Eternity

Chapter 4: Moving In, Moving On.

(idk if this chapter is a bit scattered? But meh. Enjoy anyway.)

6 months later

To say he was a natural would have been an understatement. Every fibre of his body was put into continuing Steve's legacy as Captain America, doing whatever he could to make him proud. And he would have been, the rest of the team and the public definitely were. Especially Natasha.

It was strange at first, and truthfully it still was. They had to move from their old apartment to somewhere more secure, larger than before with more rooms than they needed. Security around the new Captain had been increased somewhat dramatically in the first few months, a fear and precaution that another targeted attack could happen. They had the best surveillance Tony could make, and mission were met with extra caution and care now. Not that they weren't before, but they all took extra time to look in the darkest of shadows just incase.

Natasha was ultimately his second, as she had been with Steve, but in the spotlight they kept things as strictly professional as they could for a long time. They gave no media the satisfaction of confirming or denying the romance no matter how often they pressed for details. However, it was pretty much a given regardless that they never mentioned it, especially during the Veterans Day parade on 5th Avenue. He had lay down a wreath in Steve's memory and when he returned to the Teams side, she slide her hand automatically into his and he leaned in to peck her lips lovingly. Caught and televised to the world, yet not reported as gossip due to the sensitivity of the day. They were thankful for that, but being lovers and coworker did complicate things.

She worried silently about the press incase they found out the true details of her past, or both of their pasts. It was never something she wanted anyone to know the full extent of, not because she particularly cared what others thought of her, but she cared about how she viewed herself. She had beaten herself up over her past as Bucky had done with himself too. They had gotten to a stage where they could work on it without interference from the whole world putting a negative spin on things, she didn't want that set back.

The press were relentless, even going out running was becoming a photograph opportunity for paps even 6 months on. Only on two occasions had she threatened to break a jaw or snatch a camera from someone that overstepped a mark, which she thought was a pretty good number considering how often she thought about it. It definitely got on her nerves more than Bucky's.

Bucky's lack of patience, like most people's, was with furniture shopping. He slowly followed Natasha around the large furniture store with his hands in his pockets, baseball cap low to keep him shielded to prevent having to stay here any longer than necessary. They hadn't been recognised, or at least not stopped. A few college kids had stared in awe at them and whispered, and a married man had ogled Natasha in one of the made up living rooms as she measured a bookshelf. His wife and Bucky had shot him the same glare, so he shuffled off fairly quickly after that.

"I thought we had everything already." Bucky sighed, dropping into one of the couches in the example living room display, frowning at how uncomfortable it was despite it's looks.

"We have most of it, but this place is bigger. We've more space to fill. Make it homely and not an exact replica of Tony's penthouse." She replied, noting down measurements and sketching out a diagram as she murmured to herself about shelves, glancing around the little room. "What if we put the bookshelf over by the window like they have here and-"

He groaned rubbing his temples. "Throw ourselves off it?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "You could offer some ideas to make this go quicker."

"I said get the white one with 3 big shelves."

"But we don't have anything else that's white. We can't have one random bit of white furniture with-"