Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff

Part 7

Steve was on his way to his room with a clear plan in mind. He was going to lock himself, read a book or something and pretend he doesn't exist until hopefully everyone forgets whatever the fuck just happened. He's already spent more than 60 years in ice, what's a few more in his room, right?

"Hey Cap", a voice called out from behind him.

"God damn it" Steve mumbled under his breath. Of course the universe wasn't going to make this any easier for him.

"What's up with you and cursing lately?" Tony chuckled. "I thought you were the one wh-"

"Oh shut it Stark this is all your freaking fault!" Steve cut him off harshly as he turned around to face him.

"How the hell am I the one to blame in this situation?!" the genious exclaimed with a biwildered expression.

Steve could feel the anger boiling up inside of him. How is it humanly possible for a person to be this obnoxious? "Don't play dumb with me, you know exactly what you did! If you hadn't put those stupid ideas into my head before, none of this would've happened!"

"Or maybe if you weren't so damn stubborn you would've just accepted your feelings for Nat and tried to figure out a way to tell her instead of acting like a child"

"There's nothing to tell Tony! That's the whole point!" the supersoldier ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Is there?  he thought to himself, trying to ignore how his heart fluttered slightly at the mention of Natasha.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Look where that got you."

An exaspirated sigh escaped Steve's lips. "Can you just pleas-"

"Hey, what's going on?" Clint asked as he caught up to them, a confused expression on his face.

Tony sighed. That idiot just had to be his usual nousy self and tag along, now didn't he? "We're trying to have a conversation here, Birdbrain. Very serious matters involved. So why don't you just fly away somewhere, huh?"

Clint just made a face at him, clearly unamused. "I see your nickname-giving skills are still at their lowest. And can you stop harassing Steve? He clearly doesn't wanna have this "serious conversation" with you right now, and I'm pretty sure you did enough damage back in the kitchen."

"Thank you Clint" Steve muttered, a spark of hope lighting up his chest. He might actually have a chance to avoid this conversation. Maybe they'll just let him go. Maybe Tony will drop it, just this once...

His relief was pretty short-lived, as Tony burst out laughing. "Oh I made damage in the kitchen? Wow, am I the only one here who has a grip on reality? What is wrong with you people?"

"Geez, how many coffees have you had this morning? The gibberish coming out of your mouth makes even less sense than usual." Clint chuckled.

"Okay I'll just be blunt with you. You are the reason our delicate little friend here got upset"

At this point Steve really had to restrain himself from facepalming.

"Bullshit" Clint laughed, but then turned to Steve warily, "Right?"

"Um... yeah, no, Clint you... didn't do anything wrong" Oh God, how Steve wished that ground would just open up and swallow him right then and there.

Getting confirmation of his innocence from Steve seemed to encourage Clint to argue with Tony some more. "Told ya. You can't even take responsibility for your own actions"

"Seriously Barton, just let us finish the goddamn conversation, this doesn't concern you"

"You just said it was my fault!?"

I seriously cannot believe this is happening right now..  Steve thought to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. He slowly began losing hope of escaping this very awkward situation anytime soon, when two figures turned the corner and walked up to them.

"Jesus, guys, we heard you from across the hallway.. what's all the fuss about?" Bruce asked, though not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer to that question (it's Tony and Clint we're talking about here after all).

"Birdman here was being nosy, and when I decided to actually give him the explanation he wanted, he got mad."

"Oh yeah, that "its your fault"-talk really cleared things up for me. Great freaking job Tony, I'm an enlightened man now!"

As Clint and Tony continued to argue and Wanda and Bruce seemed to try their best to make sense of their shouts, Steve saw this as a perfect opportunity to escape and he slipped away as quietly as possible.

However, unbeknownst to him, that action didn't go unnoticed by a certain brunette.