Light of my Life (STONY)

It Was As Simple As That

Third person

 A few days went by and Tony was attempting to make Steve as uncomfortable as physically possible by basically constantly flirting with him. And, surprisingly, it seemed to be working. But, they were still good friends - every time Tony woke up in the middle of the night, Steve was always there until they fell asleep. If they were ever alone Tony straight up curled up next to him. Tony liked Steve, Steve liked Tony. It was as simple as that.

And they both knew it.

But they didn't wanna act on it.

They were both wayyyy too nervous to do anything so they kept their closeness and Tony was trying to edge into possibly-being-able-to-ask-Steve-out territory. Nobody (apart from Nat and Clint because he owed her money from their bet) knew, and they were doing their best to keep it that way. Secret relationships always ended up better than public ones, from their experience. Everyone had seen Tony's random flirting at Steve and Steve getting kinda flustered, but he always said something in return that made everyone that didn't know think they were just being idiots. Really, they were trying to get one to ask the other out.

It was 2 in the morning and they were sat in Tony's room watching The Hunger Games after Tony's worst nightmare which lead into a panic attack.

"What are we gonna do about this, Tony." They were lying next to each other - Steve's arm around Tony's shoulders, Tony's leaning on Steve's chest, almost falling asleep.

"I don't know, Capsicle. Why don't we just go on a date already."

"Have you been drinking?"

"No, I'm just half asleep." Steve smiled and leant his head against Tony's.

"Makes sense."

"You think anyone knows yet?"

"Well, that would be a little hard to imagine since we don't really know yet." Tony looked up at Steve, moved himself a little closer and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Tony, what-"

"I'm going to sleep," he yawned. "And I wanted to do that first." Steve playfully rolled his eyes. Tony put his head back on Steve's chest and fell asleep pretty quickly. Steve gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Well, I wanted to do that first," he whispered. He turned off the lamp next to him and fell asleep.

The next morning, Tony woke up to the shower running in the next room. It could only have been Steve - nobody else was actually allowed in his room. There was a note on the table next to him and he read it. It said waffles with a box next to it and pancakes with a box next to it and underneath it said pick one, in what could only be described as the most illegible handwriting he'd ever seen.

"Steve, your handwriting is TERRIBLE," he called into the bathroom. The running water stopped, and Tony smiled to himself as he picked up the pen and wrote surprise me. Steve was good with breakfast - but only if he actually wanted to be.

He walked into Tony's room wearing jeans and no shirt.

"I forgot to grab a shirt before I got in the shower," he laughed. Steve had a small pile of clothes in the corner of Tony's room because he was there so often - it was ridiculous that they didn't just stay in the same room at this point. He picked out a dark grey t-shirt and threw it over his head.

"Why did you write a note when you could've just asked?"

"Because I didn't know what else to do, you weren't awake. Also, did you say I had bad handwriting?"

"I'm not completely sure what it said, so I just ticked one." Steve rolled his eyes and Tony grabbed a towel from his fresh laundry pile.

"Are you ever gonna put that away?"

"Um... not until I can't be bothered to let it sit there anymore, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest." He walked past Steve and into the bathroom. He then walked back out and looked at Steve with a fairly bemused expression.

"Did I ask you on a date last night?"

"Not in so many words," Steve smiled.

"Huh. 7?"

"For what?"

"For our date, Cap. Keep up." Steve frowned. "If it's too soon I can take it back and we can pretend this never happened."

"No, it's just that I was gonna ask you on a date after I made you breakfast," he replied, absent-mindedly cracking his knuckles.

"I guess I beat you to it. Again." Steve didn't say anything for a moment. "Again, if you want me to take it back-"

"7's great, Tones." Tony nodded and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. So, it was as simple as that.

As Tony stood in the shower, he let the warm water run over his face as he thought about date ideas for Steve. Was dinner and a movie a bit of a let-down?  He had no idea what to do, him and Pepper didn't usually go on dates. It just seemed a little weird, they were used to eating out and flying to random places, it didn't really feel like a date. Him and Steve live in the same building now, there's only so much he can plan with it going unnoticed.

"Nat, I need your help," said Tony. She was sat on the kitchen island drinking a smoothie.

"'Sup?"

"I'm taking Ste- someone on a date and I don't know where to take them."

"Is this someone perhaps a 6'2 blond hottie?"

"... yes."

"Oh my god I knew it!"

"Keep it quiet I'm trying to plan something elaborate, here."

"Right. Dinner and a movie?"

"It's a little simple, don't you think? I mean, I get it but I also don't get it."

"What did you do on other dates?"

"I didn't ever go on dates. We just stayed in and had an at home movie night because I didn't want whoever I was dating to be bombarded by press."

"Then do that with Steve."

"But we watch a movie in my room almost every night... oh my god. Got it. Good talk."

"Um, hello? Fill me in, I know Steve pretty well."

"Yeah, me too - we've been sleeping in the same room for like... a month."

"Have you even kissed him yet?"

"... we're taking it slow."

"Plan, Tony."

"Go to the drive-in, make a relatively romantic picnic and watch a terrible movie!"

"That sounds... perfect, I guess. Good luck, Tony. And, also, please just fucking kiss him." She hopped off the counter, placed her glass in the dishwasher and walked out.

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, ROMANOFF! AND STOP SITTING ON THE COUNTERS!" Tony laughed and ran down to the office part of his lab.

"JARVIS, films at the drive-in tonight?"

"The Hunger Games - Catching Fire is on from 7:40 PM, sir."

"Perfect. Thanks, J."

"Of course, sir. It's $8.50 per adult ticket. Since Mr Rogers qualifies as an elder, his is $6." Tony laughed - I mean, it's right, he thought.

"Great. No bookings, right?"

"No, sir. You just go in." Tony nodded and ran to his car to buy some things he would need, spent about $200 on stuff he would never use again and came home. It was roughly 2PM, he had 5 hours to make this the best first date Steve had ever been on.