To Find Love: Romanogers One-Shots

It's All Uphill From Here: Part 1

Summary: When best friends Steve and Natasha start high school, they aren't fully prepared for what's about to hit them. Luckily for their friendship, both are stubborn and absolutely refuse to give up their friendship (and possibly more) no matter what happens in these next four years.

The first day of high school starts out rough.  Natasha accidentally sleeps through her alarm which makes her rush to shower and dress (thank goodness she planned her outfit last night, though, or she'd rather just call in sick) and Steve wakes up with a bad cold.  It wasn't uncommon for Natasha to show up at Steve's doorstep five minutes after they were supposed to leave for the bus stop, but there's something different about it when it's high school.  The panic that they're going to be late even though they know the bus runs ten minutes late the first day of the week anyway is almost unbearable as Sarah Rogers forces Steve to take an extra dose of medicine and promise to call her if he gets worse.

"Your hair is curly,"  Steve states as they walk quickly to the end of their street.  Natasha reaches up and gingerly touches her short red hair.  She had meant to straighten it for the first day, but she hadn't had time and now it was a curly mess.

"I didn't have time,"  Natasha grumbles, trying to smooth it down without making it worse.

"I like it curly,"  Steve grins, reaching up and tugging gently on one of the curls.  It bounces and Steve's grin widens.  The first time he'd ever played with her curls was in first grade and boy did that turn out good for him (she's his best friend now and lets him play with them whenever he's bored).

"Well I don't,"  Natasha reminds him.  Steve shrugs and they fall into silence.  The walk isn't cold yet, it's still too early in the year to see their breaths, but that doesn't mean they take their time (they're also running late, so they really should be moving faster).

They make it to the bus stop just as the bus comes into view.  It's a new bus driver and even though most of the kids already on board are familiar to Steve and Natasha, it feels weird.  They take their normal seat about for rows back and stuff their backpacks under the seat in front of them.  Before the bus is back on the highway, Steve has his sketchbook out and Natasha is reading a new novel just like they always do on the way to school.

When the bus stops outside of the high school, they almost forget to get off.  It's only because Natasha had become anxious and set aside her book they are able to scramble off with the other high schoolers before the bus speeds away to drop off the elementary kids.

"Are you ready for high school?"  Steve grins.  He still has to look up at Natasha despite his mother reassuring him he's been growing.  Natasha grins back and nods.

"Let's do this,"  she exclaims, grabbing Steve's hand and pulling him into the large building.

* * * * *

They don't have any classes together the second semester.  The first semester, they were lucky to have lunch and PE together, but when the second semester rolls around, they're on their own.  Of course, they see each other in the halls and Steve walks Natasha to her first class every day after homeroom (at least they have that together), but it's not the same.  Homework is the same, but the stories from their classes are different and Steve feels awkward when Natasha tells him about her new science partner Alexei Shostakov.

"He's Russian like me, Steve!"  she says happily after the second week.  They're walking home from the bus stop and Steve is shivering despite wearing his winter jacket over Natasha's furry hoodie.

"That's nice,"  Steve mumbles, slipping on some ice.  He flails but catches his balance, something he's been getting better at.  He also hasn't been getting sick as often as he used to.

"Sometimes, we'll talk to each other in Russian to confuse the others or to keep answers to ourselves,"  Natasha explains.  She goes on to tell Steve how some of the kids in her class like to try and cheat off of them, listening to what they tell each other they got for each problem then writing it down as well.  "You should have seen their faces when Alexei busted out in full Russian."

"Remember when we did that last year in Mr. Heald's class?"  Steve suddenly exclaims.  Natasha grins and nods.

"I'm glad Mama taught you Russian too,"  she tells him honestly, nudging him slightly.  Steve turns a brilliant shade of red and ends up falling into a nearby snowbank when Natasha accidentally knocks into him while laughing.  By the time they both stumble into Steve's house, they're soaked to the bone from an impromptu snowball fight.  If Sarah Rogers was surprised, she hid it well and started on some homemade hot cocoa.

* * * * *

Alexei is a bigger hassle than Steve first thought he would be.  By April, he's joined them for studying a total of five times and every time he manages to charm Natasha's mom into giving him her special homemade candies.  Steve doesn't voice his annoyance to Natasha, not wanting to ruin a perfectly good friendship of hers just because he's jealous.  Instead, he vents to his Ma who advises he talk to Natasha himself.

"But I don't want her to feel like I hate him!"  Steve exclaims.  His Ma just smiles and kisses his forehead (she almost has to reach up now, so he really is growing).

"I still think it's best you talk to her,"  Sarah says.  Steve just grumbles and wanders off to his room to finish a drawing he's been working on for Natasha.  He never does approach her about Alexei but he tells his Ma he does.  Sarah just hums and gives him a disbelieving look, but doesn't voice her concern.

* * * * *

When the last day of their first year of high school comes around, Steve couldn't be happier.  Alexei is going to Russia to stay with his grandparents and Natasha will be staying at his house while her mom goes to Russia to get their affairs in order.  Both Natasha and her mother are planning to get citizenship during the summer but after a complication with Mrs. Romanova's divorce and leaving the country so hurriedly, she has to return and make sure everything is in order for the citizenship transfer.  Natasha doesn't have to go and Mrs. Rogers doesn't hesitate to offer her house.

"I don't mind at all, Svetlana,"  Sarah assures Mrs. Romanova.  Steve just grins at Natasha and they disappear into his room while their mothers talk.  Steve's pretty sure he and Natasha are going to have a great summer.