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15 : JUST AN ILLUSION
Steve woke up the next day, his redhead in his arms as he delicately sat up. His efforts were futile as her eyes fluttered open and she shot him a smile.
"Morning, beautiful" he said.
"Morning, handsome" she replied, kissing him.
They proceeded to cuddle for a few minutes before they rose and got ready for the day. During this time, she told Steve about her journey to find him, her confrontation with Batroc, etc.
"Nat, I didn't want you risking your life just for me" he said, guilt in his voice when she finished.
"You risk yours for me. And there's no way I'm not going to return the favour"
Steve smiled at her. He slid on his leather jacket and and walked out to the elevator, pressing the button. When the doors opened, he was surprised to see Thor in there.
"Brother Steven! You've returned!" Thor exclaimed, ensnaring Steve in a bear hug.
"Good...to see you too, Thor" Steve struggled to say. "Can't breathe"
Thor let go of him.
"We thought you dead, my friend. A thought we regret to consider, but with what things were looking-"
"I understand. It's not the first time I've been considered dead" Steve replied, joking darkly.
Thor stopped for a second. "I just remembered this be Lady Natasha's floor. Why are you-"
"Stevey? Who are you talking to?" Natasha asked from the other room, walking out as she slid on her leather jacket. She stopped when she saw Thor.
"Thor. What brings you here?" she asked, nervous.
He didn't answer. He looked at the two and smiled.
"I always felt you both held a torch for one another. How long has your union been?"
Natasha blushed and looked at the ground. "Since Steve returned from Africa"
Thor's smile broadened. "The gods surely want this to be. Congratulations on your kinship"
Natasha smiled as she walked to Steve and took his hand in hers.
"Lady Jane will be most pleased to hear this. I-"
"No, Thor. Jane cannot know. Not yet" Steve said. Natasha nodded.
Thor nodded as well. "Very well"
Steve, Thor and Natasha headed to the shared living space, where Steve was bombarded by "welcome back"'s, enthusiastic hugs and Bruce insisting he give him a checkup to be sure everything was alright. Once Bruce gave the all clear, Steve sat down and told them of his ordeal.
"After the building collapsed, I was unconscious for awhile. Felt like hours. I wake up and immediately knew that Batroc was probably still after me. I couldn't locate my shield in time, so I just went into the woods. My uniform stuck,out like a sore thumb, as its the symbol of patriotism, and because it was coated in blood"
Natasha cringed when he said this.
"So I simply stripped it off. It could've also worked as some form of distraction, I suppose"
"How did you come back to US?"
"There was a freighter headed to DC when I reached the coast. I stowed away and made it back onto home soil"
As the group told Steve how good it was to have him back, Pepper entered.
"Guys! Sorry to interrupt. I just got off the phone with the mayor and he wanted us to be at his latest campaign fundraiser tomorrow"
"Do we really need to go?" Bruce asked.
"This is mandatory. Not only is it for his reelection, its for charity, namely victims of the Chitauri attack. Your wardrobes will have some suits and dresses to choose from in the morning" and with that she left.
Living with the Starks always came with some privileges that normal people never had. In this case, Mrs. Stark had all the designer clothes from every high end brand delivered to the tower for the Avengers to select for the fundraiser.
Pepper had the clothes designed just for each of them. The girls had fun trying on all the clothes while the boys had a problem with selecting the right tuxedo.
"Steve, I need your opinion on this" Natasha said from the bedroom. Steve was browsing through the tuxedos. Tonight was the big night.
"Coming, dear"
He went to the bedroom and nearly fainted. Natasha was absolutely stunning in a strapless black dress.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"Wow"
She smiled. "That's what I'm looking for"
"I don't think I've been this speechless in a long time" Steve replied. "I can only wish me finding a tux was as easy as you finding your dress"
"Let me help you" she said, following him back to the living room. Steve showed her the rack full of tuxedos.
"This wouldn't be too probmatic if these weren't so tight" he said, dressing up in one he picked up.
"Do you see what I mean? It's tight!" He exclaimed "Maybe this is one of Tony's pranks"
Natasha didn't return an answer, as she was deep in thought.
Her boyfriend was totally hot.
She did have a thing for her Captain in his tight pants, whatever type of pants he was wearing. And he never knew it, she didn't tell him but she really loved watching him walking around the room shirtless, wearing only his jeans.
"Nat!" He called loudly and snapped her back to reality "What do you think?"
"Too tight" She answered "I don't want any woman to stare at your perfect ass, honey"
Steve flushed a little "This coming from a woman who has the most gorgeous curves. Yeah, I don't want any man to stare at you too"
"This is not a time for us to debate about this, sweetheart. Just wear your army uniform"
She went to his closet and pulled it out. He was patting the jacket down as she tied his tie for him.
"Thankfully this fits without revealing too much" she said, slapping his bum.
The boys took little time to get dressed , resulting in waiting for their respective partners to descend the stairs.
"I bet you my wife is going to look gorgeous today" Tony said loudly "More gorgeous than your devil assassin, Capsicle"
"Wait until she hears you called her that" Steve replied.
"Too late! I heard you, Stark" Natasha emerged at the stairs "But I'm in a good mood today so...yeah, I will spare your life"
Steve was enamoured with his spy as he stood and went to walk her down.
She elected not to wear the black dress from earlier, instead opting for a red silk dress that hugged her frame tightly. He blushed slightly when he discovered it was backless.
One thing was for sure, Katniss Everdeen had nothing on Natasha. She was definitely on fire.
"You look stunning, Natashalie"
"Thank you, Stark"
"You know, Cap, I think I'll take her off your hands for the evening"
"Over my dead body" Steve replied, handing Natasha her white coat. "This one's taken"
Upon arriving at the fundraiser, held at the Museum of Natural History, the limos were swarmed by the paparazzi and news reporters. Tony and Pepper stepped out and began chatting with the crowds while Bruce and Betty snuck pass. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway as Steve merged from his limo and offered his hand to Natasha, who latched onto his arm once she stepped out
The questions they endured were the same.
"Are you dating?" "When did this start?"
But they always answered "were just friends". Steve began hurrying Natasha along due to the male photographers insisting on "one more photo".
But as soon as they were inside, every head turned toward their direction. Every eye fall on the beautiful spy. When she gave a bright smile, everyone smiled at her too. They walked into the middle of the crowd. Men almost broke their neck to take a look at her smooth pale back.
"Did you really need to wear this much of a revealing dress?" Steve whispered. "Everyone is looking at you"
"Are you jealous or something, Steven?"
"I don't like it when people look at my girlfriend"
"They can look but they can't touch, Rogers" She replied with a sly grin and leaned up to his ear "You are the only one with that privilege"
Steve found himself smiling at her answer.
"Thor, what's wrong?" Jane asked when she saw the god looking around the room nervously.
"I have a strange feeling, my lady" He replied, eyes still looking around "I felt something mystical and it felt very familiar. And sinister"
"It's nothing, Thor" Jane rubbed his arm "Shall we dance?"
Thor was more than eager to take her hand and walked to the dance floor. But Thor wasn't the only one who could sense something, Clint also felt something creep up his spine and started to look around for the source. His eyes quickly searched but found nothing wrong.
Tony was the next one. He started to shiver and began to stumble. Pepper had to hold him before he collapsed.
"What's going on, Tony?" Pepper asked, concern evident in her voice.
"I don't know…I feel like…" Tony tried to find a word "I feel like I'm falling through that wormhole again"
"Sit down before you collapse"
Bruce was different. He felt like someone was whispering something in his ears all the time. He tried to find the source but no one was near him and Betty. He thought back to the voice, it sounded familiar but I couldn't be the man he thought it was.
Natasha and Steve had been happily dancing when she stopped, a look of worry on her face.
"Are you alright, Nat?" Steve asked, noticing the sudden change in mood.
"I think I saw someone. Someone bad" She replied, green eyes still looked around nervously
"You looked tired. Maybe we should grab a drink" He suggested.
"Yeah. A drink sounds good"
They walked to the bar and Steve ordered drinks for them. He saw something in the reflection of the mirror behind the counter. A very familiar set of eyes stared back at him. He quickly turned and saw a long black haired man in the crowd head toward the exit.
"Nat, I will be right back" Steve said and hurried to the door.
"Where are you going, Steve?"
He didn't answer and disappeared out the door.
"Mr. Hogan, I need my shield" Steve told Happy who guarding the hero's weapons for the Avengers.
"What's going on, Cap?"
"I need to follow someone" He replied, grabbing his shield before following the man he saw in the ballroom, someone very familiar.
He ran after the man into the dark alley when the tall man turned and Steve's eyes went wide.
"Hello again"
a/n: who is the mysterious man indeed?
- Thank you to my proofreader, CAMILLE JONES and Muldoon22!
- Please check my new story out! It's called 'Maybe I needed you to save me' It's an AU story where the avengers were in the university and had no super power. Main characters were still Steve and Natasha together as always :)
- I have to tell you that I will be in Japan for a week and might not be able to find any wifi to upload. If I can find one, I will update right away but if not, see you guys in a week.
- Please kindly leave review :)
- Better brace yourself for the next chapter