Chapter Text
The chain holding the punching bag rattles with every hit he throws at it. Natasha watches Steve from the doorway to the gym idly, leaning back against the wall. He hasn’t noticed her come in yet, and to be quite honest she’s enjoying the show, the muscles in his back a symphony of movement.
Another minute or so passes before one of Steve’s punches snaps the chain and sends the busted punching bag skidding across the floor, useless. Natasha takes it as her cue to make her presence known and slips off her heels as Steve grabs another bag and hoists it up to the hook on the ceiling.
“You going to hit that thing all day, soldier?” she teases, padding across the cushioned gym floor.
Steve looks around at Natasha’s voice and can’t stop the grin that breaks out across his features. She’s been away on a solo mission for the last few days, and though she’s been away for longer before now, he wants nothing more than to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
But someone could walk in any second, so he doesn’t.
It seems like Natasha has other ideas as she closes the distance between them and unbuttons her jacket.
“Are you going to kiss me or are you just going to stand there looking pretty?”
There’s a smile tugging at her crimson lips, and he glances around out of habit even though they’re alone.
“What if someone comes in?”
Though Steve is more than fine with the rest of the team knowing about their relationship, Natasha had said that she didn’t want them to know yet. At the start, things had been mostly physical but even when they’d decided to give this whole dating thing a try they’d still kept it secret. So he’s stood by her wishes and waited for her. He isn’t going anywhere, not after everything they’ve been through.
“About that…” she starts, pressing her body up to his and resting her hands on his stomach. “I’ve been thinking we should tell them.”
Steve’s stomach does a flip and his chest swells and he’s grinning like an idiot and god, it’s taken seven months but suddenly all the waiting and wishing and stolen moments together are worth it. They’re worth every second because he’ll be able to kiss her in front of the others and tell them that they’re going out on a date instead of sneaking out of the tower separately or meeting in secret between missions.
“You have?”
Natasha’s heart stutters, because he looks so relieved, and she knows this was the right thing to say to him, even though she still has doubts. The secrecy of it all has been getting to him lately, though he’d always brush it off and say he was fine, she knew it wasn’t. Over the last few days away from him she’d decided that it wasn’t fair to keep pushing how much he could take anymore.
“Not yet,” she says, glancing away for a second before looking back up to him, determined. She can do this. For him. “But soon.”
“Soon,” he agrees, and finally he pulls her into his arms and plants his lips on the top of her head. She closes her eyes, a shiver going down her spine as his warmth surrounds her. Funny, it’s been months but sometimes the way he holds her so tender and close still feels foreign.
“Thank you,” he says softly, kissing her hair again.
“Think it's about time,” she replies. Thank you for waiting so long. She doesn’t need to say it. They don’t speak for a moment, but then Steve pulls away slightly, and there’s a mischievous glint in his eyes that Natasha recognises all too well.
“We should go upstairs and celebrate,” Steve says with a sly smile, slipping a hand under her jacket. Unfortunately the dress she's wearing stops him from feeling her skin under his fingers with out him undressing her right here. They can figure out when and how they’ll tell everyone later – right now he just wants to take her to one of their beds and rid them of these cumbersome clothes.
“You’re going to give me that kiss first,” she says slyly.
Knowing she won't let them move from this spot unless he gives her what she wants, he leans down and plants a chaste kiss on the corner of her mouth, pulling back before it can turn into anything more. That can wait until they get upstairs, with no chance of being intruded upon. She huffs indignantly and pulls him right back down. He should have known that wouldn’t satisfy her.
“Come on, I know you can do better than that,” she teases, and he can feel her playful smirk against his lips, because he’s never been able to resist her for long and she knows it. Her teeth nip at his bottom lip and even through the shirt he’s wearing the feel of her hands gliding up his chest to settle around his neck is enough to make desire pool in the pit of his stomach.
He gives in, and part of him should probably be ashamed that it takes so little to turn him to putty in her (wonderfully distracting) hands, but that part is quickly silenced by her lips. He’s just about to deepen the kiss when he hears Tony’s voice, growing louder from the corridor.
They break apart and step away from each other just in time to see Tony stroll through the door with Happy, because they've kept up the secrecy far too long to slip up now before they've had a chance to talk about how they'll tell everyone. Happy waves with a smile that looks like he's greatly amused by something, and Steve tries not to feel too awkward as he raises his hand back in greeting.
"Romanov, when did you get back?" Stark calls over to them as he and Happy head over to the boxing ring.
"A few hours ago," she replies smoothly from Steve's side. He glances over to see her head down, looking at her phone but he can see she's not actually doing anything with it. He wonders vaguely why she'd pretend to be using it.
"Well Pepper wanted to talk to you when you got back. Think she's in meetings all day but she might grab you before I take her out later."
Natasha makes a hum of acknowledgement, gaze remaining on her phone.
"America, got some new body armour I want you to test out, come down to the lab in a few hours," Tony continues, wrapping his knuckles with tape.
"Will do," Steve says. He makes a move to leave but just as he turns Tony calls back over to them. Steve whips back around.
“Oh, and by the way, Cap…” he starts, leaning forward on the ropes, trying to hide the smirk on his face.
“Yeah?” For some reason Steve gets the feeling he isn't going to like whatever he says next.
“Red really isn't your colour.”
For a moment Steve is confused.
"I'm not wearing any r..." He trails off as realisation hits, and sure enough, when he raises his hand up to his mouth, his fingertips come away a shocking shade of crimson.
Natasha finally raises her head and pockets her phone, because there's no point trying to hide it any longer. Steve looks at her like a deer in headlights and she's sure she looks just as ridiculous as he does with her lipstick smudged all over his face. She should really be annoyed that after all this time some lipstick is what betrays them, that they didn't get to tell people on their terms (because now Tony knows, everyone will), but she finds that she doesn't care. Maybe it's better this way.
Happy has that smile he gets when some pining couple in Downton Abbey finally get together. Steve still looks like he's trying to figure out what kind of intricate excuse could possibly explain this away, and Tony is grinning at them like just the thought of what Steve might come up with is the funniest thing he'll witness all year.
Fuck it.
Steve's heart leaps in his chest when Natasha pulls him down and kisses him fiercely, because it's the last thing he expects but it's also the best feeling in the world. His head spins as he gathers her up into his arms and kisses back just as passionately. He just vaguely hears Happy whoop and Tony groan. When she breaks away they're both a little breathless, and he ignores Tony's shout telling them to get a room, one that isn't in his Tower. Well. At least they don't have to worry about when or how they'll tell everyone now.
"I think Tony's sad he didn't get to hear how you were going to explain that away," Natasha says. "Thought I'd save you the embarrassment."
"Thanks," he breathes. "Don't even want to think about what I might have blurted out."
She laughs, and pulls him down again, because this feeling of kissing him and knowing that other people are in the same room is actually not as scary as she'd thought it'd be.