Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~1,000
Characters: Steve/Natasha, Bucky/Wanda
Prompt: double date
For: steph21108
A/N: This is just fluff and sugary nonsense like cotton candy, but I'm a sucker for it, too.
the most wonderful time of the year - day twenty-seven
"They're really good together."
Natasha smiles, turns her head to follow Steve's gaze through the crowd of the state fair, where Bucky and Wanda are at one of those game booths. It's one where they're popping balloons with a pellet gun, and Natasha feels herself smile a little wider as Bucky helps Wanda adjust it so that she's holding it more comfortably in her hands. The girl has worked with guns before, of course, but they still make her a little nervous. But not right now, though. Right now, her eyes are bright and her cheeks are flushed and she's totally giggling and not able to hold the rifle steady at all, and Bucky is laughing, too, as he comes to stand behind her. They're taking way too long, but no one's behind them and the guy manning the booth looks totally amused and not bothered that they're sort of just messing around, so whatever. It's cute. They're cute and always have been, even before they actually got together.
But now they're totally in love and happy and it's kind of crazy to see when she thinks about how long it took them to actually say anything about how they felt.
(Not that she and Steve were really any different, but whatever.)
"Yeah, they are," Natasha agrees, tucking herself a little closer. No one else is sitting on this bench, but he'd pulled her onto his lap after they bought hot chocolate and she was too comfortable to move herself off.
"Hey," he says so that she'll look at him. He smiles, squeezes her hip a little. "I love you."
She's smiling as she rolls her eyes. "Sap," she teases, but then grasps onto the lapels of his coat and presses her lips against his. It's probably a little deeper and dirtier than it should be considering they're in public, but there's no one around them right now and she just really wants to kiss him properly. He doesn't seem to mind. "I love you, too," she murmurs.
"Well, that's a relief," he says, and she laughs because she knows he's joking. He doesn't doubt how she feels about him at all. Not anymore, anyway.
Wanda's giggle draws Natasha's attention, and she looks over her shoulder to see her and Bucky walking over to the bench. Wanda has a stuffed teddy bear tucked in her arms against her chest, and Bucky has this look of total adoration (which is kind of just his look when it comes to Wanda) as she squeezes the thing close and presses her face against it. Bucky pulls her to his side, leans down to press a kiss atop her hair, and she smiles a little wider. Then she catches Natasha's gaze and beams, skipping ahead. Bucky just grins and watches her go.
Natasha stands up, reaches over and tucks some of Wanda's hair behind her ear. "Cute bear," she tells the girl.
Wanda grins and links their arms together. "Thanks for letting us crash your date," she says, glancing at Steve, too. "I've never been to a fair before."
"That was a crime in itself," Steve teases as he stands up from the bench. "My mom took Buck and me to these things all the time."
"And after he learned I hadn't been to one, either, he takes me all the time," Natasha adds, her tone exasperated. He winks because he knows that she's just teasing – that she actually loves how he takes her out all the time, for no particular occasion, because he likes to spoil her a little. "You two are always welcome to come along."
"Well, I don't know about always," Steve says, and Bucky grins, nudges his fist against his shoulder. It's hardly the first time that the two couples have gone out together, and inviting Bucky and Wanda along today had been Steve's idea in the first place, when their date came up during lunch and Wanda asked what a state fair was like. And obviously Natasha loves to have Steve all to herself, but she doesn't mind this at all, either. She and Wanda see each other all the time, but it's hard to find time to hang out with the girl outside of the facility and not have it be because of a mission or whatever. Not that they can't have fun while they're taking care of business, but still. Taking a step back from the responsibility for a little is nice.
She also just really likes being around the girl. She's always so happy and she's sweet and also totally sassy. She's a lot like Steve and a little like Natasha, too.
Maybe that's why she's so attached to her.
"Should we grab a bite?" Steve asks as they start walking. "I'm starving."
"You're always starving," Natasha says.
"Super metabolism," Wanda chimes in with a bit of a giggle. "James is always hungry, too."
"Don't act like you girls don't eat your weight in fries whenever we get burgers," Bucky teases. Wanda sticks her tongue out at him. "I'm not sure how, since you're both so tiny." They all laugh (well, he's not wrong) and Wanda hugs onto Natasha's arm a little tighter, leans her head against her shoulder. Natasha smiles a little wider.
They end up at this diner that's a block away from the facility that they go to all the time, whenever they're not sure what they want. They sit at their usual booth towards the back and end up with Steve and Bucky on one side of the table and Wanda and Natasha on the other, because the girl just didn't let go of Natasha's arm when they went to sit down, but no one minds. They boys order burgers for themselves and fries for the whole table, and then their usual waitress – this sweet, elderly woman who always sends them home with a free slice of pie "for being so sweet" – comes by with two milkshakes and four straws that they know she won't charge them for later. Steve will make up for it by tipping too much, like usual.
Steve sticks two straws in theirs and slides it over to her to sip first before she can ask. She grins and takes his hand in hers over the table, curling her fingers around his.
"Hey," she says, even though he's already looking at her. "I love you."
"Sap," Steve teases, smiling widely. Wanda giggles and Bucky grins, and Steve pushes his thumb against her engagement ring, making her heart flutter in her chest. "I love you, too."