Unzip Me || Romanogers || ✔️

Part 1

Natasha Romanoff considered herself to be a badass woman. She was classy, poised, and put simply, downright amazing.

Just out of college and out in the real world, Natasha was welcomed by many companies and jobs who wanted her English, Russian, and Latin speaking services. After much deliberation, she finally settled on working for S.H.E.I.L.D., a government agency that focused on international relations and counter-terrorism practices—a place where Natasha felt she could truly shine.

Being in the real world also meant moving out of her college dorm with three roommates into an apartment all by her lonesome.

It didn't bother her much. The silence, that is. In fact, she liked being on her own. She liked having time and space to herself. Sharing a dorm with Clint, his girlfriend, Laura, and Sam, was hectic to say the least. She loved them to pieces, but some days, a girl just needed some alone time to think and just be. Still, she couldn't help but miss her friends and their company. And as much as she hated to admit it... she missed their help.

The time came when she had to don a beautiful dress for a business meeting. It was her first big meeting with clients from a foreign nation. Of course, since Natasha was still a new employee and a young one at that, she wasn't the one leading the meeting, but Nick Fury, her boss, told her to dress up for the occasion to try and impress the other side. Now Natasha was not against using her beauty and feminine charm to enchant the opposing side, but she figured that meant she would have to be dressed in something other than a pantsuit. A dress. A tight-fitting dress. A sexy, tight-fitting dress. An ordeal that she had tried to avoid for quite a while.

Wearing a dress usually would not have been a problem back when she had roommates to help zip her up, but by herself... it was next to impossible. Natasha was a badass woman. A badass woman whose hands were not flexible in the slightest. Her trying to reach the back of her tight dress was becoming the ultimate challenge. She could do anything. She could master the martial arts, negotiate deals with government organizations, and do whatever it took to get the job done, except zip up a damn dress.

"God damnit!" she yelled in the mirror as she stared at herself in the black dress, still unzipped in the back.

After five minutes of futile struggle to reach the back of her dress, Natasha decided that desperate times called for desperate measures. Taking the dress off her body, she zipped it up and then proceeded to try to squeeze back into it while it was already zipped.

Cursing the patriarchal system for creating a world in which women were forced to parade in short, skimpy dresses to please the male eye, Natasha finally managed to get inside her dress. As she smoothed the front and admired herself in the mirror, Natasha realized she looked damn good. Screw the patriarchal system, she was doing this for herself. She loved dresses... she just hated getting into them, not to mention getting out.

Sighing, Natasha couldn't help miss her friend, Laura, who would always zip her up and give her a great speech to boost her confidence.

"Natasha Romanoff," she said to herself as she stared deep into her reflection, "you," she touched the mirror and tapped it with her index finger, "are a badass woman and you are going to kill this meeting. And you," her eyes drifted to the clock on her wall, "are running late. Oh, shit."

Zipping up a dress took a lot longer than she anticipated and as Natasha ran out her apartment she didn't anticipate charging full on into a wide, muscular shoulder.

"Woah," the low voice said as hands reached out towards Natasha to stabilize her, "Sorry, about that. I'm Steve, your new —"

"I have to go," she muttered in a haze as she pushed past her new whatever to get down the stairs and out her apartment complex.