"It's kinda familiar, actually." Natasha Romanoff hates seeing herself in the mirror, mainly because of those words. They gave her comfort when she was young and naive, they were a dangerous liability when she was their perfect weapon, and they fell out of the mouth of one Steve Rogers on top of a helicarrier, when she was least expecting them. She was not SHIELD's top spy for nothing, though, and her emotions never even flickered onto her face, even as she watched him for any sign of reaction. She had pretty much given up by the time they reached the battle of New York, let alone close to five years later.
"Did you have something against running away?" Steve very nearly passed out in the back of the taxi when the letters on his forearm were spoken aloud by Peggy Carter, of all people. He wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to carry on an intelligent conversation, but he'd very nearly had a heart attack when, soon after stepping through the faux - storefront, Peggy had pulled him into a dark, unoccupied room and began unbuttoning her shirt. Of course, it had only been to show him his own words ("I know this road") stretching across her stomach, near her waistband, but still. She'd given him a quick kiss, just a small moment of yes, they'd found each other, and then they'd made their way into the lab, and his life had changed forever.
Those words hadn't disappeared, sixty - odd years later, when he'd woken up, and for a long time, it hurt just to look at them. Later, on bad days, he'd sit on the edge of his bed and lose himself in thought, running his fingers up and down his arm. It was years between waking up and getting his second sentence, but he still remembers when he saw the words first.
It was after a shower, a good day, all things considered. He'd put on a nice polo and some khakis, and was heading to his laptop to check for an update on Bucky when he noticed the small, neat print. "Oh, you found me, did you?" He spends the next week a nervous wreck, but after no encounters, he reminds himself that he spent the first twenty - something years of his life waiting, why should this be any different? It takes a day or two, but his life goes back to normal. As normal as you can be when your an on the run superhero in hiding, anyway.
He went for a run, around a week later. Of course, he ran every day, but this time, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. by his third five - mile lap, he realized that he'd seen the same black ball cap and red ponytail every time, which was supremely odd, as no one should be able to keep up with him for one lap, let alone three. By the end of his run, he had the answer. He sat down on the bench next to the redhead in the Hawkeye cap, and cocked his head to peer under the brim at her face. "Found you."
Natasha's familiar voice spoke the exact words he'd spent an entire week obsessing over. "Oh, you found me, did you?"
Yay, new story! Yay, cliffhangers! Yay, Romanogers! Please review! I love all of you!