˗ˏˋ romanogers oneshots ˎˊ˗

love in spring

Spring was a time to discard the old and embrace the new. Spring was all about change. Winter had been filled with screaming and fighting and the nightmares and horrors of a couple that were no longer gonna work out. But they had fallen in love in Spring, what could go wrong? Apparently everything. 

Before all the drama, before all the love and marriage and mistakes, they were best friends. Platonic soulmates even. But they had to fall in love with each other and ruin everything. It started unknowingly and neither of them realized until it was too late and they had both fallen too deep and too hard. 

It started with the flirting, which was no surprise because Natasha flirted a lot, with everyone. It was one of her tactics to get people to do things so that she could get information on the job. It was something that came so naturally to he she just used it. But he flirted back. And none of her friends had ever done that. And they might have taken the friendly banter a little too far with all the teasing and pet names but it seemed so, you know, perfect. It just all fell into place. 

And before they knew it, they were sneaking glance at each other across rooms at galas, events, meetings, you name it. Her eyes would scan the room for his and his eyes would catch hers and they would share a moment, which followed with a small smile and maybe a sparkle in their eyes. 

Mostly it was their friends who noticed it way before they did. Tony caught Steve looking at Natasha for far too long with the eyes of his that pierced ones soul. Wanda caught Natasha smiling as Steve left the room. Sam had caught Steve go red after Natasha had reached up to peck his cheek. Bucky had caught Steve and Natasha get too close and end up on top of one another while sparring, which lead to them brushing their lips against one another's and recovering from embarrassment. 

Natasha started to see the signs when she would turn to Steve for everything. Every small victory, every big win, every celebration she had was with him. And of course, the times she ran into his arms crying because she was too stressed out and was drowning in piles of work. And of course, only he could calm her. 

The late nights where they would spend in the bar drinking their troubles away and talking for hours on end. The romantic movie nights where they would watch rom coms because in her words, he was an uncultured swine who needed to see the world.' And every time she would fall asleep on his shoulder, she would wake up in his bed to the smell of him cooking for her. 

And she had convinced herself that they were just friends until that stupid spin the bottle. It was Tony's idea really. But when she spun it and it landed onto Steve, her world stopped. She didn't want to ruin their friendship. But then again, it was just a game, what could go wrong? And so she went in for it. And it felt good, better than anything else she had ever felt. He didn't pull away and neither did she. And that's when they realized, it was already long gone. The rest of the group looked at them after it was done and they didn't say a word to each other that night. 

When she confronted him about it the next day, half dreading seeing him and half regretting her decision, she couldn't resist the urge to do it again and she did. 

"This was a mistake." She whispered.

"Is it?" He looks at her and she looks at him and something passes between them and their lips crash into one another's again. 

"Steve-"

"Natasha-" He looks down at her. "A one time spin the bottle may be a mistake. But three times, that's far from a mistake. And I don't regret it, neither should you."

She swallows hard. "I don't regret it. But we've just crossed the line about us being friends and we can never go back. And if this doesn't work out then we can never go back to where we were."

"You and I both know we were never meant to be just friends. From the moment I saw you I knew we were never gonna be just friends. You know damn well how I feel about you and I know you feel it too. And we will work out, we're freaking soulmates."

"And if we don't?" She's unsure. And uncertain. 

"We will."

She looks up at him for a moment and everything is perfect, like all the pieces falling right into place. 

"Let's get married." He blurts. "We've danced around this long enough. I love you and that's all I really know."

Without hesitation, her answer comes immediately. "Yes."

The marriage is quick and fast, but their vows are short and sweet. 

"I love you. I love all of you. And I'm in. For everything. For the dark for the light, for as long as we both shall live. I love how your smile always brightens up a room, no matter how rare it is. I love that you're fierce and formidable and unafraid to back down from a challenge. I love that you're fearless and will do anything in your wake to save the people that you love. I love that you're stubborn and always insist upon your point of view and most, if not all of the time you are never wrong. I love that you love me enough to accept me for who I am and I love that you're going to marry me out of all the men in the world that you could have chosen. and I love that I'll get to call you my wife."

And with that, they were married. And for a while, they were happy. As the flowers blossomed from the new season, so did their love for each other, until it didn't. 

Slowly, they drifted apart, they fell out of love with each other. The separation and time away from each other increased. They picked fights more often over the smallest of things and the pain and anger was too much to manage. Somehow the cold of the winter made them grow cold too. 

They eventually got tired of all the screaming and fighting and signed the papers the following spring. She returned to her hometown and he returned to his, neither of them speaking to each other again.

And time went by too fast. She hoped that he had moved on and found love because she had tried but none of that worded out. She was still in love with him. 

Almost before she knew it, spring had come, yet again. They got married three springs ago, and they divorced a spring ago. Spring, spring, spring. Bloody spring. Damn it all to hell. Why did it always have to be spring? 

A/N: and obviously the title is a trick again. i had the prompt almost before she knew it, spring had come again and i was gonna write something happy but we all know im incapable of that so i wrote a very japril inspired story. best friends that fall in love, get married on impulse then get divorced. so yeah enjoy.