I hate you, don't I? - Stucky

What the hell is going on?

True to her word, Nat walked into his room at ten the next morning in normal clothes. It was strange whenever anyone walked around without workout gear on. Even if everyone stayed in the tower, they tended to just wear the same comfortable clothes.

"Are you ready?"

"Yea, one second".

When Steve woke up that morning, the horrible thoughts bombarded him immediately and he felt awful. But then he remembered he and Nat were going out for the day. So instead of staying in bed, he got up and dragged himself to the gym before waiting patiently in his room.

"Where are we going?" He asked as they walked down the road.

Nat turned to face him with a smile but shook her head teasingly.

"I'm not telling you, but you'll find out soon".

They eventually got closer to a giant building and Nat told Steve to close his eyes and dragged him forward.

"Okay, open".

He looked up at the big stone pillars and read the sign.

"An art museum?" He asked happily.

"Yep! Today we are going to rediscover an old hobby of yours".

She dragged the smiling man inside by his arm.

Steve hadn't felt that happy in a long time. He loved looking at all the weird things and amazing paintings with his best friend as she complained about all the naked statues of men and making him laugh every time.

Nat bought him lunch whilst they were there, saying it was her treat and she probably owed him beer money anyway so he can't say no. And after, they looked around some more and even accidentally joined a tour group before they had to leave from laughing for no reason.

It was getting dark by the time they left, so they got hot chocolates and headed back to the tower together.

They hadn't spoke for a few minutes as the tower came up ahead when Nat spoke.

"Are you ready to tell me yet?"

Steve wasn't shocked. He knew she was going to ask something at some point today but it didn't worry him. She probably didn't know what had happened, she just knew something was up.
He turned to her thinking and slowly shook his head.

"Not yet. I'm still.... Figuring things out".

She nodded in understanding and gave him a kind smile of reassurance.

"That's fine. Just know, when you are ready, I'll be there to chat".

"Thank you", he whispered quietly.

He'd had a brilliant day today, and although he knew he could go to Nat whenever, it was nice to hear it again while he was feeling like this. His chest felt slightly lighter and he didn't feel like his whole life was crumbling away.

They both walked into the common room together and threw their cups in the bin when Sam called over.

"Where have you two been? You were out all day!"

"Went over to that art place", replied Nat. "Anddddd guess what?" She said theatrically before grabbing Steve who was barely paying attention.

"A guy there started flirting with Steve".

Sam looked shocked and Steve's face matched his.

"What are you talking about?!" He tried to ask her, but she spoke over him so no one could hear.

"Yep, this guy right here", she pointed to Steve, "was getting a lot of attention".

"Go on, Rogers!" Someone shouted from across the room as Nat kept going.