Who: Natasha and J’onn What: Lunch and chatting Where: Cafe When: Last week Status: Complete Rating: PG-13
Natasha was meeting John for lunch. Since the show had wrapped, she hadn’t had cause to see him, but she wanted to thank him for all the work he’d done to help make her show more believable. She sat down, leaning back at the table and crossing her legs as she waited.
John arrived a few minutes later, smiling to her. “Hello, Natasha.” He nodded, eyes warm, and chuckling. “Looks like you are still quite as beautiful as when you are shooting.”
“It wasn’t that long ago, if I fell apart in three weeks there would be a problem. Besides, I’m still shooting. Just something new.” She gestured. “Have a seat! How have you been doing?”
John sat, and smiled at her. “Oh really? Excellent! I will look forward to whatever it is.” He nodded, rolling his shoulders as he spoke. “I’m well, settling in and enjoying life with my wife. How are things with the husband?”
“Pretty good. We’re still in that newlywed phase, but then we never really left it to begin with.” Natasha winked.
“Good for you. I know the feeling. I do love to come home to AJ, or have her come home to me, sometimes.” He smirked to Natasha. He had shown pictures of his wife to the other woman along the way.
“Now we have fun when we can and have more fun the rest of the time.”
“We’re both working a lot, but we have time each night for each other, or we try to, anyway.” Talking about Thor made her feel warmer.
John grinned at that. “Good. That’s how it should always be.” He nodded. “And thank you for calling me back in to work on episodes at the end. It was nice to work with people again and to do some nice consulting work.”
“I wanted you there. We might need a weapon’s expert in my movie. Well, an official one. I don’t have all of my certificates here yet.” Natasha always knew plenty about guns, but it was an unofficial knowledge.
John blinked, and then stared. “Your expertise has got to be better than mine.” He eyed her. “But I would be glad to help, even just as your mouthpiece.” He chuckled. “I sometimes have to interface for A.J. too when she meets up with older school people. Stupid slow people.”
“Men don’t always understand when women can do things better than them,” she replied, shrugging.
John nodded. “Something I have discovered from both sides. “ When no one was looking, he rippled and became an exact duplicate of her, then of his wife, and back to himself.
“Handy,” she remarked, eyebrows raising into her hair line. What the Black Widow could have done with an ability like that.
John chuckled. “It has its ups and downs. And brings with it memories I would rather forget.” He made a face, then shook his head. “MOstly, I don’t think about it.”
She nodded her head. She could understand that some people simply didn’t enjoy aspects of their dream selves. She couldn’t blame them. There were some nights she woke and had to wash her hands. “How’s work?”
“Its good. There is something rewarding about helping those in need, and making sure they get what they need, how they need it. It makes life very different, very fun.” he nodded. He hadn’t had a bad day at work in a long time.
“There are days that I wonder if I couldn’t do better work elsewhere, but I’m too high profile to really blend in the way I’d like,” Natasha admitted. “Or be the person I dream of. People, that I dream of.”
“If you could, would you? If it meant changing your whole life, meant becoming different. Would you do it?”
John leaned forward, intent.
“That depends on what you mean,” Natasha replied. “I like who I am, and I don’t have much interest in faking my death. Though I’ve thought about it. I couldn’t do that to Thor anway.”
“I mean, what if you could have my powers, but ti would mean that you would no longer be human, not at base. You’d be yourself, but it’s not just shapeshifting that comes along with it. There’s a lot more.” He trusted few people this much, but he had gotten to known Natasha over several years of shooting and he felt like she was a good person, one who could be trusted to do good things.
She put her hand over his and shook her head. “They’re lovely powers, but they’re not who I am. I had someone else’s powers once. A woman of great strength and durability, and while it was wonderful to fly, I started to lose who I was.”
John nodded. “Okay.” He squeezed her hand, then smiled. “Then I suggest you will find a way, someday, somehow. You will discover how to become yourself, in all ways.”
“There’ll be a way. It’ll be my way.” She gave John a grin. “Thank you though. I appreciate it. It means a great deal to me.”
“You are a friend. And I am glad to help. If you ever need my help on anything else, let me know.” He grinned at her. She was an inspiration to him.
“And the same goes to you, John.” Nat valued his friendship. It had always been so hard for her to form male friendships without them expecting her to go down on them, or more. She still got ragged for dumping spaghetti on a date, and that was over a year ago!
John smiled. Her respected her. Some of the smartest and best people he knew were women. From Kirsty Cotton to Natasha, and more, he knew that there were some kickass women out there. It just meant knowing how to look at someone as a person and not just someone you might want to sleep with or not.
“Now, tell me how things are going for your next project, and how Thor is. Enough of this heavier stuff.’
“Well. I can’t talk about my project yet,” Natasha cautioned. “In anything but generalities. But it’s going to be science fiction. Think Red Sonja in space.”
John grinned at her, and used his powers to make sure no one was looking, and for a moment became a version of Natasha again, this time clad in a chain mail bikini, and holding a spacesuit helmet in one arm and a laser gun in the other. “Like so?” And then he was himself again, and no one else noticed a thing.
“Not even close,” she replied, laughing. She had to hold her stomach. “I mean more in attitude, but I admit that’s the first image that came to my mind, too.”
John snerked. “Okay then. This I will have to see. I can’t wait to learn more.” He smiled to her. It was good to see her smiling and happy.
Natasha laughed. “I’ll invite you to a pre-screening. It will be a blast.”
“Sounds like fun. I’ll bring Aj and she can meet you and your formidable husband.”
John nodded. Things were getting better and he liked it.