I'm Spongebob? (Stony AU)

Chapter 6: Your Boyfriend Bucky

"Soo..." Steve drawled out, hoping to break the awkward silence he had started.

Why couldn't he have just opened the damn gift right away like normal people? They were at a red light, GPS indicating they had another fifteen minutes to go before they got to the restaurant. Steve didn't want to spend those fifteen minutes in silence, he wanted to talk like they had before on the phone or when he had driven Tony home. Those times, they'd been so engrossed in conversation that neither could find the strength to end the conversation simply because they had arrived at their destination or because they were running late for something.

"Soooo..." Steve tried again. Tony's eyes remained transfixed on the road.

"Should I open it now?" Steve said, lifting the gift safely from his lap, the dead silence had been a very good mood killer.

Tony, head unmoving, mouth still glued shut, glanced at Steve.

"Hey, before, when I said I can't believe we're still in the parking lot or whatever, I didn't mean it like in a bad way. I meant it like in a 'wow I was so caught up talking with you that I became completely oblivious to the time and world around me'. Honestly, that's all I meant." Steve urged.

Finally, Tony's head turned slightly. He stared at the box and sighed, all the previous glee gone.

"It's stupid. You probably won't even like it. It was a dumb idea." Tony's shoulders slumped as he looked back at the road, continuing to drive when the light turned green.

He could feel Steve staring at him, trying to read his emotions. Damn it, he knew he should have left his sunglasses on, why did he have to take them off when he gave the gift to Steve? Ugh, the gift. Tony should have never mentioned it. Steve obviously didn't want anything from him. Probably didn't want to have anything to remember him by, the drunk bastard who took his bed. He quickly shut up the part in his head yelling if he didn't like you then why would he draw you a thousand times over in his sketchbook? Steve was an artist, he explained to himself, he just drew stuff, it didn't mean anything to him. Those drawings had just been exercises to keep himself awake while he made sure his sorry ass didn't try to fly out any more windows with magic towels. The towel. He made a mental note to send Steve new towels, the good ones, the same he had in his bathroom. He risked a glance towards Steve. He was still staring at him.

"What?" Tony let out in a tired sigh.

"It's mine now. The gift. You aren't gonna get it back no matter how much you ask. I'm going to treasure it forever." He said leaning firmly back in his chair, hugging the gift tightly.

Tony eyed him, "you don't even know what is."

"Doesn't matter. It's from you," stated Steve, all matter of factly, and he saw a little light come back to Tony's eyes.

"It's not a towel."

"The towel is fine," Steve said, not wanting to lie anymore. And it was fine, it's just, Steve could no longer see it and not go stir crazy thinking about what it once covered a few days prior.

"Okay. Well, hold on, don't open it now. It'll distract me too much from the driving. We're almost there." Tony perked back up a little.

********

Once they were sitting down in a booth and had already placed their order, Steve tentatively placed the gift on the table, raising his eyebrows at Tony. The pure joy that had filled his eyes earlier was now fused with a feeling he was trying to mask, terror.

Oh GOD, why did I make him a phone! He's going to hate it. He is happy with his phone, he told me that REPEATEDLY when we talked on the phone yesterday. He's going to think you're some desperate puppy in need of attention, Tony was screaming in his head, maintaining a wide grin on his face, while he watched Steve set the box on the table and begin to open it. You idiot you went too far, you always go too far. That's what Pepper always said, I always took things way out of proportion. He is going to hate it and then he's going to hate you. He watched, his big eyes opening even wider, as Steve unwrapped the gift, revealing a silver inscribed box.