The Prince And The Rose

09 - Captain Who?

Natasha sat comfortably on her couch with a bowl of chicken fried rice and turned on her TV. "Friday, make sure the door is locked and then put on Doctor Who, please," she said.

"Which episode, Agent Romanoff?" Friday asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Whichever one comes next that I haven't seen."

The TV screen lit up with the opening scene of the episode, and Natasha pulled her soft afghan up around her legs and waist, getting comfortable.

Doctor Who was her guilty pleasure, and she was currently almost done with the latest season.

As the theme song began playing, she heard her front door open.

"Friday turn it off!"

The TV went dark.

Steve walked in, hands in his pockets, looking oddly awkward.

"How did you get in?" Natasha demanded.

He held up one hand, showing her a keycard. "You gave me a key, remember? You want Friday to keep everyone out, you gotta tell her. She's not as intuitive as JARVIS."

Natasha nodded and took a bite of rice. "So what's up?" she asked innocently.

He hesitated, glanced behind him. "Um... Was that.... Doctor Who?"

She looked down sheepishly. "Yeah."

When she looked back up, he had a suppressed look of excitement on his face. "Me too," he said, moving to sit by her on the couch.

Natasha grinned. "Wanna watch with me?"

"Sure!"

She scooted over to him so they could share the blanket. "Friday, go ahead and put it back on."

The theme resumed, and a moment later the title flashed across the screen and Steve exclaimed, "Oh, it's Heaven Sent! This one's really good."

From that moment on he was fairly quiet, except for laughter and the occasional sigh. However, from his expression, Natasha could tell he was enjoying himself.

The episode was, as Steve had said, very good. Natasha thought it was one of her favorites so far. She had Friday flip off the TV as the credits rolled, and then she rotated to face Steve a bit more.

“So… That was a bit sad.”

“I know. I love it though.”

“Oh, you love it?” Nat teased.

He started to reply, obviously embarrassed.

“You huge nerd,” she said, smacking him. “I love it too. What was your favorite part?”

“The montage when he’s breaking the diamond,” Steve answered.

“Mine too. I loved it. It was sad though… Every time he got there he remembered doing it for billions of years every day over and over again. One hell of a bird is right.”

Steve nodded emphatically. “It would be horrible. Although it’s even sadder once you see the next episode.”

Natasha smacked him again. “No spoilers!”

“I’m not!”

They spent the next hour or so discussing the show, and Natasha was delighted to find that Steve was just as obsessed with it as her; he admitted sheepishly that he had a Tumblr. “No one knows it’s me,” he said, grinning. “I just post a lot of Doctor Who stuff and stories about the stuff Tony does every day. Everyone thinks it’s fanfiction.”

Natasha laughed at him, but it was actually a pretty genius idea. And it sounded fun. “Isn’t Tumblr… you know, weird?”

“Yeah. But it depends on the stuff you like and who you follow, too.” Steve took her empty bowl from her and carried it to her sink. “Have you ever been to Comic Con?”

She shook her head. “No. I could, probably, but we’re always busy saving the world and stuff.”

“Yeah. Stupid planet.” Steve walked back over and leaned against the back of the couch. “Always getting attacked.”

“You know, the Doctor should really come help us out,” Natasha said, laughing. “He does everything with only one or two other people helping. Imagine if we’d had him in New York.”

“Those aliens would’ve been gone a lot quicker,” Steve agreed. “And we could have stayed home and napped.”

…

A few years later, the two of them actually did manage to go to Comic Con together, with Steve dressed as Superman and Natasha dressed as Amy Pond. Almost no one recognized them, although there were a few joking “You look just like so-and-so!” from other fans.

They got to meet Peter Capaldi and Benedict Cumberbatch, and managed to get pictures with some of their fans without arousing suspicion.

Tony was convinced it was both the geekiest and awesome thing they’d ever done, calling it “the coup of the century” and “the best troll ever”.

And Steve excitedly posted on his Tumblr how cool it was to meet Peter and Benedict, adding that he thought he saw Captain America and Black Widow there too.

Naturally, no one believed him.