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Natasha gets off the train feeling like she just took a huge weight off her shoulders. What a whirlwind of a few weeks it had been. She is no stranger to undercover missions, let alone ones that involve her using her beauty to worm her way into a man’s life, but this one wasn’t her favorite.
For one thing, she had plans before she got the call to go on this mission. Nick Fury had been hellbent on this Avengers Initiative. Privately, Natasha has thought of it as little more than a vanity project. Something to boost his ego. He never seems keen to explain what it is that has him afraid enough to put together a little “boy band” as Tony Stark called it.
Tony Stark.
He was the first person that Fury wanted to recruit. It’s really a remarkable story about what happened to Tony Stark. When everyone thought he was dead, he came back and eventually declared himself “Iron Man.” Why would anyone except any less of him than to announce himself as Iron Man? His ego is too big to pass up such an opportunity.
In the months since, he has become an icon of America, culminating with him claiming that he had successfully privatized world peace. He ended wars, that was certainly a plus. And he didn’t seem to want anything else except for the next excuse to don the suit.
Stark had initially rejected Fury’s offer to join his Avengers Initiative, but Fury was determined. When it became apparent that Stark was dying, Fury enlisted Natasha to assess him, posting as a new private secretary. Thus, Natalie Rushman was born, a young woman fluent in many languages with a recent stint in modeling. Stark is a practical man. Her body was enough to get him to accept her.
Still, Natasha thinks that her tackling his bodyguard, Happy Hogan, sealed the deal. It didn’t take long for her to draw up her report on Tony Stark. He’s egotistical, narcissistic, and loves to make a spectacle of himself. Even when some of his intentions are noble, he still finds a way to make it about bolstering his image. It’s almost like he has a need to keep up his playboy image.
It’s really quite sad really. She could tell that he cares deeply about Pepper Potts and holds special value in his friends James Rhodes and Happy Hogan, but his attitude just made him too much to be around for long periods of time.
Natasha let him flirt with her as necessary. She can’t deny it was fun shooting one of his gauntlets, but his flirtations just made her sick to her stomach. At least, she didn’t have to sleep with the guy. That’s a plus. It could always be worse.
A big plus right now is that she has a whole month to herself. No mission, no phone call from Nick Fury, and no Black Widow. Just Natasha. She takes a cab to her Brooklyn apartment.
It’s a bit of an unassuming place, just an old warehouse apartment. As a secret agent who was also once an assassin, she has a need to always live under the radar. However, to be fair, this isn’t even her apartment. It belongs to the man she lives with.
She smiles as she enters the elevator to the apartment. As she closes the gate, she sees the old Harley Davidson that was always under a tarp and in a cage. Sometimes, she wonders if she has to compete with the old motorcycle.
She presses the button and the elevator ascends. A few seconds later, her apartment is revealed. The familiar smell of paint and flowery fragrances. The place was spacious and very few items were actually hers. Technically, she only moved in about six months ago. It took some convincing because she’s never had a permanent home other than a few safehouses pockmarked throughout the globe.
Ultimately, moving in was one of the best decisions she ever made, even if she isn’t home as much as she would like to be. She drops her purse and suitcase, taking off her shoes as she walks into the apartment. She looks around.
Before she moved in, the place didn’t have much besides the large kitchen space, an old couch, and more painting supplies everywhere than anything else. The colored brick walls are still mostly barren but have since been occupied by paintings as well as a red and black quilt that her friend, Laura Barton sewed for her.
She sees a few canvases and that beat-up easel she has been the subject of on numerous occasions. She sees the giant TV which was actually one of her personal contributions to the living space. Before she moved in, the only TV was just a laptop. An upgrade was desperately needed. In front of the TV is an overstuffed leather couch where she sees the other person who lives here.
She smiles as she strides over to the couch and sees her boyfriend fast asleep with his sketchbook sprawled in his lap. She leans on the back of it, gazing adoringly at the small man. She reaches out and moves some of his bangs out of his face. How he has never had women fawning over him is a mystery to her. It’s their loss.
Then again, it’s not that big of a surprise. Men are made fun of for desiring women with hourglass bodies who look ready to rock a bikini–even Natasha is guilty of using her sex appeal as a weapon and it worked so effortlessly against Tony Stark. But what about women? Women want guys with big muscles, guys who look like movie stars, so why would they give Steve Rogers a second glance?
Ninety-five pounds, five-foot-four and a laundry list of health problems ranging from asthma to chronic nervousness, Steve Rogers is a mess. It’s really a shame, because he’s the sweetest, most noble man she has ever met.
As she watches him sleep, she thinks back to the day they met.
She had gone to a bar with some of her colleagues after a mission went well and she might not have even met Steve if it wasn’t for a little fiasco. She decided to call it an early night and was on her way home. Not to her surprise, a fellow who had too much to drink followed her out the door. She doesn’t remember all that was said. She just remembers that when she was about ready to teach the man a lesson, this little guy came in and told him to leave her alone.
Poor little Steve. As she would come to know all too well, he has a bad habit of picking fights with guys who are bigger than him. The guy knocked him down with a punch quickly, but Steve got back up like he always does.
“I can do this all day,” is what he said. She fell in love with him right then and there. When he was knocked down again, it was time to teach that moron a lesson. He could beat guys smaller than him but he could beat up a girl?
Once she chased off that loser, she turned to Steve. His lip was bleeding but he was otherwise okay.
“So, you want to grab dinner?” Steve had asked.
Natasha couldn’t help laughing. “No,” she told him. “Not until we get you cleaned up. What’s your name?”
He looked demoralized when she said no, but she did want to go out with him.
It’s still one of the best decisions she ever made. She also quickly found out that it wasn’t the first time that he had tried to ask out a woman, but all who came before couldn’t see past his frailty. They were all stupid.
Natasha rests her chin on her arms. “Hello, Steve,” she says.
Steve yelps as he eyes fly open. He falls off the couch and Natasha can’t stop herself from laughing. That laughter is quickly replaced by concern as he starts wheezing.
“Steve, where’s your inhaler?” she asks.
“Bathroom,” he wheezes.
Natasha rolls her eyes as she rushes to the bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet. She grabs the inhaler and rushes back to Steve. She kneels down next to him and puts the inhaler to his lips. He takes it and squeezes, inhaling deeply as he catches his breath.
“Steve, how many times have I told you to keep your inhaler with you at all times?” Natasha admonishes.
Steve looks up at her and meets her worried fury with a big grin. “Black Widow, the fiercest woman at S.H.I.E.L.D…and all it takes to scare her is her boyfriend having an asthma attack,” he muses.
Natasha tries to scowl, but she can’t suppress her smile. “I’ve missed you, Steve.” She pulls him in for a kiss. Steve kisses her back but he pulls away. She frowns. “What’s wrong? You’re not upset I came home early, are you?”
Steve brings himself to a sitting position. “No, it's just had everything planned out,” he moans. “I was going to cook us a steak dinner and clean myself up here but I fell asleep and…I ruined the chance for a perfect evening.”
Natasha scoffs and sits on the couch, bringing him up with her so she can put her legs on his lap. “You’re always trying too hard to make things perfect,” she scolds lightly.
“How was your business trip?” asks Steve.
“I didn’t have to sleep with Tony Stark, but I didn’t take any effort to get him to hire me either,” says Natasha, smiling smugly. “All I had to do was look pretty…and hit someone.” She pouts playfully.
Steve pats her legs. “That’s my girl,” he says.
“What about you, Steve?” she asks. “Did you do anything fun while I was gone?” He doesn’t have any bruises that she can see, so she can guess that he didn’t get into any fights. That’s a big relief.
Steve blushes. “I sold a painting for four hundred and seventy-five grand at auction.”
Natasha’s mouth falls wide open. Did she hear him right? “Are you serious?”
“I’d show you the check, but I already deposited it,” says Steve, smiling.
Natasha gasps and hugs him. “Steve, I’m so proud of you!”
Steve hugs her back. “I was surprised,” he admits.
Natasha backs off and puts her head on his shoulder. “You’re an amazing artist, Steve. You shouldn’t be too surprised.”
Steve laughs lightly. “I bet Tony Stark would be surprised to see who you come home to,” he quips.
“Oh, yes, how crazy it’d be to see a woman like me with an asthmatic artist who is way beyond him in every aspect?” Natasha quips back. She can feel him smiling. He has such fragile self esteem, but she has no problem reminding him that he’s the only man for her. A thought pops into her head. “You know what sounds really good right now?” she asks.
“Sharing a bath?” suggests Steve, completely unabashed.
Natasha chuckles seductively. “Well, I didn’t even think of that, but I was thinking of you and me…” she looks up at him with darkened eyes. “...alone on a beach in Hawaii with no phones, no mission, no Black Widow, just a handsome artist and his girlfriend enjoying a much needed vacation.”
Steve smiles back as he lifts her easily onto his lap. He’s gotten so strong since they met. “Sounds perfect,” he says. “I always wanted to do a portrait of you on the beach.”
“ Play your cards right ,” Natasha says in Russian as she leans down to kiss him. It was going to be a fun night.