Rebound

"Okay, okay, I think you should stop now."

"But Steve!" The redhead begged through giggles. Her green eyes were slightly glazed over and her cheeks flushed. "I'm fine, I swear!"

'She's absolutely hammered,' Steve thought to himself. It was Tony Stark's birthday. As always, he had gone all out to celebrate this occasion. Around fifty people were gathered in, what Tony liked to call, 'Stark Tower'. Balloons were strung on the walls, disco lights lit up the lounge and the sound of horribly cheesy pop music echoed throughout the mansion. The stench of alcohol filled Steve's nostrils as he looked down at his wasted friend.

Tony Stark was the owner of the biggest company in New York, conveniently called ‘Stark Industries’. Tony invested himself into finding innovative technology.  He searched high and low for new elements and metals, he wanted to know what was most sustainable whilst being most effective. He prided himself in selling the stories that no one dared to. He told the public about economic crisis, the humanitarian disasters across the globe caused by the American government, issues with pollution, all the lies that had fallen from politicians' mouths. If the world needed to know about something, he wouldn't hesitate in telling them. He was hated by the government, but hugely respected by the rest of the world. He owned cleaning companies that were ran by robots that he had invented at the age of seventeen do to whatever you wished. His fuel company lit up the whole of New York using only clean, recycled, reusable power sources. He was the only company running of just clean energy. He owned one of the largest computer safety companies. His workers were computer wizards who could break through any firewall, write any program, protect every top secret database that Tony needed. He was, undoubtedly, the biggest name in New York.

Steve looked down at Natasha, letting a small laugh escape his lips as he raised the bottle above his head. "You've had plenty to drink. You need to stop, you'll make yourself sick."

Her head dropped at his words. "You're no fun, I'm going to find Tony." She spun around and marched off. She had only taken a few steps, each of her ankles buckling under her with every step, before she felt a large hand wrap around her arm. She flashed a cheeky grin before reaching a hand in the inside pocket of her leather jacket and pulling out a flask. "I'm Russian, I always have a drink on me." Natasha took Steve's look of shock to quickly escape his grip. He watched, dumbfounded, as the sight of her red tresses moved further and further away. He was about to chase her before a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Oh, thank goodness you’re here! I think you're the only sober person I've seen all night." Pepper Potts' face was flushed red, a look of sheer panic on her face. Her words were rushed, flustered even. "Sam broke the toilet, it's flooding water everywhere, Tony just broke one of his latest inventions, which, by the way, was meant to be a top secret project but now everyone knows, even Loki and he can't keep his mouth shut! And now Bucky is-"

"Pepper, calm down." He placed his arms on her shoulders, gently rubbing them for comfort. "It's going to be alright. Everyone is a bit drunk right now. Have you asked Clint to check the toilet? He's good at that. I'll go and find Tony. Turn on the lights, turn the music down a little and try and get people to start leaving, but make sure they're all safe. It's already 3am."

A sigh escaped the blonde woman's lips as she tried to regain her thoughts. "Yes, yes, you're right. I'll get people out of the house."

Steve flashed her a smile and a small wave before stalking off to find the drunken messes that were his co-workers. He trekked across the elaborate mansion, peering his head around each door in search of all those that were far too drunk. In the kitchen, he found James Barnes lying on the marble island, a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, his favourite red wine imported from France, in his hands. Strewn around his head were multiple cans of larger, cider, whisky. The veteran was holding a prosthetic arm above his head, mumbling illegible words to the hand. Bucky was now on leave from the army after an injury that caused him to lose his arm. He was distraught when he came home, thinking he had lost everything; the war, his friends and now his arm. Tony Stark had generously bought him a new one whilst he worked on a new prosthetic limb that was far more flexible for his job. But now, at 3 o'clock in the morning, James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes sat alone, talking to the arm as if it were a person. Steve chuckled at the sight of his best friend.

"Buck," Bucky quickly snapped out of his trance and drunkenly smiled up at his friend.

"Look at my friend!" He slurred, "The fingers look like a bird so I named him Sam, like the bird man. Get it? Because he's a pilot so he flies and birds fly too." He waved the arm at Steve. "Say hi!" Rolling his eyes at his drunken pal, Steve gave a shy wave at the arm whilst letting a small chuckle breathe out of his lips. "It accidentally came off when I was playing some game with Sam, Natasha, Maria, that blonde one that I can't remember the name of and a few others. So, I made friends with him."

Swiftly moving his body around the counter, Steve tucked an arm around Bucky's back and lifted him to a seated position. "So, where are the others now? And pass me the bottle."

"Aye, you're finally joining in!" Bucky's eyes lit up as Steve took the bottle, but they quickly filled with disappointment as he watched his friend place the bottle on the kitchen counter. Steve was busy throwing away the bottles that surrounded Bucky, nodding at the ridiculous questions that were thrown at him.

A hand slapped down on his shoulder, startling Steve. He whipped his head around to see Sam Wilson, a grin plastered across his face and an arm wrapped around the shoulders of Maria Hill. "Yo, I'm trying to run from Pepper, she wants me to leave. You better cover my ass!"

His dirty blonde locks shook in rhythm with his head. "Sam, it's getting late. I'll call you an Uber. Maria?"

Maria looked up with him, a small smile on her lips as she looked at Sam. "Who's place am I going to?"

Sam gave a cheeky wink at Steve. "Call us an uber."

Steve chuckled. "Didn't expect you two to be-"

"Woah! Sam's fucking the director's assistant! Someone wants a payrise." All three turned to Bucky, who was stumbling over to them to pat Sam on the back, except he missed and kept smacking the air, bursting into fits of giggles.

"Shh- I'm on the phone."

"Steve!" The voice of Pepper Potts' had returned, still laced in panic.

Placing his phone in his pocket, Steve nodded at Sam. "Uber's booked, wait outside, alright? It's a black Toyota." He looked back up at Pepper, "What's up?"

"There's only about 10 people left in here, but Tony is trying to do karaoke with prototypes of James's arm, Thor is passed out on the sofa with drawings all over his face. I think that was Loki. Clint's already left so the toilet is still broken and Natasha had broken into the wine cellar. She's got a flask of vodka with her and she's now trying to devour her way through my vintage wine collection!"

Steve was already headed towards the cellar when he heard a smash. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he kept walking towards the cellar. He knew Natasha all too well. She would keep drinking until her stomach needed pumping if he didn't stop her now. Whatever was broken upstairs could be fixed in the morning.

He raised a fist to the door of the cellar and knocked three times before peeking his head around the corner. The cellar was a huge circular room, with stacks and stacks of wine covering every square inch of the stone wall. In the middle, a small redhead sat, holding a bottle in one hand and chucking another bottle with her other bottle. She shyly looked up.

"H-hey Steve. I, um, I- hey. How- how are you?" Her words came out breathy and slurred. Steve was surprised that she was even conscious at this point. Her words, her actions, her reactions were all slow and she stared at the wall, thinking it was Steve. He walked over and perched himself on the floor around her.

"I'm good, Nat. I'm helping Pepper clear up this party. I think we should get you home."

Natasha violently shook her head, a blur of orange filling Steve's vision. "No, I'm having fun!” Steve shook his head, a smirk dancing on his lips.

“Nat, you can barely walk.”

She peered up at him, “Yeah, well, there’s no way I’m letting James beat me in a drinking contest.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tried to pick her up, but she struggled in his arms until he gave in and sat her back down on the stone floor. "You're going to get cold here. Come on, I'll take you home."

“No, I need to be the last one here, I’ve got a couple of bucks riding on it.”

“You made a bet?”

Natasha let out a breathy laugh, “You know I’m Russian, right? Or, I was. Anyway, Sam was like ‘Oh, I bet it’s bullshit, I could easily drink you under the table,’” she put on a slightly southern accent, lowering her pitch as she poorly attempted to imitate her friend, “and James goes, ‘Well, Romanians are good at drinking too.’ So, we made a bet. Whoever’s last standing is owed $20 from each of the losers. And, well, unless Tony gives me a pay rise, I could really do with that extra cash.”

Steve let out a small laugh, shaking his head at his ambitious friend. He wrapped an arm around her torso in an attempt to stand her up, but she stayed firmly planted. He knew he was easily strong enough to pick her up, but Natasha’s temper was fiery, and he didn’t know if he’d see that side of her whilst she was so heavily intoxicated. Instead, he just sat back down beside her, his arm wrapped around her, his fingers tracing circles around her shoulder. 

“Steve?” Nat peered up at him, her voice barely a whisper.

“Yeah?”

“So, you know how Bruce and I have this… thing… at the moment?” she looked up at her friend for reassurance; the caring eyes staring back at her let her know she could continue. “I wanna end it, before it gets serious. I don’t know how.”

A moment of silence enveloped the two before Steve spoke. “Well, I think you know what you have to do. Bruce is a nice guy, don’t lead him on like that. Just break it easy to him, he’s kind of sensitive.”

“He gets angry, you know? Like, really, really angry. It’s scary.”

He rubbed her shoulder reassuringly, a weak, pained smile dancing across his face as he peered down at Natasha, her head hanging low, green eyes fixated on the floor. “You know what you have to do. I’ll be here for you, you know that, right?”

Nat peered through her eyelashes to find a sincere, gentle look across Steve’s face. The corners of her lips tugged up into a small smile. “Yeah, I know that.”

A wave of relief washed over Steve. He knew Natasha trusted him; they had built up a beautiful friendship over the last few years, but hearing her say the words, any time she did, felt special. She wasn’t a particularly open person, but with Steve, she was. And Steve was never jealous of Bruce, he has never seen Natasha as more than just a friend, but the idea that she was single again, the idea that she wouldn’t want to focus her attention on just one person, brought a smile to his face.

“Steve, can you take me home?”

He breathed out a small chuckle, “Nat, there’s been a cab outside waiting for the past ten minutes. Let’s go.”

First, Steve rose to his feet, extending out an arm for Natasha to pull herself up with. Once she was firmly planted on her own two feet, he wrapped an arm around her waist, carefully leading her to the front of the house, making sure she didn’t stumble. They said their final goodbyes to everyone, earning a very relieved sigh from speller, before making their way back to Natasha’s apartment.