Summary: It's one of the rare days Steve gets out of classes to join Natasha for a study period in the library and he's happy to see her midday. However, someone else in the library is just as eager to see Natasha and Steve's pretty sure he's not good news.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of Steve's ancient history class, he could hardly gather his things up fast enough. Normally he'd be heading to his English class next, but they'd just had a major test and Professor Patterson had given them the next two class days off. This meant he'd have the same free period as Natasha for once and he was eager to meet up with her in the library. The one class they shared, French II, was preparing for an exam in a week and they were going to study together every chance they could. Natasha absolutely refused to do poorly on this test and while Steve wanted to do well too, he knew the studying excuse provided him with an actual reason to spend extra time together.

Steve walked into the library and scanned the area for Natasha. It didn't take him long to find her sitting in the back corner table, backpack propped against her chair and notebooks spread out according to class. He frowned when he saw another boy standing over her, clearly trying to get her attention but failing. Even from a distance, Steve could see she was uncomfortable by the way she was leaning away from him and focusing hard on her books. He started towards her, eyeing the boy in hopes of catching his attention and scaring him off.

Steve wasn't stupid; he knew he was a big guy but he wasn't one to use his strength violently. However, he also wasn't above using it to his advantage when it came down to creeps like the one leaning over Natasha.

Natasha held her pencil tightly, trying to ignore Brock Rumlow and study, but struggling to when he kept getting closer than she wanted him to. She could feel his body heat even as she pushed herself as far away from him as she could. No matter how many times she snapped at him or told him to get lost, he never seemed to get the hint. Under Maria's suggestion, she was now ignoring him. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be helping.

"Come on," he said, brushing Natasha's hair over her shoulder. She tensed and shifted away from him again. "Give me a shot, sweetheart."

"I don't think she's interested," Steve said, dropping his backpack beside Natasha and staring at the boy.

Natasha's head snapped up at the sound of Steve's voice and he saw her visibly relax. He stepped closer to her, dropping a hand to her shoulder comfortingly and daring the boy to keep bothering her.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

He didn't step back, but he was no longer looming over Natasha like he had been doing earlier.

"Clearly someone she's comfortable around, unlike you," Steve replied.

The guy frowned and looked down at Natasha who had her back against Steve. Even if the guy had backed away, she was still leaning away from him and was pressed against Steve who stood behind her.

"Like you have a chance with her," the guy scoffed.

Steve narrowed his eyes at him but the guy didn't seem intimidated in the slightest.

"Get lost, Rumlow," Natasha muttered.

The guy, Rumlow, frowned at her then looked up at Steve. Steve squeezed Natasha's shoulder in reassurance as Rumlow glared at them both before walking away. He waited until Rumlow had left the library before taking the seat beside Natasha and turning her chair to face him.

"Who was that?" he asked, concerned he'd never heard about the guy before.

He could tell this wasn't the first time he'd bothered Natasha as he knew she wasn't one to just ignore someone who was bothering her. If he had to guess, he'd say it had been going on for a while seeing as she'd resigned to not acknowledge his presence.

"Brock Rumlow," Natasha said, shifting in her seat and reaching for a notebook. "He has this period free and usually comes by to coerce me into dating him."

Steve frowned. Okay, so he was right in thinking this was a normal occurrence. That didn't help put his mind at ease, however.

"Why don't you go somewhere else?" he suggested.

Natasha shrugged.

"I tried that," she told him, tapping her pencil against the table uncomfortably. "He just hunts me down and is a bigger pain. At least in the library, there are people around and he can't do much more than say stuff."

"Has he done more than that before?" Steve asked in horror.

A couple of people looked their way and Natasha turned red, hiding her face behind her hand to avoid their stares. Steve immediately felt bad at drawing the attention of strangers who were now going to listen in on their conversation, but he had never been very good at hiding his emotions.

"No," Natasha whispered, not looking up at him. "I mean, he's grabbed my arm to get my attention, but other than that he just says things."

"But clearly you're worried he'll try more if you don't want to leave the library," Steve said.

Natasha didn't respond. Steve sighed and reached for her hand.

"Hey," he said softly, getting her attention. "I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, but you shouldn't have to endure him every day."

"It's not every day," Natasha objected quietly. "Maria has this period free on Tuesdays and Thursdays so she comes by and he leaves me alone. The other days I can handle it."

"You don't have to handle it, Nat," Steve told her, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "You can tell the librarian and get her to stop him."

Natasha raised an eyebrow and nodded at the librarian. She was a small, elderly lady who clearly wouldn't be able to get Brock Rumlow to stop harassing Natasha. Steve sighed and turned back to Natasha.

"Well, I'll be here this week and after that maybe we can see if there's someone else you can sit with to scare him off," Steve said.

Natasha nodded and smiled at him tightly. Without thinking, Steve leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

"Enough about Rumlow," he said, trying to prevent things from getting awkward afterward. "We're here to study French, so let's get to work."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Natasha saluted, grinning as she pulled her hand from his and reached for her French notebook.