7 : ANOTHER WAY AROUND
Prompt by : Nat asking Steve out
Clint had a very good time watching two of the most straightforward people in this entire world tiptoeing around each other and being oblivious this entire time.
Since everything went down straight to hell in DC. Clint gotta say that he lost his home (To be honest, half of his stuff was still in his office in the Triskellion, including his new set of bow and arrow.) But lucky for him he still had the Avengers and Stark called each of them up.
"Bird brain we need you back in New York." Stark said over the phone, "I know SHIELD is gone and you kinda homeless right now."
"I'm not homeless. I have apartment in New York too."
"Yeah, your tiny little mouse hole doesn't count so I want you to live in the brand new Avengers Tower with the rest of us."
"'Us'?"
"Fine, it's just me, Pepper, Rhodey, Hill and Bruce!"
"What about the others?"
"Hill told me that Thor is in London with Jane. Steve is in DC while your girlfriend is nowhere to be found."
"Who's my girlfriend?"
"Natasha"
'She's not my girlfriend. She's my partner. We're friends, Stark. Nothing more than that."
"Right…" Clint could hear Stark smirked from all the way back to New York if that possible, "Well, my helicopter will pick you up"
That was how Clint moved to New York and lived with Tony Stark. The billionaire did a very good job in tracking everyone down except for Natasha who was disappear without any trace. Tony managed to get Thor in move in with them and offered him to bring all of his friends along too.
"Why not? I have plenty of rooms left." That was all his answer, "The more the merrier."
To Clint's opinion, the correct statement was the more the chaos will occur. But he had to be honest again, to have Jane and Darcy moving in was kinda fun. Clint enjoyed his time bantering with Jane's intern and pulled a lot of prank. Jane's presence made the atmosphere around the tower soften with female touch because Pepper and Hill weren't enough to keep the testosterone level down. Dr. Selvig also spent a lot of his time in labs with Tony's cool science toy with a close supervision from Jane.
Steve moved in a week after with his friend Sam. The Captain was a bit quieter than the last time they met. He often trapped in his own thought and didn't focus much about everything around him. It was something was bothering him all the time. On the other hand, Sam was quickly blended in with the rest of the team. Tony and Bruce insisted that he will make a coolest wing pack for Sam. Thor always excited to meet new people and if that person was Captain America's friend, he was more than welcome. For Clint, they quickly bonded and became Bird Bro as Darcy called them. They always exchanged bird pun and laughed while the others just rolled their eyes and groaned.
Clint suspected something about the Captain but it became too obvious for the archer for the first time when Steve frankly asked Tony and him about Natasha.
"Tell me you know where Natasha is" Steve said, "She's the only one who isn't here."
"Chill, capsicle." Tony waved him off "She cannot hide forever."
"Well, technically, if she doesn't want to be found, you will never ever find her."
"I have the
"You have what?"
"It's not the time for you patriotism and freedom, old man. I have to do in order to track her."
And that shut Steve up immediately. Clint noticed it. He never missed a thing. The Captain really wanted Natasha back.
"You miss her?'
"Of course!" The Captain unintentionally blurted out which was too late to recover, "Of course, I miss her" He admitted, "She's my friend and I'm sure that everyone misses her too."
"Right…I'm not" Tony chimed in which earned him a daggers glare from Steve.
"Just find her." Steve said and walked away
Tony couldn't find her anywhere even when he had all the feed from over the whole but he still couldn't locate Natasha. The billionaire finally gave up on this impossible task. When Tony told Steve about this, the Captain frowned but didn't say anything other than tell Tony that he already tried his best.
Clint intended to dig for more information but the Avengers needed to protect the world again.
Someone launch an attack at the far side of the world. Some angry robots let loose in downtown of Seoul. Tony told them it was doom bot. Steve gave the order to everyone to position themselves the same way they did back in New York.
Tony and Rhodey circled around the block to contain the situation while Hulk and Thor smashed and blasted the robot. Clint was position on top of the building to support Steve who was dealing with the robot on the ground.
But Captain America was quickly out number. He cannot do this alone. The last time in New York he had Natasha with him, helping him and they worked perfectly together.
One robot managed to blast three photon blast into Steve's torso and the Captain fell to the ground.
"Captain, are you alright?" Clint asked from the rooftop.
"I'm down…" Steve's voice was weak and he tried really hard to get up. "I lost my shield too."
"Stark, Thor, Steve is down!"
"I'm on it!" Tony replied
Steve groaned as his wound began to bleed. He tried to move but he couldn't. He closed his eyes, preparing for the end.
Then he heard a sound of motorcycle exhaust. Steve tried to crack his eyes opened and caught a glimpse of a black motor cycle with…his shield in front of it?
Steve tried to maintain his conscious but his vision began to blur but he saw a flash of fiery red hair before couldn't open his eyes again. He heard gunfire, heard a woman called his name, then he felt like someone dragging his body somewhere.
"Don't die on me, Rogers!" She said, "Open your eyes."
He knew that voice and he knew her too. He slowly opened his eyes again to see a face that he wanted to see all along. Her beautiful green eyes were the same, everything about her was still the same except for her red hair. She changed it back to the short red curl from when they first met.
"Natasha…"
"Damn it, Steve. I didn't break any promise if you die while you're not on my watch." Natasha said as she dragged him inside the building.
"Nat…"
"I have to save your sorry ass again. You're welcome."
Steve smiled tiredly before he closed his eyes. Natasha fired her guns at the enemy when Stark came to rescue them both.
The fight ended and they had to transfer Steve back to the Tower as soon as possible. The photon blasts left him a big wound but luckily, it didn't get through his body. It will take a week and extensive medical care to heal the wound properly.
To everyone surprise, Natasha came back with them. To Clint surprise, Natasha never left Steve's bedside. She was there to read him book and to talk to him when he woke up. She was there when he had nightmare and consoled him and helped him back to Steve.
It's true that Clint saw better from distance but this one didn't require you to be master archer to see it through.
They both deeply cared for each other.
After that battle, Natasha moved back to New York permanently. Clint didn't ask Natasha of why she suddenly decided to resurface again after she was gone for almost six months. He suspected that it had to be something to do with the soldier.
After Steve was out of the medical ward, Clint had a chance to interrogate his friend about what really happened during and after the DC incident. Natasha told him everything that she and Steve had been through together. Clint said he was sorry because he was on another mission in Europe.
"It's okay. At least, Steve isn't a bad partner."
"I sense that there is something more than that, Nat."
"There's nothing more than that."
Clint let it slide because he knew he couldn't force her to tell him if she didn't want to. But if she wanted to keep it a secret, he will make sure to dig all the dirt.
It was the team movie night where every residence of the tower gathered in the living room and argued for like one hour about the movie. Steve and Natasha just sat quietly and shared a bowl of popcorn. Tony and Darcy yelled at each other while Pepper and Jane tried to calm them down. They decided to watch both to end the argument.
Clint already saw Steve and Natasha occupied the love seat. The archer observed the two of them closely even when the light was out. Steve dozed off half way through the first movie and let Nat hogged all the popcorn. Then Natasha began to feel a little sleepy and leaned her head against Steve arm which the Captain immediately wrapped his arm around her small form.
And she seriously said that she didn't feel anything with Steve. Please, she didn't even let anyone physically contact her in that intimate manner without breaking their arms. When the light turned on again, they saw sleeping soldier and spy snuggling on the love seat.
"Uhh…When you say she isn't your girl, you mean she's with capsicle, right?" Tony asked
"I don't fucking know." Clint replied
They ended up leaving the two of then there because they seemed to be in a really deep sleep and no one had a heart to wake them up when Natasha looks so relax and carefree for the very first time and Steve looks very peaceful and happy as he ever been.
The next clue came in the form of their routine sparring with Clint watching from his nest or sometime, the rest of the team joined him to watch the well choreograph fight between the soldier and the spy. They were both master in hand to hand combat and they complimented each other very well.
Too well in Clint opinion. Too well that they radiated sexual tension that it was too much that he and Stark had to point it out when the match ended with Steve pinned Nat down. His left hand wrapped around her wrists and pinned it above her head. Her legs wrapped around his waist. They both panting and the sight was enough to make everyone turned away.
"Alright, I've seen enough of porn." Tony covered his eyes as he stood up from the bench.
"Me too." Bruce agreed
"Sexual tension between you two is really suffocating."
Steve sighed and let go off Natasha but she flipped them so she was now straddling him. Everybody else groaned and left them alone.
What hit Clint the most was that they always have the look on their face when they saw each other and the way they look at each other was something more than friend look at one another.
They always sneak a smile or make eyes contact in a very intimate way that Clint was so sure that they already fuck each other in their mind. The way Natasha always dotting Steve in every little thing and how he was a bit irritate but did what she want and ended up smiling to her all the time. In turn, Steve was always protective of Natasha and fought by her side all the time.
Clint took the next opportunity he had to ask Natasha point blank about her feeling for Steve.
"You love him, don't you?"
"What are you talking about, Clint? Love is for children."
"Stop with that phrase, Tasha. You're obviously crazy in love with Captain Tight Ass."
"If I admit that I love him?"
"When will you ask Captain Clueless out?"
"You know that I have only tiniest chance that he will accept my love"
"Why is that? He is obviously very fond of you, Nat."
"Yeah, he's very fond of me, as a friend. He likes that Sharon girl and I makes a mistake of telling him to call her."
"I'm so fucking done with you two being so blind and in denial train."
Clint had enough and got up from his seat next to her.
"Do something before he ended up with someone else, Nat. You will not like it if it come to that."
It somehow hit Natasha home. She was sitting alone in the living room trying to mulling over everything between her and Steve. Their intimate gestures, the way they acted around one another, everything should point into that direction but why did she feel like she didn't want to ask him out.
The reason was because she always convince herself that she wasn't good enough for everyone. But there was somehow Steve manage to look right pass all of that. He accepted her from who she really was and she didn't have to pretend, to put on any mask when she was around him.
She guessed she had to find out about that.
"JARVIS, where is Captain Rogers?"
"At his floor, ma'am."
Nat got up and took the elevator up to his floor. She found him lounging on the couch with a sketch pad in his hand.
"Hey Steve!" She greeted.
"Nat." He replied and sat up, paying her full of his attention.
"You doing anything fun this Saturday night and don't tell me your barbershop quartet were dead jokes again."
"I will go out on Saturday." He replied, "Don't set me up with anyone again."
"No, no…it's not that…I just…"
"Are you alright, Nat?"
"I'm fine. I just…Good luck on your date."
"What date? I didn't go on a date. Sam got a new lead on Bucky and we will head to Brazil."
"Oh."
"So…do you have anything to ask me? Because you seemed kinda have a lot of question to ask me."
"Wanna go out with me?" She blurted out and prayed that the Captain would say yes.
Steve stared at her for half a minute and Nat got her answer. She inhaled deeply and looked him in the eyes.
"It's okay if you don't want to, I will leave you alone right now." Nat quickly said before turning away.
But Steve moved with his superhuman speed and caught her waist before pulling until her back was against his torso and held her tightly.
"I would love to, Natasha." He whispered "You are the only reason I turned down every single attempt of your matchmaking."
Nat secretly glad that he didn't see her face because it was burning right now.
"Since you will head to Brazil this Saturday night I guess we can…"
Steve stopped her rumbling by put his lips on her.
"What are you trying to say again?" He asked with a smirk. "And that was my first kiss since DC."
Her face turned red again, damn him. Natasha had to pick up what was left of her, "We can go out for a pizza tonight or do something fun together."
"Anything you want, Nat."