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By Lord-of-Dragons-2007
well as far as I can tell the story is somewhat accepted, hey thanks guys for giving it a chance. Here's a new chapter hope you guys keep enjoying it.
After an hour and a half Natasha had finished her work out and headed towards the elevator to head towards the elevator towards the living quarters so she could take a shower. She entered her room and went straight for the shower, she had worked up quite a sweat as she ran with her head drifting to things like her short and forgotten childhood. She stood there under the hot water and let the hot water and steam relax her muscles from her work out, usually sparing with Clint the way they did today would leave her a tad bit on the sore side.
After about half an hour Natasha came out of the shower and got herself ready for a day of…Nothing really. She was on leave for the next couple of months, meaning that she was going to have time to get better acquainted with the team and to catch up on things she's been wanting to do. Once she was dressed she went back out to the common room where she saw Steve lounging and relaxing with his drawing pad, Bruce was nowhere to be seen. He was undoubtable in the lab working on God knows what, and Clint was probably packing for his next mission. Natasha watched Steve for a moment, he was heavily invested in his drawing. She thought it was cute that he was lost in his own little world while he drew whatever it was he was drawing, after a few minutes her curiosity got the better of her and she had to see what he was drawing. She quietly made her way behind him and finally saw what had him so enthralled, it was a curious drawing that seemed to have the whole team pictured as being part of a 'family circus'. Bruce was the strongest man alive, Natasha was the traipse artist, Tony was the clown, Clint was the daredevil, Steve was the type rope walker, and finally Fury and Maria were the ring leaders of the circus.
After a moment or two of Natasha looking over his shoulder, Steve stooped drawing and looked up and around the room, he could feel a pair of eyes watching him, and then he realized where they were coming from. He turned around slowly and was greeted by a smiling Natasha,
"Sorry Rodgers, I couldn't resist. You were so engrossed in your drawing that I just had to see." She said with a smile and a giggle as she saw the look on his face,
"You know you could have just asked." He said fighting the blush on his face,
"I could have, but this was more fun than just asking." She said still giggling at his expression,
"So what made you draw this?" Natasha asked the man curiously,
"Well I couldn't stop what you were saying this morning about us being a family more than a team and I was just inspired to do this." Steve said explaining his drawing,
"And the circus part?" she asked him with a quirked eyebrow,
"Come on Natasha, you don't think sometimes we're a bit of a circus act?" he asked her with a quirked eyebrow himself, Natasha looked down and chuckled a little before she met his eyes again,
"Fair enough. I like how you made Tony the clown." She said as she looked at his drawing again,
"Seemed kinda fitting, don't you think?" he asked her as he admired his work of turning the billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,
"You know, you're really good at this. Have you ever thought about selling any of your art? I'm sure given the quality and who you are that people would race to get some of your art." Natasha said complimenting him on his drawing,
"Come to think about it I haven't seen any of your other drawings." She said as she came back around and joined him on the couch and sat next to him so he could hopefully show her his drawings. Seeing that Natasha had invited herself to see his sketches he really didn't have much of a choice, he spent several minuets showing Natasha the various things he had sketched. He had sketched things from his life back in war to things that were today and now, he clearly had a talent for this,
"I don't think I've ever seen you sketch, aside from today that is." She said as she looked up at him,
"Well I don't get much of a chance to sketch, too busy on missions." He said honestly, which brought a little frown to her face. They had been busy recently though she knew that it was in defense of something greater for everyone. It amazed her that the people around her had their own hobbies, Steve had his drawing, Bruce had his poetry, and Tony she assumed just tinkered and made things. She never really knew that they had these sides to them and their hobbies, she wouldn't mind taking on a few hobbies herself aside from her reading which she didn't consider a hobby herself,
"So have you ever….Taught anyone how to draw?" Natasha asked Steve curiously, he thought about her question for a moment or two,
"No not really, Bucky wanted to when we were younger, but he could never sit still long enough to define and work with his drawings." He said explaining a rather fond and humorous memory,
"Bucky…That was your friend right?" Natasha asked remembering him from Steve's file at shield,
"Yeah my best friend…He was always with me…All the way to the end…." He said sadly as he put his pencil down as he remembered the last moments he was with his friend before he died,
"Steve, I'm so sorry…I heard about him and how he….I'm sorry." Natasha apologized as she gently put her hand on his arm,
"Thanks Natasha…." Was the only thing he could bring himself to say, when he felt her hand on his arm he looked up at her and gave her a weak smile. She felt a little sad for him and what he had to live though, she thought maybe it would be good to change the subject, get his mind off of one of the many tragedies in his life,
"So would you be interested in taking on another student?" Natasha asked him as she offered him a small smile. Steve returned her smile,
"Sure, I'm surprised you didn't know how to draw already. I would have thought it was one of your many talents." He said agreeing to teach her how to draw.
And so for the next few hours or so Natasha spent this time with Steve taking in what he had to teach her, as good as he was he was able to pass along some techniques and ideas to her. What surprised Steve was that she was a quick learner, it was no doubt due to her being trained by the Red Room. A time later Clint returned to main room where Natasha and Steve were drawing,
"All packed I see." Natasha responded as she looked up to see her oldest (and probably first friend),
"Yeah, I need to be off ASAP. Fury's orders." He said as he hefted his bag into a better position on his shoulder.
"Удачи, вернуться безопасно (Good luck, come back safe.)" Natasha said in Russian, Steve however tried not to intrude in their conversation as it wasn't apart of him or his concerns at the moment,
"Всегда делать (Always do.)" Clint replied back also in Russian,
"Good luck Clint, be safe." Steve said wishing him good luck on his mission,
"Ey ey, Captain." Clint said with an over exaggerated salute that was almost very reminiscent of how Bucky use to salute him, Steve in return gave a sad smile and saw him walk off toward the elevator. Natasha noticed the facial expression that Steve had and she couldn't shake what was behind it,
"You ok?" Natasha asked him curiously with a concerned look on her face, he hung his head for a moment and couldn't look at her, he put his drawing pad and pencil down on the table in front of them and he thought about what to say. This was such a loaded question and for him it drudged up a lot of grief he still carried with him,
"I….Its…" Steve started trying to explain to explain slowly as he wasn't sure if he wanted to explain it and if he did he didn't know where to start,
"Hey, if you don't want to talk about it we don't have to. Its just I saw the way you reacted and it just concerned me." Natasha said as he put a hand on his arm to try and comfort him,
"No…Its ok, its just hard to talk about." Steve said before he started explaining,
"Growing up I had one friend in my whole life that was there for me no matter what, his name was James Buchannan Barns, I use to call him Bucky. Eventually he joined the army during the war, before he shipped out for his first assignment I told him to be careful, as he walked away he turned around and gave me a little solute just like Clint just did, before he left. It wasn't long after that I was given the super soldier serum and I learned he was captured by the Nazi off shoot Hydra. After I saved him and the rest of the captured men of the 101st he and a few select from that group followed me and we became the howling commandos, not long after my squad was formed we were on a mission to capture Doctor Zola on a train heading back to meet up with Johann Schmidt who is now more commonly known as The Red Skull. During that mission Bucky and I were ambushed and separated….He took my shield to protect himself from a hydra weapon but the impact of the blast against the shield pushed him outside the hole in the train, he fell fifty stories off the side of the mountain where the train was at that time. That was the last time I had seen my best friend, he was a true a hero, he died in the service of his country, in the service of a best friend." Steve said sadly as he sniffled for a second, his generation was the generation that thought a real man never cried. At this moment he wanted to cry for his long gone friend,
"Steve….I had no idea…" Natasha said slowly, she truly did feel sorry for him. She couldn't possibly understand what it would be like if she lost Clint like that. She had read about the incident that Steve told her but she didn't realize how deeply it had affected him, it was then she realized that he, her, Clint, and Tony were more or less the same. They all had their traumas that had made them broken, they were all broken in some way or another. To Steve's surprise Natasha had thrown herself at him embracing him in a bigger hug than anyone would have thought possible for her, Steve didn't question the embrace and just held on her to her tightly, he held her close to comfort himself and held her close to keep her safe from anything or anyone that would take her away from his life like the way the war and that Hydra soldier had taken Bucky from his life all those years ago. After a while when Natasha was sure the sniffles had stopped she pulled away from the embrace,
"Thank you Natasha." Steve said quietly as he rubbed his nose and gave her a small smile,
"Anytime Steve." She answered giving him a warm smile, she had to admit he did give a good hug though she was sure if he squeezed her any harder then she would have to go see medical for some cracked ribs. For now though she enjoyed his embrace and was glad she was able to give him some emotional support and make him smile a bit, even if everyone he knew in his old life was gone he wasn't alone in this this new world for him, he did have friends and people who cared about him and she hoped that he knew that. After a few minutes of heavy silence Natasha finally spoke up,
"So are you still in the mood to draw? And maybe continue class?" She asked gently with a shy smile on her face,
"Of course." He said with a smile before he picked up his pencil and sketch pad and continued talking with Natasha and teaching her what he knew about drawing, they had been at it for a couple of more hours before the two got tired of drawing and decided that it was time for lunch,
"You getting hungry yet, Cap?" Natasha asked causally as she gathered up what little supplies she had for drawing and stood up as Steve had done the same,
"Yeah, I think its lunch time." Steve said as he stood up with her,
"Let me go put my stuff away, did you want to help me make something?" Natasha asked him curiously as she started to head toward her quarters to put her drawing supplies away,
"Sure thing, let me do the same." He said heading in the same direction as her, Natasha had just placed her sketches and pencils and such on her desk in her room and then headed over to the kitchen and was shortly joined by Steve,
"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rodgers, please be advised that Miss Potts and Mr. Stark have just touched down and are on their way shortly." Jarvis alerted the pair before they started to cook food,
"Should we keep cooking, or do you think Tony is going to want to take everyone to eat?" Steve asked curiously,
"I'm not sure, he may not be in the best mood." She answered,
"Why not?" He inquired further,
"Well my understanding was that Pepper had lead Tony back home in Malibu to take care of some SI paperwork and duties, but he was under the impression it was going to be a night of…Well 'fun'." She said eluding the nature that Tony would have expected the night before was going to be,
"Oh, yes so chances we're going to hear about it when he gets here." He said surmising what lunch was going to be like,
"More than likely, yes." She said answering his question,
"I say we just order a pizza instead, Tony can front the bill and we're not stuck with shwarma again." Natasha suggested not really caring about Tony's minimal complaints, she did care about him though the overall thing was that Stark Industries was still his company and just because he wanted to play and party all day and night long wasn't Pepper's and the company's problem he had fulfill that obligation if he wanted to or not,
"Jarvis can you give us any recommendations on a good pizza place that is close by?" She asked the computer as she went around from behind the counter to in front of it to have a seat in the stool,
"Certainly Agent Romanoff, querying yelp, one moment please." The AI responded, after a moment he chirped again,
"The Tony's Pizzeria over on 34th street was given multiple five star ratings and boasts pizzas over 20" in diameter. Here is the menu." Jarvis reported as he made a virtual menu appear in front of Natasha and Steve so they could decide on what they wanted to order for them and the rest of the team, minus Clint,
"It all sounds good, how many pizzas should we get?" Natasha said as she scrolled back up to the top of the virtual menu,
"I'm thinking maybe five." Steve said judging how much he was going to eat and he was sure how much Bruce was going to eat,
"Five? Are you sure? That seems a bit much." She said slightly questioning his choice,
"Well when you have super soldier serum in you, you tend to eat like a horse." He said explaining his view of this,
"And I'm sure Bruce is the same way with the Hulk, though he hasn't had to change in a while so I'm not entirely sure if that does anything with this apatite." He added thinking out loud,
"So then you're thinking two for you, two for Bruce, and Pepper, Tony, and myself share two maybe? Plus whoever wants a salad correct." She said bouncing her idea off of Steve,
"That sounds about right" he agreed,
"Ok, what you want on your pizzas?" she asked him curiously as she started to look for the phone number,
"One of them pepperoni and mushroom, and the other lets go with vegie." He said confidently and then Natasha gave him a quirked eyebrow and an amused expression on her face,
"Really Steve, a vegie pizza?" he asked as a smile started to break out on her face,
"What, I still gotta try to eat a little healthy as well." He said with a shrug as he tried to defend his choice, she shook her head chuckled a little bit,
"Ok so one vegie, one pep and mush, one two supreme, one cheese, one plain pep, and four tossed salads." She said out loud before she pulled out her phone and started to dial the number on the menu, she placed the order and gave the address and who would be paying the bill. Once that was all done she had moved over to the couch where she and Steve were sitting earlier and drawing,
"Well that's one last thing I have to worry about." She said referring to having to make lunch,
"Is it really cool that we did this without asking Tony?" Steve asked with a worried tone in his voice,
"In my book, yes. If we're going to hear Tony complain about having to take care of his responsibilities at Stark Industries the least he could do is buy us lunch." she said evenly to which Steve nodded and smiled in agreement,
"Well when you put it that way, it puts my conscious at ease." He responded with a smile. The two just waited in the common room and watched some TV while they waited for Tony and Pepper to get and for the pizzas to be delivered. After about half an hour Tony entered the room with Pepper close behind still arguing with the man,
"Worst day ever, I thought tomorrow was going to be about us 'getting together'." He argued not even looking at her but rather focusing on where he was going rather than on Pepper and their argument,
"How else do you expect me to wrangle you to take care of your company, contrary to what you believe the company does need you." She retorted back at him,
"How can it need me the stock is up fifteen percent from the last quarter." He answered back,
"From that aspect yes everything is fine, but the company is still looking to you to lead but you're not there." She said still trying to get him to be responsible and lead his company,
"Boring alert, boring alert. OH hey, people, honey we can't argue right now, the kids are in the room." He said trying to get out of the argument and save his own neck because he knew she was going to kill him if this conversation went on any longer,
"Ohhhh you're impossible." He said as she walked away and went to their shared room to unpack, Tony however left his back by the back of the couch where Natasha and Steve were sitting watching the part of the fight that took place right there in front of them and went and sat around Steve,
"Hi." He said simply to both of them giving them a toothy smile,
"Problems in paradise last night?" Natasha asked him with a grin and quirked eyebrow, Tony simply gave her a scowled look,
"Have a good mission yesterday? Heard it just poured and poured last night." He asked her with a fake toothy smile on his face,
"Alright you two enough, stop trying to piss each other off." Steve said as he didn't want to be in between these two if they were going to fight,
"Yes dad." Tony said smartly to which earned him a look from Steve,
"Ok then." He said dropping the issue as soon as he took in the look.