Strange Love | Multifandom One - Shots

𝟬𝟭. Realizing they are in love

The only light that filled the room came from the flickering bulbs on the ceiling. For James, however, that was enough to make out the figure in front of him. The young woman stood just a few feet away from him, her back turned. She kept her gaze fixed forward as if she were intently scanning her surroundings. She had braided her red hair into a loose braid that fell long over her shoulder.

She had placed her feet a few inches apart, side by side, just as he had taught her. Her stance was firm and every one of her muscles seemed tense, ready for action at any moment. Although she was getting closer to perfection with each passing day, his trained eye could still pick out small flaws.

Normally, he would have been there, voice cold and hard, pointing out her flaws until everything was perfect. At least, that was the way he had handled it in the past. The first time the Winter Soldier had met the young Widow, she had been an assignment for him. She was the only reason he was hereafter HYDRA and the Red Room made their pact. He was here to train the Widow and in return, the Red Room gave HYDRA the Widows and new technology. The Winter Soldier was just a pawn in this, shuffled back and forth at will.

James disengaged himself from where he had been standing rooted to the spot and moved slowly toward the woman in front of him. His footsteps echoed off the stone floor. Only just behind her did he come to a halt.

By now she had grabbed the pistol from the table. Her fingers were tightly closed around the grip. One finger was on the trigger. Another on the safety. Still, she kept her arms lowered and her eyes on the target.

"What are you waiting for, Natalia?" he asked, looking over her shoulder. The absence of the usual coldness in his voice made Natalia take her eyes off her target. She turned her head to the side and looked directly into his ice-blue eyes, in which there was something unfathomable. Just as there was most of the time. Now and then, though, in the few moments they stole, she managed to lift the veil that had settled over them.

"For you to point out my mistakes," she replied, without pulling a face. Yet she knew how quickly that could get her into trouble when her counterpart was not James, but the Winter Soldier. A weapon instead of the man who was hidden somewhere behind HYDRA's manipulation. The man who made her heart beat faster when he came so close to her.

"Don't focus on me," he reminded her as his left hand found her hip and slowly traveled up from there, crossing her shoulders and finally arriving at her cheek, "Focus on your task, Natalia."

The metal fingers were icy cold against her fair skin as he turned her head forward to focus her gaze back on the target.
"Distractions can be deadly in battle," he murmured in her ear. There was a hint of danger in his voice that sent a shiver down Natalia's spine.

"Then why are you coming so close to me?" she followed his silent instruction to return her attention to her original task. As she did so, she couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from twisting into a small smile. Even without additional reminders from him, she knew how dangerous it could be if she didn't focus. At first, she hadn't found that difficult, no matter how close he got. Not only because she had expected to take a hit from him anytime she let him get far. The more time they had spent together, though, the less that fear had become. Still, she wasn't stupid enough to underestimate him. If he wanted to, he could always knock her out and call it a workout. There was this other side to him though, to them both, that only came out when they were together. That they brought out in each other.

"To see if you really can resist any temptation when it comes down to it," he replied, letting his other hand brush over her arm, "And to make sure you're not just standing there staring at the target, but acting."
As his fingers brushed over her shoulder, she slowly raised her arms in the air so that the barrel of the weapon pointed straight at the head of the training dummy in front of her. To hesitate could be her downfall in the final battle. He had drilled that into her over and over again and had made her feel it in every fight in which she hadn't been completely on her game.