˗ˏˋ romanogers oneshots ˎˊ˗

the secret

Natasha stares down at the stick in her hand, unable to find words. What was not meant to be possible was possible and so clearly defined by the two pink lines. They hadn't planned it, despite being married for a long time. But it was a marriage in secret where they got eloped in a small church along the coast of los Angeles and no one knew. Only her and Steve. And they had kept it that way for the longest time. But this would change things, this would change them.

"It isn't possible" she whispered over and over in an attempt to convince herself but no amount of convincing would make the lines disappear. She just hoped nothing would give her away to Steve or the rest of them. The nausea and fatigue had been there for quite some time, and she never got her period, so it was hard to track when and how, but she estimated at least 10 weeks. "Fuck." she mumbles under her breath. And she repeats it louder, but in Russian.

Staying at the avenger's tower with five other guys does something because no one seems to pick up on it or see any signs, despite her never showing to training or breakfast anymore. And no one seems to care about the fact that she's avoiding alcohol at Tony's parties or refuses to eat sushi when the team gets takeout. They're just that obnoxious.

Her ruse goes on for quite some time. And no one seems to notice that her suit doesn't quite fit right, and the hourglass waist has developed a small bump. Not even Steve, which is surprising since they are with each other practically every night. She steals his hoodies to hide the small but obvious bump, which even he doesn't notice with her raging hormones and her practically pouncing him for sex at every moment they have together.

But the secrecy of their relationship does have its perks for she can wait till he sneaks back into his room in the mornings to get up and throw up. And he doesn't need to know. She's been careful with it, although that one time she nearly did get caught, which she brushed off as food poisoning from sushi, which she technically never ate the day before. It also gave her another excuse not to eat sushi, from the bad experience of food poisoning. So, it was all coming together quite well actually.

Her fatigue was taken care of by naps, lots of cat naps during the day, in between meetings and missions. She went on more solo missions, focusing on freeing hostages instead of fighting kidnappers. Fury definitely knew something was up, but kept the secret for her, choosing to let her reveal it in her own time. He didn't want to push something she tried so desperately to hide, because he knew she must have had her reasons for doing so.

Clint was surprisingly unaware, despite being a father to three children himself. Natasha figured it might be that he was here more than home and almost rarely saw laura throughout the course of her pregnancy. But he did notice how she skipped meals and training, but he figured it was just Natasha being Natasha. For in the first few years, she was at shield, she almost never contacted anyone, took meals in her own room, and trained by herself. It had changed when she joined the avengers, until lately, but that was probably her reverting back to her old habits.

Steve knew that Natasha had suffered from eating disorders before, trauma from the red room that would often resurface into a relapse, so he wasn't surprised when she skipped meals. He was of course, concerned. But Natasha had assured him that she was fine and hadn't forced herself to throw up in a while and he trusted her, because she genuinely seemed okay. But there was something different about her that he couldn't put his finger on. Maybe it was him just missing a sparring partner, they hadn't sparred in a while, not while training anyways. They had spared in other ways.

Steve had asked clint about Natasha's absence, which he was reassured was completely normal in a Natasha type of way. Clint after all, had known Natasha the longest and knew all her old habits and tricks. Steve knew there was no hiding his relationship with Natasha from clint, he was after all, a brother to her and knew everything about her. But he was surprised to find out that clint never picked up and assumed Steve was caring for Natasha like the protective teammate like he was when tony had teased him, yet again, about his relationship with Natasha. Apparently, none of them were good at keeping secrets. Tony knew Natasha and Steve had chemistry on missions and shipped it even before they became a thing, but they never acknowledged any of Tony's jokes and he continued on with it, assuming it would annoy Steve.

Bruce had actually found the test in the trash can but had kept quiet about it for months. He neither knew whose it was or whether it was even real, but never brought up the subject. Out of the six avengers, he was the quietest and the one to avoid gossip the most. He hated scandal and refused any involvement. He suspected it was one person's but thought the notion seemed impossible. It would have to be one of them who fathered it and he refused to take a guess.

Thor was mostly drunk for that few months, or more so, he was always drunk, so he never noticed anything. He, however, enjoyed a mean party and it was what kept him and tony so close despite their indifference's', their love for parties. And thank God, literally because Thor was a god, for those dreadful parties. Because of them, Natasha could easily slip in and out of them but still avoid drinking all together, never raising suspicion from any one of them, not even her on husband, who was apparently as obnoxious as the rest of them.

The one thing she couldn't hide tough, was the weird eating habits, the late-night cravings, or her growing bump. She had to get that taken care of by herself. Her gynaecologist appointments were covered up with excuses of groceries and being stuck in traffic for too long and it worked, for she had time to run errands, restock the pantry, get her cravings, and make sure she and the little secret were in good shape. She had hoped that she would not develop any weird cravings that might give her away and her prayers were answered when the only thing she craved was peanut butter, which known to all, was a Natasha Romanoff staple food, making it easy to mask whatever she was hiding.

It was her secret that she intended to keep as long as she could, from everyone, including Steve. And she would do whatever it took to get it done. Whatever it takes, she quotes. It has been four months, and no one suspects a thing yet. They might find out eventually, but her secret was safe for now. 

A/N: le gasp look whos posting in like forever okay but this piece is just super cute anyways skjdkdjks erm im working on love and war which currently has 11 thousand words which is 1/6 of the way to becoming a novel which is just super exciting and like i haven't wrote about stevenat in forever but after crying to kitlaf i had to write this and also happy new year bitches.