“I had a dream we were dating,” Tony said, his words slurring a bit, his head rolling to the side and ending up in the crook of Steve’s neck.
Steve felt his cheeks go hot and he let out a little laugh, “yeah? Wha-what was it about?”
Tony whined and nuzzled Steve’s neck a little, placing a light kiss, “that you gave me a poetry book, and I found it really confusing because I don’t even like poetry. But you looked really cute giving it to me, so I took it. I mean, I don’t even like poetry, yah know cap? It was more like, the fuck, he’s cute, so I’ll take it,” Tony said, softly sniffling, his ramblings making his own head spin just a little more.
Steve laughed a little, a smile etched onto his lips, his eyebrows furrowed, “are you crying, Tony?”
“No, just the alcohol, you know my nose gets itchy when I drink, babe. But it was so cute, cap, I loved it. And then you kissed me and I called you a dumbass.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Tony said, his head slowly spinning, his stomach warm with want, and Steve’s skin feeling just a little too warm.
It felt great. Honestly.
“Tony,” Steve said, an exasperated tone etched into his voice.
“What?” Tony asked, pushing his face away from Steve’s neck and looking at his face instead; Steve’s lips were becoming the sole focus in mere seconds though.
“We’re dating, babe,” Steve said, pulling Tony in again and pressing a kiss to his forehead.
Words: 2018
Stony (Steve Rogers x Tony Stark)
Reader Insert Main Character
Coffee Shop AU (Kind of)
MCU Timeline: Captain America: Civil War
Prompt Credit: @dailyau & @mundej-deactivated2018528
Summary: Reader has been working at a coffee shop for nearly a year and grows increasingly curious about two of her regulars “Grant” & “Ed” who always come to the cafe together. That is until one day “Grant” arrives alone.
You hadn’t been working at the coffee shop very long. You leaned against the counter and did a rough calculation in your head. It had been about nine months. Though your tenure had not been as lengthy as most of your co-workers, you’d gotten good at your job quickly. You’d had to. People took their morning routines, and their coffee, very seriously. After about a month you’d gotten to know who the regulars were and their orders. You seemed to be generally liked among the customers and for the most part you liked them too. Eventually, your fake smile and cheery greetings came to be genuine acts of delight.
But there were two customers in particular that you always looked forward to seeing. One of them was a blonde with striking blue eyes. He always flashed you a warm smile when placing his order. The other seemed, at least to you, as his complete opposite. He had brown hair and brown eyes. Where the blonde generally looked put together at all times the other man had this air of always being slightly disheveled. His pockets seemed to be stuffed with old receipts, scraps of paper or loose dollar bills. Sometimes his tie was slightly askew or one of his suitjacket buttons would have gotten missed.
You’d come to know them as “Grant” (the blonde) and “Ed” (the brunette) though you’d always assumed those weren’t their real names. While they were always polite to you and your co-workers they preferred to keep to themselves. Generally, “Grant” would place the order, while “Ed” fumbled around his seemingly endless number of pockets looking for enough money to pay the tab. Their order was always the same too. A black coffee, a plain bagel with cream cheese, an iced Americano with whipped cream and three sugars and a blueberry muffin. After the coffees were poured and the pastries bagged the men would carry their order to a small table near the back of the shop.
They didn’t come in every day. Which to you was the most bizarre thing about them. They might frequent the place two or three times a day for an entire week and then two months might go by where you didn’t see them at all. Still, they always came back eventually. You couldn’t help but want to know more about them. Were they a couple? If so, how long had they been together? How did they make their conflicting personalities work together? Why did they disappear during seemingly random periods of time? You knew it would never be polite to ask, so you didn’t. That is until the day that “Grant” came into the coffee shop on his own.
“No, Ed today?” You couldn’t help but note as you already began ringing in the usual order of two coffees, a bagel and a muffin.
“No, uh not today.” He told you quietly. He seemed surprised that you noticed. “And just the black coffee for me.” He added.
“Oh?” You stopped what you were doing and looked up from the register to study him. He looked tired. His eyes weren’t shining like they usually did. Instead they looked red and irritated, like he’d been crying. His hair was sticking up as if he’d been running his hands through it. It wasn’t the way you were used to seeing him. The sight put you slightly off kilter.
“Coffee’s on me.” You said, clearing the order off the register without hesitation.
“No, please I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble…” He insisted uncomfortably.
“It’s the least I can do.” You told him firmly. “You’ve been very generous with your tips over the past few months.” (In fact they had tipped you $20 a day since you’d started working there. Not just you, but your co-workers as well. If they happened to be working when the couple came in.) You wouldn’t hear another word on the matter, turning away to pour his familiar order of a straight black coffee. You turned faced him again before sliding the Styrofoam cup across the counter. At the same time, you placed a hand over the top of the tip jar, preventing him from could slipping a crumpled bill inside.
“Coffee’s on me, remember?” You offered him a smile, and he just nodded in return. “Grant’s” mind was clearly on something else as he walked slowly to his usual table. You began to wonder once again what his relationship with “Ed” was. Had they been a couple? Had they had a fight? Were they breaking up?
There were no other customers in line after “Grant” So you decided to take advantage of the slow moment to bus and clean tables. You tried to turn your mind to other things. To focus on the cleaning and give “Grant” the space he probably needed. But even as you collected empty cups, and wiped table tops you’re eyes continued to drift over to the little table for two that was currently only occupied by one.
You saw “Grant” still sitting there, but now he was on the phone with someone. Could it be Ed? You tried to casually make your way to a nearby table so that you could overhear what he was saying. As you wiped your table down with a soapy rag, you strained to hear the conversation.
“Tony, I’m glad you’re back on the compound. I don’t like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours. Maybe more so than mine…”
“Avengers?” You repeated to yourself. No that couldn’t be right. You pretended to scrub a stain on the table that had been there longer than you and wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.
“I’ve been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. My faith’s in people, I guess. Individuals. And I’m happy to say that for the most part, they haven’t let me down. Which is why I can’t let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn’t. I know I hurt you Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but can see now that I was really sparing myself and I’m sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you’re doing what you believe in, and that’s all any of us can do. That’s all any of us should…so no matter what. I promise you, if you need us, if you need me, I’ll be there.”
Finally your curiosity got the better of you. You sighed knowing full well what curiosity did to cats, but you just had to know what was going on. It was probably going to lose you your job, but you stopped pretending to clean the table and tossed any empty cups in your possession before circling back to “Grant’s” table.
“So, I wouldn’t normally do something like this.” You apologized, standing across from him. “But you and Ed always come in here together and I can’t help but notice the lack of bagel in your order or the fact that your usual dapper appearance is looking a little…” You paused trying to think of a polite word.
“Unkept?” He chuckled. It was a sad chuckle, but he hadn’t asked you to leave him alone yet. So you continued on.
“Yeah, I guess.” You nodded. “I just, wanted to make sure you’re okay. I’m sure that sounds crazy because I don’t actually know anything about you but…”
“No, no.” He interrupted you with a weak smile. “I think it’s kind, but I’ll be all right. Thank you.”
“Um, okay.” You bit your lip. You knew that you should return to your place behind the counter, you were supposed to be working after all, but something told you to sit down instead. An instinct you would later be glad you didn’t ignore.
“I’m sorry.” You apologized again. “But I have a feeling this is probably the last time I’m going to see you, so I have to know, Grant’s not your real name, is it?” Again he laughed, but this one was lighter. It almost conveyed genuine humor.
“No, it’s not, but it’s not exactly not my name.” He explained. “The fake names had been all Tony’s idea. He’d wanted us t have somewhere that we could go, just the two of us. I guess now that everything’s over this is to.” He said, looking around the café sadly. “I’m Steve. Steven Grant Rogers.”
“You’re name’s Steve Rogers?” You asked in disbelief.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“Hang on a second.” You pulled your phone out of your back pocket. You didn't know why, but that name sounded familiar. You opened your internet browser and Googled ”Steve Rogers.” Hundreds of thousands of results came back, but you were most interested in the top result; a Wikipedia article. You tapped the Wikipedia link and anxiously waited for the page to load. The heading on the next page read:
Steve Rogers (Captain America)
“Huh.” You laughed. “I knew it was familiar. You have the same name as Captain America. I wonder if you look alike.” Your finger moved across the screen so you could scroll further down the article. There was a photo of Captain America in his full costume, but what caught your attention was the small section under the photo. Wikipedia had Steve listed as a “historical Figure” while the second row of information listed his full name.
Steven Grant Rogers.
“No way.” You gasped looking up at Steve. “You’re…this is you?” You positioned the phone screen so that he could see the article you’d been reading.
“That’s me.” He agreed.
“And Ed?” You asked.
“Anthony Edward Stark.” He supplied.
“Oh.” You suddenly felt very stupid. You’d been serving Captain America and Iron Man coffee for the past nine months and never noticed. It was like being at the end of a Scooby-Doo cartoon. All it had taken to fool you was a set of slightly misleading names.
“Ohhhhhh.” You repeated, this time dragging the word out. You began to recall everything you’d seen about the Avengers in the news and on Social Media. They’d essentially been forced to break up because of the Sokovian Accords. It was relatively common knowledge that while Tony Stark had been a driving force behind getting the Accords ratified, Steve had been adamantly against them.
“I’m on my way out of the country.” Steve explained. “But I wanted to stop in one last time, since it was our place. You were right, you probably wont ever see me again.”
“Whoa. That sucks. For you, I mean.” You told him. “It’s awful that they’re trying to force you guys to sign something that basically gives the government total control over what you can and can’t do. Do you mind if I ask, I wont ever tell anyone else, but you and Tony…I sort of overheard your phone call. Were you…was he…”
“We never said as much out loud.” Steve admitted. “But yeah. For about five years.”
“Let me get you another coffee.” You offered, noticing his empty cup.
“No, it’s alright.” He waved you off. “I’ve got to be getting on my way.” Steve slid his chair back and started to get up from the table. “But if you could do me a favor…”
“Anything.” You agreed immediately.
“If he ever comes in, will you tell him…” Steve’s sentence trailed off. He couldn’t seem to get out what he wanted to say. So you nodded with understanding.
“I’ll tell him.” You promised.
“Thanks.” He offered you a mournful smirk. “Oh, and in case you ever need a favor of your own.” Steve reached for a napkin and quickly scrawled a ten-digit phone number down. He added the name “Grant” in the corner before handing the napkin to you. “It was nice talking with you, [Y/N].” With his smirk still front and center on his face Steve Rogers walked out of the coffee shop.
stony (steve/tony), alternate universe, college au.
words: 1.8k
Steve should have expected it, he really should have.
There were regulations that came with dating Tony Stark. Things that were clear and things that they needed to work through.
Things like how Steve always got strawberry ice cream, while Tony got rocky road. Or when Steve needed to get his homework done before he was down to make out - even though Tony always got his way.
Things like that were clear.
Though, something that Steve and Tony really needed to work through was Tony waking up Steve at three in the morning; because right now, all Steve wanted to do was glare at Tony and kick him off the bed.
Steve had a 7 am class the next day, Jesus Christ.
Instead of just ignoring Tony and trying to get back to sleeping, he forced his eyes open and croaked out, “I’m this close to kicking you off the bed, what do you want?”
“Steve, baby, come with me,” Tony said, his voice muffled as he pressed himself to Steve’s side, his face almost pressed into Steve’s armpit.
Steve sighed, looking at the mess of Tony’s curls that was pressed against his chest, Tony’s face hidden.
It was gross, but it was Tony; plus, no matter how much Steve wanted to sleep, he couldn’t say no. “Where?”
“Just outside, to the rooftop. The sky is full of stars, everything’s quiet and my skin is on fucking fire, like I’m sweaty, Steve, it’s too hot-“
Steve hushed Tony. “Okay, okay. I’ll come with you, just give me a second, my eyes are blurry,” Steve whispered out as Tony moved the blanket off his body slowly and Steve rubbed his eyes.
Tony laughed and pushed away from Steve’s armpit, pressing a messy kiss to Steve’s cheek in return. ”Baby, I dare say, I’m delighted you accepted such an offer.”
Tony was using one of his accents again, and Steve just raised his eyebrows in return.
“You really have to work on that one.”
“Really?” Tony asked, a grin placed on his lips, “I thought it would be pretty good since I’m Italian,” Tony said, a hum following his sentence.
“Nope, it’s terrible. You think you would be a bit better at it considering we see Jarvis every Sunday,” Steve said, a small smile setting on his lips as well.
His eyes were getting droopy again. But Steve stayed awake.
“Hey now, don’t sleep on me. We gotta go stargazing; gotta look at something beautiful since I’m stuck here looking at you,” Tony said, sticking his tongue out, his eyes slowly wrinkled with a smile.
Steve thought he was beautiful.
Steve flicked Tony across the arm hard. “Oh, shut up, we both know I’m the only one you love.”
Tony pursed his lips and feigned a disappointed face. “See, love, I love Rhodey, I love Pepper - so you saying that you’re the only one-“
“You know, the more you talk, the urge to just sleep and ignore you grows,” Steve said, closing his eyes and pushing away from Tony.
Tony pouted, “Come on now, Steve, Stevey, cap, capsicle, loverboy-“
“Loverboy?”
“Ya know, loverboy. You love me, I love you, we love each other.”
“Really?” Steve said, a neutral look on his face. He couldn’t believe this man. “That’s a hard take on me loving you.”
“So, you don’t?” Tony asked, placing his hand under Steve’s elbow and dragging him towards himself, their eyes finally meeting. “You don’t love this whole mess that’s known as a Stark?”
“Right now? I don’t think so. Sucks though, since I really was going to come up with you and stargaze.” Steve drawled out, burrowing himself a little more into the covers.
Tony sighed. “Okay, enough of the ass pounding; blah blah blah, I’m sorry,” Tony said, moving the covers away from Steve again and placing his hands on his waist. “Can we please go to the roof now?” Tony asked, whining.
“Why do you want to go up there? It’s freezing,” Steve murmured out, grabbing his sweater hastily from the ground next to the bed and putting it on.
“As I said, my skin is on fucking fire, I want to take a breather,” Tony said, grabbing his phone in case.
Steve moved to pick up the blanket - knowing Tony was eventually going to complain about the cold. He always did when they went up there. Tonight wasn’t going to be any different.
“Yeah, alright,” Steve replied, moving to grab Tony’s hand, their fingers curling together. “Lead the way.”
“Yes, chap,” Tony sang out, making his way through the apartment, picking up the keys and making sure Steve was following him while holding a tucked blanket underneath his arm, his flip-flops making a thud sound against the wood.
And that’s how it always went; no matter what time of night it was, or what excuse had dragged them up there, it always consisted of Steve bundled up with a blanket, leaning into Tony’s side sleepily, while Tony guided them onto the roof, making sure Steve didn’t slip and fall to his death on the stairs.
Steve was always a bit dramatic when he was sleepy, and Tony should know, Tony was always dramatic in return - Tony figured he was lucky though, Steve always did come up on the roof with him anyways.
“Let’s sit down, yeah?” Tony asked once they got on the roof, making his way towards the spot where they always sat - a tattered old mattress.
“Don’t you think the mattress would be cold? It’s freezing tonight,” Steve said, tightening the hold on the blanket.
“We’ll be fine, you big ass baby. Plus, you got the blanket with you, you should be sweating by now - and not the good kind of sweat, if you know what I mean.”
“Tony, shut up,” Steve mumbled out, making his way towards Tony and plopping himself down on the mattress beside him. “Also, come here, it’s freezing. You’re going to get a cold,” Steve said, opening up the blanket towards Tony.
“Awe,” Tony said, situating himself into the blanket and carefully guiding himself halfway into his Steve’s lap, “once we get inside after, you wanna get down and dirty on this blanket?”
Steve groaned and wrinkled his nose. “You always have to ruin everything, don’t you?”
Tony pressed a small kiss to the side of Steve’s neck instead of replying. “You love it.”
“Do I?”
“Yeah,” Tony breathed out, pressing his finger against the side of Steve’s neck, right against the purple mark from last night, “you do.”
“Yeah,” Steve sighed out in return once he felt Tony’s lips softly graze the spot, “I do.”
Steve was always pudding in Tony’s hands.
Tony hummed and pressed his face to the side of Steve’s head. “You only get this soft with me late at night. Now, why is that?” Tony asked, a posh slip in his tone.
“Because no one believes you when you tell them,” Steve mumbled back, a small smile edging on to his lips.
“Everyone fucking believes me; you’re not exactly scary,” Tony said, a little snort escaping his lips.
Steve made a humming sound and looked to his right, his nose almost touching Tony’s. “We both know I can drop kick your ass.”
“Of course baby, I’m not underestimating your strength. You can kick my ass to the moon and I wouldn’t be able to stop you,” Tony replied, a teasing grin edged on, his hands finding Steve’s and curling their fingers together; while Steve tightened his arms around Tony’s waist in return.
“You’re fucking right about that,” Steve said, pressing a light kiss to Tony’s cheek and looking back out to the view.
And for a while, it was quiet. It always did get quiet. The conversation would die off, the air would get chilly, and Steve would burrow himself more into the blanket and Tony would press himself a little more closely to Steve’s chest.
“Do you think we’ll get married in the long run?” Tony asked, his voice breaking Steve out of his thoughts.
“Where’s this coming from?” Steve asked, his eyebrows furrowing a little.
Tony never really talked about marriage.
“Rhodey’s invitation came in the mail today. He’s getting married,” Tony said.
“Huh,” Steve said, “that’s good for him.”
“Is it?”
“Of course it is,” Steve said, leaning his head back on Tony’s shoulder. He sighed. “Why wouldn’t it be? It’s Carol, isn’t it?”
“I’m pumped that they got their shit together and didn’t think from their asses this time.”
Steve let out a little snort. “They were a mess.”
Tony hummed, “Yeah, exactly. But, 26? Isn’t it too early? I mean, I need Rhodey for at least a little bit more, ya know? Like, next thing you know, he’s popping out babies at 27.”
Steve hummed into consideration. “Tony, you’re 24.”
“Exactly, so I need to know if we’re getting married by the age of 26, Steve, so I can be mentally prepared.”
“Do you want to?”
“Do I want to what?”
“Cut it out, Tony. Do you want to get married by the age of 26?”
Steve didn’t really get an answer. But he waited, because Tony would give an answer, it was just how it was. He didn’t always give it immediately, but he gave it when he needed or wanted to.
So Steve wrapped his arms a little tighter around Tony, pressed a soft kiss on the back of his neck and waited.
“No,” Tony said, quietly, his gaze on the sky.
“And that’s fine, we don’t have to.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Tony, I’m sure,” Steve replied, pressing a lingering kiss into his hair. “Besides, relationships are made of compromises. I’ll agree not to marry you until whenever you want, on one condition.”
Tony tensed. “And what’s that?”
Steve smiled. “Just don’t hog the covers at night - when you actually come to bed some nights.”
Tony snorted, his body immediately relaxing - it was Steve, Steve would never hurt him. “And do what instead? Splay myself across you?”
“Exactly, use my body heat, just don’t hog the covers,” Steve murmured out, placing his chin on top of Tony’s shoulder.
“Sounds good,” Tony said, furrowing himself more into the blanket and more into Steve’s chest.
And it got quiet again and the air outside their cocoon got chilly but the warmth between them was enough.
They weren’t perfect, it was far from perfect. They had problems, they had petty arguments; they even had some nights where Steve laid in bed alone, Tony tinkering away in his lab, and Steve wondering if he was coming to bed that night.
But there was also love. Love when Steve would press himself to Tony, soaking in his smell, his body, and his lips; love when Tony would present a little origami to Steve when he was bored and love when Tony would place a soft kiss to Steve’s shoulder whenever he left the apartment to go to his lab.
“Whatcha thinking?” Tony asked, turning his head to the side, his nose almost touching Steve’s.
Steve’s craned his neck a little bit higher and pressed a kiss to Tony’s lips, “nothing, just that I’m cold.”
“You wanna head downstairs?”
“Nah, let's give it a few minutes.”
Besides, even if it was cold, the stars did look as beautiful as ever.
summary: Steve should have expected it, he really should have.There were regulations that came with dating Tony Stark.
Things that were clear and things that they needed to work through.Things like how Steve always got strawberry ice cream, while Tony got rocky road. Or when Steve needed to get his homework done before he was down to make out - even though Tony always got his way.
Things like that were clear.
read on ao3
tagging: @mmoony, @starkxs, @tamehill, @wandaqmaximoff for betaing this for me. <3
Steve/Tony, Tony not being very good at sharing his things.
prompted by goldtitaniumman
on Ao3
Hypothetically, Tony knows that Steve is not "his": Steve is Captain America, a living legend, The Living Legend.
He can't privatize Captain America, because 1) he's a human being; 2) he's pretty stubborn when it comes to freedom.
But then, Tony knows that some parts of Steve are just his: when Steve comes to the garage and tries to understand what Tony is building, a smile plastered on his face every time he sees the wonders he dreamed about when he was a kid; when Tony falls asleep somewhere, and Steve wakes him up and gives him a nudge and an order to go to bed; when they are both tired and the others still want to do something, so Steve starts complaining about youngsters and Tony plays along with him (Thor finds them extremely amusing and usually says that he is indeed younger than them in spirit).
Yes, Tony isn't very good at sharing Steve, but he manages.
(Steve is far worse, because he wants to be always around him, and around Barnes too, and Sam Wilson, and the rest of the team, and probably Steve is a bit of a control freak, but Tony gets him, he does, he'll do the same for each one of them, so when Steve stars talking to him about team dynamics and communication between teammates he listens and he tries to find a solution with him, because he loves him , and loving him is everything).
