Title: More Than Us
By: Emmelyn Cindy Mah
Category: Movies/Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Sub-category: Friendship/Romance
Summary: A collection of Steve and Nat one-shots. There's definitely friendship between the two jarringly-different Avengers, but there's also a strangely omnipresent attraction that threatens to change the basis of their relationship. Do they allow it? Will they ever?
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. Or write for Marvel. Or in fact write for any of the Marvel Movies, though I'd take a job on that front any day. HINT HINT.
I: Smiling Face
"Tell me again how that's a face."
He was peering at the screen of his phone, prominent brows furrowed in deep concentration. Blessed at an opportune moment with a junction and a stoplight, Nat watched the all-American.
She didn't know whether she was more amused or bemused.
"Flip the phone—no, not so fast, or the screen's just going to flip with you." She snatched the device from his hands, then lifted it to the side of her head, holding it up against her cheek. "See?"
Bright, bright eyes shifted quickly. Screen, her face. Screen, her lips. One last flick, and then he met her eyes.
Then, he grinned, that boyish, almost sheepish smile he wore whenever he learnt something new. She'd seen that look on him quite frequently since the incident in New York.
Every time, it made her heart skip a little.
"You don't smile that way, though." He retrieved the device as the lights blinked green. She shifted gears; out of the corner of her eye, she felt his gaze upon her. "You sort of quirk one side of your lips up."
"You smile that way."
"Do I? I've never noticed."
She snorted; he arched a quizzical brow. "I have a hard time imagining you smiling at yourself in the mirror, is all."
He chuckled, sounding amused. "I don't."
"It's a nice smile, though." It was surprisingly easy to admit. She added, then—"Ever see a happy corgi?"
"Are you calling me a dog, Romanoff?"
"Only if you think I am."
They were nearing the edge of the city, abandoning bustling streets for the stretch of highway that would take them to their rendezvous point. The STRIKE team would have assembled, the carrier prepared.
It irked her somewhat that all she wanted was for the drive to last forever; and if not forever, longer than the few hours it would take. It grated at her all the more because control and desire were her game, her toys, her tools.
She hated the effect the blue-eyed boy had on her. Hated and loved his innocence and naiveté. Reverent of and repulsed by his role as both a moral compass and defender of righteousness.
Most of all, she hated the way he made her question: hate or love?
More and more, she was finding it was the latter. It was hard to hate someone with that much goodness in him.
She told herself that was all there was to it.
"What's a meme?" His voice jerked her from her thoughts. She packed away the feelings of disgust, sought the wry, witty sometimes-companion she thought Captain America seemed to like.
It wasn't very hard to find that version of herself.
Once again, he wore that look of concentration. She leaned over and peered at his screen. "Did you just Google smiling corgi—I don't believe it, you did."
He looked a touch confused. It was sheepish confusion, tinged with slight embarrassment. That face—the one she loved and hated best. "Well, if you were comparing me to a dog, I wanted to know which kind."
"Rogers, I was not calling you a dog."
He cracked a smile at her quick rebuttal, amused at her amusement. "Hey, it's okay. They're pretty cute."
"In a, just got high sort of way?"
He'd only just started to protest amid a bout of almost guilty chuckling, when she'd turned to flash him a grin. It seemed almost natural with him—but then he blinked, and the chuckling slowly died away.
What remained was the smile he always seemed to wear in her presence. Slightly unsure, but warm. Wary, yet in its own way, trusting and fond.
His voice was soft. "Hey, now you've got that smiling face."
She tried for a careless dismissal. "You don't deserve the Sourpuss face I save for Stark."
"I get the corgi smile?"
He looked genuinely touched, happy, even. She felt the smile deepen. "I'll show you a real corgi smile when we get there."
A/N: First off—I'm a shipper. I ship. Heh.
Secondly, really, who're they kidding with all that chemistry and barely-repressed sexual tension? I'm not a comic book reader, but boy have the movies made Steve and Nat out to be so darn good for each other. AND, Ultimate Avengers sails my ship!
Third—title is slightly more solemn. I get the feeling sometimes Steve and Nat think they're not enough for each other, which is of course leads to the main title. I promise some of these should be lighthearted, so enjoy the ride! Also, for the abrupt end I wrote in, I imagine she grabbed his phone when they got there and typed in :D, and that was his real corgi smile. Gahahaa, poor Steve isn't impressed in my head.
Fourth—if you've gotten this far to reading my ramblings, thanks! I hope you enjoyed this first oneshot, and hopefully I'll get into the right frame of mind to write another soonish! In my current shipping state, I'm not too worried it'd take too long. Drop me a review with suggestions, or just to send me some love, though!