romanogers || one shots

"Can i have this Dance?"

Tony and Pepper get married on the beach, with the sun setting slowly behind the horizon and a gentle, saltwater breeze passing through. They stand under an arch of flowers as Phil officiates, and Pepper looks gorgeous, of course, in this backless dress with lace and more flowers curled into her hair. Tony doesn't clean up half-bad, either, and Natasha told him as much right before the ceremony, because they're friends and she figures now's as good a time as any to let him know that she's happy for him. There're less than fifty of them in the crowd, and Natasha sits next to Steve with her legs crossed and his arm on the back of her chair. The air is thick and humid, but it's still such a beautiful, beautiful ceremony, and Natasha barely notices the sweat making her dress stick to her skin.

Steve's thumb skims idly over her shoulderblade as Tony recites his vows and Pepper dabs at her eyes with his handkerchief, and Natasha glances at him. Steve winks and she presses her lips together, turning back to the wedding.

Torches light the path down the shore from the ceremony to the reception, which is just a few low tables set with pillows instead of chairs and flower petals scattered along the sand. There's a band and a small waitstaff and an open bar (Tony's doing, of course), and the air fills with chatter and laughter as they pass around alcohol and eat off of each other's plates. It's not very different from every other time they've all gotten together, except they're on a beach and Tony and Pepper are now (officially) Mr. and Mrs. Stark, and no one makes a harmless joke about Tony not being able to have a wandering eye anymore.

The couple shares their first dance, and then a few minutes later, they invite everyone else to dance. Clint sets Baby Nathaniel in Wanda's arms and pulls Laura to her feet, and then Sam nudges Maria with his elbow and gives her a wink, and the two of them get up, too.

Natasha's watching Tony and Pepper as Tony says something that makes Pepper grip his arm and tilt her head back in laughter, and Natasha feels a large hand settle over her hip, breath warm against the back of her neck as Steve leans into her space and asks, "Can I have this dance?"

Wanda's looking at them from her table, a wide smile on her face. Clint's smirking, too.

Natasha feels herself grin, setting her wine glass down. "Lead the way."

Steve gets to his feet (everyone kicked off their shoes after the ceremony, and it feels pretty amazing, the warm sand between her toes) and offers his hands, and she grips both of them and lets him pull her up. He steps back, their fingers still joined, and then pulls her close, hands fitting over the small of her back as she drapes her arms around his neck.

She wonders if he can feel her heart thrumming with how they're flushed together like this, but as she looks up at him from under her eyelashes, his eyes sparkling as he gazes at her with this gentle smile, she realizes that she doesn't care. They've been dancing around each other since Sokovia, and Washington DC, and kind of since New York, too, and she knows that neither of them are as oblivious as they pretend to be. People have been talking about them for weeks, behind closed doors and in hushed conversations, as if she and Steve wouldn't be able to figure out what all the looks and whispers were about if they didn't try hard enough.

So Natasha just presses her face into his shoulder, smiling against his shirt as she breathes him in, and he pulls her close and whispers her name.

"Everyone's staring," he says into her ear.

She pulls him closer, as close as physically possible, and closes her eyes. It's just the two of them in this moment, with the stars sparkling above and the ocean waves crashing gently against the shore.

"Let them."