Disclaimer: The Avengers, its characters and The Marvel Cinematic Universe belong to Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company, among many others. I'm only a fan, writing this for love of this film franchise and personal pleasure.
A.N.: Continuing with CA:TWS, this is what I imagined took place between their scene at the hospital and the one at the mall. After all, they changed clothes and everything, and I doubt Steve was the one to think of that.
To Build a Home
4. Running
After that tense encounter between Steve and Natasha at the hospital, the two of them were now in her Corvette driving through the streets of Washington D.C.
"You're a large, right?" Natasha suddenly said, not bothering to look at him as she kept her eyes on the road.
"Excuse me?" Steve raised both eyebrows at her, as he didn't know what to make of her question. He knew she liked to tease him, constantly, but she couldn't possibly be asking him what he thought she was asking right now. Could she?
"Clothes size," she said curtly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye and raising an eyebrow at him. "Large?"
"Yes," he answered just as curtly, his jaw loosening up a little then tightening back up in tension at the sudden gleam in her eyes, which got him thinking she knew exactly what he'd thought about. "Why?"
"I'm mentally assessing which clothes I have at my place that fit you, otherwise we'll need to improvise," she explained, once more keeping her eyes trained on the road and watching out for any security cameras or police officers. She knew the area like the back of her hand by now and she was taking the back streets and avoiding the main avenues, but she knew they needed to be extra careful with the official alert she'd received on the manhunt for Captain America.
"Why are we talking about clothes?" Steve asked, feeling confused by her question and train of thought. "Shouldn't we be looking for a computer to read what's on this drive?"
"You're skipping a few steps there, soldier," she explained patiently. Natasha knew Steve was a master strategist in the battlefield, but when it came to blending in and going on the run she was the expert here. "For starters, we need to ditch these clothes and this car then find a public, crowded place with several exits and preferably access to the subway to read what's on that drive, otherwise the STRIKE team will be onto us before we can do anything about it. I don't know if anyone's caught on to the fact that we're together, but it won't take long before they figure it out." She'd been busy looking out at the streets, so she missed his surprised look at the notion that she would be helping him out would be so obvious. "It doesn't look like my place has been compromised yet, so we'll stop there first," she carried on voicing out loud her thoughts for his benefit. She also had a couple of safe houses in the area that they could use, but she'd really rather keep that for a last resort.
"We're going to your house?" Steve asked, once more raising his eyebrows in surprise at her. "Won't that be a problem?"
"Not for now," she assured him. "I already dumped my SHIELD phone at the hospital, so I need to pick up my back-up and a few essentials. And change clothes, of course."
"What's wrong with our clothes?" He asked, frowning in confusion as he looked down at his sweats.
"We're standing out," she said, looking at him as if the answer was obvious. "We need to blend in."
"We're standing out?" Steve raised an eyebrow at her once more, feeling rather like an idiot for asking so many questions but unable to stop himself. He'd thought he had done one hell of a job at the last possible minute with his gym clothes, as he couldn't walk around in his battle uniform or go back to his apartment.
"We look like two SHIELD operative agents going on the run. Well, you more so than me," she said, throwing a smirk at him as she suddenly pulled the car onto the curb and parked on the street. "But we need to look like regular people. Okay, the perimeter hasn't been breached and the cameras are still in place," she added, looking at a handheld device she took out of her pocket that seemed connected to some security system in her apartment. "We're good to go." Then she opened her door and got out of the car without waiting for him.
He followed her out and looked up at the building in front of them. It looked like an old industrial warehouse that had been converted into apartments, with a brick facade and big windows. "This is you?" He asked as she got a set of keys out of her pocket and unlocked the front door.
"What, not what you pictured?" She countered, giving him a smile over her shoulder as she pushed the door open and walked in.
"I didn't know what to picture, actually," he confessed with a slight shake of the head as he followed her closely. "This is nice."
"Thanks. It serves its purpose," she said quietly, pulling open the door and metal screens of the old-fashioned elevator and ushering him in. "Now get in, we need to be quick."
They rode the elevator up to the last floor and she unlocked the sole door in the hallway. As she pulled him in past the thick, metal door, she stood before an eye-scanner in the security system connected to the door then turned on an array of monitors mounted on the wall, keeping visuals of the building and surrounding streets. Next the windows got shut by what looked like reinforced black steel and they were momentarily thrown into darkness before she turned on the lights.
Steve just stood there for a moment, taking note of the high ceiling and open floor concept, as the kitchen stood to their right with a long counter and a kitchen island with a cooktop and a second counter that also served as a table with a couple of seats in front of it. The apartment was almost spartan in how it was furnished, as there weren't a lot of decorative pieces but every piece of furniture there looked highly functional and expensive at the same time, judging by the leather sofa, Persian rug and the enormous flat screen TV. Which matched what he knew of her, when he thought about it and her Corvette.
"What are you doing over there?" Natasha asked with a frown as she noticed he hadn't followed her into her bedroom, which was on a mezzanine level up a flight of stairs off to their left, and she came back down the stairs again. "Get up here."
"Sorry, I didn't know─Are we alone?" He asked with a tilt of the head as he gestured with a hand at the apartment at large.
"Yeah, of course," she answered, crossing her arms as she leaned against the metal railing and raised an eyebrow at him. "I live alone. Why?"
"Nothing, I just thought…" Steve trailed off, unsure if he should say what was on his mind, then he continued after a moment. "I thought there would be someone else here."
"Why?" She asked simply with that eyebrow still raised at him, though she could already guess at his answer.
"Well, I know this is none of my business, but what about Agent Barton?" He asked, also crossing his arms and shifting his weight from one foot to another rather uncomfortably.
"Clint? He's at his house, of course." Natasha answered with an impassive face, keeping her stance by the stairs.
"You two are not together?" Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise at that, as something in her tone of voice somehow conveyed that the idea that Barton would be here was somewhat ridiculous.
"No," Natasha said calmly, and for a moment her lips twitched up almost as if she would smile, but she managed to maintain her neutral expression. "I know most of SHIELD is under the impression that we're a couple, but we're not. We just never felt the need to clarify this, for personal reasons." She finished with a casual shrug.
It was true, the arrangement worked out quite well for them, as no one would even think Clint had a secret family out there if they thought he was with her and it also kept assholes at SHIELD like Rumlow from making passes at her, which worked out just fine for her.
"Oh. Okay." Steve said, rather at a loss of what else to say to that.
"Are you satisfied now?" She smirked at him then. "Do you have any more questions or can we get on with this whole going on the run thing?"
"Yes, sorry." He said, shaking his head lightly and giving her an apologetic look.
"Then get up here, I need to see if I have any clothes that fit you," she said, going back up to her bedroom. When he followed her up, she was already rummaging through the drawers of a tall dresser that stood by the wall, taking out several pieces of clothing and laying them down on her bed.
"Why do you have so many men's clothes if you live alone?" Steve asked with a curious frown.
"What an indiscreet question to ask a lady, Rogers," she said, not even bothering to look up at him, but he could hear the smirk in her voice.
"Sorry, I didn't mean─" He said at once, already feeling his face growing hot in embarrassment at what he'd inadvertently implied.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you," she said, looking quickly at him over her shoulder with a smile before going back to rummaging through her drawers, taking out a pair of jeans and handing them to him. "Actually it pays to be prepared. Like when your partner suddenly decides to become a fugitive of SHIELD without letting you know ahead so you need to prepare in the nick of time."
"So this is all just for me?" Steve asked in surprise, feeling rather thrown at this.
"No, most are for Clint from when we were still partnering up," Natasha said without missing a beat, mentally wondering why she was bothering to lie to him about something like this.
It was true that she'd done this for Clint as well when they'd been partners, but she'd sent him most of his stuff when he took his leave of absence and then she started collecting items for Steve once they started working together. She should've just told him the truth, but the surprise and wonder in his voice had caught her off guard, and she felt safer with the white lie. Maybe that's why he doesn't trust you, Natasha, a voice said in the back of her mind. Because you keep lying about stupid stuff like this. She ignored the voice and carried on with the task at hand. She could psychoanalyze herself after they were done with this.
"Here, try these glasses on," she said, stepping up to him and holding out the dark frame with the clear lenses, standing on tiptop to place them on his face.
"I had no idea you would be so prepared to suddenly go on the run," he told her with some wonder and amazement in his low voice as he looked down at her, focusing on her green eyes for a moment.
"You never know what might happen," she said quietly, looking up at him then forcing herself to look away from his intense blue eyes and going back to gathering items for the two of them all over the room. "I never lost the habit to be prepared for everything. Also when Fury got attacked last night, I started making some preparations." She reached for a newly purchased bag next to her bed. "Here, try these shoes." She said, throwing a box at him, which he caught with ease.
He opened the lid then looked back at her. "I'm not wearing those."
"Why not?" She turned to look at him with a frown at this. "They look almost the same as the ones you have on now." She pointed with her chin at the sneakers he was wearing.
"These are made for running," he said, looking down at his shoes. "Those are just ridiculous." He raised an eyebrow at her and she could detect just a hint of a smile and a teasing gleam in his eyes.
"It's what all the cool kids are wearing," she quipped back at him. "Stop complaining, I'm trying to keep us alive."
He smiled slightly back at her and did as he was told, taking several articles of clothing she pointed out to him and heading towards the bathroom so he could get changed.
