nothing - steve and natasha

plural

Cream-colored walls decorated with Steve's many artworks—mostly composed of portraits inspired by his lovely wife he married three years ago—is what surrounded the two of them now, inside their humble abode, with him sitting on the couch on this sunny Saturday afternoon as his other half stood by the counter aisle of their kitchen, fixing the plates of snacks she prepared for the movie night she also insisted to have tonight even though there's nothing special to be celebrated. It's the 18th of June, weeks earlier for his birthday and months away from their fourth anniversary. Perhaps she just got in the mood to eat. He had been so worried over her for the past few months because she barely eats anything and at times would eat excessively, even ask for foods she never ever ate and every week her cravings get much weirder. And guess what? She hates peanut butter sandwiches except if he's the one who's making them for her.

There's not much that's changed except for her surname. That it's now Rogers. Mrs. Natasha Romanoff-Rogers, he smiled at the thought. Their partnership is still as it was fourteen years ago and there wasn't a lot of adjustments since they've practically been together forever and those years they had to run served like a training ground for marriage. How they are so used to sharing everything from food to bed to smiles and breath... that's just his life now, it always has been. That reason alone is what kept him fighting for the slightest chance of getting her back, because life will never be the same without the one person he always called home. With her, he is at peace. And he could never ask for more.

After his brave confession at Vormir, Nat still had some bullets to fire. Contradictions and doubts. Her so-called "fair reasons" as to why she shouldn't be the one he is choosing, starting from the fact that she can never bear children. That kills his dreams of twins and grandchildren, she said. Yet his affection doesn't go that shallow for her. He was willing to take whatever she could give. Despite that, she still reasoned, saying that she was trained for survival (as if he didn't know that), that she wouldn't make a great life partner; she can't cook very well, she's not used to cleaning the house, if they have a fight she'd probably get a gun instead of trying to verbally fix it. But look at her now, five years an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., three years his better half, and looks like she just took a lifetime training course in housekeeping. Ever since they married—actually, even before that—she has been pals with Peggy, and because of the fact that they're both too tough to handle a single teacup with much care, they've decided to train together in the field of becoming wives. Not that they believe their worth and capability shall be degraded because of a matrimony that happened, but they wanted to take care of their husbands the best they can. Peg got married a year earlier to Daniel and that man is just every woman's dream. He didn't let his wife lift a finger as long as he could do the chore but she knew his adorable husband would not forever be strong with a single foot. Besides, if they think of making a family then he will surely need extra hands for changing the diapers and all that stuff. So as soon as Nat married him, the two best friends took learning to be housewives a challenge because they love how that sounds. They wouldn't sign up for a responsibility, but keeping it hidden under the disguise of a provocation is something the both of them will never take down. Steve and Daniel would sometimes just look at each other in awe of seeing their wives race up a coconut tree to get Peggy's pregnancy craving or when they'd casually cackle their guns when coquettish women sneak around their equally good-looking gentlemen.

It's such a roller-coaster of events for him and it has been three years. Three damn years and he still can't lose that spark whenever he looks at her. She's still the most beautiful thing that has ever happened in his life and for that, he feels like falling all over again.

She said she wouldn't be good at taking care of him, but she doesn't know that she has been the only one all those years to give a single damn about how he was doing. That was more than enough, she was already the best at keeping him. But now that she considered learning things to make him live the best life with her? It feels like a dream already. Hence, this is their reality. And it's way, way better than just dreaming.