Who: Steve and Tony What: An interesting proposal Where: Their house When: Last week
Ever since Tony had finished the ring it had been burning a hole in Steve's pocket. He took it everywhere with him thinking that he wanted to be prepared when the Right Time presented itself. He'd thought about doing it on Christmas and then on New Years but it just hadn't been right, even if they'd been in their best clothes. It came and went and Steve had enjoyed it, he hadn't been hung up on what he wanted to do and he'd tried his best to just stay in the moment. But maybe he'd been a little distracted.
He woke up like he always did, well before the sun and went for a run before he hit the gym. Ever since Dodger had appeared, as if by magic, he went everywhere with Steve, on runs, to the gym and for swims and honestly he liked the company. Steve even went for a quick lap of the hotspring and walked home in bare feet. No one was up at home, which was pretty standard and he made breakfast, feeding the scraps to his good boy before he hit the shower.
Tony was such a huge presence, larger than life in every way it almost always surprised him how small he looked there in their bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress before he leaned down to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth.
--
Tony wasn’t any kind of heavy sleeper, but he might have learned how to do it a little less lightly these days -- it felt easier, sort of, when his bed was shared with Steve Rogers. When they’d originally agreed to move in together, to share a room (although not a bed, not yet) it’d been under the pretenses of safety in numbers. And it’d been something of a lie, maybe, but it hadn’t been wrong. Tony did feel safer when Steve was around.
But even still, he did wake up fairly quickly -- this time with an appreciative little hum, even while he reached out without opening his eyes in order to tug Steve down a little further to his level. Tony wasn’t always a cuddly sort, but he made exceptions in the mornings. And with Steve. “Bring coffee?” He asked, more into Steve’s shoulder than out of it.
--
He smiled as Tony's sleep warmth seemed to envelop him, the scratch in his voice and of his beard so wonderfully familiar. Steve had grown used to it, to sleeping beside someone, caring so much for just one person. The last thing he wanted was to consider leaving this place, going back somewhere where his apartment was quiet and empty, lacking so much of the warmth and life he'd found there.
"It's ready in the kitchen," Steve assured him because he knew better than to go anywhere near Tony in the morning without making sure the coffee was ready first. "I'll get you a cup," he murmured through another gentle kiss.
Steve fetched two cups of coffee for them before he returned to their bedroom and took a seat as he eased the cup into Tony's hand.
--
Tony took those kisses sleepily but happily -- and then was content to just lay there, eyes still closed as he waited for Steve to return before he bothered even really considering getting up. Not every morning was like this -- there were days that Tony still hadn’t bothered sleeping, or had just gone to bed and was therefore completely unreceptive to morning greetings and kisses. Steve generally always knew when Tony had shown up to sleep, though, so it wasn’t so much a blunder as it was mutual understanding.
But some mornings were like this -- lazy and perfect, neither of them in any rush to get somewhere or make things happen. And it was. It was just really nice. Something that neither of them had really allowed themselves before this.
Hell, Tony didn’t even mind the dog that somehow always found his way into the bedroom.
“There’s the stuff,” he mumbled, blinking his eyes open to focus on the coffee -- hot and wafting in the best smells. “Morning, beloved.”
--
There were still things that would send his heart into a flutter, things like 'beloved' rolling off Tony's tongue. Because on someone else it might have sounded ridiculous or cheesy but not there, it was wonderfully genuine and Steve melted like he did so easily where he was concerned. "You talking to me or the coffee?" Steve asked before he took a sip of his own.
In so many ways it was like a dream, too good and Steve often wondered if things would go the way of the poem, that nothing gold could stay. His life had a habit of being somewhat tragic and maybe he was used to things just sort of falling apart on him.
"Maybe one day you'll be that happy to see me," Steve teased him as he leaned forward to nuzzle against Tony's neck, his hand winding in the hair at the nape.
--
“Obviously the coffee,” Tony said, his smile already halfway hidden behind his coffee cup. But Steve knew well enough that it was there and that the greeting had been for him -- sure, especially because he’d brought coffee, but also just because it was Steve. And because Tony would feel that way with or without coffee.
He let out a comfortable little hum of a noise, tilted his head back to get the fingers on the back of his neck to dig in just a little deeper. This was a perfect way to start a morning -- Steve Rogers giving him coffee and with his fingers in his hair.
“Bit early to be fishing for compliments,” He told Steve but offered a wink all the same. “Have a good run?” Tony probably would have considered it too cold to bother going out there just to have a jog, but Steve didn’t seem to mind, sun, rain or snow.
---
The house was quiet, the town was quiet really at this time of morning. There were a few early risers but most people had nowhere much to go and there was a slowness to people that Steve hadn't really ever experienced before. There were birds singing in the tree outside the window for goodness sakes and Tony winking at him in their bed? Well he sometimes needed to give himself a good hard pinch.
"It's nice out, cool but fresh," Steve said with a little shrug. Light was starting to come in through the cracks around the blinds and Tony's hair was extra messy now, from sleep and from Steve's fingers and he stroked his fingers gently along his jaw.
"I keep thinking how much I like this place, but really? I think I'd like any place where I was with you," Steve told him quietly. "And I keep thinking how terrible it would be to leave, to end up someplace else, but the reality is the worst part would be if you weren't there with me."
---
Tony rather doubted it was nice out, but his and Steve’s opinion on the outdoors in general tended to vary. He simply wasn’t much of a nature guy, wasn’t all that interested in stopping and smelling flowers or admiring a view. He tried to be, on occasion, but it never quite worked.
So he just let out a sleepy kind of snuffle over it and went back to sipping his coffee -- just a little too hot, which was basically just how he liked it best. He’d just as easily let it go over cold and still drink it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have his preferences.
They’d talked about this before, about how it was a frightful sort of thing, the uncertainty of not knowing if they would stay or go, but so far it’d been them here the longest, and they were making something of it. Something good, practically like a dream. “Yeah,” he agreed, because he did agree -- that would be the worst part. He didn’t want to end up anywhere that Steve wasn’t. And not just any Steve. This one. His Steve. “But, you know, I think you’re just stuck with me at this point. No choice. It’s just how it is.” Or, really, how they wanted it to be.
--
People came and went, some stayed for only a few days before they were gone again. There were people with connections and without, it didn't seem to matter. But they had been there the longest, Steve before anyone else really that he knew of. Maybe that meant something, maybe it meant whatever took people away was going to give them a pass. Or maybe it meant they needed to make the most of the time they had, either way Steve wasn't about to let go of the man in front of him.
He'd wanted it to be the right time, had felt the need to make it something big and showy, something as impressive as Tony himself. But that wasn't them, no what was them was this. It was quiet and sincere and where they could both just be themselves.
"You promise?" Steve said softly as he leaned over to put down his coffee cup on the table beside the bed. Stashed in the back of the draw beside a pair of socks was the ring box he'd carted around approximately everywhere and he pulled it free as he sank down on one knee. It was a little clumsy, which was all Steve Rogers and nothing like Captain America, but he was nervous.
"Would you- would you like to marry me?" Steve asked as he looked up at him.
--
“Yeah, of course,” Tony said, easy as anything when Steve asked him if he promised. Because of course he did. He’d made that promise what felt like forever ago now -- that he’d try, that he wouldn’t let anything get between them if he had any say in the matter. Not anymore, not after all they’d been through.
But then Steve was shuffling through a drawer, pulling something out and getting down on one knee and Tony’s brain - active, too fast, always focused on about a million things at any one given time -- stuttered and then stalled to a complete stop.
Wait, he wanted to say, I’m not ready. Not for marriage, mind. It was just that he’d just woken up, had only half a cup of coffee, his hair was fluff and he hadn’t even brushed his teeth. This wasn’t how he’d expected this to go down.
But then his brain booted up again, practically an audible noise, what with the way that Tony took in a big breath of air at the same time. Oh. Maybe this was a perfect time, actually. Because it didn’t really matter -- it was just them, and Steve was asking, looking somehow nervous, like there was some kind of chance that Tony might respond in a way that wasn’t positive.
“No,” he said immediately. Possibly because he was, deep down, a little bit of a difficult asshole. “No, I would not like to marry you.” He set his coffee down, pushed himself up to sitting in order to reach for that little box -- he was goddamned dying to know what was inside, exactly. “I’d love to marry you, Steve. Give yourself a little credit.”
Was he going to cry? He felt a little like he was going to cry.
---
No. It hit him right in the chest and he'd told himself he wouldn't be disappointed, that he wouldn't let it bother him that Tony didn't want to be married. That wouldn't mean he didn't love him and he wasn't going to let it change anything. Even if he looked like he'd sustained a blow. Luckily he kept going, no turned into love to and Steve's heart started beating again.
It was the perfect time, because this was the Tony that belonged to just Steve. Before everything else, before responsibilities and the lab and the town. He was sweet, even soft and that still felt like a secret, something very few people got to see. "Don't do that," Steve said with a sigh, leaning his forehead down on Tony's knee to take a moment to get back on track.
When he looked back up his eyes were a little glassy and that was mirrored in Tony, because honestly Steve had never thought he'd get to have this. He'd lost Tony, mourned him, seen him get married and become a dad and everything he'd felt he'd been forced to just push down into somewhere else and not think about. So now to be down on one knee and have the man he loved looking at him like that? It was a gosh darn fairytale.
Steve opened the box, removing the ring little Tony had crafted for him as he took his hand. "No matter what, no matter where or how? You have me," he promised quietly.
---
“Oh, Steve,” Tony said, threading his fingers into Steve’s hair and sounding slightly apologetic for the way he’d answered a bit brashly -- Steve had sort of looked like the world was ending for a split second there and --well. That hadn’t been Tony’s intention. He couldn’t bring himself to really apologize though, because he was doing feelings -- a whole lot of them, and most of his attentions were caught on trying very hard not to cry (a battle he was losing) and just how fucking much he loved Steve Rogers. His Steve. It didn’t matter what time of day.
“Oh,” he said again, because somehow Steve had managed to get him speechless, and the ring was -- Okay, it looked kind of ridiculously perfect (like Steve knew him or something, go figure), no rocks or jewels, just a simple shape in a hex nut. “Do I have to say yes again?” He asked, voice going a little wobbly. “Because -- yeah. Yes. I’ll marry you, and you’re mine as much as I’m yours. Get up and kiss me already.”
--
He'd been ready for Tony to let him down gently, to tell him he was happy to keep dating but that he didn't want to marry him. After all, he was already married. Or well not yet. Well he was dead. Look it was complicated. But Steve had told himself that he couldn't do anything except ask and let Tony make his own choice. So to hear him say yes? It sent his hands shaking along with his bottom lip.
Because yeah it was the love of his life wanting what he wanted, wanting to be married to him. But it was also that they could, that the world had changed and was so much better now in ways it hadn't been when Steve was a boy. When he hadn't dared to dream of marrying the one he might come to love because it seemed so impossible. "Don't rush me!" Steve said with a smile as he slid the ring onto Tony's finger. It was a perfect fit, thanks to Little Tony finding a way to scan his hand and Steve rubbed his thumb over the ring almost just to prove to himself it was there.
--
Tony was not yet married. And he wasn’t dead either. Both of those things would happen eventually, sure -- but the first one was going to happen a lot sooner than later and it wouldn’t be like it’d already been written in some other time. Not anymore. He was going to marry Steve and that was just a fact now.
“Don’t make me rush you, then!” Tony said, but he was laughing over it, delighted on every level when Steve pushed the ring up past his knuckle until it was neatly in place. Vibranium, he noted, his heart in his throat even as he took in the way it looked on his hand, exactly what it meant.
“It’s perfect,” he said, because it was true. And Steve ought to know that he’d done a good job -- but of course he had. “Now kiss me,” he said -- but this time, didn’t wait, but instead leaned down to press their lips together.