DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE.
The rating of this story has CHANGED from T to M now, due to sexual content. Please bare this warning in mind if you decide to continue reading.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Steve, there you are!" Tony bellowed across the room, as he made his way over to their booth. The rest of the guests had left, including Sam, leaving just their small group.
All the Avengers were there, along with Rhodey, Agent Hill and Dr Cho - who, no doubt, had come mainly to make sure Clint didn't over exert himself. Natasha was there, a coy grin on her beautiful face, as she watched him. There was not a single hair out of place, nothing to indicate what she'd just been up to.
Even though doing so was quite difficult indeed, he ignored her, purposefully, hoping it would drive her crazy.
Tony, who had clearly made the most of the large volume of alcohol the party provided for him, swayed slightly as he patted Steve on the shoulder. "Just in time," The billionaire said, his breath stinking of vodka.
In fact, all of them looked like they had taken advantage of the boose. The table in the middle of them all was covered in glasses, some full, some empty, and there were countless shot glasses as well. Clearly, they had all been quite occupied while he and Natasha had been…
He tried not to think about it, tried not to look at her, because if he did, he'd lose any self control he had left. The temptation to hull her over his shoulder and carry her back to his floor so he could have his way with her against the wall was overpowering surging through his veins. On second thought, that bar was certainly looking inviting once again.
She knew this, of course, and he refused to give in to her, no matter how good of a tempting seductress she could be. This could very much be the biggest test that his self restraint had yet to overcome.
"Let the competition begin!" Tony declared joyfully, shoving Steve down on the empty seat beside Thor, deciding that putting as much space between him and Natasha would be a wise move if he had any chance of ignoring just how good she looked.
"What competition?" Steve asked the Asgardian next to him, having a feeling that this had something to do with the hammer.
"This fool thinks he can lift it," Thor's voice was loud without him even trying. He snorted. "And these other fools are entertaining such an idea."
"It's a trick," Clint shot across the table. "All this 'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power." Clearly, his recent war wound hadn't prevented himself from getting very, very drunk himself. In fact, Steve spotted the vodka bottle in Hawkeye's hands, which was then passed to Natasha.
Knowing she had his attention on her once again, Natasha lifted the bottle to her mouth, enclosing those red lips around it as she took a gulp. His eyes tracked the bobbing of her throat as she swallowed. The amount of effort that went into that swallow was definitely put on.
"Please, be my guest." Thor said, gesturing towards the hammer on the table.
"Really? Alright then," Clint said, rising to his feet. If his wound still hurt him, he didn't let it show as he stretched his arms out in front of him, cracking his fingers. Behind him, Natasha scoffed at his behaviour.
"Now, now, Clint, you've had a tough week." Tony reminded him, slurring his words slightly. "We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."
Clint rolled his eyes. "You know I've seen this before, right?" He wrapped both hands around the handle and pulled, his entire face straining.
Nothing happened.
Clint laughed, his hands shooting up in defeat as he staggered back to the couch. "I still don't know how you do it!"
"Smell the silent judgement?" Tony taunted.
"Please, Stark, by all means," Clint stepped away with a small, theatrical bow. He returned to his seat, flopping back down beside Natasha who handed over the vodka, as if that would make the situation any better.
Tony straightened his suit, no doubt for dramatic effect. "Never one to shrink from an honest challenge." He took the same stance that Barton had done. "Right, so, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course." The amount of sarcasm in Thor's booming voice was strong, perhaps enhanced even more by the alcohol.
"I will be reinstituting prima nocta." Tony informed him, and pulled on the hammer.
Again, nothing.
Even when he excused himself, returning with the arm of his Iron Man suit, Tony was unable to lift the hammer from the table. Rhodey helped, with his own suited arm, but the hammer didn't so much as even budge. The men both worked up as much as a sweat that it looked as if they had run a marathon.
Banner was next, and again, nothing. No one even attempted to joke that maybe the Hulk should make an appearance and participate in the challenge. Some things were best left unsaid.
"Cap, you're up." Tony, now sprawled out on the couch, lifted his glass up.
"Alright," Steve said, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. He was very much aware of Natasha's eyes fixed on his exposed lower arms, which had been the desired effect all alone. He considered it payback for the panty incident.
He braced himself, using all the strength he could muster, but the hammer remained on the table.
For a fleeting second, from her comfortable spot on the couch, Natasha was sure she had seen the hammer shift ever so slightly from Steve's attempt, but perhaps, it was just her imagination, driven by just how much she was enjoying watching those muscular arms of his in action. Also, she had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol tonight, although she didn't have much intention on slowing down any time soon.
The lesser verison of the serum in her veins was a useful advantage when it came to not getting drunk quickly, even though she'd never admit such a thing in front of Tony. She'd won too much money off him during the years over drinking games to risk exposing herself now.
Knowing better than the others about when to quit, Steve held up his hands.
Thor, sounding somewhat relieved for some reason, chuckled. "Nothing," He confirmed, but there seemed to be a small amount of relief in his voice. Natasha blamed that on the vodka, too.
"Widow?" Clint asked, turning to her with a grin that practically begged her to have a go herself.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, no no. That's not a question that I need answered." Despite the beer bottles and empty glasses that surrounded her, she didn't even sound tipsy.
But, then she lounged onto her side, her breasts bunching slightly against the tight material that trapped them. Steve almost groaned at the sight, but everyone else - thankfully - had returned their attention back to the motionless hammer still on the table.
Nastasha caught him staring, though, and winked.
"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged." Tony declared with a shrug.
"You bet your ass," Clint agreed, raising the vodka bottle up in the air.
"Steve," Hill said, pointing. "He said a bad language word." The usually focused, abrupt agent had definitely been drinking tonight, and Steve was slightly surprised by this, even though he had no idea why he pictured Hill as being a saint when it came to following rules and keeping things professional.
As Nastasha and Clint both howled with laughter, Steve glared at the billionaire sitting across from him. "Did you tell everyone about that?"
Tony shrugged him off, turning back to the Asgardian with them. "The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprint', is I think the literal translation."
Thor grinned as he rose to his feet. "Yes, that's a very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." He reached for the hammer and picked it up as if it weighed no more than a paperweight. For effect, he flipped it and caught it without even looking. "You're all not worthy."
That received him many groans of complaint and amusement.
Such grumbles were suddenly drowned out by a very awful high-pitched noise.
The voice that sounded first was not from anyone sat at that booth.
"Worthy..."
Stood behind them was one of Tony's suits, shaking and patting it's head as if it was suffering from a terrible headache. Attachment wines were around its feet, cut and sparkling. From the look on Tony's suddenly very pale face, this was not a planned appearance.
"No," That dark, machine voice sounded again, as the suit stumbled slightly, turning to face them all. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark," Steve growled across to the genius, who was pressing buttons on a remote that clearly was having no effect.
"Jarvis," Tony called for his programme, his wing-man. Nothing.
The suit spoke again, "I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was a - a dream."
"Reboot Legionnaire OS." Tony ordered quietly, still searching for JARVIS to come to their aid. "We got a buggy suit."
"There was this terrible noise," The suit went on, clutching his head again. "And I was tangled in...strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
By now, everyone was on edge. Natasha and Clint were on their feet as steadily as if they hadn't touched a sip of booze all night, and Banner backed up a little. Hill had a gun in her hand, hidden behind her thigh. Thor's hammer was gripped tightly, and Rhodey was close to Tony's side.
Steve's blood went cold. "You killed somebody?"
"Wouldn't have been my first call," The suit admitted. "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded, fingers gripping tightly around Mjolnir.
Stark's voice, on a recording, filled the room. "I see a suit of armour around the world." The words he had said as they'd landed, after Sokovia, with the scepter among them again at last.
Dread hit Steve like a ton of bricks. What had Tony done? Had he thought of some way to try to harness the scepter's power, even though they were all aware of the risk it presented?
Steve's suspicions when Banner looked across to the billionaire, "Ultron,"
"In the flesh," The suit - Ulron - confirmed. If it wasn't such a tense situation, someone probably would have pointed out the irony that Stark's newest creation shared his excessive need to be dramatic. "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But, I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Natasha's voice was unwavering, strong. Still, her fingers flexed at her sides. Steve noticed her bare wrists; her Bites were still downstairs on her own floor.
"Peace in our time," Ulton said dryly.
Then, everything erupted.
The wall behind him burst as two more suits, more developed, fly towards the team. Sparks flew everywhere, and Steve kicked up the table in front of him just in time to block one of the suits from hitting him directly, but the table was forced back into him, sending him flying.
The wind was knocked out of him as he hit the ground hard, landing on several glass bottles with the broken pieces of wood crashing down beside him. The bottles smashed around him, and one shard scratched his arm.
Hill ducked to the ground, shooting up at the suits as they flew up, circling them. Thor swatted one like a bug, and it crashed into a nearby wall, unscatched. Another appeared, shooting across the room at Rhodey and sending him flying through the glass wall behind him, only a lower platform.
Rolling onto his side, Steve had just enough time to pinpoint where Natasha was. His eyes tracked the blur of red hair. The spy had just shoved Bruce behind the bar, and had retrieved a glock from beneath the counter, firing angrily.
Good, he thought. This was not the space for the Hulk to make an entrance.
Steve launched himself at a hovering suit, punching and grasping at whatever he could, ripping parts of it from it's metal body. It spun, and he held on together, wheeling round in the air with it as he tried to shut it down. Then, it sent them both into the wall behind them, his back taking the brunt of the impact.
He fell, landing awkwardly into a bar stool. Above him, Natasha shot out, causing the suit to spin round and head further into the room, where it faced Hill and Rhodey, working together.
"Get him out of here!" Steve ordered. Natasha didn't argue, she grabbed Banner by the arm and pushed him towards the staircase, not unkindly but rushed, shooting at the suits as she went.
Steve's whole body winced as he got to his feet. "Stark!" He called across the carnage.
"One sec!" The genius was currently clinging onto a suit, clawing into its chest as he searched for something, anything, that would shut it down and reboot them.
Thor's hammer cut through one suit, separating its body into two. The top half of it rose, aiming a hand directly to where Dr Cho was using the piano to hide. Steve tackled it, grabbed it's shoulders and sent it back to Thor, who dispatched it, crushing it into the ground.
Natasha and Banner had made it to the top of the stairs, but a suit cut them off, easily darting through the air into whichever direction she tried to go. The bullets she shot at it were proving useless, firing off the metal and scattering.
"Hey, Cap!" Barton shouted over the chaos, and a second later, his shield was chucked towards him, cutting across the room.
"Thanks!" Steve caught it, instantly sending it straight at the suit that faced Natasha. It drove the suit into the wall, sinking into its throat. Natasha sprang, kicking it further, and the metal head rolled clean off, sparks flying out from the decapitated body. She yanked the shield out and threw it back to him.
Tony managed to unwire the last suit, and it crashed to the floor with him.
"That was dramatic," Ultron commented casually, as they all straightened and faced him, battered and bruising. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through."
His chest heaved for breath, and his body felt as if it had been run over by a bus, but Steve took a step closer. In the corner of his eye, he saw Hill lift her gun again, and Thor swing his hammer. Barton's fists were clenched, ready, and Banner stood behind Natasha, the look of unconcealed guilt on his face.
"You want to protect the world," Ultron continued, ignoring them. "But, you don't want to change it. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" He reached down, grabbing the severed head of a Legionnaire suit. "With these? These puppets." He chucked it to the ground as if it was nothing, worthless. "There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."
Too far away. Natasha was too far away from him. Steve's heart pounded in his chest and he tried to work out how to get to her the quickest, before Ultron could strike again.
But, then, the towering suit was struck by the hammer, shattering into pieces before their eyes.
They all stood watching, tense and ready, their breaths coming out in pants as they regained their composure. None of them spoke as they wrapped their heads around what had just happened.
"I had strings," Ultron's voice echoed around them. "But, now, I'm free..."
The blue light of the suit died away, leaving them all staring in utter disbelief.
~0~0~0~0~0~
They parted ways to clean themselves up, while Banner and Tony retreated to their lab to try to find out exactly what had happened to Ultron. None of them were foolish enough to even entertain the idea that the threat was gone. This was only the beginning.
Steve went into one of the tower's many bathrooms, using cotton buds to lightly dap at the cut skin of his face. They weren't deep, but he wanted the dried blood off him all the same.
A hand grazed over Steve's arm, and when he turned, he found Natasha. The previous teasing glint to her eye was gone, replaced only now with concern as she took in the slices from the glass he had crashed into. They criss-crossed over his face, above his eyebrow and over one cheek, on the side he had landed onto all those bottles on. He hadn't even noticed their stinging until Ultron had disappeared.
Gently, she eased the cotton bud out of his hand and ran it under the cold water before pressing it into the area above his eyebrow, where a particularly deep scratch was. As she tended to his cuts, he looked for any on her, but she didn't appear to have even a single scratch. He closed his eyes and exhaled completely, for the first time since Ultron had first stepped out into the room.
Despite the situation, and despite the knowledge that his serum would heal the scratches away in a few minutes time, Steve let himself enjoy the fact that Natasha was taking care of him. Once again, the feeling he wanted to express in words danced at his tongue, but the rational part of him knew that he didn't want the first time he said them to be after such a night like this.
"Everyone is fine," She told him softly. "Tony's a little worse for wear, and Rhodey took out an entire glass wall by himself, but they'll survive. Hill has already contacted Fury. Barton's grumpy, but that's nothing new."
Steve opened his eyes, taking in her face, the features of it as she looked up at him. "And you?" She was his priority. It might make him a terrible team leader, but he didn't care. He couldn't relax until he was sure she was okay.
She dabbed the cotton bud against his skin again, carefully cleaning it of the blood that had long since dried. "They didn't even touch me."
He sighed, his shoulders finally slumming. He supported himself up with one hand on the sink, feeling his strength drain out of him. He was utterly exhausted, but having her here felt as if it was returning to him, slowly but surely. "What a mess," He whispered.
"We'll figure it out." Natasha told him gently, placing the cotton bud down so she could place her fingers under his chin, lifting his face up so their eyes met.
"I would have killed Stark, if anything had happened to you."
He meant it, and she knew it.
"Steve," She said. "You won't always be there to protect me. I don't need protecting. Not all the time. We won't work if it's like that."
"I know." He did. He understood. She didn't need him to coddle her, to keep her away from the threats that they would both face. But, he loved her. He hadn't told her such a statement, not yet, but he knew what he felt for her. He loved her, and he would give his last breath to ensure she was safe.
"So, we're going to face this, with the rest of the team, and we'll look out for one another." She told him, cupping his face in her hands, careful not to touch the cuts. "But, if you put yourself at risk trying to be Prince Charming, I will kick your ass."
He chuckled. How was it possible for her to be able to cheer him up so easily, even when he felt like the world around them was falling apart? "I know you would."
Satisfied with his answer, she kissed him. Nothing like how they had last kissed. There was no urgency, no burning need to devour each other there and then. This kiss, though, was powerful in its own right. It was loving, and comforting, and exactly what they both needed to steady themselves.
When they pulled apart, her warm smile made his heart glow. "Let's go save the world, Captain."
~0~0~0~0~0~
It was obvious to all of them that Tony and Banner's little experiment had gone awfully, awfully wrong. This, therefore, made Tony defensive, so it was sure to be a very tense team meeting, indeed.
Natasha sat on one of the desks, swaying her feet back and forth slightly, one at a time. She glanced around the room, silently observing everyone's behaviour.
Clint stood leaning against a wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his face impassive. Thor was absent, having gone off after the remaining Legionnaires who had departed the tower once Ultron had switched off. In the corner of the room, Banner looked as if he was about to throw up.
Tony was assessing the remains of the suit that Ultron had hijacked, while Steve watched his every move. That would be the tension point; the two of them. The thin thread that was ready to snap from the pressure at any minute.
"Ultron cleaned out." Banner informed them all, updating them on what they had found. "He used the Internet as an escape hatch."
"Ultron," Steve said the word as if it left a bad taste on his mouth, as if he really hated giving it a name, because it made the whole thing real.
"He's been in everything." Banner continued. "Files, surveillance. He probably knows more about us than we know about each other."
Natasha tried not to shudder at the thought.
Rhodey strode across the room, shaking his head. "He's in your files, he's in the Internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"
Hill looked up from the desk chair. "Nuclear codes," She pointed out.
"Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." Rhodey said.
"Nukes?" Natasha asked. "He said he wanted us dead."
"He didn't say dead," Steve reminded her, meeting her gaze from across the room. "He said 'extinct'."
Clint shifted on his feet. "He also said he killed somebody."
Hill shook her head in disbelief. "There wasn't anyone else in the building." They didn't even want to start imagining what kind of mess they'd be in if there had been party guests still at the tower when Ultron had struck.
"Yes, there was." Tony pressed a button on his remote, summoning JARVIS into the room. The visual representation of the computer system was battered, broken, half-formed. Dead.
Banner approached it, shock written all over his face. "This is insane."
"Jarvis was the first line of defence," Steve said, sounding somewhat sorrowful about what happened to the system. For most of them, it was hard not to think of Jarvis as being an actual person, another member of the team. "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
But, Banner shook his head. "No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This," He gestured towards the orange mess in front of him. "This isn't stategry. This is rage."
Heavy footfalls alerted them all to Thor's return, but the Asgardian went straight for Stark, grabbing him by the throat and pinning him to a wall. Natasha jumped to her feet, and the rest of the team stiffened, ready to pry the two Avengers away from each other.
"There's plenty of that going round." Clint muttered under his breath.
Tony managed to choke out, "Use your words, buddy."
Thor shook him slightly. "I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."
"Thor," Steve demanded. His voice was assertive, firm, as he moved around the room, reminding all of them who the leader of this team really was. "The Legionnaire?"
Hesitantly, Thor dropped the billionaire at last. Asgardian god or not, Steve was the leader of their group, and Thor had always respected that. No one relaxed though. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now, we have to retrieve it - again."
"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha reminded them, not flinching when Thor's glare landed on her. She understood that his anger wasn't directed at her, and it only took a few seconds before his gaze softened. "Clear and present is Ultron."
Dr Cho, who had remained so quiet that she had practically blended into the shadows, finally spoke, "I don't understand. You built this programme," She said to Stark, and to Banner who hovered nearby. "Why is it trying to kill us?"
With his back turned to them as he opened up his laptop, Tony suddenly started to giggle, as if he just couldn't hold it in anymore. He ignored Banner's not-so-subtle shake of his head.
"You think this is funny?" Thor rounded on them instantly.
"No," Tony turned on his heels, facing them all again. His face was blank, not even a glimmer of amusement in those dark eyes. "It's probably not, right?" He surveyed the room, taking in Steve's glare, Hill's tense jaw, Cho's disbelieving stare. "This is very terrible. It is."
"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor growled.
"No, I'm sorry. It is funny." For some unknown reason, Tony seemed to decide that standing right in front of the Asgardian that had just tried to choke him was the best way of dealing with this. "It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."
"Tony," Banner interjected, warningly. "Maybe this might not be the time…"
"Really?" Tony asked. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarl?"
To his credit, Banner did not flinch, nor did he back off. "Only when I've created a murder bot."
"We didn't." Tony said firmly. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"
Steve stepped in between them, muscular arms folded across his chest. "Well, you did something right, and you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different from SHIELD."
Snorting, Tony turned in a circle, looking at them all. "Anyone remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole? Saved New York? Recall that?"
Natasha rolled her eyes. The matter of Ultron would never be resolved if Tony didn't face up to his actions, as Banner so willing had done. And, clearly, Steve and Thor were not going to let him walk out of this room without admitting to what he did.
Tony continued, regardless of the glares he was receiving. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arm-dealers all day long but that's up there, that's the endgame." He pointed up, and it wasn't because he was referring to the ceiling. "How were you guys planning on beating that?"
"Together," Steve answered.
Tony took a step towards him. "We'll lose."
"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve wasn't backing down, and despite the situation surrounding them, Natasha couldn't help but feel aroused at the authority her boyfriend was showing, the confidence and belief he had that they could all accomplish this if they worked together.
There was silence between the two of them as Captain America and Iron Man faced each other. It had always been like this between them; two alpha males, silently battling out between them who was on top. But, Steve was the leader of the team, because he thought things through rather than jumped into things head on. Although Tony had sacrificed everything for them in New York, he could still be impulsive, and that was what had landed them in this mess to begin with.
Then, there was a curt dip of the head, the smallest of movements, as Tony backed down.
"Thor's right." Steve continued. "Ultron's calling us out, and I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place, so let's start making it smaller."
The room sounded with quiet noises of agreement, before everyone parted. From her perch on the counter, across the room from him, Natasha gave Steve a small, comforting smile before heading out. That smile was enough to remind him that she was by his side, always.
~0~0~0~0~0~
At around ten o'clock that night, Steve went to leave his room, feeling restless. As he opened the door, he was surprised to find Natasha's eyes looking up at him.
"Oh, hey,"
She raised an eyebrow. "Expecting someone else? Because I can just-"
He cut her off, pulling her into the room and kissing her, his lips caressing hers slowly. When the kiss ended, he rested his forehead against hers, inhaling her scent. "I was just coming to find you, smart-ass." He informed her, brushing the back of his hand over her cheek so he could tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear.
"I came as soon as Clint fell asleep." She said, and at his look, she explained, "He's staying in my spare room, and the walls aren't thick enough to block out his snoring. Trust me, he's out."
Trying to ignore that stab of jealousy that hit him, Steve tried to be thankful that at least Natasha's friend was staying at the tower. He knew she would worry if Clint had stalked off somewhere else. "Tony's probably still in his lab, trying to find ways to justify everything." Steve muttered.
"Hey, none of that." Natasha cupped his face, her thumb gliding over the skin of his sharp jawline, feeling the slight stubble there. "You're so tense, I was worried your head was going to explode earlier. I can't have that happening, I'd miss your pretty face too much."
He sighed, pulling her closer to him. "I'm sorry, Nat. It's just...if Tony hadn't meddled, then things would still be normal." Those few months they'd had together felt like they had been and gone in the blink of an eye.
Nat smiled softly in understanding "Tony wasn't working by himself. Banner helped develop Ultron as well. Neither of them could have possibly imagined this happening. Besides, when have our lives ever been normal?" She asked, although she felt slightly sad by that truth. She didn't allow herself to imagine what a normal life with Steve would be like; with the perfect home, the white picket fence, the kids and the dog.
"You're right," Steve mumbled, closing his eyes as his hands came to rest on her slim waist. "I just…" In his head, he had gone over all the outcomes of dealing with Ultron, and none of them had been comforting. They had no idea what they were going up against.
She shushed him quietly, her fingers playing with the hem of his shirt. "Get on the bed."
His eyes blinked open, surprised. "Nat, you don't have to-"
"Get on the bed, and get your head out of the gutter." She said with a smirk, her small hand suddenly against his chest, shoving him backwards. "On your stomach, Rogers. Shirt off, now."
Steve complied with a chuckle, slowly removing his shirt over his head, knowing that her eyes would take in every inch of exposed chin. He said nothing as he chucked the shirt to the floor and laid down on the bed, whilst she tried not to drool at his now exposed torso.
Moments later, Natasha was straddling his hips, and her hands worked on kneading into the coiled muscles of his back and shoulders. The sensation was enough to cause him to groan into the mattress.
"You're amazing, Nat." He closed his eyes again, enjoying the feeling of her hands removing the knots in his muscles that he hadn't even been aware he had.
She leaned down and kissed the area between his shoulder blades. "Feel better?"
"Much better," It still left him baffled how he had gotten so lucky to have Nat in his life like this. How he had ever managed being around her as just her friend was beyond him. He needed her, all the time. Not just in a sexual way, but a physical, emotional way as well. It was as if his soul depended on her, on her fire and brightness, to keep him moving forward.
Was now the time to tell her that he loved her? Did she know already? Did she love him? He felt it, deep in his chest, that she returned his feelings, as it was spoken silently in her actions. But, he didn't want to scare her, either. They had both needed to take baby steps in order for this relationship to work as well as it had done. Rushing things now would only make her pull away.
"Have I ever told you how attractive you are when you go into 'leader mode'?" Natasha whispered, her lips close to the back of his ear. Her tongue darted out, running along the shell of his ear in a way that sent tingles down his spine.
"No, that's never come up in conversation." Steve lied, but speaking was currently quite a challenge for him as he felt her breath against the side of his neck. Her hands stilled, all her attention now spent on the little kisses she spread across his back.
"Hmm." She said thoughtfully. "Well, it's incredibly sexy. Do you know how hard it was for me to not launch myself across the room and have my wicked way with you, right there on the floor?"
God, he loved it when she talked like this. "I think that would have definitely raised a few eyebrows from the team." He pointed out.
"They would have left, eventually." She said, but he knew she was joking. She wanted their relationship to stay private as much as he did. "We could have done it on the counters, scattering all of Tony's hard work across the room."
Steve growled, taking her by surprise when he spun round and tackled her onto the bed, moving to hover above her. "I don't want to hear another man's name fall from your lips, not right now."
Her grin spread further. If 'leader mode' was enough to get her feeling aroused, 'possessive mode' was even more thrilling.
She lifted one leg, wrapping it around his hip and effectively pulling him against her, completely. He hissed at the sensation, and she raised her lips to his ear to whisper, "Your name is the only one I moan, though."
That was it. She'd got him.
His lips crushed against hers, his tongue seeking entrance almost immediately, and she was more than willing to give into him. As they kissed, her fingers raked their way through his hair, scratching down his neck, to the shoulders that she had just massaged. The leg that she had round his waist dropped, her foot trailing down the inside of his firm thigh.
"I haven't forgotten what you did to me earlier. What you put me through." He spoke against her mouth, as one of his hands moved underneath her shirt to her breast, tweaking the nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
She gasped, her back arching, pushing her chest even closer to him, if that was even possible. "I'd hope that would be the case,"
"You little minx," He growled, and his lips were against her neck, teeth sinking into the part where her neck and shoulder met. "
"Lucky for you," She caught him off guard, flipping them over. "I was planning on making it up to you."
Before Steve could even lift his head, Natasha pulled his tracksuit pants down, revealing him to her. Cold air hit him, but then he was surrounded by the warmth of her mouth, and his entire body shuddered in intense pleasure.
His hand fisted in her red hair whilst the other gripped the sheet beside him, and suddenly, everything involving Ultron was banished from his mind.