#stevenat

First Kiss (Steve/Natasha, Teen and up)

Synopsis: It freaks her out more than a little, the feeling of wanting to be close to him.

Note: Some thoughts on pre-serum Steve and time-travelling Red Room spy Natasha (maybe sent to turn future Captain America into a double agent?) apropos of this WIP Wednesday post.

The other day, I reread a couple of paragraphs of this Stucky fic about Steve's first kiss, and I hadn't even gotten to the actual kiss, yet, when it made me think about Steve and Nat's first kiss in the universe of the time travel fic. I also rewatched The First Avenger on Saturday, apropos of waiting for the right partner. (And also lowkey apropos of @the0fi's comment about Steve's heart.)

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The first time Steve walks her home after an evening at the movies, he doesn't touch Natasha at all. Literally keeps her at arm's length, then waves goodbye once she's got her key in the front door of her boarding house.

The second time, he hesitates before leaning in, slowly, as if waiting for her to flinch or maybe smack him. His lips, dry and a little chapped, find her cheek, and an unfamiliar warmth blooms in her stomach.

The third time, she tells him that he's being too polite.

His hands disappear into the pockets of his jacket. He lets out a nervous chuckle and scuffs the toe of his shoe on the ground. "I always thought that women liked a gentleman."

She tells him yes, they do, and he gets five stars for gentlemanly behavior.

"But don't you want to kiss me?"

The scene after Tony collapses in the beginning of Endgame deserves a lot more love, especially from my fellow Stony fans. The nonverbal body language is incredible in this scene.

The scene starts with Steve looking out the window. However, his body is turned in a completely different direction. Natasha is facing both Steve and the window, and has her arms crossed. She has probably been trying to talk to Steve.

Rhodey walks out of Tony's hospital room. Natasha turns to look at him first, while Steve moves incredibly slowly.

We can see how devastated and empty Steve looks - a look that doesn't change as Rhodey tells them, "Bruce gave him a sedative."

We then get this wide-shot:

Steve is the one standing the furthest from Tony's hospital room, and yet his body is oriented straight towards Tony's bed. Natasha and Carol are standing off to the side, leaving room for the invisible line connecting Steve to Tony.

Rhodey says that Tony is "gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."

We then get a very interesting, and telling, view of Steve's reaction:

We are only shown Steve's reaction to Rhodey's statement, which gives it narrative significance - and Steve's reaction is to close his eyes, bow his head, and take a deep breath. He is clearly grief-stricken.

Carol starts talking, and Steve looks up at her through his lashes:

Carol starts to leave, and Steve asks her where she's going:

Poor Steve is confused, and needs people to stop leaving! (Natasha and Rhodey hold eye contact during this)

Carol says she's going to kill Thanos, and Steve and Natasha look at each other:

Their movements are completely in sync, and they communicate silently for a moment before following Carol.

Natasha takes the lead, and we see just her and Carol in the frame, while she says, "Hey! You know, we usually work as a team here, and uh, between you and I, morale's a little fragile."

This shows us the empowered leader of the Avengers that Natasha became after facing her past in the BW movie.

Then Steve picks up the thread, saying, "We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too."

"Oh, me and Steve? No, never. I deserve better."

"The feeling is mutual, Miss Romanoff."

"His morning breath is terrible, I'm want to send flowers to the poor soul stuck waking up next to that every morning for the rest of their life."

"And the person Natasha will wake up next to won't be able to focus on her breath because they're too sleep deprived from being kept up by her snoring."