Hands Too Cold, but Heart of Gold *Avengers* Daredevil*

7) The truth

You entered the Tower in high spirit, a bit incredulous. You had no idea when or how that happened, but yeah, if Matt wanted to go out on a date, you were all in. God knew your fingertips were tingling at the idea. You stuffed the thought of Matt helping you to finally break your ridiculous crush on your teammate to the back of your mind.

"Evening," you sing-sang as you helped yourself with a glass of water before going to your room to get some needed sleep; using your powers wore you off more than expected. On the other hand, you weren't sure you would fall asleep now. Your body was buzzing.

Natasha and Steve were sitting at the bar stools, talking quietly.

"I take it the talk went well?" Natasha asked with a very suggestive smile and you didn't feel the need to correct her.

"Yep. Much better than expected. See you in the morning."

You leaned to Steve, kissing his cheek for his advice to get your head out of your ass and approach Matt and you left the room.

Steve sighed, watching you disappear; were you really blushing when saying it went better than expected?

"You think she figured it out before or that she only realized when it punched her in her face?" Natasha questioned and Steve startled before he realized what she was talking about; it wasn't too hard to see Daredevil found your attention pleasant.

Steve got his expression under control, pushing the ugly feeling in his stomach away.

"The latter. I mean, him agreeing to come with us was one thing, but I saw the footage from the jet and that was a huge hint. Plus, he came up with a cute heroine nickname and spent four days in a hospital, sleeping on a chair by her bed - if there wasn't for his friend, he wouldn't have left for a second. I don't think I've ever met someone so oblivious as her."

"Well, she has a lot of practice in being oblivious to someone else's feelings," Natasha hummed, sipping from her wine glass. "The romantic kind."

"Huh?"

"Really, Steve? That's how you wanna play it?"

Steve met her eyes shortly, quickly looking away to escape her knowing gaze, unpleasant knot clutching his stomach. She knew. How? Who else knew? He had been careful. Unlike someone who wore a helmet with horns, he was subtle.

Apparently not enough. There was no point in denying in front of Natasha, was it? She seemed pretty confident.

He cleared his throat. "Well. This is better for her. You know it is. With him, there is a chance-"

"That she will what? Settle down?" the redhead scoffed, putting her glass down. "She an Avenger herself, Steve."

"And I'm Captain America."

"Yeah, exactly."

"It would compromise our missions. Relationship with a teammate is never a good idea," he whispered exasperatedly, repeating something he had told himself over a million times. Trying to convince himself rather than Natasha that it was better this way. That they should only stay friends, no matter how close. A family. He had been there for her when she had been vulnerable the most and their bond only grew stronger with time, but even if he would have tried to confess his feelings and she would say she reciprocated them, they sure would have been just plain gratitude. He didn't want that.

"And you wanna tell me that now it won't? You know what happens next, right? Now, he'll be joining the missions and you'll be watching her compromised, him compromised and you will not only compromised the same way, but also jealous."