i'm with you, every step of the way

Chapter 26

Tony went on stage sometime that night to make a "speech" and talked about how he enjoyed his high school life and specially mentioned his friends. Closing his talk with a scream of "I LOVE YOU PEPPER POTTS" he jumped off the stage and crowd-surfed until he found his friends. They were all howling with laughter and Pepper, with her cheeks tinged with pink, just punched his arm and kissed him.

The night was very fun and thankfully, safe for everyone involved. There's an after-party for the party where different rooms are just blasting music and drinks. Tony's dad warned them about drinking and how he doesn't want any lawsuits thrown his way, and most of them are responsible about it. Still, there are guards patrolling the floors if trouble were to rise.

Steve, Natasha, Tony, Pepper, and the rest of the gang were on the penthouse floor in the top of the hotel. They were having their own smaller and personal party here with just them because although Tony loved being in the spotlight, he enjoyed times like these with his friends more.

Clint is playing darts with Sam as Tony and Bucky were playing table tennis. Natasha was sitting on the couch, curled up next to Steve as she was chatting with Darcy, Maria, and Pepper. "So, what's everyone's summer plans?" Pepper asked, addressing the room.

Most of them just shrugged and said that they're going to either be working or just chilling at home. "Well babe are you sure you don't want to go on that Europe trip with my family I was talking about?" Tony asked Pepper, pausing from his game and sauntering over and sitting on the arm of the couch next to Pepper.

Pepper took a sip of her drink and paused. "I don't think I can. I have an internship lined up then by the time I get back here I'd only have two weeks to prepare for college." she answered him sadly and Tony pouted.

"Steve? Do you want to go with me?" Tony asked, turning to look at him.

Steve chuckled and shook his head. "Sorry dude, I can't either. Nat and I are going to take up a job with Bucky and Darcy in the cinemas," replied and tipped the cup he's holding to Bucky, who nodded and grinned. Darcy gave Natasha a thumbs up, excited to start working with her.

Tony's pout grew bigger as he turned to ask everyone else, but they all had plans, one way or another. "You guys suck," he sulked, crossing his arms on his chest. "I'm gonna be stuck with my dad being a bitch for weeks with no one to properly talk to and take nice pictures of me."

"So you only want us there to take photos of you?" Steve joked and Tony rolled his eyes.

--

When August rolled up and summer was coming to an end, it was time for the gang to get ready for college. Steve accepted a full-ride scholarship at Dartmouth College for football and their honors program on a pre-med track. Natasha, on the other hand, picked MIT for engineering. Shortly after getting rejected at Yale came her MIT acceptance and she's been over the moon since. The two of them are very glad with their schools because not only are they going to the best schools in the country, they're also just a few hours away from each other. Tony is also going to MIT, who of course, got in for physics and computer engineering, with a minor in business. The amount of potential workload with his areas of study shocked everyone at first because Tony is a bit of a slacker, but alas, he really is a genius and is ready to takeover his family's business empire.

As everyone is going to different colleges in different states, Tony wanted to get together one last time before this big change. The third week of August is the only time they were all free as the week after that, Nat and Tony will start at MIT while the rest follow in their respective schools. He took his family jet and flew them all again to his villa in Malibu for a few days. This time, they also went around LA to go sightseeing and dedicated two separate days for Universal Studios and Disneyland.

They all made fun of Sam for refusing to ride It's a Small World because he "doesn't want creepy-ass dolls staring at him while singing high-pitched songs", but alas, Maria persuaded him ride it and they took pictures of him with his eyes closed and hands covering his ears. Steve and Natasha bought matching Toy Story shirts and ears, much to her amusement. They also met Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Natasha's favorite Disney characters.

On the last night of their mini vacation, they all had a bonfire by the beach and talked about their high school memories, the best and the not-so-great ones. Tears were shed, but it was all due to reminiscing their days, especially when times of tension and drama were mentioned. After they all seemed to get it out and talked about everything they could remember, Pepper took out a bag with key chains and gave one to everyone. They were random shapes and they looked at her quizzically and she showed them that each piece has a number engraved on the back and if put together in order, it all forms a heart. A lot got teary-eyed from that as they stood up and hugged one another. Despite a rocky history between some of them, their high school gang developed such a deep sense of friendship that was sure to stay for the years to come.

--

Natasha woke up at dawn, suddenly feeling very warm. She can feel Steve's arm draped around her waist, with her back to his chest. She felt very comfortable and didn't want to leave his side but she was also sweating, probably due to the comforter over them and the fact that Steve was shirtless - the result of their makeout session last night that got a little bit too heated. Natasha smiled at the memory and made small moves to get out of his grasp while trying not to wake him. She checked the time and it was 5:40 am, just a couple of minutes before sunrise. She went to the bathroom to freshen up and went outside and sat on the sand, looking at the water and the light colors of early morning around her. It was very serene and calming, and she was lost deep in thought that she didn't hear Steve come out and sit behind her. She almost jumped when he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, easy, it's just me," Steve said, his voice still husky with sleep. Natasha smiled and moved to sit between his legs, with her back against him, and her head resting on his shoulder. "Good morning," he greeted and leaned down to give her a chaste kiss.

"Morning," Natasha mumbled and smiled into the kiss. Steve's arms are hugging her and hanging lazily over her chest and Natasha sighed happily, placing her hands over his thighs. She closed her eyes and let the morning breeze blow past them quietly.

Steve kissed the side of her head. "What are you thinking about?" he whispered lowly, noticing how Natasha hasn't spoken in a while.

Natasha hummed and opened her eyes. "Hm? Nothing, really. Just college, leaving home, and... us," she admitted deliberately.

"Us?" Steve asked and Natasha nodded. "What about it?" he asked again, his voice laced with worry.

Natasha was looking in the ocean when she answered. "Nothing. I'll just miss you so much. I'll miss this. I'll miss not always getting to hug and kiss you..." her voice started to break and when she tipped her head up to look at him, her eyes were sparkling with unshed tears.

"Oh, baby," Steve muttered and kissed her, slowly, and she turned a bit to deepen the kiss. After a while, Steve pulled away to pepper kisses down her jaw and her hung his head to kiss her neck. "Don't worry... I'll always be here for you. One call and I'll come running, I promise." he whispered into her skin. "I love you so much." he rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes.

Natasha smiled, pecking his lips. "I love you so much too."

Notes:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND REACHING THE END. I HOPE I DID THE LAST CHAPTER JUSTICE.
i will be back for an epilogue set years down the line!!!
thank you to everyone who went through this journey with me. couldn't have done it without you guys <3
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omg omg omg i'm sorry for going MIA for so long. just.. so much has happened and i kept pushing this back. idk if yall saw my tumblr post but yeah lol sorry this was late. besides the long time it took me to write this, i said i was gonna finish it last week. but i didn't, sorry!!! i just came back from spending spring break at home and it's 4am and i have a 9:40am class that i'll probably skip lmao anyways. what's up guys!! i'm sorry for this update being so late. pls let me know how i did! and what would you like to see on the epilogue? i already set up an outline for it and will write it, hopefully, before endgame.

IN SPEAKING OF. I HAVE NO WORDS FOR ENDGAME. i have none and a million at the same time lol. feel free to fangirl with me in the comments!!! or on tumblr: cpt-stvngrntrgrs@tumblr.com!!! i'm in the process of writing fics for endgame so lets see how that goes!!