After watching Endgame, I honestly don't know what to do with my life right now.

I'm basically half dead. How 'bout you guys? 

Anyway, I'm finally updating after 14,000,605 years. (lol) Sorry about that! I've been out of my game lately and haven't had the inspiration to write again. 

After watching endgame, I think an update will help each one of us heal our broken souls a little. Just a little bcoz damn it huhu *starts sobbing uncontrollably* 

I can't... I can't...     

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ C H A P T E R F I F T E E N ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬    

"I really am sorry."

"Apology not accepted."

James sighed, "Well, what was I supposed to do? Let my sister take the bullet?"

Allie rolled her eyes. "You did not take anything for me. Look, can we just put this behind us? We're safe and home now and that's what counts right?"

He nodded in Tony's direction. "Try telling that to him."

"I keep forgetting that you're as stubborn as your old man is." he groaned, rubbed a hand over his face. "Can you at least try to not get yourself killed the next time around? Your parents are already going to murder me for letting you go out there. Jeez. Am I that bad of an uncle?"

Allie patted his shoulder. "Aw. Don't feel so bad, Tony! You're a cool uncle."

Tony's face brightened. "Really?"

"Yeah," James agreed. "Much cooler than Dad."

His face fell. "That isn't much of a compliment."

"Why?"

"Everyone in the English-speaking world knows just how much cool Cap is, Jamester." Tony said, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

James raised a brow, looking slightly-offended. "Hey! Dad isn't that bad."

Allie tried to sever the conversation to a more relevant matter. "Uncle Tony, how's the time machine coming up?"

"Oh!" His face lit in recognition. "Do you want to see it? I'm just about done. Just need to do a little rewiring on the cables and it should be good to go."

Both siblings grinned in excitement and relief. "Really?"

Tony nodded. "But first..." He tapped his chin. "Did you bring me those dried mangoes I asked you to?" 

Allie smiled. "All five packs of them."

Tony beamed. "Alright, to my lab then!"

  —————————————————————————————        

"Woah."

"Cool, huh?"

The siblings have no words to describe how the time machine even looks. They were completely struck at how complex and hard it must have to build just by staring at it now.

"How did you..." James trailed off, "You did all these in just a week?" He couldn't believe it. He knew his Uncle Tony was a genius but not this much of a genius. It was extremely impressive.  

"A week and a half." Tony corrected, trying to act as humble as possible. 

"Still!" James exclaimed.

Allie, on the other hand, was still lost for words. "Wow..." she awed. "It looks just about done, Tony. What's still missing?"

"Nothing's missing in particular but..." Tony pointed at a couple of wires behind the machine itself. "the power source is still shaky so it's still gonna take probably a day or two to make sure it's stable enough to use. We really don't want another time travel epic mishap happening."

"I see..." Allie remarked, inspecting the machine. Her hand reached out to touch the control panel. "Can we do a test run?"

James' eyes narrowed. "No! Absolutely not."

"It's safe, James. And besides Uncle Tony's here in case it goes—" Allie tried to reason.

He cut her off, "You know this is exactly the reason why we're even here in the first place, right?"

Allie groaned. "We're just going to do a test run to see if it works!" She turned to Tony. "Can we, Tony? Please?"

Tony sighed, "Look, it's not that I'm taking any sides here but your brother might be right on this one."

"Ha!" James stuck his tongue out at his sister.

She frowned. "Why? FRIDAY's here! She can stop the machine anytime."

"It's too risky. I need to make sure it's stable at least before we do a complete run." Tony explained.

James smirked at her triumphantly. "Aww..." he jibed.

Allie stuck her tongue out too, mocking him back. "Nye-nye."

Tony rolled his eyes at the two. "Anyway," He interrupted, trying to get their attention back. "Don't worry about this. I'll take care of the machine while you guys take care of your... mama and dada."

James and Allie shared a look, just remembering the incident that must have probably happened back at the jet when they were on their way home. 

"Uh, yeah, about that..." James started.

That got Tony's attention. "What? Did something happen?"

Allie shrugged, smirking. "Kinda."

"What, what?" Tony asked in curiosity, "Did they finally do the thing?"

Both of the siblings' face turned into a look of disgust. 

"Gross."

"And such an awkward question to ask their children." 

Tony put up an unamused look. "Can you just skip to the part where you actually tell me what happened?"

Allie grinned. "Well, to answer your question—no matter how gross it is—let's just say that those two are probably going to do that sooner or later. At the way things are going now, I wouldn't doubt a second."

The inventor raised an eyebrow in doubt. "You sure?"

"Positive." 

He turned to James and repeated the question. "You sure?"

James nodded, "A hundred and one percent."

Tony clucked his tongue, patting their shoulders approvingly. 

"Then we've got nothing to worry about after all."

 —————————————————————————————   

Unfortunately, they do. 

"Alright, what on earth is happening?"

James crossed his arms, a crease appearing on his forehead as he thought deeper of the situation. "Als, I'm just as confused as you are."

"This is not going the way I expected it to be."

"Yeah, well, it's our fault for speaking too soon."

Allie groaned, pulling strands of her hair. 

Much to the siblings' dismay, what happened in the next two days were a complete fallout for their 'matchmaking' plan.

"When we got back, I at least expected them to take a further step in their relationship not further steps away from it!" She exclaimed.

The big problem? Because ever since they got back from their mission, Steve and Natasha had done nothing but avoid each other.

And just a while back, Steve and Natasha had bumped into one another in the hall. When they were expecting another smartass remark from either of the two, they simply shared a surprised look and awkward gaze. Without saying a word, both peered their eyes away and simply carried on.

That's the big problem.

"Als, just calm down," James said.

"No," She looked at her brother in disbelief. "I won't calm down. See instead of us advancing another step, we're back to home base! Even worse, we're miles away from the home base." 

"We'll figure this out." He assured.

Allie sobbed dramatically. "No, we won't. Aunt Sharon and dad are okay again. So is mom and Uncle Bruce." She started banging her head on the wall. "What —bang— the —bang— fuck —bang— is —bang— happening? —bang —bang—bang—"

James pressed his hand to her forehead to stop her. "Okay, first of all, language. Secondly, we'll figure this out. We need to figure this out. You just need to calm down before you go insane. Well, before you go more insane than you are now."

"I just can't believe this." She said, disbelievingly, dragging her palms down her face. "What happened? H—how could they just ignore the other when they were practically flirting during back in the mission!" She sighed, shaking her head. "I know something happened while we were on that jet."

"Maybe that's just the thing." James reiterated, realization slowly creeping onto his face. "Something happened in that jet that made them act this way. That's what we need to find out."

"What, you think they fought or something? That's why they're so distant?"

James shook his head. "Nope," he disagreed. "I think it's far from fighting. 'Cause I know dad's the kind of guy who gets really awkward in most situations involving, uh—well, women."

"Yes?"

"But for mom to act this way too... something big time must've happened." 

Allie raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying... they didn't fight but more as they most probably had a different type of action in there."

James' face turned into a look of bewilderment. "Allie!" he chastised.

"What? That's what you're implying right?"

He winced. "Yes! But you don't have to say it out loud!"

She cringed. "You know, you're really beginning to sound like dad."

"And you're beginning to sound more and more like mom." James shot back. "And seriously, you're like, 15. Tone it down a bit." He said, steering the topic back at hand, "But to answer your question, yes. That's what I think happened."

She furrowed her eyebrows at the thought, "What could've mom and dad possibly done to make them act like this?"

—————————————————————————————   

Later on that day, the Avengers were called in for a meeting by their captain. Well, part of the process of debriefing a mission is discussing what had happened during the whole time once the team got back. 

Clint was busy munching on a pack of peanuts while heading over to the main office when he almost ran into Natasha. She emerged from the corner, "Oh, Nat," he greeted.

"Oh, hey, Clint," she said, eyeing the peanuts in his grasp. "What's..."

"Peanuts," he answered immediately, offering it out, "Want some?"

Natasha shook her head. "Nah, I'm good thanks. You're heading to the meeting?" 

"Yeah," he said, still with a mouthful of peanuts. "Did Steve ask to bring the other SHIELD agents too?"

"I'm not sure." She said, curtly. Somehow, at the mention of the captain, Clint noticed her sudden stiffness. It was vague, but he knew her well enough to notice even the slightest change in her manner. "Let's go find out."

Clint only nodded at that.

As soon as they got there, they found out that only the Avengers were part of the meeting. And everyone was present except for Tony (which wasn't really a surprise considering him late all the damn time). 

Steve, as usual, was standing at the far end of the table. "Alright, settle down, folks." He said, his voice dominated them. He eyed the empty seat of Tony Stark, shaking his head in disapproval, "Let's start and get this done as soon as we can."

With that being said, Steve wasted no time in getting down to business. He discussed everything that had happened—the victims, terrorists, weapons, economic loss, quantity of damage, technological disadvantages, and possible threats in the nearby future. 

Tony arrived just in the middle of it all, having the nerve to even ask, "What did I miss?"

Steve gave him a look, "All of it, probably." he deadpanned.

"Yeah, sorry." Tony took a seat, "Don't worry, I had FRIDAY hack into the AV so I won't get left behind. I was busy."

"Busy doing what?" Steve asked, incredulously.

"Updating the profiles of the SHIELD agents," Tony answered, "Those who went on this mission gets at least 3 gold stars for a job well done."

Clint snickered. "That's nice. 3 stars for the kids who did A+ performances."

"Yeah, what's this, middle school?" Bruce asked, laughing faintly.

Tony knitted his eyebrows, looking offended, "You're sucking the fun out of everything, you know. It's cute, trust me!"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you want, Tony. Just don't be late—or, don't be late for more than 10 minutes in the meeting." He corrected himself, knowing Tony could never be on time for anything.

"Gotcha." 

"Right, so, anyone got anything to say regarding the mission? Any comments?" Steve asked them. And his eyes just naturally looked over in the direction of Natasha. He didn't know what to say or do. Usually, she always has final thoughts about every mission they've done together. 

But now? She's just trying to keep her gaze directed at her fingers.

"Nat?" He tried to keep his voice straight so no one would suspect anything. Despite feeling the tension get thicker and thicker with every silent second, he needed to act civil even if she couldn't.

It took a few seconds before she was able to meet his eyes. She forced a smile. "No, captain. I think everything's cleared out."

Before the team started suspecting any awkward tension between them, he nodded at that and tried to brush it off like it was nothing.

"Alright." he said, nodding at the team, "I'll see you guys on the next mission."

Well, that's what Steve thought.

Because Clint and Tony shared a look that clearly speaks out their thoughts. As soon as they were left alone, Tony was the first to point it out.

"Are we really the only ones who noticed it?" he asked in disbelief. "The sexual tension is clearly killing the both of them."

"Apparently," Clint grumbled, putting up his feet on the table. "Well, neither one of them's going to spill anything about what had happened. Both are tough nuts to crack."

Tony huffed a disapproving breath. He was silent for a while, then his face brightened. "I know."

Clint raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "What?"

"Are there security cameras installed on the jet?"

He looked at him, confused, "Yeah, why?"

Before he knew it, Tony was busy typing on the screens and started swiping left and right. Clint could only watch in confusion as more footages of the mission came upfront. It took a while. But after a few minutes, he realized what Tony was aiming for.

He laughed triumphantly. "Jesus, Stark. You really are a genius."

"Thank you, Katniss."

Right now, they were currently looking at a recording of what had happened in the jet just moments after they went into turbulence. The time when Steve and Natasha went back to fix the cargo that had fallen inside the jet.

"Things are going to get really juicy," Tony remarked with a smirk.

And they watched in silence as the whole video played out.

As soon as they reached the end of the clip, their faces could never be more surprised. Tony's lips broke into a grin. 

"Ah, I knew it."

Clint had the same look as well. "You know, we're going to get in trouble if Steve finds out we hack into these files."

"Oh, puh-lease. It's not like he's not in one already." Tony reiterated, "At least Nat finally had the guts to make a move. It's Capsicle who needs a little push to make him see the truth."

"So, I guess... that's our next plan, then?" Clint asked.

Tony abruptly stood up from his seat, startling Clint. "I'm gonna tell the mini Rogers-es the big news."

The archer nodded. "You go do that."

—————————————————————————————   

Natasha gripped the water bottle tightly in her hands. As soon as the meeting was done, Bruce asked her if she wanted to go grab lunch with him.

She declined, reasoning that she wasn't feeling very well and preferred to rest in the lobby. That was a lie. 

Truth was, she really felt guilty about what she did.

Oh, God, Nat. Why did you do that? She kept asking herself ever since she did it. She really didn't know what came over her. Steve was Sharon's. As she was with Bruce. 

So, what the hell was she thinking of suddenly kissing him like that?

She groaned, not knowing how to fix any of this. And because of that stupid kiss, she didn't know how to face Steve, much less even talk to him the way she used to do before.

"I need some air," she told herself, deciding to head to the terrace. She walked towards the elevators, waiting silently while darting her head in all directions as subtle as possible. 

The last thing she wanted was to bump into Steve in the halls again.

Ding.

Ah, thank God.

There was no sign of him. She let out a sigh of relief.

The elevator doors opened. And as soon as she looked up, she almost lost her grip on the water bottle.

He looked just as shocked as she was. 

"Nat."

Natasha struggled to answer, torn between wanting to turn around and head for the stairs instead but her feet wouldn't let her. She was stuck. And for the first time, she didn't know what to do but panic.

"S-Steve," she breathed. 

It took a while for Steve to snap out of his staring and block the doors so it wouldn't close on her. "In or out?"

Natasha swallowed lightly, faking a short smile. "You know, all things considered, stairs are better for cardio."

Steve chuckled, allowing his nervousness to wash away for a second, "Come on. Statistically, this is the safer way to travel." He nodded at her.

So, she had no choice but to step inside this elevator with just the two of them. "Where to?" He asked.

"The terrace, thanks," she said, as soon as he hit her desired floor number.

As soon as the doors closed, they drowned in silence.

Natasha cursed, thinking of a way to break the awkward tension. From the corner of her eye, she could see Steve starting to open his mouth. 

She beat him to it. "So," she started, settling on a random topic. "Remember the girl that James rescued?"

Slight disappointment flickered in his eyes but it was gone almost instantly. "What about it?" Steve asked.

"Well, her family called and wanted to let us know they told their governor what we did. You know, what we did..." She stumbled over her words. "For them." She quickly added.

"Oh, yes, yes. That's great then." Steve said, "James did a good job."

"Yeah, he is quite the hero type," Natasha remarked.

Steve smiled in agreement.

And just like that, silence filled the elevator again. Natasha had no clue on what to say anymore to kill the awkwardness that was doubling up more than ever.

Why was this elevator taking so long to reach one of their floors?

It was a futile attempt, but seeing as she had no other choice, Natasha decided to drink from her water bottle as slowly as possible instead. At least she was doing something.

But Steve, always known to be the best in perfect timings, used that chance to drop the full bomb on her.

"So, are we going to talk about the kiss you gave me or not?" 

She spat out her water.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ E N D  O F  C H A P T E R ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬    

I'm really sorry about that cliffhanger. Hehehe. I'm pure evil. (kidding)

Anyway, I'm really sorry too for taking so long to update guys! It's taken me a while to write another update because I've been out of my game lately and wasn't in the mood to write something yet.

Especially after Endgame, my heart was completely crushed.

It's taken all the remaining strength I have left for Romanogers to write this update. Don't worry, I'll try to work on faster updates the next time around!

And for those asking, I am not dead! Yet. 

If you have time, please leave votes and comments, guys! I love reading your comments!

My next update's probably going to be a new chapter of Against All Odds.

Love ya guys!