A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed! I'm so sorry for the long wait, my exams had to take priority, but exams are over now and I'm now free until university starts at the end of September so updates should becomes more regular again! This chapter might be familiar to anyone who read my Natasha/Aria prompts on my tumblr, as I've added to one of those prompts to make it a full chapter. Hope you like it! x

First Tattoo

Natasha had always been curious about Aria's tattoos. It wasn't often you saw a SHIELD employee – agent or not – with tattoos, because whilst there wasn't an explicit rule banning them, everyone knew the risks that it brought. Any marks obvious on your skin would leave you easily identifiable to anyone who knew what to look for – a cover could easily be broken if someone knew what they were looking at. But Aria didn't seem to get the memo, and the woman proudly wore the silver markings that ran down all four of her limbs. Besides, she was only a mechanic (as she so often reminded Fury and Coulson whenever they made their ways down to her garage to try and recruit her for a mission).

Natasha finally asked her about her tattoos a couple of months after they'd started dating, as they laid naked in bed together one night in Aria's apartment. The woman had huffed out a laugh and turned to face the assassin, nose-to-nose. Natasha's breath caught in her throat. No matter how many times Aria let her get close to her, it still overwhelmed Natasha every single time. After years of no physical contact outside of missions and training, it was a strange feeling that anyone would ever let themselves get that close to her – and that she would ever let them. Yet here Aria was, close enough that Natasha could feel her breath fan over her face with every exhale, acting as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And damn her if it didn't feel like it was.

"Where I'm from," Aria started, waiting for the recognition to show in Natasha's face before she continued, because they'd only spoken of her homeland a handful of times and Natasha was largely in the dark about it. "-it is tradition to get your tattoos when you pass certain milestones."

"What milestones?" Natasha asked, catching Aria's hand from where it had been splayed across her waist and tracing the silver 'cuffs' that wrapped around Aria's wrist. Almost automatically, Aria twisted her wrist to show off the runes interlaced within the intricate design.

"Wrists and ankles indicate that someone has finished their basic training." Sometimes Natasha forgot that Aria was from a country with a required military training. The country was largely isolated from the rest of the world, and she knew very little of it besides from what Aria had disclosed. It was shrouded in a mystery that could only be matched by that of Wakanda (and ironically, when Natasha had voiced that to her, Aria had laughed and told her that Wakanda was their only true ally). "Your senior officer picks the runes that best suits you."

"What are yours?"

"That one there is a protection rune. I was his favourite so he didn't want me getting hurt." Natasha snorted, because of course she was the favourite. Who couldn't love the woman?

"What about this one?" Natasha asked, gesturing towards the only other straight lines that she could see. Aria's tattoos consisted largely of massive sweeping swirls of silver, and the sharpness of these lines stood out like a sore thumb. Aria only laughed when she saw what Natasha was pointing at, using the index finger of her other hand to trace the lines.

"That's Odin's illusionary rune." Years later Natasha would laugh as Thor grabbed Aria's wrist and studied it carefully before proclaiming loudly that his father's rune had never been on a more worthy human, but at the time Odin was just another name.

"Odin?"

"Norse God. He is known as the All-Father. This rune is normally reserved for use by warriors, it's meant to symbolise invisibility or shapeshifting." The snort that left Natasha's mouth definitely wasn't attractive, but she couldn't help herself. How fitting – her shapeshifting girlfriend had a God's shapeshifting rune tattooed on her body. She couldn't help but wonder if her senior officer had somehow known, but she doubted it – Aria was far too careful with her secret to let herself be found out.

"How fitting. The others?" She let her fingers trail down Aria's arms, following the silver lines until she reached her shoulders, at which time she looped her arms around the woman's neck and brought her closer. They'd drifted apart to allow them to look down at the tattoos, and Natasha wasn't having that. Aria shifted so that her head rested on Natasha's shoulder, letting out a content sigh as she settled against her.

"Hmmh, another time maybe. I'm tired."

It was many years later that Natasha decided she wanted her own tattoo – regulations be damned. She and Aria had been married for two years by this point, and every time Natasha was forced to take off her wedding ring to go on a mission, her heart broke a little. So she decided to do something about it.

Aria didn't notice at first. It took a total of two weeks before she noticed, and only then it had been when Natasha had handed over her rings for safekeeping before a mission. She'd let her hand linger a few seconds too long in Aria's, drawing a confused frown from the woman and causing her to look down at their joined hands. There were a few confused seconds of silence before a little gasp escaped her mouth and her head whipped up to meet Natasha's stare.

"Tash, what is this?" Her thumb traced the small silver design that wrapped its way around Natasha's ring finger, almost gingerly, as if afraid she'd rub too hard and it'd be gone. The design itself was similar to that of the one wrapped around Aria's wrists, minus the runes, and had the letters 'A.X.' written in a small, swirling script directly underneath.

"I didn't like taking off my ring. So I got a permanent one." Natasha explained simply, shrugging somewhat, but Aria's gaze had already dropped back down to their hands. "Do you like it?" Aria continued tracing the tattoo silently for a few more moments before her head whipped up and she threw herself at Natasha, arms tangling themselves around the taller woman and burying her face in her shoulder. Natasha brought her own arms down to wrap around the woman's waist, drawing small circles into her back.

"I love it." The words were spoken quietly against the skin of her shoulder, but Aria soon pulled back, grin wide and eyes misty as she looked at Natasha in what could only be described as adoration, before joining their lips softly in hopes of expressing everything that she couldn't quite articulate aloud. "I love you."

An almost identical tattoo found its way onto Aria's ring finger a few weeks later, the letters 'N.A.R.' proudly sitting underneath it.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter!

Make sure to check out my tumblr (NOTE: this has changed to shanniepatz) to keep updated on when to expect a new chapter. You can also request 'Firsts' on this tumblr by sending an ask! I have done a few stand-alone pieces over on that tumblr about Natasha and Aria, so check those out if you're interested! x