Note: This got waaaay longer than I envisaged it being and I have no idea if you (or anyone!) will even like it, but hey, it is what it is and hopefully you get a kick out of my efforts :)

It Might Be Worth It

Nobody told her it was happening. She figured it out on her own, as Natasha did with most things. Call it intuition or instinct, whatever you want, but she always did seem to be a shrewd observer of people with a keen sense of what the situation was around her, without putting in very much effort. If anybody around campus was going to describe her, Natasha was pretty sure those were the kinds of things they might say. It wasn’t as if the guys in question weren’t pretty damn obvious in their schemes. Maybe that was an unfair term for what they were doing. It didn’t seem to be a bet. Perhaps a game. She wasn’t really sure what to call it, but whatever the name, the goal was clear. This group of guy-friends had clearly decided that she was to be the target of their overtures. That each around the table, be it in the cafeteria or the library or even in class, would try their luck to see if they might score a date with the red-head in the corner who conversed with few and was a known friend to even less.

Natasha wasn’t offended, as some young women might be. She was mostly flattered, but also a little bit pleased about the challenge. Sure, from their perspective, she was the challenge, but she had an unenviable task of her own. To resist any possible charms or other dating skills that were used on her.

The first guy made it fairly easy. Not that Tony Stark didn’t have charm enough, and certainly, he could offer her a good time, with all of his money and everything.

(Continue reading on AO3)