Chris Evans Imagines

Happy Birthday

Warning: Sadness/Heartbreak and some fluff

***

Y/N was in her sweats and curled up in a ball in bed. Dodger whined as he cuddled closer to her as he felt her sadness. She sniffled as a teardrop slowly fell down her cheek. Anyone who would walk in and see her crying would think it's because of the romance movie she's watching as the girl was currently experiencing heartbreaking. But, Y/N was crying because she could relate to that girl. She no longer had that love she once had with her husband, Chris, and it was absolutely devastating.

A couple of days ago, she read a non-fiction book where the author encouraged women to write letters in how they wished their life would be; whether it was solely for themselves, their partner, a family member, or a friend, etc. Y/N took her advice and grabbed a pen and paper to write a letter to husband of 15 years. She didn't hold back. She was brutally honest about how their life has changed since they first started dating 20 years ago. They no longer have fun or take random adventures, whether it was something as small as hiking a trail or big like going on vacation to Hawaii or Europe. Yes, life does happen, but she would have never thought their love would turn into something "comfortable".

She had left the letter on Chris' pillow before going to work. When she came back later that afternoon, she had noticed Chris got the letter. She was worried what he would say or do once he came home from work. But when he did, he didn't say anything. He didn't even acknowledge the letter, which crushed her. She went out of her way to tell him how she feels and he simply ignored her feelings. She loves him too much to leave him, but she had no idea what to do, how to fix and save her marriage.

Dodger immediately sat up from the bed seconds before Chris knocked softly on their bedroom door. He shook his head, wondering why he felt the need to knock on their own bedroom. He opened the door and walked in to see his wife crying in bed with a bunch of issues surrounding her. He looked back at the TV and noticed she was watching a movie, but deep down, he knew those tears weren't about the girl in the movie, who was singing a sad song in the middle of a 7/11 because it reminded her of her ex-boyfriend.

Chris sat on the edge of the bed and in front of Y/N. He grabbed the remote from the nightstand to pause the movie. He pulled out a folded envelope from his back pocket. For a second, Y/N thought it was her letter. Chris looked up at her with tears in his eyes. His heart was hurting. He had this unbearable pain he didn't know he had until he read her letter. He had no idea how she felt and he hated himself for causing her pain - no doubt the same pain he's feeling right now.

"I'm sorry," he said with a shaky breath. "As hard as it was to read your letter and as much as it tore me apart, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I stopped doing the little things you loved so much at the beginning of our marriage, like bringing you flowers, having movie nights but end up talking all night long about anything and everything, going on a weekend road trip, or hell, just going to the grocery store together and eating out of a bag of chips..."

He grabbed her hand and held it tight. He looked down as she linked her fingers with his. He couldn't remember when was the last time they held hands. He felt a knot at the back of his throat. She cupped his cheek with her other free hand. She wiped the tear away with her thumb and nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"It's no excuse, but I know I'm at fault here. My career took off drastically. I was gone more often whether it was to film, press junkets, attending comic conventions. As much as I'm grateful for the opportunity Marvel has given me, I truly do hate that it took me away from you for so long," he sniffled. "Reading your letter now, I hate that you were home alone and slowly seeing our fun and loving marriage fading when I didn't notice that. I'm sorry and I can never forgive myself for the pain I've caused you."

"Chris-" she whispered.

"Honey," he shook his head. Her heart fluttered against her chest at the sound of her nickname, the one he hadn't called her in a long time. "I'm not done. I'm so glad you wrote me that letter. I'm sorry it took a letter to make me see what's been happening, but I'm here to tell you, I hear you and I'm gonna try my damn best to fix everything because I love you and I don't want to lose you."

He handed her the letter. She opened it up and unfolded the papers. The first page was a letter from Chris.

My darling wife,

Years ago I made a vow to make you the happiest woman on earth. I promised to start our new lives together by taking care of you, going on adventures, but more importantly loving you forever and always. I'm sorry I failed you, but I'm here to fix things, make things right, and keep my promises I might have broken recently.

Love you forever and always,
Chris

Y/N sniffled as she looked at the page after the letter. It was a brochure of a week long couple retreat in the Bahamas that would be in two weeks. It had a list of fun things for them to do like parasailing, snorkeling, spas, romantic dinners, etc. Behind that page were two flight tickets to Paris leaving from the Bahamas. Their Europe trip would be two weeks long.

Her eyes welled up as she looked up at Chris. She shook her head. "You have that new filming project starting in two weeks."

"Honey, I didn't purposely go days ignoring you or your letter. I spent the past couple of days canceling things and making our trip arrangements-"

"Chris, you can't cancel on the film deal. It's your career! It's your life. I don't want you to re-"

"No, honey," he cupped her cheek. "You are my life. The movies, the shows, the red carpets, interviews, they're all great, but I can live without them. I can't live without you."

Tears fell down her cheeks.

"Dodger will be staying with Scott while we're gone," Chris said. "We'll spend a week at the couples retreat and then I'm taking you to where you've always wanted to go, two weeks in Europe for your birthday."

She completely forgot about her birthday because of everything she had been feeling these past couple of days since she wrote the letter. Celebrating her birthday was the last thing on her mind. She was internally grateful to have someone was wonderful, loving, and thoughtful as her husband.

She didn't need all of these trips. And Chris knew she didn't need these fancy trips. She wanted him, but she was still getting him as they would experience the world together, try and explore new things all while continuing to fall in love with another again.

She smiled, for the first time in weeks, knowing there was hope for the both of them and their marriage. She knew they would be okay and they would survive this together, as husband and wife as they vowed 15 years ago to spend the rest of their lives for better or worse.

"I love you," she leaned in to kiss him. Chris held her cheeks gently as he kissed her with so much love.

"I love you too, honey," he whispered against her lips.

"Is it too early to start packing?" She asked. Chris laughed, hard. He had forgotten what it was like to laugh. He crawled into bed and pulled her to his chest. He pressed play to the movie she had on Netflix. "Packing can wait. For now, I want to have a movie night with my wife."