𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 | ᶜᵒᵐᵖˡᵉᵗᵉᵈ

𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐠𝐨𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 ▸𝒃𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚/𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂

"I always come here when I need to be alone. When I want to collect my thoughts and try to pretend I'm far away from all that here," Natasha told Bucky quietly as they sat on the roof of the Avengers tower in the middle of the night with a blanket and a bottle of vodka. Neither of them felt very comfortable at Stark's party, and while at first, it seemed they wouldn't be able to find common ground with each other - because a biting Natasha had parried all of Barnes's attempts at conversation at first - eventually the impossible became real.

Bucky looked at her and couldn't help grinning a bit. “You shouldn´t tell me, Natalia. I may come to see you more often than you like."

She looked up at him, her eyes twinkling playfully. "Well, I can still knock you out of here," she quipped, but Bucky didn't react. Instead, he clenched his fist and trembled a little. "You okay?" she asked him, tilting her head to one side.

He grinned. "Yeah, just... I don´t like heights."

Natasha blinked. "Why didn't you tell me?!" She shook her head in disbelief and rose, holding out her hand to help him up.

"No, you don't have to do this, I can do this," he said quickly, grabbing her arm to pull her back to him. "I just need to get used to it, that's all. It'll be fine in a minute," he said, but he didn't sound convinced. It was more like he was trying to reassure himself than her.

She rolled her eyes at him and took a sip of vodka. “Fine then. But if you still don't feel well, you're going to tell me, okay?" she said sternly, and he had no choice but to nod. “You need to distract yourself, James. So just look ahead and enjoy the view," she said, leaning back against her palms, smiling slightly as she gazed at the dark shapes of the buildings in which the lights shone.

Bucky looked -- but not at the view ahead. He turned to Natasha and smiled as she twisted her head as soon as she felt his gaze on her. She waited a moment, and when he continued to look at her, she turned to him and leaned forward. Bucky imitated her, drinking into her green eyes. When she grabbed his chin, he felt his heart race. "Enjoy this view," she whispered provocatively near his lips, on which he felt her breath before she turned his chin to the left, toward the city.

"I liked the view better before," Bucky sighed in mock sadness, and Natasha slapped him on the shoulder. Then she handed him a nearly full bottle and urged him to drink. He raised an eyebrow at her. “You sure about this? You encourage me to be honest."

"I´m gonna take the risk," she winked at him and waited for him to drink, then took the bottle back and took a few sips.

"Fine. So do you want to hear that I'm in love with you?" he said, in a tone like they were talking about the weather, and Natasha, still drinking, sputtered the alcohol.

"What?" she said, clearing her throat. "I mean, I didn't expect you to be honest until this early."

He shrugged. "I'm not sure I'd ever get another opportunity like this. And you had to suspect something, didn't you, Agent?" he prodded, but he still felt a little nervous. He had no idea what she was going to say, how she was going to react, and especially how things were going to be between them now. Won't that be weird? Won't they start avoiding each other to avoid awkward moments? Bucky didn't want to lose her. She was one of the few people who understood him and he could open up to them. But at the same time, he needed to tell her.

She looked away. "Yeah, it's... it's just... I guess I thought you were over it."

"No, Nat. I'm still drawn to you. I just fell into it." It was such a strong feeling that it felt like it was going to last forever, that it wasn't going to go away. He had no control over it. And he knew he never would. This was something he had no control over.

She sighed and, perhaps to encourage herself, took another drink. Then she gave him a serious look. "Man proposes, God disposes. I once promised myself I would never fall in love. That I must never fall in love with anyone because love only complicates things. But then you came along. And I remember the moment I realized that everything had changed. We were in the kitchen, arguing about something first. And then we started talking and suddenly it was 4 am and we were laughing like we were never going to stop. And I... I finally felt happy again after all these years. I remember sitting on the counter, looking at you sitting at the table, and you can't stop laughing, and I knew I was screwed."

Bucky didn't know how to react to something like that. He was both surprised and amused. And he couldn't believe it. This was too perfect to be true. And he probably got the feeling in his face, because Natasha rolled her eyes at him, grabbed his sweatshirt, and pulled him in for a kiss. And Bucky's fears ran away. He put his arm around her waist and laid her gently on her back, leaning over her, before pulling away slightly. Her fingers stroked his cheek.

"I know you can't get drunk, super soldier," she whispered to him, her eyes twinkling.

He paused for a moment. "Oh, my gosh, you saw right through me," he sighed, then winked at her. "But maybe I was just drunk with love for you," he said playfully.

"Disgusting," she replied, kissing him again.

•••

"Holy shit," Tony said as he flew over the Avengers tower in his Iron Man suit. Then he grinned mischievously.

"What is it, Tony? What happened?" Steve's agitated voice came over the com.

"Wow, Cap, how come none of your "language" followed that dirty word?" Stark teased Rogers with amusement. "Jarvis, you just couldn't tell me?"

"I thought this would be more fun for you, sir," Jarvis replied, and Tony chuckled.

"Tony, what's going on!?" the Captain demanded impatiently. “Did you find Bucky?“

"Yeah, I did," he assured him, still grinning. "And I found Romanoff, too. Don't worry, he's fine. I'd say he's more than fine. Because they're having sex on the roof right now."