to, but your young friend broke the rules, and soon you felt the familiar green gaze on you. Tilting your head to the side slightly, you looked at her and smirked before turning back with a blank face so that you didn't get reprimanded. You had to fight the urge to do the grabby hand gesture as the handlers were all watching you like hawks as you lined up. It was too risky.

It felt like forever before your name was called, so when "Y/N MANIATELLIS" boomed across the room you flinched slightly before making your way over to the part of the room that you had been called over to. You briefly spotted your friend looking in thought, most likely about your name as you'd never been able to introduce yourselves to each other before.

It was only a moment later before you heard "NATALIA ROMANOVA". Of course, you didn't know who that was, so when you saw your friend walking over to you, your eyes lit up, but your face remained blank. It was hard to stay so still with her next to you. You were so close that she was almost touching you, after years of silent communications with each other all you wanted to do was say 'hi'. But you had to wait until your handlers were busy with sorting out the spar session.

Eventually, you heard a small "Привет" (Hello) coming from beside you in a whisper. You knew many languages, and so did she, it was vital that you did. So you replied in your native tongue too, "Χαίρετε".

She let a breathy laugh out through her nose so that no one would notice, and you extended your pinky finger to poke her hand. She batted your hand away subtly and held back a smile, but then both of your faces dropped when you were called up to the ring. In all of the excitement for finally being able to interact, you forgot that you would have to fight. Now, these fights weren't to the death, but they were very close.

The fights lasted until the other person could physically not go on any longer.

Hurting each other was not something that you wanted to do, but there was no choice. The rules of these organisations was kill or be killed, so you walked up to the ring and watched as she climbed up the other side. Your breathing was uneven as you got into your fighting stance, and watched as she hesitantly got into hers. When the gunshot was fired signalling for the two of you to begin, you both faltered until one of the Russian handlers screamed at you to both start.

Immediately out of fear you lunged forward and threw a kick her way. It was blocked and you were thrown back onto the floor, but you manoeuvred yourself in mid-air so that you landed on your back to immediately jump onto your feet before charging at Natalia again. This lasted for a while.

The two of you seemed to be on the exact same level as each other. Your superiors waited half an hour before calling a tie, which had never happened before in the history of collaborations between the two organisations. The atmosphere in the training room was tense as no one knew what it meant, but the adults in charge had terrifying grins on their faces.

You two were the future.

From that moment during every collaboration you two were paired together, and not once were you able to overpower each other. Every fight was graceful, people watched in awe as you both moved around the ring without any faltering movements. A beautiful choreography.

By the time you were 15, you and Natalia had formed a bond that you didn't think you would ever form. The two of you snuck out during the nights of visits and would sit on the roof to watch the stars. Though most of the time, you spent your time gazing at Natalia's side profile. She looked beautiful as she stared in wonderment at the cosmos. But she was your friend, and love is for children. So, you went back to staring at the sky, hoping that your spy friend couldn't read just how nervous you were.

You wanted more than anything to see her more than once a year, and even more than that you wanted to be able to hang out with her properly. Not sneaking in a couple of hours when you weren't even allowed to be talking to each other. But it was the life that you were practically born into, so it was the life that you had to deal with. You weren't made to be a normal person. One who could go out as they please, make friends, play games, and build a career based on your interests.

No. You were a weapon, and weapons don't weep for anything.

When you were 18 and graduated from your different programmes, you were sent on a lot of missions together. Usually, this would never happen. But after the leaders of both organisations saw your dynamic during sparring and how efficient the both of you were, they decided for the first time in their histories to band two of their Agents together for missions that would benefit both of them.

In the intelligence business, the two of you were known as 'The Downfall'. No one knew your identities but wherever you went regimes toppled. No one could match your efficiency and ruthlessness. When the two of you were given a job, it would be done within 24 hours, with a 100% success rate. You were feared everywhere and were one of the greatest global threats.

Though you never saw each other that way. Once you had done your jobs and went back to safe houses, the two of you were the softest people you had ever met - with each other anyway. With most other people you were both incredibly cold and distant, placing no trust in them.

The more time you spent alone with Natalia, the deeper you fell. But you would never let her know. She was the only constant that you had in your life, your only ally. There was no way that you would do anything to jeopardise that. Plus, all of your missions were done with her due to how great the two of you worked together. If anything messed up that dynamic and you started failing missions, then you might as well dig both of your graves. You may be good at your jobs, but in the eyes of your bosses, you were easily expendable. There are always more kids to take. Always more kids to train.

The only problem was for a spy you weren't exactly subtle when it came to being around your redheaded friend. She had cooked up some dry pasta for the two of you to eat after another successful mission and you had settled into some comfortable conversation. Your life consisted of mission after mission, so you had no clue how you managed to keep conversations going with each other with limited material. But you did.

Your fingers mindlessly drummed against your placemat as the other scooped mouthfuls of pasta into your mouth, conversation happening between bites. Sometimes she would say something that made you almost choke on your pasta with laughter. She was perfect.

When your thoughts went there again, you became uncharacteristically quiet, which was picked up by your counterpart. She watched with furrowed brows as you began prodding at your pasta instead of eating it, how your fingers that tapped random tunes on the table ended up being a fist that you kept clenching against the wooden surface, and how you were grinding your back teeth without noticing.

"Всё хорошо?" (Everything okay?), Natalia slowly brought her hand over to your clenched one and gently skimmed her thumb over your prominent, bruised knuckles. The two of you tended to speak Russian in each other's company. There was no reasoning behind it, it's just the language that you both naturally slipped into. Though when you thought about it, you hazarded a guess that it was mostly due to the fact that before your missions your interactions for sixteen years were all in Russia.

Even with Natalia's motives being nice, checking in on you, it was the last thing that you wanted to talk about. She could read you like a book, if you even hinted at the fact that you were in love with your best friend - her - then she would catch on faster than a whip.

"Да" (Yes), you spoke softly and sent her a reassuring smile, though she didn't seem too convinced. Internally you grimaced as you saw Nat tilt her head in a pitying way. Just as predicted, she read you like a book.

She spent a few seconds analysing your body language like you had both been taught to do before she made her next move. "Ты уверен?" (Are you sure?). You were grateful for her concern, but the longer her gaze was trained on you and her hand was atop yours, the faster your heart started pumping, and the more the blush rose to your cheeks. So, you nodded and tried to move the conversation along. But unknown to you, she had sussed you out. You were painfully obvious.

Of course, she noticed the blush creeping up from your neck, the way you had to lick your lips more because your mouth went dry after she made hand contact - which she found hot, and the way your eyes flitted about the room, looking at anything but her. How could she have not figured out your secret?

Another thing that was unknown to you, is that your feelings were not unrequited. At all.

So, after she had figured you out and removed her hand to go back to eating her own dry pasta, she was unusually quiet as she mulled over what to do next. Though on your end you thought that you had made things weird between you or offended her. Neither were ideal.

She felt her own heart rate pick up whilst she overthought everything. There was no doubt about it that you were into her, but when anxious it's very easy for the brain to ignore gut instincts, even if what you think is glaringly obvious.

"Мне жаль" (I'm sorry), you mumbled whilst sheepishly staring at the pasta in your bowl as you used your fork to push some of your food around, trying your best not to let your trembling hand let go of the fork.

At your words, her face snapped back over to you with a slight frown, she didn't want you to feel bad when there was no reason to. She was just trying to figure things out. But with you clearly upset about it, all rational thinking went out of the window, and she dragged her chair next to yours whilst still seated and placed a hand on your jaw to get you to turn to her.

When you did hesitantly turn to face her, you were immediately hit with confusion. The way she was looking at you was one you had never seen before, her pupils were dilated, and her lips parted as she sucked in a breath. You tilted your head and got ready to ask what was going on, but before you could even think about what to say, she tenderly pressed her lips against yours.

At first, you froze, having no idea what was going on, but when your brain caught up with your body, you leaned into it and matched her movements, placing your hands on her waist.

It was better than you ever thought it could be, the two of you fit together like matching pieces of a puzzle. She was clearly in control, and once she thought that it was appropriate, she ran her tongue over your bottom lip and tugged gently on your hair for better access. The movement made you let out a small gasp and Nat briefly smirked at her successful movements before she lightly moved her tongue against yours.

When you both needed to come up for oxygen, Nat resorted to tugging your hair back gently once again for access to your neck and began to place open-mouthed kisses down your jaw and to your collarbone. When she heard you whimpering at the new stimulation, you felt her smiling against your skin before she gripped your waist and expertly moved you onto her lap. You frowned having no clue how she did it without fumbling, but this was Natalia Romanova, she could do anything.

She smiled at seeing your dishevelled state as she ran her hands up and down your sides, leaving goosebumps in her wake, before trailing down to your thighs, making you jolt. "Ты хочешь?" (Do you want to?), she delicately asked, laughing slightly as you began frantically nodding and gripping onto the back of her neck. You were on cloud 9, your mind felt fuzzy. So fuzzy that you didn't even notice the way one of her hands had reached for the zipper of your jeans, the pasta long forgotten.

---

The time that you had spent dating Nat was the best in your life. You were already best friends and knew everything about each other so it felt easy. No one suspected anything, if your organisations found out that you were dating then they would either separate or kill you. So, unless you were in a safe house alone, you had to keep blank faces around each other. It was hard but so worth it.

But nothing lasts forever.

There wasn't a point where you had officially broken up, but one day when on a solo assignment, Nat never returned. You had assumed that she died, and spent months mourning her, crying for her. The love of your life was gone, and you were all alone for the first time. You still had to continue with your own assignments, so that you were not executed by the Academy, but it was so much harder doing it without Nat by your side. You missed her. So much.