A (small) Steve x John Valentine's Day Story

Valentine's Day in the Tankmen Universe

It was a hot day, as usual in this desert. Where Steve and John currently are, it's pretty quiet. Steve's driving the tank silently, focusing on where he's going. John is sitting on the turret of the tank, biting his nails to shorten them and to pass time. Today was like any other day, according to John. The only thing unusual about today was the tension between them. John felt like Steve's silence was meaning something. He knows for a fact it's not his birthday, and he knows it's not Christmas, that wasn't too long ago. He *still* finds wrapping paper under the dining tables and in the kitchen of their building. He doesn't even know where Steve's driving the tank, Steve just told him to get on the tank and ride with him while he goes to check something out. John was certain for a while they were going to pay a surprise visit to the other team, but it seems they aren't going that way.

"Captain, do you know what today is?" Steve asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "Tuesday?" John asked, looking over at his buddy and putting his hand with now shortened nails down. "Well, yeah, but-" He cut off his sentence to sigh, already getting a bit frustrated. John tilted his head a bit, carefully scooting closer to where Steve is in the tank and looking down at him from above. "What's up with you? Is today as much of an important day to you as your birthday?" John joked, getting no response from Steve for a while. "Just thought you would've said something about it being Valentine's Day." John suddenly laughed at it, almost falling off the tank as it came to a sudden stop, Steve looking back at him. "What's so funny about it? It's a day for love and spending time with those you care about!" He retorted, seeming hurt by his laughing. "It's a typical Tuesday, Steve. Sure some people are fucking more today, but that's not our problem." He giggled a bit and Steve rolled his eyes, getting out of the tank and sitting at the edge of the turret, back faced towards the Captain.

John tilted his head again and sat next to Steve, staring at the sandy dirty ground underneath them. Such a romantic place to be for such a romantic day, John thought to himself. There was some more awkward silence between them, just the sounds of cicadas in the distance. "Don't you feel anything for me, John?" Steve suddenly asked, making John almost snap his neck when turning his head to look at him. Not only because of the ridiculous question but from the informality of the name used. John was more concerned and quite confused about his question though. "Aha- Steve, uh? What?" Steve looked at John with a blank expression, but obvious to tell he was a bit upset. "I asked, do you feel anything for me." Steve repeated himself, sterner than before. "...Steve, you're just my right-hand man, I don't understand what you're asking-" "You know what I'm asking, John. Don't play dumb." Steve's glare gave John the chills, despite John being a higher authority than him. John felt like he couldn't look away from Steve with a glare like this, he feels stuck staring at him until one of them breaks this 'staring contest'. "...Steve, I'm not gay." Steve scoffed, breaking their 'staring contest' to look to the side John wasn't on, almost in disbelief. "What makes you think that I am?" John asked, laughing a bit out of the awkwardness of their current conversation. "Oh, I don't know, Captain. The magazines in your room. The type of jokes you make constantly, it's like you're always thinking about dick! I mean hell, you've rubbed my chest while congratulating me for gaining muscle and looking 'more like a man' months ago. *That* doesn't sound pretty straight to me." "...You've looked through the magazines in my room?" "THAT'S NOT THE POINT, CAPTAIN." Steve grabbed his arms suddenly and angrily looked down at him for a moment, genuinely scaring John a bit. After Steve realised what he was doing, he let go of his arms and got up, getting back in the tank to continue driving. John returned to his usual spot, staring at the dust the tracks were kicking up instead of where Steve was going and deciding not to continue biting his nails. The silence between them felt threatening, almost.

John does admit he gets a little touchy with Steve sometimes, but he only realises how intimate it feels between them after doing it. And yeah, there are some magazines in his room with men with abs bulging out, some men in speedos, men embracing other muscular men, but that didn't mean anything! It just meant that he liked the muscle on the men and wished they would put it to good use at being a real man here in the army! Right? ...Yeah, even he can't lie, that's not a good excuse. He did really like how other men look after working out, wearing tight shirts, how some... well, he won't get further into that thought while the tension is pretty bad right now. So, that proves that he does like muscular men. And he has been pushy to get Steve's body to be more muscular like those men in the magazines. Lately, it has been a bit more muscular, and John can't help but to stare and congratulate and praise him for how he looks. But no matter how muscular or slim and skinny Steve is, he looks like an angel in John's eyes. He always thought all this praise and joking around like that was just being proud of him but after this whole Valentine's Day mumbo jumbo he brought up, John's thinking back to every interaction they've ever had and analyzing all of it.