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[ 1 Month ago ]

If there was one person Steve Rogers was the closest to on the whole team of Avengers, it definitely had to be Wanda. There was something about her that made him feel so comfortable, so relaxed. He could confide in her almost anything that came to his mind, and she wouldn't judge him for it. Not in the least. Especially if he had a deep, dark secret.

Or at least, he hoped she wouldn't.

Yes, Captain Rogers; the trustworthy, loyal, candor soldier, had a deep, dark secret. And he was about to tell her all about it, even though he was deathly afraid to expose such a secret as this. He had no idea how Wanda would react to such important information. But there was no way he would know unless he found out, right?

Nerves flooded the Captain's body as he walked to her room, for which seemed like miles and miles even though it was right down the hall; the door becoming farther away as he approached. Once he made it there, he questioned whether he should turn back the other way. Surely there was another time to do this.

No, Steve thought. This is now or never.

Gently biting down on his bottom lip, he knocked on the door, hoping she would be asleep and not come to answer. But when he felt the footstep creeks begin to vibrate closer and closer, he knew instantly that he was out of luck.

Wanda snapped open the door, wearing some green pjs and her hair up in a loose bun, a few fly-aways tucked behind her ear. Her guard lowered when she realized the familiar face of her friend.  "Steve." A warm smile appeared on her lips. "To what do I owe this visit?"

That was his chance to lie. Or maybe not lie, but make up something small to forget about what he had truly came to do? Surely that would've done the trick. But no, lying was not encoded in Steve Rogers' genes, and he had no shot in making himself believe that it was. This had to be done, for once and for all.

He tried to wipe any sign of fear out of his eyes and voice, and gave a weak smile, clearing his throat before he spoke. "May I come in?"

"Always." She stepped to the side, letting him enter and he walked right inside. But Cap knew that she could tell there was something weighing on his mind, just from her puzzled, yet pressing gaze.

The nervous soldier took a seat on her bed with a light plop, practically sinking into the soft mattress. He eyed Wanda as she closed the door. Yet instead of walking over to him, she stayed glued in her spot, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her curved eyebrows. The two continued to stare at each other quietly for at least a minute; the silence becoming way too loud for Steve as he awaited her to make the first noise. Thankfully, she did.

"Something's wrong."

Automatically accepting his defeat, he asked, "Am I that transparent?"

Wanda forced a hardy laugh. "Well, you're not wearing your usual Captain America winning smile, so I assume there is something bugging you."

"I'll take that." Steve pat down beside him. "Sit with me."

She seemed a bit skeptical at first, but with him being the Captain, followed his order with no hesitation. Wanda had the utmost respect for her pal, and would listen to a command from him in a heartbeat, unlike anyone else.

After an almost inaudible sigh, she sat right down. The look of worry became written all over her face as she peered at him, immediately. "What's wrong?"

He, too, peered into his friend's eyes. The soldier was probably even more worried than she could have ever imagined. Yet, somehow, as he studied her perfect emerald eyes, instead of making his nerves increase, it was just the opposite. He began to feel calm. It was almost as if she had the power to extinguish any problems that he ever had. How was that possible? How could he have such an amazing companion with those abilities? And it was in that moment, that Steve gained all of the confidence in the world. His fear left his body as quick as a flame blown out in a candle.

"I'm a wreck, Wanda," he admitted, softly. "And I shouldn't be allowed to feel this way."

She frowned, trying to piece together his statement, but nothing made sense to her. "I... I don't think I understand."

"No, no I'm a wreck!" His voice was now firm and he stood up to face her. "My heart's racing, I'm so nervous, I can barely think about anything else. When I'm on a mission, I almost fail because my head isn't in it. I've never been like this before."

"Like what before?"

Steve lessened the tone in his voice. "I'm so.. I'm so... in love."

She barely could even speak after watching him explode into so many emotions at once. "With who?"

He couldn't hold it back anymore, though he was sure the words sounded unreal finally escaping from his lips. "... Natasha."

—

[ Present Day ]

It had been a hectic month for the Avengers. Even though there wasn't such a thing as S.H.I.E.L.D anymore, everyone kept busy with their own worries. Tony had been trying to win Pepper back, while at the same time constantly training Peter. Clint was back and forth at the tower, considering he did have a family to take care of after all. Thor and Bruce had somehow become best friends in their happenings in Asgard, so they were always hanging out. And Vision, well, he just liked the keep the building tidy.

Steve, of course, was just beyond ecstatic to finally have such a load off his chest. Wanda had been a humongous help to him as always in sorting out his feelings. Though, he did find it a little annoying every time she offered to matchmake him with the spy, which happened at least once a week. And each time, he declined, not wanting to make anything obvious.

With all the different assignments that came her way, Romanoff had barely been at the Avengers Tower; One week she would be in Russia, one week Los Vegas, the next week Tokyo. That was Cap's definition of a busy bee. She would never have time for him anyway and he knew that. Plus, he was highly sure that Natasha wouldn't even give him the time of day. They were friends, not lovers. Total opposites. Natasha wasn't one to fall for a man like him, with such perfect qualities that she did not own. It stung for Rogers to think like that, but it was also his only way to justify why he shouldn't waste his time on someone that didn't love him back.

He especially needed the justification that night. Tony had decided to host a small dinner for everyone at the tower, considering Clint and Natasha were finally arriving back from their mini trip to Wakanda. The two of them had been gone for at least a week and a half, and Stark figured a dinner would be a nice welcome back gift. Surprise, surprise.. even Tony Stark could be a gentleman sometimes.

"Mr. Stark, Romanoff and Barton are approaching the elevator," echoed the loud, feminine voice throughout the walls of the tower, along with the soft bluegrass that played from the speakers.

"Thank you, FRIDAY. Much appreciated," he replied, turning to face everyone who sat on the couches in the living area. He wore a Bruce Lee graphic tee with a slim black jacket around his shoulders, a bottle of red wine in his hand and a glass in the other.  "Alright, guys, can it with the talking. The guests of honor are about to arrive."

Steve was sitting on one side of the couch with Wanda, along with Vision right beside her. Cap mostly stayed quiet, admiring the conversations between the two of them, as he knew they had some type of relationship brewing that would become something exciting in the future. On the other couch sat Banner and Thor, discussing with each other their latest happenings in Asgard as usual. But they all discontinued after Stark hushed them.

"Bring more booze this way, Stark!" Thor commanded, glancing at the rest of his friends and with a softer voice asked, "That is what they call it, correct?"

Bruce nodded, "Yeah, you're good."

Tony smirked, walking over with a couple of full bottles. "Yes, the booze is coming, and plenty of it." He set them down on the table, making a tiny clank.

"I'm sure you'll never run out," Steve said with a grin as he picked up one of the bottles that Stark had just put down, pouring some into his own wine glass.

"Nope, not in your life time, Rogers."

Five minutes had gone by as they awaited Natasha and Clint's arrival, but for Steve, though, it felt like waiting an eternity. He hadn't realized how much he wanted to see her. It didn't make sense to him how many feelings he had for her, and it was so difficult to try and store them away. Even more so when the elevator doors slid open, and in they stepped. His bright blue eyes traveled immediately to Romanoff, and they began to brighten even more.

Her wavy, scarlet locks of hair fell past her shoulders, moving with the light breeze as she walked, and she wore her favorite curved smirk that complimented the roundness of her lips. He couldn't help but notice how her jacket and jeans tightly hugged her body, defining her curves. And how she seemed so confident, yet ravishing every time she stepped into a room. Practically glistening, her alluring, jade eyes scanned her surroundings, noticing the little party that was being held.

"Wait, you guys are having a party and I wasn't invited? This is more than unfair. This is.. preposterous!" Barton said, sort of jokingly as they could hear the partial humor in his tone of voice. "You could've at least invited Nat."

Tony, who was still standing, grabbed two empty wine glasses, walking over to the two of them with a grin. "Actually, this dinner is for you two. So before you start pointing any fingers, you should be thanking all of us. Specifically me." He handed them each a glass.

"Oh?" Romanoff quirked a brow, her smirk still present. "So you're saying this was all your idea?"

"It was, actually. No one else loves you both as much as I do. Just to be clear."

Bruce yelled out from the couch, "Not true, I actually suggested it first!"

Tony grimaced, turning to face him. "Let me have this."

"Sorry," he said, bringing his glass to his mouth about to take a drink, "Just being honest."

Stark turned back around on his heels, facing Clint and Natasha again. Both of them had the same facial expression, and that was the famous one that read "Tony is pathetic, but we still love him." Everyone couldn't help but agree with that, because it was 100% true. Even Stark himself knew that to be the case, but at least he was okay with it. He had no choice but to be.

"Welcome back." Tony gave them both short side-hugs. "Make yourselves at home. For what, like the 500th time?"

"501 to be exact," Clint said proudly, slipping his shoes off and setting them by the door before grabbing some Chardonnay off the countertop and pouring a good amount into his glass. "But this still isn't home. Not for me anyway."

After eating a delicious big dinner, playing some fun games, and a lot of drinking here and there, everyone was able to give the two former agents their proper greetings back from the big continent of Africa. Well, except for Steve, who had already welcomed Clint back, but hadn't gotten the nerve to speak one word to Natasha. But why? That wasn't like him at all. Normally, he talked to her like she was one of his best friends. They had spent time together on missions, he had even kissed her before. Yet those times were all different. Now, he truly loved her.. Or was it really love? He wasn't sure. But Cap knew one thing for sure, he had some major feelings and they would not go away.

It was close to 2 AM. Vision and Clint had already gone to bed an hour before, as well as Banner and Thor. Tony had passed out on one of the couches with a bottle of Jack Daniels about to fall out of his hand, drunk as could be. And Natasha was in the kitchen, getting a glass of water, most likely about to head on to bed herself.

That left Steve and Wanda together, sitting on the couch opposite of a passed out Stark. And even though it was almost 2:00, Steve was absolutely nothing but wide awake, watching Romanoff from a distance as she filled up her glass with water from the faucet. Wanda noticed that, and though she knew he got tired of her trying to play matchmaker, it made her even more tired of him not making a move.

"Steve."

He didn't once move his eyes away from Nat. "What?"

"If you don't go talk to her, I'm going to give you a mental hallucination of what it's like to be naked in public," Wanda warned, not at all cracking a smile.

Rogers didn't seem phased by her threat one bit, mostly because he knew that it was never going to happen. He still kept his eyes on Natasha's every move, his voice sounding a bit distant, like he wasn't all the way focused. "Now, Wanda, don't you think that's a little childis-"

She grabbed his face before he could finish, forcing him to look at her. "Steve. Go talk to her. Right now."

"But-"

"Steve.."

He could tell she had gotten fed up with his foolishness. How could he possibly talk about how much he loved Natasha and how perfect she was if he never developed the nerve to talk to her anymore? Wanda was right. He had to do this, and it was no time to chicken out.

He sighed, "Okay."

"Yay!" Wanda excitedly whispered as she took her hand off of him. "Just remember, you're Captain America. No job is too big."

He stood up from the couch, brushing himself off from any crumbs that were left from the chips he had eaten earlier. He wanted to look as presentable as possible. As he walked to the kitchen, Wanda's words echoed in his head:

'You're Captain America.' 'No job is too big.'

Her words definitely made sense.. But was she right?

Steve approached the island in the middle of the kitchen, and there he found Natasha. She was turned around, grabbing a box of Chex-Mix out of the cabinet along with a small bowl to pour them into. Staying quiet, he watched her every graceful move, trying to think of something clever to say, but before he could, she turned around. Her eyes widened, slightly startled to see him standing there, but she didn't let it show that she was.

"Spying on people now? I thought that was my job." She smirked lightly, setting the bowl down on the island's countertop.

"Sorry," he started, now a bit embarrassed, "I didn't mean to scare you."

She snickered, proceeding to shake the Chex-Mix into the bowl. "If something like that actually scared me, I would have been dead a long time ago."

"Fair enough." He kept his eyes on her, leaning back against the counter and folded his arms across his broad chest.

Natasha turned around to put the box back inside the cabinet. Afterwards, she walked back to the bowl, taking a few pretzels out. While that went on, he tried to think of something to say, but it was so hard to focus on anything else except her beauty. She glanced at him, popping one of the pretzels into her mouth with a loud crunch following. He knew she had to be wondering why he was only standing there watching her, so to make sure he didn't seem creepy,  he decided to speak.

"It's good to have you back, Nat."

"Thanks. Wakanda was a good experience."

He nodded. "T'Challa okay?"

"He's fine," she passed him the bowl as she took a sip of her water. "How are you holding up?"

How was Steve actually holding up, though? He didn't know the answer to that question. To him it felt as if he was falling apart instead. Nothing could hold him together after seeing her.. talking to her.. Just being in person with her.. It was hard to live without telling her how he felt. Maybe he should have gotten Wanda to matchmake them.

He grabbed some chex from the bowl, "I'm alright." But deep down he knew he wasn't.

She watched Cap as he ate the crunchy snack, and as he looked back at her, he knew Romanoff figured something was wrong, just like Wanda had. That was the whole reason she asked how he was doing in the first place. There was no such thing as hiding with her, she knew immediately when he lied.

"You sure?"

To lie twice in a row was hard for him, so instead he only nodded, looking off into the distance at Wanda on the couch for a source of hope.

Natasha's eyes followed his towards Wanda, and she looked back at Steve with an arched brow. "Does it deal with Maximoff?"

"H-Huh?" That took him off guard. His attention snapped back to Nat. "No, no. Well.. maybe, but not entirely."

"All you have to do is ask her out before Vision does, it's not that complicated."

He frowned, "What? What are you talking about?"

"You and Wanda."

"Me and Wanda?"

"Yes."

Rogers laughed with a mix of disbelief to his voice. He didn't understand anything he was hearing. But Natasha seemed extremely serious, like this was something she had known about for quite awhile.

"What's funny, Cap?" She smirked.

"Nat.. Maximoff and I have nothing going on."

"Yeah, right. I see the way you too eye one another. You're with each other all the time. You care for her a lot and it's obvious that you have feelings for her. But she also has strong feelings for Vis, and you don't want to disturb that."

Steve could not believe a word he was hearing. All he could do was shake his head. "Haven't you heard of something called close friends? Bucky's my best friend. Wanda's my girl best friend. Look at you and Clint. We thought you guys were dating for the longest time and you're not."

"I see.." Romanoff nodded, a small shrug promptly following. "So what's your real issue then?"

He refused to look her in the eyes, alternatively glancing down at his shifting feet. "Nothing."

"Rogers.."

"What?"

"Look at me."

It took him a second, but he decided to listen and direct his attention towards her again. She kept her eyebrow raised while she inspected him.

"Huh, that's weird.." Natasha said, scrunching up her face.

"What's weird?"

"Your nose. It's growing. Should I take you to the doctor?"

He rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Hilarious."

She grinned lightly, but remained serious. "Can you please tell me what's wrong, Cap?"

"That would be a bad idea." Steve grabbed a few more chex-mix from the bowl, beginning to walk out of the kitchen. "You look nice, by the way," he yelled out before munching on the salty pretzels, leaving a confused Natasha alone to meditate on their conversation. He flashed a smile at Wanda as he walked away, and she chuckled in response.