THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS IN CONNACHT that reminds Steve why he used to love being home. Of course, this was the place he grew up in; life in Connacht was simple yet peaceful. Everyone was friends, practically family at this point. It was the way that they could all be around each other with their backs turned around in full trust that they wouldn't be stabbed.

Steve had learned that the hard way in New York; but it doesn't mean he hated it. This is, after all, the reality, and Connacht was just a tiny bubble of his childhood–the Steve who dreamt big, the one who thought of New York differently, perhaps, a bit positively. Boy, was little Steve wrong.

It turns out, dreams are far from dreams; but he couldn't remain inside this bubble for the rest of his life, he needed to step out. No matter how scary it was.

Nevertheless, it does feel nice coming back here. It reminded him why he was doing all of this in the first place; it reminded him of the art he's grown to know, and the art he's grown to love. Connacht on its own was beautiful, it was a masterpiece getting ready to be portrayed on a canvas. New York was beautiful too, just in a more destructive, humanitarian way. Connacht, however, was more of a living fantasy. The kind that you see in fairytale books. The one New Yorkers wouldn't even believe existed (just like Natasha) because it sounded too good to be true.

Albeit, he's here isn't he? It exists. And now, he's drawing the view of the Connacht lakeshore along with his other sketches of the New York state line. It kind of ruins the vibe of the whole sketchbook, but, isn't this the point of art?

Steve sighs, noticing the smudges of charcoal staining his thumb and the side of his hand. He loved art for two reasons: one, it makes him happy; two, free therapy. No matter how much he loved drawing or painting, he can't do it in a noisy crowd. He needed an escape. He needed to get away.

And since there's not much of a place of solitude in New York, he's been having a hard time finding inspiration.

And now? Now he's probably in the most peaceful place in the world. In the most luxurious house he can ever be in. In front of the most beautiful view since the Greek Gods and Goddesses visited Earth – but he's still not feeling peace.

Because his mind won't let him to. No, all he constantly thinks about is the way the redhead woman, who's pretending to be his fiance, whom he's supposed to hate so much, but can't understand why she couldn't leave his mind. Maybe she's annoying him to death so much that she's all he could stress over about?

Whatever it is, it's not good.

Steve closes his sketchbook, suddenly finding it difficult to keep drawing; when he hears a distant sound of something close to a smack. He follows the trail of the sound, and sees his father playing golf on the other side of the field.

Honestly, he doesn't know why rich people loved playing golf so much. He doesn't get what made it such an interesting sport. It's literally just hitting a white ball across a field.

Maybe it's one of the reasons why he and his dad don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.

He finds him in his usual spot by the lakeside, playing golf like he does every morning. Joseph catches him looking and waves him over. Seeing as he had no other reason to refuse, he complies.

"Morning, dad." Steve greets apathetically, one hand holding his sketchbook while the other's shoved in his pocket.

"Your mom found these eco-balls." Joseph blurts out randomly, hitting another ball. "They dissolve in water."

It plops straight down into the water, producing a ripple.

"I don't know how she comes up with this stuff," Joseph adds after. Steve stands awkwardly, not knowing what to respond to that. "Anyway, uh... she is a little peeved. Apparently, I wasn't the most gracious of hosts last night."

Steve lifts his eyebrows as if to say his dad's right about that.

"I was just in a little bit of a shock to find out that you were getting married, especially when none of us even knew you were dating." Joseph reckons, giving a sigh.

Steve stays silent, knowing he's right about that part. It was a bit weird from their point of view.

"The point is... I owe you an apology."

He eyes his outstretched hand skeptically, even with a hint of surprise, but nevertheless accepts his dad's hand. "Accepted." He then goes over to the stack of golf clubs and decides to give it a try with his dad.

"There's something else." Joseph continues. "I've been going over my retirement plans recently, and it got me thinking. I've done a lot of things in my life, practically built an empire with your mother from the ground up."

Steve already knows where this conversation's heading.

"It doesn't mean anything unless..."

"Unless you have someone to leave it too." Steve interjects, swinging the golf club behind his neck. "Yeah, we already discussed this, dad."

"I'd like to discuss it again." Joseph presses, becoming more adamant. "You have responsibilities here. I think I've been more than understanding about your goofing off in New York. I need you to quit playing around—"

Steve exhales a short, frustrated breath. "Here we go again. When are you going to start taking what I do seriously?"

"When you start acting seriously." Joseph counters.

Steve's jaw tightens. "Well, I'm sorry. I feel sorry for you, dad. And I wish you had another son, I really do. One who wanted to stay here. One who wanted to take up the family business. One who wanted to marry someone that you approve of."

He pauses, swallowing the hard lump in his throat. "But it's not me. Okay? Now, it must seem strange to you, my life in New York... sitting in an office, drawing, sketching, reading books... but this..." He holds out his sketchbook to emphasize his point. "This makes me happy. You understand?"

Joseph's not looking at his son, staring into the distance as he shakes his head disapprovingly. "Well... if that's what makes you happy, son, then I've got nothing to say."

Steve lets out a humorless laugh. "That's a first." He chucks the golf club to the side. "You know what? Apology not accepted. Have fun out here."

And he walks away without another word, leaving his relationship with his dad more scarred than it already was.

Unbeknownst to Steve, his dad was on the verge of tears as soon as his son turned his back on him.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

Meanwhile, Natasha has spent the whole day with the girls. Honestly, it wasn't going all that bad yet, considering she had borrowed a pair of sneakers from Sarah so her feet didn't ache as much as it did yesterday.

They took her shopping, and said to try on a couple of dresses that they picked out for her.

"Oh, wow. You're so kind, Mrs. Rogers."

"Please, dear. You can call me Sarah. And even sooner, you can call me mom." Sarah says bashfully, making her chuckle awkwardly. "Here, why don't you try these on."

Natasha eyes the light colored outfits with hesitance. Just looking at it makes her eyes hurt since her wardrobe mostly consists of her signature color, black and nothing but dark colors. "Uh, but I don't think it's necessary—"

"But we insist, dear. Come on." Gammy pipes in, ushering her over to the dressing room. "It's going to look great on you!"

She tried on about five different outfits, but she only liked one of them, which was a simple white, bohemian kind of dress paired with a denim jacket. It was too casual for her taste, but it was the least blinding color compared to the other ones she wore. Besides, it matches the sneakers she had borrowed.

She insisted on paying but Sarah was adamant to pay for hers. "Consider it as an engagement gift, dear."

Natasha smiles politely, and a bit guiltily. "Thank you." She was asked whether she wanted to wear it now, but she declined, saying that she could wear it tomorrow to not ruin the clothes right away.

After shopping, she was confused as to why they were heading straight for the bar. But Sarah and Gammy were so excited that she just let them drag her inside. Once they were inside, she can guess that almost the entire population of women in the town are here.

"Hey, Natasha!"

She turns around to see Peggy walking towards her. "Oh, Peggy, hi. Hey. It's a surprise to see you here."

"Yeah, well, Sarah and Annie wanted your bachelorette party to be a surprise too."

Natasha blinks. "My what?"

Peggy laughs softly. "You know, your bachelorette party. Oh, which reminds me, you have got to try their drinks here! It's so good!" She turns to Sarah and Annie. "Is it alright if I steal her for a few minutes?"

"Oh, no! Go ahead, dear. Have fun!" they tell her, and Peggy squeals, dragging Natasha over to the cocktail bar.

Initially, Natasha's expecting Peggy to get them some fancy drinks made all the way from England, but, to her surprise, she only ordered them a couple of beers.

"I never took you as a beer person." Natasha comments.

Peggy chuckles, kidding along, "Let me guess, you took me as someone who drinks tea from a fancy cup?"

"Yup," Natasha says, taking a swig of her beer.

"You better drink the whole thing before the surprise starts," Peggy advises.

She arches an eyebrow. "There's still another surprise?"

Before Peggy could give an answer, all the lights abruptly went out. "Which I think starts now."

The surprise isn't anything that Natasha's expecting. Hell, it's the craziest thing she's ever witnessed in her life. She was given a lap dance by some guy named Howard Stark. Apparently, according to Sarah and Gammy, he was Connacht's finest dancer.

Yeah, okay, he looks good; in a ridiculous, jerkish, playboy way.

But the image of him giving her a lap dance will forever be embedded in her mind, and will forever live on as a curse.

As soon as the fiasco's over, Natasha excuses herself to get some fresh air from the balcony. She takes off the little veil they've given her, shuddering at the memory of what just happened, and fixes her hair in place.

She takes a deep breath, needing to calm herself down because everything's just happening so fast.

Then the door swings open. "Hey," Peggy's voice reached her ears. "There you are. How're you holding up?"

"Oh, fine. Fine. Just working on my tan." Natasha returns promptly. "Wow, you are right. I'm kind of regretting that I didn't finish my whole beer before that thing happened."

Peggy laughs, leaving a good distance between them on the balcony. "Yeah, the Rogers's can be a bit overwhelming at times."

Natasha couldn't agree more. "Yeah."

"It's a little different than New York, huh?"

"Little bit. Little bit. You ever been?"

"No," Peggy shakes her head. "That was always Steve's dream, not mine.

Natasha takes this time to ask her something she's been curious about ever since she got here. And she gets the feeling that Peggy's easier to talk to than the other half of the former pair. "You guys were pretty serious, huh?"

Something shifts in her brown eyes. "Well, I mean, we dated in high school all the way through college. But we were kids." She's smiling, but Natasha could tell it looks a bit restrained compared to the smile she had when she saw Steve again yesterday.

It still doesn't make any sense though. "And you guys called it off because..." Natasha trails off.

Peggy laughs quietly. "Well, um..." There was a trace of hesitance in her voice, probably unsure whether it'd make Natasha too uncomfortable. But Natasha gave her a smile, indicating she was alright with it.

Because, really, it's not like she had feelings for Peggy's ex.

"The night before we graduated school, he proposed, and said that he wanted to elope and run away to New York with me."

Natasha's eyes widen ever so slightly.

Oh, wow. They really were that serious, huh.

"And..." Peggy trails off.

But Natasha finishes it for her. "You said no."

Peggy nods, pursing her lips. "And I said no, yeah. I mean, ever since my family and I migrated here from England, I've never been anywhere else. We were supposed to move back, but, I grew to love this place, you know? This is home."

She pauses, giving her a sincere smile. "But, anyway... you're a lucky girl. He really is the best, which you obviously already know."

She can't bring herself to look at her when she says. "Yeah, very much so." She smiles, feeling another fresh wave of guilt eating her up. "The best."

Before they could drown in their silence, the door swung open when a few of the girls started hanging out the balcony as well.

"Oh, looks like Howard's wrapping it up." Peggy says, and Natasha looks around to see the guy who gave her a lap dance giving on to Gammy this time. "Go, Annie!"

She couldn't hold back her laughter this time.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

When they arrived back at the house, the three were already worn out despite the sun still being up, but it was close to dinner time. And Natasha didn't want to admit it herself, but she had fun despite being given a lap dance.

Sarah and Annie were really nice people. Steve was definitely lucky to have them.

"I've never seen him so..."

"No, he really got down there. I mean..."

"Howard was wonderful."

Sarah and Gammy's laughs die down as they stop to a halt, noticing a figure from a distance. Natasha doesn't know what they're looking at yet.

"Oh, no..." Sarah laments.

Natasha follows her line of sight and sees Steve chopping up logs of wood in their backyard. And he's doing it quite... violently.

"Steve!" Sarah calls out to him, but he doesn't respond. Natasha figures he must be wearing a headset of some kind because she sees there's something plugged in his ears. "Steve, honey, is everything okay?"

Still no response.

Natasha lifts her shades to try and take a clearer view of him. "What... what's he doing?"

Of course, she can see that she's chopping up some wood but what she doesn't understand is why.

Gammy motions her to follow them instead, as if she already had an inkling what's going on. "Uh, something's up. It's best if you leave him alone. Come on, honey."

Natasha watches him slash that ax over the wood logs quite harshly. She suspects that something must've happened, because she's never seen Steve look that bothered before. Or angry.

And what surprises her more is the fact that she's bothered by it as well.

As soon as she's inside, Natasha awkwardly drifts away because accidentally walks in on Steve's parents' arguing. She could hear that Sarah's frustrated with Joseph, apparently, he's done something she didn't approve of while she and the girls were out sightseeing, and by sightseeing, she means Howard Stark's overall.

Nonetheless, she was smart to pick up that Steve might not have the best relationship with his father, but it looks to be the complete opposite with Sarah. Obviously, she could see why this was making her so upset.

She just hopes they fix whatever the problem is; it wasn't her business to pry.

Going up to her room, she carefully shuts the door behind her so as to not make sure it echoes downstairs. She lets out a sigh, observing the tidy room. That's strange. She could've sworn she left her bed unmade this morning because she hadn't had the time to make it since they were in a hurry earlier.

Then she realizes that Steve must've cleaned the mess up. Of course, she got the feeling that he was a neat freak judging by how clean his desk is at work. From the three years she's spent working with him, Steve was always organized with his things. He was always a calm, collected person who had everything planned in his life (maybe the reason why he's such a good assistant, but, of course, she's not going to tell him that).

So, seeing him murder those poor wooden logs a while back really made her wonder what happened between him and his dad to rile him up like that.

Oh, well, maybe it's another story for another day.

Deciding to take a shower, she goes over to her bag and prepares her sleepwear for the night. She fishes through her purse to try and find her comb, but it slips from her hand as soon as she finds it, dropping straight into Steve's open duffle bag.

She easily locates her comb, but her gaze settles on an object peeking out from Steve's bag. It catches her attention so she takes it out of the bag, realizing it was Steve's sketchbook. She isn't sure what came over her to make her flip the front page, but, the next thing she knows, she's already browsing through Steve's artworks.

And the second she sees the sketches, she's lost for words.

They were all beautiful.

It was a sketch of everything you could find in New York. Everything that reminded you of New York. Just browsing through these pieces will give you a great picture on what living life's like in the city already, and Steve had done a great job capturing that artistry.

She also notices the familiarity of the sketches, trying to place her finger on where she'd seen these drawings before. When it hits her.

It was the art pieces that Steve was asking her to take a second look at back in the office. The ones that she rejected again and again.

Shit. She hadn't known that those were Steve's drawings, she thought they were just random submissions from other volunteers.

Still, it was impressive, and she might've felt bad about turning them down so quickly. But the whole theme of this sketchbook still didn't fit the theme of the Spring edition, which was reminiscence. New York was definitely not something that people would want to remember for a moment of solitude.

But it was still an option. It didn't change the fact that Steve still did a good job with it.

Natasha places the sketchbook back into the bag exactly the way she found it, before heading straight to the shower to, hopefully, clear her mind.

After she's done showering, it was only then it dawned on her that she had forgotten to pick up a towel from the cabinet. She curses under her breath, knowing that it's so damn cold outside to even be in a towel, much less, naked.

Being left with no other choice, she opens the door and peers through the gap, trying to scan the room because, for all she knows, Steve might already be here. "Hello?" she calls out.

No answer.

Okay, so he isn't here yet. She really needs to go outside for that towel. Making it quick, she hurriedly opens the cabinet and grabs the first one she sees.

However, before she can totally dry herself off, as soon as she shuts the cabinet doors, her soul almost leaves her body when a figure suddenly appears.

"Ah!" She screams. No, she screeches so loud that it also shocks the person standing in front of her. For some clumsy reason, her foot trips over the pile of blankets on the floor.

And she ends up falling on that person.

"What the fu—"

She slowly raises her head and looks into the bewildered, blue eyes of Steve Rogers, feeling the odd sensation of warmth beneath her. In fact, it was too warm. Why on earth does it feel like–

When her eyes drift further below, she realizes why. "Oh my God."

She's naked. Lying on top of Steve Rogers. Who is also naked as the day he's born.

His eyes almost pop out of their sockets as he realizes what's happening, already turning as red as her hair. "Oh my God."

"Why are you naked?!"

"Why are you wet?!"

"Don't look at me!"

"I don't understand! Why are you wet?!"

"Why are you naked?!"

They both try their best to simply keep their eyes off of each other as Natasha scrambles to get her towel from the floor. She wraps it around her entire body. Steve, however, was just on the verge of standing up, still having nothing to cover him up, only snatching his earphones off.

Natasha averts her gaze, flushing harder in each passing second. "Oh, God! You're showing everything. Cover it up, for the love of God!"

He finally grabs a towel from the cabinet and, thankfully, covers his lower region.

"Explain yourself, please." Natasha demands, securing the towel around her body further.

"Explain myself?" Steve asks in disbelief.

"Yes, explain yourself!"

"I was outside!" Steve defends, gesturing at the balcony.

Natasha throws him a bewildered look. "So, naturally, you'd have to get naked?"

"I was going to take a shower!"

"Oh, really? Didn't you hear me? I was checking to see if someone was in the room!"

"I was wearing my earphones and listening to music, of course, I wouldn't hear you!" Steve argues, his face couldn't be any redder. "What are you even doing home? I thought you went out with mom."

"Can we not have this conversation right now, please?

Steve ignores her, ranting on, "Then you jump me out of nowhere? What the hell is that?"

"I didn't–I didn't mean to jump you! You scared me!"

"I scared you?"

"Yes, in all your naked glory!" Natasha fumes, shaking her head. "You know what? Just go. Go."

Steve raises one of his hands in surrender. "Fine."

"Go! Go take a shower. You stink."

Steve disappears into the bathroom, and as soon as she hears the door shut, she suddenly realizes that she left her clothes in there.

"Fuck," she curses.

.・゜-: ✧ :-

a/n:

ok im sorry i've been MIA again for a while lol 

i spent my school break lying around all day and eating junk and sleeping

but i did wrote the future chapters of a dash of red so,, i think that counts for something. anyway i did tell you guys that a dash of red is meant to be a short story so i think it's going to be just a total of 15 chapters ?? i've been drafting it already so, yeah, 

the enemies to lovers thing is nearing >:))

oh yeah and this is what that weird naked scene looked like ^