Number Neighbors- Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Chapter 9

You stirred your cup of freshly made coffee as you thought of how close you and Nat had gotten over the past few months. You'd just finished some mild cleaning and were taking a break to make your third cup of liquid energy. There was no way you'd normally have the energy to clean your apartment without caffeine, and honestly, you were considering switching to energy drinks, the taste of coffee was becoming too...bitter.

Although you had to admit at least the taste matched your mood. If your mother were here she would berate you for how much pacing you've been doing, but you couldn't help it. Every time you let yourself rest your thoughts drifted to Nat.

You were worried you may have overstepped after your last conversation.

~

You and Nat had been texting over the weekend as you usually would when Nat expressed to you that her work was probably going to consume her for a while again this week, you outwardly groaned at the information. You knew that meant she probably wasn't going to be able to text you the entire time. It always made you upset when you couldn't text her, you wouldn't ever admit how dependent you'd become on her presence out loud.

This time though, as you lay on your bed under the covers as the city lit up with its usual Saturday night party-goers, you listened to the laughs of friend groups and couples outside of your window and you found yourself succumbing to your usual melancholy loneliness. It was that same hollow feeling and the thought of being virtually alone all week that led you to confess something you knew you probably shouldn't have

              Nat🔪:

Y/n🍦:

I wish I could hear your voice.

The thought occurred to you many times as your friendship progressed, along with other terribly intrusive thoughts about her appearance and whether or not she was as beautiful as you'd begun picturing her to be. Nat didn't respond to your message for a while and it got to the point where you stopped staring at the gray "seen" on your phone and turned the TV on for some comfort. Anxiety began to creep into your blood and you realized after watching the credits roll on an episode that you'd not even been able to pay the TV any attention.

You began to nervously pick at your skin, refusing to acknowledge the lump threatening to form in your throat. You'd googled so many times if it was appropriate to be so forward with online friends- Google the lying bastard told you it was common for online friends to send each other voice messages and even Facetime from time to time.

You knew it would be different with Nat, everything was. But you guessed some stupid hopeful part of your brain thought maybe...

You're forced out of your thoughts by the sound of your phone buzzing, you quickly grab it and unlock it, heart pounding in your ears as you stare at the new message

          Nat🔪:

Nat🔪:

You know I can't do that.

It was such a simple message but it still made you ache all the same. You typed out a blank response and shut off your phone for the night, you doubted she was going to respond anyway.

Y/n🍦:

Yeah.

You fell asleep soon after that, missing the sound of your phone buzzing once more as you turned in bed.

Nat🔪:

I'm sorry.

That was the last message you'd gotten from Nat, and while you were broken up about it you were also salty. You didn't text her on Sunday when you realized that it had always been you who texted first, and maybe it was petty but you wanted to see if she would reach out first for once.

Your Sunday came and went without a single message.

You called your mom just to have someone to talk to. You loved your apartment but lately, the space felt too empty and cold, maybe you should go buy a plant and get emotionally attached to that instead, people were too unpredictable.

Especially your person

~

The rest of your week was quiet and boring, you knew Nat would be busy but you didn't bother spamming her with memes and messages like you usually would. You looked around your clean apartment and sighed, downing the rest of your coffee. You picked up your keys, needing a distraction, at least you could go grocery shopping.