To Find Love: Romanogers One-Shots

It's All Uphill From Here: Part 2

Alexei made sure to write Natasha every week during the summer and Natasha happily returned the favour.  Steve and Natasha did have fun together during the summer, but every time Natasha received the thick envelope from Russia, Steve would leave the house for a couple of hours.  He wasn't mad at her or Alexei for the letters, he was mostly mad with himself for getting jealous.  He and Natasha had been friends so long he couldn't remember a time without her.  It was still weird seeing her become so close to another boy.

"You straightened your hair,"  is the first thing Steve says on their first day of school.  Sure enough, Natasha's shoulder-length red hair is perfectly straight.  She hadn't grown an inch over summer much to her chagrin and this time, Steve's a few inches taller than her.

"I woke up on time,"  she replies, elbowing him.  Steve elbows her right back but that only starts a fight to see who can push who over first.  Steve wins when Natasha stumbles off the sidewalk and trips over the curb.  He's quick enough to grab her, making sure she doesn't actually fall, and Natasha smiles.

"Couldn't let you scrape your elbows on the first day,"  Steve teases.  Natasha rolls her eyes and leads them onto the bus toward their regular seat.  Just as he always does, Steve pulls out his sketchbook and starts to draw.  A few minutes later, he realises Natasha's on her phone rather than reading and asks what she's doing.

"I'm texting Alexei,"  she answers.  Steve resists the urge to sigh.  Even their normal morning routine is ruined by Alexei's ever-growing presence.  "What are you drawing?"  She peers over his shoulder and Steve blushes when he remembers he'd been drawing her latest dance recital.

"Like it?"  he asks, shifting so she can see the page better.

"I love it!"  Natasha exclaims, grabbing the notepad to look at it closer.  Steve watches happily as she looks over his art in awe before carefully handing his sketchbook back over to her.  "Can I have it when you're done?"

"Sure,"  Steve replies.  He'd been planning to save it and add it to his collection of art he'd done revolving around her recitals and dances, but he supposes giving her just the one drawing won't hurt.  Besides, the collection was going to be her birthday gift anyway.  Might as well give her something a little early so she's even more excited when she sees the real gift.

* * * * *

Of course, the day Natasha's birthday rolls around, Alexei shows up at lunch.  He'd been joining them more often, sitting behind Natasha in class even though he knows that's where Steve always sits.  He hands her a small box and urges her to open it right then.  She does and Steve watches as she unwraps the gift.  Inside is the autobiography of one of Natasha's favourite ballerina's and a sterling silver necklace with a pointe shoe charm.  Natasha lets out a small gasp and a second later, she's pulled Alexei into a hug and is thanking him in rapid Russian.

"How did you know I've been wanting her book?"  Natasha asks in Russian, gently fingering the book like it's made of gold.

"I asked your Mom,"  Alexei admits.  Steve just busies himself with his sandwich.  He didn't need to ask Ms. Romanova (now fully divorced thanks to her trip back to Russia) to know Natasha had been eyeing the book ever since it was pre-released.

"Well, thank you,"  Natasha says, carefully stuffing the book in her backpack.

Later that day, once Alexei's left and it's just Steve and Natasha upstairs in Natasha's bedroom, Steve pulls out the gift he'd made for her.  It's bulky as he had struggled to find a way to put together all the art he'd done, but he's proud of it.  When Natasha first unwraps it, he's worried she hates it because she doesn't react.  Slowly, she opens up the handmade scrapbook his mother had helped him put together and looks at all the pencil drawings Steve's done of her dancing over the past year.