never leaving your side || romanogers

Chapter 16

All of Natasha's clothes were finally folded and tucked away in her suitcase.

The task was extremely simple, and she didn't buy many clothes anyway, but Steve insisted on teaching her the best way to fold her clothes. Not that she minded, of course. Natasha thought he was cute when he was trying to help her, the way he would focus on his hands while demonstrating, and then look up at her to make sure she was listening. She really wanted to kiss him, but Natasha was sure that if they did, it would end up going to the next step, something she didn't think they had the time for. It was almost 7, and she still had to make dinner for the team, then back some non-clothing things for the trip, and then get at least 7 hours of sleep. And knowing Tony, he'd probably come up with the brilliant idea of a late-night movie before a big trip.

"Nat?" Steve's soft voice called, pulling her out fo her whirlwind of thoughts. "Nat? Do you need me for anything else?"

"What? Oh, sorry, no, you should probably go pack your own bags. You know, since you spent all this time helping me." Natasha said, flustered at her lousy response.

Steve smirked. It was funny seeing her this way, vulnerable, open, completely herself. He knew the shell that she had built around herself after her experiences in Russia she built was to protect herself, but Steve also knew that the shield had cracks, that only the people closest to her could find. When she's around the team, he thought, she wears the shell. Not around me though. I think she trusts me. I trust her.

"Rogers, oh Rogers. What is in your mind today?" Natasha said teasingly as she watched the soldier stare into space, lost in his thoughts.

It was Steve's turn to stammer now. "Oh, nothing much. Just a certain feisty red-head, and her amazing ability to make men swoon at her feet. You might know her." He said, smiling down at Nat.

"Why, Captain Rogers, I believe I do. I'm also quite certain that while she can make many men swoon at her feet, she swoons for only one. Golden hair, big soulful eyes, my dog! No, of course, it's you, don't look so sad." Natasha laughed, blowing hair out of her eyes. "Come on, Rogers. I gotta go cook, you gotta go pack. Let's go." Natasha said in an authoritative tone, mimicking a drill sergeant. 

Steve chuckled and pecked Natasha's lips. The two stepped out the door, posing as two platonic work friends, while really, the two had so much more history that could be uncovered if one only searched hard enough. They stepped into the elevator, hitting Steve's room's floor first. The kitchen was on the ground floor, along with the living room, and where most of the team hung out together. Steve's room was on the 56th floor, 2 floors below Natasha. Yeah, Stark had a lot of money.

Steve and Natasha were halfway down the building when suddenly the elevator stopped with a jolt. The two froze, confused by the sudden stop. "JARVIS?" Natasha asked hesitantly. "What happened?"

JARVIS replied in his monotone voice, "It appears that the elevator is having technical difficulties. Please wait while we take care of this problem."

Natasha frowned. "How long will this repair take?"

"15-30 minutes, Ms. Romanoff," JARVIS replied, recognizing Natasha's voice. 

Natasha groaned, sliding down the side of the elevator. "Ughhhhhh," she moaned.

Steve looked at Natasha's upset state and immediately wanted to comfort her. "Well," he said, crouching down to match Natasha's height. "We can talk about how we want to tell the rest of them about us." He suggested, sitting next to Nat. 

"Fine. But I know that you're only saying this to make me happier."

The two conversed quietly, discussing various ways to surprise the team, some elaborate, some not so much. When they had finally come up with a plan that satisfied them both, they waited, not patiently, but not impatiently in the elevator, talking and making jokes like friends would. 

After a few minutes had passed, Steve held up a hand, looking at his watch. "It's been a while, Natasha. We should be out by now."

Natasha nodded in agreement. "JARVIS will let us out as soon as he finishes fixing the elevator." She replied, trusting the AI to fix the problem.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened. Steve and Natasha stepped out, greeted by so many members of the team staring at them, eyes wide. 

"What?" Natasha asked sharply, making the gentler members of the team flinch. Pepper unfroze herself and walked over to Natasha's side.

"Seriously, Nat? You just walked out of an elevator with Rogers! Do you know how long you guys were in there?" Pepper whispered, her voice excited and prying. 

Natasha gave her friend a confused look. "Well, Steve had a watch, but he wasn't exactly constantly telling me the time, and JARVIS said only 15-30 minutes. Why?"

Pepper's eyes bugged out. "Natasha!" She exclaimed. "It's been nearly an hour! Everyone was looking for you guys! By the way," Pepper added, dropping her voice. "You went MIA so we ordered pizza instead. Thank me later."

Natasha laughed, Pepper joining in a second later. "Thank you, Pep. You know my distaste for cooking so well."

Pepper shrugged. "It was either pizza or Thor's turn to cook. Remember last time?"

The two erupted into laughter once again, walking to the living room. The rest of the team soon came in to join them, talking about the latest news, embarrassing each other in the funniest ways, things a family would do to each other.

The doorbell rang while they were in the middle of another pop tart argument. 

"I'll get it!" Tony jumped up. "It's the pizza, probably."

And it was. Tony came back in carrying an armload of boxes, stacked up on top of each other like books. "Ok, let's find a movie!" The team nodded in agreement, and so the 3 girls got up to get plates.

Jane, Pepper, and Natasha walked toward the large cupboard of tableware and took out enough plates for the team. When they got back, Steve was cutting the pizza, distributing it out onto the ceramic plates.

Then the whole Avengers family gathered around the TV, sitting wherever there was room, couches, the floor, on each other's laps(just kidding, or am I) as they watched Lady Bird. By the end of the movie, not only did they feel emotionally touched, but also physically unconscious, as most of the team had fallen asleep. Tony smiled as he saw his family huddled close together, snapped another photo of Steve and Nat, closed to TV, covered everyone with blankets, set an alarm for 6 am tomorrow, and went to sleep cuddled next to Pepper. Yeah, even though he was a butthole at some times, fine, a lot of times, he could be caring. This was one of those times.