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“Ta da!” Tony did jazz hands and everything. Well, jazz hand. The other held a martini, dirty as could be. As it should be.
“What--” Steve paused. “What is all this?” His voice went soft, which usually happened when Tony did something particularly pleasing like remember to eat lunch and dinner, so that had to be good.
Candle light glimmered off of every surface, the room flickering yellow and warm. It smelled of gardenias, their frothy blooms starkly white against gold and red bowls, overflowing in plush clouds. Here and there dotted individual roses, one red, another yellow, yet another pink, even a blue rose. Two pillars of light graced a small table, and their dinners lay under brilliant silver domes.
“Happy anniversary,” Tony murmured, ducking his head as a blush heated his cheeks, and set his glass on the bar top. “I hoped--you deserve the best, but I know you don’t like crowds in your downtime. I thought we could stay in.”
“Anniversary?” Steve sounded so surprised, almost a little panicked, and Tony felt the blood drain out of his face, leaving him cold and somewhat lightheaded, when he saw Cap’s bemusement.
Tony’s stomach dropped and his heart jumped into his throat. “Our--it’s been two years. Did I--am I wrong?” Maybe he forgot again? He was good with so much, but dates didn’t usually--but he could’ve sworn--
“Tony, breathe!”
The room swam, and a gentle, warm hand patted him on the back, hard enough to kick start the first sweet gasp of air. It burned going in, but the little dots in front of his eyes disappeared rapidly, so he’d take it.
“Sorry, sorry, don’t--” Tony waved a hand and started to blow out the candles one by one. “JARVIS, you can cut the mu--”
“Tony, no, I want--will you just wait?” Steve spun him around bodily, but all Tony could do was stare at his chest. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
Tony let his gaze rise to Steve’s chin, steeled himself, and then met those baby blues head on. He was no coward, and he wasn’t going to hide from his boyfriend.
At least, not while he was holding him in place. “What?”
“This is amazing. And I’m so grateful. I just...I thought our anniversary was three months ago. And we never really, I mean, life gets so busy.” Red tipped Steve’s ears. They were really cute ears, and Tony couldn’t let himself be distracted by thoughts of nibbling--
“Three months ago? But our first time--”
“You and I stopped dancing around each other in May, but with all the various attacks, we didn’t actually manage to go on a date until--”
“July. So you...you count from when we talked that day in May?” Tony swallowed hard.
“And it’s August now, so apparently you count from the first time we…” Steve trailed off and just made a face. It was a cute face, but then he bit his lip because he was thinking about it, Tony could tell. And now he wanted to bite that lip, too, but he was restraining himself. He deserved an award.
“Well, yes. But, I mean. We could go with yours? And I’ll, well, JARVIS, note down the date to remind me for next year,” Tony said.
“Of course, sir.” He had the best AI. He sounded amused, of course, but also kind of sympathetic. Which, of course he should, Tony was mortified. Ish. Kinda.
More because he cared, and this exposed him more than running naked through paparazzi. And that was a thing he’d actually done, so it was a good example.
“We could do both,” Steve suggested. “It would be a shame to waste so much good food, and I will never turn down a chance to spend time with you. The fact that alarms haven’t blared this entire time is promising.”
Tony laughed. “Now you’ve jinxed it!”
“Well, then we’d better get started, before it gets cold.” In a bit of a reversal of how Tony had planned, Steve led him over to the table, then pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Happy anniversary, sweetheart. Thank you for doing all that you do.”
Tony didn’t fight the pleased grin that spread across his face. “Yeah, yeah, right back atcha. Now tell me how you like the food. I ordered it myself.”
“Instead of making JARVIS do it? I feel special, then,” Steve teased, his eyes sparkling and his tone strangely honest.
“Good. Because you are. As you know, only the best for me.” Tony winked, and who needed candles when Steve’s smile lit the room like that?