Steve knew about not counting his chickens, you didn't lose all that he'd lost without being a little cautious. It had seemed like such a pipe dream, that he'd get to marry the person he loved. It had seemed impossible when he'd been a young man, then just improbable when he'd come out of the ice. There was no law here, no court to file with. But papers were papers and he didn't much care about that anyway, it was more a symbol, just like the shield. Something that bound them, a promise and Steve wanted to make that promise to Tony.
He considered Tony's question, wondering about the answer himself. "It's complicated," Steve said with a little smile. "We didn't like each other much when we met, then we grew on each other and then we spent so much time together, taught each other a lot," Steve explained looking back. "Then something happened and," he shrugged, not wanting to go getting into that now.
"I've loved him for so long and lost him so many times, the future here isn't certain and I just want him to know he's the one for me, so I guess, since about a month after we met?" He said with a laugh. "That's when I knew I'd never meet anyone else like him and I was in real trouble."