#starkpad

Gathered around him is the rest of their group. Clint and Natasha smile secretively at Tony, whereas Bruce has this restrained expression of excitement on his face. Thor is grinning widely. All of them are each holding a square of paper, though Tony pays no attention to that just now. He is focused on Steve.

Steve- Steve looks nervous as hell, with a bright blush high on his cheeks that makes him look even cuter than ever before and wow, where did that come from- He’s also holding flowers. Red lilies, Tony notices while his heart picks up speed, beating harshly against his rips. He’s only told Steve about his favourite flowers. And now...

Natasha moves and catches his eye. She holds up the paper in her hands – a sign, Tony realizes. Clint is next, then Bruce, and lastly Thor. It’s a message they spell out here like this and Tony stares, stunned.

“Will you be my prom date?”

He slowly walks closer, just as Steve gets going, meeting him halfway. He still has the most adorable blush on his face that Tony has ever seen on someone. He can’t help but blush and smile in response, feeling giddy all over.

Before Steve can say anything, Tony blurts out: “Yes, I want to!”

It brings Steve to a stop, looking surprised for half a second before he breaks out into a huge, boyish grin that makes Tony’s heart skip a beat and then pulls him into a bear hug. The brunet laughs, pressing his face into Steve’s shoulder.

“Didn’t take you for being such a sap, Rogers”, he teases. “Are you even serious?” It was meant to come out lighthearted and carefree, but Tony fails to keep the anxiety out of his voice. The giddy warmth he’s felt from this surprise is suddenly replaced by nagging worry – what if Steve is only doing this because he feels sorry for Tony?

Because he decided to take pity on Tony for his little breakdown during the school trip last week?

They aren’t together, after all. They are best friends, maybe they’ve been flirting but it wasn’t really romance so far.

Steve hugs him a little tighter. “Of course I’m serious!”, he huffs, almost sounding a little offended. “I want to go to prom with you, Tony. And to be very clear: I want us to go as boyfriends. Not as best friends. If… If you want to, of course.”

Now it’s Tony’s turn to huff, but it still sounds too nervous. “If I want- Of course I want! Just- I never thought you’d want me like that-”

“He wants you in every single way possible, Stark!”, Clint yells from the side, snickering, and effectively ruins the moment. “Preferably bent over the- OUCH! Fuck, Nat-”

Tony bursts out laughing at that and finally the tension, the insecurity he’s felt melts away. Steve is stiff against him but before the brunet can take a look at his face and admire the deep blush that has to be there, Steve buries his face in Tony’s shoulder.

“I didn’t want to ruin our friendship”, he mutters softly. “And I didn’t want to break your trust. People only ever use you, Tony, for- for sex or money or connections and- I didn’t want to give you the feeling I’d only want that, too. So instead I went for being friends.”

“You idiot”, Tony tells him fondly. His heart swells with that knowledge though; with knowing that Steve worries so much about him. “You could’ve made a move sooner. Should have. I mean-“ And the anxiety is right back, making Tony’s skin tingle. “I mean… we’ve only got a couple of weeks left. High school’s almost over. And- You know I have to go to MIT and-”

And then what?, Tony wants to ask. He doesn’t want to start things with Steve when all they’ll have are a few weeks before going separate ways. Thinking otherwise is foolish. Steve has an offer from a very honorable university in Kentucky and they will both be so busy with studying and work and whatnot, a long-distance relationship cannot possibly work like this-

Steve’s mouth is suddenly on his and everything comes to an abrupt halt. It’s a gentle kiss; nothing more than a soft press of lips but enough to scatter every single thought from Tony’s mind.

“You’re overthinking”, Steve whispers to him, pointedly ignoring the wolf-whistling from their friends. “I want this, Tony. I want to be with you. And Kentucky’s not that far away. What are 14 hours, huh?”

Tony feels tears stinging in his eyes and croaks: “Too damn far away.”

But maybe they can still make it work somehow.

Thanks again for sending this <3<3<3