To Find Love: Romanogers One-Shots

It's a Thing

Summary: The five times Steve and Natasha confused the team by hugging and the one time they bothered explaining what was happening.

ONE

Steve was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it from the Triskelion to the Tower without accidentally maiming or killing someone.  It wasn't often he had trouble keeping his anger under control, but there were some things that made him explode quicker than others.  One of those things happened to be Agent Rumlow and his need to comment on every female he knew existed.  There had been many other things over the short course of their mission that had slowly driven Steve to insanity, but Rumlow's last comment had been the final straw.  Steve hadn't hesitated to knock him out cold in the quinjet on their way back to SHIELD then Agent Fury had threatened him with disciplinary action if he couldn't keep himself under control around other agents.

"Rumlow may be a pain in your ass, but letting you beat up other agents is an even bigger pain in my ass,"  Fury had said before dismissing him.  Steve had stormed out of the Triskelion still in his Captain America uniform and climbed onto his bike without another word.

He could see the Tower up ahead, a bright blue 'A' lighting up the deck of the penthouse.  The lights for the office levels were off but the penthouse lights were all on.  Even if Steve couldn't see who was in the penthouse, he figured most everyone would be.  Tuesdays were team bonding nights which usually involved alcohol, board games, and sometimes poker.  He'd hoped his mission would finish in time to join, but now he was wishing that it had run late and he could miss the night altogether.  The last thing he wanted right now was to hear some smart quip from Tony about god knows what.

"Welcome back, Captain Rogers,"  JARVIS said, closing the elevators doors behind Steve.  "The team is currently gathered in the—"

"Where's Natasha?"  Steve interrupted.  She was likely sitting on Tony's couch drinking vodka straight from the bottle, but he didn't want to pass her floor in case she managed to get out of it.

"She is currently talking to Pepper in the penthouse,"  JARVIS answered.  Steve nodded.  He was glad Pepper was there if only because it gave Natasha someone worthwhile to talk to.  Her ability to keep Tony under control was also greatly appreciated.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Steve scanned the room for Natasha.  The rest of the team was playing cards in the dining room and noticed him first.

"Welcome home, Rogers!"

Steve spotted a flash of red hair to his left and turned on his heel, leaving Tony without a reply.  He could hear Tony mutter something to Clint but was too focused on pulling Natasha off the couch and into his arms to try and figure out what he was saying.  The penthouse went silent as Natasha's arms immediately went around his neck and he buried his face in her short hair.

"What's going on?"  Bruce whispered, loud enough everyone could hear in the silence of the penthouse.

"Not sure,"  Clint muttered back.

Natasha pulled away from Steve and frowned up at him.  Pepper slipped away, heading into the dining room to convince Tony, Bruce, and Clint to stop staring.  They only pretended to stop after Pepper threatened to personally lock all of them out of the Tower for the night.

"You wanna talk about it?"  Natasha asked Steve, ignoring everyone behind her.  Steve clenched his jaw, hesitating just long enough for Natasha to decide for him and pull him to the elevator.

"Hey, I don't think you two get to leave without telling us who died,"  Tony objected, overlooking Pepper's glare in favour of staring at Steve and Natasha again.