Work Text:
On the day Natasha moves in, Steve oversleeps.
He'd been up almost until sunrise, playing Minecraft with an insomnia-riddled Tony Stark. They've become unlikely friends during the summer after bonding during the two week period at the end of the school year when Tony'd just gotten his pacemaker put in and Steve had the flu. Steve only ever seems to make friends in hospital waiting rooms.
With Tony came Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, which doubles Steve's list of friends. Previously, it had just been Bucky, Wanda-from-that-one-time-in-the-ER and maybe Sam? Steve hopes Sam thinks of them as friends. He really likes Sam.
But Sam isn't the point. The point is that Steve doesn't wake up until one in the afternoon, and then only by the commotion downstairs.
He scrambles to find jeans, making the snap decision that the Superman t-shirt he'd slept in is presentable enough. Thrift store pajama pants with ducks on them, not so much.
By the time he has his teeth brushed and his face hastily washed, Coulson has already served the social worker tea. Steve is late.
This is the first time he's seen Natasha Romanov in person. She'd had on makeup in the pictures, but her face is bare now. Her hair is a little too red to be natural and even sitting, Steve can see she has a few inches on him. Something about the way she holds herself makes her seem older than 16.
She has a cast on her ankle and there are crutches resting against the kitchen counter.
Oh, Steve thinks.
The conversation stops when he comes in, but Coulson smiles a little, so it's probably okay.
"I was wondering when you'd get up. Natasha, this is Steve Rogers," Coulson says, getting to his feet to usher Steve over. Natasha takes his hand when he offers it to her, but she doesn't smile. It throws Steve off a little.
"You're one of the freshmen," She says, looking him up and down. There's very little inflection for him to read into.
"Uh. Yeah, gonna be a Sophomore in the fall."
Natasha nods and turns back to the tea and cookies in front of her. She doesn't make a move to actually eat any of it.
Steve makes a valiant effort not to look as uncomfortable as he feels. Breakfast, it's totally safe to focus on breakfast.
"There are leftover cinnamon buns in the fridge," Coulson says, seemingly reading Steve's mind.
"Thanks, Mr. Coulson," Steve says, turning the politeness up for the social worker's benefit. His own social worker, Ms. Hill, appreciates respect, and she's already going to hear about him sleeping in. Steve had hated his first foster home and would really like to keep this one.
"Got enough to share?" Natasha asks abruptly once Steve has the fridge door open. Steve stares at her for a second longer than he should before nodding frantically. Come on, Rogers, this cannot be Bucky's sisters all over again. Pull yourself together.
"There's plenty! Um, gimme a sec, I'll warm them up!"
Natasha smiles. It might even reach her eyes.
*
The social worker hangs around for another hour after Steve and Natasha have finished off the food. Towards the end he wants to talk to Coulson without kids in the room, so Steve offers to give his new foster sister a tour.
"Does Coulson let you have girls over?"
Well, he wasn't expecting that to be the first thing she says out of earshot of the adults. The air conditioning is on but Steve suddenly feels very warm.
"Um. Yes? My friend Wanda comes over sometimes, but she isn't like, my girlfriend or anything."
"Well, that's one less problem. Got any video games?"
God, Steve is going to get whiplash from talking to this girl. At least she seems impressed with the PS3.
*
The social worker has been out of the house for less than ten minutes when there's a knock at the front door. Coulson is upstairs with Natasha, so Steve stops texting Bucky to get the door. The social worker probably forgot something.
It isn't the social worker. The teenaged boy standing on the doorstep is wearing an obnoxiously purple t-shirt and really needs a haircut. He's got a backpack slung over one shoulder and a stuffed animal tucked under his arm.
"Hello?"
"Oh, uh, hi! You must be Nat's foster brother. Cool shirt, dude."
Steve glances down to remember what he's wearing. Right, Superman. The interaction feels more awkward than mocking so Steve lets it slide.
"You're Natasha's boyfriend?" Steve guesses, because he can't think of any other reason for the stuffed animal. The boy turns a little pink and his awkward smile slips a bit. Weird.
"Nah, just-- just a friend! Can you let her know I'm here? I'm--"
"You're early, Barton."
Steve startles; Natasha's friend does not. He must be used to her silently appearing. How did she do that with a broken ankle?
"Nat! There you are," He says, visibly relaxing. Natasha doesn't look happy but her friend doesn't seem half as worried as Steve would have been.
"I thought we'd agreed on introducing you tomorrow," Natasha says, her voice level. Her friend smiles sheepishly and holds out the stuffed animal. It's a spider beanie baby, the fabric scruffy like a child had gotten a lot of use out of it.
"What can I say? Widow missed you."
To Steve's surprise, Natasha accepts the stuffed animal. She sighs and turns to address Steve and Coulson, who is coming down the stairs.
"This is Clint Barton. You'll likely be seeing a lot of him."
"We're best friends!" Clint explains with a grin. "Sir," He adds, nodding to Coulson.
Natasha rolls her eyes but doesn't correct him. Coulson looks Clint up and down as if he might have a concealed weapon. To his credit, Clint handles it better than Bucky did.
"Her bedroom door stays open while you're here and if you sleep over, sleep on the couch. Are you staying for dinner?"
Clint looks taken aback for a second before looking at Natasha for guidance. She nods.
"Yeah, if that's okay. Thanks!"
"Natasha, you get to pick dinner. Steve, where did we leave the takeout menus?" Coulson continues. Steve takes a second to think about it. Bucky was over on Friday and there was definitely some roughhousing over where to order from.
"I, uh. Think they're behind the couch, actually. I'll get them."
The takeout menus are right where he thought they'd be. Bucky's chicken scratch handwriting labels Steve's favorite Chinese place as an insult to lo mein and Wanda has drawn little smiley faces next to dishes she thinks Steve should try. Friendship graffiti, suddenly significant because somebody else is going to look through them. Steve can't help but smile.
He brings the menus back to the front hall. It looks like Coulson has gone back upstairs; Natasha is basically where he left her, but Clint's moved out of the doorway. They're pressed together side-by-side, Clint's arm securely around Natasha's waist. For a second Steve thinks it's just a hug, until he notices that Natasha is no longer using her crutches. Clint is supporting her weight, in a way that doesn't make it obvious that that's what he's doing.
Steve decides he likes Clint.
"So I can't vouch for some of these places, my friend keeps leaving stacks of these things every time he comes over," Steve says as he hands the menus over to Natasha. Tony really likes trying new food places; Pepper says he's gotten food poisoning four times. Rhodey insists it was five.
"Pizza?" Clint asks hopefully. Natasha fans out the menus with a flick of her wrist. It's so smooth it looks like a card trick.
"Oh, hey, Illiano's, your foster family's got good taste, Nat," Clint comments, pointing at one of the menus. Steve isn't sure if they've ever actually ordered from there, but he doesn't say anything.
"If we buy from your pizza place, I get to pick the toppings," Natasha says, casually enough that this is probably a regular arrangement.
"Deal!"
"So, Steve, how do you feel about mushrooms?" Natasha asks, smirking. Clint makes a noise of pure horror.
"No! No mushrooms!"
Natasha laughs.
Clint's been in the house for maybe five minutes but the change in Natasha is obvious.
They're going to have to keep him.