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“I hate space,” Tony says.
Clint’s head whips around so fast he hurts his neck. He grumbles about that and then slides into the open space next to Tony with wide eyes. He gives a quick glance over to the bar where Natasha is making herself a drink and then leans closer to Tony.
“Don’t say that so loudly, are you crazy?”
“What? Why? I’ve been to space, remember? It sucked.” Tony shrugs.
This time Clint doesn’t hesitate to cover Tony’s mouth with his hand. Tony immediately pulls back and swats at Clint’s hand.
“Do not say that around Nat. She loves space. She’ll kill you in her sleep.”
“You mean my sleep.”
“No, I don’t. She doesn’t need to be awake to murder you for saying that.”
“Huh. So, what, she’s a big space nerd?”
Clint nods and checks that Natasha is still where she was just a few moments earlier. Luckily, she is, and she seems wholly unaware of their conversation too. Clint lets out a relieved breath. He doesn’t know anyone who loves space as much as Natasha does and it’s one of the few topics where it’s actually difficult to shut her up.
“Watch this,” he tells Tony before shouting Natasha’s way. “Hey, Nat! How many moons does Jupiter have?”
“79 but only 53 of them are named so it could end up being more in the future,” Natasha says right away before enjoying her drink. “Why? Did you bet Tony you knew the answer? Because we both know you don’t.”
“I thought this was common knowledge,” Tony replies, unimpressed.
“It wasn’t to me!”
“Clint, you ask me about this like once a year,” Natasha notes.
“And I forget every time. My brain’s gotta make room for the important bits.”
“Knowing what pizza place delivers the quickest isn’t important.”
“Is, too!”
Natasha rolls her eyes and leaves, drink in hand. She runs into Maria right outside the door and raises her glass at her. Maria gives her a quick nod and then joins Clint and Tony while Natasha heads back to her own room. Maria catches the tail end of their conversation and curiously listens in.
“Natasha likes space?” She asks when there’s a pause in the conversation.
“No, she loves space,” Clint corrects. “You should ask her about it some time. Just don’t be surprised if she doesn’t stop talking about it. Or starts to repeatedly talk about it because you showed an interest.”
“Noted.”
Maria doesn’t get a chance to mention it to Natasha until a week later, when they finally both have some downtime and happen to be in the same room at the same time for more than a minute.
“I’m told you’re the person to go to if I wanted to know more about space.”
Natasha smiles brightly and immediately steps closer so she doesn’t have to shout. She’s obviously excited to talk about space and Maria can’t help but find it endearing. There are very few things that Natasha gets genuinely passionate about so this is nice to see.
“You were told correctly. What did you wanna know?”
Maria just shrugs, unsure how to answer that question. She isn’t curious about anything in particular. She’s only really curious about what kind of things Natasha knows.
“Just, you know, general stuff.”
Natasha takes a few moments to think about that. She nods to herself and then settles on something to share that’s a little more interesting than just general stuff. Anyone can look those up online.
“Well, did you know that we used to refer to galaxies as island universes? Personally, I think we should’ve stuck with that moniker. It’s cute.”
“That is cute, and I did not know that.”
“Come back tomorrow for more random space facts. Brought to you by yours truly,” Natasha grins.
It gets a chuckle out of Maria. The twinkle in Natasha’s eye is still there so Maria nudges her for more information. She enjoys seeing this side of Natasha.
“Okay, also, if we could find a body of water large enough, we could make Saturn float on it. It’s lighter than water so it wouldn’t sink. None of our other planets can float,” Natasha continues. “And speaking of Saturn, one of its moons has two different colors. It’s the only one in our entire system that’s like that.”
“Do we know why?”
Natasha nods: “It’s way out of the ring unlike the rest of them so it gets hit with a lot of space debris and asteroids and stuff. And now it’s got one side that’s a lot darker than the other as a result.”
“That’s actually kind of cool, that there is a moon that’s so unique.”
“It is,” Natasha beams.
Maria smiles. She decides right then and there that she wants to have Natasha talk to her about space more often. Natasha changes the course of the conversation over to constellations and Maria feels like she can keep up a little better. She knows a thing or two about mythologies and identifying constellations but she has nothing on Natasha. They spent another hour chatting about stars. At some point Natasha tells her that a cluster of stars is called an asterism and Maria files the information away with the rest. She has to excuse herself a little later but Natasha looks happier than Maria has seen her in some time.
Over the next couple of weeks they catch a few more minutes together to chat more. Natasha always has a random fact about something space related and Maria learns to do a little research so they can actually have something other than a one-sided conversation. She enjoys that time together and she also rather likes learning more about space, and Natasha as a result. She finds that Natasha shares different things depending on her mood, though that’s usually immediately improved upon talking about space. It’s a little quirk that Maria is growing increasingly more fond of.
The next time they get to hang out for more than five minutes at a time is just a few days later. The rest of the team is there too, which Maria hopes will be an incentive for Natasha to share more stuff about space. More importantly, she hopes the additional people means more questions which in turn means Natasha talks more. Maria likes how happy it makes her.
“What have you got for me today?”
“Sunsets on Mars are blue.”
Steve makes a sound at that and sits down on the couch, obviously intrigued by this piece of information.
“Are they?”
“Mhmm,” Natasha hums. “It has to do with the dust on Mars. It scatters the light differently than what we’re used to on Earth and so it looks blue.”
“What about other planets?” Steve asks curiously. Maria smiles.
“Uranus also has blue sunsets but they turn turquoise. And on Titan they start yellow and then turn brown.”
“That’s way less cool than blue,” Clint chimes in.
“He’s not wrong,” Maria agrees. “I’d much rather see a blue sunset. That sounds incredible.”
“Do you have any cool facts about Venus?” Steve asks, smiling a little. “I’ve always liked that planet.”
“Oh, I definitely got you covered.”
“Oh boy,” Clint mumbles.
Steve ignores him, as does Natasha. Maria just rolls her eyes but Tony seems to share his sentiment. He obviously doesn’t care. After how his one and only trip to space has gone, Maria can’t really blame him. Bruce, for one, appears just as interested as Maria and Steve are.
“First of all, Venus is awesome so great pick-“
“You think they’re all awesome,” Clint interrupts.
“Because they are. Anyway, Venus is one of only two planets that spins clockwise. Earth and all others turn counter-clockwise. No idea why though.”
“Sounds disorienting.”
Natasha hums in agreement before she goes over a few more things. Maria thinks she has a lot more information where that comes from and Natasha might actually be keeping some for another time.
“So, a single day on Venus lasts longer than a full year on Earth. And it’s also the hottest planet in our solar system because of its atmosphere even though it isn’t closest to the sun.”
Steve has been avidly listening this whole time, just like Maria. By the looks of it, Bruce already knew at least most of those facts but Maria doesn’t find that surprising.
“Space still sucks,” comes from one of the couches.
Clint stares at Tony with his mouth wide open and shuffles further away from him in case Natasha wants to end him right then and there. But Natasha doesn’t move. She stares Tony down and then eventually glares at him. The response that follows isn’t at all what anyone expects but it’s certainly effective.
“Pluto isn’t a planet.”
“You take that back!” Clint and Tony shout simultaneously.
Maria can’t deny that even after all this time, that still kind of hurts in an unexpected way. She’s grown up having nine planets and as a result, Pluto will always have a special place in her heart; planet or not. Steve, on the other hand, looks utterly confused and she and Bruce reach the same conclusion at the same time: This is actually news to Steve. Natasha’s already stormed out of the room so now they have to explain to Captain America how Pluto has been reclassified as a dwarf planet almost two decades ago.
After the Pluto incident, Natasha hasn’t been sharing any more space facts. It’s been almost a month now and Maria actually misses them. Or maybe she just misses Natasha talking about space.
She’s in the kitchen getting an early start on her day with a coffee when Natasha slides into the room. Natasha pauses for a moment and watches Maria before joining her. Maria greets her and then drinks from her coffee while Natasha pours herself a cup.
“Sombrero Galaxy.”
Maria looks at her, confused. Natasha just grins, winks at her, and then leaves with her freshly brewed cup of coffee. It takes Maria entirely too long to figure out what Natasha is even talking about. She thinks the two words over for a few moments and then chuckles into her coffee. She’ll do some reading later. That sounds far too funny to simply pass up learning more about. She’s also glad Natasha is starting back up with the space facts. It gives Maria an idea and she taps her index finger against her cup a few times while she considers it.
She leaves the kitchen a few minutes later and immediately heads to her computer to do some research. It takes her half the day so she’s glad it’s a day off. As much as she ever really has those. But nothing is on fire or otherwise demanding her immediate involvement so she feels safe taking her time with this. Hopefully she can cheer Natasha up a little. Maria would have never thought a comment like Tony’s would affect the redhead so much but it’s fairly obvious that she’s still not really over it. It’s only fitting that it’s Maria who’s cleaning up after Tony’s mess once again.
It’s almost noon when Maria goes to find Natasha. It takes her a few minutes to track her down but she does eventually find her working out in the gym. She waits for Natasha to be done with her exercise, unwilling to interrupt her. Maria knows Natasha takes her workouts serious, just like she does herself.
“Hey,” Natasha says when she’s finally done.
“Hey. Are you free tomorrow?”
“I should be. Why?”
“I found something I wanted to show you, if you’re interested.”
Natasha takes her in for a few seconds before drinking from her water bottle. Maria lets her, waiting. She isn’t in any hurry.
“Can I know what?”
“Nope. You’ll just have to trust me.”
Natasha finishes her drink but Maria knows she also takes the time to consider that.
“Alright,” Natasha nods.
Maria smiles. She appreciates that. Trust is always difficult for people like them, but more so for Natasha herself. It’s nice to have the confirmation.
“Great. Then be ready around noon.”
“Anything I should be aware of?”
“Nothing, no.”
“Okay.”
Maria gives her another smile and turns to leave but then stops herself short. She turns back around and opens her mouth before just grinning at Natasha.
“Sombrero Galaxy? That’s your big comeback?”
“It’s a fantastic comeback,” Natasha grins back.
Maria laughs and shakes her head softly. Natasha isn’t wrong. It certainly is something. She does a quick wave in Natasha’s direction and then leaves again. She has some more planning to do for tomorrow.
Natasha is ready and waiting for her perfectly on time the next day. Maria is usually a little early but she hasn’t managed to be today. She isn’t late either though and smiles at Natasha when she gets to her.
“Ready to go?” Maria asks her.
Natasha just nods, obviously at least a little curious about where they’re going. She doesn’t ask though and lets Maria lead the way to the garage.
The drive takes over twenty minutes thanks to bad traffic but Maria is always expecting it and she knows they still have some time left.
“Did you know that Pluto is sometimes closer to the sun than Neptune is? It lasts about twenty years before it changes again.”
“I had no idea.”
“It’s because of how Pluto orbits the sun. Last time was just before 2000. It’s gonna be another couple hundred of years before it happens again.”
“The more you know,” Maria says. “We’re here.”
Maria parks her car and then they both step out of it. Natasha takes in the building in front of them and turns to Maria with a smile on her face. Maria already purchased tickets online so they just need to get in and enjoy the show.
“The planetarium?”
“Yeah. Come on, they have a show starting soon. You can fill in whatever they’re missing.”
Natasha’s smile turns both brighter and softer and Maria tries not to think about how that makes her feel. With how much Natasha loves space, she doubts that the redhead has never been here before but Natasha doesn’t exactly go out much so Maria can’t be sure. Natasha doesn’t know any of the staff when they get in and takes her time checking everything on the way to the show. Maria does the same. Space is fascinating, though she’ll never share Natasha’s brand of love for it.
“You’ve never been here?” Maria asks.
“Never really had the chance to go, no.”
They find some empty seats with only a couple of minutes to spare before the show starts. Natasha’s attention shifts immediately once it does and she’s wholly focused on it. Maria is glad that this has been a good idea. She’s never been to a planetarium herself and it’s something else entirely to see for herself. They don’t talk much during the show but sometimes Natasha leans closer to add another random space fact just for Maria. It gets a smile out of her every time.
When the show is over and people start getting up to leave, Natasha just continues sitting in her seat, smiling. Maria doesn’t rush her to move until they’re the last ones there and the staff has to ask them to leave.
“As good as you’d hoped?” Maria asks once they’re outside.
“Better. Thanks for taking me.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m glad you had fun.”
Natasha smiles again and nods. They walk around a little more before eventually deciding to go back to the mansion. Natasha has more space facts to share on the way back and Maria is just happy that she’s doing it again. She’s missed it. Maria talks about the show a little more, sharing her favorite parts and letting Natasha do the same.
“Speaking of the moon, did you know that ours is only the fifth largest in our system? One of Jupiter’s moons is the biggest one.”
Maria chuckles softly. She’s starting to get used to this and she really hopes Natasha continues doing it. She parks the car when they’re finally back at the mansion and they chat about the show all the way to the common rooms.
“We should go again some time,” Maria says.
The way Natasha looks at her makes her wonder whether she’s missing something or if she’s said something amiss. She doesn’t think she has and going to the planetarium has clearly been a good idea. Natasha smiles to herself.
“Under one condition,” she says. Maria waits. “It’s a date next time.”
Maria immediately flusters. She hasn’t thought of their trip as a date but she has to admit that if she were to take Natasha anywhere for one, the planetarium would be the perfect choice. She also has to admit that it sounds like a great idea and she’d actually really like that. She likes spending time with Natasha and she loves when she talks about space purely because it makes Natasha happy.
“Deal.”