#hgfdkfhgfdjkfjhgfdjsk it's so late im so tired but i wanted to at least do ONE of the ones Jay sent in

[itsallavengers]

108

108- are you hitting on me?

It hit him one day like a freight train. Like a brick wall. Like... like a very heavy thing, hitting him very very hard.

Steve was close, and he was smiling softly down at Tony, and he’d just complimented Tony on how smart he was looking for the New Years’ party whilst his hand guided them over to the buffet via the small of Tony’s back and it just hit him. It became so stunningly, blindingly obvious in that moment that he simply refused to believe that he hadn’t seen it before. It was impossible- he was Tony Stark, he always noticed these things. Always always always.

“Wait,” he stopped them both in the center of the room, which, in hindsight, was probably not the most subtle or Generally Great way of doing things, “are you fucking hitting on me?”

And hell- Tony exaggerated a lot of things on the daily, but he sure as fuck wasn’t lying when he said that he would have done anything in the entire world to never see Steve look the way he’d done at that moment ever again.

His face dropped like a stone. The hand on Tony’s back snapped away like he was burning and he opened his mouth quickly, eyes wide, a little bit horrified, like a rabbit caught in the biggest brightest headlight you could think of.

“Uhh,” Steve stumbled, and Tony watched his face burn crimson as he looked down at his shoes in mortification, “I... I- I don’t- I mean... I was just... I’m-”

A few people had turned to look at them both curiously, and Tony would have said something, done something at least a little bit more fucking tasteful, but honestly, he was too far deep in shock to do anything but stare blankly and watch as Steve became more and more embarrassed.

Finally, Steve just looked at him once last time more before mumbling an unintelligible excuse and then turning on his heel, walking through the crowds with remarkable speed for a guy so big.

Tony just kept staring. He couldn’t fucking help it- he had no idea how to process what he’d just realized. Years. They’d known eachother.... so long, and Steve had always.... and it had been- it had... all this time?All this fucking time?

“What the hell are you waiting for, buddy?” Someone gave him a gentle shove forward, and Tony didn’t know who they were, couldn’t really say he cared much either, but they seemed to be wanting to help, so he listened to the last bit anyway. “Go after him before he runs for good!”

Slightly dazed and definitely confused, Tony... well- Tony did.

Jerking forward like a man possessed, he pushed through the crowds incredibly impolitely, hands moving people out of the way as effectively as he could without just outright shoving them out of the way. People yelled and drinks were spilled but honestly, it was Tony’s fucking champagne so they could deal with it or they could get the fuck out. “Steve!” 

The blond head ducked out of the door before Tony could catch it, but he refused to be deterred. Leaping onto one of the dining tables, he shouted off hurried apologies to the general area beneath him as he ran over the expensive tablecloth and pristine food, before dropping off at the end and then running to the door, the crowds having finally thinned out by that point. “Steve!”

Tony caught him just as he was about to turn the corner, and this time when he said his name, it was more a breathless yell with the starting sound of an ‘S’, due to the fact Tony had begun sprinting the length of the corridor in order to catch up with him. Steve turned, looking at him in mild terror as Tony careered forward, shoes leaving little bits of mashed potato as he went. “Tony, what are you-”

He would have finished his sentence, were it not for the sudden presence of Tony’s mouth on his own, sealing the words right up between both of their lips. 

It was a bad kiss. Or- well, not a bad kiss, exactly, because Tony never gave bad kisses- just a slightly... disorganized one. Tony was still slightly out of breath and Steve hadn’t turned right, which sent them both stumbling into the wall, and then Tony went and slipped on the wood-paneled floor, which just sent him half-crashing into Steve’s stomach, only stopped from getting a faceful of floorboard because of Steve’s fast reflexes.

Yeah. All in all, not his finest moment.

“Tony, what in the fuck-” Steve started, beginning to pull him up gently, but Tony wasn’t giving up this time- not now he knew, not now he’d connected every dot and cross and line and saw with his own stupid eyes what Steve had been trying to tell him for so long now-

So he kissed him again. Made sure to angle up right and everything. He curled his hand around the back of Steve’s neck and put the other one on Steve’s shoulder, pushing him gently back against the wall and then putting everything he had into that damn kiss. “How long have you been trying,” he spoke the words into Steve’s mouth and Steve, who had previously been distracted by the fact that he had discovered another tongue in his mouth, shivered a little and then tugged on Tony’s hips, drawing him in.

“Long enough to make me start lookin’ stupid,” he replied quietly.

Tony just laughed, unwilling to actually remove his lips from Steve’s own and so saying “you’re not the idiot who didn’t fucking realize he could have been getting this for years,” against Steve’s teeth instead.

Steve smiled, but then pushed Tony away gently, which was not what he wanted at all. Tony went, though- pouting the entire way, mind you.“Do you... do you mean this?” Steve asked softly, his eyes flicking nervously around Tony’s face like he was searching for a tell, “do you really... I thought you seemed pretty- uh- unwelcoming-

“That was not unwelcoming, oh my God,” Tony squeaked in mortification, dropping his head into his hands, “that was... that was ‘this can’t be real, in what universe is it possible that I am allowed to have this’. Not... never unwelcoming.”

When Steve still looked at him with the flutter of doubt, Tony stepped forward and put his hand on Steve’s cheek. “I promise,” he said desperately, “I am utterly head over heels, madly stupidly embarrassingly crazy for you, Steve, I’m not sure whether or not you noticed-”

This time it was him who found himself being shut up, and it was quite possibly the first time in his life in which he was happy about someone cutting him off mid-sentence, because it meant more Steve-kisses, and in the space of roughly 1.2 minutes, Steve-Kisses had managed to become his most enjoyable practice in the world. Which was saying something.

“Hey,” Tony said, looking down at his watch for a second, “New Years day in five minutes.”

Steve, bless him, didn’t even pause for a moment, muttering “If we keep it up, we get to kiss eachother into the next year,” into Tony’s jaw.

A grin split Tony’s face and he lifted his watch. Four minutes, fifty-four seconds. Yeah. They could probably manage to make out for that much longer. “I’ll start the countdown now,” he informed Steve, before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and then tugging him in again.

Despite Tony’s promises, the New Year came and went without them actually noticing. Turns out they ended up... rather occupied.