From: Myself
Idea: Ten-year-old!Natasha meets Ten-year-old!Steve in the park. He's been lost in Manhattan for the past two hours.
Special Request: It's mine, I can do whatever I want XD!
Ups… did I say five? I meant ten XD.
Also… I am so, so, so sorry for the long wait. I just started 1st BTX (short for 'batxillerat', two years of hell and that the grades I get in them will be the 60% of the grade I'll have to get into a good university, and maybe even win a scholarship, so I want to stay on top of everything so I have the best marks I can get. That, unfortunately, means that the hours I had on reading and writing have dwindled considerably. Don't worry, cause I'm not giving up on anything, but you'll have to be extra patient with me. If I was slow with the updates before, now it's going to be worse.
Sighing, Steve gives up and plops down on the nearest bench of the park. How could he have been so stupid? His mother had told him to stay by her side, that Manhattan was more crowded than their little neighbourhood in Brooklyn and he could get lost easily. Why hadn't he listened? He looks around, watching as the people pass him by, ignoring his predicament. His eyes cloud over, but he refuses to let the tears fall. He's a big boy now, he's too old for tears. He rubs his arm over his eyes and sniffles.
A drop of water falls to his cheek and he looks up, his lip starting to tremble at the sight of the storm clouds that are covering the blue sky.
"Great, now rain…" he mutters and hops down from the bench and tries to make a run for it to the nearest tree. But then thunder rumbles in the distance, and the groans in exasperation. "Oh, c'mon!" he steps away from the tree and tries to make it to the street and under the awning of a shop before the downpour starts.
No such luck.
By the time he gets there, his clothes are soaked through and his hair is plastered to his forehead. His eyes fill with tears again and he looks up at the clerk, who pointedly ignores him. He shifts his feet and his sneakers make a squelching sound, tepid water sneaking between his toes. He shivers and walks away from the store. He's already soaked and the woman clearly isn't going to help him, so he might as well continue trying to find his way home.
He walks slowly through the streets, looking around to see if he'll see something familiar of somebody will stop and help him. Neither of those things happen, and his eyes finally overflow. The sound of the rain drowns out his little sobs and the raindrops hide away his tears. He sniffles every once in a while and his body quakes with shivers every few seconds. There aren't a lot of people on the street, but every last one of them ignores him as he passes, and the one he tries to ask for help tells him he doesn't speak English and power-walks away.
Little Steve is left there, drenched down to the marrow of his bones, trembling and his eyes red from crying. He hangs his head, resigned. As he passes a TV shop, he squints his eyes to see the hour: 6:26. His mother must be so worried. He coughs, takes a breath of his inhaler and then sneezes three times in quick succession. Looking up, he shuffles to an intersection and presses the button to make the light change. He shifts on his feet, the water in his socks making a squelching sound and he shivers again before sniffling and whipping the snot running down his nose with his arm. He keeps his eyes on the ground, and its not until someone taps his arm that he notices that it's stopped raining.
Well, not really. He's actually under an umbrella. He raises his eyes, encountering first a par of water boots, followed by small, red jeans covered legs, a big, bulky jacket and then, a pair of confused green eyes and red curls. It's a girl, probably his age, and he stays still, staring at her for an indefinite time. She doesn't move her eyes away from his either, and it's starting to make him self-conscious. He shifts, the water sneaking it's way between his toes again, making him shiver. She blinks and cocks her head to the side.
"What are you doing under the rain without an umbrella?" her voice is loud in the silence, filled with confusion. Steve shuffles his feet and looks away.
"I forgot it at home."
"But it's not doing you any good at home! Didn't you listen to the weatherman? He said today would rain, and now you're gonna get sick." He pouts, who does this girl think she is? Normally he would be nice to her, he's the one that forgot about the rain and she's just pointing it out, but he's cold, cranky, and afraid and the only thing he wants is to find his Ma. So he frowns and opens his mouth to tell her to beat it–
Only to a voice to cut him before he can even start.
"Natasha! What the hell, Sis?! You know you mustn't run away!" they turn and watch as two teenagers run towards them, both looking exasperated. One is under an umbrella, has black hair and glasses, while the other only has the jacket's hood to protect his head from the cold rain; he's taller than the other one and has greenish-blue eyes.
"If something happens to you, Mom and Dad will kill us, you know that! And if we're dead then we won't be able to play videogames with you!" tells her the tall one. When they reach them, Steve shrinks back, curling a little into himself to get a little heat into his body and to get away from the teens as much as possible without leaving the relative comfort of the umbrella the girl –Natasha, her name's Natasha– still holds between them.
"You said a bad word, Tony! You owe me five dollars." She grins up at him and he pulls a face at her. Steve sneezes, drawing the attention of the others.
"Holy Shit–!"
"You owe me ten now!"
"– what happened to you, kid? You're soaked!" Tony kneels down and rakes his eyes over him. Steve stares for a second before determining that they're safe and that they aren't going to kidnap him.
"I'm lost. I was shopping with my Ma and then she wasn't there and it started raining and I was wet by the time I found cover." His words come out rushed and trembling. Natasha frowns and offers her umbrella to the taller of the boys.
"Here, Clint, hold this for me." The teen blinks.
"Why?"
"So I can give him my jacket." She says matter-of-factly. The three males start, gluing their eyes on her.
"Sorry, Sis, but not happening. The last thing we need is a Sick Natasha."
"But he's freezing." To emphasize her statement, Steve sneezes again and a whole-body shiver quakes his little body, he coughs and takes a breath from his inhaler again. Clint mutters a curse and bites his lip. "You owe me five now."
"Ok, here's what we gonna do." He pauses and starts unzipping his jacket. "Tony, put on your hood, I'm taking the umbrella." Tony, catching on, does as he says and pulls his hood up before moving the umbrella so it's covering Clint. The taller teen takes his jacket off, shivering as the cold air blasts through his sweater and curls it around Steve. The boys sneaks his arms through the sleeves, noting how it dwarves him. Clint pulls the hood around his little head and then surprises the younger boy by picking him up. "You grab the umbrella." He does as Clint says and the teen nods to Tony and Natasha. "Now we run home so we can get this little guy in some dry clothes."
"But I wanna go to my home!" protests Steve, and Clint nods, surprising him.
"Yeah, and we're getting you home, but we're going to need our parents to make a couple of phone calls." They start crossing the streets of Manhattan, stopping at every red light before continuing. "Your mother must've called the police by now, so we need for Mom or Dad to contact them so they contact your Ma and she can come get you. Sounds good?" the little boy blinks, that… actually makes so much sense! Why hadn't he gone to the police? They would've helped him!
"Ok…"
Steve settles against the boy's shoulders, gripping the umbrella tight in his little hand. He looks over at Tony and Natasha and sees that she's closed her umbrella in favor of a hood to match her brother and has her little hand gripped tight in the older boy's. She's trotting along, stepping in every puddle that comes her way, this little smirk tugging up her lips when Tony complains that she's splashing him. Steve grins, amused, but a sneeze shakes him and another coughing bout has him taking another breath of his inhaler. Clint rubs his back.
"Almost there, pal. You can have a bath, ok? And Nat can lend you one of her pajamas." The young boy just nods and then sniffles.
Mere minutes later, they reach their destination. Steve gapes, looking up at the tower with the big, illuminated S at the top and getting an eyeful of water in the process. Tony steps forward and opens the door for them. He rubs his eyes and opens them again just in time to see a couple in their late forties storm towards them with matching glares. The presses himself closer to Clint, away from the adults, but it seems as if the teen is doing exactly the same.
"Where the hell were you?! Why do we even bother to get you cellphones if you don't even pick up our calls?! Do you know how worried we were?! It's been pouring for hours, and not even a text!" starts the man and Steve looks at Natasha, waiting for the demand for money but the girl stays silent. Seems like it only applies to her brothers.
"My phone died, Dad! I forgot to charge it this morning and I've been without it since lunch time!" exclaims Tony, taking off his jacket and then grabbing Natasha's when she gives it to him. The woman turns to the other boy, then.
"And what's your excuse– oh!" she blinks at the still trembling boy tucked between the teens arms. "Oh, dear!" she steps forward and presses the back of her hand over Steve's forehead. The man approaches too and sneaks his hand to the boy's name.
"Jesus, kid, you're freezing!" he steps back so Clint can set him down and peel away the soaked jacket.
"C'mon, Steve, let's get you into the shower." Steve nods and thanks the adults for their hospitality before being whisked away.
Clint has to help him out of his stiff clothes before leaving him to his shower. He stays under the scalding spray for as long as his chilled skin can stand it before stepping aside and starting to wash himself. He knows that he should turn off the water, he's wasting and incredible amount of it, but the mere thought of the air cooling just one degree sends him into a shiver frenzy, so he lets it run. He does lower the intensity, though, no need for it to be at full blast.
Thirty minutes later he finally deems his body heated enough to turn off the water and step out of the stall. He grabs the fluffy towel Clint had left for him and towels off. He dries his hair too before curling the towel around his shoulders like a poncho and peeking his head out of the bathroom. The hall is desert, and he doesn't really know how to proceed in this situation, but thankfully, Mr. Howard –or Howard as Clint had told him to call his dad– appears at the right end with clothes in his hands.
"You done, kid? You sure you don't want to be under the water a little more?" Steve nods and then shakes his head before accepting the folded pajamas with a soft 'thank you, mister'. Mr. Howard smirks and ruffles his still damp hair. "Go down the hall when you're finished, Maria's making hot cocoa." The boy nods again and watches as the man returns the way he came.
Steve closes the door and goes about putting on the clothes. Is a standard pajama set in a pastel red with abstract designs in a darker tone. He puts it on, noting that it's actually his size. It must be Natasha's. finally, he gives his hair another rubbing to get rid of the final drops before combing it with his fingers. He needs to move it to the side, and muses that he'll get Mom to call his hairdresser and get a cutting scheduled.
Once he deems himself presentable enough –given the circumstances– he grabs his clothes, exits the bathroom and pads down the hallway, following the voices.
"– right, thank you." A sigh follows and the conversation stops. Steve pauses and listens.
"Nothing?"
"No, they still won't give it to me! How can the police be so incompetent? We're trying to get this kid back with his mother, how can it be so difficult for them to facilitate us her phone number?"
"Don't get frustrated, dear. I'm sure Steve knows it, we'll just ask him when he's done."
"Do you think he misses his Mommy?" asks then Natasha, and Steve blinks. Of course he misses her!
"Well, of course, sweetie. Wouldn't you miss us if you got lost?"
"Yeah…"
Steve decides then to step forward. They all turn to him and he smiles sheepishly, raising his arms to show them the clothes.
"Where do I put this?" Tony gets up and takes them for him, motioning him to the sofa, where Natasha pats the spot next to her and then spreads a blanket over his lap.
"There, all cozy!" she pats his leg and then returns to her cocoa. Tony returns shortly after and offers him a cup.
"So, Steve," starts Mrs. Maria. "Do you know you're mother's cellphone number? We've been trying to get it from the police, see if she'd called, but they aren't helping."
"Yeah, I know it. I tried to ask a couple of people to lend me their phones, but they ignored me." The family frowns at this, but they decide to not dwell on it. Mr. Howard offers him his cellphone and he types in his mother's number. He presses it to his ear and waits, setting the mug on the table so he doesn't spill the hot chocolate with his fidgeting. Finally, the beeping stops and there's a crackling noise.
"Hello?" Steve's eyes water, his mother sound sounds so sad and broken and there's a hitch in her breath, as if she's been crying.
"Mom!"
"Stevie?!" she gasps and sniffles. "Oh, God, Stevie, where are you? Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
"Mom! Mom I'm ok!" he laughs and rubs his eyes, sniffling. Clint drops next to him and puts a hand over his head, ruffling his hair. "I'm good, Mom, don't worry."
"I was so worried, baby! You just disappeared! What happened?"
"I'm sorry, Mom… I got distracted. Can you come pick me up? This people have been very nice, but I don't want to be a bother." Natasha pouts at him and Tony appears from behind the couch, dropping his hands over his little shoulders.
"Oh, please… you're too cute to be a bother." Steve blushes and passes the phone over the Mrs. Maria when his mother asks him for the address.
When Mrs. Maria hangs up, she tells him that his mom will be here to get him in half an hour. In the mean time, Natasha grabs him and tugs him to the TV room to watch Inside Out with her. He hasn't seen it yet, and she's adamant that he has to see it right now. They sit right next to each other on the couch, and Natasha spreads a blanket over their laps.
Thirty minutes later, Sarah Rogers enters the house and thanks the couple and their teens a thousand times before they go get Steve. The sight melts their hearts. Steve and Natasha are curled around each other on the couch, the blanket obscuring half their bodies. Steve has an arm curled around Natasha's shoulders and one of hers is curled around his waist. It takes them almost a minute to stop cooing, snap a picture and then Sarah is disentangling her son from his new friend. He curls into her arms, hiding his face into her neck.
"Thank you so much for taking care of him." She tells them again once she's at the door. She looks at Tony and Clint. "And thank you for helping him."
"It was all Natasha. If she hadn't gone to him, we wouldn't have seen him." Tells her the taller of the two, smiling sheepishly. "Oh, and he's going to have a cold. We tried to shield him from the rain as much as possible, but he was already drenched when we found him." Sarah shakes her head at her child, pressing a hand over his forehead to feel his temperature. Normal for now, but knowing her Stevie that could change any moment.
"Thank you, anyway. I hope we can see each other soon, I'm sure Steve would like to thank you in person."
"Absolutely. Natasha really needs to have friends of her own age." Sighs Howard and they all laugh.
Sarah thanks the family once again and says her goodbyes before one of the security agents escorts her out.
The next morning, Steve wakes up with a fever and asking when he'll be able to see the Stark kids again.
BONUS:
"C'mon, Dude! I've been hearing about this girl for six years and I've never met her! Don't you think it's bout time that you introduce us?"
Steve looks up from his phone and regards Bucky with an amused smile. His best friend had been pestering him about introducing him to Natasha since he started getting interested in women; he'd relaxed some when he discovered that he swung both ways, but he still demanded at least once a week that Steve introduce him to his mysterious friend. Now it was more about habit than anything else. He was actually relieved he'd waited a year before saying anything to Bucky, because he was sure he would be even more of a pain now if he knew it was actually seven years since he'd known her instead of six.
"Will you stop whining? She's picking me up after school, ok? I can introduce you guys then."
Before Bucky can say anything else, the bell rings, signaling the end of the break and they return to class. Two hours later the bell rings a final time, and Steve shoulders his bag pack, drops by his locker to grab the books he'll need to study for the weekend and trudges through a sea of teenagers. Bucky caches up to him short of the doors of the school and they walk side by side until they're standing just outside the gates of the school's compound.
Bucky scans the crowd walking or the people standing close by, trying to see if he can see someone matching the incredibly vague description Steve had given him about Natasha: redhead with green eyes.
The roar of a motorcycle startles him out of his search and he whips his head around to see where it comes from. A black and red Kawasaki ninja. He's so entranced by it that he barely notices Steve wave at the woman driving it. She stops right in front of them and kills the engine. Half the teen population stops and stares, entranced as she takes off the helmet and shakes the volume back into her blood, red locks. Her bright, green eyes scan the crowd until they settle on him, and her smile grows. Well, not on him, exactly.
"Nat!" shouts Steve, and he grabs Bucky's arm, dragging him to meet the girl. As soon as they're close enough, Steve lets go of Bucky and envelops Natasha in a hug as soon as she's off the bike, dropping a quick kiss to her lips before curling an arm around her shoulders and tucking her to his side. She chuckles and sneaks her arms around his torso, giving him a little squeeze. Steve looks up at his best friend with the biggest grin he's ever seen. "Bucky, Natasha. Natasha, this is Bucky."
"Hey." He extends his hand towards her and she takes it, shaking it for a second before letting go. He motions to the motorcycle with his head. "Nice ride." Steve turns his head to it and nods.
"Yeah, it's awesome! You finally managed to get your parents to buy it?" she gets this little smug grin on her face, and Bucky sees as his bestie practically melts into a puddle of goo.
"Yeah, it took me some work and it's not the model I wanted, but this one is awesome too. I have to share it with Tony until he gets his car, though. That's a pain." She huffs and Steve drops a kiss to her head. "Anyway, we gotta go. You promised you'd come with me to the fitting, there's no way I'm gonna stand there trying dress after dress without someone to distract me a little." She turns and takes out a folding helmet out of the little compartment inside the seat and hands it over to Steve, before putting hers on and mounting the bike again. The blond teen puts it around his neck and unfolds it over his head, grinning at Bucky's still shocked expression.
"See ya Monday, Buck!" he says before mounting behinds Natasha. The motorcycle roars to life and the people that had approached to see it better scramble out of the way as they speed away and down the road.
As they turn, Bucky catches the familiar logo of Stark Industries emblazed on the side of the bike.
Ok, done! FINALLY! (don't laugh, I know you're thinking the same thing XD). Again, so sorry for the wait.
And.. um… I know it's a weird thing to ask but, does anyone play Pokémon GO? 'Cause I need three new friends for the Celebi challenge, and no one I know plays, except the ones that are already my friends, obviously. If someone plays and would like a new friend, please do tell XD.
'Kay, that's all. As always, don't forget to review if you have an idea for me or if you just feel like it XD. Love you, guys!