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“Tasha, we’re home,” Bruce announced as he pulled into their garage.
She was quiet and Bruce looked over to see her sound asleep in the passenger’s seat, lightly snoring. She looked so peaceful and he was reluctant to wake her after the weekend they’d had. Pepper and Tony’s wedding had been as beautiful and way more scaled down than Bruce had expected, but still exhausting.
Bruce wasn’t far from passing out himself.
“Hey,” he tried again, reaching over to give her knee a little shake. “We’re home.”
She opened her eyes slowly and sat a little straighter in her seat.
“Did you have a nice nap?” he asked teasingly.
Natasha yawned and ran a hand down her face. “I feel like I could sleep all day.”
Bruce chuckled and tenderly tucked and errant curl behind her ear. She smiled softly and leaned into his touch.
“I’m right there with you,” he admitted with a big yawn of his own. He’d managed to get them home from the airport, but he was losing steam fast.
“I’m too tired to move,” she said, closing her eyes again.
Bruce opened his door and gave her knee another soft nudge. “Come on.”
Slowly, they made their way into the house, leaving their suitcases for later. When they reached their bedroom, Bruce climbed into bed first and opened his arms for Natasha to join him. She snuggled in close, letting out a soft sigh.
Bruce closed his eyes, letting her warmth and steady breathing relax him. He thought she was asleep and started to drift but her quiet whisper pulled him back out.
“Weddings are a lot of work,” she muttered, barely audible. The feel of her lips moving through his shirt, the only indication that she’d actually spoken.
“Yeah?” he said, not sure why she’d brought it up.
“But they looked happy, yeah?”
He felt her move against him and he opened an eye to see her watching him sleepily.
“They did,” he agreed.
She was quiet for a few beats before she scooted in close again.
“Pepper asked me when we’re getting married,” she finally muttered.
There it was. She’d been quiet at the reception, he’d noticed, and barely said anything that morning when they’d been getting ready to fly home. He’d chalked it up to the same exhaustion he felt after three days straight of them both being part of the wedding party.
“I think they double teamed us,” he said with a humorless chuckle.
Tony cornered him when they were getting ready for the ceremony. Threw an arm around his shoulders and had gone on and on about how he was the luckiest man in the world. His exact words were, “You gotta get in on this buddy. When are you and Romanoff tying the knot?”
Bruce had ducked away and avoided the question, but the question stuck with him the rest of the weekend.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“About weddings?”
She let out a long breath, like it was a struggle to form the next question. Bruce held his breath.
“What do you think about getting married?” she asked, her tone deceptively casual.
Bruce was quiet, unsure how to answer. He was happy with the way things were and he thought she was too. They were partners and there was no doubt in his mind that they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. But he’d be lying if he said he never thought about what it would be like to be married to Natasha, what their wedding might look like.
He was silent for too long, he could feel her body tense beside him, but he didn’t have an answer. So he deflected.
“What do you think about it?”
“I don’t know,” she answered immediately. “I’ve never given it much thought.”
Fair enough, he thought. From what she’d told him, her childhood only lasted a few years before the Red Room conditioning took hold. Any fantasies about a future wedding replaced with only one objective.
“But,” she continued, catching him by surprise. “I don’t think I’m completely against the idea anymore.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she answered, poking him in the side. “You didn’t answer my question.”
He smiled softly and held on to her a little tighter.
“I’ve thought about it,” he answered honestly.
“And what about kids?” she asked without missing a beat.
Bruce laughed and rolled onto his back. She propped herself up on her elbow, staring at him curiously.
“We’re getting all the tough questions out of the way,” he tried to joke, covering his eyes with his hand.
“I just want to know if we’re on the same page,” she said, running her fingers along his arm. “It’s been three years, Bruce. I’m not planning on going anywhere, I just want to know what our future looks like.”
Bruce couldn’t help but smile. That was the most Natasha way to approach talking about what their relationship might look like in the future.
“Are you proposing?” He asked, unable to resist making the joke.
“That depends on how you answer my question,” she shot back with a smirk.
Bruce looked over at her with raised eyebrows before deflating a little.
“I wanted all of it once upon a time,” he finally answered, looking up at the ceiling. “Marriage, kids, a white picket fence in the suburbs, but I had to let that go. At this point I’d be happy no matter what with you, so if you want to get married and have kids I’m all for it.”
He turned his head and caught a slow smile spread over her lips.
“I used to think it was a weakness,” she said moving over over to lay her head on his chest. “Having other people that could be used against you. I thought Clint was foolish, but sometimes I think I envy him a little.”
“Should I buy a ring?”
She shook her head. “I’m not saying we have to run to the courthouse tomorrow, I just wanted to know what you were thinking.”
Bruce smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her against him. He didn’t know how to describe how he felt. He knew he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, they’d almost missed their chance once so he was happy to take whatever she was willing to give and run with it. They were in this together, for the long haul and that’s more than he could have hoped for.
“I love you,” he told her earnestly, trying to convey everything he couldn’t put into words.
“I love you too.”