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“Happy? Why haven’t we moved?” Steve sighed. He enjoyed many things in this century, but traffic sure wasn’t one of them.
“Not sure what’s going on, Cap. Might be faster for you to walk at this rate.” Happy sounded just as frustrated as he felt. Neither of them liked doing a job half-way, and this was one of those moments for Happy.
“I just might, I think I’m late already. Thanks Happy. Good luck getting home,” Steve called as he got out of the car. He looked at his watch as he straightened his suit jacket. Yup, he was late. He pulled out his phone and dialed Tony as he started walking towards his destination.
“Hey honey,” Tony answered, “did you decide to ditch me?”
“No, I’m trying to get there but there’s more traffic than on New Year’s Eve. Not sure what’s going on,” Steve gritted out as the crowd started getting denser, making it harder for him to walk at a normal pace to get to his date. “I’ll need an exact location too. There are so many people here.”
“I promise, you’ll spot me right away.” Steve wanted to argue but decided against it. “Where are you?”
“I think almost there? Near the Crowne Plaza.”
“Yeah, you should be here soon. Okay, I’ll let you go then. Can’t wait to see you.”
Before Steve could answer, Tony had hung up. It was likely for the better since Steve could barely walk anymore without pushing people out of his path, since they barely wanted to let him pass. Why Tony had picked Time Square for their dinner date was beyond him. And how he thought Steve would find him in the sea of bodies was even more baffling.
When he finally reached 48th and Broadway, where he needed to turn to get to the main plaza, Steve was faced with a barricade. He groaned loudly and was about to call Tony again when an NYPD officer spotted him and jogged towards him.
“Captain Rogers! We weren’t expecting you to get here from this end. So sorry about that,” he told Steve as he moved the barricade aside and let him through.
“You were… expecting me?” Steve asked slowly, making the officer laugh.
“If you’ll follow Officer Beckett here, she will take you the rest of the way. Enjoy your night, sir.”
Steve followed the second officer, who just grinned at him after shaking his hand and introducing herself. He still had no clue what was happening, but he was relieved there were no longer crowds everywhere. This would at least make finding Tony a bit easier.
He was about to ask the officer if the President or maybe one of those K-Pop music groups Tony had mentioned was in the area when she turned to him with a bright smile.
“I think you’ll be okay from here,” she laughed, pointing across 47th where Tony should be waiting.
“Thanks for your help,” he called to her as he jogged across the empty street.
And empty was an understatement. The place was deserted. As packed and crammed as things were a street over, Time Square itself was completely quiet and empty. Bright as ever, of course, but the usual hustle and bustle was gone. A stark contrast to when Steve had seen it for the first time after the ice.
“Told you I’d be easy to find,” he heard Tony call out to him, and he couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Happy might kill you for throwing us in this much traffic,” Steve teased as he strode towards Tony and hugged him. “Did you make me dress up for a date at McDonald’s or what?”
Tony laughed softly. “Nah, I wouldn’t have picked the one here if I just wanted McD’s.”
“So, I’m guessing someone important is around if the whole block is locked down tighter than your workshop?” Steve pulled back from Tony’s arms and tangled their fingers together about to start walking when he realized he had no idea where they were going.
Tony smiled and gave Steve a kiss. “The most important person in my world, yeah.”
Steve just blinked at him a few times, which made Tony laugh. “This can’t be… it’s for me ?”
Tony nodded before pulling him backwards towards a table that was set for two. Steve was baffled by the turn of events, but couldn’t find words to express what he felt or the millions of questions he had. Even with the simplest one being ‘why?’, he couldn’t make the words leave his lips.
Tony pulled a chair for him and pushed it back as he sat, placing a quick kiss on his temple before seating himself at the chair next to Steve and taking Steve’s hand in his.
“What’s all this? I thought we were just going out to dinner?” Steve finally asked.
“We are having dinner. Just making it a bit different, that’s all.” Tony smiled, kissing the back of Steve’s hand. Just then, a person materialized in front of them from who knew where and placed a plate in front of each of them.
“Thanks Vi,” Tony told her as she started heading towards 46th behind them. “I had to make a few executive decisions for dinner, hope you don’t mind.”
“No, it’s fine. You know I trust you.” They smiled at each other before digging into their first appetizer. They talked about their days, upcoming projects, and a trip to the west coast Tony had to go on, which he still hoped Steve could join him for so they could tack on a few days of R&R.
Plate after plate of food was brought out, each pulling at Steve’s memories but none of them related to the others so he didn’t think much of it. Granted it was a bit strange that they’d started with apps that seemed to come from a fancy Italian restaurant and then an Irish pub, and entrees ranging from lobster rolls to a Greek dish Steve forgot the name of and pizza that tasted like it came from their favourite place out in Brooklyn. When the dessert plate came with bite-sized versions of all Steve’s favourites, something clicked.
“We’ve been to all these places,” he turned to Tony and said. “The cannoli and that appetizer, we ate those all the time when we were out in Italy, right?” Tony smiled and gave him a small nod before Steve went through the list. “We went to Ireland and Greece. When we were in France, I ate so many macarons in Paris I thought I was going to be sick. You bullied Gordon Ramsay-"
"I did not bully him!" Tony protested.
"You forced him to whip up some sticky toffee pudding when we were in London, just so I could try it, cause you said no one had lived until they tried it."
"And I was right. You licked your plate clean in front of the man!" Tony chuckled fondly and Steve kissed him quickly before continuing with his food themed trip around the world.
"The little donut ball things are from when we got stuck in Winnipeg in a snowstorm. And the lobster rolls from our trip to Boston, when you showed me all your faves from MIT. And the pizza and the cheesecake are from-“
“From our first date,” Tony filled in before Steve could finish. “I know it’s a weird mix of food, figured the smaller portions of it all might not make it too bad.”
“It was perfect,” Steve breathed out as he leaned in to give Tony a kiss."How did you manage this?"
"Kinda commandeered the kitchen at the Marriott so the chefs could make their specialty dishes in a real kitchen."
"Wait, Ramsay's here ?"
"No, sadly he sends his regards, but his wife is pregnant again or something. He sent Christine though to make sure the dessert was up to his standards. She made most of this stuff for us in the end, with a bit of help. Got the pizza and cheesecake on my way here."
Steve was once again speechless. He kissed Tony once more, lingering as long as he dared. “Love you.”
“Me too, honey.”
A flash of light blue and pink writing caught Steve’s eye as he pulled away from Tony. “Wait a second,” he murmured as he took in what he wasn’t looking at. “ ’Waitress’ ? That hasn’t been on Broadway for months,” he recollected quietly. He looked around and noticed others that were still on stage or not but weren’t normally on display here. “We were at that game,” he whispered as he saw a picture of an amazing save from the Rangers' star goalie Lundqvist against Mark Stone from the Vegas Knights, a game he knew they were at. Same for a Mets game a bit further. Movie premieres and a picture of them at the Met Gala when they were still newly together. Even pictures of them with the team were on display over the giant digital billboards.
“You okay?” Tony asked quietly as Steve just looked all around them at all the memories that they’d made together.
“Yeah,” Steve nodded as he looked back at Tony. Something told him this wasn't just a regular dinner date, as if the fact that Tony had shut down Time Square shouldn't have been the biggest clue in and of itself. “Tony, why- what’s all this?”
“Dance with me?” Tony asked instead, pushing his chair and standing. There was the slightest quiver in his voice, Steve noticed.
“If you wanted to dance with me, you didn’t need to do all this,” Steve answered with a fond laugh as he stood and took Tony’s hand. “Holy shit-”
Tony pulled him closer as Steve’s jaw hung open, eyes and ears glued to the person now serenading them.
“It’s rude to stare,” Tony whispered with a smirk.
“That’s Ed Sheeran,” Steve replied back as they started swaying. “Tony, what the hell?” Steve asked with a nervous laugh, truly unsure what was happening.
“Can’t a guy just treat his boyfriend to a nice night out?” Tony shrugged innocently.
“Tony, I love a nice night out, but this a lot, even for you.“
“I love you, Steve. That feels like not enough words to explain how I feel about you. All of this-“ Tony waved a hand around them, “-showing you all the amazing memories I never thought I’d get to experience with anyone? Still doesn’t feel close to enough. You have taken up a giant piece of my life and my heart for so long, and no matter what I thought up- I could never make anything feel as big and grandiose and amazing as how you make me feel every single day. The way you love me overwhelms me in the best way. You make everything make sense. I love you, Steven Grant Rogers.”
At some point they’d stopped dancing and Tony was holding Steve’s hands. Without breaking eye contact, he got on one knee and pulled a Tiffany blue box out of his pocket. Steve gasped softly, tears threatening to spill, as Tony pressed the release button on the front of the box, revealing an exquisite satin finish platinum band with a sparkling inset baguette diamond in the middle.
“Will you marry me?” Tony beamed as he said the words, the soft guitar accompaniment of The Best Part of Me providing the most perfect soundtrack for the moment.
“Yes,” Steve answered confidently and just as happily. Tony slipped the ring on his finger and Steve pulled him up so he could kiss him soundly. “You didn’t have to do all this,” he admitted when they hugged.
“What’s the fun of dating an eccentric billionaire if he doesn’t do shit like this from time to time?” Tony laughed as he wiped away a stray tear from Steve's cheek. “Maybe I went a tiny bit overboard on the billboards.”
“A bit, you say,” Steve chuckled. He wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck, Tony doing the same around Steve’s chest, and they awkwardly danced and hugged until their serenade finished, leaving kisses whenever they could. “I don’t ever want to know how much money this cost.”
“Deal,” Tony smiled. They thanked their musical guest and were all alone again in the middle of the plaza. “For what it’s worth? I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“I am never going to look at this place without thinking of this moment.”
“I’m happy to hear it’ll be a slightly happier memory now.”
Steve looked around again, absolutely awestruck that Tony had gone through all of this trouble just for him. “Any more surprises coming my way?”
“Nothing, that’s it. Team’s waiting for us at the tower with very expensive champagne, but all done here otherwise. Let’s go home.”
“And, how do you suppose we do that? Happy is probably still stuck in traffic.”
"Oh, that part's easy," Tony smiled triumphantly as the familiar sound of repulsors sounded nearby. “Got a suit on standby." The armour landed a few meters from them and Tony went to step into it.
"Promise this is the last of the crazy surprises for a bit? I'll need a few years to recover from this one, I think."
Tony groaned playfully as the armour started enclosing him. "Fine, I'll cancel the Brooklyn bridge for our wedding ceremony." Tony closed the faceplate of the armour over his grinning face. "Care for a ride, Cap?”