“Pepper we’ve been over this already, no more blind dates,” Natasha warned her friend as they drove through the streets of Oceanside. It was a nice day and they decided to eat a nice seafood place for lunch. Of course Natasha and Pepper’s lunch date ended up being about Natasha’s love life….or lack of.
“I promise Nat, this guy is a nice guy,” Pepper had been trying to ease Natasha back into relationships after a bad one that ended three months ago. The strawberry blonde had been setting up blind dates for her friends for guys that would do right by Natasha, of course they always looked at the Russian and only wanted sex with her.
“Listen Pepper, I told you I’m not looking for a relationship,” Natasha stopped the car at the red light. “I just want to enjoy my newfound freedom for a bit.” Pepper understood, her friend wasn’t ready to get back out there, but she hated seeing her alone. “And besides, it’s not like I’m gonna end up hitting Mr. Right.” Of course Natasha wasn’t paying attention and stepped on the gas.
Thunk
“Oh my god!” Natasha put the car on park and she and Pepper immediately got out as they heard something hit the car.
“Are you okay,” Pepper asked the man lying on the street.
“Oh shit, please tell me he’s not dead,” Natasha quickly kneeled by his head and checked for a pulse. “Shit, shit, shit,” she started cursing but stopped as the man’s eyelids started to flutter and was met with the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes.
“Oh thank god he’s alive Nat,” Pepper sighed in relief. “Are you okay,” she asked again.”
“This must be heaven because there’s an angel looking at me,” he grinned as his eyes focused on Natasha.
“Hilarious,” she gave a deadpanned response.
“Fuck,” the guy winced as he lifted his head and put a hand on the back of it.
“Natasha, we gotta take him to the hospital, he might have a concussion.”
“No, I’m alright,” the guy slowly got up and they all stood, “I’m fine, I’ve been through worse than getting hit by a car.”
“Are you sure, I feel really bad,” Natasha slightly hoped he won’t press any charges.
He gave her a boyish smile that made her heart skip a beat. “I’m fine ma’am, really.”
“At least let me take you out for dinner,” Natasha had no idea why she said it.
Pepper looked at her in shock and the guy raised a brow. “You trying to bribe me so I won’t press any charges?”
Natasha blushed, “No! Of course not, it’s the least I could do for hitting you by accident. I mean you can press charges if you want.”
The guy laughed and Natasha’s heart skipped a beat again, “Nah I won’t press charges. It was slightly my fault. I thought I could beat the crosswalk countdown but I must’ve missed it by a second. Shows that there’s even danger when going for a run.”
All of a sudden, there were cars honking and Natasha noticed there were cars behind her parked on in the street.
“Guess you ladies have to go now.”
“Wait,” Pepper pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her purse. “My friend is gonna need your number.”
The guy grinned sheepishly and quickly wrote it down and handed the paper to Natasha. “How does 8pm sound? We can meet up at Vinoco in Mineola.”
“Sounds good,” Natasha smiled and he smiled back and headed off.
“Oh and I’m Steve by the way,” he said the moment he was on the other side of the road.
“And I’m Natasha,” the redhead shouted.
“Come on lover girl, let’s get out of here and get you ready for tonight.”
*****
The moment Natasha walked towards the restaurant, Steve spotted her and waved.
“Natasha!” He gave her that boyish smile. “Wow you look amazing!”
“Thanks,” she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, she had hoped to impress Steve with a nice simple black dress that hugged her curves. She got a good look at Steve and inwardly gasped. He was 6’0, blonde hair that was neatly groomed back and short, and a neatly trimmed beard. “You look amazing yourself.” She liked the way the dark blue button down brought his eyes out and he looked really amazing in the black jeans he wore.
“Shall we,” he grinned and held his arm out and she happily took it and they walked into Vinoco’s.
Steve ordered their appetizer, which consisted of the beef empanada because he raved how amazing it was especially with the sauce it came with. Once their entrees were served, Natasha immediately got down to business.
“So Steve, what do you do?”
The blonde put down the glass of wine he was drinking. “Well I was in the army for four years. But now I’m in charge of the visual department for Stark Industries.”
“So you work for Tony Stark?”
Steve nodded, “I’m guessing the woman that was with you early today was Pepper?” Natasha nodded this time. “Tony always talked about Pepper but never got to meet her. He had been trying to find a good time to introduce us, guess getting hit by a car is one way.”
Natasha blushed, “Sorry.”
Steve just chuckled, “It’s alright, let bygones be bygones. Now I believe I should also ask you the same question.”
“Alright, well I’m a doctor at one of Stark’s hospital.”
“Didn’t take you for a doctor to be honest, you seemed more of a…”
“Dancer?” It wasn’t a question. “I get that a lot. I used to do ballet when I was a kid, but then I heard my calling in medical, so henceforth I became a doctor. I mean yeah I could’ve become a nurse, but I was just always ambitious.”
“I can see that,” he smiled, “who knows maybe you’ll become the head doctor.”
Once dinner was over, they walked over to Costa Nova Waffle, where they served ice cream in a hybrid crepe and waffle cone.
“I had fun tonight,” Natasha smiled as he walked her to her car.
Steve smiled. “I’m glad you did, hopefully we can do it again sometime.”
*****
It had been almost two weeks since her last date with Steve, surprisingly the guy texted her a couple days afterwards. Since then, the two always texted or chatted (whenever Natasha had time to spare during her rounds) and their conversations always brought a smile on her face. The redhead was lucky she had just finished a shift last night and was currently free before she had to head back to the hospital at midnight. So she took her Northern Inuit to a dog park for some fresh air and to socialize with the other dogs on Long Island. She watched as Karina happily interacted with other dogs. Surprisingly her dog took a bit of interest in a Belgian Malinois dog. Everywhere the Belgian went, her Karina followed and Natasha smiled at the two. The Belgian instantly took off in a shocking speed as it heard its master calling for it and instantly Karina sprinted afterwards.
“Karina!” Natasha cursed under her breathe and ran after her dog. She watched in horror as the Northern Inuit had accidentally jumped on a man the Belgian Malinois was standing next to. “Oh my god, I am so sorry.”
Once Karina was pulled to the side, Natasha blushed. “Steve!”
“Oh, this your dog Natasha,” Steve got up and smiled at her. “My she’s quite the tackler.”
“I apologize for Karina, she just took interested in your dog.”
“Ah,” Steve gently patted the Belgian, “well Dodger is quite the charmer.”
Both dog owners blushed as their stomachs started to growl.
“You wanna get lunch? My treat.”
Steve just grinned, “To apologize for your dog running me over?”
“No,” Natasha blushed again, “we’re both hungry anyways. There’s a Burger King a few minutes away and we can eat outside with the dogs.”
Steve shrugged, “Sounds like a good idea.”
Once arriving at the fast food joint, Steve gave Natasha his order as he waited outside by the tables with the dogs. A few minutes later she arrived with their food and a couple of water bottles for the dogs. Luckily Steve had an extra portable water bowl for Karina to use. The dogs laid next to one another while their owners engaged in small talk.
“So when are you free again?”
Natasha ate a fry before answering. “I should be available for another dinner date in four days. I’ve got an intense surgery coming up.”
“That’s gotta be rough, I wish you luck and I hope it goes well.”
“Thanks Steve.”
With their meals finished, both headed their separate ways.
*****
Four months later
For the past four months, Steve and Natasha’s relationship had been going off in a great way. Whenever they had a day off together, they would go out, and if Natasha had plenty time to spare during her rounds at the hospital, they would hang out in her office and watch a couple of tv shows on his Netflix account when he brought his iPad with him.
The couple were currently hanging out in Steve’s apartment, watching The Umbrella Academy.
“We should move in together.” Natasha looked up at him as Steve paused the show. “I’ve already started looking at places, even found ones near your work.”
“What brought this on?”
Steve shrugged, “Thought it would be nice to get a place to call our own. And who knows, maybe even start a family together.”
“You really plan for everything don’t you?”
“Well, I was a tactician in the army,” he grinned and Natasha playfully smacked his chest. “What do you say, huh? A place for us and the dogs?”
“Alright, let’s do it.”
It took awhile, but they managed to find a nice place out in Westbury. It was only twenty minutes from the hospital she worked at and 10 minutes away from the train station for Steve to commute to the city, luckily Steve also had the option of working home.
Today was one of the very rare days where Natasha had off and Steve was working, though the blonde only had a half a day and said he was going to be home around 6pm. Natasha was reading a book until her phone chimed. Picking up the phone she read the text message.
Meet me by City Cellar Wine Bar and Grill at 7pm, make sure to wear the gift I have for you in the closet, top shelf :)
Natasha was curious to know what her boyfriend was planning. “I’m sure you two have no idea what Steve is up to, do you?” She looked down at the dogs laying on the carpet.
It was only 3pm and she still had 4 hours to kill. The redhead decided to take an hour nap before getting ready. After being recharged from her nap, Natasha got to work and hopped in the shower. She then styled her hair into beach wave curls, stepping out of the bathroom she opened the closet and found the gift Steve mentioned in his text. It was a gorgeous dark blue dress and there was even a sterling silver necklace laying in the middle of the dress. Putting the dress on and the necklace, Natasha put on some light makeup and her favorite red lipstick. She took a good look at herself in the mirror and grinned.
“What do you guys think,” she asked Karina and Dodger as they now laid on the bed. Both dogs barked their approval and Natasha requested an Uber to come pick her up since Steve said not to bother driving over since he would bring them home in his car.
Once arriving, the waitress brought her to the table Steve made reservations for. She noticed her man sitting at the table but looked up when the waitress announced her arrival and placed Natasha’s menu on the table. Steve got up and he looked very handsome in a gray charcoal suit with a white dress shirt on.
“Ma’am, looking beautiful as always.”
Natasha blushed, “Thanks, not too bad yourself Rogers.”
He chuckled and pulled Natasha’s chair out, once seated, he pushed the chair and he headed over back to his. Their server brought over the wine recommended for the night and left the bottle at their table. Steve had ordered the steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli, while Natasha ordered the sirloin with zucchini and mashed potatoes.
“So why the fancy dinner all of a sudden?”
Steve shrugged, “Can’t take surprise my girl once in a while?”
“No one said you couldn’t.” He smiled and the two engaged into small talk as their food arrived.
“Natasha,” Steve got out of his chair and got down on one knee. “For the past four months we’ve been together. From the moment you accidentally hit me with your car,” Natasha blushed, “from being knocked over by your dog, I gotta say our relationship had an interesting start. But those four months have been the best days of my life.” He pulled out a black velvet box. “Those days me realize how much I want to be by your side every day, every morning and every night. So Natasha Romanoff, would you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?” He opened the small velvet case and inside was a gorgeous engagement ring.
Natasha began to tear up, and she flung her arms up, her right arm accidentally hit Steve on the head as she was trying to hug him.
“I’m so sorry Steve, I didn’t mean to hit you.”
The blonde just laughed and cupped her cheek. “Well you can’t buy me dinner since it’s on me, but if you say yes, then I won’t press charges.”
Natasha laughed and kissed him, “I was going to say yes anyways you big dork.”
Everyone clapped as Steve slipped the finger on her ring finger. The newly engaged couple kissed and everyone cheered. And who knew that Natasha actually did end up hitting Mr. Perfect.