A/n: I think you guys might actually, full-on hate me after this one, especially after last week's. Sorry in advance?

The world you lived in was a strange one. If the multiverse theory were to be believed, you wondered if there were others like yours out there.

The multiverse theory. That's how you met her.

You were a graduate student at MIT, pursuing your degree in physics. That's was the official interest, you were too scared to tell people about your interest in the multiverse. There were certain topics within the science community that were much more "sci-fi" than actual science. You didn't want to be laughed out of your field.

All of that changed the da you heard there was a guest speaker coming to campus. Everyone was buzzing with excitement at who it could possibly be- there were plenty of famous MIT grads.

Outside of the lecture hall, there had been a box to put questions. The speaker would pick a few to ask at the end of their talk.

You have no idea- to this day, not a clue- what possessed you to write down your interest in the multiverse. Even less of an idea as to why you put your first and last name. Just on the off chance. Hopefully they wouldn't ridicule you publicly.

Inside, you managed to find a spot near the front and awaited the guest speaker's reveal. When it was revealed that it was Tony Stark, you were very happy to have him up there.

He talked about his experience there, what he did, and all the classic alumni stories. You were so enthralled that you completely forgot about the question you put in.

When it came time, the first question he pulled was a classic. "'Do I have nay theories on the soulmate phenomenon?' Not surprised to get this question..."

Right. That was what was "strange" about your world. Everyone has a soulmate, and you see the entire world in black and white until you meet your soulmate, and then it bursts into color. You had yet to meet yours.

He talked about some theories he's been thinking of, but hadn't really made too much progress on that front. "I have been making progress on a secret project, though, and if you manage to get one of the coveted Stark Internships, you might get the chance to work on it..."

That got some people murmuring. Mr. Stark looked through some other questions, laughing at a couple, setting a few aside, and answering a couple others that had to do with dealing with the workload at MIT.

Once the talk was over, everyone was trying to hurry up to the stage to have the chance to talk to Mr. Stark, others begging for autographs. You almost wanted to, but knew that he'd never get to everyone.

As you left, you found a friend and chatted with them about the talk. "You got the literal best seat in the house so good job," he told you, causing you to laugh.

"(Y/n)!" You turned around, seeing one of your professors hurrying after you. "I hate to steal you from your friend here, but I could use you for a second."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," you said, waving goodbye to your friend, promising you'd have lunch with him later.

You followed your professor down the hall to some classrooms. "What's up? Does it have to do with my most recent paper, because I thought I did well enough on it..."

He shook his head. "No, no, you're all good there. In fact, I really love it. This... you'll see."

They were confusing words, but you went along with it anyway, and spent the rest of the walk thinking about what this could be.

You weren't expecting to be brought into a lecture hall where Tony Stark was waiting.

"Ah, and you must be the multiverse girl," he said, moving from leaning on the desk to be standing. Immediately your face flushed a bright red. "No, no! Don't be embarrassed. I mean, I know a lot of people around here don't really like to talk about it, but I'm not like most people."

All you were able to do was nod along to his words.

He walked over to you and held out a hand- at least you were coherent enough to know how to shake it. "Tony Stark. I'm assuming you're (Y/f/n)?" he asked.

Words suddenly appeared. "Yes, yes, sir, I am... sorry, I just never expected anyone would take me seriously when it came to the multiverse, so I don't really talk about it."

The hands pulled away and he nodded. "You remember that secret project I was talking about?"

That's how you ended up at the Avengers Tower, working in one of the many labs. At first, you were always starstruck. Then, you started feeling comfortable and found your place.

You didn't see any of the others Avengers too often, mostly whenever they needed to test something out in the lab or in passing while you were going in or heading out. Mr. Stark was around much more often (and hated that you called him Mr. Stark) to work on his projects, like the multiverse one.

That wasn't all you worked on, just the big thing. You had other little projects you called yours.

She had been going into the lab one day to check out something new- some prototype for some "better" widow bites- when she saw you. You were working with a SHIELD agent, getting some new gear situated with her.

Your laugh had caught her attention first. Then your smile. Then the fact that the agent was the one doing all those things to you. Natasha Romanoff was not a jealous person, but there was something about you that made her feel that way.

It took about three weeks after that initial encounter. You hadn't even noticed the famed Black Widow was in the lab, so you were even more confused to find out she had been looking for you.

"Really? There's no way," you said, shaking your head.

But one of the other lab techs- Colleen- nodded her head back. "Yep. Came in last night while I was working with Jones and said she was looking for a girl who was here the other day working with the SHIELD agents. We were all too scared to ask why, but knew it was you, and said you'd be in this morning."

You were shocked. It definitely sounded like she was looking for you. But why? She wasn't a SHIELD agent.

There was never a chance to ask that question, because you watched Colleen's focus shift to slightly behind you.

"Hi there." That was a voice you recognized.

Looking at the ground, you carefully turned around and got ready to face her. Part of you was scared the reason she wanted to find you was a bad one.

But then you looked up. And everything was in color. You gasped and took in the world around you. The room was mostly boring shades of gray, black, and some blues thrown in randomly. Not the most exciting.

Then, you looked at the woman in front of you and took in her features. Her beautiful red hair. Her green eyes. Her pale skin. Everything.

"Hi," you whispered. "I'm (Y/n)."

She smiled back, also taking in your features. Your (h/c) hair. Your (e/c) eyes. Your (s/c) skin. Everything.

"Hi. I'm Natasha."

While the two of you stared at each other, Colleen looked at someone else in the lab, her eyes full of unshed tears. "Did they just...?" They just nodded.

The two of you decided to take it slow after that, since you didn't even know each other. The first few dates were awkward, but the good kind. It was weird being soulmates with an Avenger of all people, but of course you didn't complain much.

After a while, she started being a lot more open with you. The two of you would spend nights laying in her room or your dorm, just talking. Sometimes about your internship or school, sometimes about getting to know one another, sometimes even more personal. One night, she kept telling you stories about the others.

"Oh my god!" you cried through your laughing. "That is- oh, now I can never meet him. All I'd be able to think of is that horrible noise!"

Nat could stop her laugh. "It sounded like a goose!" That had you two breaking into even bigger giggle fits.

Then, two weeks later, you graduated from MIT with your degree and a job lined up at the new Avengers Facility in Upstate New York. Tony promised you it was all because of you, not just because you were soulmates with one of his best friends.

Life was so perfect. Famous last words, right?

When the Blip happened, you didn't know what to do. Nat had sent you a quick text, letting you know she was dong some Avengers business and would tell you after.

"I know it's been really tense around here, but I'm glad she's still here. I couldn't imagine her having to be on the run as well," you said as you worked on some blueprints.

Colleen nodded along. "I know. It's weird enough that Captain America is. It'd be too depressing if she were, too. It's good to be Tony Stark's friend I guess."

You shrugged. "Doesn't hurt. Do you think... do you think she would've taken me with her? Or at the least kept me updated with her whereabouts?" you asked, suddenly getting vulnerable.

The two of you stopped your tasks, now fully focused on the conversation. "I don't know... she might not have taken you, just because that puts you in unnecessary danger, but I bet she would have found a way to keep in touch. You're soulmates. She can't just... not."

That made you feel better. "Thanks," you said, about to get back to your drawing.

As you were about to look away from Colleen, her face suddenly contorted to one of confusion. You weren't even able to ask her what was wrong when she suddenly turned to ash right before your face.

"Colleen? Colleen!" You sprinted to the other side of the table where she had been, but all that was there was ash. Nothing else. You didn't know what was going on. You had no idea if you were next.

Then you thought about Nat and panicked even more. Until the phone call a couple hours later.

"(Y/n)! Are you okay?"

You sighed with relief. "Yeah, I mean... I'm here. I watched... Colleen..."

"I know, I know... I don't know how to explain, not right now. We're heading back there soon though, okay? I promise just... sit tight."

"Okay... I love you and I'm really glad you're okay," you said, on the verge of tears.

On the other side, Nat let a couple slide. "Me too... I love you."

When they got back, she did do her best to explain. It was all very confusing, but you nodded along. The next week was a blur. A woman from space came down. Then she left and brought back a spaceship with Tony and a blue woman on it. She knew the talking raccoon that had come back with Thor.

The other Avengers started to move on after a bit. But Nat stayed. You stayed with her (you two already lived together anyway) and did your best to support her as she tried to keep up with being an Avenger.

When four years had gone by with no change, you were starting to wish she'd move on. "I want to live a life with you. I- I want to buy an overly expensive apartment in the city and get some random job and come home every night and spend every night with you!"

But she couldn't let go. "I have a job, (Y/n). My boss isn't nice enough to just let me do my own thing! My boss is- is the people, the civilians I promised to protect! And I failed them already, so I can't let anything else happen. Especially when... when we could fix it!"

"How!? Its been years and nothing has changed! People are moving on, the world is trying to move on and you're staying behind! Please, Nat, please just... I'm not asking you to give up. I'm asking you to live."

She shook her head. "I can't. Not when...not when I've failed so many people."

After that night, you decided to move out and stay with a friend in the city, from MIT. All the colors seemed so much duller.

A while later, a few months of not much contact, she knocked on your apartment door. "What do you know about time travel?"

Behind her were Steve Rogers and some other guy. You let them all in and got them all cups of coffee.

"Not much. Multiversal theory was laughed at, time travel was straight-up shunned. If you mentioned it, someone would make a joke that you had just watched Back to the Future or Hot Tube Time Machine."

"But do you think it's possible? Just at the very least?" That was the guy- Scott Lang, Ant-man or something.

You sighed, looking into your steaming mug. "Anything is possible, really. It's just a matter of figuring out the loophole for this one. And even if you do, there's a host of issues to think about. It would take years before you could safely travel if you could even figure it out in the first place."

They all looked defeated, but not entirely hopeless. On their way out, Nat was the last one, and she turned to look at you before she left. "Do you... do you mind if I call you? In case we manage to figure it out?"

You nodded. "Of course. You can always call me." The two of you hugged (it was awkward, and not the good kind) before she left.

Two days later, you were driving back up to the facility. The time travel mission- sorry, the time heist was getting underway.

Okay, so "underway" was an exaggeration. It wasn't working how you'd like it to. You and Bruce/Hulk were trying your best, but this wasn't your thing. Now, multiversal travel...

Luckily Tony came and saved the day. Once he got there with the entire plan figured out and already started on it, things went really smoothly. Plus, it was nice to be around Nat again.

You weren't around for a lot of the mission talk, even though Natasha invited you. It didn't feel like you were a necessary component.

"Hey, we're doing it tomorrow. Do you... wanna come?" Natasha asked when you were leaving one night.

You shook your head. "I can't I have work tomorrow." She looked defeated, so you added, "But call me when it's done? And I'll come up as soon as I can?"

She smiled and nodded. There was a pause where you thought about turning to leave, but Nat grabbed your wrist. "I love you. You know that, right?"

It made you smile, and you nodded. "Of course I do. I love you, too."

Nat placed a gentle and quick kiss on your cheek, then went back in to the meeting room. You left and drove back to your temporary living situation.

At work the next day- it was an easy gig at the coffee shop two blocks away from the apartment- you were nervous on how the mission would go. It was hard to set aside, but you managed while you worked with customers.

Then something went wrong.

"Hi there, what... can I..."

It was like they were all dulling at once. It wasn't a jarring snap back, but it was still fast. "No, no," you mumbled, starting to panic. Your breathing was getting faster and you looked at your hands.

The nail polish on your fingers once looked red, but was fading too fast. "No, no, it's all going away- no," you started to cry.

By the time the world was black and white again, you were sobbing. Everyone in the store figured it out pretty quickly. Crying, "She's gone," sends a pretty good message.

Your boss had helped you into the back and then held you as you sobbed. He tried to help, but there's not a lot to say when someone's world lost all its color.

When someone has lost their soulmate.

A couple days later someone came and picked you up. It was Happy, you kind of knew him. Neither of you spoke as he drove.

Clint had called the day before, after the news of Tony Stark's passing broke out. He told you there was going to be a service and they wanted you to attend. You didn't own a lot of black, even though that was the color of everything to you. Something managed to work out.

At the actual funeral, you stayed off to the side. It was for Tony, and you didn't know him as well as everyone else did.

Most of the people there didn't really know who you were. They knew you had worked in the lab for a while, and that Natasha spoke to you a couple times. But she was a private person, and wanted to keep you away from the world.

Clint of course knew, and checked on you later. You were sitting by the lake side, staring out into the water.

"She's sorry," he said after he sat next to you. "And I- I tried... but you know her..."

"She knows how to get what she wants," you finished. "Or at least, what she thinks is best."

Clint nodded and the two of you sat in silence for a while, only broken by your sniffing. "I'm sorry. I really did try," he said, breaking it completely

You shook your head. "I don't wanna know. I don't need details because I'll find a way to obsess over them," you whispered.

As you thought about what your life could have been, you even found yourself smiling just a little. "I wanted us to have a life together. A real one. I tried... I tried to pull her away but she was... so stubborn. She wanted to help where there was no help to give, not anymore. I wish we had more time."

Earlier, you had tried to look at photos of the two of you together, to reminisce. Bu the were all black and white now. You could never see her gorgeous, scarlet hair or her deep, secretive green eyes. It made you throw your phone into the wall.

"She wanted that life," Clint said, pulling you from those thoughts. "She just... she didn't think she deserved it. Not with her past and her commitment to the Avengers."

You looked out onto the boring, colorless lake.

"She deserved the world."

~Fin~

A/n: my god this was depressing. I have had this idea for a while and finally got inspired enough to write it. And then realized I had it lined up for the week after a happy Natasha-Endgame ending. That would be my bad folks. Please do not hate me.

Especially because I have happy ones lined up ! Yay! A lot of you guys asked for Bucky and Peter (Parker I assumed) so that's what I'm doing! You'll just have to come back to see what happens...

See you next week Lovelies!!!!!!!!!