a/n: First, print out a timeline of the Captain America MCU. Second, grab some darts. Third, aim somewhere towards the Civil War side of the spectrum. That's about where this fic takes place.
I used to be bigger than you.
I used to be able to come up behind you and wrap my arms around your shoulders. You melted into my frame, your body tucking in neatly inside my chest, your narrow hips fitting in perfectly between mine. I used to be able to hold you in my arms and press my face into your hair, breathing in soap and spiced tea and paper and ink, everything at once and all of it you.
But then you were bigger than me, and I couldn't smile down at you anymore, couldn't reach my arms around your broad chest, couldn't gather you in my arms on the rare occasions we were alone. I looked at you and could see the same small you in the way you held yourself when no one looked - hunched over, your shoulders tight, your mouth pinched and head ducked - but it was so rare that you let yourself relax. You thought you were prepared for the war you threw yourself into but you weren't.
Now I'm bigger than I was, but you're the same big you you were back then. I can't stand behind you and rest my head on your shoulder, but when we lay down, you fit inside my arms again, and even if I can't duck down and press my lips into your scalp, if I stand on my toes I can reach your forehead. I've learned how much I like being able to kiss your neck and how much I like the feeling of your arms around my shoulders. I like that I can sleep curled into your body, not unlike how you used to in mine, and feel safe, protected, as relaxed as I have been in seven decades.
