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7: An Introduction
"Hey, quarterback, we still didn't know where you went yesterday during lunch." Tony spoke up in the middle of their homework time.
"It's not your business, Tony." Steve retorted and never took his eyes off the book in front of him.
"Is it about the new girl?"
"Yes! Are you satisfied now?" The Captain was clearly annoyed at his friend.
Everyone eyed at Steve and saw the clear annoyance on his face so they didn't know for sure that Steve was really meant it or he just said to make Stark stopped nagging him. Tony narrowed his eyes as he observed Steve closely but he couldn't read the man.
"Emma, on the other hand, lose it."
"Yeah, she almost used her telepathic ability to hurt Tony to get the secret about that mysterious new girl." Bruce told.
"Really?" Steve asked and turned to Tony, "Did she really hurt you?"
"Nah, just almost. She doesn't like you to pay attention at any girl." Tony replied and shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care, "You know what, maybe you and Emma should get together for the safety of other people's life."
"I didn't like her that way." The Captain insisted.
"No matters what you say, Steven but Lady Frost will not let you go so easily. She waits for you for far too long."
Steve shook his head adamantly and let his friends continued to discuss about this. He turned back to his work and pretended to pay all his attention at it but the truth was, the thing that caught his attention was the beautiful green eyes.
Yeah, there was something spacial about Natalie Rushman.
Wednesday
"Rogers, there is someone waiting for you at your locker." Clint said when the whole group marched into the hallway.
Steve was obviously panicked when he saw who was standing at his locker. The woman he 'feared' the most, Emma Frost.
"Hey, handsome" She greeted and sauntered her way toward him.
Steve went still every time Emma touched him. He didn't know what to do or what to say to her. He wasn't use to have woman seduced him or made an advance at him. It was a very hilarious sight to see for Steve's friends when their fearless leader actually scared the hell out of his life when he got hit by a beautiful girl.
Emma gently guided Steve back until he was against the locker. Steve took a deep breath and tried not to make any eye contact with Emma who stared at him. Her entire body pressed tight against his and made Steve feel really uncomfortable. Clint couldn't hold his laughter anymore while Tony just filmed the whole thing. Emma leaned up and whispered something in Steve's ear and made his face turn bright red.
"Emma..." Steve tried to say something but it sounded so weak and all caught up in his throat. Her hot breath kept hitting his skin. Then Steve saw Natalie walking toward them but he couldn't move. Emma saw that he was looking at someone else.
Ah, the new girl, White Queen thought, you will never have Steve Rogers.
And the queen of this school pulled her king down and pressed kiss on the corner of his lips before touching his nose teasingly and winking at him. She pulled away and slapped his ass that made Steve jumped before she walked away with her gang.
"Do you know what the hell just happened?" Bruce asked Tony.
"Somebody just want to scare their competitor to make them know that they can't complete with the queen."
"Scare what?" Steve asked. His brain still wasn't working properly.
"She came to you to mark her territory." Tony explained, "She just wants everyone in this school or certain someone to know that she wants you."
Steve didn't know why but in Tony's words, Natalie's face popped up in his mind.
"I swear, this school is getting scarier every day." Steve was still in his frightening state.
Tony and Clint tried very hard to contain their laughter, "You know what, bud? You should sue her for sue her for sexual harassment. You might get a lot of money." Tony suggested.
"Yeah, consider she had been harassing you for three years now." Clint added.
"Can you please tell her to stop, Tony?" Steve asked pleadingly.
The rich boy shrugged because he didn't care, "Nah, bro, you're my best friend but your suffering is my happiness."
"So…that blonde girl is your girlfriend?" Natalie asked when they were having lunch together under the tree again.
"No, she isn't….uhh…she like to tease me."
"Hmmm? Interesting...because the girl in my class said that she already 'marked' you as hers."
"Yeah, she 'marked' me but I never thought anything romantically with her." He replied, "Believe me, if I like her that way, we probably dated since junior high."
From his answer, Natalie could saw the anguish in his eyes when he mentioned 'dating'. There must've been something about this in the past. To be honest, a good guy like him shouldn't be single for this long.
"What about you? Do you have any new friend other than me?"
"I don't want to admit it but this place isn't welcome new people."
"So I guess I have to stay with you for the time being, Natalie."
And Steve did as he said. He accompanied her for lunch everyday of this week and made everyone wondered where was the handsome quarterback goes during lunch. The Avengers tried to get the answer out of their leader but they didn't get anything except a gentle smile because all Steve thought about was the time he spent with Natalie.
Steve knew there was something happened to him. He felt like there was a gravitational pull between Natalie and him. He liked her a lot so he wanted to offer the friendship and help her settle in with the new environment smoothly.
But because of all the attention from Steve Rogers made everyone interested in her too. Nobody saw any Avengers making new friend for a very long time. They were pretty reserved and stayed in their little group with a small exception of Pepper, Jane, Darcy, Betty and Rhodey.
If they were in the same class, he will always sit next to her. For the girl that was waiting in line for Steve Rogers to pick them realized that they just met their biggest competitor, Natalie Rushman, because Steve never ever let anyone get this close to him.
The next Monday, Natalie still didn't make any friend and still having lunch with her again under the big tree.
"So, are you really trying to make any friend?" He teased.
"To be honest, Steve, you make it quite hard to find a good friend when you're the first person I met and befriended with."
"Okay, that's it. We have to fix this. I will introduce you to some of my female friends."
"Noooo! I don't like to talk to people."
"Yes, you will like them because you can't have me as your only friend in this school."
"Fine, but don't leave me alone if I can't get along with them."
"I can promise you that will like them…a lot."
"Hey, girls!" Steve greeted the girl who sat at the table in the center courtyard.
"Steve!" They greeted back.
The group consisted of Pepper, Jane, Darcy, and Betty. Steve sat down between Pepper and Jane.
"I have something to ask you guys but don't ask anything yet…just listen to the whole story first." He said.
"Is it about the new girl?" Pepper blurted it out. She couldn't help herself. She heard rumor flying around the campus about this mysterious girl the captain seemed to enamor of.
"How do you know about this? Tony told you, wasn't he?"
"Steve, everyone in the school was buzzing about this. They said that you and her went together everywhere. Not to mention that you seemed to take a special care of her." Jane explained.
"But it isn't so." Steve corrected, "I just want to help her. She doesn't have any friend or know anyone."
"You always are the good man, Steve." Darcy added and tried to avoid Steve's unfriendly glare.
"And a very naïve guy too." Betty continued.
Steve frowned but remained silent to let the girl finish talking first and then it was his turned, "I want you guys to help being friend with Natalie…taking care of her and…umm…become friend with her."
"Why don't you bring her to your group?"
"And made her become a target of the whole school? My group only has boys in it, Pep and your Tony is very picky when it comes to people who can sit at our table. You know that!" Steve said and used his last card which was his baby blue eyes, "Pleaseeeeee"
And it worked every time.
"Fine, Mr. Quarterback." Jane was the one who melt first, "You are the only one who can use those puppy dog eyes at us. Even Thor tried once and it didn't work."
"She's a great girl and you all will like her as much as I do. Steve said and leaned in to kiss Jane's cheek, "Thank you so much."
He got up from his seat but Darcy and Pepper took hold of him, "Rogers, you can't just only kiss Foster. It isn't fair and you didn't have our permission." Pepper said and it made Steve blushed.
"Come on, Steve. We knew each other like ten years already." Darcy gave him a sly smile.
"Fineeeeeee" Steve rolled his eyes in annoyance and gave the rest of the girls a kiss on their cheek.
"Now, go and bring her to us." Betty said.
Steve ran off with a little spring on his feet.
"I'm sure that there is something going on between them." Darcy concluded, "He never ever did anything like this to get what he want from us."
"Yeah, it's gotta be something."
A moment later, the four girls saw Steve holding someone's hand and dragging that person along with him. The red haired girl trying to pull him back and pouted at him. But in the end, she finally letting him dragged her to wherever he want because no one could resist that blue eyes.
"Everyone, this is Natalie Rushman." Steve introduced the girl next to him, "Natalie, this is Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, Betty Ross, and Darcy Lewis."
"Nice to meet all of you." Natalie said.
Everyone in table gave her a warm and friendly smile. Natalie started to feel a bit relax when she saw how friendly they were. Steve sat her down next to Pepper before bended down to whisper something in her ear.
"I gotta go. See you later."
Natalie turned to grab his hand as if she wanted to tell him not to go but Steve gave her a reassuring smile before walking away.
"So…Natalie, do you blend in well here?" Jane started the conversation to make the newcomer felt more comfortable.
Nat turned and began to answer every question and got a chance to know the girls. She felt a bit weird at first of how they pay all their attention at her. Then she remembered Steve's words that she could 100 percent trust these girls.
"Well, no one attacks me yet so I guess I'm blending in well." Nat replied.
"Don't worry. We will be your friend. If Steve vouched for you, he must really see something in you." Pepper said, "He doesn't do that often."
"He's the nicest guy I ever met." Nat admitted, "Hope he didn't set any expectation of me too high."
"Yeah, he has all the boyfriend materials." Darcy sighed, "And no, he won't set any expectation."
"Unless, you are here to kill him or something." Pepper teased, "But you're assigned with the normal student class, right?"
"Yeah, I have no fancy power like those super power or mutants."
"It's a good thing, Natalie. You don't want all the stupid government to keep tap on you."
"I guess so."
"Anyway, welcome to our little group." Betty spoke up, "Until you find friends that you want to hang out with, you can stay with us as long as you want."
Natalie finally found a place that she was comfortable to be. Well, except for being around Steve Rogers. The four girls did make her feel better about this school and her instinct didn't tell her to run away from them yet…so Nat guessed everything went rather well.
She had all of their phone number, email and all the social network account. Natalie never thought anyone would willing to exchange all of this within the first day they met. But she guessed it was because of Steve vouched for them and her that it made everyone get along.
She was just finished her last class and was about to head home when she bumped into Jane and Darcy. Jane asked her if she would like to come watch the boy at the stadium so Nat tagged along with them.
"Why do we have to watch them practice anyway?" Nat asked.
"Well, Thor asked me this morning…to…go on a date with him after he finished practiced his football." Jane shyly replied.
"And I have to tag along to be her guardian in case Thor is trying something funny with my girl." Darcy added, "I hope that you will come with me to their date too but it will be like…us girl hanging out."
"Okay." Natalie agreed because she will siege this opportunity to get to know her friend better.
"Great! We will be best buddy in no time, Rushman!"
The girl made their way into the stadium and sat at one of the closest seat. The football team was gathering in the middle of the field and listened to the game plan. Nat's eyes searched for someone among all those big buff players until she found the familiar blonde hair.
Steve Rogers was looking good in his football gear. No wonder why all the girl was crazy for him. When Steve turned to her way and saw her among the crowd, he waved his hand and gave her a bright smile.
"You better not get too close to him." Darcy warned, "He's nice and all but he can be the reason for all the trouble in the future."
"Why is that? He doesn't seem like a trouble maker."
"All the problem will come from his crazy fan girls." Jane explained, "Like Emma Frost or Sharon Carter."
"What about Thor?"
"Thor has a lot of fans too but not as crazy as Steve." Darcy told.
The girls talked about the boys and their crazy fans. Natalie could only thought to herself of why in the world that Steve Rogers didn't have any girlfriend. It bugged her since the first day they met. She will have to stick around to uncover more information about that.
"Is Steve gay?" Nat blurted in out.
"WHAT?" Jane and Darcy said at the same time.
"Well, he doesn't seem to interest in any girl." Nat defended herself.
"Steve isn't gay, darling. He is far from the word 'gay'. He's a gentleman and his love life is a bit complicate. If one day he opened up to you, he will tell you about it."
Natalie averted her eyes back to the field and found Steve was looking at her again. Natalie smiled back and all she got from him a bright smile before he put his attention back to the game.
After the practice, Thor and Steve hit the shower. The Captain was packing his bag and ready to head home when Thor came up to him.
"Friend, can you accompany me to my date tonight?" Thor asked
"What?"
"Tonight is my first date with Jane and in case thing went wrong, you can help me out."
"Nothing will go wrong, Thor." Steve reassured his friend, "It will be great. Trust me, buddy."
But Thor was giving Steve a puppy dog eyes and the captain let out a sigh, "Okay, I will tag along."
Thor smiled and said thank you to his friend. The boys walked out of the locker room to meet the girls at the parking lots.
"Jane!" Thor happily greeted, "Are you ready for the date?"
"I guess so." Jane shyly replied as Thor took her hand and kissed at the back of it, "You don't mind if Darcy and Nat tagging along with us right?"
"Not at all, my lady. Steven can accompany the ladies too." Thor said and gestured to Steve who was standing behind him.
"I hope you guys don't mind." Steve said and turned to Nat, "I will take my bike…if you want to go with me."
"I will take my car but you can ride with me if you want. I can drop you off later." Nat offered.
"Sound like a good idea." Steve agreed, "I will have Clint take my bike back home."
Steve called his friend and Clint came to take the key from Steve. Steve threw his back inside Nat's car before trying to squeeze himself inside Nat's mini cooper. She laughed when she saw how cramped Steve was in the passenger seat.
"Aww, you're so cute." She exclaimed and snapped at picture of him.
"Your car is too small, Natalie." He said.
"Well, it suits me."
"Yeah, you're tiny. I will call you Little Red from now on."
She laughed, "Whatever you say, Rogers."
They continued with their banters and Steve already came up with at least three nicknames for her within ten minutes. They were cute though and she was okay with it. Steve was indeed a real gentleman. He held the door open for her, pulling the chair out and let her in, and insisted that he would pay for everything tonight.
"You don't have too. I can pay for myself." Natalie said, "It's not a date."
"I want to and you don't have to worry about it." Steve insisted.
"You have to let me pay the next time."
"It's a date." Steve teased but Nat could catch the hint that he was serious about this.
"Uh—you guys know I'm still here, right?" Darcy interrupted and it made the two of them blushed.
They didn't say anything and got back to looking at the menu but they couldn't stop sneak a glance at one another. Darcy felt like she was interrupting another date and thought about going home right now. Luckily, Steve read her gesture and broke the awkward silence by talking about the school and the upcoming game.
"It's a pretty big game. Everyone will be there." Steve said, "I hope you will be there too, little red."
"I'm not sure. I'm never a sport fan. I watched soccer back in Russia but not a big fan of it too."
"Then you should come to the game!"
"Yeah, Nat. I agree with Steve. Football is pretty big deal for this school. Everyone talks about it and you should know about it too."
"Fine, I will come to your football game, Steve."
"Yessss!" The boy threw up his victory fists before Steve gave Darcy a high five.
At another corner of the restaurant, Thor and Jane also having a very good time. At first, they both thought it would be extremely awkward but it was not. They were oddly compatible and Jane put her nervous behind. Well, she never thought that a popular guy like him would want to date a girl like her…but then again, they never each other since they were a little kids
"It seems like our friends are having a really good time too." Thor noted when he looked at Steve's table.
"Especially Nat and Steve" Jane added.
"I have to admit. They have a very unique chemistry."
"Yes, they do."
Then they both felt into silence but they held each other's gaze. Thor smiled warmly at her, reaching his hand out to touch hers.
"Jane, I want you to know that I intended to be in this relationship with you for a very long term and I am serious about it." Thor said, "I know that you have doubt so I want ensure this to you."
"Thank you, Thor."
"Anything for you, my lady."
Both tables were having a very good time. Thor texted Steve that he will drop Jane and Darcy at her house before he headed back to the tower. Steve paid for the meal as he promised before they all met up in front of the restaurant. Nat had to drop Steve off at Stark Tower first.
"Thanks." He said, "See you tomorrow, Nat."
"Sure. Good night, Steve." She replied.
Before Steve opened the door, he leaned in to kiss Nat on her cheek. A mischievous smile appeared when he saw her face turned red.
"Good night, little red."
Steve got out of her car and waved her a goodbye. Nat waved back and drove away. Steve kept his eyes at her car until it was out of his sight. The thought of her still mingled in his mind and it made him smile.
Natalie Rushman was definitely something special.
AN - Please leave a review :)
- Do you love their interaction so far?
-No proofread. I'm sorry. Too lazy.
- One more thing, I will update a little slower from now, maybe 3-4 days for a chapter
