Chapter 5
Natasha's phone buzzed. A text popped up on her locks teen from Emily. I'm not gonna be back for a few months, take your chance to set Steve up the final time (while you have the chance!) The previous month, she had set her FBI friend Emily up with Steve, and it had been far more successful than she could have hoped. She had thought a second date would be a possibility, but not them being together for over a month. She couldn't remember seeing Emily any happier, and Steve seemed to be happy. Natasha didn't want to risk messing this up by setting Steve up again, but then she did enjoy trying to find someone for him.
She hadn't decided whether she would set Steve up again when he mentioned it the next day. 'Emily said you were going to set me up again while she's away?'
'Er,' she hesitated, still not sure it was the best idea, 'Yeah, yeah, I did.' It was a split second decision, and she regretted agreeing immediately. 'Unless you'd prefer not?' She hoped Steve would hear the hope in her voice, but it seemed that he either didn't, or decided to ignore it.
'I'm not one to back out of a deal. I gotta finish what I started.' He noticed the wince that flashed on her face, and added, 'You can make sure it won't work if you really want, if it eases your conscience. But I don't it could ruin anything anyway.'
'Fine. You may regret this.' Internally she was thinking that she would too, and in the short term she was right.
---
'Something up?' Tony asked after he notice Natasha lying on the sofa, seemingly deep in thought. 'You look like you're regretting something.'
'Emily's out of town for a while, and I've kinda agreed to set Steve up on his third date while she's gone? But this could go really badly, what happens if he prefers the new date, or if she reminds him why he wasn't dating, or something worse?'
'It'll be fine Nat. You know what you're doing, you won't mess this up. I've seen them, I doubt it's possible to mess this up.' He stopped for a second. 'That being so, how about we make this last one some fun?' He had an idea, but knew he needed to warm Natasha up to it slowly, because it was certainly risky. He'd seen the way they looked at each other, there was certainly something there, and he needed to take this opportunity to make it happen. He figured if anyone could set it up to have as little consequence as possible, it was Natasha.
'Some fun? What are you thinking?' She liked the idea, that was why she had decided to do this all in the first place (yeah, Steve needed it too, but that was just convenient). But she couldn't think of what Tony would be suggesting.
'I was thinking about picking someone he'd never dare ask out otherwise.' Slowly does it, he couldn't just blurt it out. He needed to make Natasha impatient, curious, more likely to agree.
'I think that was how this was going in the first place, considering he wouldn't ask anyone out.'
'Oh, no, I'm thinking bout someone he wouldn't ask even if he didn't need this.'
She furrowed her brow. 'Now I'm listening. But why?'
'Let's call this an experiment. But it'll be hard to do.'
'Everything you say makes me more and more worried. But I'm up for a challenge.'
'Good. Now, just checking, did you restrict the agreement to girls?'
'No, it was kind of implied though. Why?' Tony stood looking at her, waiting for her to answer her question herself. 'Wait, you wanna try... But why?' It suddenly came to her. 'Bucky. Well, that could be interesting. I'm in.'
---
'Hey, Steve, I got you your third date.' She had waited till he had been about to leave to tell him, delaying it subconsciously, but also giving him less time to make up an excuse not to go. She really wanted to see what would happen, but she was regretting agreeing to it at the same time.
'That sure was fast! When's it gonna be?'
'Tomorrow night. I've reserved a table at this really nice place.'
'Reserved a table?' He was taken aback, used to Natasha just saying where they would meet.
'The place often gets full,' she said. Her actual reasoning was to make sure he and Bucky realised what was going on. Steve was clueless at times, he would think it just coincidental otherwise.
'Expensive?'
'Nah, not really. It'll be fine. You'll enjoy this one, I promise, even if it doesn't seem great to start.' She desperately hoped that she was right.
---
'Bucky's agreed, although he seemed reluctant. Steve fine with it?'
'Yeah, he was kinda sus about me reserving a table for it though.'
'Well, they've both agreed, now it's time for the fun!' Natasha nodded halfheartedly, suddenly realising how badly this could go. She realised she didn't know if Bucky would be able to take it as a laugh. She realised it could make it really awkward for them after. She realised that it could ruin things for Steve just when they had started going better.