Archive of Our Own ^beta

The elevator hummed softly as you made your way to the top of Stark Tower. On any other day you'd never be here, but Steve Rogers of all people had invited you there for dinner. He had only said when and where, making sure Happy picked you up so no driving was involved. Happy seemed alright, he wasn't that talkative, but seemed very grumpy that he was out driving as late as he was for something so unimportant. Trying not to think about how unhappy you were making Happy, you turned your mind to how you'd managed to even meet Steve. On a street corner there was this tiny restaurant you always used to go to as a kid. Where you always ordered the same thing and sat with your family amongst the sea of senior citizens. Everyone had grownup talk in the red leather booths while you quietly listened. Then you never went back no matter how many times you happened to pass by it. You just never thought to go in.

Then many years later when you were grown up now, and you figured if it was still here to see you grow up you might as well look and see how it's aged. To your disappointment, you weren't seated in the spot you remember. To nobody's surprise, the same thing was ordered. While you patiently waited, listening to the light conversation and clatter of dishes, someone caught your eye as they walked past you to reach one of the waitresses. Your eyes trained on their back as they walked past you for a moment, before you decided to head towards the restroom for a quick trip. As you swung your leg from the booth and started to step out of it, someone collided with the side of your body and you remember quickly hitting the floor, getting coated in syrup. Before you could recover a strong arm pulled you up, a voice asked if you were okay, and the rest is history.

The elevator doors quickly slid open and your eyes already gaped at the layout even though you couldn't see the entire room. There was so much furniture in this room it wasn't even funny. So many sofas that surrounded small coffee tables with a massive bar on one end of the room. Stairs led up to another hanging floor above the sofas. This was clearly a party/common room, it was almost made purely of windows, giving a perfect view of the city below. The city lights softly twinkled, the car lights smoothly moving across the sky, and the fire emissions from the rooftops lighting up the sky made it seem alive and you felt at ease. You made your way into the sunken living room to step around the maze of couches towards the stairs. The lights were dimmed and there was soft music to fill the what would otherwise be the loudest silence ever. Reaching the top you saw that there was an obviously nicer table tucked next to a massive window. There were tall red candles lit with utensils set out, but no one else. Doing a small shimmy to fit between the table and a chair you picked, you quietly pulled the seat in underneath you to make yourself comfortable. Wringing your hands in your lap, you craned your neck to look around behind you. The room was unbearably empty for being so big and you felt exposed having your back to all of it.

"Hey-"

You gasped and whipped your head around to face the front of you. Your chest painfully jolted from the scare and you tried to recover as the person paired with the voice tried to explain themselves. It was Steve, and from the look on his face he felt really bad about startling you so bad. "Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. He turned around and sort of gave a vague wave behind him. "There's a lot of hallways to get around this place and I didn't know when you'd show up." He turned to face you again, reading your silence. He gave a small smile and nervously laughed, wringing his hands together. You noticed he'd apparently dressed nice too. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he laughed softly. You only smiled meekly in response, not entirely sure what to say, and your gaze fell to your lap. A chair scraped and you looked up to see him pulling up a chair next to you, likely an attempt to make you feel less uncomfortable. He picked up a black lighter off of the table and lit the red pillar candles on the table, then sat down next to you. Your eyes were still trained on your lap but you felt his on you and it felt like the side of your face was burning from it.

"Are you alright?" he asked as you shifted in your seat, trying not to come off as a nervous wreck. You met his eyes for a moment and nodded quickly and went to to turn away when he put a light hand on your shoulder and you jumped a bit. "Whoa, hey-" his hand shot back and he let out a surprised laugh. "I don't bite, I promise. Do you want me to just get us something to drink until you feel better?" You smiled and nodded, your eyes crinkling this time. He smiled back and stood up, walking down the stairs towards the bar. He hadn't seen yet, but you had gotten up and were peeking over the railing of the balcony watching his every move. He bent down to what was probably a minifridge and pulled out two cans. You knew he was about to look up and you rushed back to your chair before he could see, directing your attention to the city below to make it seem like you weren't peeking. His footsteps came back into earshot as he reached the top of the stairs and he tiptoed over, setting down two cans of Dr. Pepper. You eyed the cans and kept your eyes on the skyline. He slowly set himself back into his chair and wrung his hands together again, not sure how to start a conversation with you. Or anything for that matter. "So- uh...." You gave yourself a small secret smile and turned back around.

"You want to talk to me?"

He seemed surprised. What he didn't know is that you were ready to stand your ground tonight.

"How about we start with the dinner you offered me first?" you smiled. He opened his mouth to say something when he must have figured out you were right. He rushed up and over to the wall, pressing a small button hidden in the frame, then rushed back over to grab his chair so he could put it back over on his side of the table. The glass around you seemed to almost shimmer after he pushed the button, like it was alive and you pointed at it. "What's this with the glass?" He waved a hand like it was nothing and answered, "it's some sort of... paparazzi proof glass Tony made. It's completely reflective from the outside and we can put down an extra privacy shade if we want to." You could only nod. You added, "only if I want to?" and color seemed to flood Steve's face. "I-I mean, yeah, if you want to." You gave him a charming smile and you knew it was winning him over. "Is there a ladies room around here?" He seemed a bit taken aback by the change in demeanor, but pointed down the stairs and said, "it's out that door to the left," pausing for a bit. "Where do you think you're going?" You laughed. "Just powdering my nose. I'll be right back," you said with a wink, Steve trying to shield a smile with his hand as you descended the steps.

When you returned to the table at the top of the steps, Steve had managed to set the entire table and sneak in food. "I see you've started without me." He straightened a fork. "Only laying it all out," he joked as you sat back down. It wasn't a banquet but it was definietely a romantic gesture type of dinner. There was fine china with intricate gold designs as the trim and pink stemmed goblets, with silverware that looked like it'd been recently polished. "You definitely know how to set a table," you said, eyeing it all. "I was raised old-school." You tilted your head. "How old school we talkin' here?" you joked. He seemed to realize what he said and he froze, not sure how to save himself. "Well, I- uh. I don't really know how to explain that. I can only say I've been asleep for a while." He only got a grunt in response and he knew it was going to stand in the way of whatever trust he could establish for the rest of the evening, but he knew he couldn't give it all away at once. He wasn't entirely sure what it was exactly that he was willing to give up tonight, but you definitely did.

Tonight you were definitely not afraid to stare either, whether it was the veins in his forearms or those biceps that seemed like they would split his shirt open as he dished out a few slices of garlic bread. He grabbed a pair of tongs, filling your bowl full of pasta and slices of seasoned chicken. He switched to a ladle and poured a good amount of white sauce over it, adding some brocolli for you. You flicked a piece of hair out of your face with some sarcastic flair. "And where's my wine?" you requested. Steve fained shock, putting a hand over his heart. "And where did this attitude come from, my girl?" You started to feel a bit more at ease, and you laughed, saying, "don't let me get started, I might not be able to stop. Here, let me at least take my shoes off before I pounce while you go get some." He gave an okay and left the room while you reached down and undid the straps on your heels. He couldn't admit it but his heart was already racing from your smile.

Turns out the both of you were able to let conversation flow easily and there weren't many moments of awkward silence. The night was going swimmingly, the two of you making each other laugh and smile, catching the other giving a more than friendly glance but staying quiet about it. You recall catching him giving your chest multiple glances mid-conversation, and you recalled that you didn't hate him doing it. After a certain point in the night the food was forgotten and abandoned on the table, you and Steve had decided to migrate to a couch down in the sunken living room that was parked a few feet away from a view of the city. And of course at your request, he'd put the privacy shade down for the two of you. Just in case. You'd mostly been trying to get him to understand how a phone works, showing him your favorite movies and soundtracks, trying to get him more familiar with your interests. He would watch you scroll through your phone with a wandering but respectful hand lightly tracing your waist. Earlier he wouldn't even take off his jacket, let alone touch you until you got tired of waiting, stripping him of his jacket and snatching his hand, placing it in the spot you wanted. He got the message. You returned the favor whenever you listened to him talk, lightly playing and tugging at the collar of his shirt, taking in his reactions. If by chance your hands started to wander, you loved watching him blush and gently pry at your hand. "I'll be nice, I promise," you reassured. He didn't say it but he didn't want you to.

You noticed a flash of light across his face and a crack thunder startled you out of your wits, making the windows rattle for a good five seconds. You instinctively tightened your hands into fists. Maybe a thunderstorm in the previous century wouldn't worry anyone, but in these times with gods and aliens coming to Earth to make it their battleground, you could never be too careful. "We're fine in here. Apparently Tony has generators to last a lifetime in case the power goes out. But I think they usually-" You looked up as you noticed the lights getting dimmer, the overheads switching to lights underneath the couches and on the sides of the stairs, a lot like a theatre. "Dim the lights. Yeah." You shifted your gaze back to him, feeling much cozier now due to the softer lighting. You knew you liked each other with the way you were able to ease into the couch and talk about more personal subjects, exchanging light touches and eye contact, but he just wouldn't do anything. I guess he really is old-fashioned, you thought. "Are you okay with being this close to the window? I just want to make sure." You thought about it for a moment, an idea popping into your head. You nodded and said, "yeah, but the couch just isn't doing it for me." Cornering him, you eased him onto a pillow that was nudged against the arm of the couch and he complied. You put your hands on his chest to get him to lean back a bit more and get comfortable while you straddled his hips with your legs, and for the moment he seemed afraid as he watched you settle yourself in his lap. You dragged a nail lightly down the side of his cheek. "Don't be nervous. I like this seat much better anyway." Goosebumps were already swarming your body, but you wanted more. You had to take control of the placement of his hands once again and put them on the curve in your spine.

Placing your own hands on his chest, you toyed with the buttons on his shirt, letting out a soft giggle as you heard his breath hitch. The distant lights of the city could be felt on the side of your face, a mix of pinks and reds flooding the room. Steve was too nervous to talk and it hurt to breathe when you were looking at him like that. He'd been getting goosebumps and "fixing a pleat" in his pants all night, he thought by now you had been able to feel the heat radiating off of him. You felt his hands on you tighten at the action and you let out a small noise, barely able to contain yourself anymore. "I would do more," you breathed, "but I need you to ask now." He pulled you closer, his face inches from yours, giving you a perfect sight of his blue eyes, the fuchsia from the city mixing with them. They gave a silent plea before his mouth followed. "Could you?" he choked the words out, the air thrummed with the words hanging on the edge of his lips, and you felt his body quivering. "Please? I want-" You stopped him with a single finger on his lips. "That's all I needed. Don't speak. Just kiss me." He pulled you down towards him so fast you barely had time to react, and sought his lips against yours, both bodies flooded with heat. The only sound in the room was the soft curtain of rain outside and the gentle parting of your lips. He was planting butterfly kisses all over your cheeks and the nape of your neck as his hands softly caressed your breasts. He experimented, relishing the little whimpers he could get out of you as he squeezed a bit harder each time. Digging your nails into his chest as he gripped your ass, you let out a soft moan, lightly biting into his bottom lip before pulling away. Giving a sly smile you looked into his eyes as you playfully pinched one of his nipples, loving the delicious way he screwed his eyes shut and panted for you.

"You look lonely." You learned towards his ear, letting your lips brush his lobe.

"I can fix that."