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Wrapping a scarf around his neck, a woolly jumper and a coat on, Tony left the building and waited outside for his date. The weather was freezing and New York was predicted to have the first snowfall of winter despite it being December but that’s what climate change is like -it throws off the rule of normal and regularity. The genius was excited even as he curled in on himself as the temperature seemed to drop once more. He and Steve had been talking with each other for about a month since Natasha introduced them, then a few days ago, Steve decided to ask him out on a date and, well, Tony couldn’t say no.
It was only a few minutes until he spied the taller, broad-shouldered blond making his way through the crowd towards him. The minute Steve spotted Tony, a large grin stretched across his face causing the genius to smile gently in return.
“Hey!”
“Hey yourself.” Tony murmured as they awkwardly stood in front of each other, neither knowing how to act,
“You look great.”
“Thank you, so do you.” the awkward silence took hold of them, which was odd considering the past few weeks when they were getting to know each other without it being romantic, they’d been chattering away so much,
“So…"
“So…”
“I suppose we should get going, it’s freezing!” Steve exclaimed and they began to walk to the restaurant that the blond had booked a reservation for them at, “it’s nothing too posh,” he said, explaining where they were eating at, “but it’s high quality and a nice place.”
“I’m sure it will be lovely,” Tony replied with a small smile when they’re fingers grazed each other's, a small red hue appeared on their cheeks before they quickly placed their hands in their pockets.
“Here we are.” the blond announced several minutes later as he held the door open for Tony and they walked inside.
——LINE BREAK——
Once they were seated, their food ordered and their drinks on the way, they found themselves slipping into conversation easily as the awkwardness quickly faded.
“Are you excited for Christmas?” Tony asked as a bunch of girls walked by dressing as slutty Mrs Claus’,
“I suppose so.” Tony raised an eyebrow, “growing up, Christmas wasn’t much special. I grew up poor, so we could never afford a real tree or presents really, I mean we made it special in our own way, but it was really just another day for us.” Steve took a sip of his drink, “when my mum died and I got a flat with my best friend, Bucky, we weren’t exactly broke, but we could only afford a tiny tree. Again, nothing special, we usually got each other a small gift and spent the day drinking cheap booze and eating pizza.”
“That sounds very…interesting.”
“I mean this year, Buck, Sam and I are planning on doing the same as usual. As sad as it may sound, it’s become a tradition and I actually don’t mind it. Although, Nat’s roped me into going to her party on the 26th.”
“Yeah, she’s caught me in her web and convinced me to go.”
“She can be annoyingly and terrifyingly persuasive.”
“Amen to that.” Tony joked lifting his drink as a mock-toast, which Steve reciprocated with a grin.
“What about you?”
“Hmm?” Tony murmured as he drank some of his wine,
“Christmas, are you excited?”
“No.” he stated bluntly and Steve raised an eyebrow in question, “when I was growing up, Christmas was a time of publicity for daddy dearest, so we were one big happy family to the press and public but in reality, at home nothing was different. Sure I got presents and we had a tree -but one of those rich people ones where the decorations are nothing special- but we didn’t have Christmas dinner and the only ones who actually celebrated Christmas with me were our butler, Jarvis and his wife. It was lonely."
“What about now?” Steve whispered quietly as he squeezed Tony’s hand out of comfort,
“I used to get invited over to the Rhodes for Christmas, especially when I was at MIT with Rhodey, but Mrs Rhodes has a bunch of grandchildren and all that jazz so I always decline when I get invited. She doesn’t need the extra hassle, she has enough to deal with.” He sighed, “so I spend Christmas alone, just me, my AI and my bots.” Steve took the hint that Tony’s eyes gave him and swiftly changed the subject.
“How are things at work? I read about your Medical Division in the news; despite the unfortunate start it had considering you shutting down the weapons manufacturing, it’s done really,” he asked once their waiter placed their food down, Tony swallowed the mouthful of pasta he had before answering,
“Things are great. They’re running smoothly and thanks to all the hard work over the last six months, I am finally free to a degree.” Steve looked confused so Tony continued, “because of the stock drop and all that fun stuff, we had to really throw ourselves into the new department. I’ve made enough equipment and done enough updates that I shouldn’t have much work to do for a good handful of months.”
“That’s great,” Steve smiled,
“How’s your art coming along? Finally getting it into galleries?”
“As a matter of fact, I’ve been offered a place in a showing at the gallery around the corner-“
“Really? That’s incredible! It’s the kind of gallery rich people go to. Well done, Steve.” Tony interrupted,
“Thank you. It’s next month, so you could come with me…if you wanted that is?”
“I’d love to.”
——LINE BREAK——
After dinner was paid for (by Steve, which surprised Tony because as a billionaire, payment always seemed to fall into his hands… also, Steve got handed the bill and Tony was fairly certain that there was a meaning behind that action but he couldn’t remember what it was.), the pair made their way towards the Rockefeller Centre. As they walked, their hands brushed again but instead of placing them in their pockets awkwardly, Steve smiled and glanced at Tony before entwining their fingers together. A small blush found its way onto the genius’ cheeks -it was from the cold, he’d swear- and he squeezed his hand, assuring the taller man that he was fine with the action.
“What are we doing here?” Tony asked as they came to a stop,
“We’re going ice skating, silly.” Steve said as he led them to the counter and paid for their skates, it was surprisingly quiet as they found a locker and got their skates on before heading towards the ice rink, “I suppose I should’ve asked first…” The blond murmured looking a bit self-conscious as he and Tony stood at the edge of the ice, “can you skate?”
Tony looked insulted.
“Of course I can,” he stated with his head up high as he stepped onto the ice, Steve shook his head at the man’s tone; the genius was an intricate and odd man, and he never responded well to such questions.
The blond could only watch as Tony fell straight onto his bottom. With an amused sigh, he skated onto the ice and held his hand out for the shorter man, who was blushing bright red as he reluctantly accepted the hand up.
“Okay, so I may not be able to ice skate, in my defence, no one’s ever taken my ice-skating before.”
“Never?” Steve exclaimed wide-eyed and surprised, almost horrified, but he shook his head, “you know it’s alright to not know how to do something, right?” Tony looked away defiantly, “oh, Tony.” He murmured pulling the man closer and hugging him, holding on tight as the genius’ balance was unsteady, “come on, I’ll teach you.”
And he did. Steve led them towards the side and with Tony holding his hand and the barrier, they managed to skate a couple of loops around the rink before the blond insisted that Tony let go of the barrier.
“I promise I’ll keep holding you’re hand, Tony and we can stay beside the barrier, but please, let go.” Reluctantly and hesitantly, the genius did as asked, his grip tightening as he clung to Steve’s hand. Slowly the pair managed a loop around the rink once more and not once did Tony grab hold of the barrier, though Steve saw his hand reach out for it before defiantly continuing without grabbing hold of it.
As their time on the skate quickly ran out, Steve managed to convince Tony to let go of his own hand and try to skate without assistance. It was only a short distance that the blond wanted Tony to go. Once again proving how willing to complete challenges Tony was, the genius let go of his hand and they skated side by side towards the exit. Steve moved in front of him, ready if he needed to grab the man, which he ended up needing to do. Though, his reflexes were slow.
Tony was grinning as he and Steve skated towards the exit; he was happy to be getting the hang of it. A tall man cut in front of him out of nowhere, causing Tony’s balance to stutter as he began to stumble on the ice, trying painfully to not end up flat on his face. He saw Steve reach out to grab him, but they both became unbalanced and Tony squeezed his eyes shut as he found himself heading downwards. Instead of smacking his head against the cold and hard ground, his landing was somewhat softer. Looking up, he saw Steve staring down at him with a grin before he felt the vibration of the blond’s chuckle.
“Well, you almost made it, though that guy was a jerk.” Steve stated, “come on, up we get.” He hoisted them both up and helped an unsteady Tony the rest of the way before they came off the ice.
——LINE BREAK——
They stepped back out onto the surprisingly calm and quiet streets of New York; Steve reached out and grabbed Tony’s hand with a smile only for his eyes to widen as he grabbed Tony’s other hand and cupped them both in his, pulling them to the side.
“Your hands are freezing!” he exclaimed causing Tony to chuckle,
“And yours are strangely warm.”
“I’m naturally warmer than most people. Here.” he took off his coat and then the jumper he wore beneath,
“Steve, I can’t just wear your jumper-“
“Sure you can, I don’t need it and you’re like ice-cold, Tony.” the genius just stared, “please.”
“Oh alright.” he sighed with a shake of his head as he quickly removed his coat to throw the very big jumper on before quickly hurrying into his coat again and sorting his scarf out,
“Happy?”
“Very. You look good in my clothes.” the red hue that overcame Tony’s cheeks made Steve grin as he led them away with a laugh,
“Shut up,” Tony muttered as he looked like a pouting child,
“Let’s go in here and grab a hot chocolate, honestly, they’re amazing here.”
——LINE BREAK——
Cradling a takeaway cup full of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows between their hands, Tony and Steve continued their walk back to Stark Tower, where Tony lived. The walk wasn’t long, but they took several detours to prolong their time together. Chatting happily, their hot chocolates long since gone and their rubbish in the bin, they barely even realised that they were standing outside of the tower.
“This was fun,” Tony murmured smiling shyly up at Steve,
“It was, I really enjoyed myself.” the blond replied with a shy smile too.
They stared longingly into each other’s eyes. Standing on his tip-toes, Tony stretched his neck out as Steve bent down slightly; their lips touched, warming their bodies to the core as their hands held tightly onto the other. Tony was the first to pull away, his cinnamon eyes glazed with lust as he raised a hand to touch his cheek. It felt wet. Looking up at the sky in confusion, Steve followed his actions as a grin stretched across the genius’ face and he held a hand out to the side with his palm facing upwards.
“It’s snowing,” he announced turning to stare back at Steve, who released a surprised laugh, a snowflake landing on his nose,
“So it is,” he whispered back and bent back down to kiss the shorter man, who returned it with just as much energy and excitement.
——LINE BREAK——
“Despite my old ways, I don’t do one night stands anymore and I was planning on making you take me on at least three dates before we had sex,” Tony whispered to Steve, who was spooning him. The sun had risen, hanging low in the sky. After they’d kissed outside, the pair had made their way to the penthouse and… well, the shedding of clothes did not take long.
“Well, I hope this means I can take you out on many many more dates.”
“I’d like that.” they shared a gentle kiss before throwing on their underwear, Tony wrapped himself up in his dressing gown before handing Steve a spare one. They wandered into the kitchen and were surprised to see a very familiar redhead sitting at the counter reading a magazine as she drank from a mug.
“Ah, I was wondering when you two lovebirds would fly from the nest,” she smirked causing the men to sigh, Tony gestured for Steve to take a seat as he made them some coffee.
“Why are you here, Nat?”
“Well, I thought I should come over to show you what I want for my Christmas present, you can count it as a ‘thank you’ gift too.”
“And why would we need to thank you?” Steve asked playing along,
“Because I’m the reason you two were bumping uglies last night.” She answered, grinning at the disgusted look on Steve’s face,
“No one has used that phrase since the ‘90s, Tasha.” at Tony’s words, she cocked an eyebrow and feigned a thoughtful look,
“Knocked boots?”
“‘80s.”
“Getting your freak on?”
“Back to the ‘90s”
“Well, I don’t care, you both had amazing gay sex last night.” it was almost worrying how red Steve’s face went, “I was only using slang to save poor Stevie’s virgin ears.”
“Oh honey, there’s nothing virgin about that hunk of a man.” Tony smirked, “anyway, circle what you want and get lost, please, I want to have some marvellous post-coffee sex with Steve.”
“Already done, you two enjoy yourselves.”
“That we will.” surprisingly, Steve had come out of his funk and managed to reply before Tony.
Before the elevator doors were completely shut, Natasha saw Steve and Tony falling onto the couch with a loud moan.