Valentina likes to tease you. It's her way of showing affection without having to show any affection. It's the soft gratitude in her voice when you get her that coffee she didn't need to ask for. Or the lingering stare at you in meetings when she's presenting a new idea--that tries not to involve killing people to get. It's a hands on your shoulder when she leaves a board meeting you couldn't sit in for, letting you know she appreciated you standing there and waiting.

It's the occasional "good girl" when you do something she really likes. When you listen to what she says and trust her. Valentina is scarily observant so the moment she picked up on the initial look of subtle shock on your face, she made it a point to keep it up.

It turned into her confiding in you for the most random things to the most life changing important things. If it wasn't deciding on finding a new gun-for-hire, it was which lipstick she should wear to a press conference. If it wasn't discussing how to get rid of any evidence that she was still experimenting on people, it was if her new perfume was too strong. And every single time you engaged or gave her a straight answer, it was always met with "good girl." Like she had already made up her mind and only waited for you to confirm what she was already thinking.

Don't get it twisted, though. She did it sparingly. She didn't want you getting used to it. She wanted you to crave it. And you did. There were times you picked up an extra breakfast sandwich for her, knowing she didn't need it, just so she could look so proud. So gracious. Maybe it wasn't met with the two words you wanted, but sometimes her pats on your back or winking after she thanked you kept you going.

You were sitting in her office because she summoned you in here, but she wasn't there yet. The second you checked your watch, you could hear her heels clacking against the marbled floors recently installed in this part of the Avengers tower. She walked in while staring at her phone all confused and when you went to stand up, she gestured for you to stay put.

"I just don't understand how to work this app," she grumbled and walked over to you after shutting her door. To your grand surprise, she sat in your lap on one of your thighs with her legs in between yours, one arm behind you for leverage as she showed you her Twitter draft. There was nothing else you could fully focus on with her new perfume filling your nose. The one you said you liked.

"How do I get this off my screen?" She asked. So casually like she wasn't sitting in your lap?!