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It was sitting on the counter when Steve walked into the kitchen for breakfast. It hadn’t been there when he’d filled his water bottle before heading out for his run, which was actually the good news.
Pepper was probably just getting up now which meant that Tony was the one who had left it on his way to bed. Hopefully to bed, anyway, and not back to his shop. The wrapping was also a clue to who had left it there, but Pepper could be surprisingly good at trolling and misdirection when she wanted to be.
“JARVIS, where is Tony?” Steve asked as he picked up the little box. It had a glittery gold ribbon around a shiny red box. The box itself fit easily in the palm of his hand, but the ribbon was easily twice that size and the ends trailed down. A notecard on a swirl of wire had Steve’s shield printed on it.
He removed the card and flipped it over to see it was indeed Tony’s messy scrawl.
do you want to go out with me? check yes or no
There was a little square next to each option.
Steve snorted and set the card aside, tugging at the ends of the bow until it unraveled and he could slide the box out. He opened it and huffed a laugh.
He lifted the sturdy silver chain out, the pendant hanging from the end. It was a ring of metal with a spinning charm inside. One side had his shield on it, the other the stylized arc reactor that represented Iron Man on all of their merchandise. He turned the charm a few times with his thumb and then looked back at the note.
He was officially dating a goober. Had been for going on nine months now, but sometimes he became so caught up in how much he loved Tony that he temporarily forgot how much of a dork the man could be.
Well, he wasn’t the only one, Steve could admit. He dug in the junk drawer next to the fridge for a pen and checked the box next to “yes”, then tucked the card back into the stand and set the lid back on the box, the ribbon unfurled to show he had indeed opened it.
Then he dropped the chain around his neck, thumbed the charm until it showed the Iron Man side, and went to the fridge to dig ingredients out for omelettes.
Pepper clicked her way into the kitchen, eyes glued to her phone as she crossed the floor. She sat between Clint’s hunched form nursing a cup that could have been coffee or tar given the color, consistency, and smell, and Natasha and her omelette. Steve was at the stove and he turned as she settled on the stool and slid a plate in front of her, leaning across the counter for a kiss.
She obliged him, then teased him enough to draw him back for a second one before she let him go. His cheeks were a delightful pink, stretched wide around a grin.
“Morning,” he said, circling back for a mug of tea and a bowl of fruit to complete her setting.
“Good morning.” She cut and ate the first bite of her omelette and sighed happily around the delicious flavor. “Tony had better hope I never have to choose between the two of you, because this right here might be the thing that loses it for him.”
Steve snorted, pouring a fresh layer of egg on the griddle. He sprinkled the first round of toppings and then turned to lean against the counter and sip his coffee. “Cooking’s not his forte, is it?”
Pepper covered her mouth as she continued chewing, but Natasha was the one that snorted.
She stood, stretching, then cleared her place. “If he ever offers to make you an omelette to return the favor, run for you life,” she said, patting him on the arm.
Steve watched her go with a frown and then looked at Clint who abruptly laughed and buried his head in his arms. He tended to run a little slower before the coffee fully hit his system. “How do you fuck up eggs and cheese that badly?” came the muffled question.
Steve looked to Pepper, but her eyes were on his chest. She grinned widely and then met his gaze.
He expected a comment, but she just shook her head and asked JARVIS if Tony was in the shower yet.
“Sir has indeed made it to the shower and the water is on, but I estimate it will be at least four more minutes before he is aware of his location.”
Clint snorted more laughter loudly, but stayed hidden in his arms.
Steve and Pepper ignored him.
“Dammit, I’m running late. He’s got a meeting with the other department heads at ten,” Pepper told Steve. “I don’t expect miracles, but anything you can do to steer him that direction would be much appreciated,” she said, then stuck the last bite in her mouth and chewed furiously. She washed it down with the last of her tea and Steve met her halfway to swap her plate and fork for a fresh mug and the fruit transferred to a tupperware container.
He stole a kiss while he had her there, hands wrapping around her hips to keep her still for one more moment. She hooked a finger in the necklace and tugged on it, giving him a wry grin.
“Have a good day.” She pulled free and he let her go, one hand immediately going to the necklace instead to keep them from pulling her back for one more kiss. She’d be really late if he did that. Or she might not make it to work at all today.
Clint continued to giggle to himself as he slurped his way through two more cups of coffee and Steve polished off a couple of plates of food.
He was in the middle of cooking a fresh omelette in anticipation of Tony’s arrival when Clint finally crawled off his stool. He cracked what sounded like every joint in his body with a series of twists and stretches, then sauntered for the door.
“High five!” he called out and Steve turned to see Tony lift a hand automatically as he shuffled past. The confusion settled in around the time Clint was requesting the range floor from JARVIS and Tony was hefting himself up onto the abandoned seat.
“Wait, what…” he started, then realized Clint was gone. He turned back with a shrug and slumped onto his propped up elbows. “Coffee?” he said plaintively.
Steve obliged him with a mug and a kiss—after the first sip because he was capable of learning from his mistakes no matter what Bucky said—and then returned to the stove.
He flipped the omelette right as Tony said, “Turn around.”
Steve did so and Tony’s eyes immediately dropped to the necklace, a smirk lighting up his face. He looked over to the box and leaned forward to snag the card, flipping it over as he sat back down. His smirk grew even wider. “Come here.”
Steve plated the food first, putting it down in front of Tony, but the man didn’t even notice. He was too busy cupping Steve’s cheeks and pulling him into a kiss.
Tony tasted of coffee and hazelnut creamer and the mint of his toothpaste and Steve hummed happily as he circled the counter to press up against Tony.
That got him an arm thrown around his neck, and a moment later Tony’s legs around his waist. He shifted his hands down to Tony’s ass easily enough and gave a firm squeeze that had Tony inhaling sharply.
But instead of making a case for a little breakfast nook nookie, Tony just dove back into the kiss, his fingers sliding up into Steve’s hair as he thoroughly explored Steve’s lips and tongue with his own.
They broke apart eventually, panting, and Tony gave a little giggle, the kind he only let escape when his walls were well and truly down. He nudged Steve’s nose with his own and then leaned back.
Steve shifted his grip to keep him from falling and said, “What?” as Tony just continued to grin at him.
“Nothing,” Tony said, but the bright and easy tone spoke volumes to fill that void.
Steve snorted and ducked down to suck a quick bite on Tony’s collarbone until he gasped. Then he set Tony back on his stool and went to go fetch the toast.
Tony was surprised how much he enjoyed seeing Steve wear the necklace with both of their “symbols” on it.
He hadn’t intended it to be a thing, really. He’d seen the piece in the new merchandising specs Marketing had sent up and ordered one on a whim. He thought they’d get a laugh out of it and maybe a little necking, because Tony being a sappy dork apparently did it for Captain America, but that was it.
Steve apparently disagreed.
He wore that thing everywhere. In civilian clothes it hung outside his shirt for everyone to see. In the field he tucked it under his uniform, usually while giving Tony a kiss for good luck.
He played with it in debriefings, his serious recounting of how many HYDRA skulls he’d bashed in en route to the objective at odds with the way his fingers flipped the little charm in what was obviously habit. Fury and Phil and Maria all very clearly noticed it, but none of them ever commented where Tony heard it.
During an interrogation after they’d apprehended his old STRIKE buddy Rumlow, it had fallen out of his shirt to dangle over the table between them. Tony had watched Rumlow stare at the charm, the smirk spreading slowly as he sat back in his chair.
“Little egotistical, isn’t it?” he’d asked. “I expected that from Stark, but not you.”
Steve’s expression had hardened when Rumlow said his name and behind the observation mirror Tony winced.
Steve just picked up the pendant, flicked it with his thumb until it showed the other side, and said, “My boyfriend gave me this.” He let it fall back down instead of tucking it away and straightened up, crossing his arms over his considerable chest. “Now you were telling me about how HYDRA and AIM were planning to infiltrate Stark Industries.”
Rumlow’s smirk was gone and his eyes jumped between the necklace and Steve’s face a couple of times.
He swallowed and leaned forward, “Okay look, I told them it was a fucking stupid idea, all right?”
Tony could feel the way both Phil and Maria stared at him, but it was Natasha bumping his shoulder with her own that broke his gaze from the other room.
He looked at her and she just smiled proudly at him and then turned back to Rumlow spilling his guts.
Tony made a mental note to have one of those cookie bouquets delivered to her room for her part in getting him, Pepper, and Steve to pull their heads out of their asses, and then focused once more on the interrogation.
Tony cuddled into Steve’s side after round one (of hopefully many more!) celebrations of their one year anniversary, watching Pepper across miles of lightly flushed skin as she picked up the charm and spun it with her finger.
Steve had one hand on Tony’s flank and the other on Pepper’s ass and was watching her as well with a mix of grateful disbelief and self-satisfied pride.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked in his roughened voice and she glanced at him, then at Tony, and then laid her head down on Steve’s shoulder. She kept toying with the pendant though.
“I want a necklace,” she said.
“My dog tag isn’t enough, doll?” Steve asked, nudging her forehead with a smiling kiss.
Tony shivered at the old-timey slang and then buried his face against Steve’s well-sculpted pec as the heat flushed across his cheekbones.
He didn’t drop into that Brooklyn drawl as often as Bucky did, but considering how it zinged through Tony like lightning whenever it happened, that was probably for the best.
His embarrassment earned him a kiss to the head as well and Tony couldn’t complain about that.
He lifted his head as Pepper finished considering her answer. “I love your dog tag, don’t be silly. But that doesn’t mean I want to show it off to everyone.” She set the pendant down and reached across to take Tony’s hand, snuggling into Steve’s side. “I want something pretty though. That I can wear to the office and galas and when I go for coffee with the girls.”
Steve hummed in amusement and met Tony’s eyes, nodding when he arched an eyebrow.
Tony slipped free and rolled over to dig into the nightstand. He came back, settling into a cross-legged seat, and presented the beribboned box with a flourish.
“From us to you,” he said.
She sat up as well, looking between them as she took the box. “Oh you guys,” she breathed. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, still red and plush, and she wiggled a little in excitement as she tugged at the silver, gold, and red ribbons around the blue box.
Steve laughed, his fingers stroking her hip and thigh as he watched her. Tony kept glancing between the two of them, unable to decide which reaction he wanted to see more.
She finally got the lid off and her lips puckered into a soft “oh” as she saw it.
A silver chain with a heart-shaped locket sat on the silk pillow around a second shorter chain for a bracelet with the same charm Steve had.
She pulled the bracelet out first and held it out to Tony. “Put it on!” she demanded and he chuckled and obliged, kissing her wrist, her knuckles, and the tips of her fingers before he gave her hand back.
She flapped her hand at the tears gathering in her eyes, then sniffed. “Ack!” she said, laughing along with them at the reaction.
Then she went back for the necklace, picking up the locket and freeing the catch with her thumbnail. Tony had considered the old fashioned actually-cutting-up-photos thing, and decided that he could do better. Steve had huffed and rolled his eyes, but he hadn’t actually said no.
The heart opened and a tiny holographic display swirled up into the air until it showed all three of them from their last vacation. Tony and Steve were flanking Pepper on the beach after her first surfing lesson, soaked and suntanned and smiling like fools.
She made a little choked off sound and then her hand was flapping again. It only lasted for a second before she dove for Steve, tackling him in a hug as she sniffled. She reached out while Tony was admiring the view and dragged him down into the mix until the three of them were smushed into a naked, sniffling, giggling pile.
She occasionally slapped one or both of them on whatever body part she could reach as if to chide them for their behavior, but it mostly just prompted them to kiss her again.
Eventually she pulled back and insisted Steve put the necklace on her, grinning goofily down at where it sat nestled between her breasts.
Steve tugged Tony into a hug and then brushed a kiss on his nose. “We did good, I guess.”
“Very good,” Tony agreed.
Then Pepper frowned. “Wait, now Tony needs one.”
Tony waved it off. “It’s fine. Really, I’m not a jewelry kind of—” He stopped cold when Steve reached past Pepper to the nightstand. He hooked a finger in the drawer and pulled it open enough to bring out another box.
“Oh my god,” Tony laughed, dropping his head back to Steve’s chest. “You are both ridiculous! What is this, middle school?”
Pepper’s fingers carded through his hair and then tugged him up. “You started it,” she said with almost perfect seriousness. That little twitch at the corner of her mouth betrayed her and he wanted to kiss it just to see it bloom.
Tony snorted, but sat up and accepted the box with a sigh.
His was the Iron Man/Captain America charm on a short chain like Pepper’s.
“I, uh, figured that since you can’t wear necklaces or bracelets in your shop for safety reasons you could wear this around your ankle instead,” Steve explained. “But there is a longer chain if you wanted to wear it around your neck too.”
Tony shook his head and huffed, but it sounded far too fond to be the put upon sigh he had intended. “You’re both ridiculous,” he said again. “I want it on record. JARVIS! Make a note! I am in love with the two most ridiculous people on this planet.”
Steve reached an arm out and hooked it around Tony’s waist, his other arm catching Pepper and pulling them both back down to his sides. He dropped a kiss on each of their heads and squeezed them tight.
“Well that makes two of us,” he said.
“Three,” Pepper said. “Three of us. Oxytocin is the only excuse I have for continuing to put up with both of you,” she informed them.
“Three of us,” Tony repeated. “Well at least I’m not alone.”
“Never,” Steve said.
Pepper laced her fingers with his. “Never again.”
And yeah, that was a time frame he could definitely work with.