Ch23. Confirmation

Natasha steeled her nerves and forcefully calmed herself with a deep breath, putting a confident yet easy-going smile on her face as her eyes trailed around Clint in order to not alert his instincts by directly staring at him.

'Time to face the music.' Natasha thought with a slight worry creeping into her mind but as soon as it came, she quickly pushed it away.

Clint didn't see her yet. The street was too crowded for that and he was currently too preoccupied with asking some irritated stranger for directions. Natasha felt nervous as heck but she just had to know. She had to find out if this rebellion of hers was really worth it and if she is safe or if it will mean living in constant fear and eventually losing her life.

Unfortunately, the only way to know was to risk it. She walked straight toward Clint.

Every step was a challenge of its own for Natasha, her body seemingly growing heavier the closer she got and more doubts started swirling in her head. But she persisted, ignoring all of that, and just walked forward.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

Two meters.

Clint suddenly looked up, feeling someone's eyes on him, and their gazes met.

The world slowed down to a halt for Natasha and she tried to do her best to appear normal while watching out for any minuscule change in Clint's expression, any indication he recognized her and would attack...

And just like that, she passed right by him, nonchalantly walking down the street as Clint returned his attention to the man who tried to help him with directions, ignoring the woman who checked him out. Alas, he was happily married so it sucks to be her.

When Natasha was sufficiently far away, she entered the closest alleyway and put her back against a wall, taking deep breaths and sliding down until she was sitting on the ground as the tension left her.

"He really didn't recognize me." She whispered to herself with veiled giddiness as she glanced in disbelief at the new ring her right hand sported.

When she saw the price of that thing... she almost fainted. Tom, however, didn't care and bought it from the Belgrade Family for a whopping fifteen million pounds.

'Talk about an 'engagement' ring.' Natasha wistfully thought with a fond inward sigh, having a fluffy feeling in her stomach. Of course, Tom didn't mean it in that way but a girl could dream, no?

She doubted she would ever forget her responsibility and gratitude to Tom with such a highly-priced magical artifact always making itself obvious to her sense of touch on her finger, always reminding her.

This ring was Tom's way of hiding her from SHIELD.

Its only function was simple. It passively bent light around her to change some of her features.

It sounded like nothing much but according to Tom's long-winded explanation, the ring was special because it was powered by ambient mana and did everything for its user, unlike most magical artifacts. That way, even a totally mundane person could use it.

Hence, the ring's enormous price tag.

It probably didn't help there were only five similar rings in the entire world and while the Magician Families didn't exactly need it, as anyone with good enough magic senses could see through it, making it kinda useless outside the mundane world, the ring was still a nice collectible item one could brag about having.

Unlike more direct illusionary magic, the light-bending feature of the ring was really important as it could fool even cameras. Really, as long as someone mundane person doesn't try to recognize her by touch, Natasha should be fine living her life in plain sight without nobody recognizing her.

But she still had her doubts so when she saw Clint, she was not exactly calm about it. Only three days passed and they already sent someone after her. Most importantly, they had sent Clint. An agent who was known for being capable of subduing, maybe even killing her.

That really soured her mood even if she understood Fury's reasons. But Clint didn't recognize her. Tom's plan worked and she was finally free!

Well, sort of...

At least free from SHIELD...

Chuckling to herself, Natasha slowly stood up, stretching her body as a refreshing feeling filled her. Basking in it, she took her shopping bags again into her hands and walked out of the alley, continuing on her way towards her new... home.

For now, life was good.

...

Natasha returned home, only to find Tom in the kitchen. Her interest was instantly piqued and she approached him, curiously looking at what he was doing...

"What is that?" She asked when she noticed him cooking with... magical circles?

Tom calmly smiled at the confused woman as he explained, "Those are alchemy circles. I decided to learn to cook but doing it normally would have been too boring."

"Oh." Natasha dumbly remarked, not knowing what to say to that. She was too flabbergasted to give a proper reaction. "Is this normal?" She eventually awkwardly asked, out of her depth.

"For me? Pretty much." Tom chuckled and shrugged. "In this world, if you are not cheating, you are not trying. Remember that, Natalia." He jokingly quipped.

His tone might have been jovial but he meant every word. It was how he got this far and he didn't intend to stop with this mindset.

"Mhm." Natasha offhandedly hummed and leaned on the kitchen unit, quiet for a moment as she just watched Tom working on the food. It took her a bit to gather her courage but eventually, she spoke again, "Today I have met one of my ex-colleagues."

Tom raised his eyes from his cooking and gave Natasha a searching look, making her feel nervous.

"And?" He spoke after a few seconds, casually returning to tending to the food.

He wasn't too worried. He knew well that Natasha adored her newfound freedoms. While he was not sure about her loyalty just yet, he was confident his alternative would be better for her, and she was completely aware of that fact.

"He... didn't recognize me." Natasha said with apparent relief.

"Hm, I told you so." Tom lazily grinned.

"Yes, you did." Natasha chuckled with a light-hearted eye roll and approached Tom.

Raising his eyebrow, he turned toward her... only for the woman to pull him into an embrace.

"Thank you." Natasha warmly said and before Tom could react, her lips gently landed on his, her tongue demanding an entry into his mouth.

Despite the suddenness, Tom obliged and his hands snaked around her, enjoying how soft and shapely she was.

After a minute, Natasha pulled away, a string of saliva connecting them before it collapsed, and the two looked into each other's eyes while trying to regain their breath.

"Really, thank you." Natasha said again, her voice full of emotion, and she tightly hugged Tom, snuggling her face into the crook of his neck.

Tom wryly smiled, half-focused on the alchemy circles that were finishing the food while he patted Natasha's back in a comforting manner.

It was stupid how many issues the woman had. She was nothing like the Black Widow from Avengers. Nothing like the hardened character that seemed to have no doubt and steel-like trust in her work for SHIELD.

This Natasha was... oddly fragile once one got under all of her tough exteriors.

This Natasha was... young and didn't yet find her resolve. She just vaguely knew what she wanted. To feel free, to find something akin to family, to get direction in life.

Tom was exploiting that. He would not deny it. But he truly believed he could give her something SHIELD could never accomplish.

A fulfilling and enjoyable life.

A reprieve from her misery.

A potential to get better.

And much more.

Deeming the food he was cooking ready, Tom pulled away from Natasha's embrace a bit, startling her for a second which let him note that her eyes were a bit puffed out. She quickly bowed her head down, most likely to make him miss it.

He smiled at how cute she was acting.

Tom inclined his head toward her, kissing the top of her head, "Come on, the food is done. Let's eat."

He was glad for her. She finally got her much-needed confirmation.