21 : WEEKEND AT LAKE HOUSE**

"Friends! I have come with a news!" Thor boomed as he and Jane reached their usual table at the diner.

Actually, it recently became Thor's family diner. After Odin heard that his son ate here every day, Odin sent Balder, the oldest of his three sons, to acquire this place. Thor and his friends can eat and drink here with no charges.

"What's the news, Thor?"
"My father rented the lake house for our family vacation but he and mother have to go to our motherland so father gives the house to us to use for the weekend!"
"You guys realize that we this will be two consecutive weekends that we are spending somewhere out of town" Natasha noted
"You guys can go to my family's Tennessee ranch next week too" Steve chimed in "There will be plenty of fun stuff to do together"
"No way! You're ranch will smell like horse poop everywhere"
"Because it's a ranch, Stark. You think it would smell like your Yves Saint perfume?"
"I'm willing to fly us out to St. Tropez for a better vacation, Rogers!"
"Enough!" Pepper stopped them "We know that the three of you are really rich but we will stay in New York next weekend!"

Tony and Steve sat back on their seats and ordered their food.

Steve just finished with another rough football practice. Coach Fury was really mad at the offensive team. Rumlow made most of the mistake while Sam Wilson cannot catch a ball even Steve threw a ball right in the perfect spot every time.

Steve was frustrated and Fury yelled at him again. The Captain headed back to the locker room to take a shower. He still was frustrated but then he thought about Natasha. How they were going to have dinner together tonight. And then her smile flashed into his mind. He smiled too and his mood was lightened up immediately.

"Hey, Steve-o! Are you coming to my party this Saturday? My fraternity is having a joint party" Brock asked, bringing Steve's mind back to reality "You have to come because it's a parrrty with Sigma Delta Phi, the hottest sorority in our campus"
"Oh please, I literally have had all of them twice" Steve rolled his eyes "Besides, I have something else better than party with those brainless girls"
"What?" Brock asked "You gotta come, dude! This is the…countless time you ditched us"
"I just don't want to be there with the girls I already slept with" Steve replied
"You do know that you are joining the wimpy town with Odinson."
"Well, Thor has Jane to be with and he's happy about it" The Captain defended "For me, like I say, I already have something fun to do"
"I miss the old you, man" Brock said "This version of Steve Rogers is totally lame"
"You are mad because I got those girls before you, Brock"

"Romanoff, hurry up!" Steve yelled as he saw Natasha just came back to their dorm.
"I know!" She yelled back "Can you help me get my bag? I will go change my clothes real quick.

Steve jumped off the back of his pick-up truck. Yeah, he has two cars but he never really uses this one very often. He ran to her and helped her carried her bag. Clint took it and loaded it up into the truck before securing everything.

Clint will drive the truck with Phil and Bruce sitting in with him. Tony, Pepper and Natasha went with Steve in his red Mustang. Thor took Jane, Darcy and Maria with him in his Escalade.

Tony sat at the front passenger seat but Steve secretly wanted it to be Nat. Natasha sat behind him and occasionally did something to tease him. Sometime, her hands were at his shoulders or something she hugged him from behind. Stark only gave them a grin.

It was a fun ride because Natasha and Tony were always bickering at one another. They invented a game to wipe out all the boredom. Steve had to occasionally stop them from killing one another if Tony won through cheating.

They reached the lake house within 2 hours and there was still time for them to do some activities. The boys unloaded all belongings while the girls explored the house. The room arrangements were just like their dormitory.

Natasha was overly excited again and dragged Steve out for a little walk in the woods together.

"Why you always get this excited?" He asked
"I don't know. I'm just happy!" Natasha replied as they walked on the path.

Steve saw her smile and he knew he couldn't resist or say no to anything if she smiled like that at him. She was just always so adorable. Steve smiled too. He can't help it.

Natasha even took a camera with her and snapped a picture of everything she liked. Steve is one of them especially when he was brooding and pouting all the way. He was whining and wanted to go back to the house.

"Stop being a giant whining baby okay?" She said "We aren't far from the waterfall"
"Let's just go back, Red"
"One more place and we will go back" She negotiated but he knew her too well.
"NOOO! You said it like ten times already"

Steve knew that Natasha didn't have to break a sweat to get him on board with her. She just used her adorable face with him and he would surrender to all her will.

When they came back, they were separated by their friends. Pepper and Maria wanted and immediate talk with Natasha about Steve.

"You're enjoying full attention from Steve Rogers, aren't you?" Pepper said the moment Maria close the door behind them.
"What?" Natasha asked, slightly confused
"You said you and him are friends but you are enjoying every moment with him, every attempt of flirtation with him"
"It just a harmless flirt, guys! I'm not in love with him"
"Natasha, whatever might happened, don't fall for him"Pepper said
"I repeat whatever you do, don't fall for him" Maria said again.
"I'm not gonna fall for him. You both are over reacting! He's just a friend!"

They had a dinner made from ingredients that Jane and Thor bought from the nearest store which didn't have many different items sold there. They just took everything back because they had twelve mouths to feed. Only Tony and Steve complained about the lack of quality of the food.

"You two should go out and get us something 'good' tomorrow" Natasha said as she had enough of these two playboys
"Okay, we will do this tomorrow. Stark, what do you say?" Steve turned to Tony "This is a little challenge from our little Red that we have to conquer!"
"AYEEE!" Tony yelled, imitated Thor's way of saying something.
"Oh come on, Rogers. You and Stark out for grocery shopping. You two spoiled kids from Upper East Side?"
"We will prove you guys that we are better than any of you at grocery shopping!" Steve vowed "And for the record, I'm half Upper East Sider, half the Hamptons"
"Half the Hamptons?" Natasha whispered to Thor who sat next to her.
"His mother is a local of the Hamptons" Thor explained "While his dad is from Upper East Side"
"That explains it"

Natasha woke up and found that Tony and Steve were about to go out grocery shopping for the group.

"Hey! Good luck finding 'good' food" She shouted

"Save the mockery for when we come back, little Red." Steve replied and drove away

Natasha spent her morning soaking up the sun with the girls while the rest of the boys were experimenting on something.

"Clint, you will hurt yourself" Natasha told her best friend who was about to play arrow roulette with the guys.
"Go shoot it in the woods, Thor!" Jane shouted
"If it hits any of us-" Maria began to threaten them but Clint cut it out
"Fine! We will go in the woods"

The boys moved their little activity into the woods. Natasha shook her head at how stupid their activity was. Even Clint got Bruce and Phil to join in on this. If Steve was here, she is sure that her giant whining baby Steve would accept this challenge too.

Pepper and Maria were reading magazines while Jane and Darcy were just listening to their iPods. Natasha was messaging with Steve the entire time. He told her that Stark was driving the truck so she didn't need to worry that he was texting while driving. He always checked in with her and sent her very stupid jokes. She always laughed and didn't know why, maybe it because of she was thinking about his face when he verbally told her the joke.

She knew that she was very happy with Steve being in her life. He was a very unexpected friend that she thought she will have a slightest chance to talk with him, considering he is the most popular guy in the university.

He was a very good friend. She even caught him protecting Bruce and Clint sometimes.

Screams from the woods pulled her back from her deep thought. The steady stream of screams continued as Clint and Phil ran to their direction and headed to the house. Bruce too was running.

"HAHA! WHO'S THE MIGHTIEST NOW?!" The girls heard Thor's voice from the woods "SON OF ODIN IS THE MIGHTIEST OF THEM ALL!"
"Where's the arrow?" Maria asked and suddenly the said arrow fell from the sky and stuck next to Natasha's lawn chair
"That's it!" She exclaimed, pulling the arrow out and headed to the house.

The girls knew that Natasha would probably break Clint's arms and slam his head against the wall for almost killing her. The girls all thought that they have to wait until Steve knew about this and it would ignite his over-protectiveness over Natasha.

A car horn sounded as the black truck parked at its spot. Steve and Tony just came back from shopping and from the smug on their faces, the girls knew they have accomplished the challenge.

"Hah! We've proven that the rich kids can do grocery shopping!" Steve said "Jane, never go to grocery shopping again because we might die from the food that you and Thor pick for us"
"Shut up, Rogers" Darcy protected her friend
"There is a thing called Google. If you cavemen know of it" Tony backed Steve up
"Judging by the way they pick their food, they really are cavemen"

Steve jumped when something hit him really hard from behind.

"OUCH!" Steve yelped and grabbed his ass "Red, that hurt! And what's with the arrow?"
"Barton almost hit me with it when he and the guys were playing arrow roulette"
"What?! And they didn't invite me or even wait for me to come back" Tony pouted
Steve frowned and his eyes roamed all over her body "Is he crazy?! He could have injured you" Steve took the arrow from her hand "I will kill him"
Nat quickly grabbed his free hand "I already handled it. Barton will not be able to use his arms for a while"
Steve smiled fondly at this "That's my little Red"
Tony rolled his eyes "Just fuck each other's brains out already...you are making me uncomfortable with all the nicknames you guys call each other"

The two just chuckled and carried the groceries into the house. Tony turned to see Jane handing Darcy ten bucks while Maria and Pepper's eyes followed every move of Natasha and Steve closely.

Not only he began to notice how close the Captain and little Red but his friends as well, Tony thought to himself.

Nat told Steve that she had prepared a prank to get back on Clint. He knew right away that is the reason why she told him to buy her a slingshot along with a small balloon. The two partners filled the balloon with water before following Clint who was with Tony. They were chatting with a group of girls from nearby house.

"Why do you have to do this?"
"Well, Barton and Stark always did stupid pranks on me" She told
"Why didn't you tell me so I will handle it if they are really irritate you?"
"Its just a childish prank so I think I can handle it by myself. I don't need to call in the Captain to protect me from Stark and Barton"

Steve smiled. He really couldn't help when she just being super adorable.

They were hiding behind a bush before she fired a water balloon at Tony and it hit his head. The rich boy yelped and looked around the area. Steve had to put his hands around her mouth because Natasha was about to laugh so hard. Her body was shaking from containing her laugh.

Natasha peeked over again and this time she aimed at Clint and he looked around too. The redhead shot two more balloons at them.

"I will kill you!" Tony yelled because he was now soaking wet from head to toe.
"There they are!" Clint pointed at the two shooter.

Natasha grabbed Steve's hand and began to run with Tony and Clint chased after them. Steve gave Natasha a boost and climbed up the tree to get away from them.

"Come down here, Red! You too, Rogers!" Tony said
"NOO" Natasha replied and shot another water balloon at Tony
"That's it!" Clint shouted and began to climb up the tree.
"Shoot him, Steve!" Natasha said

But Steve didn't shoot Clint but instead he threw the balls at Clint. He knew his arm and hand had more accuracy than that the slingshot. Tony and Clint gave up.

"Fine! Stay up there because if you come down, we will get our revenge!" Tony threatened and Natasha shot her last water balloon at Tony.

They waited until the guys went back to the house and Steve climbed down to survey but he got shot by Clint's toy arrow and Tony threw something at him. Steve believed it was a rock but he can dodge it. The Captain had to climb back to his little Red.

"They are waiting for us down there with an ambush" Steve told.

They spent at least two hours in the tree. Natasha was the first one to initiate a small talk between them. She asked him about the Hamptons. Steve told her that he was born and raised there with his mother until his father demanded that his son must move to Manhattan.

After he moved to Manhattan, he attended the same school as Bucky, Peggy, Bruce, Thor, Tony, Pepper and the rest of the rich kids of the Upper East Side.

Pepper texted them that dinner was ready. Steve climbed down first and waited for Natasha to get down there.

"Come on, Red! I'm starving" He shouted.
"I can't! It's too high"
"Jump! And I will catch you"
"Are you insane?"
"No, just trust me on this. I promise I will catch you"
"You are asking me too much!" She shouted back.
"If you don't trust me, you gotta stay there all night. Bears will come for you"
"Damn it, Rogers!"
"Do you trust me, Natasha?" He asked her again. The question that she knew he was asking too much from her but it somehow important to him too.

He needed to know that she trusts him.

Natasha sighed "Fine, if you drop me, I will kill you"

Natasha took a deep breath and jump down the tree. Steve caught her with ease and sat her down on her feet.

"I thought you were not gonna catch me" She murmured against his chest.
"Even if it gives me more pleasure to see you struggle but I cannot hurt my Little Red" He said with his charming smile that makes her heart skip a beat.

Lucky for Steve and Natasha, Clint and Tony didn't have any pranks await for them. Natasha found herself woke up early again but there was someone woke up way earlier than her.

Steve was waiting for the sun to come up and Natasha found him sitting alone at the shore

"Hey...why are you up so early?" She greeted and sat down next to him.
"Couldn't sleep" He shortly replied, blue eyes looking at the horizon.
"What's on your mind?"
"Just a random thought"
"What's it about?"
"Everyone seems to have someone they care about. Stark has Pepper even though that stupid arrogant ass was so blind and in denial train. Clint wants to make his relationship with Jessica more serious. Thor has Jane."
"And you want to have someone too?"
He shook his head "I will end up breaking their heart so it's better that I'm alone like this"
"You will not break anyone's heart if you stop being such a jerk"
"I really mean it, Romanoff. In the end, even how great the relationship is, I will end up hurting someone because it's my default mode to stay single and sleeping around"
She reached out her hand to grab his and looked into his deep blue eyes "I know you're better than that"
"Thanks for the confident but I apologize in advance because I know I will let you down"
"Whatever you say, buddy" She said before got up and reached out her hand to him "Come on, Rogers. Let's go for some romantic sunrise walk along the lake together"

He smiled at her teasing and took her hand but he didn't let go. Steve held her hand gently afraid that if he let go, she will gone with the wind.

Nat and Steve just came back from their morning walk along the shore line. Steve still holding her hand. Natasha didn't mind it at all. She even leaned into his muscular body. They found Clint sitting on the lawn chair with a phone in his hand, looking really serious.

"What's bothering you, Barton?" Nat asked as she and Steve sat down next to him
"Nah, nothing important" Clint replied
"Don't lie to me"
"You can tell us anything, Barton"
"I just got a call from the scholarship office" Clint told "They said that if I failed with any subject in this semester, I will lose my scholarship"
"What?!" Steve and Natasha shouted at the same time
"It's better this way. I don't want to study anyway" He told "I just want to practice with my bow and be in the Olympic camp right now"
"Nonsense!" Natasha yelled "What makes you possibly want to drop out of university?!"
"What?! That's it. Assemble time" Steve told and dialed everyone's number. "Get up now. We have an emergency situation!"

Natasha was yelling at Clint about the situation while Steve was waiting for everyone to join them. The Captain told everyone about the incident and that they need an immediate response to the matter. Everyone had the same reaction as Steve and Natasha.

"Guys! Seriously, don't worry about me" Clint said.

But everyone was still yelling at him at the same time

"This is not acceptable, Barton!"
"What do you mean by not to worry?!"
"We are your friends. Why don't you tell us you have a problem with your classes?"
"We can help you!"
"You might got kicked out of the archery team!"
"You might not graduate and have to drop out of school, you idiot!"
"You might lose the chance to be on the Olympic Team!"
"Alright alright!" Clint shouted "You may do whatever you want"
"Good! I will schedule you a tutor session with one of us every day and don't you dare skip it" Natasha warned

Everyone was planning everything for Clint and his tutor sessions. Once they get back to the university, they will have to make sure that Clint pass all the classes.

AN: After finish this story and 365 days with Steve and Natasha, I will take a break from writing. Something came up and it's too much :(

- Special thanks to my dearest friends, sleeplessinbudapest & internetangie!

- Thank you to my proofreader, RushmanNatalie

- Please kindly leave a review!