Chapter Text
Maria wandered down the halls of Illinois state secondary school distracted. Her phone seemed to be more important than the geography class she was already late for.
“Hill,” the stern voice echoed down the hallway.
Maria jolted and glanced up. She internally groaned when she saw her principle pacing towards her with a disappointed frown.
“Hey, funny seeing you here,” she joked as she stuffed her phone into her pocket and gave him her most innocent smile.
He was less than impressed by her antics.
“This is the fourth time I’ve caught you late for class,” he huffed out with that disappointed parent expression, “and it’s only the first week of senior year.”
Maria crossed her arms defiantly and stared back at him, her phony smile now wiped off her face.
‘At least he’s playing the caring disappointed dad role’, she decided, a much better substitute for her real father. He shook his head and let out a sigh.
“Sorry kid, but rules are rules. Report to detention after classes today.”
Maria groaned and rolled her head back, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. She waited until he turned around before making a face and mocking him silently. It made her feel slightly better.
“Sir yes sir,” she grumbled out as she set off to class.
As soon as the lunch bell rang, Maria was out the door. She made her way out the back door and easily slipped into the fenced field to hide under the bleachers. It was her usual spot, no one ever came looking for her out here.
She rooted around in her backpack until she pulled out a box of smokes, slipping one out and clamping it between her lips. She pulled the lighter out of the back of her black jeans and her pocket chain rattled from the movement.
Sat on a small wooden crate, she cupped a hand over her cigarette as she lit it. The first drag calmed her nerves, the burn somehow comforting. She tilted her head back as she slowly sucked in the smoke, holding it for a couple seconds before exhaling.
She stayed there all lunch, cigarette hanging from her lips as she watched other kids fool around and talk. She flicked the remaining bud onto the ground and smooshed it with the toe of her combat boot.
Just as she slung her bag onto her shoulder, she caught sight of a figure walking across the parking lot. Their hood was pulled up, but she caught a flash of vibrant red hair as the person continued towards the school. Maria watched them from her hidden spot. Nobody she'd seen here had hair that shade of red, and it wasn't a big school.
The person slowed down when they approached the doors to the school. A small gust of wind knocked the hood off their head, revealing their face. Maria slipped through the fence and continued to watch her.
She had to pull her backpack strap up her shoulder before it slipped off.
The girl took a visibly deep breath as she eyed the doors before walking into the school. Maria tilted her head curiously as she disappeared from her view.
Maria strolled into the principal’s office after her last class and flung her bag onto the old couch in the corner of the room. This wasn’t anything new. She’s been attending detention with principle Fury since grade eight. It was a wonder she hadn’t been expelled yet.
“Maria, such a joy to have you in my office. Again,” his deep voice rumbled.
Maria smirked at him as he eyed her over the paperwork. She sat down at a desk in the corner and propped her feet up, crossed her arms behind her head, and closed her eyes.
“I feel like I should have my own office by now, what do you say Fury?”
He made a noise between and grunt and a huff.
“You carved you name into that desk a year ago, that’s all you get,” he said tiredly. “And put your feet down.”
Maria popped an eye open and noticed the frustrated expression on his face. She swung her feet down and crossed her arms across her chest, turning her body towards his. He looked up at her unamused.
“What’s got you in such a mood,” she hummed as she rested her chin on her fist as her other hand traced over the ‘HILL’ scratched into the wood in messy cuts.
“None of your business. Now give me twenty minutes of peace a quite so I can finish these transfer forms and I’ll let you out early, how’s that sound?”
Maria gave him a toothy smile and a comical salute before settling down to doodle on the desk for the next twenty minutes. He made another unamused noise.
The next day Maria showed up to art class with a displeased attitude.
“W-why the fuck did you take this course,” Clint got out between giggles.
Maria scowled at him and shoved at his shoulder.
“I didn’t have a choice, my schedule got changed last minute,” she grumbled out as she glared down at her self-portrait.
If you could even call it that. It looked more like a bad remake of Picasso’s most abstract painting. Clint chuckled some more as he patted her shoulder just to annoy her. He knew she disliked unwarranted physical contact.
“It could be worse,” he said as seriously as he could manage.
They both looked at each other for a solid moment, before bursting out into a fit of laughter. Maria hid her face in her hands as her chest heaved, laughter spilling out of her at the sight of her awful creation. Clint wasn’t fairing any better as he tried to muffle his outburst into the crook of his elbow. The teachers piercing glare is what finally shut them up.
Maria started to cough and let out a groan as her laughter died down. Clint lifted his head to watch her, a smile still on his face.
She let out a long breath as she finally felt the emotional tightness in her chest start to dissipate but flinched when the physical pain made itself known. She wrapped an arm around her ribs grimaced slightly. Clint of course noticed. He dropped his smile and frowned.
“Are you ok?”
His inquisitive tone made her feel defensive for reasons she couldn’t pin. She clenched her jaw and held in the short-tempered response she was tempted to give him.
“I’m always ok, you know that,” she said with a calm voice.
Her voice sounded even, but her hands were shaking under the table. He eyed her wearily.
“You sure?”
This time her glare wasn’t for show.
“Just let it go Barton,” she said as she sat back in her chair and dropped her gaze to the table.
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from asking again.
Before he could say anything else, a loud clang echoed through the room. They both looked up to see a girl standing at the very back of the class frozen with wide eyes. She was stood over a spilled can of paint.
The same girl that Maria had seen in the parking lot the day prior. She hadn’t noticed her in the class before, she must have just transferred.
This was her chance to escape Clint’s worried prodding.
Maria sprung up to help the girl, snagging a couple rags from the sink as she passed it. The girl was still standing there motionless, with wide eyes and slightly parted lips.
“Here, catch,” Maria said as she tossed the girl a rag before bending down to start cleaning the spilled paint with her own.
The paint stained rag hit her square in the chest before falling to the ground, shaking the girl out of her trance and causing her to shift her gaze down to Maria. The taller girl stopped wiping up the mess when she realized the redhead was staring at her with a wary expression.
“Or not,” Maria muttered with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to help me out here or should I clean this up by myself?”
Maria’s face morphed into a perplexed expression as she watched the girl break eye contact with a shaky nod and kneel down to grab the rag. She followed the girl’s uneasy movements for a moment before focusing on cleaning again.
When the majority of the mess was wiped up, Maria wandered to the sink to clean off the paint-soaked rag. She noticed the girl followed her timidly but waited behind her to clean her off.
It was a double sink with two taps. There was definitely room for two people. Maria turned and waited for her to look up from the floor. When she did, Maria stepped aside and nodded over to the right side of the sink. She bit her lip nervously as she slid in beside Maria and started washing her cloth.
“You’re a little bit shy aren’t you,” Maria stated in a friendly voice.
The girl kept her head down but stopped ringing the rag out under the tap. Maria frowned and turned to her, pressing her hip into the counter and placing the wet material over the rail in the sink.
“Hey I get it, all good. I’m Maria by the way,” she stated.
She placed her rag in the same spot as Maria’s and then slowly turned to face her. She started down at the space between them while she grasped her wrist with her other hand. Maria noticed the nerves radiating off her. She could see how she rubbed her thumb repeatedly across the back of her hand, an uncomfortable indication.
The silence dragged on as Maria’s confusion ebbed on.
“Ok no talking either, that’s cool,” she trailed off.
She wasn’t quite sure what she should do or say. The girl was obviously uncomfortable and wasn’t up for a conversation. That was when Clint decided to intervene, oblivious to the weird tension between them.
“Hey Maria! Look I finished, its pretty shit but it’s way better than yours,” he stated cheerily.
He had Maria’s portrait in one hand and his in the other as he held them up to compare. Then her turned towards the other girl.
“Hey new kid, who’s is better? Mine or Hill’s over here,” she questioned with an amused smirk.
She just stared back at him with an overwhelmed expression, her eyes shifting between the two admittedly mediocre pieces of art. Maria could see how much Clint’s overbearing presence was seeming to scare her.
Just before she was about to tell Clint to go sit back down, the girl pointed at Maria’s self-portrait. Clint was dumbfounded, his face morphing into false hurt while Maria let out a shocked chuckle.
“W-what? Are you sure?” he stuttered as she turned the paintings around to examine them thoroughly.
All she gave him was a final shrug, and then she turned and walked back to her seat at the back of the room. Maria burst into laughter when Clint looked back at her with an aspirated noise.
“I-no! No way!”
She only laughed harder.
When the bell rang Maria got up and started to lazily stuff her things into her backpack. Just as she zipped it up, the girl appeared in front of her desk.
Maria turned to face her, but before she could speak a folded-up piece of paper was placed onto her desk. She looked down at it, then back up to meet timid green eyes. All she got was a small quirk of her lips, before the girl took off into the hallway.
Maria watched her go silently before grabbing the note and unfolding it.
Thank you for helping me. That was very kind of you.
- Natasha
On the end of the paper Maria noticed a small flower was painted. The dark red flower was beautiful, better than anything she was capable of.
Maria re-read it and smiled. She then tucked the note safely into the front pocket of her bag. A warm feeling bloomed in her chest as she wandered out.