Hey guys! Long time, no see. I've decided to postpone the chapter I was going to post here so have some fairly fluffy goodness before I post it. As always, thank you for your kind words, favourites, and follows xx
Nat stroked the leg twitching beside her beneath the table, watching the owner relax slightly at her touch. Around them, three couples laughed and talked and thought they were oh, so clever, setting up this date.
"So, Cap, how long have you known Beth?" Nat asked from across the table.
"Uh, about three months now, Nat."
"You're a cute couple," said Bruce from beside her.
"Thanks, Bruce. I would say the same of you and Nat but... You guys aren't a couple."
The rest of the table fell silent for a moment, watching their reactions and looked away in disappointment when they showed none. Beneath the table, Bruce's hand covered hers here it lay on his thigh, and squeezed lightly. Only Tony looked at them knowingly, having walked in on them kissing in the lab one day a few weeks past.
The conversation ebbed and flowed around them, and then suddenly they were dancing, music flowing around them elegantly and Nat was swirling in some man's arms as weightless and dreamy as a cloud - until suddenly she wasn't. A different pair of arms encircled her waist, the muscle roiling and twisting beneath the thin skin and she knew that if she dared risk a look she'd find green in those beautiful hazel eyes of his and a snarl curling his lips.
"Back. Off." He hissed to the unknown man, who immediately turned remorseful and backed away quickly, fleeing the room. Nat turned in his arms and laid her head against his shoulder, wrapping her arms snuggly around his waist and holding him close as she felt the tension that had been building inside him, making him so very close to shattering both himself and everything around him, leeching out of him and he rested his head on the top of hers, apologising into her hair.
"It's alright, Bruce."
"It's not. You're allowed to dance with whomever you wish, Natasha, and I ruined that."
"How? I wanted it to be you. I also thought you didn't want everyone else to know so I didn't invite you out with me..."
She trailed off, reaching up on her tiptoes to pull his head down to her height and pressed his lips firmly to hers, unmindful of the stares from their friends.
Several weeks later, surrounded by friends in a small diner not far from Tony's latest structural accomplishment, Steve realised that of all them, only Tony had been unsurprised by the revelation.