Work Text:
(Peachy) Keen On You
Fae were the worst always, May decided. Even she wasn’t dumb enough to not realize that Tony would be open to some more attention after being brought a cake. “Ask him on another date,” she hissed as she scooped Peter a bowl of ice-cream since he couldn’t eat the diamond-studded cake.
“Why,” Steve asked dumbly.
May stopped and counted to five before politely grinding out, “His date with you was a disaster and he’s still raw at the idea of doing anything for you for fear it’ll be thrown back in his face. The ball’s in your court now, so you have to make the effort.”
“My court’s ball isn’t until Spring,” Steve said, confused.
May whipped around and gave him such a venomous glare that he squawked and fled back out to the dining room. Fae were so stupid. She hated them.
Steve eventually figured out what she meant, though, because he cautiously invited Tony out for a walk in a few days.
“What does this mean,” Tony fretted, rolling a diamond between his fingers anxiously before popping it into his mouth.
May was appalled that Tony was the reason she and Pepper were together. He hadn’t seemed like an idiot then. “It means he wants to date you, Tony.”
“So he can humiliate me in front of his court again?” Tony asked softly, unsure.
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Pepper answered hastily when May turned her glare on her. “It was my fault. Because I cursed you. Not knowing he had Unseelie guests.”
“He threw me out like trash,” Tony argued, eyes going glassy. “If he’d just said—”
“What? ‘Tony, stop crossing your eyes in case these evil bastards take offense?’” Pepper asked bluntly. “When would he have done that? None of us knew.”
“Just… don’t think about it too much right now,” May suggested when Tony had no answer but continued to look incredibly hurt. “Just let this happen. If he puts his foot in it, it’s not meant to be.”
“Put his foot where?” Pepper asked after a moment, and May sighed.
But when they came back from their walk a few days later, Steve leaned in and pressed a kiss to Tony’s cheek, and Tony put his hand over the spot, startled. Then Steve whispered something into his ear, and Tony blushed as bright as a tomato before Steve disappeared between one breath and the next.
May and Pepper didn’t even pretend that they hadn’t had their noses pressed to the window. “What did he say?!”
Tony looked at them, alarmed, then blushed all over again and mumbled, “Said I looked as lovely as a peach and he couldn’t wait until we were married so he could eat me.”
“You’re engaged?” May squeaked, delighted.
“No? He just said that to embarrass me,” Tony said, confused.
May stared at him, hard, then threw her hands up and walked away as Pepper tried to convince him that the Rogers never made jokes about marriages and Steve had a thirst for him that hadn’t even been quenched by being forced to banish him.
Tony only really seemed to believe them when he opened the door the next morning and the stoop was covered in sweet peas and chrysanthemums, a staple gift from the Rogers Court before marriage.