AN: Happy New Year everyone! Just a short and sweet chapter that I hope you all enjoy.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Natasha pulled Steve close to her, pressing their lips together as they shared a kiss. "Happy New Year Steve." She whispered between kisses, tasting the alcohol on both of their lips and letting his tongue slide into her mouth. Natasha let her eyes slip closed, treasuring the feeling of him being close as her fingers raked through his hair. "Happy New Year Nat." He whispered in return when he pulled back slightly. They both grinned at each other, perfectly content in each other's arms as they let the new year wash over them. She wanted to spend the first moment of her year safe in his arms, the rest of the world temporarily forgotten.
"Woah, what the hell just happened?" Tony yelled, pointing towards them and gaining their attention. Steve furrowed his eyebrows at her, confused, before his eyes widened, remembering that Tony was still unaware of their relationship.
"We're not getting out of this one, are we?" She asked him quietly as she rested her forehead on his, stealing another kiss quickly.
"Even you're not that good a liar Tash." He laughed, pressing another kiss to her lips before turning and straightening to face the group, his arm wrapped around her waist as she leant into his side.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU'RE DATING!" Clint shouted, trying to act shocked, causing Natasha to let out a snort. He wasn't exactly acting subtle about the fact he already knew.
"Oh my god, you knew!" Tony said, actually shocked. Steve was starting to feel bad that they hadn't properly told everyone sooner, but they valued their privacy, and honestly, they were just to busy.
"Of course he knew. He's my best friend." Natasha defended Clint as Tony sat down on the sofa, trying to process his shock. She was surprised, she hadn't expected him to be quite as shocked as he seemed to be.
"Alright everyone, pay up." Coulson said, holding out his hand which May put a five into. Bobbi gave Mack a ten, Hunter and Bruce each gave Skye a five, Simmons gave Fitz a ten, Thor and Jane gave Darcy a five each and Tony gave Pepper 2 twenties.
"You guys bet on us?" Steve asked, to which Natasha only laughed at him. "C'mon Steve, like you didn't already know."
"Wait so how long has this been going on? Cause we all placed our bets last Christmas" Bobbi asked causing Natasha to exchange a glance with Steve. She gestured for him to explain, mainly because she'd done it last time so it was his turn.
"Well, you know about 8 months ago when you came over and we played truth or dare?" Steve asked them, to which he received various responses. Some looks on confusion, some of recognition, but most those of people who barely remember the night at all.
"Wait, when you two kissed on a dare?"
"Yeah, it was that night. And that kiss." Natasha told them, looking up at Steve and smiling at the memory. He smiled back, squeezing her waist gently and pressing a kiss into her hair. He felt so much relief being able to just hold her when everyone else was around.
"Wait, so you've been dating for 8 months?"
"Wait, so you two have been doing it for 8 months?" Bruce and Tony asked at the same time.
"Yes, we've been dating for 8 months" Steve said to Bruce, ignoring Tony's question.
"And no, we haven't been 'doing it' for 8 months." She told Tony, sending him a pointed stare telling him to drop the subject.
"You've been doing it for more than 8 months? I knew when you started going on missions together you changed." Tony exclaimed, either not getting the message or electing to ignore it. And knowing Tony, it was probably the second.
"Yes Tony, we've been dating since SHIELD fell." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes causing Steve to chuckle into her hair.
"I called it." Sam exclaimed. "You guys were eye fucking the entire time."
"We were not eye fucking." She defended, and Sam only raised his eyebrows at her. "Totally eye fucking."
"We haven't been sleeping together since SHIELD fell. We just waited a while before we actually did the deed. Although none of that is really your business so I don't know why I'm still talking." Steve trailed off, frowning slightly. "Babe? Be quiet." Natasha whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"Well I think it's great. We've been waiting long enough" Pepper effectively ended the sex conversation, pulling the pair in for a hug. Steve accepted it easily whilst Natasha floundered somewhat, still unused to affection unless it was coming from him or Clint.
"You've known the entire time Pepper." She laughed as Pepper pulled back. "Yeah I know but I never really got to congratulate you." Pepper explained, causing Tony to make himself known again by sucking in a breath dramatically. He morphed his face into a look of fake hurt. "Wait, you knew as well?"
"I caught them a long time ago, like before they broke up and they couldn't get out of kissing each other." Pepper explained to Tony, causing Coulson to furrow his eyebrows. "You broke up?"
"I mean, I really thought the cat was out of the bag when that happened. You were all seriously oblivious." Natasha laughed. Her and Steve had a whole conversation after they got back together about how Tony probably knew about them after he visited her apartment. Clearly, they were wrong, or at least he never realised they got back together.
"When did this happen?" Bruce asked. They could see on his face, on all of their faces that they were trying to figure out their entire relationship, and when they could've broken up without any of them knowing.
"We both moved out of the tower for a month, and then the Hulk threw me into a tree. I mean, Tony, you came to my apartment to see me literally downing Vodka like I had nothing to lose." She shrugged casually, slipping out of Steve's grasp to sit down on the sofa, propping her feet up on the coffee table. Bruce winced at the reminder of the tree throwing incident
"Ohhh, that makes sense now." Tony seemed happy with the explanation, but Coulson looked at them curiously.
"I understand now." He said, and now they were confused. Natasha exchanged a glance with Steve to see if he understood what Coulson was saying, but he just shrugged and sat down next to Nat. "What?"
"Fury called me. Said the pair of you were exhibiting strange behaviour. You both asked for a reassignment and when he refused, you took a months unpaid leave whilst Steve went on back to back missions for a month." Coulson explained, only raising more questions. "Why did he tell you that?"
"Wanted me to find out what was going on. But I had literally no idea where either of you lived. Of course he figured it out when you two made up and told him about your relationship though."
"And you knew?"
"After you told him he wanted me to keep an eye on you. Make sure that nothing like that happened again." Part of Natasha felt betrayed that Fury told Coulson when they'd specifically told him that they weren't telling people. Of course, she found it almost sweet that Fury cared, although she was sure it was more to do with the fact they weren't acting very professional during their break.
"So you knew before May told you?" Steve confirmed, and Coulson nodded his head in confirmation. "Uh huh."
"May knew as well?" Tony asked, and they could tell he was started to get annoyed. Steve would admit that they hadn't meant to keep their relationship a secret for so long, and that it was cruel that they hadn't even told Tony when everyone else started finding out. "Most of you already knew." He admitted sheepishly, waiting for Tony's reaction.
"WAIT WHAT?" Tony yelled again on cue, causing Clint to laugh. "For spies, they're not that great at keeping a secret." He wasn't wrong.
"So how many of you knew?" Tony asked. Out of the 19 people in the room, excluding Steve and Natasha, 11 put up their hands. Natasha frowned slightly, she didn't realise that many people actually knew about them.
"I caught them in the middle of sex." Skye told them.
"Same." Said Pepper. Both Skye and Pepper exchanged a look and smiled, causing Steve to blush and bury his head in Natasha's hair.
"Wait, how did you two find out?" Steve asked Wanda and Vision once he'd recovered. They hadn't told them, yet they put their hands up.
"Wanda told me." Vision said, looking to the girl in question who looked incredibly guilty. She looked away, avoiding Natasha's gaze.
"Wanda?" Natasha asked almost threateningly, raising her eyebrows. Wanda finally looked at her, worrying her lower lip slightly.
"I didn't mean to, I swear. It's just when emotions are heightened I struggle to tune them out." Her words rushed out, trying to explain herself.
"You read our minds?" Steve asked, looking at her sternly. "We've talked about this Wanda."
"Not intentionally. But you never stop thinking about each other, It's exhausting." Wanda justified her actions, and Steve couldn't be mad at her anymore, instead turning his gaze to Natasha to smile softly at her.
"That's almost sweet." Rhodey said. Natasha only grinned in response to Wanda's comment, kissing Steve lightly.
"Stop it. Just because we all know about you now, doesn't mean you can be all disgusting in front of us." Tony complained, pretending to gag as she laid her head on his shoulder. It was freeing, being able to just relax and be comfortable with Steve when everyone else was around.
"I need some Vodka." Nat said, grabbing the bottle off the table and having a swig.
"Me too." Steve laughed, grabbing the bottle out her hands.
"Me three." Tony joked, reaching out to steal the bottle. She jerked it out of Steve's hand and held it away from Tony, laughing joyfully.
"Ah, come on."
By 4am, everyone had crashed out on the floor as were all snoring loudly.
"I'm actually really glad everyone knows." Natasha said as he held her in his arms. They were the only ones left awake and had somehow ended up behind the sofa, half on the fluffy rug, half on the hardwood floors. It wasn't comfortable, well, she assumed it wasn't. She wouldn't know as he was taking up residence on Steve's chest.
"Same, although I'm not looking forwards to Tony's constant jibes." He chuckled softly into her hair, her head resting in the crook of his neck. She shifted slightly so she was looking up at him and pressed a kiss to his jawline.
"Me either, but it does mean I can do this." She said, kissing him gently on the lips. Their mouths explored each other's lazily before Steve cut them off with a little sigh.
"I love you Tash, but this is really uncomfortable for me." She winced in apology, rolling off him and tucking herself into his side. He rolled them over so she was on the rug and he was on the harder floor.
"Steve." She warned him, but he just smiled at her warmly. "Let me take care of you Nat."
She let him do as he wanted, instead getting comfortable and resting her head on his arm, using it as a pillow.
"You know what else I can do now?" He asked softly, tracing shapes on her stomach lightly. "What?"
"I can actually hold your hand in public." He smiled at her, and she lightly held his hand, weaving their fingers together.
"Happy New Year Steve."
"Happy New Year Nat."
AN: If you have any ideas that you desperately, or not so desperately want incorporated into this story, please let me know and I'll try to write them in. I hope you enjoyed, please follow, favourite and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated.