2013-

Natasha and Eleanor had been living in their apartment for a year now, and they were still more than happy with it. A space that was theirs and represented the both of them.

Their actual names weren't on the deeds, 'Olivia Lawrence' and 'Chloe McArthur' were the names on the contracts, and that's how they were known by their neighbours too. Both them and Fury decided that it would be best to have a similar set-up to Barton, fake names on the legal side and not having it on SHIELD's radar. Meant that they could stay safe and there was the opportunity of it being a safe house for the two if God forbid it was ever required.

They had truly made the place their own, walls had been repainted, there were posters and paintings pinned up everywhere, and photo walls in every room as well. Natasha had even turned the back part of their giant living room entry closet into a weapons storage area. Eleanor always said it's a good job they aren't renting and therefore didn't have landlord inspections.

They were happy. Very happy.

It also felt nice to not live at work as well, it helped in their work-life balance, which was non-existent when they lived at SHIELD. It was still pretty bad but in comparison to last year, it was decent.

Interactions with the other Avengers were pretty limited. They had heard nothing from Thor considering the guy was in space. They also heard nothing directly from Banner but heard about what he and Stark were up to when Tony called the two once a month. He would never admit it but he had a soft spot towards the younger woman and so didn't want complete radio silence. The Captain worked for SHIELD now, so they sometimes caught up with him at work but the reactions were mostly just as colleagues. Clint of course they saw very frequently, still having dinners together and being grouped up on the same assignments a lot.

In general, things had gone back to normal. Well, as normal as things could be for two spies.

Work had been keeping them busy, and they had moved further up the ranks. They had started working with the STRIKE team as well more often which brought new and welcome challenges, so that was quite fun. Being stuck in the same routine at work can get boring.

It had been a while since they could properly get away from work though, probably since that month off they had after the Battle. So, Eleanor decided that she wanted to do something nice for Nat as the following weekend was supposed to be a quiet one. Nat had to go in for a meeting on Saturday from 9-11:30, but then she would be able to come home, and Eleanor had luckily managed to not have any work to do over the weekend.

She didn't want to do something that the two had done countless times before, she wanted to surprise Nat with a big day of activities. It took Eleanor a few hours of brainstorming, but she settled on trivial things that Natasha had never done before due to growing up in the Red Room. Activities that would allow her to feel like a kid again. Who doesn't love some inner child healing?

An aquarium sounded fun and silly, so after going for a McDonald's drive-thru whilst blasting Miley Cyrus' "Party In the USA" for a cliche high school feel, they'd go to the aquarium. It took a while to pick one out, as Eleanor wanted to go to one that was very ethical, and with good welfare standards. She also booked another place out for the evening, it was unintentional, she just wanted to book a slot, but when they recognised the names her Avenger status meant that they offered the place to her, which she didn't decline. Nat would probably prefer it anyway.

Eleanor had planned everything the week before, and so was thrilled when the weekend finally rolled around. It had been hard to keep the day a secret from Nat, she was a spy after all. But so was Eleanor, she managed to lie her ass off to her girlfriend all week whenever Nat tried to ask her if anything was wrong when she declined plans that Nat suggested for the weekend.

There wasn't really much to prepare whilst Nat was in her meeting, she had printed out the various tickets and stuffed them into her jacket pocket, and that's all she had to do. With the spare time, she decided to do Dutch braids in her hair, and it would be useful to have her hair tied up for the second activity, so double win.

All that was left now was to wait for Nat to return. It felt like days to Eleanor as all she wanted to do was get on with their day, but she had to sit and wait, feeling like she was hanging in limbo. Her leg was bouncing up and down with nervous energy, she thought that the day would be fun but was stressed by it as well. What if Nat didn't like it, or took it as an act of pity? When all it was was Eleanor wanting to have a fun day with her girlfriend, whilst simultaneously showing her some places that she thought were exciting and different.

When Eleanor heard the keys jangling in the door she practically shot out of her seat and stood near the door as it opened, like a puppy. "Hey, so I know you didn't want to do much this weekend but-", Nat started before she was able to take in Eleanor's appearance, she frowned, "Why do you look like you're going somewhere?". It was their one weekend off and she thought that Eleanor had the audacity to abandon her during it.

"We're going somewhere!", Eleanor exclaimed as she hopped up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Okay", Nat chuckled hesitantly as she shut the door, "Where?".

"Oh, all sorts of places", Eleanor smirked.

"I'm gonna need you to elaborate, honey", Nat pecked Eleanor on the cheek ad she moved towards the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Well... I wanted to do something special for you".

Nat gave her a suspicious look, the last time Eleanor wanted to do something special they ended up on the wrong train and were hours away from their intended destination, "What's the occasion?".

"No occasion, just felt like we could do with some fun". Nat gave her a look that said 'please continue', so she did. "Well, I know that this is a sensitive topic, but sometimes when I talk about stuff I did as a kid you say that you never got to do it", she looked at Nat to see if she was okay with what she was saying, her face was pretty blank but that tended to happen when the Red Room was mentioned. "Anyway, I want you to experience some of those things, so I thought we could have a fun day where you can do some of that stuff, and I dunno, let your hair down a bit with it".

Eleanor pursed her lips in anticipation as Nat was staying pretty silent, and she was worried that she had crossed a line accidentally. Natasha thought it sounded like a sweet gesture, but she just needed a minute to process it, in front of Eleanor and Clint she felt as though she could let herself be free, but in public, she still held herself in a pretty uptight way, so she was just anxious about what this would all entail. But she eventually came to the conclusion that Eleanor would never put her in a situation where she would be uncomfortable, and a day out doing things she'd never done could be enjoyable. Plus, it made her heart grow warm that Eleanor had planned it all out for her.

After a minute or so of silence, Eleanor was straight up panicking, and Nat just looked in thought before walking back towards the living room. "Really?", she asked softly.

"Really what?", that word didn't exactly ease Eleanor's fears.

"You would really do that for me?".

Eleanor nodded, "So, are you in?".

"Yeah... yeah, it could be fun, what's on the agenda?".

"That's a surprise!", Eleanor dragged a whining Nat out of the door and down to their car. When buckled in she put in a CD with some pop music on and made sure to open all of the windows fully.

"What are you doing?", Nat was very confused and became extremely confused when the rear windows opened as well.

"Well, we don't have a convertible, and the current vibes need our hair to be blown in the wind so this is the best that I can give you".

Nat stifled a laugh as she looked over at her ridiculous girlfriend, before going back to trying to deduce what was planned for the day.

The journey over to McDonald's was mostly spent with Natasha trying to break Eleanor down to share today's plans, but she did not crack. Nat was pissed but in an amused way.

As they pulled up to the drive-thru Nat's eyebrow quirked, "You do know I've been to a McDonald's before right?".

"Yeah, but those are just quick things after a mission, this is gonna be whilst listening to music in a car park and not eating as though we haven't eaten in weeks", Eleanor smirked.

Their usual order was burgers, fries, and soda, but Eleanor ordered them milkshakes as their drink instead today, even though Nat was complaining that she wanted a coke. "No kid chooses coke over a milkshake Nat so you are having the damn milkshake", she laughed when Nat gave in.

Once Eleanor had parked up, Nat took a sip of her milkshake and her eyes lit up, "I told you, Maccies does a good milkshake when their machines aren't broken". Nat hummed in agreement as she made a start on her burger.

"I want you to try something", Eleanor said as she grabbed Nat's milkshake and took the lid off, once again confusing the hell out of her.

"Again, what are you doing?".

"Dunk a fry in there", Eleanor deadpanned.

Nat scrunched her face up in what could only be described as pure disgust, "What the fuck? No". Her face somehow scrunched up even more when she saw Eleanor do the same to her own drink and ate a milkshake coated fry.

"Just trust me, it's good". This went back and forth for about five minutes before Nat agreed to dip a chip.

She grimaced before putting the fry in her mouth, but her eyebrows widened in surprise, "No. Why is that nice? That makes no sense".

Eleanor laughed loudly at knowing she was right, "I told you!".

"Yeah yeah, well now that we've almost finished, where to next? Or was your big day out just to the McDonald's parking lot?", she gave her famous Romanoff smirk.

"Nope, still a surprise". Natasha groaned but didn't press it as she had learnt that Eleanor was adamant about it being a surprise.

---

"The aquarium?", Nat asked hesitantly once they had parked up.

"Mhm, it'll be fun, let's go!", Eleanor dashed out of the door and got the tickets out of her pocket. Nat followed, acting pretty neutral, but she was actually quite excited as she had indeed never been to one before.

After the tickets had been checked they were granted entry, and were immediately faced with rows and rows of giant tanks. Eleanor turned around and saw that Nat was staring in awe at the sight in front of her, frozen on the spot. She reached her arm out for Nat to take. Nat looked down at the outstretched hand and then looked up to meet Eleanor's gaze as she smiled. She immediately took it and the two walked together with a bounce in their step, Eleanor swung their arm back and forth as they walked, making Nat laugh. It was music to her ears.

When they reached the first tank there was a group of clownfish, with some swimming in and out of their anemone. Nat seemingly gushed at them as she gently placed the pad of her fingers against the glass, "I didn't know they were so small".

This continued as they made their way through the different tanks, Eleanor spent most of her time looking at Natasha, but she didn't notice this, Nat was too focused on the fish.

Next, it was time to walk through a glass tunnel with the different sea creatures swimming beside and above them. Nat once again stood frozen on the spot when they entered this part, eyes sparkling as she looked around. She smiled as a leopard shark swam past them and then up the arch of the tunnel. Nat trained her gaze on it as she swam away, then snapped her eyes back to Eleanor who was staring at her with pure adoration.

"This is so cool", Nat spoke as she took Eleanor's hand again.

They spent a few hours walking around the place, as Nat wanted to go around again so that she could do the tunnel once more. After that, they went to the gift shop that you had no choice but to go through if you wanted to leave. Capitalism.

Eleanor brought Nat a leopard shark plushie and some tropical fish laptop stickers. Natasha loved the gifts but insisted that she would never be using the stickers. Eleanor fake pouted and laughed. Natasha did in fact go against her word though the following Monday. When Eleanor walked past Nat's desk she spotted clownfish, angelfish, and surgeonfish stickers placed delicately on her laptop lid.

---

"Thank you детка, that was such a fun day", Nat beamed when they were on the road again.

"You're welcome, but the day isn't over yet", Eleanor smirked again as she kept her eyes on the road.

"There's more?", Natasha sounded more enthusiastic, "Let me guess, it's a surprise".

Eleanor nodded and laughed when she saw Nat huff and lean back into her seat, showing defeat.

It took about an hour to get to the second destination, and none of Nat's questions about the place were answered as Eleanor pulled into a carpark that was empty, outside of what looked like a warehouse. "Where are we?".

Eleanor was a bit hesitant at this activity, Nat would either love it or hate it, like Marmite, hopefully, it wouldn't be the latter. "An adult soft play area".

"A what". Natasha didn't sound happy so Eleanor grimaced slightly.

"You know those kiddy play areas? Well this one but bigger so adults don't get squashed, a mate of mine went to one a few months ago and said it was funny so I thought why not?".

Nat looked a bit wide-eyed again for the hundredth time today, the idea sounded fun but also incredibly embarrassing, "I'm not being seen in there".

"You won't be, when they heard our names they booked the place out just us".

"I don't know El", Nat was very reluctant, it was one thing to go and get food and walk around animal exhibits, but this was running around on foam things and going down slides.

"It'll be fun, trust me".

Eleanor did eventually get Nat out of the car, and they walked towards the entrance, Nat trailing slightly behind.

"Booking for Hughes", she told the receptionist who instantly let them in, after all, they were going to be the only customers of the evening.

Nat looked around at the brightly coloured room, then at Eleanor who was taking her shoes off so that they could go on the equipment. "This still seems weird, El".

"That's what's so great about it, where's the fun in being normal", she shrugged whilst walking over to the nearby ball pit. She stood on the edge and faced Nat with her arms outstretched to the sides.

"We're almost thirty though, I know it's a silly day you've planned, but aren't we really too old for this?".

"First of all, don't remind me of that fact, second of all that is even more reason to mess about and have fun now, before we know it the next milestone will be forty and our backs will be too old and frail to be jumping into ball pits", she then allowed herself to fall backwards into the pit, making Nat bite back a laugh when her head popped back up.

"Shoes off, Romanoff!". Nat sighed but complied, and slowly walked over to Eleanor and sat on the side.

"No no, in".

"El-".

"In".

Nat sighed again and slid into the ball pit, chuckling as she rolled forward when sitting down. She soon stopped chuckling though when Eleanor launched one of the plastic balls at her face.

If looks could kill.

She immediately started hurling ball after ball at Eleanor who couldn't keep up, so she dived under instead. Nat laughed and tried to dive on top of her, but was met with sinking to the bottom. She looked up confused as there was no movement from Eleanor, she had no clue where she had gone.

Suddenly Eleanor popped up and tackled her, both women laughing as they crashed to the bottom of the pit. This went on for a while, both wanting victory. In the end Natasha declared that she had won, so Eleanor got out and lead her to the main part of the area.

Nat was still hesitant but followed her anyway. They climbed through a hole in some netting to get in, and walked across the spongey foam flooring to start their climb across the different obstacles.

Eleanor slid herself through some horizontal foam rollers on her stomach and ended up flopping onto the floor afterwards, making Nat laugh at the grunting noise that came from the other side.

"Okay, your go", Eleanor smiled.

Nat followed suit and flopped to the floor face first just as hard as Eleanor did, making her a bit confused before they both burst into hysterics. After this moment Natasha seemed to let go of what was holding her back and followed Eleanor around the area more enthusiastically. Climbing different obstacles, slipping through foam rollers, flopping onto net flooring, the whole works.

The two were having the time of their lives, you wouldn't believe that they were people who were deemed "dangerous". Right now they were just two idiots flinging themselves around a play area.

Then came the giant rainbow slide. A very long, plastic slide that bobbed up and down. "We're going down that?", Nat laughed.

"Mhm", Eleanor nodded a bit breathless as she sat herself down at the top. Nat was about to sit herself down on the section beside Eleanor's, but Eleanor grabbed her hand and shook her head.

"The best way to go down together is if you sit on me", she stated matter of factly.

"Excuse me?", Nat sniggered thinking that Eleanor was crazy.

Eleanor burst out laughing at herself as she realised how that sounded, "No, my mum always used to come down with me sat on her when we came to these places, it's fun when you land at the bottom, trust me".

Nat shrugged and placed herself in Eleanor's lap, the younger woman promptly wrapped her arms around Nat's waist. "Ready?", when Nat nodded Eleanor pushed them both down, Nat squealed slightly at the first bump in the middle which brought a giant smile to Eleanor's face.

When they both reached the bottom they ended up tumbling over each other before landing in a starfish position beside one another. They both burst into breathless laughter. When that died down Nat looked over to Eleanor who was staring at the ceiling, and she reached out to intertwine their hands. This made Eleanor turn her head to face her as well.

"I know I already said this after the aquarium, but thank you so much, this was amazing. It's most definitely one of the best days of my life".

"One of?", Eleanor joked as she squeezed Nat's hand.

"The best day was meeting you at SHIELD".

Eleanor frowned slightly as she quite clearly remembered that day being stressful for the both of them, but especially Nat so that answer from her was unexpected, "But you were locked in a cell that day?".

"Yeah, but even though I didn't realise at the time... that was the start of something so brilliant and amazing. For years I wished for a change, a good change, and who knew I'd find it staring at me from across an interrogation room table", she chuckled.

Eleanor smiled softly, "That was my bestest day too".

Natasha spent the remainder of their time there sprawled out on the floor looking at Eleanor as though she was the most perfect thing in the world, because to Natasha, she is.