Summary: Steve and Natasha are secretly in a relationship, and Steve tries to go into Natasha's room to get something but ends up meeting Natasha's cat. 

It had be a long year of Avenging and saving the world, secret missions and undercover ops, But finally after so long the Avengers managed to have some very needed and deserved months of needed rest and time off. Each one of the heroes had gone their separate ways to take up the opportunity of being work free. Tony returned to his home to spend time with Pepper and continue tinkering and improving his tech, but making sure to not make any other evil robots. Thor had gone back to Asgard to deal with pressing matters that had yet to be solved, Clint went back to his farm to be with Laura and his kids who were happy and relived to know their father was alive and well, And Laura had given him a long speech oh how he owed her for not only having made her worried about what had happened but also have had invited superheroes to stay over without warning. Clint did not enjoy his punishment of having to wake up to check on his new born son every night to make it up to Laura. Bruce who had left suddenly, never did reach out or return from leaving in the Quinjet, but S.H.I.E.L.D promised to make sure to do everything they could to find his location and get him back in one piece and without causing more hammock. And finally Steve and Natasha had stayed behind in the new Avengers HQ training the new heroes and soldiers so that one day they'd be ready for combat.

Steve and Natasha had gotten closer having had basically moved into the new Avengers facility from their apartments in the city. Everything had been going well and smoothly for them for the most part, they talked and had late night movie sessions together and in the mornings they'd wake to train the others or improve their own skills. Natasha's red hair had gotten longer in those months of being in the facility and now reached her shoulders, while Steve had began to grow a bit of a stubble which Natasha teased him telling him he should grow it out because it made him look 'older and wiser'. He had shook his head at that remark and rolled his eyes playfully and gone against her advice and shaved. They both felt more comfortable around one another and trusted each other more and more. Ultron had changed something in them and they had gone to one another to help the other out and find comfort. And in those few months the soldier and the spy had secretly started to start a romance together without anyone knowing. They'd seen how anything could happen in minutes and destroy their lives, So they decided they were tired of waiting and began embracing the love they had for one another and trying to start the life they both deserved.

Today it was exactly 5 months since they defeated Ultron and Steve and Natasha had officially been secretly dating for about 3 months. They had just gotten done for the day training Wanda, Sam, Vision, Rhodey and the other soldiers, and now they were headed to their own rooms. They walked side by side professional, walking by other agents and staff before they entered the elevator together looking normal. Once the doors closed the professional act was cut.

Natasha leaned backwards on the elevator looking over at Steve who was looking up at the numbers of the floors patiently waiting to reach his floor. She couldn't help but smirk. Even after 3 months of them dating he was still very proper and cautious when it came to publicly showing affection.

"You know Rogers looking at the numbers won't make it go any faster" Natasha said smirking

Steve looked back at her and chuckled

"I know but I guess I'm just impatient to get back to my room" he said looking at her

She smiled at him

"Why is someone waiting for you in there?"

"No but I promised a lady I'd make her dinner." He said giving her a grin

She smirked at him and before she could say something else the elevator doors opened. Steve looked forward again walking out towards his door but before he pulled out his key he looked back toward her.

"See you in 30 minutes miss Romanoff" he said giving her a smile

Natasha watched him with a smirk until the doors to the elevator closed and it started its ascend to her floor. When the doors opened again she walked out, still with a smirk on her face, to her door and unlocked it before stepping inside. Her room was a decent size, decorated plainly. She wasn't one to go all out in the places she lived because she knew things weren't temporary, as a spy she learned to no get attached to things, but recently she'd found herself not following that rule more and more. She set down her keys on her kitchens island and walked toward her fridge to get some needed water.

"Liho." She called out

Nothing

She drunk her water thirstily and after she finished tried again

"Liho."

Again the room was silent, she was prepared to walk to her bedroom to search but before she could a small black ball of fur emerged from her room meowing.

"Sleeping again I presume" she said giving the cat a knowing look

The cat walked towards the kitchen and sat in front of the spy giving her a curious look before meowing again. Natasha smiled and picked up the black furry animal in her arms softly petting her.

"I assume your hungry" she said

The cat meowed as if replying 'yes'

Natasha put the cat down and went to get it's bowl to fill with food. She took out the cats medium bag of cat food from the pantry and filled the bowl then set it down next to the little water bowl on the floor. The cat happily walked over to it and began to munch on the small brown pebbles.

"I'm going to shower now and leave you to it, I have my own dinner waiting for me downstairs" She said to the cat which wasn't paying much attention, instead directing all its concentration on the food. Natasha left Liho to eat and walked to the bathroom in her bedroom to shower and get ready to be at the soldiers room in 30 minutes.

On the other side of the HQ Steve had just gotten out of the shower and was having trouble with dinner, he had wanted to cook a Russian dish that he'd heard Natasha talk about but he had no idea how to make it. He tried looking for some online recipes but the recipes were too complicated for him to understand, he considered himself a novice cook, only being able to make easier things. He thought about ordering something from outside but all the delivery's would take more than 30 minutes and Natasha was to arrive shortly. Steve felt anxious and stressed, tonight was supposed to be a nice romantic night. He suddenly remembered that one time when Natasha came over a month ago she'd brought a cook book from her place to teach Steve how to cook a chicken recipe, It was a large cook book with dishes from all over the world, That book was his last hope at making dinner, but he'd have to retrieve it from the spy's room and he didn't want her to know what he was up to, it was supposed to be a surprise. He figured that Natasha was probably showering so he could probably go into her room and get the book and sneak back out in time for dinner. He was indecisive for a couple minutes on whether he should or not but realized the more he thought of it the less time he had, so he decided to just go for it. He quickly put on the light blue button up that he was gonna wear with black dressy pants and grabbed the spare key he had to Natasha's room, he made his way out of his floor and up to hers. When he arrived he quietly unlocked the door and went inside.

Her place was dark, the lights being dimmed. To his luck the shower was running so he could sneak out before Natasha was done. He looked around her kitchen for the book.

'Where does one keep a big cook book?' He thought to himself

As he looked through her cabinets and pantry he heard small padded foot steps in the living room, he turned around quickly but when he looked there was nothing there. Confused he thought it was just his anxious mind making things up and he continued to search.

"Meow"

This time when the captain looked over again he saw a small shadow in the corner of the living room, having no idea what it was. The small shadow emerged from the corner towards Steve and he observed cautiously. When the shadow finally made It's way into the kitchen Steve was caught by surprise.

"What? A cat, why is there a cat in Natasha's room?" Steve whispered aloud to himself and the cat

Liho looked up at Steve intriguingly wondering who this new person he'd never met before was. Steve knelt down slowly and extended his hand out, which Liho carefully sniffed, investigating the new scent. Natasha's floor was too high up for a cat to have been able to climb to, and everyone else in the HQ had no pets because it wasn't really allowed.

'Does Natasha have a secret pet cat?" Steve wondered

Steve was too focused on the cat, petting it's small head and being in awe by it that he didn't hear the shower turn off and Natasha walking out in just a towel. She was startle and caught by surprise when she saw Steve knelt down in her kitchen petting Liho.

"What the hell Steve! What are you doing here?!" She said almost dropping her towel

Steve got startled and got up abruptly

"I- I can explain, I needed dinner, well I didn't need dinner I needed something to make dinner and I came here because I thought you'd have what I needed, I didn't mean to scare you or barge in here, I wanted to grab it and go, but the cat distracted and I-, I'm sorry" Steve said flustered

Natasha looked at Steve with a confused look and then looked down at Liho who was looking at them back and forth

"I presume you've met Liho" she said looking at Liho who was no rubbing her head against Steve's calf

"I uh, yeah, I didn't know you had a pet cat, why didn't you tell me?" Steve asked

"Well she's not exactly allowed in here and I didn't think it was a big deal" she shrugged

Steve looked down at the cat who was purring, standing on her hind legs as if asking Steve to pick her up, which he did carefully bringing her up to his chest.

"She's cute, I think if I would have known you had a cat I might have broken into your place more often" Steve said with a grin petting the cat

Natasha rolled her eyes playfully and chuckled. She walked closer to Steve and held out her hand to help in petting the cat.

"Do you wanna tell me what your doing here now?" She asked looking up at him waiting for an explanation

"Well you see, I uh kinda wanted to surprise you and make the Beef Stroganoff you like so much but I kinda didn't know how to make it so I thought I could sneak into your room and get that cooking book you have to help me" he said sheepishly looking at her embarrassed

Natasha looked at Steve studying his face. She couldn't believe this big, tough soldier went through all the trouble of sneaking into her room to make her, her favorite Russian dish. She gave him a loving smile.

"You Steve Rogers are something else" she said shaking her head in disbelief

Steve smiled softly looking at her. Suddenly Liho jumped out of Steve's arms catching him by surprise and she strolled over to the couch rolling up and laying down.

"I guess that was enough petting for her" he said chuckling, looking over at Liho for a second before returning his focus on Natasha.

"Alright soldier the effort of you coming in here to make me my favorite dish was sweet but don't think your off the hook, you still promised me dinner, and standing here in a towel is making me cold, so I'm gonna go get dressed, and I'll be back." She said eyeing him playfully

Steve suddenly realized that she was practically naked in front of him and got red with embarrassment and looked up to try and be respectful. Natasha laughed at his gentleman behavior and quickly retreated to her bedroom to change into the red dress she was gonna wear. She decided to let her hair air dry into her lose curls and applied quick light makeup on her face, she didn't bother to put on fancy shoes and instead just wore black sandals. After 15 minutes of getting ready she emerged from her room to find Steve on the couch petting Liho and softly talking to her like a baby. She couldn't help but roll her eyes playfully.

"Alright Rogers enough of the play date with my cat, help me cook this thing" she said walking over to the kitchen

Steve smiled looking up from Liho at her and when he saw her his heart skipped a beat and butterflies made their way into his stomach. He gave Natasha a look of awe.

"You look beautiful Natasha" he said standing up making his way over to her with that loving look he always gave her, it was sincere and she knew he meant it.

It was her turn to blush and she smiled softly

"Not to bad yourself grandpa" she said with a teasing grin causing him to roll his eyes and chuckle.

He stood next to her looking down into her green eyes and smiled, and she suddenly forgot what was happening. He leaned down and gave her a loving yet passionate kiss on her lips, to which she wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed for several minutes before Natasha pulled away softly, a small smirk on her lips.

"If you keep kissing me like that I'm gonna want another type of dinner, and I'm really looking forward to the befstróganov" she said huskily, close to his face, saying the dishes name in perfect Russian.

Steve smirked at her and put himself together.

"Alright miss Romanoff let's get to cooking shall we" he said clapping his hangs together and straightening himself out, causing her to laugh.

And so they grabbed the ingredients and needed pots and cooked together, playfully bumping into the other every now and then, or flicking some condiment and the other happily spending time together. Liho looked on at them from the couch, the cat had a feeling she'd be seeing more from this new person from now on, and that made her tail move in approval.