Chapter Text
The settings for the central air at the Avengers base have never been an issue for the team.
On summer days and right after physical training, it was a blessing, cooling everyone down. Steve, personally, doesn’t really like the cold, but needs it because his metabolism always has him feeling like he’s burning up. Vision, on the other hand, doesn’t really have a response to hot or cold courtesy of his make-up. Wanda prefers the cold, as it’s what she had grown up in and, as she told Steve, it helps her sleep better. Sam also likes things on the cooler side. Rhodey doesn’t live at the base, meaning that there are no issues with him. That leaves Natasha, who has never voiced her opinion one way or the other, leading Steve to believe she was fine with how things are.
It’s on a chilly September evening that Steve finds out. He had turned down the thermostat earlier in the afternoon, after the temperature outside had spiked to an unusual high for Autumn, effectively cooling the living quarters. Just as it had spiked in the afternoon, it dropped severely in the evening, leaving Steve comfortable in sweats and a long-sleeved t-shirt. In other words, it was like an ice box inside.
Steve’s watching National Geographic in the living room when Natasha wanders in and plops down on the couch next to him. His concentration broken, he looks over at her and is surprised to find her bundled up. A black Under Armor shirt peeks out from underneath a gray hoodie. His eyes travel down to the black sweatpants that cover her legs before landing on her feet, which are sporting purple and gray fuzzy socks. He tries to stifle a laugh unsuccessfully.
“What?” Natasha asks, drawing his attention to her face.
“Those,” he points at the socks, “are the last thing I thought you would own.”
Natasha always looks great and it seems like she enjoys dressing up for missions, meaning that he’s seen her in work-out clothes, her uniform, and ball gowns. Still, he’s never seen her in something this casual before.
“Hey!” she exclaims, her eyebrows drawing down, “They are surprisingly comfy! Besides, they were a gift from Lila and they are keeping my toes from getting frostbite.”
Steve feels a slight pinch of guilt knowing that it was his fault for the drop in temperature. Of course, he doesn’t share this with Natasha, knowing there would be some kind of ice joke. Instead, he gets up from the couch and grabs the blanket that rests along the back of it.
“Here,” he says, draping the blanket over her legs and feet, then moving over to the thermostat to turn it up a few degrees.
“Thanks,” she says when he returns.
“No problem,” he replies, sitting down at least a foot closer to her than he was before.
It’s an automatic response, this need to be close to her. Lately, he finds himself unintentionally finding ways to be around her or see her.
He hears her suck in a breath and feels her scoot closer to him.
“Steve,” she sighs, “you’re like a radiator.”
He watches as she moves the blanket to cover herself, before tangling her legs with his and throwing an arm over his waist. Her head rests on his chest and now he’s the one that’s sucking in a breath. He adjusts his arm so it rests along her side, making their positions more comfortable.
Although he felt fine a few seconds ago, he can feel the heat rush to his cheeks and throughout the rest of his body. Luckily, Natasha’s head is at an angle so that all she can see is the TV and their feet. They sit in relative silence for a few minutes before Natasha speaks.
“Steve?”
“Hmm?” he says, his eyes straying to the top of her head.
“Your heart is beating really fast,” Natasha points out.
He tries to play it cool, moving the hand that’s along her side back and forth in an effort to both distract her and warm her up.
“Oh, that. The serum and the physical changes that came with it gave me an athletic heart. So my resting heart rate is much higher than your average person’s.”
Lie.
Well, not a lie, exactly, but more like omitting a huge part of the truth. It’s true, that the serum did cause those changes. But he knows the real reason it’s so quick has to do with the gorgeous woman laying with him.
“I never thought about the sides effects of the serum before. That makes sense.”
She continues to stay with him, even after he changes the channel to watch a “Chopped” rerun. By the third round, they’ve both decided that the young woman is probably going to win the whole deal, even though it seemed like the judges liked the other competitor’s entrée.
“We called it,” Natasha comments after the winner is announced, using her hand to push off his chest and move into a sitting position. “I’m going to grab a shower. Thanks for helping me out.”
Steve smiles, showing her it was no problem.
“Anytime you feel cold, feel free to come find me.”
Just then, an idea sparks in his mind, and he’s eager to test it, but Natasha has to leave first.
“I’ll be sure to do that.”
His eyebrows shift up at the flirty response, but he says nothing as she walks towards the hallway. He waits until he can’t hear her footsteps anymore and carefully peeks to make sure she is in her room.
Location confirmed, he heads over to the thermostat on the other side of the room. Pushing the button a few times, he turns the temperature down again.
He has to wait a bit to find out, but between leaving the warmth of the shower and stepping out into a cold bedroom, he has a feeling Natasha will be looking for him again.
Thirty minutes later, he smiles when he hears her say, “Steve, it’s cold!” from down the hallway and turns his head to watch her moving quickly towards the open space next to him.