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8 : ODD GROUP OF PEOPLE

Steve didn't hear anything from Natasha for a week, she was avoiding him and he was avoiding her too. Stark and Banner had already been released from the hospital. He had heard from Thor who had been told by Jane that they were doing fine. Thor also told him that everyone already knew that he had apologized to Bruce and Tony. But the only one who mattered to Steve was Natasha but she didn't seem to want to talk to him.

He had been spending most of his free time on the rooftop lately. He had even brought a couch up there just so that he could sit comfortably and enjoy his time, contemplating the beautiful view.

"I guess you still have some sort of humanity left within you, Rogers." A familiar voice sounded from the staircase.

"There are many things you don't know about me, Romanoff." He replied, he didn't even bother looking at her. "So don't assume that I am a terrible man by nature."

"I'm sorry about that." She said sheepishly. "I've heard you become quite close with Clint. He said you've become his rooftop buddy."

Steve allowed himself to let out a chuckle "Did he tell you that we sit quietly and totally mind our own business most of the time?"

Natasha laughed lightly and sat down next to him.

"What's made you change your mind about talking to me again?" He asked.

"I don't know. We are friends remember? And I was just mad at you before."

"I'm sorry about that." He said, still not looking at her.

"Well I am still mad at you a tiny bit, but if you grab some dinner with the rest of us tonight, I would forgive you completely."

"Is this some kind of punishment?"

"Sort of." She replied with a sly smile.

The first two of the group to arrive were Tony and Pepper. Maria and Bruce were the next to arrive. They began to scan through the special menu when Jane, Darcy, Clint, Phil and Thor joined them at the table. Jane had asked Thor to go with her before they got back to his room and begin their tutoring session.

"Where the hell is Romanoff?" Tony spoke up and looked around the diner. "She's the one who told us to gather here."

"Can you just wait a second?"

"Tony Stark never waits for—" Tony stopped his rambling as he saw two people walk into the diner "What?!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the same direction that Tony was staring in. They saw Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff walking through the doors side by side. The quarterback looked extremely uncomfortable and awkward to be there but Natasha had grabbed his arm and was dragging him towards the table. They saw Steve mutter something and watched as Natasha replied something that immediately shut Steve's mouth.

"Well, looks who's joining us tonight!" Tony said loudly as Steve and Natasha approached the table.

"Don't be so damn smug." Steve snarled which immediately earned him a light slap on the arm from Natasha. "I've only come today because Romanoff made me."

"You're welcome to join our group." Stark continued teasing. Steve however didn't seem to enjoy it.

"I'm not gonna join this group." Steve replied quickly.

"What?! I thought the famous quarterback would be graciously gracing our table from now on!" Steve raised his fist in a very threatening way which silenced Tony immediately.

"Stop it, Tony. He just came to learn more about us and so you can know him better than you already do." Natasha scolded. Steve muttered something under his breath. Natasha had forced him to come as part of his punishment and it was part of the deal that he couldn't turn down. It was his only chance to get on her good side.

So Steve unwilling sat down between Thor and Natasha. Maybe they didn't notice anything but Natasha had changed this odd group of people by bringing them all closer together. She was the last missing piece of this puzzle.

Steve sat awkwardly, quietly, and not his usual self throughout the meal. He only spoke when Natasha, Thor and Jane talked to him. He always gave Tony, Clint and Darcy warning glares.

Natasha could tell that he didn't like the idea of being around people that he had once called losers. He knew it would hurt his reputation but Thor seemed to enjoy the company of them. He knew it was mainly because of Jane.

"Steve, try to talk with people." Natasha whispered.

"I don't know what to talk about."

"Just something casual."

"I don't feel like talking to them."

Natasha sighed and proceeded on feeding as much subject as possible to the table. Stark explicitly told them about his latest conquest, which somehow incited male pride in Steve. The quarterback joined in the conversation about a number of his conquests. The details were getting more and more explicit so Pepper and Natasha decided to stop them. Pepper scolded Tony while Natasha covered Steve's mouth. He licked her hand to make her let him go.

"Ewwww!" She cried and wiped her hand on his t-shirt.

Steve let out his first laugh of the evening but soon the dinner had ended and everyone was heading back to their dorms. It was the first time Steve walked Natasha back to her room without being almost naked.

Natasha invited Steve to their group dinners almost every day and to everyone's surprise, he accepted and tagged along with her most of the time. The only time that he didn't come along was when he had a secret meeting with his one-night stands. Something that Natasha always teased him about.

"You should treat a woman better than this." She said "You know women are not objects that once you're bored, you can discard them whenever you want!" Steve didn't look at her and didn't answer her either. The manner that she had learned for some time that he was thinking about what she said.

The fourth time they had dinner that week, Steve began to have an interaction with other human beings rather than her and Thor. Pepper and Maria still kept their distance with Steve and gave him a glare once he and Tony gave a lewd comment. Steve could actually have an intellectual talk with Bruce and Jane about Philosophy and Religion while talking about sport and outdoor activity with Clint, bickering with Darcy about TV show and celebrity gossip.

She knew he was still trying to find himself when he was with her friends, a safe space where he could be himself, himself that he didn't need to pretend or didn't need to do anything uncomfortable.

On the sixth time he went to dinner, he helped Clint score a girl by being his wingman. If she wasn't mistaken, the girls name was Jessica Drew from room 601. She was friends with one of Steve's closest female friends, Carol Danvers who was a female soccer team's captain. Natasha laughed at the irony of that. She teased that Steve only had friends with ranking only. He admitted out loud to her when they were alone in the car after the tenth dinner they had together…

"I'm trying to change." He said, eyes looking on the road. "In case you want to know."

"What's made you decide to do this?" He turned to her for a brief moment but didn't answer her question. She immediately knew his answer.

"Don't do it for me or anyone, Steve." She said. "Do it for yourself."

"I never do anything for anyone."

"Good."

"They're not what I expected…but they're all very good friends." He continued. "They seem to genuinely care for one another."

"That's what real friends look like Steve. They don't care about you status or anything." They stopped at her door. Natasha turned to him; they had an awkward silence for ten seconds before Steve said,

"I'm gonna—go. Good night." He quickly turned away.

"Steve…" She called and he turned back to her. "You know that you can be your normal self around us too. You don't have to try to fit in—just be who you are."

"I thought that you didn't want to be friends with an asshole."

"I kinda miss it." She admitted with a smile. "Because we are your friends, Steve. We can accept you from who you really are. We don't want to change you to someone else you are not."

"In that case, it shouldn't be a problem." They exchanged another friendly smile before Natasha opened the door to her room and said,

"Goodnight, Mr. Quarterback."

"Goodnight, ma'am."

"Hey, Steve!" Natasha called as she saw him exiting the football stadium.

"Sup, Tasha?" He asked, his hands fumbling for his car key.

"I heard you have the first game tomorrow." She replied. "I wanted to wish you good luck!"

"Thanks." He flashed her a lazy smile. "But you're speaking like you're not coming to the game."

"Yeah, I don't know anything about football."

"But you've gotta come tomorrow! I know your friends will explain the rules to you. Besides, I need my lucky charm!" Her eyebrows quirked up,

"Me? Your lucky charm?"

"Yeah." They walked to his car and Steve tossed everything into the trunk.

"I don't have a jersey." Natasha said still giving a random excuse.

"You can have mine." He offered and handed her a brand-new football jersey with his number and name on it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" He boomed cheerfully. "And don't worry about it. The sponsors always give us spare jerseys every game." She smiled and put the jersey in her bag.

"Thanks."

"Promise me that you'll come to the game tomorrow." He said and used his best puppy dog eyes, Natasha knew too damn well that no one could resist his cuteness.

"I'll try to make it."

"That sounds better." He smiled again, out of happiness.

They made it just in time for the group dinner. It became a normal routine for Steve to join Natasha and her friends for dinner. Thor was already there with Jane, surrounded by adoring fans who were wishing him good luck for tomorrows game. The man loudly talked with everyone. Darcy and Clint were bickering as usual. Bruce and Tony were having an argument about Tony finding Bruce a girlfriend.

"You can date any girl you want, Bruce. You just need to have a confidence in yourself." Tony cheered. "If you don't believe me you can ask Rogers!"

"Ask me about what?" Steve asked as he sat down with Natasha.

"Whether Banner should find a girlfriend."

"In that case, you shouldn't, unless you do something with your messy hair. Lose those idiot glasses and change your entire wardrobe. Spend more time in gym and workout." Steve replied harshly. "Or it might be easier for you not have a girlfriend at all because I don't recommend you have one."

"Thank you so much, Rogers." Tony sarcastically said.

"Thanks for the confident boost, Steve!"

"You welcome." Steve said with a smile.

"Oh goshh! You are very mean." Natasha muttered and scanned through the menu. "And stop discussing that topic because you are clearly not qualified to give out advice about relationships."

"You are meaner, Romanoff." Steve shot back. "I'm qualified because I'm good looking, obviously, and I've also slept with many girls."

"One night stands don't count as relationships." Natasha countered. "Don't listen to him, Bruce. I think you should find a girlfriend to prove that this selfish bastard's wrong about his relationship theory."

"I just made a point that if you are good looking and famous, you don't have to be in a relationship to get a girl. Steve Rogers never does dating, he just takes and fucks with whoever he wants!"

Natasha made a face and made a noise that sounded like a combination of a disgusted and hilarious snort. Tony observed their interaction closely. When Steve leaned closer to Natasha, she unconsciously leaned against his arms and shared the menu with him.

"This one looks interesting." She said and pointed at list. "This one too."

"Yeah, we can share." Natasha turned to the waitress and ordered while Steve felt someone staring at him and Natasha. It was Tony Stark with a sly grin on his face. "What the hell are you looking at, Stark?" Steve growled, clearly annoyed which made Tony quickly turn away.

AN:

- Thanks to my beta readers, Gabby Bensaro NCIS-SVU-Fan & keepcalmandwrite.

- Please kindly leave a review :)