Before the End

R U M O R S

• Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron •

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The Falcon has been hearing a lot of rumors going on around the Compound saying that the Black Widow and Captain America were dating, but he never paid any attention to it. He sometimes stays to listen to what the people have to say—since his curiosity gets the better of him—but he never really believed that their stories held some truth to it. He wasn't close friends with Natasha and Steve wasn't really that type of person to share so he wouldn't truly know in the first place. And as far as he knows, Natasha has been trying to set him up with that nurse whose name he can't remember for as long as he can recall.

The first time he started to question if those rumors ring some truth to them though was that one night Sam caught Steve entering Natasha's room.

He had woken up to grab a snack from the kitchen since he was about to watch the next episode of his favorite show when his eyes caught sight of a familiar blonde hair. Slowly, he followed their Captain and he saw him holding a bowl of popcorn and some chips as he stood in front of the Russian spy's room. He wasn't even knocking yet but the door already swung open and it revealed Natasha in her camisole and pajamas.

To say he was shocked was an understatement. It was a rather suspicious action from both of them but he didn't want to assume. He couldn't deny it though that for the rest of his journey going to the kitchen, all he could think about was how frequent they must have been having those secret rendezvous of theirs for them to have memorized the time of the other's arrival.

For a few days, nothing else concerning the soldier and the spy came up and soon enough, Sam dropped the mere idea of them being together in the trash can. If they were talking about appearances, the two were surely going to work as a couple. Steve was a handsome specimen and Natasha's beauty was simply unparalleled. But if it were to be based on their personalities, it just wasn't gonna work. Not when their characteristics would only inevitably clash. Steve was simply far too old fashioned for someone like Natasha who's not used to his ways.

But then, during one of their meetings, his perspective of the situation was rattled once more.

Maria Hill had gathered the New Avengers and some highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents in the meeting room to talk about their latest mission out of the country. It was only Wanda and Vision who were missing because the witch still wasn't allowed to go on missions and the android stayed back to watch over the female Maximoff twin.

It was a fairly easy operation. Nothing they haven't encountered before. Break in, save hostages, get S.H.I.E.L.D. Intel, and bring in the villain of the story. It belonged to the category of their normal missions and it was because of that fact that Natasha decided to draw a grid that's three squares by three squares on the paper where she was supposed to write notes about the assignment on. She was bored and it wasn't as if she didn't already know what was about to happen—after all, this is what she does. In the back of her mind, she just told herself she'd simply read the mission file that Maria would surely give later in her room.

Natasha wrote an X on one of the squares and discreetly passed the paper in Steve's direction who was sitting on the chair next to hers.

His eyes and attention transferred to the paper passed to him and when he saw what nonsense Natasha has written, he just gave her a pointed look before passing it back to her. Steve then shifted his attention back to Maria and tried to focus on the details she was giving them.

Natasha frowned a little upon the rejection but she wasn't gonna give up. The spy nudged his knees with hers which made Steve look at her again and Natasha used this opportunity to pass the paper back to him. The soldier frowned at her childish behavior before returning it again. This time though, Natasha quickly gave it back to him, not bothering to be subtle anymore.