A/N: I'm so sorry, folks! This was supposed to have posted days ago and I just noticed it didn't! I don't know what happened!
(Sebastian POV)
"I can't take that, Ma."
"Of course you can."
"Ma, please--"
"I'm not saying you should do it now, or even next week, but you know you want to sometime down the road, this just means you'll be prepared when that time comes."
"But if she ever found it..."
"Sebastian, sometimes you have to do things that scare you. It's a fact of life. And I know that if you don't take this now, you'll use the fact that you don't have one as an excuse to procrastinate."
I take the ring, turning it over in my hand, studying its clarity, its shine, it doesn't weigh hardly anything, but the very real possibility of rejection settles in my gut as I slip my grandmother's engagement ring into my pocket.
"I like her." Ma says, "You love her." She holds my chin. Makes me look her in the eyes, "And I know she loves you."
I open my mouth to argue but quickly think better of it. If there's anything I learned growing up, it's that you don't argue with my Ma. While Y/N reacted well to me slipping up and - however vaguely - telling her I love her, I still have a nagging feeling that she was just taking pity on me,
"I don't want to lose her just because I spoke too soon."
"You'll know when the time is right." She tells me, wisely. I can't catch myself before I roll my eyes, and almost expect her to flick my ear like when I was little,
"How am I supposed to know?"
She shoots me a look I haven't seen in a while. Ma's forms of discipline weren't spanking or yelling, it was always just a look, a tap on the head, nose, or ear to get my full attention, or a quietly muttered demand in Romanian that could even stop my friends in their tracks.
"You'll know. I raised a smart boy. Smart, strong, brave, even if you forget sometimes."
I smile as she pulls me down to kiss my forehead,
"Thanks, Ma."
.
.
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(Your POV)
"I can't believe you still haven't seen this." Sebastian says, loading up the DVD menu,
"I've never been too big on super hero movies, I guess."
"Never?"
"I guess I liked a couple of the ones with Superman... Is Superman in this one?"
"Wha-- this is Captain America. That's DC-- I think you need a comic history lesson before we start this." He laughs,
"Oh please don't start a lecture." You groan, jokingly , flopping back on the couch.
He assesses you for a moment, you can see he's deciding whether or not to have mercy.
"Just don't interrupt with questions."
"Can't promise anything."
The movie begins, and you immediately settle into each other,
"Aw, little baby Chris!" You coo,
"Sh..."
"Dang." You breathe a little while later,
"What?"
"Nothing."
"No, what?"
"It's just... You... In that uniform." You fan yourself, and only half jokingly. He definitely looked good in uniform.
"Wait till you see the second one." He teases.
"I've seen Civil War, remember? And dear lord, if that look didn't fuel the bad-boy fantasies." You say dreamily,
"What was it?" He asks, "The hair, the leather? I swear, if you say the arm--"
"The bike." You confess, getting a far off look that makes him laugh,
"That's not even part of me."
"It's part of the image, though. And that image, paired with the puppy dog eyes..."
"Fair enough" He laughs, turning his attention to the movie,
"I could get a motorcycle, you know." He says after an overly long pause.
You really do try to suppress the laugh before it jumps out, but you fail. Miserably. So you can't ignore the scandalized look he throws you,
"Sorry, I just think..."
"What? I can take it, spit it out."
"Well," you giggle again, "I can just see you being one of those guys that lets the bike fall over on them."
He feigns a gasp,
"Come on-- it was one time!"
After laughing and poking in at each other a little while longer, you finally stop bantering, realizing you're missing your movie again.
You soon get sucked into the story, laughing through skinny Steve going through boot camp, getting attached to Peggy, groaning about how the musical number will be stuck in your head for days to come, and jokingly swooning over WWII Bucky. You even lament when he falls from the train.
When the movie ends, you have to admit you really enjoyed it, sitting back with a sigh,
"You know what? Bucky is kinda awesome."
Sebastian chuckles at you,
"I told you that you would like it."
"But seriously, I think he's my favorite of your characters... Oh..." Something occurs to you,
"What?"
"James. I like that name..." You'd talked a little bit about names, but hadn't agreed on anything yet,
"So you think we're having a boy?" You had mutually decided to prolong the torture and wait until the birth to find out the gender,
"Or Peggy could work too. She's kind of amazing." Sebastian gets a look on his face that tells you he's actually considering it, "Seb, I was kidding."
"No, not Peggy. Margaret. I kinda like that one."
You roll the name around in your head,
"Hm... Margaret Stan... I could get used to that." You notice he's giving you a funny look, "What?"
"You want her... Or him... To have my last name?"
"Of course... You're their father."
His eyes get misty, and the look of utter adoration that he gives you just serves to make you blush, but he suppresses what you're sure would have been very manly tears, and changes the subject slightly,
"Time for The Winter Soldier." He jumps up and starts the second movie, only to flop back down beside you,
"Is there a musical number in this one, too?"
"No!" Seb barks out a laugh, "I think they learned their lesson with the first one."
You settle back, Sebastian pulling your feet back into his lap and resting his hand on your stomach.
You feel a small flutter under his hand and it makes you freeze. His head whips around, looking from your stomach to you. He felt it too.
He turns toward you on the couch as you sit up straighter, the opening dialogue of the movie forgotten, and he flattens both hands against you.
You both wait, breathless,
"You did feel that, right?" He whispers. You are about to answer, but are cut off when a small but firm, unmistakable kick hits Sebastian's right palm.
You yelp in surprise, and you both promptly start to laugh excitedly,
"Hey, there." Sebastian says, leaning down to talk to your stomach, his voice apparently eliciting a couple more flutters,
"Definitely a 'Bucky'." You joke,
"Or just little Peggy getting ready to put some recruits in their place." He teases back.
.
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(Seb POV)
It was the most amazing thing I've ever felt. Just a little flutter, almost like her stomach growled, but completely different at the same time. Then the kick.
I don't think I've ever been more excited about anything. I think up until then it still felt so unreal that I just couldn't wrap my mind around it.
I'm gonna be a father.
I watched her, laughed with her at every kick and I remembered what my mom told me. She said, when the time was right, I would know. I would be able to tell. As I was looking up at her, feeling our baby kicking a shifting inside her, I knew it felt right.
She rests her hand over mine on her stomach, looking up at me with a thrilled smile,
I opened my mouth...
'I love you. I need you in my future. Marry me.'
It didn't sound right.
Nothing came out.
I think she took it as surprise from what I was feeling, but as soon as I took a breath to start again, the words just wouldn't come to me. The more I thought about it, the more I figured she would think it was just the excitement of the moment, and she has to know that I mean this.
I can't screw it up.
Before I know it, I feel the right moment slip away.
My heart sinks as I wonder if I'd only get the one chance.
I have to have a second chance.
"You're never letting go of my stomach now, are you?" She giggled at me,
I won't chicken out next time.
"Nope." I chuckled, I don't think she notices how halfhearted it is. I pull her into my side, my hand never leaving her belly, and we get back to the movie as I whisper, "Never letting you go."
