Work Text:
Tony could only smile as he made his way back to his floor, the evening replaying over and over in his mind.
He was still half-convinced that it was all a dream because he couldn't believe that he had gone on a date with Steve. Him. Tony Stark. He had gone on a date with Steven Grant Rogers, aka Captain America and his childhood (lifelong) crush and it had gone amazingly well.
The restaurant had been cozy, not too intimate but not too casual, the staff keeping a respectful distance and no annoying photographers to ruin the mood. They had talked for hours, about everything and anything, then they had gone for a stroll in the park because Steve was a hopeless romantic and maybe Tony was too. And of course, the night had ended with a few kisses on Tony's doorstep (or rather, elevator step) that held promises for more.
A perfect end to a perfect night.
Despite his giddy, teenage-like excitement, Tony was no fool. He knew something would go wrong at some point.
Relationships couldn’t be perfect from the get-go and he had never been very good with them in the first place. But he liked Steve and the feeling seemed mutual, if the way Steve had smiled at him all evening and kissed him was anything to go by so hopefully, they would get over whatever fights would come their way.
Tony just hadn’t expected to fuck up so fast though.
*
He hadn’t seen Steve since their date, almost four days ago. That in itself was not unusual. They were both busy men after all and as much as Tony missed the other man, work came first. He knew that.
But he missed Steve.
So he texted him. A lot. Probably more than he should've but he wasn’t one to follow the rules and he would certainly not respect the ‘3-days rule’ that had become the norm in dating. He couldn’t help it. There was always something that reminded him of Steve or he would want to share an idea with him and texting was much easier than calling when they were both busy. And he had always done that, even long before they had started dating. Steve and him texted each other all the time, much to their friends' annoyance. Surely the blond wouldn’t be weirded out by his constant texting now that they had gone on a date. And he wasn’t needy. He just liked to talk to his best-friend-slash-potentially-boyfriend.
Except that it had been four days since their date and Steve hadn’t answered any of his texts. He hadn’t even read them. Not one.
And no. Tony was not panicking. He just wished he knew what he had done wrong so that he could fix it.
Surely there was a good explanation for it, like a sudden mission or something that would require Steve to go radio silent. Tony could understand. He would sometimes disappear for days in his workshop and would stay there longer if Steve didn’t come look for him at the three-day mark.
Yeah. Steve had probably forgotten to tell him about a mission. It happened.
Or…
Or Steve had second thoughts about dating him and this was his way letting him down gently. Tony felt his shoulders slump at the thought, a sad smile on his lips now. Ghosted by Captain America. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so heart-breaking.
Maybe Steve had realised they were better off as friends. Which was fine. His feelings would go away, eventually.
But that hypothesis left Tony a little confused because Steve had seemed really happy and he knew for a fact that Steve was a shitty liar. Steve couldn’t have faked those beautiful smiles and soft looks and the gentle touches. And Steve had kissed him. He had been the one to lean in slowly, a little shy but determined. And Tony would never forget his blissful expression when they had pulled apart a few minutes later. He would never forget the sensation of his fingers tangled in his hair and the other hand on his waist, holding him close.
Tony was still trying to make sense of what might have gone wrong when he reached to communal floor, automatically heading to the coffee machine, so he didn’t realise immediately that Steve was already there, cooking at the stove.
“Morning, Tony,” Steve said, a bright smile on his face as he dropped a kiss on his cheeks.
Tony froze then stared at him in confusion, fingers brushing lightly against his cheek. “What- what was that?”
“What was- oh.” Steve shifted nervously on his feet, smile gone and cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink. “A kiss? I- I thought- I thought it would be okay?”
"You kissed me.”
“Yeah?”
“Why?”
Steve looked completely out of his depth as he stared at him and Tony suddenly had a feeling they might not be on the same wavelength for the first time in months.
“Because we’re… dating?” Steve’s hesitant tone broke his heart and Tony started to panic a little. “But it seems that I was wrong, gosh, I’m sorry, Tony, I didn’t mean to assume I just… I thought- you said you enjoyed the date and I… well, never mind. Sorry.”
Tony stared at him, incapable of remembering how to form coherent thoughts.
“But… you haven’t text me in four days. You always text me back,” was all he managed to blurt out in the end, hating how uncertain he sounded but he was still confused.
Steve cocked his head to the side, his kicked puppy expression giving way to confusion once again. “Tony, you haven’t texted me since our date. ”
Tony frowned, hand fishing in his pocket for his phone and pulling it out as evidence. “Yes, I have. I’ve sent you- oh wow, I’ve sent you over a hundred texts? Holy shit that’s a lot, I didn’t realise it was so many texts, sorry, was that the problem? Was it too much? Because I can tone it down. I just… you always seemed okay with it and I thought you’d still be okay with it after our date but I can stop if it’s too much-”
“Tony, slow down,” Steve interrupted gently, taking the phone to have a look at the texts before shaking his head. “I never got any of those, my last text from you was before the date. Ah, hold on,” he patted his jeans then hurried to the couch, coming back with his phone in his hands. “See?”
He unlocked the phone to show his side of their conversation, and as he had said, there was nothing. No text, no emoji, nothing.
“Did you do something with your phone recently?” Tony asked, taking the phone from his hand to have a look. “Lost signal or smashed it somehow?”
The phone looked pristine, almost brand new, but Steve might have inadvertently done something to it. Maybe some water had spilled on it, though it wouldn’t even turn on if it was the case…
“No. I just, hum, I changed your picture in my contacts?” Steve replied, the blush back on his cheeks. “To the one we took in the park, after the restaurant.”
Distantly, Tony wondered if he should get his heart checked out because he was pretty sure it had just melted. He forced himself to focus on the phone in his hands though, determined to find out what had caused all this mess. Sure enough, his contact details now showed him kissing Steve on the cheek under the fairy lights they had found in the park, which was absolutely adorable and Tony was not grinning like an idiot, he was not, he was hurt and nervous and trying to find-
“Oh my god. You blocked me.”
“What?! No! I would never do that! I don’t even know how to do that!”
Steve looked so affronted by the mere idea of blocking him that Tony lost it, a laugh bubbling out of his throat and chasing away the bitter pain that had been settling in his chest.
“You did,” Tony confirmed with a grin, showing him the screen and making Steve groan. “I think you need a few more of those ‘Welcome to the 21st Century 101’ classes, darling.”
“Oh my god, Tony, I am so sorry,” Steve gasped, scowling at his phone before putting it away and taking his hands instead, looking genuinely sorry. “I had no idea, I didn’t mean to ignore you, I would never ignore you like this, I thought you weren’t texting me because you were busy working on the suit or some project, that’s why I didn’t come looking for you as usual.”
“It’s alright, it happens. Well, granted it probably happens mostly to grandmas but I’ll let it slide this one time for you, handsome,” Tony said, relaxing into his touch with an amused smile. Now that their misunderstanding had been cleared up, he felt more confident and a little playful. “And I’m sure you will make it up to me.”
Steve looked vaguely offended at his comment but then he laughed, wrapping his arms around Tony and leaning down so the tip of their nose were touching. “I’m sure I can think of one thing or two.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can,” Tony replied with a grin, wrapping his arms around Steve’s broad shoulders as he melted into his kiss.