Who Am I? » [Stucky]

17. An Unwarranted Guest

Natasha burst into the flat the moment Steve opened the door. She claimed one of the chairs as her own and kicked her muddy boots up on the table.

"You can't just turn up like this Natasha!" Steve complained, swiping a hand over his eyes.

"Why not?" She chimed in a bubbly voice, a cocky smirk on her lips.

Steve meandered back to the kitchen and started drying the plates and cutlery that were dripping dry on the metallic draining board; grabbing an already damp towel and rubbing at the dishes, mopping up the sudsy water that still remained on the surface of the plates. The last of the water drained away down the plughole, the swirling brown water turning into a miniature spinning vortex and sinking away.

"I could be up to anything!" He protested angrily.

"As if you ever do anything!" She sneered in response with a cocky jokey smirk.

"I went out for drinks with Clint didn't I?" He looked over his shoulder as he placed one plate in a dry pile. "And I went running with Sam the other day..."

"What's got you so uptight? I thought you'd be thrilled to see me." She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, having a small hissy fit about how unwelcome she was; he had been rather rude after all.

"It's just how suddenly you decide to turn up..." He put another dry plate on top of the former and Natasha noticed, the odd number caught her eye.

"Two plates..?" She arched a well-plucked eyebrow at him and removed her booted feet from the wooden table top to lean forwards and stare at him; trying to read what he had been up to from his body language alone.

Steve gulped loudly and felt his cheeks heat up a little. His breathing caught in his throat for a moment and his stomach sloshed about as if he was sea sick.

"You've had someone here haven't you?" She asked with an undisguised excitement in her voice, dying to dig for information. She was going to interrogate him until she was blue in the face.

"No..." Steve scoffed and wracked his brains for a feasible excuse. "I uh... It's just dirty plates that have accumulated over time. The reason I took so long to answer the door was to clean up." He felt rather pleased with the story that he had conjured.

"I didn't hear you cleaning up..." She picked holes in his excuse. She was certain she would have heard clanking and chinking.

"Well that's probably because you were trying to bash down my door with your bare hands." He smirked, feeling like he had covered it up well.

"But then I stopped. And you seemed to clean it awfully quickly..." She leant back and gave him the look a mother gives a child when it lies to her, just willing him on to spew more utter bullshit.

"What can I say?" He shrugged, drying off the cutlery with a small rattling sound as he collectively wrapped it up in the towel and dried it.

Natasha knew exactly what was going on. Or at least she thought she did. "You've had a girl here haven't you?!" She exclaimed with excitement, grinning at him lopsidedly, clapping her hands like a giddy toddler.

"No!" He angrily declared, turning with a blush across his face; feeling embarrassed at the notion.

"Oh my god, you have!" She squealed, grinning broadly.

"I have not!" Steve denied it readily; which honestly was the truth.

"How did you get her out of here so quickly? Did she jump out the window?" Natasha snorted loudly, trying to picture a well done up woman in a dress in heels trying to do what she does.