NATASHA HAS BEEN THROUGH A LOT OF PARTIES in her life but this feels like a completely different thing. At an after party at work, it was a celebration for all the hard work they've paid off after sleepless nights. It was a celebration among frustrated coworkers backstabbing their bosses, and bosses gossiping about their coworkers. Needless to say, it was a loud celebration, but not an authentic one.

This, however, was everything authentic and intimate between friends and families who've known each other for years.

And she can't help but feel out of place because she doesn't belong here. Hell, she's not even supposed to be here at all.

Needless to say, it's been a long time since she's experienced this feeling again. But she does try her best not to act stiff, which is one thing she's good at other than work.

"So, nice to meet you, Natasha. Welcome to Connacht." One of Steve's neighbors says politely, shaking her hand.

"Connie? Hi. Nice to meet you."

She's actually lost count of how many people she's been introduced to in the past half hour. She's just grateful that Steve's not leaving her side. Yet.

"Uh, why didn't you tell me that you were some sort of Irish Kennedy?" Natasha asks Steve once they're out of earshot from the other guests. "And how did you end up in New York anyway if you're from Ireland?"

"Okay, one. My grandparents are Irish immigrants. My parents moved to New York and raised me there until I was five, then we moved back here because Gammy wanted us too. So, I grew up here, went to school and graduated, and moved to New York to get a job. And two, I'm sorry, but how could I? We were in the middle of talking about you for the last three years." Steve remarks snidely.

Natasha exhales a frustrated breath. She suddenly grabs his sleeve and pulls him over to the side. "Okay, you know what? Time out, okay? This bickering Bickerson has got to stop. People need to think that we're in love instead of stabbing each other in the eyes. So, let's just..."

"Hey, that's—that's no problem." Steve interrupts her convincingly, "I can do that. I can pretend to be the doting fiancé. That's easy."

She eyes him warily. "You can?"

"Sure."

"I thought you were a terrible liar."

"That was three years ago. But when you're working for Cruella De Vil for the last three years, it changes you, you know?"

"Very funny, honey." She says sarcastically through gritted teeth, resting her hands on her hip. "When are you going to tell them we're engaged?"

"I'll pick the right moment," he assures her.

"Hey, Steve. Hi!"

They hear someone call, and they turn around to see another one of Steve's neighbors coming towards them with a welcoming expression on their faces.

Recognition draws over his face. "Mrs. Barnes. Hi! How are you? Nice to see you." He goes over to give her a hug. Her husband comes forward as well. "Nice to see you, Mr. Barnes. Is Bucky here too?"

"Oh, no dear. He's still in Vienna."

"Vienna? That's kind of... random."

"Oh, well, you know them, marines. Always on the go. But enough about that, how are you? And you look amazing! I suppose city life is treating you well, isn't it George?"

"I couldn't agree more." Mr. Barnes pipes in, giving a short smile.

"Ah, well, some days could be better." Steve reckons, before suddenly realizing that he hasn't yet introduced his fiancée. "Anyway, uh, I'd like you to meet Natasha Romanoff. Natasha, these are Mr. and Mrs. Barnes."

"Hi. How are you? Pleasure." Natasha offers a handshake, smiling as politely as she can. "Hi, nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's mine Natasha." Mrs. Barnes gives her a warm smile. "Anyway, so, Steve, last time I heard you were planning to be a book editor?"

"Uh, actually, it's um... a graphics editor. I'm more focused on the visual arts kind of stuff. Like the front and back covers of the book." Steve elaborates further.

"Oh, sorry!" Mrs. Barnes giggles, commenting astonishingly, "Wow, that's interesting."

"That is interesting, indeed. What a great question, Winnifred." A voice suddenly joins them. A voice that Steve knew all too well. "I'm curious to know the answer myself."

The smile on his face drops just as quickly. "Dad," he acknowledges.

He shakes his hand. "Son." His eyes then went over to Natasha, scanning her in a way that makes Natasha eerily uncomfortable.

She's been working in the corporate world long enough to know that look. The look whenever people are assessing you with a calculative glance, and are already making mental notes on what to nitpick about you in the back of their head.

"And this must be Natalie."

"Natasha, actually," she corrects softly.

He offers her a hand. "Joseph. Pleasure to meet you."

She takes it with a gentle grasp. "The pleasure's mine."

All the while, she doesn't notice the way Steve's shoulders tensed from the second his dad stepped into the picture. And he's watching him carefully, almost as if he's expecting him to do something offhand.

"So, are you, uh, a graphics editor too?" Joseph asks.

"Um, no. I'm actually a book editor," she replies.

"Oh, so why don't you tell us exactly what a book editor does? I mean, besides taking their writers or artists out to lunch and getting bombed."

Natasha has to blink a few times as she processes what he'd just said.

Excuse me?

Steve hangs his head lowly, clearly not amused either.

But Natasha keeps calm, like she always does at work, and puts on another one of her fake award-winning smiles.

"Now, that sounds like fun." Mrs. Barnes remarks, not sensing the tension forming between them at all. She turns to Steve. "No wonder you like being an editor."

"Oh, no, Winnifred. Steve's not an editor, he's an editor's assistant." Joseph clasps his son's shoulder, while Steve simply tries to choke back from flinching away. "Natalie here is the editor."

"Natasha," she corrects again through her fake smile. 

"Wait," Mr. Barnes says, looking between the two of them. "So, you're actually..."

"Steve's boss. Yeah." Joseph finishes for him. "Well, how about that?"

Natasha presses her lips together, trying hard not to flush from the humiliation she's experiencing from being put on the spot. She can almost feel her eye twitching.

And Steve is avoiding his father's gaze, his jaw clenching in both frustration and embarrassment.

"I think I'll get a refill." Joseph declares, before leaving them.

Natasha finally looks at Steve, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she says in the most sarcastic way possible. And, maybe, even a hint of hurt. "Charming."

Steve looks at her apologetically, before walking away to confront his dad. She sighs deeply to herself. She wasn't expecting that at all. She'd assume everyone here in Connacht were angels as much as the people she's met so far; surprisingly, it's possible that she can be wrong sometimes.

As soon as Steve reaches his dad, he doesn't hold back from sounding how exasperated and dismayed he truly is. "That's a hell of a first impression, dad," he accuses.

But Joseph doesn't relent either. "What the hell, Steven? You show up here after all this time with this woman you hated and now she's, what, your girlfriend?"

"We just got here." Steve rebukes, his voice raising a few decibels higher. "Can we wait two seconds before we throw the kitchen sink at each other?"

Joseph gives him a disapproving look. "I just never took you for a guy who'd sleep his way to the top."

That ticks Steve off. Not because that accusation is dragging him down (hell he could care less about what other people think of him when he knows he's done nothing wrong), but because it was trampling on Natasha's reputation and dragging her down.

She may be annoying, but she doesn't deserve this. He respects her enough when it comes to their careers.

"Actually, I'll have you know that woman in there? She's one of the most respected editors in town. She's a big name in NY." Steve defends her, looking his dad straight in the eye.

Joseph isn't an ounce impressed. "She's your meal ticket, and you brought her home to meet your mother."

"She's not my meal ticket, dad. She's my fiancée," he declares without missing a beat.

Now, his dad stops short. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm getting married."

Then he leaves him there without saying another word, dumbfounded.

Before things could get any messier, Steve thought it was the perfect time to give the big announcement.

He clears his throat, going over to the middle of the living room. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a very important announcement to make."

The chattering immediately dies down.

He takes a deep breath. A pause. Here it goes. "Natasha and I are getting married."

Silence.

He begins to take in the very surprised faces of the people watching him now. "Honey?" He calls out, using the pet name for added effect. His eyes scan the room. "Where you at?"

Natasha peers from the doorway, looking just as surprised as everyone in the room is. Steve raises both of his eyebrows, giving her the signal. "There she is."

She finally steps out from the doorway but still isn't going any closer to where he is.

Steve motions for her to come closer.

"Come on down here, pumpkin."

Natasha raises an eyebrow at the name; even Steve grimaces at what he'd just said. That was a little too over the top.

Nonetheless, she strides across the room to where her fiancé is, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. "Okay," she mutters, smiling bashfully when Steve starts hyping her presence.

"Oh, look at her. Look at her. Right there, ladies and gentlemen. There she is."

Who knew she'd see the day that Steve Rogers could be a great actor other than a bumbling tadpole?

Their friends and family started clapping and cheering for them, buying their grand scheme of a love story, not having the vaguest idea that this was all a sham.

"Congratulations, Steve!"

"Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much."

Steve says, holding both of Natasha's hands in his as they thank the people congratulating them.

"Time to celebrate. Get the champagne!"

However, the moment their fingers touched, they swore they felt something else. Like a tingle that coursed through their veins and bones, followed by a sudden gush of warmth.

Of course, they pretended not to notice.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

"So, that was your idea of the perfect time to tell them we're engaged?"

"Mhm."

"Because it was brilliant timing. Brilliant timing. Not to mention, the acting, too. Especially the part when you held my hand."

"And what's wrong with that?"

She rolls her eyes, taking a sip of champagne. "Steve, like you couldn't hold it more awkwardly."

A crease appears on his forehead. "What? That's how couples hold hands, right?"

"Yeah, when they're about to be wed but not when they're about to tell their family that they're fake engaged!" She retorts in his ear.

"Keep it down," he hisses. "Someone might hear you—"

"Steve. Hi."

A feminine voice pipes in on their conversation.

Something shifts in Steve's face, already knowing who the person is before he could even turn around. "Peggy?"

And sure enough, a beautiful brunette with red lips came into view.

"Oh my God, hey. Hi. Wow." He engulfs her in a tight hug, to which she warmly reciprocates. "How are you? I didn't know that you were going to be here."

Peggy breathes a smile. "Your mom probably wanted it to be a surprise. So... surprise."

"Right." Steve smiles back.

Natasha detects a strong British accent seeping through her words, and just when she thought this girl couldn't appear more classy, she suddenly does.

And she already has an inkling on who she is in Steve's life.

"And... we're being completely rude." Peggy chuckles, glancing at Natasha for the first time. "Hi."

Steve's face suddenly kicks in with realization. "Oh, God, right. Natasha, this is my, uh, ex..."

"Hi. I'm Peggy." The brunette girl graciously offers her hand.

"Oh, wow. Nice to meet you." Natasha shakes her hand back, not surprised that her instincts had proven her right this time. She seems very nice, and she could easily see why Steve would have had a thing for her.

"Well, congratulations, you guys." Peggy says, surprisingly sincere. Maybe whatever she and Steve had was now all in the past, and that she was genuinely happy for him.

"Thank you." Both said simultaneously.

But Natasha keeps stealing curious glances in Steve's way, noticing that he's still not taking his eyes off her ex. She almost rolls her eyes. Seriously, Steve? Just the perfect way to sell this love story more.

"So, did I miss the story?" Peggy suddenly asks, taking him out of his daze.

"What story?" Natasha and Steve ask at the same time, clueless.

"About how you proposed."

Gammy suddenly chimes in. "Oh! How a man proposes says a lot about his character." Where on earth did she come from?

Steve can't help but nod along, already lowkey panicking deep inside. "Yes. Yes it does."

"I actually would love to hear the story, Steve." Sarah tells her son, who was sitting beside Gammy. "Would you tell us?"

"Yeah!" The other people in the room now joined in as well, only pressuring Steve to think of a plausible excuse as quickly as he can. But despite the gears turning in his head, his acting skills aren't too polished yet to deal with this kind of story.

So, he thinks of the only way to salvage this situation.

"You know what? Actually, Natasha loves telling this story. So, I'm just gonna let her go ahead and do that," he says, patting her shoulders gently before taking a seat on the couch as well.

Natasha could feel the blood boiling deep inside her.

That little piece of shit.

Fine. He wants her to tell the story? She'll give him a story, all right.

"Huh. Wow, okay. Wow, where to begin... the story." She says, all the while looking at Steve with a knowing glance. Steve only smiles innocently at her.

She's smiling at him, but her eyes are burning with something else. Something that made him want to cower and hide in a corner.

"Okay, well, um... Steve and I," she starts, carefully choosing her next words. Something that would definitely throw them off for sure. "Steve and I were about to celebrate our first anniversary together."

A gush of aww's erupts.

"And I knew that he had been itching to ask me to marry him. And he was scared." She laughs, as if trying to recall the moment in her mind. "Like a little tiny bird."

Steve's unamused look gets more prominent by the second.

"So, I started leaving him little hints here and there because I knew that he wouldn't have the guts to ask, but—"

"That's not exactly how that happened." Steve finally cuts her off.

Natasha raises an eyebrow dauntingly, "Oh, it's not?"

"No. No. I mean, I picked up on her little hints." Steve claims. "This woman's about as subtle as a gun."

Rounds of chuckles were heard around them.

"Yeah. What I was worried about was that she might find this little box—"

"Oh! The decoupage box that he made," Natasha intervenes, gushing ever so exaggeratingly, which earns him a glare from Steve. "Where he'd taken the time to cut out tiny, little hearts and fill the box with it. Oh, it was lovely."

Steve's smacking his lips in disapproval.

"And once they cleared, I looked down, and I saw... the most beautiful, big—"

"Fat nothing." He cuts her off again, making her heave an irritated sigh. "No ring."

Sarah looks at him, bewildered. "What?"

"No ring. But inside that box, underneath all that crap," he shoots Natasha a glare, "there was a little handwritten note with the address to a hotel, date, and time."

The men in the room start giving him approved glances, but Natasha and some of the ladies aren't too pleased on the turn this just took.

"Anyway, naturally, Natasha thought—"

"I thought he was seeing someone else," she intervenes.

Sudden gasps erupt from the room.

"It was a terrible time for me, but I went to that hotel anyway. I went there and I pounded on the door, but the door was already unlocked. And as I swung open that door, there he was..."

"Standing."

"Kneeling."

"Like a man."

"On a bed of blue rose petals, because he knows they're my favorite flowers."

Steve looks genuinely surprised about this, not knowing if she was telling the truth or not.

"And for a moment, I thought he was crying. And when he held back the tears and finally caught his breath, he said to me—"

"Natasha, will you marry me? And she said, yup. The end. Who's hungry?"

His mom and grandma were at loss for words. Well, who wouldn't be? Considering the crap they just heard.

"That is quite a story," Sarah could only say.

"Oh, Steven!" Gammy gushes, holding his hand. "I didn't know you could be so sensitive."

"Me either, I mean." Sarah laughs, still quite in disbelief. "Hand-cut little hearts?"

Steve only shrugs, standing up from the couch and saving what's left of his dignity.

When one of their friends suddenly tapped his glass and spat the most ridiculous thing he's heard all day.

"Hey! Let's see a kiss from you two cuties."

Yeah, no.

Steve tries to dissuade that notion, playing it off as him being embarrassed. Well, it isn't entirely untrue. "No. Come on."

"Come on, sweetie!" Sarah urges, raising a glass to them.

Natasha wants nothing more than to sink to the floor.

"I'm not a fan of PDA. It makes me uncomfortable." Steve whispers to her, speaking through the side of his mouth, so in everyone's view, he's still smiling.

"Yes, they do. But what choice do we have? Everyone's waiting," she whispers back.

"Okay, all right." Steve caves in, grabbing her hand again and pressing a soft kiss. "There."

Their audience isn't too pleased.

"What is this? Kiss her on the mouth like you mean it."

Oh, dear.

"Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" They all start to chant, leaving them no other choice but to get it over with.

"Okay!" Steve finally says to make them stop talking. He reverts his gaze back to Natasha. "Okay, all right. Here we go."

"Okay," she returns promptly, looking just as uncomfortable as he is.

He still hesitates.

"Just kiss me," she says through gritted teeth.

They both lean in at the same time, their lips meeting for only a split second. And yet it was the most awkward second they spent in their whole lives.

And the people around them still aren't letting it go.

What the fuck, Natasha wonders incredulously. Are these your lips, people?

"Steve! Give her a real kiss!" Gammy exclaims.

"Yeah, a real one!"

"You can do it!"

Natasha sighs, turning back to him. "Let's just do it right to make them stop," she whispers under her breath.

"Okay," he agrees.

He takes a step closer to her, and she suddenly feels a gush of warmth spreading across her side when she realizes that his arm was around her waist. He pulls her closer, eliciting a small gasp from her. Her hands were on his chest.

His eyes were looking at nothing else but hers. And the next thing she knows, his soft lips were meeting hers once more.

Her eyes flutter close this time.

She doesn't know how long the kiss was, but when it ended, she was surprised to find that her arms were somehow locked around his neck. A startled, confusing look was seen in her green eyes, mirroring Steve's expression.

She guesses they finally did it right when all they could hear were rounds of cheer and claps in the room—perfectly drowning in the sound of two hearts beating faster than usual.

All because of a kiss.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

a/n:

well... that happened.

we all know what's bound to happen next *wiggles eyebrows*

btw here's what the awkward kiss that steve and nat had before they finally had "the moment". it kinda looks like this:

and their first "real kiss" is at the top so scroll up if u wanna see what it kinda looks like

also, yes, steve's dad is such a dick in this story which is the complete opposite of canon joseph rogers