Chapter Text
Steve Rogers was so pissed. So pissed.
He walked through the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. with a nervous redhead on his feet.
She hated that look on him. That look that make you feel so guilty that she would’ve preferred that he’d scream at her, insult her or whatever. Just not this.
“God, Natasha. Stop following me.” He said, with a subtle tone of anger.
“I won’t until you stop ignoring me. I had orders, Rogers. You follow yours, I do mine.” She stood by his side, trying to keep his speed.
“No. You lied. Like you always do.”
“That’s not true.” She tried to hide how offended she felt. Well, he wasn’t completely lying, after all. Natasha really was a liar. A good one. She was raised like that. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t show yourself to them. Hide. Hide everything you can. They took every chance she ever had of changing that. It’s not like she had an opportunity.
“You compromised the whole operation.” He said, turning to her. That all-american face he had, always so tough and sincere at the same time.
“You already said that. And I think you’re overreacting.” She stood in front of him, trying to not feel ashamed by that look of disappointment. Ugh, she hated that.
“The hostages could’ve died. We could’ve get hurt when Bartroc threw that grenade. By the way, you know he escaped, right?” sarcasm took place there, and Natasha couldn’t say she wasn’t surprised by that. Steve never really was the sarcastic type.
“Oh and that’s on me?”
“Like you said, it is. Now, if you excuse me, Agent Romanoff.” He turned, passing through some STRIKE agents, strong walk.
Natasha did nothing but stare, letting out so much air that she didn’t even know she was holding for so long.
And then it happened. Fury was attacked. Steve told her about the metal arm. Ballistic? Soviet made. Winter Soldier, was all that she could think about while looking at Fury. Nick Fury, the man that gave her a chance, only a chance to be trusted, was now dead. Gone.
Looking at his inert body she stayed several minutes, with Steve right behind her, so as Maria Hill. Steve could see tears down in Natasha’s face. He thought about how that was something rare, he had never seen her cry, especially because she wouldn’t let him. She was built with no emotions. Raised to not show them, she would say.
Maria told them she had to take him, that they were waiting. Natasha agreed and left the room, followed by a worried soldier. Why was Fury in his apartment? She didn’t know.
“Why was Fury in you apartment?” She turned to him, brows frowned in confusion.
He made that face he used to wear when found out something about this new century. Put his hands in his pockets, trying to look natural, maybe? He didn’t.
“I don’t know.”
Rumlow called him in the background He turned to them and said something. She didn’t care. He was lying too. But, despite of Natasha’s ability, he wasn’t a good liar.
“You’re a terrible liar.” She somehow tried to put on that face he used on her a week ago, which actually turned out to work. He felt kinda guilty after she left. He hated to lie. And even that Natasha did it to him a few times, he hated to lie to her. He hated the fact that Fury told him not to trust anyone. Not even her.
He hided the pen-drive in the candy machine and left.
Steve was now being chased by S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury told him not to trust anyone, and that was a man’s last words. He wouldn’t break that. He was alone now. No allies, nothing he could do about it, at least figure out what Fury meant with that pen drive. He couldn’t go to Sam as well, and put his life at risk. He didn’t know where Natasha was too, maybe now ordered to chase Steve. She was the perfect spy and agent, she would find him sooner or later.
And then she showed up in the reflection of the machine, where he couldn’t find the data anymore. With that ironic face, with some gum in her mouth. God, she had the power of making him pissed.
“Where is it?” He asked, some dangerous tone in his voice. He didn’t scared her, despite Natasha’s surprise after he practically threw her at the wall of the waiting room. She tried to control the situation, but it wasn’t like Steve didn’t know anything like before.
So she told him. Everything. The Winter Soldier, great armor of Russia. Responsible for over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years. Everyone says he’s a ghost. She has this feeling that she knew him before. Way before. But she wasn’t telling Steve that.
“Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Solider was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him.” She stoped for a moment, looking deep into Steve’s blue eyes. He was quiet now, hands still pausing in her shoulders. “straight through me.” She lift her top a bit, showing him her scar. “Bye-bye, bikinis.”
“Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now.” He said with a grin, earning a lift brow from her. Natasha bet he was thinking about her in bikinis in that moment. Steve blushed, pupils now darker and bigger.
Steve shook his head a bit, chuckling. He took a step behind as Natasha handed him the pen drive. “Let’s find this ghost, then.”
Steve eventually decided to give her a chance again. He worked well with her, back in New York and also in a few missions after that. He was already used to have her around in missions, she always had good tatics and Steve was happy to add to his own plans.
Steve didn’t really know why Fury resigned Natasha as his partner, or if she agreed with that either. But he really liked her, he really did. She was really fun to be around, she showed some things from this century and had a great smile and laugh. He didn’t see it much actually, but he sure saw it more than the other agents, and he was glad.
“Okay, we need to go undercover.” She said, going through some clothes. She threw some hoodies to Steve, who was clearly not pleased. “What? It’s cute.”
“I look like an idiot. Do I really need these glasses?”
Natasha closed her eyes right after rolling them. “It’s hipster. Please, Rogers, stop being so old.”
“I’m not old.”
“Yes you are.” She said with a grin.
“No, I’m not.”
“Shut up. Here, go try those.” She handed him some jeans and put a hat on his head.
“I don’t know why I still accept working with you.” He murmured as he rubbed his chin, moving towards the fitting room.
“Because I’m the best.” She said with a louder tone, making sure he was hearing. Of course he did, as soon as she heard him chuckle.
They headed to the mall, looking as stupid as Natasha wanted them to be.
“First rule of going on the run is: "Don't run. Walk.” She said, putting her arm in his chest as they walked. Nothing more suspicious than a hipster guy with a hat and stupid shoes walking way too fast in the middle of the mall.
“If I run in these shoes, they’ll fall off.”
“Funny.”
“Okay. Where to?” he stopped for a minute, still looking around him, not really a soft move.
“Hey. Hey!” she attracted his gaze bringing her hand to his chin. “Look at me, ok. Act normal. Take that as a mission.”
He got a little distracted by her green eyes. Steve shaked his head a little, earning a grin from her. “Sorry. I’m not-“
“Shh. It’s ok. Now let’s go, there’s an Apple Store somewhere near here.” She took his hand, and Steve took a few seconds to process it.
Arriving the store, they moved to the nearest unoccupied computer they found. Natasha place the drive and started making those things Steve didn’t have any idea.
“This drive is protected by some sort of A.I. and it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands.” She was co concentrated that Steve could notice how her lips curved in a thin line, something he learned after they started working together that she did when she was nervous or under pressure. Steve sort of felt privileged to be one of the few who could notice that.
“I don’t really know what you’re saying, but… Can you override it?” Steve was pretty sure she could. That girl could control him through a computer if she wanted.
“The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me.” She said, her brow frowned.
“Slightly.” They said together. Natasha grinned to him.
“I’m gonna try running a tracer. Well, this is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware , so… If we can read the file, maybe we can find where it came from.” She said, more like she was trying to make him understand something. He wasn’t.
“Still don’t know what you’re saying, but go on.” He tipped her shoulder gently as an encouragement.
“Can I help you guys with anything?” a guy with a really long blonde hair stopped by their side.
Steve looked at Natasha and froze. She looked at him. “Act normal.” She whispered.
“Mmh, eh, no, my fiancé…” she grabbed Steve’s shoulder and brought him in front of her, squeezing a little. “…here was helping me with some honeymoon destinations.” She said with a different tone in her voice, more girly. Steve thought it was cute, but not exactly like her.
Steve said nothing, and Natasha squeezed his arm harder. “Yeah… I mean, we’re getting married. Obviously. I men, why we would be looking for honeymo-“ she squeezed his arm again. “Yeah. Married. I love her.” Natasha turned and rolled her eyes, getting back to work on the computer.
“Congratulations. Where you guys thinking about going?”
“Hmm.” He looked at the computer screen for a second. “New… Jersey.”
“Oh.” The guy looked at him for a while, and for a moment Steve thought he got caught. He searched for Natasha’s hand and squeezed a little. Not that brought her attention to him. “I have the exact same glasses.” He pointed out.
“Wow, you guys are practically twins.” She lifted a brow to Steve. He tensed.
“Oh, I wish. I mean..” he pointed at Steve. “Specimen.”
“I know, right? I’m a lucky girl.” Steve heard that tone in her again, and couldn’t help but blush.
“Anyway, if you guys need anything… I’ve been Aaron.”
“Thank you.” Steve said with the rest of the voice he had. That was close. He turned to Natasha, realizing their hands were still attached. “Come on, you said 9 minutes.”
“Shh, relax. Got it.” Steve turned to the screen, looked shoked. Natasha held his gaze right after, making him blush again. “You know it?”
“I used to. Now let’s go.”
They got out the store, walking a little too fast despite Natasha’s warning. Steve saw some STRIKE agents passing through the halls and he started to tense again.
Natasha searched for his hand and grabbed it. Steve laced their fingers and held his speed on the walk, or they would soon be noticed by the agents.
He started to think for a moment that he could get used to Nat’s hand attached to his, her soft squeeze and delicate hands. Those hands killed and crashed a thousand men, but right know they felt really good in his.
Steve looked back and saw some STRIKE agents getting close. “We should go separate ways. You go to the parking lot, I distract them and meet you in ten minutes.” He started to part their hands but Natasha held it.
“Ok star-spangled man with a plan, shut up and put your arm around me. Laugh at something I said.” She pushed his arm up, snuggling in him and hiding her face. He made an awful fake laugh when some agents passed through them that actually made her laugh.
“That actually worked.” He said and Natasha chuckled, still not wanting to get out of Steve’s embrace. They parted and went to the escalator, still looking around for some hints. Natasha froze when she saw Rumlow coming in the opposite escalator. She turned to Steve.
“Kiss me.”
His gaze met hers. “W-what?”
“Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable.” She said with a grin.
“Yeah, they do, Natasha.”
She rolled her eyes and pressed her lips against his, pulling him close by his neck. At first he just stayed there, but as the seconds passed he lifted his hand to her waist. It didn’t last long. Natasha pulled away and turned to walk again. “Still uncomfortable?”
Steve blushed licking his now dry lips, shaking his head. “I guess that’s not exactly the word I would use.
“Good.” She turned her head to him with a grin.
They picked up an random car in the parking lot, Natasha leaving all the job to Steve. She would make sure to ask him later about how Captain America learned how to steal a car. They were traveling silent for several minutes, except for the really old country music playing on the radio.
“Oh my god, Rogers, I know you’re old but this is… terrible. “ she had put her feet back up on the dash, making Steve roll his eyes.
“Jesus, will you take yo-”
“Nope.” Natasha adjusted herself so she could reach the radio, passing through some stations. Her face lightened up the slightest when she stoped in one. Some music that Steve didn’t really know was playing and apparently Natasha was enjoying, getting back to her previous position and putting her hands on her thighs, beating a little with the rhythm. He could see through the corner of his eyes that she was mumbling something, singing along really low. He tried not to laugh.
“What is this?” he asked, looking at her.
“Kings of Leon.” she shrugged. “They’re amazing. You should add to the list.”
“I don’t know.” he mocked.
“What? They are amazing, okay? That’s it, once this all is over, you and me are spending some time listening to them.”
“Sure, ma’am”
She kept singing along, Steve just enjoying her soft and low voice. He wished she would sing just a little louder, it looked like she had a great voice. He would tell her that someday.
“Can I ask you something? I mean you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to… But it’s kinda like if you don’t, you’re answering though…” she started as soon as some pop music started playing and she lowered the volume.
“What?”
“Was that your first kiss since 1945?” she tried to hide the little smile in her face, but he didn’t miss it.
“Um… That bad?” he tried not to look upset.
“I didn’t say that! I was just wondering how much… practice you had.” she blinked
“I don’t need practice.”
“Everybody needs pra-.”
“That wasn’t my first kiss since 1945, ok? I’m 95, I’m not dead.”
Well, that wasn’t a lie. He had a couple dates with a waitress a few months ago, after Clint and Tony didn’t stop telling him to go out, to enjoy life. She was really nice, actually, had a great laugh and beautiful long blonde hair. Her name was Ashley, but apparently she had some unresolved history with an ex-boyfriend, so their relationship ended in a month.
“Okay… No one special?” she seemed curious.
“Well… believe it or not, it’s kinda hard to find someone to share life’s experience.” She chuckled a little at that.
“That’s fine, just make something up…”
“What, like you?”
“I don’t know,” she wasn’t offended by his words. “truth is a matter of circunstances, it’s not all things to all people all the time… and neither am I.”
“Seems like a tough way to live. But a good way not to die, I guess.”
“Exacly.” she smiled at nothing, just looking at the window. She turned to him. “Who do you want me to be?”
He looked confused for a moment. He probably didn’t know the answer, either.
“How about a friend?” she laughed a little at that. She stared at the window again, her hands patting her thighs softly. Steve wanted her to be his friend, he wanted to trust her and she couldn’t help but simle at that.
“There’s a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.” He looked at her and that fucking grin was all over her face.
“I like to take some risks.” he said, not looking at her.