Clint stopped in his tracks. "Nat?" He breathed out.

Steve's eyes flicked between them. "You two know each other?"

Natasha looked at all the eyes on her before turning to Clint, her only friend that she thought she'd never see again. "I use to," she said finally.

The sound of highheels clicking on the floor stopped the conversation. The sound came from a tall girl that looked to be around seventeen, her blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail. "Coulson said there's a new recruit," she said while looking at her clipboard.

"Yes, Pepper, she's right here," Steve said, stepping aside to put Natasha in Pepper's line of vision.

"Name?"

Natasha's eyes flicked to Clint, he's always known her by Natalie Rushman. She looked back at Pepper, "Natasha Romanoff."

"Natasha?" Clint muttered, but Natasha ignored him.

Pepper scribbled on her clipboard before turning back to her with a smile. "Natasha Romanoff, welcome to SHIELD."

SHIELD only had one downside, it was completely self sufficient. Which meant everyone had jobs to do, which were all jobs Natasha were terrible at. She really could only do the raids, but she has only been there for two weeks, so they didn't trust her to do them yet.

Which is how Natasha found herself in the kitchens, the job she hates the most. She never learned how to cook. Before her mother died she tried teaching Natasha multiple times, but Natasha never got the hang of it. She burnt almost everything she made, so they just gave her a cutting board and kept her away from the stove.

Even though she hates the kitchens, it passes the time. She had been avoiding Clint and the millions of question he probably had for her.

For some reason she was avoiding Steve too, she didn't know why. The only time she saw him was the third day she was there. He caught her eye and gave her a small smile, but she pretended not to see him and ducked into a random door.

"I thought you were dead."

She looked up from the cutting board to see Clint with his arms crossed. "Well it's not like I had any way of contacting you," she said, looking back down at the cutting board. Over the years she had to fight the urge to go back to the circus to see if Clint was still there, but she knew it was a stupid idea.

The chair next to her scratched against the floor, and Clint's voice was next to her. "I know, just stop avoiding me."

She didn't look at him. "I'm not," she said.

"That's bullshit." She stayed quiet, and he sighed. "I know you're not big on the whole mushy reunion thing, I'm not either, but seeing your face once in awhile would be nice."

She finally looked at him. "I'm not apologizing."

"I'm not expecting you to."

A weight lifted off her chest, she didn't even know it was there until it was gone. She had missed Clint, a lot, and she had her best friend back.

"Natalie was a fake name, my name is Natasha," she said.

A smile tugged on Clint's lips. "Alright, Tasha."

Even though Pepper showed her around on her first day, Natasha still wandered around looking for any places that she didn't know about. Which is how she found the roof.

It easily became one of her favorite places, and it was where she went when she wasn't working. She loved sunlight, and with Fall approaching there wasn't going to be much of it soon. So she spent as much time on the roof as she could.

"You found my favorite spot."

Natasha's head whipped around to see Steve with a small smile on his face. His smile faded at her expression. "I could leave if you want."

Natasha tried to smile. "No, you're fine."

Steve sat next her. "You're crazy you know? Most people wouldn't dangle their legs over the side of a building."

She had never really been afraid of heights. Mostly because of Clint, they would always make bets about who could climb a building faster. At first Clint would win, but Natasha got good at it over time. Heights are something she doesn't think twice about.

Natasha shrugged. "Heights don't bother me," she said simply.

Silence settled over them. Natasha kept her eyes trained on the city below them, but she could occasionally feel Steve's eyes on her. Steve was the one to break the silence. "I've been with SHIELD for a year now; Bucky and I came here when we were seventeen. We've been best friends for years, before Hydra-"

"Why are you telling me all of this?" She cut him off.

He shot her a sideways glance. "So you feel more comfortable here, and maybe tell me about yourself."

She laughed. "Nice try."

"Well let's start with something simple. When's your birthday?" Steve asked.

"Different question."

"Fine," Steve paused, "favorite color?"

She looked at him. She never really noticed his eyes before, they were a shade of blue that she's never seen anyone else have. Without realizing it she spoke. "Blue. What's yours?"

He leaned back on his elbows. "Well it use to be blue, but lately I've been leaning more towards red." A pause. "You still haven't told me how old you are."

"Sixteen, I'm going to be seventeen soon though."

"So your birthday is close," Steve said, raising his eyebrows. She elbowed him. "I'm going to figure it out," he stated confidently.

"Have fun with that."

"I just turned eighteen last month," he said.

She laughed. "You're old, Rogers."

"Hey, Thor is older than me," Steve said, laughing.

"Thor?"

He turned to her. "You don't know Thor? Have you talked to anyone?"

"Nope."

"I'll introduce you to everyone," Steve said, raising.

"Later," she said, pulling him back down to the roof floor, "let's just stay up here a little longer."

He had this stupid grin on his face that made Natasha's heart pound. "Yes, Ma'am."

AN: So the next chapter will be more about Steve and Hydra with also a little bit of Romanogers. But I'm not going to make them get together so fast because that's boring. Favorites and follows are appreciated and reviews make my day. Thanks for reading!