Chapter Text
Natasha sighed in annoyance as she closed the refrigerator door. No more coffee creamer again! It was bad enough that her own snacks went missing - she was certain that one of her fellow Avengers sometimes ate her Lorna Doone shortbread cookies - but this was ridiculous!
The fridge had been designed by Tony and it was bigger than most, so every Avenger had room to store their perishable items inside of it. As long as the tower had been a headquarters for the Avengers, the refrigerator always had ample coffee creamers. Caramel, hazelnut, sweet cream, white chocolate, amaretto, cookies and cream, etc. Needless to say, coffee was a popular drink in the Avengers tower.
"I need to buy my own fridge and keep it in my room," the redhead grumbled to herself.
Natasha was fine with her friends eating some of her snacks as long as they didn’t eat everything and replaced what they consumed. Looking in the fridge made her realize that she should’ve been more stingy when it came to her creamer though. She usually bought a coffeemate french vanilla creamer to mix with her milk - whole milk only, thank you very much - and it tasted great.
Steve and Wanda teased her about having a sweet tooth, but Natasha never let that bother her. She liked what she liked and she didn’t feel guilty about mixing creamer and milk together. Creamers we’re usually made from a derivative of milk anyway, so it made sense to pair them together.
Natasha wondered if she should go to the store to buy a replacement creamer and put an explicit sign on it, telling people to keep their hands off. In the four years that she'd had a room in the Avengers tower, she never had to put a note on her food. So annoying.
Oh, wait. She suddenly remembered something Tony said to her a couple of days ago.
"Nat, when you’re finished using your creamer, can I have the bottle? I could use it in the lab."
At the time, Natasha thought it was odd that Tony would need a used coffee creamer bottle for his projects in the lab, but the man was eccentric, so it wasn’t a surprise. Not that it mattered. He obviously changed his mind about waiting until she was done with the creamer because the bottle had been half full two days ago.
A quick glance at the clock on the microwave told Natasha it was 2:09 in the afternoon. She could go to the store and buy herself another french vanilla creamer, but she wasn’t in the mood. She wanted her milk now.
"Maybe he didn’t use the bottle yet and there’s still some creamer left inside. It wouldn't hurt to check." Natasha poured herself a glass of milk and made her way downstairs to Tony and Bruce's laboratory. It was empty, thank goodness. Without pausing, she headed for the mini fridge where Bruce kept his scientific experiments that needed to be kept cold.
It was odd, but a lot of times scientists put food and weird things next to each other in the same fridge, like a ham sandwich and a vial of frog urine. Yeah. Bruce and Tony made some gross stuff down here, which is why Natasha never visited the lab. That’s why she was surprised to see that they kept it pretty clean.
Well, that wasn’t true. Vision was probably the one who cleaned up after them. Yes, he was an irritating android, but he knew how to straighten a place up pretty good. He always cleaned the kitchen after everyone finished eating. It’s not like he could eat anyway, so he had to do something to make himself useful.
Vision was so good at cleaning that he could have his own maid service on the side. Natasha might have to mention that to him and insist on being his manager so she could handle the money aspect of the business. He was so childlike that she thought it was a possibility that he’d take her up on that offer without thinking. Moron.
It took a few moments of moving some suspicious looking items around the fridge, but Natasha eventually found the familiar blue and white bottle of creamer.
"Yes!" Natasha set her glass of milk down on the work counter in the corner and popped open the lid of the creamer. She didn’t hesitate to pour a generous amount into her milk and take a long swig.
The taste was a little different, though. There was a mint flavor to the creamer that left a mildly disagreeable aftertaste in her mouth. Honestly, Natasha needed her vanilla milk fix, so she chugged her concoction without a care until the glass was empty.
"I’m going to get more." Natasha filled her cup with creamer, snapped the lid back on and quickly made her way back upstairs. She was glad Tony or Bruce didn’t catch her because she didn't plan to explain why she took some of her coffee creamer out of their fridge. Honestly, those two men were supposed to be the smartest members on the team, but they could be jackasses at times.
Walking into the kitchen, Natasha was greeted by Wanda, who was in the process of making pancakes. "Hey, Nat." The brunette eyes lowered to the glass in her friend's hand. "Drinking more of that creamer milk again, huh?"
"No, this is just the creamer, but I'm about to mix it." Natasha waggled her eyebrows at the younger woman as she opened the fridge.
Wanda shook her head, a smile on her lips. "You and your sweets. Do you want some pancakes to go with that so you don’t pass out from a sugar high?"
Natasha took a spoon from the drawer and stirred the milk she'd just poured into her glass. "Why not? I haven’t eaten pancakes in a while. Could you add cinnamon and chocolate chips to the batter?"
"I knew you were gonna ask me that. Sounds good to me." Wanda chuckled and grabbed the extra ingredients from the cupboard while Natasha took sips of her drink.
The redheaded spy had no idea why the creamer had a strange minty taste, but she didn’t care. Right then, she was happy to have her favorite morning beverage. It never occurred to her that Tony might have added something potentially dangerous to the creamer and she’d start feeling the effects soon. Once she felt the effects, she would set her sights on an unsuspecting teammate whom she’d grown fond of, yet never had the courage to confess her feelings.