never leaving your side || romanogers

Chapter 10

Steve was hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable. And he wanted to go back home to the comfort of his apartment, where he could jump out of his suit and watch a movie with Natasha. But that was not possible, because the same person who he wanted to watch a movie with was keeping him prisoner at this party.

Natasha was behind a bar, wearing a short sleeveless red dress. Countless men had tried to convince her to dance that evening, but she waved them off. It wasn't that she didn't want to dance with them. It was just that a, all of them seemed like douchebags, and b, there was one man in particular that she wanted to dance with the most. She just had to wait for the perfect moment to go up to him.

Lots of women wanted to go for a dance with Steve Rogers, the one and only Captain America as well. He felt guilty, having to tell excuse after excuse to girl after girl about why he couldn't dance. The last time he danced, well, was never, and he wanted his first dance to be with someone special. Before the ice, he thought it'd be Peggy, but things got complicated, and here he was, still looking 27, while Peggy was in a hospital bed, 95 years old. Life wasn't fair, and there were some things that he couldn't even control. Catching Natasha's eye from across the wild room full of snaking bodies and loud music, he mouthed the words, help me. "What?" A cute girl in front of him asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing. Listen, I can't dance right now, ok? Sorry." Steve sighed, watching the girl leave. She kept casting puppy dog looks at him, hoping he would change his mind. Frustrated, he looked for Natasha. Red hair, red dress. Shouldn't be too hard.

There. He found her. Talking to, Bruce? Of all people, Steve thought, why him? He was old, and he was flirting with her.

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Natasha caught Steve's eye. Edging away from the men waiting in line to have a dance with her, she walked over to Steve, calmly, a drink in one hand, the other swinging by her side. "Hey, Natasha!" An all too familiar voice called out.

"Yeah, Bruce?" She huffed, annoyed. She was supposed to be getting to Rogers, not talking to a man who couldn't handle alcohol. It was clear Bruce was extremely drunk.

"Wanna dance, girl?" He said lazily, his eyes glazed drunk.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Go home, Banner." Turning to leave, she felt a cold hand grab her waist.

"Not until I've got my dance."

Natasha saw Steve come up. Using him as a distraction, she pulled away from Bruce's clammy grasp.

"Hey, Steve!"

"Hi, Nat. So is there any chance now that you've seen how much I struggle with parties that maybe I could go home?"

Natasha laughed, a short laugh. "Not a chance. Besides, I haven't had anyone to dance with yet. Wanna be the first?"

Steve fiddled his hands nervously. He loved her, very much. But of all people, why did she have to choose him? He had never danced before. Before the serum, he was too small and skinny and short to dance with any girls, and afterward, he was too busy to get the chance. "There was a whole line of men waiting to dance with you." He replied.

Natasha shrugged. "They can wait."

Steve looked her in the eye. Blue oceans met green forests. His breath caught in his throat. "I can't dance." He blurted out.

"Really, now." The smirk on Natasha's face was undeniably there.

Steve straightened his back, making himself taller. "Never learned."

"I'll teach you." Natasha put her hand on Steve's shoulder. "Gosh, you're tall.

He was very tall. If the two of them stood back to back and took a picture, Steve would be a good almost foot taller than Nat. The super serum had changed him in many ways. In one way, he was taller, more muscular, stronger, and had better looks. Another attribute of the super serum is that it would amplify any good person's good character traits, in turn getting rid of most unwanted feelings. Vice versa.

That was part of what he loved about the super serum. The other was the fact that he was holding Natasha in his large arms, her green eyes looking up at his. He would never have had that if he wasn't turned into a super-soldier, and then gone on that mission, and plunged into ice, assumed to be dead, only to be defrosted years later, in a New York quite different than the one he had left. If he hadn't been injected with the serum, he would not have joined the Avengers and he would not have met Natasha.

Natasha and Steve swayed along to music, their footsteps matching each other, sweet music filling the air around them. And that honey-sweet sensation lasted for a minute. "I can't," Natasha said suddenly. Her eyes pooled with tears threatening to overflow from her eyes. She ripped herself from Steve's grasp, running to the bathroom.

Watching her go, Steve stood frozen, unable to comprehend what he had just seen. He thought she loved him. Wasn't it true? Pulling himself from his shocked position, he ran after her, only to realize he couldn't enter to comfort her.

"Crap."

Looking around for any female Natasha might talk to, his gaze fell on a tall strawberry blond woman. She was currently engaged in a heated argument with Tony, it seemed. Either she was about to storm out, or they were about to engage in a heated make-out session. It was never easy to predict what would happen with those two.

"Pepper!" Steve yelled.

"What up, Capsicle?" Tony asked.

Steve glared at him. "I need Pepper."

"Hey, no stealing my girl!" Tony said indignantly.

"It's about Nat."

The annoyed look on Tony's face changed to surprise. He gestured for Pepper to go with Steve.

"She's all yours."

Waiting for Tony to turn around and walk away, he pulled Pepper to a relatively quiet corner.

"Ok," Pepper said, clearly confused as to what she needed to do for Nat. "What do you need help with?"

Steve sighed. "Can I trust you to not tell anyone about what I'm about to say? Especially not Tony?"

Pepper nodded understandably. "Of course you can." Sympathy poured from her gaze.

"I was dancing with Nat. And it was fun. She asked to dance with me, and when I told her I couldn't dance, she said she'd teach me. So then we danced a little while, and then suddenly, all out of the blue, she said "I can't", and left. Can you please talk to her?"

Pepper stood up and stared at Steve, obviously confused. "You know what?"

"What?" Steve said, his gaze changing from his hands to Pepper's eyes.

"You like her."

"What? No, no, of course not. We're just friends."

"Whatever you say, Steve."

Steve stared at her, in shock, as the second woman in an hour walked away from him while he was in a shocked state. Today really was a strange day.