i watched wonder woman and i got emotional so i wrote this without any explanation because i just wantsteve to come back

Every morning, the sun has to relearn how to outshine you. Sometimes, even she is not bright enough.

-Ashe Vernon, Inventing New Ways to Call You Beautiful

1. Just checking in

A hundred years spent with humanity, and she still could not believe how slow the progress it took for women to even be half as equal as men. A hundred years spent with humanity, she would have thought that men would have learned that women could be on par – and maybe even above par – with them. A hundred years spent with humanity, and she could understand why some women felt the need to go even the slightest bit evil to show the male population that they had the potential to be as good – or better.

Diana resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she listened to the man with whiskers on his scalp and a pair of ill-formed glasses perched atop his nose explaining to her the history of Mirrors for her. It was as if he had completely ignored the fact that she literally worked here at the Louvre, and that she knew more about the painting than he did, considering she saw it first almost thirty years ago – and then Louvre recovered it and had it displayed.

It took her multiple attempts to get him to understand that she wasn't the least bit interested in him – or the money. She even briefly considered abandoning him right then and there, and let the staff take care of him. But well, she supposed this was the modern world, where even someone with her qualifications had to snooze sleazy old men to acquire sponsors for the museum and so on.

Two hours later, Diana entered her office with a sigh of relief, releasing her hair from its tight bun and dropping down in her chair, leaning back against it as she closed her eyes to allow herself some reprieve before someone else would surely barge into her office for more assistance. She groaned slightly when her phone rang in her pocket, only for her grimace to turn into a smile when she saw the caller ID displayed.

"Hey," she greeted.

"How are you doing?"

If he was someone else, she would have told him that she was doing fine and that everything went well. But the fact was that he wasn't just someone else. He was hers – the framed photo that sat at the corner of her desk was a stark and happy reminder of it.

"That bad, huh?" She hadn't even said anything, but this was one of the things she loved about him since the beginning. He always just knew. "Well, have you had lunch?"

"Honestly, after what I had to deal with, I lost my appetite," she replied, staring at the grey scale photo sitting on her desk. Sure, she had more photos of him, but this one – this one just reminded her of home.

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" he teased.

She chuckled. "I'll get some chicken noodle soup at the cafeteria later."

"We certainly can't have that," he said, disbelief tracing his velvet voice. "You're in Paris, Diana. I'm pretty sure some Special Forces thing will arrest you if they find you eating chicken noodle soup."

Before she could say anything, her office door opened. She was about to chastise whoever it was for coming in without knocking until she saw the person coming in, a charming smile on his face and his blue eyes twinkling, dressed to the nines in a suit – proper ARGUS wear.

"Which is why I'm here," Steve said, winking as he hung up. He was holding a paper bag, but she could already smell the croissants and pasta wafting in her direction. Her appetite was tingling in her stomach.

She stood up, making her way towards him with a bright smile. "Oh, you are a godsend."

He chuckled. "Well, I did drop from a plane – twice," he quipped.

She rolled her eyes and stopped in front of him, holding his face gently with her hands. Even after all these years, she still loved him with everything in her, and she could hardly believe that she lost him in that plane. Ignoring the fact that he had sustenance in his grip, she leaned in and kissed him, which he gladly returned.

When she drew back, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to check in on you. I know that dealing with old white men is not your favorite thing in the world. Makes me wonder how you deal with me."

"Oh please," she chastised.

"I'm literally more than a hundred years old, even though I don't like one. Thanks to Dr. Poison's serum, I guess."

She guided him to the couch, where a coffee table was situated by. And then she made him put down the paper bag, curling her body around him as she made sure that they were looking at each other. "Well then, we can be old together, however long it will be."

"I like the sound of that."

2. You're the first person I told

She really thought she lost him. When the plane blew up into nothing in the air, she felt the darkest of grief overtake her as she released the most inhumane roar that she had ever heard from herself. It did not help that the metal around her was only tightening around her, because her entire body was wrought with despair and unbelievable sorrow, which only served to ache her muscles more and more with each breath.

Until those insurmountable emotions took her over, causing her to spiral downwards for what felt like centuries, until she heard Steve in her head. And she used that strength to defeat Ares.

When everything was over, exhaustion set in like nothing she had ever felt before. She felt tired all over – her limbs, her head, her heart beating so slowly behind her chest, because she was too tired. It was in that instant that she didn't want to do it anymore; she wanted to go home to her mother and tell her that she was right and asked if there was any way she could turn back time so she could keep the pleasant ideals she had about humanity, and not the twisted and deformed reality that she had witnessed since she first stepped foot in the world of men.

She expected what she expected from humanity. Instead, what she got in return was less and more at the same time – less because they were so little; and more because there was so much more to their animosity and kindness and a whole other jumble of personalities that took her almost a decade to understand.

Of course, it was only when she finally understood the ugliness ingrained in humanity that he returned. She was resting in her home, reading a tome, when Sammy came banging on her door with his fists. She opened to the door to his excited face, taking in the wrinkles and white hair that had replaced his features over the decade, while she stayed as she was.

"Sammy?"

"Diana, you have to come with me!" he had shouted with excitement, not caring that he was most likely disturbing the napping neighbors in this evening.

"What?" She barely got another word in when he took her hand and dragged her out, even though she was already dressed in her evening house wear and did not intend to exit the house today. She didn't have a choice but to follow his lead, unable to catch up with his fast words as he tried to explain everything. "What are we doing here?" she asked when she found that they were inside the command center. She was even more surprised when she saw that Charlie and Chief were there as well, with mirroring excitement on their faces.

"Diana," Chief greeted, offering her a warm hug – his hugs were always warm – being the only person civil enough to even look her in the eyes, while the other two were just squirming with an overabundance of energy next to them. "It is good to see you."

"Yes," she agreed. "But what is this?"

He patted her on the shoulder and nodded to himself with a relieved grin on his face. "You will see, Diana."

And indeed, not three minutes later, she saw. Somehow, among the crowds that were crowding the stairs to mind their own businesses, she spotted him coming down, his blonde hair bobbing along the other heads, favoring another shoulder and limping.

She gasped lowly, but he seemed to be able hear her, because he stopped in his descent and looked up right at her. He had lost a lot of weight, his form thin and lanky, and his cheeks hollow. His blue yes – oh, those eyes that had stared at her with such wonderment the first time they met – were haunted, which was replaced with gladness when he laid eyes on her.

"Diana," he mouthed. And then, as if he forgot about his limp, he raced down the stairs and was in front of her within seconds, holding her face in his hands, which were more calloused and rough than she remembered, but still so warm and gentle. "Diana," he whispered this time, a smile tugging on his lips.

She hadn't heard his voice speak her name in so long – a decade – and she hadn't realized how much she had missed it – him. He looked so different, but he was still Steve, and he came back to her like a miracle. Still so beautiful and loving and gentle and young. There was a certain heaviness sitting at the very back of her chest since she lost him, and with just one look at his face, it was gone, replaced by an unbound lightness that he had alighted in her all those years ago.

Hours later, after a short dinner with the boys, it was a unanimous decision to bring him back home with her so he could rest before he had to report back to the office tomorrow to get all the procedures done. As they strolled back to her home, her arm looped with his because she found it difficult to just let him go, there was snow.

"I need to tell you something," he said softly, watching the snow fall with her.

She tightened her grip on his arm. She hadn't been able to enjoy snow since the first time she understood what snow entailed. Tonight, with him right by her, she found the initial joy returning. "You can tell me anything."

And then he told her about how he was captured by the Germans – by Dr. Poison, to be exact. She kept him in a laboratory, strapped him to a cot, and did a number of experiments on him. He would have died easily if not for the fact that he just wanted to return home to Diana, and he had never given up on that hope for ten years. Somehow, with all those experiments, rather than killing him, Dr. Poison had turned him stronger and more impenetrable, though certainly not as formidable as Diana. One day, he found the insurmountable strength to escape, killing Dr. Poison in the progress, and made his way home with almost nothing on his back but a flimsy shirt and a pair of worn pants.

He didn't know how long it took, how many ships he boarded, how many horses he rode, and how many houses he had to stay nights in, but he somehow found his way home – to her.

They stopped near a patch of fields with nothing but snow covered grounds. "I'm a murderer," he said, his face torn with an emotion that she couldn't possibly begin to fathom.

"Steve," she whispered, taking his face in her hands and lifting it so she could look into his eyes. "You did what you had to do. And I'm glad you did, because you came home, when I thought I lost you."

"Diana, I –" He looked away from a moment, and then back to her. "I'm sorry that you had to see all this – you had to learn all of these dark things about humanity."

She shook her head. "Yes, but it's about what I believe, isn't it?"

His eyes widened slightly in shock, as if he couldn't believe that she took his words to heart. The silly man, she took everything he said to heart. And then a small genuine smile crossed his lips. "You're the first person I've ever told that," he said.

She nodded in understanding. She then lifted onto her toes to kiss him for the first time in a decade. She remembered ten years ago, when they were in the abandoned motel brought back to life, their first kiss had felt so much like an awakening.

This felt almost the same, except she knew that he was here to stay.

3. I gotta kiss you before you leave

"Diana!"

She looked up from putting her boots to see Steve rushing towards her, dressed in a combat uniform. She frowned and stood up, one foot bare. "What –"

"You didn't think I'd leave you to fight the bad guys alone, did you?" he said with a teasing smile, though she knew him too well to not notice the strain in his voice.

"I'm not alone."

He nodded. "I know, I know. You have the –" He gestured vaguely in the air, a slight frown touching his forehead "– the League." He then shrugged. "Guess I just wanted to be a hero myself."

If he was any man, she would have concluded that he was just jealous that a woman was out there fighting the real battles and he wanted some of that credit to himself. But the fact of the matter was that Steve was not just any man, and he would never disrespect her like that.

So that only meant one thing.

She smiled, enclosing her arms around his neck and pulling him towards her. He followed her willingly, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his forehead against hers. "Steve Trevor, always fighting by my side," she whispered appreciatively.

Another thing she loved about him: he always wanted to be by her side, to remind her that he would always be there, even if no one was.

"Promise me you'll come home to me," he said.

"I promise. You have to promise the same," she replied.

He opened his eyes, nodding. "I'll always come home to you."

And then he leaned forward to kiss her, engulfing her in a passion that she was sure wasn't for the public's eye to see. But she couldn't care less, because this man, this wonderful man who spent a decade staying alive so that he could come home to her, was the most wonderful thing that had happened to her since she joined humanity those hundred years ago.

Before she knew it, he was already drawing back and skipping towards the roaring aircrafts. "I just gotta kiss you before you leave!" he shouted with a cheeky grin, running backwards and expertly steering away from knocking into the other ARGUS agents swirling around them.

A similar grin spread on her face as she waved towards him, watching him turn his back towards her and boarding a missile craft. Steve and planes always scared her, but she knew enough that she had to show him the same respect he showed him and believe in his ability to maneuver the craft.

After all, he promised her.

4. I noticed that you need this so I got it for you

She saw it when she was Christmas shopping with Barbara in the afternoon, and she just knew that she had found the perfect gift for Steve. Not even contemplating it, she picked it up and asked the customer service lady to wrap it up for her.

Barbara tried to pester her to get her to spill on the story behind the gift, but Diana refused to. It was one of the lighter memories she had of Steve before he decided to be a self-sacrificial idiot and blow himself up – and she intended to keep that memory to herself.

Come Christmas Eve, they were all gathered at the dining room in Wayne Manor – and by all, she meant all. Alfred even told her that he hadn't seen this many people in the room since Bruce's parents passed away, which was why he decided to put his culinary skills to good use and cooked up a buffet enough to feed all of them and more.

They enjoyed a festive dinner, filled with laughter and so many snippets of everyone's lives, and Diana was reminded of why she decided to stay all those years ago. When the clock chimed twelve, it was time for everyone to open their gifts.

Selina bought Bruce a blanket, complaining that his blanket was entirely too scratchy to her liking, while Bruce got her a fist ring, claiming that she needed to stop coming up with bruises on her hands because he didn't have time to tend to her. Lois gave Clark a framed version of his first article, while Clark offered Lois a bathrobe because her walking around the apartment naked was too distracting.

And so on and so forth.

When it was Diana's turn, she received a heavy bundle from Steve, who was smirking the entire time he watched her unwrap it. That smirk made her cautious as she slowly unwrapped it, and then burst out laughing when she saw what it was.

Twelve volumes of Cleo's treatises on body and pleasure.

"How did you get these?" she asked, her eyes brimming with tears as she couldn't stop laughing.

"I made a little visit. Your mother still doesn't really like me, but I think that's because you'd be with me," he said with a smug smile. "She made me swear to bring you back the next time I visit."

"You visited my mother?" she asked in disbelief. Steve would never voluntarily return to Themyscira without her, claimed that he didn't want to be castrated in the middle of the night for stealing away the princess.

He winked and leaned forward to peck her on the cheek. "Anything for you."

"Your mother's still alive?" Barbara asked, her eyes wide.

"Also, what are those?" Selina piped in, somehow managing to turn up behind Steve and her without making so much as a noise. When she flipped through one of the books, her eyes widened and a sly smile stretched her lips. "Well, well, Diana, I wouldn't have expected this from you."

Kara frowned, zipping over to them as well. "What is it?" She snatched the book from Selina and flipped through them, her frown disappearing and her eyes widening with each page. "Okay, I've seen enough," she squeaked, tossing the book back to Diana's lap.

Diana laughed and gestured at Steve's gift. "Open yours."

Steve narrowed his eyes, must have noticed the mischief in her eyes. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"

"Who knows? Might remind you of old times. I noticed that you need it so I got it for you," she chimed.

He sighed, shaking his head while peeling off the wrapping paper. "Now, I know I'm gonna like this."

A minute later, he was holding a smoking pipe in his hand, eyes wide in horror. And then he turned to her. "You saw that?" he hissed, clearly spooked.

She nodded. "It was very comical. I'm surprised that you can muster a German accent so well."

"Oh my god," he whispered, twirling the pipe.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Bruce piped in. "Those aren't gifts."

"Oh Bruce, you wouldn't understand," Diana rebuked with a smirk.

Moments later, Steve leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, "You're in so much trouble later. I'll show you just how much a man is necessary for pleasure in the process of procreation."

She shivered. She couldn't wait.

5. We're not going to bed until we made up

Diana loved Steve very much, it wasn't an unknown fact. After all they had been through, she only loved him all the more. But that wasn't to say that he was the perfect man, because he was far from it. He was a little too akin to lying, too protective, and too stubborn to back down when he knew he should.

Just like today.

And she had Amanda Waller to blame for that, but she was going to handle Amanda later. Right now, she just wanted to go to bed, but Steve was entirely too stubborn for that.

"You lied to me!" Diana yelled across the room. She was standing by the counter in the kitchen, while he was standing at the entrance of the kitchen. When he opened his mouth, she interjected, "And don't you dare say that it's because you're a spy. I am your –" She wanted to say that she was his wife, she had wanted to say that for a long time, but he just never seemed to get the hints. She took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. "You do not lie to me!"

"I didn't lie to you," he retorted with as much veracity as she did.

"Omission of the truth is just as bad as a lie!"

"I had orders!"

She raised her brows. "When I have orders, do I ever lie to you?"

He closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly. "Diana," he said with that impatience in his voice whenever he knew that he was losing, and he had lost more often than not whenever they quarreled. Why hadn't he learned that?

She huffed, throwing up her hands. "You know what, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to bed."

He blocked her exit. "No, we are not going to bed until we made up," he said sternly. She narrowed his eyes. Realizing his mistake, he softened his stance. "Please."

"Steve, you could have died if Bruce hadn't told me," she said between gritted teeth. "You should have told me."

"And I thank you for that, really," he whispered. "But this…I…" He puffed up his cheeks and exhaled through his nose with a loud noise. "I didn't want to worry you. It was supposed to just be a run of the mill recon mission."

"Sneaking into the Russian embassy to steal information is not a run of the mill recon mission," she threw back at him. "It's the Russian embassy."

"And I'm an ARGUS agent," he retorted. "And you're a Justice League member. We both have jobs that come with risks." He ran his hand through his hair, which she usually found very attractive and was always a precursor for more explicit times later. But this time, she only found it frustrating, because he was frustrated as well. "You think I don't worry when you go out on last minute missions and don't tell me? I worry all the time. But I know that it comes with the job, so I trust you and hope that you can come home to me and we can go to bed together."

He stopped for a long second, and then he withdrew his hands from his pockets. He lifted his hands, hesitating before cradling her face when she didn't draw back from his impending touch. This was just him, always so respectful of her consent, even when he knew that he was going to blow up an entire plane, he didn't even try to kiss her because he knew that she couldn't consent.

"It's part of the job, Diana," he whispered.

"You almost died, Steve," she whispered back. This time, she wasn't angry anymore. She was just scared, when she remembered how he was trapped in a burning house filled with explosives and that she wouldn't make it in time and he could have easily died if it wasn't for Barry and his speed.

"I know."

"I lost you once. I can't lose you again." Tears were streaming down her face.

He nodded, wiping her tears away with his thumbs before pulling her into him and cradling her against him, his arms wrapped around her. "I'm sorry, Diana. I shouldn't have lied."

"You just…you promised me you wouldn't do that to me again," she said, her voice muffled by the material of his sweater.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Diana," he whispered, planting kissed on the top of her head.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, fully embracing him and breathing him in, his musky scent mixed with wood and ash. But she still refused to let go of him. She couldn't.

6. I'm not stopping until you laugh

"My sister bet me a hundred dollars I couldn't build a car out of spaghetti. You should have seen her face when I drove pasta!"

She groaned. "You don't have a sister."

"I know," he said with a shrug, watching her from in front of her.

They were sitting sideways on the couch, facing each other. He had his arm rested against the back of the couch, while she was hugging a cushion close to her chest. He had turned off the television when she walked in, probably noticing the somberness she brought with her from work.

She had had a bad day. She spilled her morning coffee. Her assistant sent her the wrong document when she was going to do a huge presentation. Her superiors just didn't seem to understand that she wasn't a machine and decided to send her to Italy next week. Selina came barging in, complaining about Bruce and his stupidity while not noticing that Diana was in a slum. And then to top it all off, it was raining and she was splashed all over by a passing car.

"How many South Americans does it take to change a light bulb? A Brazilian."

"That's racist," she commented.

He shrugged it away again. "I went to the zoo the other day. It was empty, except for a single dog. It was a Shih Tzu."

She raised her brow. "You hate zoos. And Shih Tzus are adorable."

"I know. I was going to talk to you about getting one." He breathed deeply, looking up at the ceiling as if he was pondering. And then he smiled again, moving closer to her. "Where do animals go when their tails fall off? A retail store." She groaned again, burying her face in the cushion. "Hey," he said softly, prompting her to look up, "I'm not stopping until you laugh."

Instead of smiling, she pouted. She considered herself a strong and independent woman. She had to be, considering where she came from and the things she had seen. But sometimes, a woman just had to slouch and be miserable.

"How does a train eat? It goes chew chew."

"What's Forrest Gump's password? One-Forrest-One."

"A Roman walks into a bar, holds up two fingers, and asked for five beers."

At that, she burst out laughing, toppling over into his lap, buried face first as she chortled. She could feel vibrations coming off him as he laughed along with her, his fingers brushing through her hair gently. And then when she turned around, facing up at him, he had the most lovesick smile on his face.

"There you are," he whispered. "I've missed you."

7. You're the reason I smile

Diana was so late. She was so late. Oh god, Steve would be so angry and she wouldn't even blame him. She knew she should have found a way to fix that watch, or get another watch, but that watch meant something, and the last thing she wanted was to replace it with another or get rid of it entirely. Another last thing she wanted was to be late to an event that she knew Steve dreaded.

She groaned in frustration when she finally found a parking space and parked her car. She pretty much ran to the entrance of the ballroom, where she saw Barbara waiting. Barbara gave her a look and dragged her inside, without even allowing the representative at the front check her invitation.

"He hasn't smiled since he came," Barbara informed.

"Oh dear," Diana muttered, looking for Steve in the sea of faces and tuxedos and dresses, only to see Steve leaning against her pillar, his hair combed back and his hand holding a glass of wine while his face was barren.

As if sensing that she was here, he turned to her direction. And then the brightest grin crossed his lips.

"Well, seems like you're forgiven," Barbara murmured next to her, rolling her eyes. "Couple of lovesick fools. Not even Dick and I are as sappy as you," she complained. And then she pushed Diana forward. "Now, go to him and do your sappy thing."

She stealthily made her way towards him, avoiding conversation as much as she could until she reached him. His arms instantly found their way around her waist. "You're late."

"I'm sorry. It's inexcusable," she apologized, leaving him a quick peck.

"You're late and you only give me that? Now that's inexcusable," he teased, wiggling his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes, though with a smile. And then she leaned in for a more thorough kiss. When she leaned back, he had a dreamy look on his face. "Now that's more like it." He tightened his arms around her and smiled at her, a sober and non-reliant love splashed across his features. "I'm glad you made it."

"Me too," she whispered.

"Care to sway with me?"

She laughed and nodded. "There's no one I would rather sway with."

He adjusted his lapels, stood in front of her, bowed, and offered his hand. "Madam."

She let him lead her to the dance floor, joining their friends who had participated in the gala that Bruce had organized to raise money for the Gotham's Children's Hospital. Now, over the years, she had learned one too many dance moves from a number of eras. But for her, she only had one favorite dance, and it was swaying in Steve's arms.

She was enjoying herself, until the lights suddenly shut off, flinging them into utter darkness. A series of gasps and shouts rang across the room. And she called, "Steve? Steve?"

Just when she was about to really start panicking, music started playing again, and a single spotlight lit in front of her. Kneeling at the center of it was Steve Trevor, with an open ring box in his hands as he smiled up at her, but it was apparent that he was also nervous.

Her jaw dropped and she could only stare at him.

He cleared his throat and licked his lips. "Diana Prince, I think we all know that I am not the most romantic person in the room, but I still love you as much as I have loved you since we first met, and that says something. You are the reason I believe; the reason I smile; and the reason I want to keep on living. You, Diana, made me believe, when I have stopped believing for so long, and that is why I love you. And I know we have a lifetime together, but I don't want to spend the rest of it not getting to call you my wife. So, Diana Prince, will you marry me?"

She stared at the ring. It was simple, and not complex, the opposite of what their lives were, and exactly what she wanted. She then looked at his face, so torn with love that she didn't have to doubt whether he truly loved her, because he did, and she was the luckiest woman to be the person he looked at with such fervor.

So, there really wasn't anything else she could say other than, "Yes."

Because really, no one could make her feel more completely, truly, and totally loved than Steve Trevor.

i'm sorry you had to suffer through that.