A/N: Age of UltronSPOILERS

I needed to get this out.

Age of Ultron is showing in our country and being a staunch Romanogers shipper, I felt my heart breaking with every Hulktasha moments. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Bruce but I can't really see him with Natasha. Their relationship in the movie felt forced, and Johansonn herself said that she was surprised with the pairing. Anyways, I'm still holding out hope that Romanogers would happen in Civil War *fingers crossed* because those two are really a perfect fit for each other.

Here is a collection of one-shots that takes place in the movie, and how Romanogers could happen.

*I will take off this section of my A/N after the script of the movie would be released. As it is, I'm relying on my memory and it's kinda faulty. I'm paraphrasing here, sorry.*

I do not own MCU because if I did Romanogers would have happened in CATWS.

Nix, this is for you :**

Saying Goodbye

Steve

The original Avengers team has disbanded; Iron Man and Hawkeye retiring, Thor going off into Asgard, and Bruce nowhere to be found. Steve felt discombobulated with everything that happened. One moment it was all of them, fighting as one, as a team, taking down rogue HYDRA cells and celebrating together. Next thing he knows, it was all over. With this team, new relationships were formed, the camaraderie reminding him of the Howling Commandos during the war, but infinitely more amusing.

Steve supposed he should be used to change, after all, it was him who was catapulted into another time and age. He won't say it out loud, not even under pain of torture, but he loved this team. It was what grounded him after his long sleep. The dynamics of being a leader and being in action helped distract him from moving on, but as the Scarlet Witch, Wanda, inadvertently pointed out to him through the visions she gave him, moving on cannot be put off indefinitely.

Letting go of Peggy forever and moving on is one of the hardest things he had done bar one.

It was watching Natasha be with Bruce.

When Fury first assigned the Black Widow as his partner, he was apprehensive. Sure, he had worked with her, seen her "catch" a ride by jumping off his shield and onto a flying Chitauri vehicle, seen her kick ass with her guns and Widow bites. He respects her as an agent, but does he trust her? No, that was another matter.

Another matter that was resolved when SHIELD fell down, and everything that he has started to believe since he defrosted turned out to be a lie. He wondered then, if she was also a lie.

He didn't count on the fact that she was also betrayed.

He has read her files, of course, and the most logical assumption to this matter were to assume Black Widow is a HYDRA operative. After all, lies were her thing.

So he was surprised to see that she, Black Widow, entrusted herself wholly to SHIELD's interest. Remembering their own conversation in Sam's house, he understood her.

Him: You okay?
Her: Yeah.
Him: What's going on?
Her: When I first joined SHIELD, I thought it was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but...I guess I can't tell the difference anymore.
Him: There's a chance you might be in the wrong business.
[She smiles faintly]
Her: I owe you.
Him: It's okay.
Her: If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, and you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?
Him: I would now. And I'm always honest.

It was entirely difficult to live a lie of deceit and then have the one thing you trusted lie to you. So they made a pact. Honesty. Steve might never know how much it cost Nat to promise it so, but he sure as hell treasures it. Their defenses were down, and it was in that moment that Steve saw the real Nat. Not the Natasha that the Red Room made, not the Natasha that SHIELD has employed. This was the Natasha that craved a semblance of normalcy and trustworthiness that touched Steve's heart.

The moment was intimate, but there was nothing sexual about it. It was the same feeling when you have entirely understood something that has completely baffled you. She was exposed, raw, and it tugged at Steve's heart. He wouldn't understand until later, much later, that this was the moment the soldier fell in love with the spy.

After assembling together for the second time to clean out HYDRA, he found out that a lot has changed in the year they didn't see each other. She left to find another cover, but she returned laid-back and dare he say it, fun.

She's also flirting.

Not that he has anything against Natasha flirting because God knows he had his fair share of it (and secretly he loves it), but it was unsettling to see her flirting with Bruce. The good doctor was flustered with her advances, tell me about it, but Steve could see that Bruce was interested in her as well.

So, because he was such a good friend, and because he could see that this could be the beginning of yet another Peggy/Steve fiasco, Steve told Bruce not to wait. "Take it from someone who waited too long." Steve imparted to Bruce.

If he felt a twinge of pain over that he simply ignored it and filed it away to a box neatly labeled "Natasha Romanoff" inside his mind.

They were in Clint's safehouse.

With Clint's wife and children.

Steve was a little shell-shocked to learn that not only does Hawkeye have a wife, he also has children.

He was even more shell-shocked to watch the children call her "Auntie Nat".

Watching her interact with the little girl, he wondered how a girl with red hair would do with blue eyes. Steve froze, the implications running through his mind with surprising alacrity. He shook his head, and when that didn't work, he thought of Peggy.

That worked, and he went outside to get some fresh air.

"I'm always picking up after you boys?" Natasha's dry voice sounded out in his ear. Relief flooded his system every time he hear her voice, whole and not in pain.

He did not want to admit it but Ultron was getting the upper hand, especially since he dropped his shield. Right hooks and roundhouse kicks aren't really good deterrents to a maniacal, seven foot tall metallic robot. When Nat tossed his shield back to him, he wanted to turn and thank her but Ultron apparently doesn't want his attention divided.

After that, Steve lost track of her until Clint asked him if he had spotted Natasha. Steve felt a sense of foreboding and panic, but Captain America took over and he commanded Clint to secure the synthetic body of Ultron first before going after Romanoff.

Steve paid for that decision. Nat was taken by Ultron, but he could only console himself that at least the synthetic body was not with Ultron anymore. He knew that Natasha knew that what he did was the right decision.

But still, he didn't like the fact that Natasha was in Ultron's hands. She would probably kick him in the balls if she ever learns of this but Steve wanted Natasha out of danger and stay safe. Irrational, he knew. She is the Black Widow. If there is anyone who could take care of herself it was Natasha.

The fear remained in his mind.

She was staring off into space.

She seems to do that a lot since they managed to somehow defeat Ultron. He knew that it was because of the horrors of her past that Scarlet Witch revived for her. Most probably because of Bruce's disappearance. Seeing them two together, he forced himself to be happy for them, but he just couldn't. Steve knew that they both deserve happiness, heck, all of them do but even if he tried, there is still that small voice that whispered 'mine', every time he looks at those green orbs.

He took a moment to study her. She was very still, but there was a certain anxious aura about her that makes her seem as if she is on the edge of action always. He softly called out to her, reminding her of their duties to their new team. She smiled faintly at him, but the sadness in the eyes of the girl holding his heart urged him to go do something about it.

Only he couldn't. No, it wouldn't be fair to take advantage of her when she is clearly hurting. Together, as partners, they have faced dangers that no normal man or woman had faced before so it was no wonder that their lives would not be normal too. Together, they saved the world twice and together they would start this new team of Avengers.

He would just make sure that whenever she needs him, he would always be by her side.

Regardless of what he is feeling, even if he now knew he loved her.

Natasha

It was time.

She'd fought against it for so long that she even started to look at another just to keep herself away.

She thought she couldn't be with Steve. Not really. Not in the way she wanted to. She was the ultimate spy, he was the ultimate soldier. He was frustratingly good and she was … bad, damaged.

If she could do just one good thing in her life, it was to never taint Steve with her red. In doing so, she needs to distance herself away from him, even if her heart tells her another thing.

Love is for children, she told Loki once.

How massively wrong she is.

She forced herself to hide her burgeoning feelings for Steve because that was the right thing to do. When she gave him that folder in the cemetery just as she was getting ready to go off-grid, she couldn't help but wonder what he would do if she asked that he accompany her. Would he say yes? Probably no. Steve and Captain America are basically one, and their morals so tied with each other it gets exasperating. She was used to shades of gray and always walking the fine line, however, she knew that Steve was the black-and-white type of guy. She could never ask him to do this for her.

And so she left. Turning away from him was hard.

And, she dryly notes, she was a queen of understating things.

A year later when the call for "assemble" drew them together, she noted that she never did say goodbye to Steve. No, she didn't because why then did it felt that it was just yesterday Natasha saw his face?

She was glad to be here, to be among the mightiest heroes. Most of all, she was glad Steve was here.

And then there was Bruce.

The monster-hiding-behind-that-gentle-face thing she totally gets. After all, she has her own monster, only it doesn't turn green and it only visits at night. She sympathizes with the doctor, even finding him fascinating.

If she couldn't touch Steve's pedestal, then maybe Banner's would be more approachable. She inwardly snorted at that fact, first because Banner didn't consciously want to be the Hulk and spread immense damage, and second because she consciously chose whatever she has done.

She didn't deserve anyone, but she guesses it was a matter of choosing between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

She batted her eyes, she smiled, and she flirted. Hook, line, sinker. It all fell into place. Maybe she should feel bad but she didn't. Curiously, she found herself being drawn deeper to Bruce, but it wasn't in the way she supposed it would be. She understood Bruce, understood how he felt the need to atone for the damage he wrought on the innocent.

She wouldn't deny that she cares for Bruce. Maybe she could even love him if only her heart wasn't occupied by a certain blonde soldier with piercing blue eyes. As it is, Natasha adores Bruce, and she is genuinely upset that Bruce decided to go away.

Coming back to the present, she raises her cup to her lips.

After all that went down with Ultron and his genocidal attempt, she hasn't drank any coffee nor has she got any time to unwind. She stares at the Rockies from her balcony, breathing in the fresh air. It was peaceful here, serene. To think that this would become nothing but a burning inferno if Ultron had gotten his nefarious way. They did it again. Saved the world. Her, Hawkeye, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America … Steve.

I should just go tell him. She debates with herself. Carrying on like this is exhausting. He at the very least deserves to know how I – the buzzer sounded.

Immediately reaching for her gun, she points it at the door.

Nobody knows this safehouse. This is off the books!

"Natasha?" a familiar and welcome voice called out.

"Steve?!" Natasha threw open the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. You just disappeared for days after the … after the … well, after it."

"I needed some time alone."

Steve blushed faintly but he kept his expression straight.

"I know, I just needed to know you are okay. I needed to… needed to see for myself."

Natasha stared at his baby blue eyes, seeing the unspoken words there. She only hopes that he could see her unspoken words, too.

"Do you ever think that we should just stop doing this?" Natasha blurted out.

"Do-Doing what?" Steve looked absolutely frightened.

"This, pretending we don't want each other." Natasha managed to say with a straight face even though her heart was trying to beat out of her ribcage.

"I don't understand what-"

"Oh, I think you understand plainly, Cap. This. Us."

Steve was silent for a full minute. Natasha spent that full minute debating whether to kick or congratulate herself. He spoke so softly that Natasha almost didn't catch it.

"I never meant to come between you and him."

Then it hit her. It wasn't only her that was running.

Natasha started to say something but Steve cut her off.

"I never fully realized until Wanda attacked us. Seeing you with Clint's daughter put things in perspective for me." Steve softly smiled, "but by then it was too late."

No, she thought.

"I tried so hard to be happy for you. In fact, I am, but I can't help but feel that you are far happier with Bruce than you can ever be with me. It doesn't change the fact though that I love you for so long that even if your happiness comes with pain on my part, I'd still smile." He said, all the while trying not to stare at her, but failing.

Natasha was rooted to the ground. She couldn't move even if she tried.

Steve cleared his throat, "I daren't stay long. I just had to see you. I'll be going now. See you in practice?", then he walked away.

Natasha closed her eyes and let just one tear fall. She opened them and stepped out of the door, gazing at Steve's retreating back.

"You make me feel like I'm not good enough." She said with a shaky voice.

"What?" Steve abruptly turned and asked incredulously.

"You with all your morals and patriotism and conduct and even with your looks… I couldn't taint you!" Natasha implored him to understand.

"Wha- Taint me? Nat what are you talking about?" Steve clarified.

"I couldn't, I just couldn't. You are what a nation looks up to, a paragon of everything good and pure, I'm … I'm … not." She said forlornly, "I couldn't be with you and not stain you with red. I couldn't do that to you, not with how much I love you. That's what you do to people whom you love, right? You don't want anything bad to happen to them ri-?" She didn't finish her sentence because in that short time Steve covered the distance between them and kissed her with such passion and emotion that so that she will never confuse him with good and pure ever again.

After a moment of shocked paralysis, Natasha kissed him back with equal fervor. The kiss was long, a salute to finally finding each other, and eventually it died a sweet, natural death.

Steve kept their foreheads touched.

"Nat, what about Bruce? You obviously lo-" It was Natasha's turn to silence him.

"I thought I wanted to be with Bruce. Turns out I shared a kindred spirit with him, and he understood my monsters better than anyone save for you. He keeps the other guy on a leash and vice versa, and how hard and traumatic it is. He recognizes my nightmares. I will care for him, Steve, but it was always you." Natasha hugged him tightly, afraid to let go.

"Only you."

"Oh, Natasha" Steve whispered, "I love you."

"I know, thank the gods I know because I could finally say it. I love you, Steven Grant Rogers. Only you."

They would face many trials, betrayals, ruined friendships, but their love would transcend everything. Even death.

There. Take that, Joss Whedon! But I love your witty lines, seriously.

Let me know what you think! I accept prompts for the second one and the following chapters :) Au revoir!