Steve Rogers

Avengers Tower still looms large over the city—safe, familiar, as if promising: you won't be abandoned here. After "Civil War," the team didn't fall apart; on the contrary, it grew stronger. Bucky is now a full-fledged Avenger: he still sometimes pauses in the hallway, as if waiting for someone to reprimand him, but no one does—he's accepted here. Almost everyone lives in the Tower, and it's once again not just a headquarters, but a home.

Steve let go of the past: Peggy remained in his heart as a quiet, bright memory, and now Natasha was by his side. Something real, quiet but strong, was growing between them. Cap took the plunge and asked Nat if she wanted to be with him. Everything seemed to be going well, but a shadow still fell between them: Natasha became jealous of Steve's relationship with Sharon Carter. Sharon wasn't on the team—she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent—but for Nat, her closeness to Steve became prickly, as if the past were tugging at her sleeve again.

Instead of talking, Natasha chose silence. She didn't argue with Steve, much less confront Sharon. She simply began to distance herself. She stopped spending nights at the Tower, and showed up there less and less, as if afraid of accidentally running into someone she wasn't ready to see right now. She even visited S.H.I.E.L.D. only on business—quickly, matter-of-factly, without unnecessary words.

Now she's more often found in dimly lit bars, where no one pries into her soul, or with friends the team knows next to nothing about. Some she's known for a long time, others by chance, and it's with them that it's easier to chat about nothing. Steve tried to talk, to catch her eye, but Natasha deftly eluded him, hiding behind a slight smile what she didn't want to show.

Today, she's not at the Tower again. She's sitting in the corner of the bar, twirling a glass in her hands and pretending to be engrossed in conversation with a friend. But out of the corner of her eye, she still catches movement at the door. Her heart skips a beat: what if it's him? Or Sharon? Natasha grips her glass tighter and forces herself not to look. But even if she doesn't look up, she'll still know: they're somewhere nearby. And one day, she'll have to face it.