𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸'𝚖 𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚎

Chapter Thirty-One

Steve's POV

     Y/n was curled up in my lap as I did the rest of the paperwork I had to do for today. I was a little behind due to the break I took, but I didn't mind, and from the looks of it, she didn't either. She had put her undergarments and her shirt on, and was wearing a pair of sweatpants that I kept in my office for emergencies. I had put my shirt back on as well, along with letting Maggie into the room.

     Y/n shifted around in my lap for a moment until she got comfortable, and next thing I knew, she was fast asleep. I finished up my paperwork, picked Y/n up bridal style, and left my office for the day, Maggie following close behind.

     After I got off the elevator and passed through the common room, I nodded in greetings to Natasha, who was the only one in the room.

"What happened to your back?" I stopped in my tracks, and furrowed my brows at her.

"There's blood on your shirt." She looked concerned as she approached me.

"Maggie scratched me this morning, I'll be fine." I made up the lie once I realized that my back was bleeding from where Y/n had scratched me during our break.

     Natasha didn't buy it, and mostly because Maggie ratted me out by letting out a soft growl. I sighed and turned around to fully face her.

"Please don't tell anyone." Natasha's eyebrows shot up, and she smirked.

"Your dirty little secret is safe with me." She held her hands up in surrender and walked over to the fridge.

     I knew Nat would keep her word, she always did. I then turned and walked down to my room, laying Y/n on the bed and covering her up, kissing her forehead before I went to my bathroom mirror. I took my shirt off and sure enough, there were little spots of blood scattered along the back of my light grey shirt. I shook my head and smiled, then twisted so that my back was facing the mirror, and craned my neck so that I could clearly see my back. There were eight angry red scratch marks on my back, a few beads of blood coming out in different places.

     You'd think that I'd panic, seeing my back ooze blood, but it was actually quite the opposite. I smirked to myself. She had marked me, in an way, as hers by doing this, and I had done the same to her, but I was yet to see what I'd left. Of course I would never show her my back, since she would never do it again if she saw what she had done. The truth is, I liked the pain mixed with pleasure, it made the experience all the more enjoyable. Not to mention that the marks would heal into almost nothing in a couple of hours.

      I watched Y/n sleep peacefully on my bed, and then I grabbed a thick sweatshirt from my closet to cover up my back. Oh how I wanted to waltz around with my shirt off, but I didn't want to embarrass Y/n, not knowing how she would feel about it.

     I closed the door to my room softly, and made my way down the hallway to the laundry room, my bloody shirt in hand. I planned to throw it in the washer, but I noticed that Y/n hadn't taken her sheets out of the dryer yet. I opened the door to the dryer, and her sheets were still warm. I pulled a laundry basket from the shelf above my head and pulled her sheets out into the basket, making sure to put my shirt in the washing machine for a quick wash.

     Once I got down the hallway, I stuck my head in my room to check on Y/n, and I left the door cracked so I could hear if she woke up. I took the laundry basket to Y/n's room across the hall, and put her sheets on her bed, along with the pillowcases on her pillows. I also made her bed, smoothing out the comforter.

It was late, but I wasn't tired, and I knew that if I got into bed with Y/n, I would just lay there for a couple of hours until my brain tired out. I looked around her room for something to do. Then I went in her closet, and saw that her laundry basket was halfway full. I packed the empty and the half-full laundry baskets to the laundry room, and loaded Y/n's clothes in with my single shirt that was washing.

*******

The washer had finished a little earlier, and I switched it to the dryer. I was starting to nod off while I waited for the load of clothes to finish, when I heard a the soft sound of metal clanking against tile come from down the hall. I looked up, to see Y/n rubbing her eyes in the doorway.

"Steve?" She spoke groggily as she stood in the door, my comforter wrapped around her, dragging on the floor.

"Hey, sweetheart. What're you doing up?" I asked her softly and a smile made its way to my face.

"The bed's cold." She almost whined to me as she came up to me and put her head on my chest.

     I chuckled softly at her actions, and hugged her, moving the blanket off of her head so that I could kiss it.

"C'mon, let's go to bed." I smiled at her and she took my hand in her smaller one.

     We walked slowly down the hallway, her waddling and dragging the blanket behind her. Once we got in my room, she plopped down on the bed, still cocooned in the blanket.

     I let out a breath of a laugh out at her, and pried open the blanket so that I could get to her. She allowed me to open the blanket, and she threw some of it over me, but my backside was exposed.

"So you come into my room and steal my blanket. I see how it is." She giggled at me as I kissed her nose and pulled her so that she was laid on top of me.

     She stirred for a minuet, trying to untangle herself from the blanket, throwing it over the both of us once she did. I wrapped my arms around her back as she relaxed on top of me. Maggie was laid up against my side and I rubbed her head before wishing both of my girls a Goodnight.