A/n: this is a request from a_fictionalwriter ! Thank you so much, and thank you for being so patient with me! This was inspired by the song by Billie Eilish (of the same name), so maybe give it a listen before/during/after your read :)

Most people say, "Once you get past those first few years, you'll be together forever!" It's why you had insisted on dating for multiple years before getting engaged, and why the two of you stayed engaged for another year before the actual wedding.

You were scared those first few years. It wasn't until the tenth anniversary you two celebrated that you felt you could finally let out the breath you'd been holding. The hard part was over. Now it was time to enjoy your lives together.

It was harder than most other marriages. You were married to an Avenger- the Avenger. Steve was the sweetest man, the best you could ever ask for. At times, you felt silly for thinking anything bad could happen to the two of you.

Any time there was a disagreement, you felt that thread getting pulled.

But now, eleven years into marriage, it felt great. Or... did it?

"Hey, (Y/n)," Steve greeted as he walked out of your shared room. "I'm going to go down and train with the others."

You nodded, not wanting to look up from your book. "Sounds good, sweetie, don't hurt the others too terribly."

He chuckled as he walked by, then pressed a quick kiss to the top of your head. "I should be back for dinner."

You just hummed in response, and heard him as he walked out. A moment later, you paused, and put your bookmark in your book. Something felt off, but you just weren't sure what. You didn't like this feeling. It made you wrong.

You set the book aside and pulled your phone out from your pocket. "Call (Y/b/f/n)," you commended, and the phone almost immediately started calling. Your best friend was your go-to for quite literally everything. You told them all the good, all the bad, and all the ugly.

They were the go-to especially when it came to weird feelings.

"Hey, what's up?" They're cheerful voice almost always cheered you up, but today, it didn't ease the growing feeling in your gut.

"I need help. Something feels... off. Like, I can't even describe how it feels or why it's here I just don't like it and need you to help me out," you explained, words coming out rushed.

"Okay- woah, woah, woah. Settle down." You took in a deep breath. "Clearly something is wrong. Do you need me to come over?"

You shook your head as you answered, "No, no. Just... need a phone call."

"Okay... what was going on when this feeling came down on you?" they asked after a pause.

Thinking back, you thought out loud. "Well, okay, so I was reading my book, but there wasn't anything exciting happening, just an in between chapter. Then Steve came in and said he was going to workout, but he'd hopefully be back for dinner. He gave me a kiss on the head then left. I was getting back into the book when the feeling happened."

A pause. You waited for a few more seconds, expecting something to come from (Y/b/f/n)'s mouth, but nothing. "Hello? Did I lose you?"

"Honey... it sounds like you're falling out of love."

Your jaw dropped and you gaped at the wall for a second, before you tried to start talking. Noises would come out, starts of sentences, but then you'd stop. Defending was the first thing to mind, but you just couldn't.

Were they right?

"(Y/n)? Did I lose you this time?" they asked, trying to joke, but it sounded forced.

"I think you're right," you whispered into the phone, almost horrified with yourself. "But I also know I still care for him. Of course I do."

They sighed. "It happens all the time. You're not a terrible person for it, we don't always have control over what we feel. The only way you stay not a bitch is by telling him. Soon. Talk about what you wanna do."

You nodded along to their words. "But..." you sighed. "Steve is such a fixer- I mean, of course he is. Meaning he'll immediately wanna fix how I feel."

"Is that... not what you want?"

Another pause on your end. "I don't know."

"Talk to him."

The two of you exchanged goodbyes and hung up. Now, you had to sit with your screaming thoughts in the quiet room. What was going on with you? First, falling out of love with your husband of eleven years. Then not wanting to fix that?

You really did need to talk to Steve.

A couple hours later, you had made a pretty simple dinner and were eating it across the table from Steve. Neither of you had really talked much, nothing more than him thanking you for making dinner and you being appreciative.

The silence usually wasn't awful, but you usually didn't have such life-altering feelings and revelations. So, you set your fork down. It made a loud enough clang on the plate to echo and grab Steve's attention.

You stared right at him, trying desperately not to look away and get shy. "Steve, I... we need to talk about something," you said.

The conversation was started, now you just had to try not to chicken out.

Steve set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin before clearing his throat. "All right, let's talk... everything okay?" he asked. There was his usually, golden-retriever self. It made this even harder.

But you knew you'd hurt him more if this came out later down the line. "I think I-" You froze and tried to think of an easy way to say this, but there was none. "I think I fell out of love?" Your voice came out small, apprehensive, and already you could feel some tears in your eyes.

Steve seemed to pause, too. He moved his gaze from you to the table and you saw his signature eyebrow scrunch. Then, he sighed and closed his eyes. "I think I did, too," he said, his voice a whisper.

You sniffed and shook your head. Your first thought was to feel betrayed, to force him to fight, but why? It isn't what you wanted. It was just another sign that your feeling was right.

Instead, you shook your head and wiped a tear as you asked, "Where did we go wrong?"

Steve immediately stood up and came around to your side of the table, you standing to meet him for a hug. "We didn't, doll, I promise. I don't... I don't know why we feel this way now," he whispered.

He couldn't get himself to say the next bit, so you did it for him. "But now that we do, we have to let each other go," you whispered, ending the sentence with a sniff. "But I still love you in a way. I still care about you."

Steve sniffed, too, and nodded against the side of your head. "I do, too. You still mean something to me. I just... you know," he said, and you did know. "We had a good run."

You let your eyes flutter closed and reminisced.

About the car ride you and Steve took in Upstate New York, the first time you had really seen him "let his hair down" and relax for a second. The two of you were so alive, so happy. It was the moment you knew you could spend the rest of your life with him.

When you met the other Avengers, at one of Tony Stark's grand parties, and they each pretty much told you about how Steve looked at you with puppy dog eyes and talked about you like you were the center of the universe.

When did it end?

But then again, it did for you, too. Not just him.

"I wanna make you the villain you so bad," you whispered into his chest. "But I can't, because it wasn't just you. It was me, too."

Steve's hand was rubbing up and down your back. He let out another sniff. "I don't really want to let you go," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "And yet..."

And yet you both had to. For your sake, for his sake, for your happiness. You had to let go.

But not yet. For just a second longer, you were going to hold onto him in the dining room and remember what it was like when you first met, years and years ago, when he was the whole world.

When you knew how to be happy.

~Fin~

A/n: this one is really simple, partially because the sort of source material is also simple. I didn't want to force this to be so overly complicated, when really it isn't.

I hope you guys like this, and that it was worth the wait? I'm going to try really really hard to post regularly. Back to my Mondays! But before, I posted at noon (or as close to as I could). Now, I'm just gonna post at some point on Monday. That works better for me.

See you next week Lovelies!!!!!!!!!!