𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ✧ ROMANOGERS

vi. back to you

May 2018

Steve's POV:

It was around 8pm. I put on some nice but casual clothes and a jacket, since it was cold out. I walked over to the training room where I found Natasha was practicing her shooting skills. I watched her from afar, noticing that she hit bullseye every time. I didn't expect any less from her. She saw me standing there and took off her glasses and headset and came towards me.

"Hey." Nat said. She put her short hair into a ponytail.

"Hey. I'm going on a walk, you wanna come?" I said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Sure. Let me change clothes first, but yeah. Where are we heading?" she said, smiling.

"I was thinking in the city."

"Ok. I'll meet you in the living room in about 15 minutes."

"Ok."

15 minutes later, she came up to the living room in jeans, a black shirt, and a jacket. Even in the simplest outfit she looked beautiful. We took a taxi from the compound to a coffee shop in the city. We started walking from there, not in any particular direction, just walking. The city was quiet. We were talking for a while, not about anything in particular, just talking. We had been walking for hours and it was around 11pm.

We began to head back to the coffee shop when Natasha asked, "Is this your attempt at taking me on a date?" I laughed.

"Yeah, actually. Well it's not my first try. The first try was when we went out to dinner the other night, but we ended up going with the others."

"I know." She said, to my surprise.

"You knew? Then why did you invite the others?"

"I wasn't ready. I didn't know you had a crush on me, Rogers." She said playfully, smiling. I shrugged.

"What do you mean you weren't ready?" I asked. I think I know the answer to this, I just wanted to make sure.

"Well, maybe I like you a little bit too." She said, our smiles fading. I stopped and turned towards her. I cleared my throat.

"How long?" I asked.

"I knew for sure the night you came in my room when I had that bad dream, but it started before. I don't know, maybe after our mission? The one five years ago."

"Five years ago." I whispered to myself, chuckling. "Five years ago? So we've both been hiding this for five years now. If you liked me, why would you go off with Bruce?"

"I told you why. And you can't blame me, you went off with Sharon, who is Peggy's niece."

"Whose fault is that? You were the one that set us up." I felt myself getting frustrated, but I didn't want to be mad at Natasha.

"When I was setting you up with people, I actually meant it at first. I wanted you to find someone. After a few days into our mission, I was doing it as a way to distract me from my feelings. Trying to get you to be with someone else so I could stop what it was I felt. It didn't work of course. I never stopped caring about you."

"Neither did I." I said quietly. We locked eyes. Her forest green eyes shone in the light. Natasha moved in closer to me. I cupped my hands around her face and pressed her lips against mine. It only lasted a moment until we broke it apart. It reminded me of the time we kissed on the escalator many years ago.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have-" I said.

"It's ok." She said. We turned around and kept walking back to the coffee shop, silent for the rest of the walk. It was quiet in the cab also. I turned to look at her, but she was looking outside the window for the whole ride back.

 We got back to the compound around midnight. Natasha was the one to break the silence.

"Goodnight." She said.

"Goodnight." I said, and Natasha rushed back to her room. I went to my room and took off my coat. I stood at my door, wondering if I should talk to her or not. My hand was on the doorknob.

"Three...two...one." I twisted the doorknob and stood in the hallway, only to find Natasha standing right across from me. She must have been thinking the same thing. So many things were running through my head that I wanted to tell her, but only three came out.

"I love you." I said. Natasha came up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I know." She whispered.

I held her close and we kissed over and over, more passionately than before. She ran her hands through my hair.

"I love you too." She said, whispering in between kisses.

Nat's POV:

All of my feelings for Steve flooded back to me. It's not that they were gone, just hidden. Buried, underneath my fear and confusion. His kisses were gentle, as was his touch, as if he was trying not to hurt me. I liked these feelings, this rush I got. I've never felt like this before. I never wanted this feeling to end.