Natasha was in Brooklyn, picking up a Christmas pyramid that Yelena had ordered last week. Her sister couldn't pick it up herself because she was hanging out with two young women that she'd met at the community center. She was happy for Yelena, but she didn't want to be in Brooklyn right now. She was scared that she could run into Steve.

It had been three days since she'd last seen him. She still didn't know what to think about it. She hadn't talked to him since they'd danced together. She'd thought for a second that they were going to leave the bar together to, well, have sex, but it'd appeared that he'd changed his mind or he'd never intended to get so hot and heavy with her in the first place. How would they go from there? She'd felt his growing boner for fuck's sake! And it also didn't help that she could still hear his moan when she closed her eyes...

She found a cute cafe on her way to the Christmas shop and decided to treat herself to some coffee and cake. She was lucky and found a seat near the windows and could watch the people who passed by. She loved doing that. She loved to imagine what kind of lives they lived, where they were headed, what they had in their shopping bags. It has always been a great way to distract her. And it still worked.

She wasn't thinking about- she almost spit out her coffee. Steve was on the other side of the street, walking next to a beautiful brunette. They stopped in front of an apartment building and the woman kissed his cheek before she walked inside.

Oh God, he was seeing someone! She'd known that this day would come, but...

Fuck, it hurt. It hurt so much. That's why he'd walked off the dance floor so fast. He'd been ashamed because he was with that woman.

Natasha wasn't going to cry over a boy. No, that was not going to happen! All she wanted was to go home to eat ice cream and watch shitty movies, but she had to get Yelena's pyramid. She had been so excited about it when she'd told Natasha about it, she couldn't bail on her little sister.

She bought cinnamon buns for Yelena and herself and then left the cafe. Steve was thankfully nowhere to be seen. She couldn't believe that he was with someone and yet acted so flirty around her. That was not like Steve at all. Maybe he'd changed after the Blip. She shook her head, she wasn't going to think about that.

The Christmas store wasn't too far away from the cafe and she decided to walk there. It started to rain. Great. She quickly ran to the store and almost slipped twice. Damn, she hoped it wouldn't get worse.

Wow, she felt like she stepped into Santa's house. It truly was a Christmas shop. She headed to the register to get Yelena's pyramid and told the man Yelena's name. He went to get the pyramid and came back with a big box.

"I hope you live near by." The guy said.

"Excuse me?"

"It's black ice out there. People are supposed to stay at home and not use their cars. I just heard it on the radio."

Natasha grimaced. That did not sound good. Hopefully the subway was still working. She paid for the pyramid and left the store. Cars were very, very slowly driving and yet they were more sliding than actually driving. Natasha hoped that no one would get hurt. People were carefully walking, holding onto something if they could. Jesus, how was she supposed to get with that giant box to the subway station?!

She walked very slowly away from the door of the Christmas store and stopped in front of one of its windows. She wanted to check the timetable of the subway. She didn't even know where the nearest station was. She kinda knew where she was because Steve lived nearby, but she'd never paid attention where the subway stations were.

"Nat?" She looked up from her phone and Steve was standing in front of her. Did she summon him?! "Hey! What are you doing in Brooklyn?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She did not want to see him!

"I picked up something for Yelena." She pointed at the shopping bag next to her feet. She looked at her phone again. She kinda knew now where the station was and the subway was still working. She picked up the bag. "I'm heading home."

She took a step and almost slipped. Fuck! Steve caught her before her ass could meet the pave walk.

"That's way too dangerous. My place is just around the corner. Let's wait there until it gets better. You'll break your neck trying to get to Manhattan."

"I'll just need to get to the subway station."

"That's further away than my apartment. And you'd still have to walk to your place if you actually manage to get to Manhattan." He took the shopping bag from her and seemed surprised that it was quite heavy. Well, not heavy to him. "It's too dangerous right now."

She knew he was right. She just didn't want to be alone with Steve right now, but she had no choice. "Okay."

He smiled and offered her his arm. It took way longer than usual to get to his building, even Steve had to be careful not to slip. Natasha was more than relieved when they were finally inside. She didn't want to know how many people were going to break bones today.

She texted Yelena who wrote back that she and Fanny were going to stay at her new friend's place for the night. Natasha lied and said that she was already at home. She didn't want her sister to know where she currently was. She would never hear the end of it.

"Are you hungry?" Steve asked and put the bag with the Christmas pyramid onto the floor next to his wardrobe. "I can throw some pizzas into the oven."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks."

Steve smiled, told her to get comfortable on the couch and left for the kitchen. She took a quick look around his place. She couldn't spot anything that could potentially belong to a girlfriend. She shook her head. She couldn't snoop around. It wasn't okay and actually finding proof of a girlfriend was just going to hurt her.

"We can eat in about 15 minutes." Steve said when he came into the living room. He walked to the fireplace to get it going. He didn't need the warmth, he was doing it for her.

"Thanks." She said to him after the fire was lit.

He waved her off and sat down next to her with enough space for two people to sit between them. He was keeping his distance. "Can I ask what's in the bag?"

"Yelena's Christmas pyramid. She couldn't get it herself today, so I went."

"She's really into Christmas, isn't she?" Steve said with a fond smile.

"Yeah. It's her first real one."

"Are we still celebrating it together or do you just want to be with your sister? I get it if you'd rather just be with her."

"No, no. We're still doing that. You, Yelena and me. And James of course."

"Okay, good." Steve seemed relieved. "And where are we doing Christmas?"

"My place is probably the best choice. It's bigger than yours or James'."

She wondered about the woman she'd seen Steve earlier with. Didn't he want to see her on Christmas?

"Yeah, makes sense." He smiled. "I'll go check on our food."

Natasha grabbed his remote and put on Netflix. They still hadn't watched the latest Vanessa Hudgens Christmas movie, maybe this year she was playing every character.

Steve came back with two wine glasses and a bottle of white wine. "Pizzas are almost ready."

She eyed the wine bottle. "Since when do you have wine?" Did he have it at home in case the woman showed up?

"I don't only drink beer!" Steve's cheeks got pink. "You want some?"

"Yes, please." He poured wine into the glass and she could recognized the label. It was her favorite Chardonnay. "Thank you."

He smiled and filled the other glass. "Oh, the pizzas!"

She chuckled to herself, he could be such a dork sometimes. He carried two plates into the living room, he had a family sized pepperoni pizza for himself and put a much smaller vegetarian one in front of her. It looked a lot like the one she always bought at the grocery store. Did he have it in his freezer in case she came over?

He sat down next to her and nodded at the TV. "You found something?"

"Yeah, Princess Switch 4."

"You think she now plays everyone herself?"

"Thought crossed my mind." She raised her glass and clinked it with Steve's. "Cheers!"

Natasha started the movie and they ate their pizzas and made fun of the film. It felt like old times and she was glad that things weren't awkward after what had happened between them. She would just forget it. It was better this way. The last thing she wanted was to ruin their friendship.

It was almost midnight and they had watched two more movies, but the black ice had not disappeared. It seemed like it had gotten even worse.

"I think it's best if you stay here. You can have my bed. I'll take the couch." Steve kindly offered. He had no guestroom like Natasha.

The last thing she wanted was to spend the night, but she had no choice. She would break her neck trying to get to Manhattan.

"I'll take the couch. I'm much smaller than you are. You barely fit on it."

"No. You'll take my bed. I'll change the sheets and-"

"Steve, that is not necessary. It's already very kind of you to let me stay. I'll sleep on your couch."

He shook his head. "No. My mom would kill me if she were still around. Please take the bed."

"The bed is big enough for both of us." She said without thinking. Shit.

"No, it's okay. I'll take the couch."

"Steve, we shared a bed before. More than once."

They'd shared beds while they had been on the run, and Natasha had used Steve as her pillow when he'd visited her at the compound after the Snap.

He stared at the wall before he looked at her. She couldn't say what was going through his mind. "I can't, Nat."

Oh.

"It's because of the woman, isn't it?"

"What woman?!" He frowned.

"I saw you earlier today with a woman. Brunette, pretty..."

"That's-" He laughed. "That's Bucky's great-niece Rikki! Did you think I was dating her?! She's still in college! And related to Buck!"

"Oh." Yikes, how embarrassing. But she was relieved that he wasn't dating anyone.

Steve looked at her for a long moment and then sighed. "Okay, we'll share the bed. You better not steal my blanket!"

He let her get ready for bed first. He had an extra toothbrush for her and gave her a shirt she could sleep in.

Natasha stared at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed because she was excited to share the bed with him. She'd missed it, but after the Blip there had been no reason to ask him. They both didn't have these kinds of nightmare anymore. She knew that tonight didn't mean anything and that she had to pull herself together.

Steve was making the bed when she came into the bedroom.

"You need help?"

"Nah, I'm almost done." He smiled and put the pillows back onto the bed. "See, done."

He went to get ready for bed and Natasha slid underneath the covers. The sheets were cold, but they smelled good. They smelled like Steve.

She was staring at the ceiling, only one thought on her mind. She'd forgotten about what Steve had said, but now it was back. I can't, Nat.

Steve came back into the bedroom, wearing pajama pants and a too tight t shirt, and had two water bottles in his hands. Natasha sat up and took one from him.

"Thanks!" She took a sip and put it on the nightstand next to her.

He got into bed, laying down on his back. "Good night, Nat." He turned his head to look at her. "I'm sure the weather will be better tomorrow morning and you can go home." With that he turned off the lights.

Natasha wasn't sure if she would actually get any sleep with Steve being so close to her. She could smell him and she was itching to brush her hand through his beard. She wanted to lay her head on his chest. She wanted to kiss him. To at least give him a quick good night kiss. She could hear him breathing, it almost sounded like he was doing breathing exercises.

"Steve?" It was dark, but she could still see him.

"Yeah?" He rolled onto his side to look at her.

"Why did you say that you can't share a bed with me?"

"I was hoping you would forget that." He closed his eyes.

"Are you...Is everything okay? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"What? No! Well, a little bit, but not in the way you think." He opened his eyes again. "Aren't you the one who should be uncomfortable? You're still so trusting after what I did."

Now Natasha was lost. "What do you mean? What did you do?"

"The way I acted when we danced...I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't okay. I'm really sorry!"

"Steve, don't! It wasn't one-sided. If you acted inappropriately, then so did I. Then I should apologize, too. But I liked the way we danced."

"Yeah?" There was a glint of hope in his eyes.

"Yeah. I was just disappointed that it ended so abruptly."

"It wasn't right. Not that I didn't enjoy it." He chuckled and Natasha grinned a little. "It's just...We skipped a few steps."

"Do you want to take those steps?" She breathed out. Was this really happening? Were they actually talking about this?!

Steve looked at her, his eyes soft. "Yes. Longer than you can possibly imagine." He sounded nervous.

"Me, too." She whispered and he smiled. She felt bold and scooted closer to him. "Why are you a little bit uncomfortable?"

"Because you're in my bed and I'm not touching you." He wrapped an arm around her waist, letting his hand rest on her lower back. "I have another confession to make."

"Okay?"

"I didn't run into you. Yelena texted me that you were probably still in Brooklyn and she was worried that you'd hurt yourself because of the glaze. I was looking for you."

Had the whole thing been a set-up by her sister? She wasn't going to think about that while she was so close to Steve.

"Thank you for finding me and taking me in."

"No need to thank me. I'm really happy we're having this talk."

"Yeah." She smiled, resting her hand on his cheek, finally running her fingers through his soft beard. "So how do those steps look like?"

"I...well, I've never had this in my life before. And I don't think it will ever happen again. I can't imagine it with anyone else. And I...I'd like to enjoy it. I've never dated someone. Got to know them. I know that we know each other, but not in that way. I want to go on dates and flirt and just...Am I making any sense?"

She thought about what Steve had said and he had a point. "I get what you mean. And I think you're right. I've never really dated before either. And it makes sense to explore this new part of our lives. We shouldn't skip that part. I don't want to skip that part."

"So you'll let me court you?" He rolled onto his back, taking her with him. She snuggled into his embrace.

"Yes." She searched for his hand and intertwined their fingers.

"I'm really happy right now." Steve kissed the top of her head.

"Me, too." She smiled against his chest. She was going to date Steve Rogers!