Blind Date

A Blind Date... Literally

Steve's large fingers fiddle with the serviette which was folded into a perfect triangle beneath his knife. He could feel the weight of the cutlery as he pulled on the material. It was loud due to the fact it was halfway through the dinner time rush; the sound of metal scraping plates, talking and shoes on carpet echoed in his sensitive ears. He could easily pick the sounds out in the cacophony. His stomach churned as nerves tightened his chest. What if he didn't turn up?

He lifted his watch to his ear and clicked the button. To spoke to him, 7:35pm, Saturday, 10th of May 2014.

His date was late, not by much but Steve always made a conscious effort to arrive early enough to get seated and sorted before the other person so he'd been here for nearly 25 minutes. He knew this was a bad idea and should have never allowed Natasha to sign him up for a Blind Date website. He was pretty sure Clint had at first suggested it as a joke, considering Steve's disability, but Natasha had latched onto the idea and he had a date arranged in under an hour.

He knew nothing of the man outside of the fact that he was called Tony and had an interest in technology and engineering. Steve had begged Nat to include his disability on his profile but she wouldn't allow it and it wasn't like he could go and alter it himself. But for some reason it felt like he was somehow tricking a guy into dating him.

He kept his head facing downwards, not wanting to accidentally stare at a person. He resisted the urge to hold his white guide cane in his hand as though to validate the fact he really was blind and not just some creep eyeing up people from across the room. Clint hated it when he did that. He claimed Steve shouldn't feel self conscious about who he is.

There was a shift in the air around him and Steve knew someone was close to the table. He slowly raised his head.

"Tony?" He muttered hesitantly. He tried to stop his eyes roaming too much.

There was a noise of shifting fabric and a reply, "Hi, I'm Tony. You must be Steve?"

"Yeah, that's me." He gave a genuinely warm smile in the direction he thought the voice had radiated from. He voice was raspy as though he'd spent the whole day talking.

There was a few beats of silence before Tony laughed and said, "I do wash my hands, you know?"

"I'm sorry?" Steve leant his head and a frown pulled at his lips. How had he messed up already?!

"You don't want to shake my hand?"

Steve threw his arm up from where it'd been resting against his leg. The table made a crashing sound as his wrist made hard contact with the wood. He groped the air desperately in search of the proffered hand. He grabbed it tightly once he found it while letting out a deep sigh.

He noticed how some of the restaurant around them had gone quiet as they observed the drama taking place on the table by the window. Steve's face flashed red with shame and he dropped Tony's hand limply.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, only just loud enough for Tony's ears to make out the words, "I've made a scene. I can leave. Let me just grab my-" He reached back to grab his coat and pull up his guide cane when a hand held onto his wrist, preventing him from moving further.

"You're blind?" He asked earnestly. Steve nodded, hoping Tony was watching him, "Sit back down. You can't tease me by showing such a face and then running off." There was a smile in his tone and Steve's face was red again. He was rarely complimented but had been told that his face wasn't completely unbearable by Natasha. Clint, on the other hand, suggested that he was lucky he was blind otherwise the sight of himself in the mirror would have made him lose his sight anyway. It wouldn't have been funny if it wasn't delivered by Clint in his good natured way.

Tony continued once he was sat down, "However, you can't see me which means I can't charm you with my looks like I'd normally do." There was humor ingrained into his tone. "But also, you can't see me which means I can openly stare at your face without you getting embarrassed! Hey, here comes that signature blush I already know so well!" He chuckled.

Steve covered his face with his hands and could feel the heat radiating off his cheeks. It had been a long time since anyone had managed to make him blush this profusely. Still, he couldn't help the way his lips curled up into a slight smile.

"You have to stop or my cheeks will be permanently stained red..." He wasn't used to this attention. The last person he went on a date with was so unbelievably awkward as though Steve had the mental age of a child despite Rogers reassuring him that it was only his eyes. That had been edging on two years ago now.

"Good, I'm glad. It actually makes you look so cute." Tony grinned at the other man.

Steve was about to protest at being called 'cute' when their waiter turned up and gave them the menus. Stark began browsing through when he noticed Steve was still just sat like normal, the menu left on the place mat in front of him. His large hands fiddled with a napkin.

"Um... How- how do you know what to order?" Tony asked, leaning his head in confusion.

"I don't. I just tend to ask for whatever the chef recommends." He shrugged understanding why Stark would ask that question.

"But what if you don't like it?"

The blond man ducked his head down a little bit as though he was trying to guard his face from the other patrons, "I just eat it."

"But why?" There was a silence until Tony smiled and offered, "Do you want me to tell you what's on the menu? It's not even very long."

Steve's facelift up instantly. Nobody had every offered to do something like that for him before.

Tony grinned back and began listing off the meals until Steve found one he definitely liked. It was way better than whatever the chef would have thrown together. Tony didn't act like it was a massive hardship to help Steve; he took it in his stride as though being blind didn't change a single thing about his date. The blond man could feel his heart flutter at the thought.

---
A few of hours later-

"Open up." Tony instructed with a chuckle. He held a spoonful of chocolate fudge cake mere inches from Steve's glorious lips.

The taller man raised an eyebrow, "Is this a good idea?" He'd had one too many bad experiences with cutlery to be completely trusting of a spoon coming right toward his face.

"Of course! You wanted to know if it was nice so open up!" The older man insisted, his smile only growing wider.

Steve opened his mouth and closed down on top of the spoon. He couldn't help but release a sinful moan as the chocolate cake and cream hit his tastebuds. He swallowed appreciatively and he could hear Tony chuckling to himself.

"I know something else we can do that'll make you moan like that." Stark said suggestively. Even though he couldn't see, Steve knew that Tony was wagging his eyebrows in his direction. Even though the other man had said it lightly the words set a heat in Steve's stomach.

He hesitated for a second, thinking through his options. He didn't want to make a mistake and lose this man as a result. It wasn't everyday you just bumped into someone so accepting and funny as Tony Stark.

"What do you say we get out of here?" Steve proposed, excitement knotting in his stomach.

There was a second of silent surprise as the blond man said something the engineer hadn't expected. The billionaire said with a grin, "I thought you'd never ask."

"Check please!"