Welcome Home

The Lake

"Really?" The pure excitement in your voice is extremely obvious but you pretend Cap didn't hear you.

"Shall we go?" He offers his hand to you and leads you out of the facility. This 'old-fashioned' romance wasn't so bad after all. The light of a setting sun filters through the leaves of the forest bordering the facility. You walk through, still holding hands, when you reach a clearing. A path made of flat stone leads you to a (clearly hand-made) decking that leads into the water. You look at Steve in astonishment. A sunset lays on the horizon of a lake surrounded by more dense forest. Not a ripple on the water. Like glass.

"I've never brought anyone here before." He looks at you as you look out onto the horizon. You squeeze his hand a little bit tighter. He leads you to the end of the deck where your feet dangle in the water. "Well, now you I guess." You are still mesmerised by the beauty, while he is enchanted by yours. "So... you were in Sokovia?" You look back at him.

"I was. Still feels like a nightmare sometimes." You think about your childhood, everything you had to go through. "You know, I was only 10."

"A 10 year old doing our job for us." He makes light of the situation, and that brings a smile to your face.

"Clearly you weren't doing it very well. You didn't even know I was there." Both of you laugh. You move slightly closer and your shoulders begin to touch.

"You made a suit and you were only 10?"

"You do realise that I come from a long line of genius' right?" You dramatically flip your hair behind your shoulder. "And the line didn't end with my Dad." Steve laughs at you and gently nudges your arm. You lose your balance and your feet drop into the lake, the water up to your waist. You look at him with your mouth open and start laughing.

"Oh come on! You were asking for that." He continues to laugh.

"This is payback for earlier isn't it?" You roll your eyes and smile at him.

"Umm no, I let you do that." You quickly grab his leg that's in the water and drag him under. He falls in and his head is fully submerged. As his head pops back up, he starts to laugh and swims towards you. Your faces become so close, you can feel his breath on you. There is complete silence. You splash him and push him underneath the water by his shoulders. He stays underneath the water, swims towards you and grabs your leg, pulling you out from underneath yourself and dragging you under the water. As you both emerge, you look at each other again. He swims even closer to you. He pushes the wet hair that sits on your face behind you head and you both smile contently. His hand makes its way down to your waist and then onto your back as he pulls you in more. The water is cool but his hands and his body are warm. You wrap you arms over his shoulder and around his neck. He starts walking deeper into the lake until you can no longer touch the floor, but her can. The sounds of peaceful water fill your ears when Steve begins to sing very quietly.

Never thought that you would be, standing here so close to me. There's so much I feel like I should say. But words can wait until some other day. Kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again. It's been a long, long time.

He holds you with one arm on your waist and back and the other holding your hand and swirls you around in the water - you guess this is how they did it in the olden days. You are completely and utterly lost in his eyes, in his voice. You realise how dark the sky has become and that the sun is merely a glimmer on the ripples of the lake your twirling has created.

"We should be heading back. I don't think my Dad would be happy with me out past dark." You hold onto Steve as he swims and steps back to the deck. He holds you by both hands on your waist and lifts you up effortlessly so you are sat on the edge of the deck. As you stand, begin to walk onto the grass and Steve beautifully pushes himself out of the water, you shiver slightly. He rushes to his jacket laying on the grass and places it delicately on your shoulders.

"Here, have this." You can feel his breath on the back of your neck. He runs his hands over your shoulders and down your arms. You slowly turn around to look at him. His t-shirt completely soaked, his hair messy and wet.

"Thank you, Steve." He takes your hands in his.

"Shall we go? Before your Dad kills me?" The two of you laugh and walk back into the forest and towards the facility.

As you reach the door of the facility, Steve holds you back slightly.

"Don't tell anyone about my spot, okay?" He smirks at you.

"Whatever you say, Captain." You offer your hand to him which he shakes. The send a small spark of electricity into his hands and he jumps back in shock and falls to the floor. You are overcome with laughter, barely able to hold yourself up and Steve lays on the floor, gripping his stomach and laughing. He begins to stand up and lightly nudges you.

"I am so gonna get you back one day." He continues to walk into the facility. You walk through the hallways, dripping wet, until you reach the kitchen. Everyone is sat there. Everyone. As you walk in, laughing, everyone stares at you in shock. You and Steve stand there awkwardly, in front of everyone. Dripping wet... and wearing Steve's jacket. You see the exchanged looks between Sam and Nat, attempting to hold in there laughter at such an awkward encounter. Tony gives Steve a death stare. A look that would make you go cold, right down to your bones. And it looked like that is exactly what it had done to Steve. You notice Peter's face has been slapped with upset and confusion.

"And where have you two been?" Sam was thriving in this awkward yet hilarious environment. You helplessly look at Steve for an answer.

"It- umm... it started raining." Really? It was the end of August in New York and the first thing he could think of was "It started raining?". You would have through that super soldier serum would have made him think a little bit faster.

"I- I- should go and get in the shower. If it's okay, I think I might skip dinner tonight." You couldn't bear the thought of having to sit with all of them after that little fiasco. As you walk off, back to your room, you hear the echo of Sam's voice.

"So... Y/n, eh?"