Natasha Romanoff - Fluff One Shots - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

It was a rough one.
You had just come back from an overnight solo mission and it was a ropey one. In theory, it shouldn't have been too bad. It was only a 5 hour
mission and the task wasn't too difficult. Fury had called to tell you that he needed you to extract some information from enemy databases and recover some test-subject's DNA files from a base in the middle of nowhere. The location was super remote and therefore there weren't a ton of agents to fight off, however, that didn't mean you were in for an easy ride.
The mission probably wouldn't have been too bad, had you not had to do it at 11 at night. You were already tired and ready to wind down for the night when Fury contacted you for this very last minute mission. He said that under normal circumstances he would have made you do it in the morning, but in this scenario, the data needed to be recovered immediately as it was soon to be transported elsewhere. Had you not gone to retrieve it that night, the stuff would have been lost and it would take forever to find again. You obliged however, being the dedicated Avenger you are, despite your drowsiness and quickly got ready to go.
It was around 4am when you made it back to the compound, a little bruised and battered but nothing major. It went smooth sailing, with you completing the mission faster than expected, you went undetected and you retrieved all the necessary data having only gotten into a couple fights on the way back. As soon as you made it back to your room, got out of your suit, showered and changed clothes, you decided not to go straight to bed, despite your tiredness.
You were a very detail oriented person and you were very committed to your work. You liked doing work so that it was 'out of the way' so that you could do whatever you wanted after. Regardless of the fact that it was 4 in the morning, you decided to fill out your mission report and give it to Fury as soon as you could. That way he wouldn't be on your back about it tomorrow morning. You sat at your desk and scribbled away, filling it out, bit by bit until you had completely finished. You texted Fury and sent him a photo of your finished report, to which he responded by congratulating you. It was now time for bed.
"J.A.R.V.I.S?" You called out quietly.
"Yes, Miss L/N."
"Anything on my schedule for today?" You asked, hoping it was nothing so that you could catch up on sleep for most of the day.
"You have a meeting with the team and Fury at 7am. The rest of the day is clear Miss L/N."
"Shit." You mumbled. "What time is it now J.A.R.V.I.S?"
You sighed, thanking J.A.R.V.I.S before flopping onto the bed. You barely even get to sleep for an hour before you had a meeting. You knew you shouldn't have done that mission report.
Morning rolled around and you got about 40 minutes of sleep before your alarm sounded. You barely made any effort to make yourself look presentable, throwing on a baggy hoodie and a pair of leggings, lazily brushing your teeth and hair, deciding skip applying any makeup to cover up your slightly bruised cheekbone from last nights mission.
-meanwhile-
Natasha had arrived at the meeting room early, like she always does. She is usually awake before everyone else and by that time she has probably already been on a run and eaten breakfast. On occasions where she would arrive early, like today, she would usually just chat with Fury for a few minutes, about missions or life and whatnot. She walked into the meeting room at around 6:45 and greeted Nick as she sat in her usual spot.
"Morning Nick."
"Ah, Agent Romanoff, nice to see you here early as always."
"Well, when am I not here early?" She joked and he chucked in response.
"Listen, I have a job for you for this meeting. Seeing as you're the first one here, I'm making you do it..." She nodded and folded her arms as he went on.
"I sent Agent L/N on a mission late last night at around 11. Not only did she get back at around 4am but she sent me her mission report at 6, meaning I don't think she got much sleep last night, if any. Luckily this meeting isn't that important, I was just going to tell you all that there's going to be a week-long break from missions for you all, as well as some other small updates, but my theory is that she won't be in the best of shape for focusing today."
"So what is it you want me to do?" She asks, quirking her brow.
"Just watch her. My bet is she won't be very engaged, you know, more disengaged than usual, she may even sleep, which is fine, like I said, the meeting isn't super important but I need you to just make sure she's okay. If she's zoning out, fidgeting, sleeping, just take a mental note on what she hears and what she doesn't, and then you can fill her in some other time when she's in better shape."
"Sounds easy enough. Can I sit there then?" She points over to the seat that is right next to yours, which typically belongs to Clint, and Fury nods.
"Whatever it is you need to do, Romanoff. I'll tell Clint to sit in your place when he gets here."
(This is what it would look like now that Clint and Nat have switched, just as a visual)
Natasha and Fury begin to chat more casually, waiting for 7am to roll around. Soon enough, people start to file in, one by one and take there places, one of them being Clint who takes Natasha's usual spot. Natasha would hate to admit it out loud but she was excited to be responsible for you in this meeting.
She had liked you for a while now and she already knew that you weren't the most engaged when it came to meetings, often joking around with Clint silently, or doodling all over your sheets. She would always watch you and she wished that it was her that you would mess around with and be goofy with, but she always thought you wouldn't be interested in her. She dreaded to think how distracted you would be this time with the amount of sleep you missed out on last night. She could only think.
At exactly 7am you sauntered in, being that last one to arrive, and you trudged over to your chair, sinking into it in an instant.
"Glad you could join us, Miss L/N." Fury quipped before quickly diving into the announcements. As Fury went over all of the details, everyone else listening, a confused look appeared over your face as you saw Clint seated across from you where Natasha would usually sit, you then turned to see Natasha sat in Clint's spot, giving you a small smile. You waved and her and she giggled at you and how cute you were. You sank further into your chair, propping your leg up and resting your limbs. You felt sore, and VERY sleepy. You sat and played with your fingers, the voice of Fury being mere background noise as you got lost in your thoughts.
The rest of the meeting was like this. You were comfortably slumped in your seat, doing everything but listening. You drew on your hand, played with your rings, messed with the decorative zipper on the sleeve of your hoodie, zipping it up and down creating a beat to a song. Anything except listen. You were trying to stay awake. Soon enough you tried to engage in a discreet game of rock paper scissors with Nat. Typically you would do this with Clint but seeing as Nat was in his spot, you decided to do it with her. You held out your fist, waving it up and down, mouthing 'rock paper scissors' but she didn't do it back. You whimpered quietly and looked at her. You repeated the same action but she still didn't play back.
You huffed and turned to Clint who was watching you and your efforts, quietly laughing to himself. You held up your fist at him, ready to play, mouthing the same words, when a hand rested over the top of yours, pulling your fist down. It was Natasha and when you turned to look at her she shook her head, silently telling you not to play RPS with Clint across the table. You sighed in annoyance and folded your arms.
Later on in the meeting you reached over and moved the blank notepad in front of Nat so that it was in the middle of you two. You clicked your pen on and drew hashtag symbol for you to play naughts and crosses. You drew a circle in the middle and then slid the pen over to her, nodding your head down at the notepad as a hint for her to play with you. She took the pen, but pocketed it and slid the notebook back in front of her. You frowned and pouted at her, to which she responded by mouthing 'listen' and pointing at Fury who was still talking. You huffed and laid back in your chair again.
Soon enough, you had no more distractions and you began to feel sleepy. You rested your elbow on the arm of the chair and your head rested in your palm. Your lids became heavy and you weren't far from falling asleep, but your body couldn't get comfortable. You kept shifting and shifting but it wasn't working and you were getting frustrated. That's when a pair of hands grabbed the arm of your chair and pulled it towards them. Natasha had wheeled your chair around the table and nearer to her which made you look up at her. She patted her lap, telling you to climb into it which you did. No one saw this happen, except for Clint who silently aww'd, seeing as the team's eyes were fixed on Fury and you were sat at the back. You snuggled into her resting your head on her collarbone and she wrapped her arms around you, cuddling you into her. You nudged your head further into her neck, hiding away from the bright lights of the meeting room, to which made her tilt her head so that you were nice and snug in the crook of her neck.
"Get some rest, sleepyhead." She mumbled, as her hand went under your hoodie to gently rub your side. She swayed ever so slightly, rocking you until you eventually let yourself fall asleep on her lap mid-meeting.
She didn't care. She sat there comfortably with your relaxed body cradled in her arms for the rest of the time, occasionally swatting away Clint's hand when he would try to poke you in your sleep. The only other person who noticed was Fury who was internally melting at the sight of you fast asleep in Natasha's arms, noticing that she would occasionally kiss your cheek from time to time when she heard you make small noises in your sleep.
It was the sweetest sight and Natasha had permanently switched with Clint on the seating plan from that day onwards.