Author's Note:

ThisVioletofMine: co-writer.

I received an amazing six reviews I got! Sportsfan64; Keara Park; Baibe; Amy Hamato; Sanctuaria; supesfan18.

Special thanks to supesfan18 and superfan64; they really helped with the plan for this story! :D


"I'll see you back at Avengers Compound?" Steve asked her with a smile.

"Sure," Natasha replied, offering him a smile of her own. She was about to leave, but then decided it was probably the best idea to inform him exactly what he had asked of her; he would be very embarrassed if somebody else pointed it out to him. "Oh, and Steve- one thing you should know: the definition of a 'casual relationship' is when two people have a sexual relationship that does not usually involve a romantic relationship."

Natasha watched Steve's face pale dramatically as he stared at her, wide-eyed, in horror. He obviously was not aware of the actual definition, like she had thought, and it was very, very obvious he did not want that sort of relationship.

"I…" Steve began, probably about to apologise.

"How about we stick to just friends? Feel free to come to me with any more suggestions- just make sure you've researched them first." Natasha suggested before turning away from him. She had to take a breath to calm herself as she walked away, back to her car which she had parked a short distance from the restaurant- she never liked parking where she was.

With a swift gaze around, she confirmed that she was alone and slipped into her car. "Stop it- stop being weak." She muttered to herself. She had actually agreed to go out with Steve. How could she have been so stupid? Thankfully, he messed up the terms and she was able to wiggle her way out of it. But that didn't stop her getting swept up in his suggestion of a 'casual relationship,' which actually had sounded appealing for a short while. It was one type of relationship she would actually consider getting herself messed up in. But that would inevitably end in a bad way, or worse.

Remaining friends with Steve was more important; she knew that if she ever did date him, it would end badly and would ruin their friendship. She was not willing to let that happen.

With another deep breath, she turned on the engine and drove, breaking the speed-limit to get back; she wanted to train.


Natasha was sitting on the mats in a box-slip as she stretched herself out. It was five-thirty in the morning and she had been up for just over an hour. After taking a light run, she decided to stretch out and train; you could never train too much. She bent her head around as the door opened behind her, presuming it would be Steve- who else would be up this early- but was surprised when Wanda walked in. She threw the younger woman a confused glance. "Am I seeing things?" She teased.

Wanda offered a small grin and a laugh. "Very funny." She knew Natasha was teasing her for not training as much as she should have lately. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I thought I could be more productive with my time." She said in her deep accent.

"Come and join me," Natasha offered before turning away and ducking her head to her knee as she laced her hands around her foot.

"Sure." Wanda agreed, throwing her gym bag onto a nearby bench. There was a muffled thump as she sat beside her.

Natasha looked up. "Have you warmed up yet? If not, fifty jumping jacks, fifty sit-ups, twenty push-ups, fifty lunges and and ten pull-ups." She ordered, realising that it was more effective to warm up first before stretching or training.

There was a groan. "But it's so early!" And then several muttered complaints as Wanda lifted herself to her feet once more to begin her jumping jacks. "You're cruel, Natasha." She puffed between jumps.

"You don't need to work out your voice," Natasha replied with a hint of a smirk on her lips. She stood up and began doing the same workout as Wanda. "If I beat you, you'll have to do two laps around the base in under an hour."

The younger woman smiled slightly with a determined look in her eyes. "You're on."

Natasha smirked competitively and worked Wanda as hard as she could; although, she did hold back, letting the younger girl win. They were neck in neck on the pullups and she forced herself to go slowly, allowing Wanda to pull up and jump down first. Nat jumped down after her final pull up. "Well, you really have improved. Let's see where else you've improved."

Wanda was breathing heavily and looked fearful at the prospect of further torturous workouts. Natasha waited patiently for her to catch her breath before they continued their warmups.

"How do you… how are you still… upright?" Wanda gasped.

She smiled in response. "A lot of practice." Rolling her shoulders back to loosen them up, her eyes ran over Wanda's body. "Let's do some control drills; you're tired, it's the best time to do them. That bench- I want you to move it four times; I want it to be placed next to each one of the four walls-without touching them." She paused, "We don't have all day."

Wanda nodded in reluctant acquiescence before stretching her arms and beginning the task. She started by lifting the bench and carrying it, but after doing so twice her arms started aching and she was forced to push it along the ground, creating an awful scraping noise.

"Some people are still sleeping, did you want to wake them up? Pick it up, Wanda," Natasha guided.

"Does it matter if I wake them up? Why should they be allowed sleep when I am not?" At Natasha's raised eyebrow, the woman sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll pick it up." Her arms quivered under the bench's weight as she slowly lifted it before trudging to the next wall, where she all but slammed it to the ground in her eagerness to relieve the crushing pressure.

"Stop, stop," Natasha sighed. "You have to relax, ignore the pain or the tension. Breathe and just do it. You are in control, if you want to move that without making a sound, you can do it. Believe in yourself and move that bench. Now, I am going to close my eyes; every sound I hear, there will be a consequence." She closed her eyes.

"O-okay." Wanda said. Natasha listened, but to her pride, she heard no sound until the bench was placed back on the ground at the next wall. "Done."

Her eyes opened, looking straight at Wanda, her eyes flickering over to the bench before back to her trainee. "Not perfect, but it'll do for now. You can choose what to do next."

Wanda looked contemplative for a moment. "Well, I wish I could choose a nap, because that lack of sleep is really catching up with me now." She joked with a smile. "But since I can't… did you want to spar? I could really use some pointers."

Natasha smiled, "Good choice. Let's see how much sleep-deprival affects you." She crossed over to the mats again and took her stance, waiting for Wanda to make the first move.

Wanda got into a similar stance, having to be corrected a few times on where her feet should go. Finally she started the match with a high kick towards Natasha's chest.

Natasha easily pushed her leg away, observing how she regained her composure. "Strengthen your center. Bend your legs." After a few more deflections, she began pushing the younger girl. "Don't just try to hit me once- the faster and harder your hits, the more likely you'll get them. Hit me."

Wanda tried again, moving her arms and legs as fast as she could whilst still maintaining her balance and pose. She aimed punch after kick at the woman, all of her attacks being easily blocked and deflected. She groaned in frustration and increased her efforts.

"Come on, if you didn't have your powers, you'd be useless, right? Show me what you've got!" Natasha goated, pushing the younger girl. Her eyes flickered to the door for a split second as it opened. Usually she would look straight back at her target, but Steve's hair was all tousled like he had just woken up- it was past six, did he usually look this sleepy?

"C'mon, Nat! Now you're just showing-" Wanda's complaint was cut short as one of her hits landed firmly on Natasha's collarbone. She gasped and recoiled as if burned; had she just hit Natasha?

Natasha turned back violently, her eyes cold, like she was ready to kill. Her arms came up and her stance hardened for a split second before her expression returned to neutral and her stance loosened and relaxed. She cleared her throat. "That's what I'm talking about- good job."

The smile on Wanda's face was blindingly bright and full of pride. "Thank you!" She exclaimed. "But… how did that happen? What did I do differently that suddenly worked?"

Natasha glanced at Steve, who was looking at them curiously as he picked up some weights. "You waited until I was distracted. My mistake." She looked Wanda straight in the eye. "Find your opponent's weaknesses and use them against them."

"So… It wasn't my doing when I tagged you? It was just you being distracted? That's depressing." Wanda grumped.

"On the contrary; you were quick enough to hit me before getting thrown to the ground. That is definitely something to be proud of," Natasha told her.

Wanda brightened and nodded. "Thank you." She turned to Steve who was eying them curiously. "Steve, what brings you here so early?"

"It's not that early; I'm usually up at this time," Steve answered with a smile. "Haven't seen you around this early before; only Natasha and Sam."

"Couldn't sleep, and yes, it is early! Why are you professional superheroes up so freakishly early?" Wanda demanded, taking advantage of the break to grab her water bottle.

Natasha swung her leg up, kicking the bottle out of Wanda's hand and catching it, "Because we like to strike when our victims are unprepared; and the best time for that is early in the morning."

Wanda frowned at her indignantly. "But how will that be effective if you're half asleep? I know you're not going to sleep early, so do you Avengers only function on a few hours of sleep?"

"I only really need a good ten hours a week- I just go sleep every night because it's more normal," Steve admitted. Man, he had good genes- well, serum.

"I'm used to functioning on four hours a night… I haven't slept for over five and a half hours in years." Natasha added with a small smirk.

"Yeah, well, I try to be a human being instead of a vampire, like you all seem to be." Wanda smirked.

Natasha coolly studied Wanda for a moment; she was facing Steve and giving him most of her attention. "Maybe it's time you went for a run- one lap should do for now."

"But I thought we were doing this together?" Wanda asked, confused, before frowning in defeat and trudging to the outdoor track.

"I ran earlier," Natasha commented as she watched her walk out. She turned her attention to Steve. "Why do you look like crap?" She asked him casually.

He frowned in mock hurt and placed a hand over his heart. "Why, how rude! I don't know what you're talking about!" Then he relaxed and offered a slight smile. "I didn't get much sleep last night, although that seems to be the story with everyone this morning."

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Natasha inquired; she know why she couldn't sleep- Steve was unfortunately on her mind and her brain refused to let her get any rest.

He shrugged. "Just lots of anxiety lately, I suppose. How did you sleep?" The look in his eye was freakishly knowing, as if he could read her mind.

"Fine." She replied shortly, her eyes narrowing. "I am going to set you up on a date with a friend… acquaintance of mine."

He looked slightly confused as he tilted his head to the side. "Why would I want to date your f- acquaintance? And why would you set me up with them? I thought you got over obsessing over my love life!"

"When you started obsessing over my lovelife, I knew that you had too much time on your hands," Natasha responded. Maybe if he was preoccupied with another women, they wouldn't see each other as much and she could move on and be herself. "How's tomorrow night?"

He shrugged again, apparently conceding her point. "Sounds good, I guess. But they'd better not be some homicidal maniac, or I'm out." He said pointedly, jabbing a finger in her direction.

"Deal," Natasha agreed, although she felt her heart stop at him so easily accepting to go on a date with somebody else. He didn't even really put up a fight. And now she had the task of finding somebody by tomorrow. Who did she know? Pepper, Laura, Jane, Bobbi, Lila, Wanda, May and Maria. Pepper was with Tony; Laura was with Clint; Jane was with Thor; Bobbi was with Hunter, again; Lila was only eight; Wanda, but there was no chance she could set them up; May… Would Melinda May even be interested? Nah, Natasha was confident she had a thing for another agent. And finally, Maria… no, she can't set him up with somebody he already knows. "I'll give you the details tomorrow."

He nodded and headed over to the mats. "Wanna spar? You totally cheated last time, so I want a rematch."

"I didn't cheat, but if you wanted to try and pin me, all you had to do was ask," Natasha flirted. It was instinct to flirt, but she really should stop flirting with or teasing Steve- his reaction was far too pleasing.

He turned beet red and lost his ready stance, rubbing the back of his neck. "I- That's not what I meant, Nat, and you know it!" Then he resumed his fighting stance and took a breath.

"Whatever you say, Hot Stuff," Natasha responded teasingly as she took her own stance. "Come at me."

He obliged, aiming a fist at her face which she easily ducked out of the way. Steve might have been incredibly strong and agile, but he wasn't the quickest. He took a step back and raised his arms in defence, obviously waiting for her attack. They often took turns switching from offensive to defensive to better hone their combat skills, but this time, she was going to change tactics. After a few seconds of standing still, he launched at her and she once again slipped out of the way, curling past his body.

She nimbly spun around him, catching him in one of his blind spots just beyond his shoulder blade and digging her knee into the small of his back, pushing his shoulders until he landed gracelessly on the mat. She then flipped him over and straddled him, pinning his arms to the ground between her legs and his sides. He stared up at her in surprise and his face slowly turned red.

"I think I surrender." He said, keeping his eyes firmly on the ceiling beyond her head.

"You only think? I got you down on the ground in less than a minute; you are useless on little sleep. Tell me again how you took down Red Skull?" Natasha mocked, holding his wrists against the mat. She knew he could easily flip them- after all, he was a lot stronger than her.

He was apparently too flustered to reverse their positions and the awkwardness that would bring, so he instead settled for bursting out of her vice grip and grabbing both of her small wrists in his hands, restraining her. His smile was cocky.

"You were saying?" He remarked cheekily.

Without hesitation, she leant forward and surprised him with a kiss. He immediately let go of her and she pulled back before doing a back-handspring off him and onto her feet. "You lose. I'm going to check on Wanda." She stated quickly, backing away from him and exiting the room before he had chance to get up or even respond.


Thanks for reading! Let me know if you enjoyed it! :D