#BlackLivesMatter #AllLivesMatter

Sorry for being away for a while!

Here's chapter 10!

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( ten. paralleled tensions )

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For the past days, since this "accords" thing, Tony had been spending most of his time at the compound rather than his mansion, and he had a strong feeling that if this wasn't resolved soon, he'd be staying a lot longer than he wanted to.

Which was crazy since he made it clear that he wanted a break from all of this hero stuff. If Steve Rogers hadn't been acting like a patriotic ass then all of this shit could've been avoided. Even if Tony could somehow see why he didn't want to agree to this, point is, even if they are the Avengers, they can't do anything about it anymore. They can't win against the UN.

'It's going to be done to us sooner or later', is what he said. And if Steve really did care enough for Barnes, he shouldn't be doing this. He's Captain America for crying out loud! He should know better. He should've done better.

From the looks of everything that was happening, this could either end badly or worse.

And don't even get him started with Natasha who blindly disappeared-

Wait... is that Natasha?

Tony sat up straight, peering over the monitors where the security footage of the front door was. He watched the figure buzz herself in and, sure enough, it really was Natasha. She was drenched from the rain outside. He waited to see if there was someone else with her, but, apparently, she was alone.

He got up from his seat and raced to meet her downstairs.

Obviously, she wasn't expecting anyone to be up so early in the morning. Well, his anxiety recently started coming back so he was having trouble sleeping again.

"Natasha!" Tony hissed, trying to keep his voice down for reasons he didn't know why. He got the feeling that she didn't want anyone to know she was here yet.

"Why are you up so early? Don't you usually wake up around 10?" She asked, which was the last thing he thought she'd ask.

Tony blinked, face scrunched up in puzzlement, "Uh... yeah, couldn't sleep that much." He answered nonchalantly, taking the state she was in. "But you look terrible, and I doubt it's because of lack of sleep."

Her eyes were moist, probably because of the rain? And her voice sounded raspy when she spoke. "I'm fine. I need to talk you."

"Yeah, I kind of got that seeing as you're now here." Tony remarked, "You better change first. Now's definitely not the time for someone to get sick."

"You think?" she returned, sardonically.

Tony didn't want to say it out loud, but he was relieved to see Natasha back. He didn't want to get his hopes up though 'cause he didn't know the real reason why she was here yet, but he hoped that she was staying for good. At least he had someone on his side, and that he wasn't alone anymore.

He took out some orange juice from the fridge and poured himself a glass. As he was halfway finished, Natasha finally came into the room.

She had changed into her regular sweats, her hair was still damp but she put it up anyway. Without even sparing him a glance, she was going through her usual routine of making herself a cup of coffee.

Tony arched an eyebrow, "Am I going to pretend that this is all normal or what?"

Natasha stilled her movements, her back faced to him. "You know, study says that fruit juices have almost as much fructose as soda, which may make them just as unhealthy for you." she said out of the blue.

Tony looked at her like she was missing an ear. Okay, seriously, what is up with her? Is she going mental or something?

"I know." Tony retorted, eyeing her strangely, "I need the sugar to keep me awake."

Natasha finally sat down opposite to him, taking a sip of her coffee. She could tell that he was watching her, waiting for her to say something relevant.

"You're lecturing me about fruit juices but here you are drinking a coffee with sugar, cream, and milk." Tony's voice cut through her thoughts.

Her mouth quirked, and she felt the tension in the room became more ease. She finally looked at him, the amusement in his face dying down but was quickly replaced with something else. He looked worried enough, and with Stark, that says a lot. "What happened?" he asked her quietly.

Natasha let out a breath she didn't realized she was holding. "Well, I'm not going anywhere for a while if that's what you're worried about."

She expected him to lash out on her, telling her that it's about damn time she got her senses back on track while she called him out for being an insensitive jerk who didn't even hear her out, but, to her utter surprise, he just stared at her, stumped. "Why?"

Tony knew that it would be stupid of her to sign the accords and just run off with her American lover, but he knew that something else must've happen for her to even consider turning back. It just didn't make sense that Natasha would risk herself... and Steve.

"I needed to, and I signed, right?" Her eyes held a glint of sadness in them. Emptiness. "I'm tired of running around... or pretending."

Her face fell at the reminder of Steve's last spoken words to her, those words that would always haunt her; that would always remind her of she really is, and that not even Captain America, the epitome of goodness, could ever wipe out the red in her ledger.

Maybe all of this was a mistake. A lie. She was fooling herself to think she could be someone other than Black Widow.

She's Black Widow, and people will never forget that.

"I just need someone to trust me again."

Silence.

"But I do?"

Natasha lifted her gaze, surprised at his declaration. Tony was trying hard to appear like it wasn't a big deal because his pride being an egotistical billionaire got in the way of that. And add onto the fact he was extremely uncomfortable when things just got way too emotional or something.

Natasha's smile got wider. She noticed his awkwardness and decided to tease him a little. "Really?" she feigned a dramatic tone.

Tony winced. "Yeah, but stop doing that." He got more serious. "I do, you know, trust you. But that still doesn't answer my question, Nat. You can't just pretend you ran away and come back like nothing happened."

"First of all, I didn't ran away. After the helicopter crashed, I blacked out. Steve didn't want to leave me there so... you get the point. Second, I told you already, I'm here because I signed the accords, and I can't do anything else at this point so I might as well be here."

"I guess that makes sense." He tilted his head in agreement, "Where's Cap?"

"What?"

"Look, I know this is hard for you considering that you and Capsicle are y'know," Tony made a gesture with his fingers that she found very inappropriate.

"Stark." She warned, rolling her eyes at the childish act.

"Anyway, you get my point, but we really need to know where they are." He sighed, explaining, "Ross wants Steve and Sam taken as much as he wants Barnes, and you're the last one to know where they are."

"I know where they were." she corrected. This time, she spoke nothing but the truth. She really didn't know where they were heading to, Steve didn't tell her and neither did Sam. "Before I left, me and Steve got into this... argument."

"That's new," he said, sarcastically.

She shot him a glare for interrupting her. He didn't seem fazed at all. "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm just as useless as anyone is here. They didn't tell me anything, but what I did find out was that Barnes was framed."

"Framed? How?"

"Barnes wasn't in Vienna. He didn't bombed the UN. It was all a set-up. Someone framed him to get to him."

Tony stopped her, not processing the load of information she was throwing at him, "Wait, what? Where's this coming from?"

"Barnes told us." She explained. Tony was hesitant about this, though, so she tried harder, "I know how to decipher between truth and lies, and I've thought this through before believing him. It does make sense."

"I don't know, Natasha... it seems frisky." Tony said, sighing. "Barnes is still unstable and who knows what's going on in that head of his."

She gave up, understanding his reluctance to simply buy the story without any facts. "Just do me a favor and look it up. I'm certain it's true."

"Let's say that this turns out to be true, it still doesn't change the fact that Barnes is a wanted man. We still need to find him. Innocent or not."

Tony's probably right about that. They were going circles around here and they needed to make a decision now if they want to put a stop to this.

"So what do we do?"

"Well, earlier, Ross gave me thirty-six hours to find them, but I think he also let Special Ops handle it because he didn't think I could do it alone."

"Well, they handled it, alright." she sneered, remembering how they narrowly escaped their death just a few hours ago.

"Sorry." Tony said, just noticing the cut above her brow, "In my defense, I did try to negotiate. I'm just a few heads short on my... team."

"Clearly."

"But now you're here, and I'm not alone. We need to bring them back, Nat. I can't do it without your help."

"I'm in, Stark. Don't worry." She smiled, but it soon disappeared when she realized the situation they were both in. "But we're still understaffed."

"Yeah... maybe I could get the Hulk to drop by. It'd be great if he did. We'd have a winning streak."

She looked at him disbelievingly, "You really think he'd be on our side?"

Amusement washed away from his face. Yeah, fat chance.

Then as if a light went off at the back of her head, she thought of something that could work. Hopefully. Well, it was their best shot if they wanted to win this. "I have an idea..."

Fortunately, Tony did too. "Me too. Where's yours?"

Natasha looked at him expectantly. "If I'm right, downstairs. Where's yours?"

Tony simply gave her his signature smirks in response.

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Steve didn't want to do this, but he had no other choice. He called Clint to ask for help to get Wanda from the compound, and apparently some guy named Lang to join them. He felt guilty for dragging all of them into this mess... but truth is, he needed all the help he can get.

And he couldn't do this alone. Not anymore.

He'd contacted Sharon too. After all, she was the only person who had access to the government's property that was willing to help them out. He had to use a phone booth so Tony (or whoever was after them) couldn't trace his call. Steve asked if there was any chance she could sneak out their gear and get it to them.

She agreed and told them to meet her outside the city to avoid the slightest chances of being seen.

They stole an old car, courtesy of Steve, and the three got in before heading out of the city. They had been waiting under an overpass for about 25 minutes now, and Steve was slightly worried if something had gone wrong.

"Relax, man." Sam reminded, seeing his agitation.

"Sorry."

Sam knew the weight of the consequences they could face if this doesn't go in their favor, and being put in prison wasn't even the worst he could think off, so he probably shouldn't be clueless as to why Steve was acting this way.

He was basically putting everything he has on the line now, and it's terrifyingly strange to see Steve so... unbalanced; like he was distracted most of the time. Sam knew well enough that the reason's of many things, but he also knew that it was because of-

"Natasha."

Sam snapped out his daze, whipping his head around to catch the frozen look on Steve's face. He was staring at his phone, watching the name Nat flashing on the screen.

He could see the conflict in him. His fingers didn't move to answer the call, but it didn't move to drop it either. "Don't answer that."

Steve's eyes flitted up to meet Sam's, and then to Bucky's, who was shifting uncomfortably in the backseat. Bucky already got the idea that Natasha and Steve meant more to each other than just friends, and he was still having a hard time grasping that fact. Especially with the escapade that just happened between him and Natasha (Natalia, in his mind) a few hours ago, and not knowing what Steve feels yet about it, is making it even worse.

Hell, he didn't even know what he was supposed to feel.

Now is seriously not the right time for him to remember what his tragic romance was like with Steve's girlfriend or whatever.

Sometimes, he feels like he just want his head to explode to take a break from his fucked up life.

"Just drop the call, Steve." Bucky said lowly.

Steve swallowed the lump in his throat. "I-I don't.... but what if she needs help?"

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, help on your location. Come on, Steve. You know that there's a real chance she's just-"

"I know," Steve cut him off, instantly regretting his tone. Thankfully, Sam didn't seem to notice at all. He was most focused on the fact of convincing him why this was a bad idea in a new level.

Steve wasn't an idiot. He knew it could be very well Tony who was on the other line, or Ross, or whoever was after them, and they were using Natasha to get to him-which was the one thing they were both trying to prevent ever since... them happened.

"She wouldn't do that."

"Are you sure?"

Are you sure it's not a trap? Are you sure she's not just using you? Steve squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his heart race rapidly as the seconds passed by; the buzzing on the phone felt like a ticking time bomb.

It was too much for him. A part of him was still clinging on to the idea that there could still be a little trust left between them to start over, while the other part of him couldn't even look at Natasha the same way anymore.

Just when he thought he was different from anybody else because he knew Natasha in a way no one else did... it turned out to be a lie too.

What wasn't a lie was his feelings for her. She knew how much he loved her, and he could only pathetically hope that her feelings for him were just as real as he thought it was.

Before Bucky or Sam could say anything else, he tapped the screen.

"Steve?"

Relief coursed through his chest when he heard her voice. The panic slowly subsiding down as he relaxed but not enough to let his guard down. "Are you okay?"

There was a brief pause. Her voice cracked a bit. "Yeah. Are you?"

That was all Steve needed to hear. He tried hard to ignore the subtle concern in Natasha's voice. "What do you want?"

Natasha stopped short, probably taken aback by his sudden change of tone. "I just... I wanted to know if you were alright."

"Is that really it?" he couldn't help but bit out.

He heard a huff of breath on the other line. He could practically hear the disbelief and hurt exuding from her voice. "What else would it be?"

Steve was gripping the phone tightly in his hands, just a little more and he was sure it'd break. "I don't know, you tell me."

There was agonizing silence again. He suddenly felt conscious about the lack of space inside the car, he felt everything around him closing in and trapping him.

He got out of the car, slamming the car door hard enough to make Bucky jump in surprise.

"Listen, we don't have much time." She started, her voice lacked the warmth it had earlier. "Ross supposedly gave Tony thirty-six hours to bring you in, and that was seven hours ago. But he redirected the task to Special Ops. The police and the soldiers that found us? That was them."

Steve could see where this was going.

"It's not too late. If you turn yourselves in now they might-"

"They'll arrest him," Steve interjected, shaking his head as he drew a shaky breath. He lowered his voice down, "They'll kill him. You know they will."

"And they'll kill you! If you don't stop right now, Barnes should be the least of your worries because the Special Ops won't care whether you get out of this alive or not."

Steve didn't know what made him do it. The frustration, the betrayal, and the hurt came bursting all out at once. His jaw clenched. "Why, is he the least of yours? Funny."

That was a low blow. He heard Natasha let out an exasperated sigh. "God, Steve, now isn't the time to-" She cut herself off, stumbling over her words. But she was just as mad as he was; mad that he was being petty at a time like this. "We had to negotiate to bring you in ourselves. Don't make this any harder for us, Steve."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew something like this would happen. "Don't do this. Don't make me choose."

Don't make me choose between you two.

"You have to. While you still can." There was some shuffling in the background, she breathed, "Shit. I'm sorry I have to go."

"Wait, Nat-" Don't leave. The panic came crawling back to him again when he realized he wasn't sure when could be the next time he'd talk to her again. He was a mess. He didn't know what to do.

He just wanted things to go back to the way they were.

"For once, Steve, please listen to me."

"Natasha, don't-"

The line went dead.

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"I'm not sure you understand the concept of a getaway car," Sharon remarked, looking at him with mild amusement.

"It's low profile," Steve replied.

"Good," she said, opening the trunk of her car. "because this stuff tends to draw a crowd."

He was given a view of his shield and Sam's suit. He never felt more relieved to see his stuff again. It felt strange, not using his shield when fighting. It felt like a part of him was missing.

"I owe you again."

"Keeping a list." Sharon said with a half smirk, glancing behind them to see Bucky. She winced at the memory of their encounter. She reckoned, "You know he kinda tried to kill me."

"I'm sorry." he apologized, nodding his head at that, "I'll put it on the list too."

A light chuckle escaped from the agent's lips. Her eyes dropped down to the trunk of her car-where the shield and suit were placed. Steve seemed to know what she was thinking, and for the nth time today, he felt guilt creeping past his neck.

A lot of people today had given up a lot just to help him. He owed them a lot.

Now he needs to add Sharon to that list.

"They're going to come looking for you." he said quietly.

Sharon glanced up at him. "I know."

He knew he was wrong to judge her so quickly before. Back when she was assigned to look after him, he thought she couldn't be trusted when she turned out to be a SHIELD agent. But he was wrong.

Apparently, for the last 24 hours, he had been wrong for a lot of things.

But he knew damn well for sure that his reason for being here isn't one of those.

"Thank you, Sharon."

She nodded, smiling in return. Her eyes gazing at him thoughtfully.

Steve suddenly felt uncomfortable. He wasn't good with women, but he knows that look. It was the same look Natasha gives him before she-

Sharon leaned in.

-kisses him.

He barely stifled a gasp of surprise and had almost stumbled back. His blue eyes wide as ever. His logic seemed to have been thrown out of his head because before he knew it, he was kissing her back.

Steve didn't know which one is it: the anger, the betrayal, or the emptiness aching in the pit of his stomach that made him do it. There were sirens at the back of his head going on full alert to tell him how wrong this was.

Like he said, he wasn't good with women, but he wasn't dumb enough not to notice the subtle signs Sharon was throwing his way over the years to insinuate that she might like him.

And the thought of Peggy, if she was alive right now, going ballistics once she finds out who the hell he was kissing right now.

He just needed someone. Someone to vent out to. To hold on to. To cling to.

He needed...

Goddamit, Rogers.

He can't do this.

But before he could stop it, the damage was already done. The kiss was over. Sharon pulled away, "That was-"

"Late." He cut her off, forcing out a chuckle. It sounded anything but real to him.

One thing that he forgot was that Sharon was a former SHIELD agent, which means that she was also a trained spy. She could read expressions, movements, and emotions like the back of her hand. She may not be as good of a spy as Natasha (because, really, no one could ever beat Natasha Romanoff), but she was still a spy.

A flicker of hurt waved past her. Her voice stooping down to an almost whisper, had it not for Steve's enhanced hearing, he wouldn't have heard it. "There's someone else, is there?"

Steve didn't bother to answer. He didn't want to lie anymore. His face pretty much gave everything away. "I'm sorry. You don't deserve that."

Sharon smiled, contrasting the crestfallen look in her eyes. "Well, I hope she knows how lucky she is, Steve."

He could only smile fondly.

Sharon let out a breath, "I should go." She stepped towards the trunk, took out their- Steve and Sam's-gear before closing it shut. She avoided his gaze and brushed past him to step inside the vehicle.

Steve said to her, "Stay safe."

"You too." She smiled, before speeding off.

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Sam stepped out to help him get their gear on the trunk. He was checking to make sure it wasn't damaged, especially his wings.

Steve slid back into the driver's seat. There was still the excruciating tension between him and Bucky, and truthfully, both wanted it gone, but neither could bring themselves to address it.

Until now.

Bucky shook his head. "You're an idiot." he told him.

He knows Steve's been out of whack lately (not that he's in any better state) but, still, his best friend really has his stupidest moments.

"She came onto me." he defended, lamely.

Bucky rolled his eyes. They saw everything from the car, even at a distance, it was clear enough that Steve returned the kiss she gave him.

It's weird to see Steve being like this. He remembered the last time he saw Steve acting this fucked up was when... he met Anne. Or Natalia. Or Natasha. You get the point.

"You're whipped, Steve."

"Shut up, Buck."

"God, you're still in love with her, aren't you?"

Steve rolled his eyes, misinterpreting, "I'm not in love with Sharon."

"I'm not talking about her."

Steve fell silent. He whipped his head back to meet Bucky's questioning gaze. It was the only way to fix this, anyway, to talk about it.

"Yeah," Steve murmured, he looked back at Bucky, "Are you?"

Surprisingly, Steve didn't sound mad, but it was strained. Like he was dreading and wanting to hear Bucky's answer at the same time. Whether he liked it or not, he needed to know.

Bucky shook his head, sounding helpless, "I don't know." He swallowed thickly, "I used to."

He didn't say anything else, and Steve couldn't either.

Steve kept his head low and turned his attention back upfront. He saw Sam get in the car at his right.

"Everything good?" Sam asked him, his eyes going over to his and Bucky, who were both avoiding his.

Steve's voice dropped. "Yeah."

He started the engine up.

"We're good."

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So, these past days have been crazy, huh?

Sorry for taking so long to update! So much things have been happening that I couldn't focus on my writing. I hope this is still a decent chapter, though!

Sooo BuckyNat or Romanogers?

Romanogers, of course. This is a Romanogers fic after all :p (Though BuckyNat is cute too).

I'm sorry I had to cut it here to keep the tension going.

Please leave comments and votes if you can! Thanks, guys. And thank you so much for those who're leaving me messages about my books :"> It's so sweet! hihi.

Love you all!

And yes, Steve is an ass in this chapter.