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It was almost four in the morning when Steve’s elevator finally reached the Tower’s lounge floor, and thus he was fully expecting to find it dark and quiet. The pleasant hum of a successful mission was still coursing through his veins, and he couldn’t help smiling as the doors opened. It wasn’t home, yet, but he was safe and sound and in the morning he’d sneak back to your shared apartment.
As the elevator doors slid open, he was greeted with a pinata hanging from the ceiling in front of the elevator, still half intact much unlike any object within a five-foot radius from it. From the looks of it, someone had tried to shoot the pinata with Tony’s repulsors. As Steve pushed it aside, a few pieces of candy dropped from it, rattling to the floor. The main lounge room looked like a bomb had gone off in it, empty plates and bottles scattered all over, the colorful banner saying Taco Thursday hanging up from the ceiling by only one corner, the top of Tony’s bar sticky with spilt tequila and lemon juice. Tony himself was spread across the sofa with one Iron Man glove still in his hand, snoring like there was no tomorrow, his tie hanging open on his neck. There was no sight of anyone else, though. Maybe they’d retired to their quarters a bit earlier, leaving Tony to be the last man standing. Wouldn’t be the first time.
There had been a party, it seemed. A good party, at that. Steve gently shook his head, the smile not leaving his lips as he made his way through the mess to reach the communal kitchen. His hunch about leftovers was proved right as he opened the fridge door, and he hummed quietly as he got the food out and started assembling his portion.
“Steve, honey?” the kitchen island said from behind him.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He had missed you over the last three days but was he truly this desperate to hear your voice? But the way the kitchen island had slurred in its speech made him certain there was a much more plausible explanation.
Steve peeked around it to find you laying on your side behind it, your cheek pressed into the tile as your eyes looked up at him, trying to catch a glimpse of him without moving your head. You were sparkling with glitter that had spread to all over your face from your eye makeup, and Steve couldn’t help but laugh gently at that. You were the cutest thing ever, giddily drunk and smiling at him, arranging the silvery glittery dress on you into better position. The combination of it and the smokey makeup had probably been drop-dead gorgeous a few hours and a few margarita pitchers earlier, when it had still been intact, but now you were just adorable. You didn’t seem to mind anything, not the floor, not the makeup, anything. You were beaming at him as he walked around the island and crouched down in front of you. The excitement of seeing him was so visible on your face that it made his heart swell in his chest. God, how he loved seeing that expression.
“Steve! It’s you! I thought I heard you hum!” you gushed, rising to lean on your elbows, struggling with the coordination.
Very much drunk, still, Steve decided, looking at the gleam in your eyes. To be honest, you laying on the floor had clued him in, already.
“Hi doll. I didn’t know you’d be at the Tower tonight. Want to get up?”
You shook your head and reached your hand to coax him to sit down next to you. He indulged you, leaning his back into the island and smiling as you crawled to lean into him, half in his lap. He’d missed this.
“What are we doing on the floor, doll?”
“We’re hiding to scare Tony when he comes back!”
You seemed to be so proud of the idea that he didn’t have the heart to tell you that the next run-in Tony would probably have was with one hell of a hangover. Your finger traced Steve’s chest, your gaze following the nonsensical pattern of it on his blue shirt. He pressed a kiss into your messy hair. Luckily, you were a happy hot mess of a drunk, because Tony was enough of a drama alert for one party group.
“Taco Thursday, huh? Did you break your promise to never drink with Tony again? Did he get you back to doing tequila shots?”
You shook your head with all the convincingness of a toddler telling it wasn’t him who ate the cookies while still chewing the last one.
“Nuh-uh. I know better now.”
“Sweetheart, there’s a lemon wedge stuck to your chest,” Steve said, gently.
You giggled, peeling the insulting piece of fruit off your skin, examining it with the vigilance of a scientist on the verge of a new discovery.
“Huh,” you finally said.
Your gaze dropped down as your attention span ran out.
“Have you ever noticed I have nice boobs?”
He had very much noticed. In fact, he might’ve mentioned it a few times.
“Trying to be a gentleman here, since you’re this drunk, honey,” he laughed. “But yes, I have. They do look very nice in that dress.”
“I’m not drunk,” you claimed. “My eyes just don’t focus for some reason. Maybe I should go see Bruce to figure out what’s wrong with them! After all, he’s so smart.”
Somehow, you managed to spring up from the floor without falling over, immediately starting to make your way to the kitchen door with all the grace of a newborn deer fawn who was ten drinks deep and had one high-heeled shoe on. Steve jumped up and took a couple of long strides to catch you, wrapping you gently into his arms to prevent you from escaping. You giggled as he did, leaning into him without hesitation, like there was no place in which you’d rather be. He kissed the bare skin on your shoulder as he held you in place.
“Alright, honey, I think Dr. Banner is probably sleeping right now, but let’s make a deal. I’ll make you something to eat and a very tall glass of water, and if you still feel bad about your eyes, I’ll take you to med bay, okay, doll?”
“Aye aye, Captain,” you giggled.
You struggled a bit to turn to face him, your hand reaching up to pet his face.
“You’re gorgeous.”
“No, you’re gorgeous,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss to your lips.
It was all he would do since you were this drunk, and just for now, it was enough. It was a home to come to, a soft place to keep out all the bad things in the world. That was all he’d ever wanted, and now it was all here in his arms, giggling into the kiss without a care in the world and melting into his touch. The taste of lemon and salt and a hint of Tony’s top shelf tequila sparkled on his mouth as he run his tongue across your lower lip.
When he pulled back, there was a glassy look in your eyes, and it wasn’t just the tequila, and something underneath that sparkled like lightning. Steve had seen that spark the day you had met and he’d wanted a taste ever since. You squeezed his face in between your palms.
“These cheekbones, I tell you, it’s not fair.”
“I’m just a guy, doll,” Steve said but he was smiling, warm and light.
You wore your heart on your cheek with him nowadays, the compliments just falling off your lips, but damn if those didn’t make him swell with pride. The way you just loved him was more than he’d ever dreamed of.
“One day I’m going to have your chubby little perfect babies and they’re going to be so gorgeous and so good at everything,” you whispered, your voice almost vibrating with excitement.
Steve let himself imagine that for a moment, his arms wrapping around you and your child. If there’d ever been a shadow on him left by his work, it was gone now. He peeled your hands off his face and kissed your forehead.
“I like that thought, sweetheart. Come on, I’ll make you food.”
“I should make you food. You’re the one who just came home,” you said, kicking your lone shoe.
“I’m not allowing you to touch a butter knife, in that state, let alone anything else,” Steve laughed, pulling you with him. “You’re a mess when you’re this drunk.”
“At least I’m a hot mess, though.”
“Can’t really disagree with that.”
You jumped to sit on the kitchen island, your face now almost at the same height as Steve’s. He could feel your gentle gaze following his movements as he made you both a couple of tacos for both of you and placed your plate next to you on the counter.
“You’re a total knight,” you said, yawn almost splitting your face open. “Sam said he thinks we’re going to get married. You and me, that is. Not me and Sam.”
“Thanks for the clarification, you had me worried there for a second,” Steve laughed.
“I couldn’t blame him if he wanted to marry me, though. I’m fabulous.”
“Indeed, you are, honey. But I got you first,” Steve said as he filled the biggest glass he could find with water and pressed it into your hands.
He leaned his back to the counter opposite you, picking up a taco from his own plate. For a moment, you ate in comfortable silence, sharing private looks with each other, and the moment your glass was empty, Steve filled it again.
“Drink up, honey.”
“Funny, that’s exactly what Tony said with all the margaritas,” you sighed. “I didn’t mean it to escalate this badly, but I was so happy and he was so excited for me and then he was going full Tony and making everyone do rounds and all.”
Steve perked up, locking his gaze into your eyes. The spark was brighter now, the food and water and a bit of time passing since your last drink starting to clear your head. Your drunken ramblings hadn’t been exactly coherent, but this seemed important. And he was pretty good at picking out what was important.
“What were you happy about? What was he excited about?” he coaxed.
You tilted your head, your eyes glowing.
“I wanted to wait until you got home to tell you,” you said. “I meant for you to be the first to know but someone somewhere knew Tony’s kinda sorta mentoring me and he got a call, too. And then he went full Tony and practically shouted it from the rooftops.”
Steve didn’t want to rush you, so he kept quiet, looking at you. You took a sip of the water and put the glass down, a smug grin lighting up your whole face.
“That rapid stem cell regeneration project I’ve been doing in the Tower lab, you know? Well, guess who’s going to get published in Nature. You know, the worlds-leading-science-magazine-Nature? That one? It’s going to be me.”
Steve almost broke his plate as he threw it back to the counter, leaping in front of you to throw his arms around you and pull you to the edge of counter to get you close to him. You laughed as he kissed you, the laugh turning into giggles as he pressed little kisses all over your face, beaming with pride.
“Doll, that’s amazing, that’s so so so amazing! I’m so proud of you. I’ve known this whole time you’re exceptional, but this is huge. We should celebrate this and your amazing brain,” he whispered, his hands cupping your jaw as he pressed another kiss to your forehead before pulling back to see your face. “I love you, genius.”
“I love you too, honey,” you said. “There’s glitter on your face, you know.”
“I don’t mind,” he smiled. “Seriously, doll. Couldn’t be prouder boyfriend right now.”
You run a hand through his hair, ruffling it up from the back as you smiled. The glow on him wasn’t just glitter.
“Thanks for looking after me and keeping me caffeinated. I couldn’t do it without you, Steve. I mean it.”
Steve was sure he understood what you meant because he felt exactly the same way.
“Couldn’t do it without you, either.”