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“Our one year anniversary is tomorrow,” Tony said casually, sitting on the ground in the cargo bay which doubled as a workshop and messing with some nanobot schematics. He was currently trying to speed up production and make them more resilient. It was slow going.
Stephen looked up from the chair he was sitting in, reading a book but staying near Tony just because. “Is it?” he asked, faking ignorance.
Tony hummed and saved his files, but not before implementing the current updates and telling the machines in the corner to start producing. He stood up from the ground with a groan, knees popping a little before walking over to Stephen, who let out a dramatic sigh and closed his book, dropping it beside him on the ground. Tony simply grinned and straddled Stephen’s lap, wrapping his arms loosely around his neck and resting his head on his shoulder. Stephen brought his arms up and held Tony close around his back.
“Any particular reason for this, love?” he asked, slightly amused as he began to rub his hand up and down Tony’s back.
“Just wanting to be close. You know, you’re the first person I’ve been with this long,” Tony said with an obvious offhanded tone that was meant to draw questions. Stephen was never one to disappoint.
“Yeah? Why am I not surprised? You're absolutely insufferable. Yet, I still love you. How nasty is that?” Stephen joked, huffing a laugh at seeing Tony’s pout out of the corner of his eye.
“Never realized how lonely I was before I met you,” he said quietly, tightening his grip around Stephen slightly.
“I know, love,” he murmured, turning his head to kiss the side of Tony’s head sweetly.
They were silent for a few minutes, both content to sit and listen to the ship’s engines. However, Tony, restless as he was, only lasted for about ten minutes before speaking again. Stephen didn’t really mind.
“We should do something,” Tony said firmly, leaving room for no arguments.
“Alright. What should we do?”
That stopped Tony in his tracks, and they were hardly out of the station at that point. “Er. Gifts?”
Stephen barked a laugh, surprised at how funny that statement was. Tony pulled away from his shoulder and glared playfully at him before putting his head back.
“Of course we’ll get gifts for each other, Anthony,” he said, nearly laughing again once he saw Tony’s look of hatred directed to him at the use of his full name. “The hard part is; where do we want to go, if anywhere?”
“Well, let’s narrow it down a little,” said Tony pragmatically. “You like hot or cold weather?”
“Bones in my hands and feet don’t like cold,” he replied, tapping Tony’s back with a finger for effect.
“Alright, then. How hot do we want it? Jungle hot or fall on an average temperature planet?”
“The second option,” Stephen said dryly, refusing to repeat what Tony said out of principle.
“Uh…” Tony trailed off, mind coming up blank on any planets they might be interested in.
“Jarvis, buddy?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Find planets using the parameters Stephen said and try and find some on that list that we’d like,” he instructed.
“Of course, sir,” the AI replied politely.
“We’ve got a few minutes…” Tony hinted, pulling away and raising an eyebrow.
“Whatever shall we do?” Stephen replied, feigning innocence.
“I’ve got a few ideas…”
“Yeah?”
“Well first I was feeling we’d-”
“Search complete, sir. Results sent to you,” JARVIS interrupted, and if Tony didn’t know how smart he’d programmed the damn thing, he would have thought it was an accident.
Tony sighed and dropped his forehead against Stephen’s shoulder, who huffed in amusement.
A little while later, after some more searching, they both decided on an arid planet with a large city and nice hotels and was technologically advanced enough to keep Tony interested. JARVIS informed them it was named Helgfin.
On arrival the next day, Tony quickly booked them the honeymoon suite from the ship.
“Okay, we meet back up at the hotel in two hours for dinner, got it?” Tony said, sliding his trench coat on and grinning when he turned around and saw Stephen unashamedly staring at his ass.
“Did you hear me, dearest mine?” Tony asked, amused.
“Of course. Now go away, I have something to buy for you,” he said, shooing Tony off the ship and following before turning in the opposite direction.
Tony was waiting in the room two hours later, giddy to show Stephen his gift. There was a knock and he grinned, walking over and opening it. He was waiting for Stephen to shove down his pride enough to knock, as Tony was the only one with the key.
He opened it with a flourish and bowed, letting Stephen in. Stephen sighed and rolled his eyes, stepping inside and falling into one of the chairs in the main part of the room. Tony shut the door and followed, draping himself across his lap.
“So, did the ‘charm’ work?” Tony asked curiously. The ‘charm’ was a bit of technology meant to make you not question any physical abnormalities, letting Stephen be able to travel freely.
“It worked just as you predicted. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t try and give this to me for our anniversary,” Stephen said, petting Tony’s hair gently. Tony knew he was thinking about his close escape with massive brain damage.
“Didn’t feel like waiting that long. And it’d be a bit… selfish to hold that to myself, I know how much you hate having to stay behind,” he explained, leaning into the touch eagerly.
“C’mon, we need to get dressed up for our dinner,” Stephen muttered, not making any movement.
“Can’t we just go down like this? There isn’t a dress code,” he complained, pulling the fabric of his coat and frowning.
Stephen sighed. “Fine,” he relented, shoving Tony off and standing, ignoring Tony’s indignant pout.
Several minutes later, they were both seated in a booth with the planet’s version of wine. Tony was trying to think of when to give Stephen his gift when the waiter came by to ask for their orders.
Once he left, Tony swallowed nervously and dug the gift out of his pocket,
“Er, happy one year,” he said awkwardly, opening the box and placing it on the table, with Stephen staring dumbly at it.
“It’s um. It’s a promise ring, I guess, as cliche as it is,” he explained nervously.
“What uh. What kind of promises?” Stephen asked dumbly, clearing his throat,
“First off, I promise to try not to get killed,” he started with a slight chuckle, which Stephen returned quietly. “And to try my damned hardest to not lose you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I promise to always fight for us,” he finished quietly.
Stephen let out a bark of laughter. “Gods, you make my gifts look cheap,” he said, amusement and slight embarrassment in his tone.
“It’s only made of Helgfin silver..” Tony said weakly. He brightened a little when he realized he forgot to tell Stephen one bit. “Check the inscription on the inside,” he said eagerly.
Stephen hummed and gently took the ring from the box, turning it to look inside.
I promise to stay by your side. T.S.
“You can.. wear it if you want,” Tony said hesitantly, when Stephen continued to just stare at it. It took a second, but he slipped it on and gave Tony a wavering smile, pulling out a box and an envelope, which Tony assumed was just for show for something else.
“I just. I just got you a stupid holographic watch and some tickets to a convention on experimental technologies a few galaxies away,” Stephen said, sliding the items across the table.
Tony looked at the watch with wide eyes. It was a rare model, older but customizable. He assumed Stephen bought it with his suit in mind, and found it touching. He pressed a button on the side and it displayed the time zones of the last three they’ve been in, since none have been favorited yet. Turning it over to look at the little metal bit housing the technology encased, he read the inscription with a soft smile.
To know you’ll always have my time. S.S.
“Dunno what you’re talking about,” Tony said, voice thick with emotion. “This is just perfect.”
Stephen gave him a soft smile and reached over to hold his hand, Tony relishing at the feeling of the ring on Stephen and Stephen enjoying the feeling of Tony’s hand.
Their food soon arrived, but they were too enamored with each other to notice.