An Impossible Game - A Short Story

Chapter 8

London is gorgeous. It's just as exciting as Steve remembers it but somehow more beautiful. He thinks it has to do with Natasha at his side. 

She's not competing—hasn't even practised for months—but she gets past security when he flashes his badge and his team coach makes an exception "just this once". Even though they were very strict about not allowing her to stay in the Olympic village with him, they're able to slip through the rules in the actual gym.

Neither of them mentions it, but the presence of the Russian team unsettles them both. Fortunately, they don't bump into them until after the qualifiers which means they have a handful of days to prepare for it.

There's no way Steve could have prepared for the moment he meets Ivan, though.

"—you lose to some dirty drugs and turn to fucking Americans—"

Steve has never heard Ivan speak anything but Russian yet somehow, the language doesn't sound the same when it's not being spoken by Natasha.

The hallway is far from empty, but no one intervenes as Ivan shouts insults and profanities loud enough that Steve hears them from the locker room and comes running.

In theory, Steve knows that Natasha can handle herself. He's seen her drink more alcohol than Bucky and he's watched her deck a man so hard he passed out in the street. She should have taken care of Ivan before he'd even opened his mouth. There's just something about the man, however, that seems to cripple her because she isn't moving away from him. She simply stands there and takes what he has to say even though there are tears in her eyes.

Steve wants to say that he let her handle it. He wants to be able to tell his teammates that he walked out of the locker room just in time to see Natasha punch her ex-coach so hard that he dents the wall. She doesn't, though, and he can't.

Instead, he walks out of the locker room just in time to see Ivan raise his fist. Natasha—thank every deity above—moves before he can hit her, but the action still sends Steve surging forward.

"Steve, no!"

She grabs him before he puts Ivan through a wall which is fortunate because later Steve learns that he would have been disqualified if she hadn't.

"Your pretty American boy should know," Ivan hisses at her. He glares at Steve but Steve doesn't waver. "Tell him your sins or I'll add to the list."

"Do not speak to her."

A ripple of pride courses through him at the complete shock on Ivan's face. Clearly, he had not expected Steve to understand or speak Russian. The moment is short-lived, however.

"She has told you then?" Ivan taunts, his greedy eyes landing on Natasha who's still holding Steve's arm. "About the drugs and the late nights and the many, many sins she has committed in the name of Mother Russia—"

"You are not welcome here," Steve interrupts. Behind him, Natasha inhales sharply and he wonders if anyone has ever dared to interrupt Ivan before him. "Leave her alone."

Before Ivan responds or Steve loses his patience, he turns and walks away. Natasha sticks to his side, but she doesn't utter a word until they are outside and far enough away from the arena that no one will eavesdrop.

"Are you okay?" Steve thinks back to how Ivan had raised his fist at her and how Natasha had reacted instinctively. "He hit you, didn't he?"

She misunderstands him and shakes her head vigorously. "No, you saw—"

He repeats the question in Russian and this time she understands. Before you left Russia, he had meant, he used to hit you.

"Yes." It's a simple answer, but it crushes Steve's entire world. "He is not a good person, Steve, but you are."