Work Text:
~~
It’s been an entire year since you and Natasha officially started dating, and though you’ve been counting down the days and excitedly chattering on and on, you’re almost certain that Natasha forgot. To be fair, you weren’t expecting her to remember. Between how busy she’s been at work, and the fact that your cat has a larger emotional range than her, you’d decided long ago that you wouldn't be hurt by her emotional ineptitude. Still, you wanted to do something nice, and so you texted Steve and cleared Nat for the night off, sending up a prayer to whoever would listen that there would be no life-threatening emergencies that required your girlfriend’s assistance.
You do remind her a month and then a week before the date, just so she has some time to get you a card, or maybe even think of a present. The morning of your anniversary, you open your phone to a text from your girlfriend, sent at an absurd time, saying:
“Happy Anniversary! I’ll see you tonight. Also I think I left my favorite shorts at your place, can you look for them?”
And that was…the woman you loved. You replied to her and then giggled at how absurd she could be, but your hopes did shoot up a bit thanks to the fact that she had not only remembered, but had also texted you first. As your second alarm went off, you huffed and got out of bed, heading for the shower. You’d decided to pamper yourself a bit since you had the whole day off, and so you had mani/pedi and hair appointments set up before your dinner with Natasha.
To your surprise, when Nat picks you up, she’s got a little red gift bag on the passenger seat of her corvette. She gives you a look when you go to open it right away, and you just roll your eyes and hold it in your lap as she drives. She does have to ask where you had made reservations, which you had already told her, but apparently the super spy remembers everything except what her girlfriend says… Still, you tell her the address with a loving, if resigned, tone of voice as she starts the car.
The two of you arrive and are ushered through the main dining room and into a private room with champagne ready and waiting for you. Natasha glares at the maitre’d as he tries to slide out your chair, positioning herself behind it instead, and kissing you on the head gently once you're settled. She orders for you, and you don’t even protest, since she orders exactly what you would have ordered yourself, down to the smallest detail. It’s so simple and so sweet that you must remind yourself that you have very carefully put on some nice makeup for the evening, so you cannot cry over how sweet it is. Once the waiter is gone, she gets up and proceeds to check the room for any bugs or explosives or whatever it is she looks for, and you simply wait, sipping at your champagne until she returns. After she winks and sits down, you ask about her day and tell her about yours in return. It’s nice and it’s normal and it warms your heart to see her easy smiles and infectious laugh.
~~
Conversation flows easily between you both, and soon enough the food has come and gone, the small dessert you shared has been finished, and it’s time to leave. As Natasha drives you both to the tower, since those walls will be soundproofed and thus your neighbors won’t have to hear the…celebrations, you get more and more nervous about the present you got her. Since it was large, you’d dropped it off at the tower after you’d got it and wrapped it nicely, and Steve had kept it hidden in his room for you. He’d reassured you that she would love it, and Clint had helped you pick it out, but you were still nervous. You’d spent an ungodly amount of money, and since it was custom made, there was no way to return it if she hated it.
“You know that I’m going to love it, right? I mean, since you got it for me, I’m sure I’ll like it.” She smirks, looking over at a red light, and you make a face.
“I just got downgraded from love to like in the same reassuring sentence, so forgive me if I’m still a bit nervous!” Your response makes her smile, and your returning smile is involuntary, as easy as breathing. You grumble a bit more under your breath, and then she’s pulling into the underground garage and into her reserved spot. She opens your door, pulling you up and out for a kiss that you would swear stops time, and manages to catch the small gift bag that slips from your grasp.
“C’mon,” she says, “let’s go upstairs so I can open this mystery present that’s got you all terrified, and you can open your present.”
You enter the elevator, and nestle into her arms, “y’know, I was wondering why you brought it and then refused to let me open it…”. She pinches you in retaliation, and you yelp a bit.
“Well, I thought we would exchange gifts at dinner, but someone decided that it needed to be done here.”
“I told you, it–” she cuts you off as the two of you exit the elevator.
“I know, I know! It’s too big, and all that.” She sweeps you into her arms, effectively cutting off your response, and deftly manages to open her door, and drop you on the bed (softly). She then grabs the large box that was waiting outside her door (Steve knew better than to go inside Natasha’s room), and closes the door, making sure it’s locked. On your six month anniversary Clint had gotten ‘scarred for life’—his words, when he busted in without knocking. Natasha had been furious (but a bit smug), and everytime since then she’s double checked that the doors are locked. Between her spy skills and her smug look, you’re pretty sure she was trying to get back at Clint for something…still, she’d spent a lot of time making it up to you that night and distracting you from your suspicions.
Once the two of you are safely ensconced in her room, she sits down next to you on the edge of the bed, an excited gleam in her eyes. The heartless assassin is a sucker for presents, something only you knew, and relished in experiencing firsthand. You have her open your present first first, since you’re too nervous to even think about what she could have gotten you. She grabs the box and quickly tears away the wrapping paper, much to your chagrin and amusement. You’d spent over an hour wrapping the gift, and then she demolished it in two seconds, mostly because she knew how much time you devoted to wrapping presents–you had banned her from Christmas wrapping, forever.
She finally gets the paper off, and reads the card, then takes a look at what you’d bought. It was a custom handmade knife display case, and you’d spent hours on the phone with the artist trying to get it just right. It seems that the time and money (the great big giant amount of money that had made you somewhat ill) has paid off, because Natasha stands up and walks a few steps away. She’s done this a few times, and you know it’s because she doesn’t want you to see her cry. She calms down and then comes back over to you, a smile on her face and her eyes looking at you like you’re the only person in her world.
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” Her words are simple but so heartfelt that you start to choke up a bit. You just blink rapidly and nod, nuzzling into the hand she’s stroking along your cheek.
“Alright,” you say, clearing your throat, “my turn!” and you turn to the small bag, pulling out the card first. It simply says “Happy One Year Anniversary” and she’s signed it “love, Nat”. You smile and shake your head, endlessly amused by this woman that you’re in love with. And then you reach further into the bag and pull out your present.
And it’s a lollipop.
You look up at her, sure that she’s joking and will pull something else out from somewhere. Instead, she just looks at you, smiling happily, and waiting for what she thinks will be a happy laugh that she can kiss away, and turn into something more.
“Natalia Alianovna Romanova,” you begin, and she backs away from you slowly, “you. got. me. a. LOLLIPOP FOR OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY?” you’ve stood up by this point, fists balling subconsciously in anger.
Her eyes go wide and her face has gone paler than normal as she’s backed away from you. She keeps opening and closing her mouth, though she can’t figure out what to say.
“I–well, we —” she finally begins, though you cut her off immediately.
“Who, Natasha?” you ask, though you think you know the only person she’d really trust.
“Clint said…” she trails off when your face shifts into rage.
You immediately go for your phone to call Clint, furious beyond words. CLINT who had known exactly what you would be giving Natasha, and the time you spent on it, as well as the absurd price, and then HE tells her that a simple lollipop will be sufficient. Not even a pack of them, a singular lollipop, which honestly must be harder to find than a whole pack of them.
This is pretty much what you yell at him once he answers the phone; Natasha then takes the phone from you, and begins yelling at him herself. Since she’s yelling in Russian, you have absolutely no idea what she’s saying, but you assume that she’s telling him off for knowing exactly what you were getting her, and then letting her simply get a lollipop. She finally stops yelling and puts him on speaker, letting him try and defend his choices…that lasts about a few seconds, and then you’re both back to yelling at him.
After about two hours of yelling, your phone finally dies, and of course Natasha has no clue where hers is. And so, Clint is saved by a dead phone, and you face your girlfriend, tired and hoarse from the hours of anger.
“Ok, so before you yell at me again, can I just show you something?” Natasha asks, speaking hurriedly, and moving quickly when you nod at her suspiciously.
She goes over to her desk and pulls out a small envelope from one of the drawers. She comes back over to you and holds it out, waiting for you to take it from her. She smiles hesitantly when you do, and then her mouth is open again, explaining while you gently peel off the tape and open the envelope.
“I wanted to wait and do this a bit later, because I didn't want you to think it was just for our anniversary, but I am now thinking that I made a mistake.”
You make a face at her, and then finally take out the small key that was tucked inside the envelope. You look up at her, a hopeful and questioning look, and she smiles.
“We’re moving out of the tower, Tony’s built a large ‘compound’ for the Avengers and some shield agents, and so that’s where we’ll be living in a couple months. I was wondering, hoping actually, that you might want to come with me? I mean move in with me. If that's not too much or too fast. And the key is really just a symbol, since the compound has electronic locks and such, but I wanted to give you something to show you how much—”.
You cut her off with a kiss, pulling back to whisper a yes, and then kiss her again, deliriously happy and even willing to forgive her for the lollipop…mostly. She makes up for it that night, again and again (and again).
~~
The next morning, or, well, afternoon, Nat sits on the floor and spends an hour placing her knives in the new display cabinet as you lay in the bed, wrapped in her sheet and holding your new key. When she’s finally done with the cabinet, you stand and walk over to where she’s placed it, admiring how nice it looks. She comes up to you and hands you a silver chain, smiling knowingly at you. You hand it back over to her, along with the key, watching as she deftly threads it through the top of the key, and then motions for you to turn, placing the chain around your neck. You smile as she brushes your hair back into place, hand going up to caress the cold metal that is now securely fastened around your neck.
~~
Every anniversary from then on, Natasha buys you a small key charm that goes on a bracelet you never take off; the keys are always different looking, and presented in the same small envelope that she had packed the original key in. The bracelet, which she presents to you on your next birthday, comes along with a teeny tiny silver lollipop already attached. She laughs for quite some time, pleased with herself and her innovative thinking–you smack her and make her put the bracelet on your wrist. When she catches you smiling, she picks you up and spins you around, relishing in hearing your peals of laughter echoing around the two of you.
~~
After she returns from Vormir, you wake up one morning to see the envelope on your bedside table, and as you listen to her softly singing in the shower, you gingerly pick it up and open it. Inside are two keys for the anniversaries she missed, and a charm of your entwined initials; you’re still crying when she comes back into the bedroom, and she wraps you in her arms as she places the new charms on your bracelet. Finally, your wife is home and the world has come back to life for you both.