Natasha woke up to Steve's arm wrapped around her waist and her back pressed closely on his stomach, and him placing soft kisses on her bare shoulder. "Morning," he whispered huskily once he felt that she was awake. They are so attuned in so many ways that it can be freaky.
She turned around and threw her leg over his hips, draping her arm across him, holding onto his back. "Mornin'," she greeted back. She pressed her lips against his, slowly, gently nipping at his lower lip and eventually deepening the kiss. Her hand clawed at his back as he proceeded to pepper kisses on her neck, sucking at spots that he knows Natasha loves.
Natasha took a deep breath. She can do this. Despite every nerve in her body begging her to stay in bed, she tried moved away from Steve, "Steve," she said, urgently, a signal that she wants him to stop. "I've got to get up."
"Can you stay a little longer, please?" he asked, sweetly, and tightens his hold on her. She shook her head and stood up swiftly, walking to the bathroom, where Steve followed him like a lost puppy. "Nat, come on. Can we go back to bed?" he pouted.
"No," was Natasha's curt reply before shoving her toothbrush in her mouth and brushing her teeth. She's so heartbroken to see Steve looking down, it's almost like a crime. He's always been cautious, in a way, of his actions ever since Natasha moved to his apartment from the Stark tower just three months ago, two months after they decided to make their relationship 'official'. They'd gotten off at a rocky start, with both of them having their own personal demons to deal with, but they eventually worked it out, and are both very happy, and Natasha had to remind herself that this night had to be perfect in order to keep herself from running towards Steve and hugging him tight.
She hurriedly put on a pair of jeans as Steve watches her like a hawk. "I thought you didn't have anything on your schedule today," he broke the silence between them.
"I have a last minute thing," Natasha answered back. There's nothing more she hates in the world than lying to him, but she has to in order to make her plan work.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? I mean you know today is..." he said, then trailed off and stopped talking. He looked dejected that Natasha has to stop glancing at him in order to get herself out of there.
"Yeah well I didn't have to tell you everything-" Natasha cursed the moment those words were out of her mouth. And she can see the effect it has on Steve too, with him flinching. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Natasha quickly quipped, but it was too late, and Steve is already shaking his head and standing up.
"It's okay, I get it," was his short reply before walking towards the kitchen and making himself coffee.
Natasha let out a variety of curses in Russian and quickly finished getting dressed, grabbing her stuff from the closet and stopping by the kitchen. "I'm gonna go..." she said quietly to Steve, who just nodded without looking up at her.
She hates this. She knows how much Steve gets affected when she shuts herself out- they had a fight about it before. Well, that was mostly her fault, she did get shot and didn't tell Steve about it, which is what she had to do since: one, he is the Captain and therefore, responsible for everyone, and two, they are dating, so she should've let him known that she was hurt. But she didn't, and he had to know about it from Sam slipping up, and she got mad when he confronted her, saying the exact same words she just said to him. She was used to briefing missions and assessing her injuries with a nurse, not someone who actually cared about her.
Once she got to Stark Tower, she headed straight to the gym for her daily workout, thinking about her plan as she goes through her routine. She knows Steve's schedule is pretty much empty for the day, except for a quick meeting with Sam and Scott a bit later in the day. She still couldn't shake off the heartbroken look he had on earlier and just hopes that he'll forgive her later on. After finishing her last set of pushups, she stood up to get ready to leave.
On her way to the shower room, she texted Sam, reminding him to keep Steve busy and don't let him come home until 6 pm. Sam already knew about this since Natasha has told him about it in order to keep Steve away from their apartment while she takes care of the surprise. After she was done showering, she continued up the Tower, ready to talk to Pepper about an event Stark Enterprises are holding.
Her meeting with them took until after lunch, but once it was over, Natasha got out of there right away, making her way to buy some groceries for their dinner that night. She took out her list and bought the raw ingredients for the recipes she found online. Between the two of them, Steve is the cook, while she watches on and tries to distract him while cooking. So, as consolation, she will cook tonight, all by herself and without burning down the kitchen, hopefully, and she just has to pray that Steve loves her enough to actually eat her cooking. Once satisfied with what she has, she grabbed two bottles of vodka and a bottle of wine to top everything off, and she went home, ready to cook.
When she got home, Natasha first made sure that Steve wasn't there and began cleaning his apartment, while also putting up the candles that she bought. She also sneaked flowers all over the place, just to set out the romantic mood. After that, she spent the next two hours cooking and trying to make the dishes perfect, constantly checking the clock to make sure she has enough time to clean herself up before Steve gets home, and get her apology ready.
Well, in a perfect world, her plan would have worked out down to the minute. But alas, she doesn't live in a perfect world.
She was mentally cursing herself and putting the steak, which she slightly burned, on a plate when she heard voices arguing by the door, and the lock turning. At that, she let out a small "fuck" while hurriedly opening the oven to get the potatoes that she might have left on there for a little too long.
"Nat? Are you here?" Steve's voice came, a bit distant, which means he's still by the living room.
"Come on, man. Let's go get a drink first. I don't want to come home yet," she heard Sam say. She almost laughed at that. Poor Sam, still trying to make sure he doesn't ruin Natasha's surprise even though he already failed.
"It's okay, Sam, I got it from here," she finally said, standing up and popping her head out the doorway to look at them. She felt bad for using him because Sam looked really guilty about not keeping Steve occupied enough. He nodded and went out the door, closing it after him.
