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“There was a time I was worried I’d never get to see this,” Pepper says, her voice soft against the rim of her coffee mug, but Natasha hears the words just fine. Her chest tightens ever so slightly as her smile widens, watching from beside Pepper on the couch as Morgan and Steve stack slim, wooden blocks into various towers across the coffee table. Morgan chatters his ears off happily as she tells Steve about the tiny Christmas village that she and her mommy and daddy put together last year, and Tony chimes in every so often from his spot on the ground as he builds his own blocks into a castle on the floor. Morgan is too excited to talk to let Steve chime in, too, but he hardly minds.
Morgan clearly adores him and Natasha knows the feeling is mutual. He watches the girl with a glimmer in his eyes that Nat hasn’t quite seen before, and it makes her think—
It makes her think about quite a few things, and maybe for the first time ever, they feel real. They feel possible.
“They would’ve gotten here on their own, sooner or later,” Natasha insists, watching as Morgan says something and then giggles, covering her mouth with both hands, and Steve shares an amused smile with Tony as they laugh, too. They haven’t really said much to each other this morning. They really haven’t said much to each other at all since Natasha had come back, but the quiet between them is easy and comfortable and Natasha isn’t worried. She doesn’t think they’re avoiding a discussion. She thinks that they simply don’t see the need for one anymore. They had long forgiven each other, even before she and Steve and Scott showed up at this very house what feels like a lifetime ago.
She knows without a doubt that their lives would have brought them back here, to a moment just like this, regardless of what happened over the last few days.
Some things are simply meant to exist together.
Steve glances up from his own tower, his eyes quickly finding hers, as if drawn to her thoughts. His smile softens at the edges, making the warmth in her chest flutter as she rubs her lips together, trying – and failing – to hide her own smile behind her mug.
Pepper nudges Natasha’s foot with her own, eyes twinkling, knowing, and Natasha feels herself breathe out a laugh as she gets up from the couch and onto her feet. She can feel Steve’s eyes on her as she walks into the kitchen and sets her mug in the dishwasher, but she ignores him, turning down the hallway and into the guest bedroom that she and Steve have all but claimed as their own. They insisted to Tony and Pepper to let them stay at the hotel just a few miles away, not wanting to crowd their space, but after Morgan nearly teared at the thought of them leaving, they stopped suggesting it altogether. Neither of them is in any rush to leave, anyway, and they know Tony is genuine when he tells them that this is their home for as long as they want it to be, for as long as they need it to be, and that was that. They all know things won’t be like this forever.
But for right now, things are good, and Natasha isn’t quite ready for that to change yet.
“We would’ve gotten here on our own, huh?”
Natasha’s just pulled open one of her drawers when she hears his voice, a smile already on her lips as she glances over her shoulder. Steve is smiling, too, his arms crossed as he leans against the doorframe and holds her stare.
“I knew you and Tony missed gazing into each other’s eyes,” she quips, grabbing a clean pair of underwear and panties before shutting the drawer with her hip, her smile curving into a smirk at the edges. Steve chuckles softly and leans off of the wall, walking over to her. “Care to join me in the shower?” she asks, arching an eyebrow.
He smirks, too, but gently pries the clothes from her hands. “Not just yet,” he says, making her blinking up at him, a question in her eyes as he sets her things onto the bed before taking both of her hands in his. He squeezes her fingers lightly, pulling her closer, and she tips her chin back ever so slightly to hold his stare. “Walk with me?”
There’s something in his voice, something in his eyes. It isn’t alarming, not in the slightest, but it’s there and it’s odd to her that she can’t quite place it.
“Okay,” she breathes out in response, and his eyes twinkle as he nods once, brings a hand up to cup the back of her head. Despite his request, he doesn’t pull her out of the bedroom right away. Instead, he slants his mouth over hers, the press of his lips gentle, almost tentative, like the very first time he kissed her in this very guest room, the day he’d brought her back. The day he told her that they were going to have a funeral for her. He tasked himself with returning the Stones, with coming back for her body, and he’d confessed to breaking down alone on that solemn, desolate planet at the realization that she’d truly been gone. He hadn’t known that bringing the Soul Stone back would also bring her back – maybe no one had, considering it had never been done, had never been tried – and as he recalled all of this to her, he’d grasped her face and he kissed her.
His cheeks had wet hers with his tears, and his kiss had been messy and desperate, and relieved, and she couldn’t quite stop shaking, even after he’d drawn his lips away.
She lets out a shaky sort of breath when he pulls away, eyelashes fluttering open to find his gaze. He lets his lips hover over hers, leaning in again, as if to kiss her, but then he moves around her and bends down, plucking their running shoes off of the floor by the dresser behind her.
His grin is smug as he steps back from her completely, holding her sneakers to her chest, and she shakes her head with a laugh as she playfully shoves his chest.
Goddamn punk.
Pepper, Tony, and Morgan are in the kitchen when she and Steve walk down the hallway again, laughing as Pepper and Morgan decide on what to make for lunch, but Tony catches Natasha and Steve heading for the patio door, nodding at them in acknowledgment with a smile on his lips.
A knowing smile, Natasha realizes, her eyes flitting from Tony’s to Steve as something passes between them. Whatever this is about, Steve must have let him in on it.
“What’s with all the secrecy?” Natasha asks once they’re heading down the steps and onto the ground, Steve’s fingers threading with hers between them as he leads her down their typical path into the trees. The sky is clear and bright with the morning sunlight, the lake quiet, peaceful. They’re actually not that far from the city at all, nor from the plot of land that The Avengers are rebuilding on, only a few miles from where the old facility had stood. She knows that had been a purposeful move on Tony’s part. Even years ago, when he insisted on having nothing to do with them, he’d always been near them. Even today, as they break ground on the new facility only miles from this lake, from his home.
He has a family now, a life outside of fighting, outside of The Avengers. He’s moved on from that purpose in his life, but he’s still right here, still supporting them in this small way, as close as he can be.
He won’t be Iron Man again, they know this. Not unless the world is about to break from underneath them again. But that doesn’t mean he wants to cut himself off entirely. It’s a balance that he’ll need to find, just as they all need to, one day or another. But maybe for the first time ever, Natasha can see it for herself, too.
A simple life. A life she wants.
“It’s not a secret,” he insists, eyes twinkling playfully. She grasps onto his arm with her other hand, their fingers still twined together, and he turns to kiss her hair, his lips curved into a smile as he adds with a mumble, “well, in a few minutes, it won’t be one anymore.”
She laughs with a shake of her head, but he doesn’t elaborate and she doesn’t ask him to. She’s curious, of course, but she’s willing to wait for him if he insists on being dramatic about it. Honestly, she knows it’s not even about that. Whatever it is – wherever it may be, if that’s why he insisted on the two of them taking a walk together – she wants him to have the chance to tell her how he’s planned. Steve isn’t one to keep things from her, no matter how small, and the fact that he’s kept this? It means something.
And she doesn’t need to find out on her terms. She doesn’t need to make a game out of it, turn it into an objective to carry out.
For once, she doesn’t feel compelled to do anything other than be, and she kind of loves it.
They walk in a comfortable sort of quiet for a few minutes, the sun rising just a little higher into the clear, blue sky, and Natasha feels her lips already pulling into a smile when Steve tugs her arm gently, bringing them to a stop in the middle of a wide clearing among the trees, on the edge of the water. She hadn’t felt as if they walked very far, but the house is almost halfway across the lake from them—far enough for some space, but only a matter of minutes away—and she glances at Steve, an odd, warm sensation tugging at her chest when she finds his gaze on her. She can see it in his eyes that she’s waiting for her to piece things together, and some small part of her already has. She knows it.
He turns slightly so that they’re facing, pulling her other hand from his arm so that he’s holding onto both of hers, their fingers threaded together.
“It’s gorgeous out here, right?” he asks needlessly, already knowing her answer. She’s told him how she felt about this place – how she savors the calm, the quiet – more than once.
She nods, the warmth in her chest growing and fluttering. “Tony picked a good place to settle down,” she says, voice barely above a whisper as she holds his stare.
“He did,” Steve agrees, drawing her hands up until her palms are flat against his chest, right over his heart. His fingers curve over hers, pressing her to his skin, through the thin material of his shirt, and she wonders if she’s simply imagining the way his heart beats quickly under her palms. She doesn’t see nervousness or anxiousness in his eyes. “It’s perfect for them.” His lips twitch at the edges, teasing into a smile, and she feels a little bit like she can’t breathe. “It could be a perfect place for us to settle down, too.”
“Us?” she echoes, her voice coming out small and just a little shaky, her lips curving before she can quite catch it.
“We need to get a life, remember?” He reaches up to cup her cheek, smoothing his thumb over her skin. That conversation felt as if it was a lifetime ago. “I want that life with you, if you’ll let me.” He draws her face close to his, leans his forehead against hers, and his laugh is warm against her skin. “When I handed over my shield to Sam, I thought I’d have a hard time. I thought it’d feel like giving up a part of me, but it didn’t, because I was ready. I’m ready to build a home right here where we’re standing, and I want to build it with you.” He slants his lips over hers, kissing her, hard but quick, a small noise coming from her throat when he pulls away too soon. “Please tell me you want it, too.”
She blinks, feeling her vision blur at the edges as she lets out a laugh. “Are we ready to walk away like that? Can we walk away?”
His smile is bright, almost blinding, as he laughs with her. “Honestly? It’s us, Nat,” he says, the nickname making her heart stutter in her chest. “I don’t think we’ll switch it off, walk away and never look back.” He draws away, just a little, to peer down at her. “But we can choose how involved we want to be. We can choose where we go from here.”
She stretches up before she can quite catch herself, kisses him, hard and deep, fingers twisting in his shirt as he groans lightly against her mouth.
He nips on her bottom lip, fingers massaging her scalp as he tips her head, parts her lips wider for him and slides his tongue against hers. She feels his other hand on her hip as he grips her with a squeeze, and he walks them backward, stumbling ever so slightly over the ground until her back is pressed against the trunk of a tree. Her lips curve into a smile against his just before she parts their kiss, their mouths lingering barely an inch apart, and then she’s leaning her head back and staring up into those twinkling blue eyes.
“A balcony,” she says, the words coming out breathless from their kiss. He furrows his eyebrows in a question, lips curved in a grin. “I want a balcony,” she goes on, loosening her grip on his shirt so she can slide her hands low, lower, hooking both of her index fingers into his belt loops. “I want a view of the lake right outside our bedroom.”
His smile brightens, if possible, and then his arms around her and she lets out a laugh as he lifts her up and spins her, just once, before setting her back down, drawing her flushed against his chest. “Where else are we going to get a view like this?” he says, voice soft, the words – her words – making her breath catch in her throat.
“I want it, too,” she whispers, finally echoing his words back to him. Her throat feels tight, her eyes blurry, but she feels perfect. “I didn’t think I would. I didn’t think I could.”
He brings his hand up, gently brushes his knuckles over her cheek, catching a tear as it rolls out from the corner of her eye. “I didn’t think I’d have the same dreams, either,” he tells her, grasping her chin gently with his fingers. “And I don’t. I had a chance to get it back, going back in time—and I was tempted. It was taken from me, and I wanted to try it, you know?” he asks, his voice suddenly so small, almost pleading, as if asking her to understand. Asking her to forgive him. She shakes her head once, quickly, knowing that he doesn’t need to apologize. Never with her. “But I couldn’t. I spent so long wanting what I thought I was supposed to have that I missed the life I had right in front of me.”
She exhales a shaky sort of laugh. “We both needed to get a life, Steve.”
“And it took me losing you to get it through my head,” he says, but rather than apologizing – for waiting so long, for making her wait, just as she made him wait – he strokes his thumb over her jaw, tenderly, then skims it up to stroke her bottom lip. “Now we need to make up for lost time.”
Her lips quiver ever so slightly. “Whatever it takes?”
He smiles at her, soft but bright, and full of awe, of adoration. “Whatever it takes,” he vows, and she smiles at the way the sunlight catches in his eyelashes as he leans in and kisses her again, on the very spot that they’ll rebuild their life together.