Natasha Romanoff was one of Hollywood's most in-demand actresses. She'd been working in the industry since her pre-teen years, but it was only within the last five years that her career really took off. She was constantly getting cast in major films, always appearing on a different late-night talk show, doing interviews, and her face was plastered everywhere. So why she thought that she could go to a little pub in London and not be recognized, she didn't know.
She'd taken extra precautions, of course. She'd pulled her hair back, left most of her make-up off, and made sure to dress in something that wasn't too ostentatious, but also wasn't too laid back (which would still draw just as much attention to her). When she looked at herself in the mirror, she thought she looked almost unrecognizable. Her hair was even blonde at the moment for a role she was shooting just outside of London, which she assumed would attract less attention than her natural flame red hair.
"Ms. Romanoff," her bodyguard, Thor, called from just outside the door. Natasha quickly walked over, opening it up to greet him.
"Hi Thor," she said with a smile.
"Ms. Romanoff, are you sure that you don't want me to accompany you tonight?" He asked. He was always overly cautious when it came to her safety and insisted on going with her wherever she went.
"Yes Thor, I'm sure," she replied as she walked over to the nightstand where he small clutch purse was sat. When she turned back around to face him, he was frowning at her. She chuckled, "seriously, I can take care of myself. I'm just going for a couple of drinks and then I'll be back. Plus, it's a small pub Thor, the chances of someone noticing me there is pretty slim."
"What if I wait nearby, just in case you were to need me?" Natasha sighed as she pulled her black leather jacket on.
"No, it's your night off. You should go and be with Jane." She walked over and patted him on the chest, "I have your number and I promise I'll call if I need something." Natasha began to walk out of the room before turning back to face him, "but I won't need anything. So, go have fun." Thor began to protest, but Natasha wasn't having any of it, "goodnight Thor," she called as she closed the door behind her. As she left the building, she said goodnight to the doorman before walking to the edge of the street to hail a cab.
When she finally arrived at the pub, Natasha thanked the cab driver, quickly handing him her money, before sliding out of the backseat. The pub was small and looked kind of dingy from the outside, but it was perfect for Natasha. She walked in the door, counting a total of 8 people in the bar. Most of the people were there alone, but no one seemed to pay any attention to her as she walked over to the end seat at the bar. She noticed there was a man sitting in the booth just to the left of her, but he didn't pay her any attention, he just continued working on whatever he had in front of him.
"What can I get for you?" The bartender asked, only glancing at Natasha as he cleaned up a spot from a previous patron.
"Just a vodka neat, please," she replied.
The bartender nodded and quickly got to work making her drink. He brought it over and set it in front of her, before walking further down the bar to help another customer. Natasha inwardly sighed in relief that no one had noticed her, or if they had, they didn't seem to care. It was actually quite refreshing to be out in public and be seen as just another person going about their life, especially considering the chaos that usually followed her wherever she went.
It wasn't like Natasha wasn't used to her crazy life, she was, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to just relax and not worry about someone trying to snap a picture of her or go out for dinner without being swarmed with paparazzi. Natasha brought the glass up to her lips, taking a sip of the liquid, relishing in the slight burn that she felt in her throat. She hummed quietly at the taste and the warmth in the pit of her stomach before setting the glass back down in front of her. She reached over to her clutch and pulled her phone out of her purse, scanning through the messages on it. There was one message from Thor, asking her if she made it to the bar, and if she was doing okay. Natasha laughed quietly to herself before responding back to him. There were a couple messages that detailed her call instructions for Monday morning. As well as one message from Clint, her manager (and one of her best friends). Natasha opened up the message and a smile instantly spread across her face.
Are you crazy? A bar, in London, by yourself? Natasha laughed.
I've got to live a little sometimes, Barton. Plus, I'm fine. She sent the message out and took another drink, her phone buzzing only seconds later.
You could get hurt Tasha. He replied.
Natasha rolled her eyes, I'm a big girl, I'm not going to get hurt.
If I have to plan your funeral, I'm making sure they bury you in that atrocious outfit you had to wear for that Victorian movie.
Love you too Barton. :P She texted before putting her phone back into her purse.
Natasha finished off the rest of her drink before catching the bartender's attention to order another one. He delivered her drink and Natasha thanked him before he moved back down the bar. Natasha sat lost in thought for a few minutes, enjoying the silence and tranquility of the night. She would've remained that way too, if it hadn't been for the door to the pub swinging open violently and two rowdy guys walking in. Everyone's attention within the bar had turned toward the two men, the air becoming thick with irritation. Natasha rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her drink. The men stumbled further into the pub, sitting down a few seats away from her. One of the guys turned to look at her, winking before turning back to his friend, bumping him with his shoulder, and pointing at Natasha.
Fuck, Natasha thought to herself as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She stared down at her glass, attempting to ignore them when she felt someone slide into the seat next to her.
"What's a pretty girl like you doing alone at a bar?" One of the men asked, his breath reeked of alcohol and he was far too close to her for comfort.
"Trying to enjoy my night, alone," she replied, sliding her chair further away from him.
"Oh, come on, gorgeous, we're not bad guys." He slid his chair closer to her once again, this time wrapping his arm around her.
She shrugged out of his hold, before turning to face him, "you think you can just touch people whenever you want? What part of 'I'm not interested,' don't you understand? Get lost."
"Dude!" The second man shouted, "you're Natasha Romanoff!"
"Oh my god, you are!" The other guy replied. "Well that's even more of a reason for you to come get with us."
Natasha scrunched up her face, "that's literally the last thing I want to do."
The guy reached up and grabbed her face in his hands, "you look like you could handle the both of us," he said with a laugh.
"I'm pretty sure she said she's not interested," a voice boomed from behind Natasha's back.
The guy scoffed, getting up from the seat he was sitting in and stalking over to the booth behind Natasha. "I'm pretty sure you weren't involved in this conversation," he yelled.
"Leave her alone," the man in the booth growled.
"Or what?" The guy said, "are you going to do something about it?" He reached out and jabbed the man in the chest. The man looked down at where his hand was and smiled before laughing. "Something funny?"
The man pushed himself out of the booth to stand up. He towered over the two smaller guys, he was pretty obviously ripped from the way that his button up shirt fell on his body. He had the sleeves of the shirt already rolled up and cuffed at his elbows and had paired the shirt with khakis. Natasha felt herself drooling over him, even though she was slightly annoyed that he hadn't let her handle the situation on her own. When he stepped out of the dim booth and into the light, however, she was snapped out of her trance. Steve?
The two guys had started backing up when they realized who the man in front of them was, "woah, sorry dude. We were just messing around," one of them stuttered.
"Get out," Steve snarled as he continuously walked towards them, pushing them towards the exit.
"Yeah, no problem man, we were thinking about leaving anyway," the other one said. He quickly grabbed onto his friend's shirt and the two of them ran out of the bar, the door slamming shut behind them.
Natasha looked down at her drink, unable to hide the smirk on her face. "I had that, you know?" She teased, looking up at him.
"I have no doubt about that," he replied, giving her a small smile, "but I couldn't stand to listen to them talk to you like that anymore."
"Well thank you." She smiled at him and he nodded before beginning to walk back over to his booth. "So, you're just going to save a girl and run?"
Steve turned back around to face her, "well, I just thought you wanted to be alone." Natasha shrugged and raised an eyebrow at him. Steve laughed, "alright then." He leaned over to the bartender and ordered another drink for him and another drink for her, not needing to ask what she was drinking because he already knew. When the bartender brought them back, Steve took them and gestured for Natasha to follow him to the booth he had been sitting in.
Natasha smiled, grabbing her purse off the counter and sliding into the booth across from him. Steve slid her drink over to her and she grabbed it, bringing it up to her lips for a quick drink before setting it back down on the table. "So, what is Steve Rogers doing in London?" she asked as she placed her elbow on the table and leaned her head against her hand. "I mean other than being my hero," she added with a wink.
"I could ask you the same thing," he replied with a laugh. Steve drew in a deep breath and leaned back against the booth, bringing his glass of whisky up to his lips, "you know, I really don't know what I'm doing here." Natasha furrowed her eyebrow together and he laughed a deep, hearty laugh that made Natasha's heart skip a beat. "You don't have to look so concerned, Nat. I just meant that I don't have a specific reason for being here. I just needed to get out of the states, I guess."
"I know what you mean."
"I don't know how long I'll be here, but it'll definitely be a while," he added with a shrug. Natasha nodded before Steve continued, "what are you doing out here?"
Natasha sighed, "I'm here for filming. I just got here on Friday, and we start shooting on Monday."
"Didn't you just get done filming another movie?" His eyebrows knitted together in concern.
Natasha slid her jacket off of her arms, revealing the olive-green tank top she wore underneath, "yeah."
"Nat," he said warily, "you're going to burn yourself out."
Natasha laughed and took another drink of her vodka, "so I've heard." She looked up from the table to meet his eyes, "oh come on Rogers, you know I hate it when you give me that face."
This time Steve laughed, the concern melting away from his features, "you always have."
Natasha smirked and raised her eyebrows at him, "yet you still do it."
"Well it usually works, doesn't it?" He challenged, raising an eyebrow back at her. Natasha rolled her eyes and looked away from him, "but seriously Natasha. You should be careful about overworking yourself. It's okay for you to say no to roles."
Natasha drew in a breath and crossed her arms on the table, "it just feels wrong to. I mean, we've worked for this for so long."
"Just because you don't take every role that's offered to you doesn't mean you aren't grateful," Steve replied. Steve reached over and grabbed her hand, "Nat, no one is going to think you're any less talented or that you haven't earned it because you turn down roles that aren't as appealing to you or because you need a break." Natasha pursed her lips together as she thought about what he said. "You're amazing. You don't need to prove that to anyone."
Natasha sat there for a moment longer as Steve searched her face for some sign of what she was thinking about. "I'll be right back," she said as she grabbed her phone out of her clutch and walked away from the table and into the bathroom. Steve smiled and shook his head to himself, same ol' Nat.
Natasha quickly dialed Clint's number on her phone, "come on Barton, pick up," she whispered quietly as the phone rang.
"Hello?" Clint huffed as he answered the phone.
"We need to talk," Natasha said.
"Well, Tasha, I'm kind of up on the roof right now fixing something for Laura, can it wait?"
"No, not really," she replied quickly.
Clint set the tools he was using down on the roof, sitting himself down beside them. "Is everything okay?" He asked, she wasn't usually one to insist on talking if he was busy and it wasn't urgent.
"Yes, well… no," Natasha hesitated. "I'm fine, but I need you to do something for me."
"Okay," Clint replied, "what's up?"
"I want to pull out of this movie."
"What! Tasha are you serious?" Clint asked incredulously.
"Yes, I don't want to do it," she replied.
Clint blew out a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, "Why do you want to pull out of the movie?"
Natasha leaned her back against the wall, looking at herself in the mirror and thinking about what Steve said. "I don't want to get burnt out Clint, and I already feel like I'm starting to get there. I just-I want a break. I want some time to myself."
"I get it Tasha. I'll make some calls and let them know."
Natasha breathed out a sigh of relief, "thanks Clint, you're the best."
"What kind of manager would I be if I wasn't looking out for my star," he replied with a chuckle. "So then are you coming back to L.A. immediately?"
Natasha bit on her bottom lip, she hadn't really thought very much about that part yet. I don't know how long I'll be here, but it'll definitely be a while, Steve's words ran through her head and she smiled. Who better to show her how to live without constantly filming than Steve? They'd both gotten their breaks together, but Steve was far more laid back than she was. "You know what?" she said, "I think I'm going to stay here for a while."
Clint furrowed his eyebrows, surprised by her answer, "alright then. Be safe and let us know if you need anything. Keep us updated."
Natasha rolled her eyes, it was just like Clint to act like an overprotective dad, "I will," she replied before saying goodbye and hanging up.
Natasha walked back out to the booth, noticing Steve slide a small notebook back beside him on the booth when he saw her emerge from the bathroom.
"Everything alright?" He asked, giving her a sweet smile.
Natasha returned his smile as she slid into the booth, "yeah, everything's fine." She paused for a moment and took a drink of her drink. "I have a job for you," she said.
Steve's eyebrows knitted together as he looked at her, "that's sweet of you Nat, but I'm not really looking for work right now."
Natasha rolled her eyes, "I don't mean an actual job, dork."
"Okay," he replied, his expression unchanging.
"I quit the movie."
Shock washed over Steve's face, "you did what? Nat, I didn't mean that you should quit the movie immediately. I just-"
"Steve, I know. I quit because I wanted to. You were right. I'm overworking myself. I don't want to constantly be on a schedule and have every single minute of my life planned out," Natasha leaned back against the seat of her booth and folded her arms. "I just want to be able to have fun." Steve's lips began to twitch up at the corner. "Show me how to have fun," she finished with a smirk.
"That's the job?" He said with a laugh. "Help you have fun?"
"Help me have fun," she echoed, as she drank down the rest of her vodka.
Steve tilted his head at her slightly before a wide grin appeared on his face. He reached beside him and grabbed the satchel that had his notebook in it before standing up beside the table and reaching out a hand to her. Natasha narrowed her eyes at him, and he raised an eyebrow at her. She hesitated for a moment longer before grabbing his hand and allowing him to help her up. She quickly reached behind her and grabbed her purse and jacket as he went to pay for their drinks. Natasha caught up with him and he held his elbow out to her for wrap her arm around.
"Ready for an adventure?" Steve asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"Absolutely," she replied as she hooked their arms together, following him out of the pub and into the bustling London night.
Author's Note: So, I don't really know where this fic came from. Originally, it was just going to be a one-shot, but it would have been suuuuuper long. I don't plan on this fic being as long as either of the other multi-chaptered fics I'm currently working on, but then again, we'll see how that goes.
Also, I plan on there being smut in this story eventually, which will be my first attempt at it, so just bear with me there haha.
Please review, favorite, and follow, and let me know if you guys are wanting to see more!