Steve couldn't help the wave of anxiety that washed over him when the elevator doors slid open and he found that Tony was still in his workshop in blackout mode. He knocked on the glass and tried his entry code which was promptly denied.
He didn't bother trying the master override code. He'd tried all three of his passcodes the last nine times he'd been down in the past hour.
With a sigh he turned leaning against the cool glass and tipping his head back to look at the white ceiling tiles. With a slow and steady exhale he slid down the glass to sit on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest.
At this point Steve was debating between using the emergency Avenger override code to trip the alarms and just plain smashing through the glass. Their three year anniversary is tomorrow and Steve hadn't seen his beautiful boyfriend in almost a week. Pain swelled in his chest and he heaved a gasp to rid the tension. He slid a hand across his chest feeling his heart palpitating underneath his palm.
"Captain Rogers, the other Avengers upstairs require your assistance," The AI's crisp voice came across the intercom almost startling Steve.
"Thanks Jarvis," Steve responded politely, "Tell them to give me a minute," Steve grit out knocking on the opaque glass again and calling out to the man on the other side. He tried to keep the pain out of his voice but he knew it bled through when his voice breaks.
"I'm afraid they are insisting your presence immediately. Something important has come up." Jarvis sounded apologetic as Steve straightened and headed back to the elevator.
He wondered briefly if Tony was mad at him. Sure, they'd had their quarrels over the past couple of years but it had never been anything a little sparring or sex couldn't fix. He'd never gone a week without seeing the small brunet and the thought made a sharp pang of loneliness echo through his chest.
Tony had been fine before he went into surgery to remove the shrapnel from his chest a week ago. He had given Steve a thumbs up before they gassed him and removed every piece of metal inching toward his heart. It had been hard patching up the gaping hole where Tony's sternum had been but the surgeons had managed using a modified version of Extremis that Tony himself had coded.
Steve had smiled when Tony came to the next morning and they had kissed passionately until a nurse shooed Steve out to run a couple of tests.
And that was the last time Steve saw him.
As the elevator doors opened to the living room Clint and Natasha looked up from where they were sitting on the couch with Thor and Bruce. Natasha was curled into Clint's lap as he whispered into her hair keeping his eyes on Steve. Their close proximity drove Steve to yearn for his boyfriend and he stopped in his tracks, longing hitting him square in the chest.
"Hey Cap, we're doing movie night, it's your turn to choose." Clint shot him a smile spinning an arrow between his fingers. The other hand was wrapped around Natasha's waist and she passed him an encouraging smile.
"You summoned me up here for movie night?" Steve's brows furrowed and Natasha glanced at Bruce. Steve missed the look that was exchanged between the two but he knew it concerned him when they both turn to him with matching smiles of pity.
"No Steve," the scientist scooted over patting the seat beside him, "we know you've been having a hard time since Tony's surgery and we wanted to take your mind off it." Bruce held the StarkPad with the movie choices out to him. "We can watch Boss Baby, or Moana," he offered helpfully pointing at the selections on the screen.
Steve sank into the couch. He couldn't imagine watching a movie without Tony's hilarious commentary to accompany it. He couldn't sit on this couch, where he first told Tony he loved him, without being reminded of the loss he feels. "Tony hates these movies," Steve whispered brokenly as he flipped through the cartoons.
The genius had only ever bought Disney movies so they could watch them with Peter but the child in question was spending two weeks in Florida with his aunt and uncle.
He clicked on Finding Nemo before leaning back into the couch cushions and letting the sounds of the movie wash over him. He couldn't sit here surrounded by the smell of grease and metal and expensive cologne and not long for the love of his life.
He picked up a pillow burying his face in it and inhaling the smell of Tony when, "there you guys are." His head shot up whipping around to the entryway so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.
"Tony?" Steve looked up at his boyfriend and almost sighed in relief to see him smiling back.
The engineer paused by the couch and scoffed, "Oh! For the love of god, you're watching this crap?" He flopped down next to Steve sliding his feet in the blond's lap. "Have I taught you nothing?"
Steve couldn't help himself he grabbed Tony's ankles using them to pull the smaller man across the couch and into his warm embrace. His hands slid around his waist and he buried his nose in the brunet's hair.
"I missed you too Steve," Tony whispered gently kissing his nose.
They didn't last though the movie, they just headed back to Tony's room to call it a night.
***
It was well after noon when Steve woke up the next day. He was perfectly content to spend the rest of the day spooning his boyfriend of three years. Steve pulled the smaller man against him burying his nose in Tony's neck and breathing in the heaven of his sweaty skin.
A laugh bubbled up within him as realization hit him square in the chest. It's wasn't the smell of sweat but the sweet scent of sex.
"Mornin Cap," Tony groaned rolling over and facing the blond. He basked in the glow of the sun filtering through the windows, his skin still glistening from their less than clean activities the night prior.
"You smell like me," Steve murmured into his chest his lips ghosting over the arc reactor scar. "We should take a shower."
"We just woke up and you're already asking for shower sex?" Tony laughed pulling Steve up and gently kissing his nose. "My ass and I are going to have to politely decline, darling."
"Withholding sex?" Steve licked his lips before shooting Tony a wide grin, "on our anniversary," he leaned back letting the sheet fall away from his naked chest. "That is just cruel."
"Steven Grant Rogers," Tony sat up and smirked at him cupping his face to punctuate each word with an over exaggerated kiss.
"Anthony Edward Carbonell-Stark" Steve mocked grabbing his jaw and tilting it up to suck at the skin there. His other hand slid down his waist to gently palm his ass and rock into him.
"I love you so much," Tony continued gently pulling away to meet Steve's gorgeous azure eyes. "You make me a better person even if you steal my bacon in the morning and shove your feet in my face when we watch those crappy Disney movies you love."
Steve snickered licking a stripe up Tony's neck and gently biting his lower lip before pulling away to tease him, "save some for the proposal will you?"
Tony rolled his eyes leaning over the bed and digging through the pockets of his jeans. He produced a black velvet box and popped the lid maneuvering into a shaky kneel on the bed. "Marry me?"
Steve brought a hand to his mouth looking down at the ring and then to Tony nervously looking up at him.
"Any day now Cap, not everyone is twenty-five, my knees are starting to hurt," Tony griped shifting his weight and almost toppling over
"Of course," Steve grabbed Tony around the waist pulling him into a strong embrace. "Of course I'll marry you, I love you Tony."
A grin broke out on the smaller man's face as he looked up into Steve's eyes slipping the ring on his finger before tenderly kissing the knuckles on his left hand. He was enamoured with the way the metal looked against Steve's pale skin.
Steve held his hand up in the light, the band was smooth made up of two metals hammered into interlocking gears. As Steve ran his finger down the side of the ring the gears rotated and he was immediately fascinated by the movement.
Tony caught his question without him asking it. "The shinier metal is Vibranium, I had the others distract you while I borrowed your shield and skimmed a little off the side. The darker metal is the shrapnel that used to reside inside my chest, a piece of my heart, if you will."
Steve leaned forward capturing Tony's lips and sliding his arm around his waist. When he pulled away he met Tony's eyes shooting him a grin. "It's perfect. I adore it."
Tony smiled leaning his head against Steve's shoulder and inhaling deeply, "I'm happy you're happy." Tony grabbed his phone off the nightstand and pulled the blanket over Steve's lap so they could take a decent picture. Steve held up his hand showing off the ring and Tony couldn't resist pressing a tender kiss on his cheek.
The picture showed up on Tony's personal Instagram four hours later with the caption "Finally."