Chapter Three
It was a week later and Natasha found Steve sat in the Avengers living-room, reading a book, when she approached him quietly from behind and put her hands over his eyes.
"Guess who?" she said, playfully.
"You're lucky I recognise your voice, Romanoff. Or I'd be flinging you onto this coach, and pinning you down in attack mode."
"A girl can dream" Natasha said cheekily, as she removed her hands to walk around to face Steve, whose initial thoughts at her comment were wiped clean as he saw she was now walking unaided.
"You're walking on your own?!" he said, excitedly, whilst discarding his book onto the sofa.
"Yep, Bruce has given me a clean bill of health. I can walk on it and even run if needed."
"Oh no, no running for at least a few days. I trust Bruce's medical opinion, but just keep the running to a minimum for now."
Natasha raised her eyebrows "But I can still do combat training though, right?"
"Don't see why not" Steve grinned.
Natasha matched his smile and pulled him up off the sofa by his arm "Come on then, Captain, I need a training buddy."
Steve was dragged to the training room and he helped to train Natasha, but he didn't push her too hard, despite her pleads for him to keep challenging her more. After an hour of training, she conceded that Steve was right in that she shouldn't go to her full capacity yet, she was now very drained.
"I hate it when you're right" Natasha said, grabbing a drink from her water bottle.
Steve laughed "Come on, we both need to get in the shower and then we'll have dinner."
"That a promise?" Natasha flirted with the Captain.
Steve turned to Natasha, somewhat shocked at her comment, but also couldn't help himself "You play your cards right, Romanoff."
And he walked off with a smile on his face, heading for the men's changing area.
Natasha looking equally surprised, and chuckled at his response, before heading to the female changing area of the training floor.
"Bet you ten dollars they will be together by the end of Natasha's birthday tomorrow" Clint said to Bruce.
The two of them had come down to see where their two Avenger team mates were, and had heard their conversation, as they were stood near the doorway.
"I would take you up on that bet, Clint, if I didn't agree with you completely."
...
Natasha's birthday dawned the next day, and everyone was treated to a pancake breakfast, cooked by Steve. Clint then went training with her in the morning, followed by Stark taking the team out to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The afternoon consisted of just hanging around and getting ready for the party in the evening.
Natasha was the last one of the team to arrive for dinner that evening. She was dressed in a floor length black dress, with a low cut front. She was wearing ruby red lipstick and she had on high stiletto black heels. Her flaming red hair was curled and let down as usual. When she arrived from the lift, and the group spotted her approaching, there was a wolf whistle from Clint, and Steve just stood there with his mouth open like a fish.
"You scrub up well, Nat" Clint told her as he gave her a hug.
"Yeah not bad at all, Romanoff" Stark told her, before he spotted Steve gawking at her and chuckled. "Cat got your tongue, Steve?"
Natasha turned to the Captain and smiled lovingly at him.
"You look beautiful" Steve said softly and kissed her cheek, and gave her a hug.
"Thank-you" Natasha replied quietly into his ear.
"You all scrub up well too" Natasha told the boys, as she noticed they were all dressed smartly in shirts and formal trousers and shoes.
"One must make an effort for a celebration" Thor told the birthday girl.
Everyone was very excited to see Jane, Darcy, Sam and Maria who all turned up dressed smartly a few moments later, with Pepper being last at the party as she had been working late. They sat down to dinner that had been prepared by some chefs that Tony had hired for the night. Then it was time for Natasha to receive her present.
Night time was upon them now, and Natasha, Steve, Tony, Pepper, Thor, Bruce, Maria, Jane, Darcy, Sam and Clint, were now all gathered in the living-room area of the Avengers Tower.
"Now, Natasha, I know you didn't want anything for your birthday" Pepper told her as she stood next to a box covered in a black cloth "but we couldn't let the day go without getting you something. And so we all clubbed together, and we got you this." Pepper removed the black cloth that had been hiding the karaoke machine.
Natasha laughed "Oh my god, I love it! Thank-you guys."
"It's the best one you can get" Stark told her "Plus I've tweaked it slightly so Jarvis can have access to it, and if it doesn't contain the song we want then Jarvis can add it in."
"So it's like a box version of iTunes then?" Darcy chuckled.
"Pretty much, yeah" Tony agreed.
"So we thought we could have a karaoke party tonight to finish off your birthday, what do you think?" Pepper said, excitedly.
Natasha beamed "Yeah, that sounds like great fun! I love it guys, thank-you so much!"
There were excited cheers from the room.
As Tony set it all up and began talking to Jarvis, Natasha asked Pepper quietly.
"Was this all your idea?"
Pepper shook her head "No, Steve was the one who thought of the karaoke machine idea for your present, and for us to throw you a surprise karaoke party. He said you love singing. You should've seen him, he was so excited when he was helping Tony and I pick it out."
Natasha turned to look at Steve, who was talking animately with Sam sat next to him on the sofa, and she beamed with happiness. He was definitely one of the good guys.
Once Stark was done with all the technical set up, he gave the karaoke microphone to Natasha, who was now stood in front of the screen, facing everyone who was sat on the sofas, all their attentions on the birthday girl.
"Okay as it is my birthday, I thought we could all write a few song suggestions each to put in a bowl, and then each of us has to pick one to sing. If you refuse to sing the song, you have to down a shot of vodka."
"Ooo I love this already!" called a very excited Darcy.
"And we'll do some group songs or duets as well too. So, everyone happy with the rules?" Natasha asked, with which everyone nodded.
"Okay, get writing!"
Everyone had a piece of paper and began writing suggestions down, tearing them up into small pieces and folded them up and put them in Iron Man's helmet, as per Tony's insistence.
Stark was laughing to himself as he put in a few ideas.
Natasha groaned "Oh god I may regret this whole game. Tony don't go too mad!"
"Just you wait!" Tony giggled.
Once everyone had put their suggestions in, Natasha opted to go first as it was her birthday. She rummaged around in the helmet and pulled out. 'Britney Spears - Baby One More Time'.
There was laughter from everyone, apart from Natasha who groaned "Oh god, no! Whose choice was this? Pepper, was this you?"
"Sorry!" Pepper hid her face with her hands for a second.
"Sing or shot, Tash?" Bruce called.
Natasha rolled her eyes "Sing."
Natasha was a very good singer, and found Britney all too easy to sing, but she really wasn't keen on that song. Stark, Clint and Sam spent most of the song giggling, thankfully the girls were all singing along with Natasha, as they were sat on the sofas watching her.
"Good job Red, okay who is next?" Stark asked, offering his Iron Man helmet out to the group.
"I'll go" Steve got out of his seat, much to everyone's surprise.
"Yeah! Come on Cap!" came the excited and surprised cheers of his fellow friends and Avengers.
"Get this over and done with" Steve laughed, before putting his hand in to get his song 'Michael Buble - Haven't Met You Yet'.
Stark groaned loudly, whilst the girls beamed and Steve smiled too "I actually know this one! I dodged a bullet there by the look on Stark's face."
Stark was looking so annoyed with himself, whilst Natasha beamed at Steve as the song started and she continued with her happy expression as she watched him sing. She knew Steve wasn't keen on singing in front of a group of people, and when he occasionally looked over at her when he was singing, she would wink at him, which made him smile as he sung. The whole group couldn't understand why Steve was so insecure about his singing voice, as everyone thought he was actually a decent singer.
When Cap finished, everyone applauded and he sat back down next to Sam.
"Good job buddy! Who's next?"
Jane volunteered and was happy with 'Empire State of Mind' by Alicia Keys. Bruce followed her with his rendition of 'Wake me up before you go, go' by Wham.
The entire group was crying with laughter at how enthusiastic Bruce was singing his song.
"Bruce, that was shocking!" Tony laughed, as he stood up and took the microphone from his friend to take his go.
His face plummeted to a shocking shade of white as he got 'Vogue' by Madonna, which launched the group into hysterical laughter. Tony decided to take the song in his stride though and owned the song, which only made them laugh more.
Steve took the opportunity to mock Tony as he finished the song.
"Stark, don't give up your day job for singing, please! My ears hurt!"
"Oh yeah, spangles, I dare you to have another go" he offered out the microphone to the Avengers leader.
"Alright then, challenge accepted" Steve got up from his seat, much to the surprised cheers of everyone else.
"Steve, what is going on with you, man? I love this!" Sam encouraged him, shocked that Steve wanted to sing again.
Steve picked out another song and read out "Ice Ice Baby! - Vanilla Ice."
Stark laughed so hard and jumped on the spot, punching the air "Yes! You got it!"
"Oh Tony, that's just cruel!" Pepper hit her boyfriend on the arm "Steve sit down, I'll sing it for you."
"No, no, it's okay Pepper, I'll do it." Steve then chuckled "Oh god I'm regretting this already, I don't know how to rap."
"Jarvis, please record every second of this, I want to relive it over and over again!" Tony laughed hard. But was quickly quietened by Jarvis who refused point blank to do so.
The song began and Natasha was already cringing for Steve, who got four lines in and looked so confused and lost his way. Thankfully Sam stepped up and took the microphone off him.
"Buddy, let me."
Steve gladly handed him the microphone and took a shot of vodka as he finished early, and sat in his seat on the sofa and burrowed his face into a cushion, with Stark sat across from him still laughing. Natasha came to sit in Sam's empty seat and put her hand on Steve's back, she too was laughing quietly and Steve removed the cushion to see her laughing, and he laughed too and shook his head. Everyone calmed down to listen to Sam who was incredibly good at the song. Too good in fact.
"Sam, you killed it!" Darcy said all too enthusiastically "Now my turn, my turn!" she was only too happy to get 'Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi'.
Darcy wanted to pick another song once she was finished, but Stark stopped her.
"Darcy, shall we let the God of thunder have a go?"
"I do not know any of your human songs" Thor looked puzzled "Please, Darcy, continue if you wish."
"If you don't sing Thor, you have to take a shot" Maria told him.
"I'll take three shots as recompense, and Darcy may sing again."
"Okay, but Thor you pick my song for me" Darcy picked up the helmet and offered it out to Thor, who mixed the pieces of paper and took out "MC Hammer - You Can't Touch This."
Everyone burst into a fit of giggles.
"Oh my god, I love whoever put that in there for Thor!" Tony cried with joy "Who was it?"
"It was me!" Darcy admitted "But now I'm the one singing it, it's not so funny! I wanted Thor to get it!"
Thor looked so lost at all the laughter and turned to Jane sat next to him "What is the significance of this song with myself?"
"It's just the words 'hammer time' in it, Darcy was trying to be funny" Jane gave a slightly admirable smile at her intern.
"Darcy, I love your thinking!" Stark gave her a high five "You can come here more often, wish I'd thought of that one!"
Clint sniggered "Wow I never thought we'd see the day, someone actually cleverer than you Stark!"
Tony piped up "Well why don't you sing it for Darcy, Legolas, we haven't heard you sing yet."
"Oh not a chance i'll be singing that, no way" Clint laughed, taking a swig of his beer.
"Why, are you scared you'll look stupid?" Stark teased.
"Couldn't be half as stupid as you looked earlier" Clint sniggered.
"Boys, boys, play nicely!" Pepper told them.
"Tell you what, Darcy, I'll sing it for you instead" Sam told her "I've saved Cap already tonight, I'll help you out too."
Darcy shook her head "No, it's okay. I can pull this off. I just need more of" she then downed three shots of vodka, and grabbed the microphone.
Darcy really acted up for the song and had everyone in fits of laughter, and Sam even got up to dance with her. They finished singing and dancing, and sat together on the sofa. Maria got up to sing 'What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)' by Kelly Clarkson. Pepper soon followed with 'Bohemian Rapsody' by Queen. Almost the whole group joined in the singing with the latter song.
"And last but not least, Clint it's your go!" Natasha said with a smile as she drunk her beer, before grabbing a handful of nachos out of the bowl that Steve had had in his lap for the last few moments.
Clint rolled his eyes as he read the name of the song he picked from the helmet "Frank Sinatra - My Way. Steve, I bet this was your suggestion?"
Steve nodded "Correct!"
Clint was happy enough with Steve's suggestion, after all it could've been a lot worse.
Once he finished, Natasha smiled "Right so we've all picked out of the helmet now, so anyone can sing what they want or we could do some group ones?"
Whilst people were deciding what to sing, and who to sing with, everyone was up and getting drinks and having bathroom breaks. Natasha came up to Steve as he had just walked back into the room, she beamed at him and gave him a tight hug.
Steve laughed as Natasha continued to hug him "What's this for?"
Natasha brought herself out of the hug to say "I wanted to thank-you for my present, and the whole karaoke idea. Pepper told me it was all down to you."
Steve smiled bashfully "Well, I told you I'd think of something. I'm glad you're enjoying it."
Natasha could barely keep the smile off her face "You're the best, d'ya know that?" and she kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly again.
Steve happily hugging her back, and said softly into her ear "I do now."
They hugged like this for far longer than necessary, it soon caught the attention of Maria and Sam.
"Oi, Steve, stop hugging the birthday girl will you. I've got more shots over here that need drinking!" Maria joked, holding up the tray of shot glasses that she had brought in.
Natasha and Steve broke apart from eachother and went back to join their friends at the sofas, everyone else re-joining the group too.
Tony, Clint and Sam began the singing again, with a group rendition of Mr Brightside by The Killers. Then the girls consisting of Pepper, Jane, Darcy, Natasha and Maria did Wannabe by The Spice Girls. Natasha wasn't too pleased with the choice of song, but she had been out-voted by the other girls, and they all had fun together once they were up there.
Pepper quickly persuaded Tony to do a duet straight after, and unfortunately for them the rest of the group decided it would be Aladdin - A Whole New World. Disney films were not a favourite of Tony's, and he knew he would not live this down for the rest of the evening, if not ever.
"Okay, I've done my bit, Cap your go with a duet" Tony insisted as he sat down next to Pepper.
"Me, why me?" Steve looked flummoxed.
"Because you're the leader of the Avengers, so you need to do it. Team work and all that."
Steve rolled his eyes "Okay, but how do I choose who to sing with?"
"We'll draw names out" Maria said, writing everyone's names on paper, and putting them in the now empty nachos bowl that they had on the table.
Steve rummaged around through the names with his eyes closed, and took out a piece of paper and he smiled as he saw whose name was on it.
"I suppose it's only right that the leader sings with the birthday girl."
Natasha grinned and got up to stand next to Steve, who handed her the other microphone. "What are we singing?"
"Ooo what about Time of my life?" suggested Pepper.
There were cries of agreement around the room, apart from Natasha who groaned "Oh Pepper, really?"
Steve was actually not that against the song choice "Come on Nat, we can do it. And I actually know that one."
Jane looked surprised "Didn't have you down as a Dirty Dancing fan, Cap?"
"Well Pepper puts the film on enough, and also that song really sticks in your head." He then turned to Natasha "What d'ya reckon?"
Natasha was persuaded "Go on then, as it's you."
"Don't forget to do the lift at the end!" Darcy called out.
Natasha laughed "Not a chance!"
As the song started playing loudly, Sam whispered in Pepper's ear "You're a genius! They can't ignore their feelings about eachother after singing this together."
"Why d'you think I suggested it?" Pepper said with a smirk as she whispered it back to Sam.
The two of them chuckled quietly and looked on expectantly at Steve and Natasha.
Within seconds of the song starting, Natasha and Steve became very swept up in the song. They held hands and sung at each other, dancing together as they sung and danced particularly close, especially during the break of the song where there was just the instrumental section.
"When I say drop, put your microphone down and we'll do the lift thing" Steve said into Natasha's ear, gleefully, during the instrumental break in the song.
Natasha laughed "Okay."
And a few moments later, Steve called out the word and right on cue, the two of them dropped their microphones and Natasha ran up to him and Steve lifted her up in the air, over his head. Much to the excited cries of everyone else in the room, he soon brought Natasha down onto her feet and they hugged each other tightly as the song ended.
"That was brilliant!" Pepper said, excitedly.
"We're not going to live this down are we?" Steve said, mainly to the guys.
"Not a chance!" Clint said, slapping Steve on his back with a smile.
"Does anyone else want to do another duet or shall we do a group number?" Darcy asked.
They all agreed on a group song of 'Livin' on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi, and then the girls managed to persuade the boys to do the Grease Megamix.
"Right, that's me done now!" Tony called, sitting down on the sofa, with Pepper cuddling up to his side.
"Shall we call it a day with the karaoke?" Maria asked.
"I think the birthday girl should do one more song" Thor suggested "It's only right, it's her birthday and Natasha is the best singer of the group."
"Thank-you Thor!" Natasha smiled, somewhat shyly. "Okay, I'll finish it off with one last song, what song shall it be?"
"Why don't you just pick from the ones in the helmet?" Bruce suggested "There are still a few left."
Natasha got up from the sofa "Okay, but Stark if you've put a stupid one in here I'm not doing it!"
Stark raised his hands in defence, which caused everyone to chuckle.
Natasha reached in and randomly picked out "A Thousand Years by Christina Perri."
"Oh I love that one!" Darcy said with a beaming smile. "I bet Jane wrote that one?"
Jane grinned, "I did. Sorry Nat, pick another if you want?"
Natasha got the microphone and played the song "No it's good. I actually love this song."
A few whoops of encouragement were heard as the song started, and then the room fell silent as Natasha began singing the song. She had such a beautifully soft voice, and it was like a whole different side of the Black Widow emerged as she sung the lyrics. Pepper cuddled up to Tony closer and tears sprung in her eyes as she listened to her friend singing. Jane did a similar thing with Thor, who was listening with admiration.
Bruce, however, was the first one to spot the person most affected in the room, and that was Steve. Bruce gently nudged Clint, who he was sat next to, and motioned his head in the direction of Steve. Darcy and Sam quickly cottoned on to this too, and they all looked between Steve and Natasha, watching them both with knowing smiles. The rest of the group caught on to this very quickly and tried their best not to all watch Steve's reaction to Natasha's singing.
Steve couldn't take his eyes off the red-headed assassin, he was in utter awe and tears began forming in his eyes as he took the lyrics to heart, wishing with all his being that Natasha was singing the song about him.
Natasha could barely keep her eyes off Steve as she sung, she let all her feelings pour out at the words of the song. Her heart was pounding and her emotions were trying to get the better of her. They smiled at eachother at breaks in the song, they were lost in eachother. Totally. It was as if none of the other people were in the room.
As the song ended, Natasha's eyes were glassing over and everyone stood on their feet and clapped and cheered her.
"Natasha, that was so beautiful!" Pepper cried as she came up and hugged her friend.
"You nailed it, Nat!" Sam gave her a high five, and Natasha chuckled as she could see some of the guys had tears in their eyes.
"Thanks guys. I think that'll be all the singing for tonight. That's a nice song but it's a total party mood killer."
"Oh I don't know, couldn't have ended better" Bruce smiled at the assassin.
"Oh it's not over yet" Tony said with a grin on his face "Jarvis, it's music time!"
"As you wish sir" Jarvis responded.
As the music played everyone started dancing, and getting more drinks and chatting amongst themselves.
Steve walked up to Natasha, who was about to start chatting to Pepper and Maria.
"Sorry ladies, Nat can I talk to you for a minute?" Steve couldn't hold it in any longer, he needed to talk to her.
Natasha gave a small nod and a smile, Steve took hold of her hand and walked her to the terrace area outside. Pepper and Maria looked at eachother with excited eyes and went to talk to the guys, and soon enough everyone was watching Natasha and Steve from a distance through the large windows.
It was a beautiful night, slightly cold but neither of them seemed bothered. Steve looked awfully nervous and Natasha spotted it instantly.
"What's up Steve, you look worried?"
"I'm okay ..." Steve stopped himself and gazed at her eyes, "You sang really beautifully tonight, Nat."
Natasha smiled "Thank-you, I really like that last song."
"Me too, especially when you're the one singing it."
Natasha blushed deeply, and Steve was quick to spot it. The Black Widow never blushes.
"You're going all soppy on me Steve, you keep going and you'll make the birthday girl cry."
Steve chuckled quietly "I wouldn't want to do that. But I can't apologise for speaking the truth."
"I wouldn't expect you to do anything less" Natasha smiled sweetly at him.
"Whilst we're on the subject of honesty" Steve began, his pulse racing "I wanted to say something to you…something which has been on my mind for so long now and I need to tell you."
"What is it?" she smiled, encouragingly, half nervous but half curious.
"Well I don't know how to say it really…not really had that much experience with this kind of thing…but Natasha…I mean…you're so…you're amazing. And I want you to know how much you mean to me. You mean so much." He reached up tentatively and cupped her cheek with his hand "Natasha, I've fallen in love with you."
Natasha's eyes were filling with tears and she smiled the biggest smile "The feeling is entirely mutual, Steve. I love you too." And she kissed him fully on the lips, Steve deepened it and wrapped his arms around her waist.
The entire party had been watching them from inside and were now cheering with happiness.
"I called it!" Stark announced.
"You so did not call it" Clint argued, and many of the group began arguing about the bets they had made about their Avenger team mates getting together.
Luckily for the pair in question, they couldn't hear a thing, and were too wrapped up in eachother to notice.
Once they broke apart, they couldn't stop smiling.
"You've made me very happy" Natasha told Steve, linking her arms around his neck.
"The pleasure is all mine, I was so worried about telling you. I know I should've done it sooner and I should've done a big romantic gesture..."
"No, it was perfect" Natasha reassured him, "I'm glad you said something, I wanted to tell you for so long too."
"Why didn't you?" Steve asked, softly.
"I was scared. Scared you wouldn't feel the same way." But she put more sentiment behind her next words "I'm a broken person, Steve. I don't deserve to be this happy."
Steve cupped her cheek "Please don't say that, Nat. You're a good person. I don't care about what you did in the past, that's water under the bridge. You're one of the strongest people I know, and one of the most amazing. You are the most important person in my life, and you deserve every happiness as much as anyone, if not more so."
Natasha had tears in her eyes "I thought you said you didn't want to make the birthday girl cry?" she chuckled.
Steve chuckled too, before kissing her forehead and hugged her tightly, smelling her hair "I love you Natasha Romanoff."
Natasha brought them out of the hug and smiled "I love you too."
They kissed again and remained that way for a long time, before coming back to reality and smiling.
"Shall we go back inside and face the bear pit?" Natasha suggested.
Steve laughed "Come on then."
He took hold of her hand, the two of them smiling, and they returned back into the room and everyone else gave excited cheers.
"Congratulations!" Pepper called excitedly.
"I guess you saw it all then?" Steve asked, shaking his head with a grin.
"Damn right we did!" Sam joyfully gave his two friends a hug "We're all so happy for you."
"Yeah, took your time" Clint smirked at them both. "I'm glad you finally admitted it to her, Cap."
"You knew?!" Natasha asked, surprised.
"Of course! Everyone in this tower knew!" Clint continued "And I knew you both knew, but you were too stupid enough to admit it to each other."
Natasha and Steve just looked at each other and laughed, Steve putting his arm around Natasha and kissed the side of her head. The two of them were too happy for words.