The rest of March and April flew by. With less than a month until the wedding, Steve graduated with his degree. That same night their ragtag group of friends got together for the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Seeing as how they had this new beach house, the parties were held together at their new home. The ladies are in the kitchen, while the guys are sitting around the table about to play poker.
"So Steve, how's it feel to be entering married life soon?"
"You know Tony; I can't really describe how it feels. I will say that this all I ever wanted since college. What about you? How did you feel when it was the last month before your wedding?"
"I was a nervous wreck. The thought of being tied down to one woman for the rest of my life, I really didn't know if I was making the right decision. It came to the point that Bruce and Happy had to stand guard outside of my door to keep me from bolting."
"Yeah don't forget the windows. I believe Hogan boarded those up."
"How could I forget that, Bruce? But I will tell you this. When I saw Pepper coming down the aisle escorted by her father, I knew right then, this was what I wanted. You could take away all my toys, my house, and all my tricks. It wouldn't matter as long I had her."
"That's amazing, Tony. In high school you seemed to have every girl eating out of the palm of your hand. Remember that competition you and I had senior year about who would be the first with a date for prom?"
"You were always quite the ladies' man as well, Barnes. You and Sharon have been together a while now. When are you going to pop the question?"
"When I take her to Hawaii, I've just been waiting for the right moment."
"Come on guys, enough of this. Let's play poker."
"Fine Clint, I should have expected that the old married man would be the least willing to talk about marriage. I'll deal."
"Peter, we can talk about our marriages until we're all old and gray. Tonight is about Steve's last few moments of bachelorhood. Deal the cards."
As the game starts, Betty, Bobbi, Carol, Natasha, Pepper and Sharon are still in the kitchen, and having a similar conversation.
"Okay, so fess up. Betty, Sharon, you two are next. Which one of you is going to be entering married life first?"
"Actually Natasha, you're next. You and Steve still have to tie the knot."
"Don't change the subject. I've only got a few weeks until my wedding day. So it's down to you two, Sharon."
"It's not a competition. Bruce and I are happy where we are right now."
"Which is code for the General still refuses to let us get married."
"Pepper! You've been with Tony too long. That's the kind of joke he would make."
They all break out in laughter. After a while, Bobbi has a question for Nat.
"So, how does it feel? To soon be a married woman, and a mother as well?"
"It's the greatest feeling in the world. My whole life I'd been waiting for the right guy to come along. It took fourteen years for me to realize that he already had. Now I wouldn't change any of it. It was always Steve."
"So, since Steve surprised you by choosing to have the wedding here on the beach, what are you going to do to surprise him?"
"I've already done it, Bobbi. We've already chosen our wedding bands. After he went to class, I called the jeweler and asked for an Irish wedding blessing to be inscribed on both. Half will be on his, and half on mine."
"What is it going to say?"
"It's a shortened version, but it will say though you are two, there is one life before you. We're honoring my Russian heritage here, I wanted to honor his Irish heritage. The inscription is going to be in Gaelic."
When laughter breaks out in the living room, the ladies all wonder what is so funny. Carol is the first to comment.
"Hey, they sound like they're having fun. That can't happen without us."
When they enter the room, it's obvious who won the poker game. Steve has all the chips and money in front of him.
"Did you get beaten at poker, Tony?"
"All of us did, Pepper. None of us had any idea that Steve was so adept at cheating."
"I didn't cheat, Tony. I called all of your bluffs. I can't help it if you all have obvious tells."
"Seriously man, how did you get so good at poker? Anytime I challenged you, you always lost."
Hey, sketching wasn't the only thing I did after you were sent home, Bucky. Dugan taught me how to really play. From him I learned about all the types of tells, and how to expertly call a bluff."
"Whatever, I still say you cheated."
"Don't worry about it Steve. Any time Tony loses at poker his response is always that the opponent cheated."
"Come on Pepper! Whose side are you on anyway?"
"That can't be what was funny though."
"No, that wasn't it. Nat, after the games ended we got to talking about how we all proposed. Tony and Clint said that how Peter and I proposed was lame. So we challenged them to do better. Tony's giant stuffed bunny was, well there aren't the words for that."
"Hey, Pepper said she liked the giant bunny!"
"Yeah I said that so I could find out where you were going with it, Tony."
"So how does Clint fit into all of this, Steve? How did he say he proposed?"
"He said it was while he was taking practice shots with his bow and arrow. Something about having the ring around an arrow and shooting an apple off of Bobbi's head?"
"That's not what happened. We were sparring, and I kicked the crap out of him. It was when I had him pinned to the mat that I proposed."
The group all looks at her in shock.
"What, just because I studied biochemistry and law, it's hard to believe I can defend myself?"
"And you guys called us lame? How did it feel to get beaten up by your fiancée, Barton?"
"Well, it was incredibly hot, Peter. After I said yes, things got a whole lot hotter when we…"
"Whoa, whoa, NO! This is a party, we don't want to hear about your extra-curricular post 'I got the crap kicked out of me by my girlfriend' escapades."
The entire house breaks into laughter again after Peter stopped Clint. After five minutes, Bruce and Betty have a suggestion.
"Hey, it's getting a little stuffy in here. Why don't we all go down to the beach and watch the waves by a fire?"
"Yeah, come on. I've got blankets packed in the car. It'll be fun to watch the sunset as well."
They all ended the night that way. For Steve and Natasha it was the perfect end to their single lives. Surrounded by their friends, they sat wrapped in a blanket with his arms around her. They watched one day end, with the promise of a bright future that they were ready to embrace.