[athrun]

found some reassurance
in case author decides to delete their account:
It hadn’t started out as a tradition, or anything symbolic, or anything at all, really. Tony had just grabbed Steve’s hand one day and had started tugging him along behind him, saying, come on, Rogers, you promised me a date and I’m going to fucking get one, doombot invasion notwithstanding.

Tony had never been strong enough for the super-soldier serum, but Steve had always let Tony drag him wherever he wanted.

It’s still the same, all these years later, except that the slim-cut trees that came up to their knees on their first walk now come up to their waists, and Steve and Tony lean into each other more.

Tony’s bitched his way through three feet of snow beside Steve for their Sunday walk, one or both of them have limped on occasion, and nine times out of ten, they manage to make it to the park and through it without getting attacked or kidnapped or get a call from Fury about a rampage of killer vacuum cleaners down Main Street.

They both have more grey in their hair- Tony’s started a few months before their first date and Steve’s started nearly a decade after, close to their first wedding anniversary- and it’s slow, but it’s there. In Tony’s the grey is almost overrunning it now, in thick rivers of it down his scalp, and every time he catches a few new greys on Steve’s head he flicks at them and grins.

Neither of them get called in much anymore. There are other surperheroes, and more every day- there are up-and-comers, there are ones that strike out on their own, there are the Young Avengers and the Teen Avengers and god knows how many others there are going to be by this time next week.

There are still battles, there are still times where they have to suit up and dodge explosions and flirt with each other on the comms until someone yells at them to shut the hell up, but other than the occasional phone call, they have their own lives. They know the name of the woman they buy flowers from, along with how her kids are doing, and they sneak in an extra tip every time they can. There’s a restaurant down the block that knows their regular and will send it up to them if they’re busy. Bruce and Clint and Natasha come by once a fortnight and Coulson, Thor and the others drop in when they can.

So Steve and Tony are walking slower, nowadays. But every Sunday, they laze around in bed until one Tony eventually says, I’m pretty sure you promised me a date.

Steve will say it into Tony’s neck: Doombot invasion notwithstanding?

Tony will laugh like he always does, and lean in, only pulling back when they’re on the verge of getting too distracted, and then they’ll pull each other out of bed and throw on some clothes, stopping every once in a while to kiss. Then they’ll walk down the road to the park, maybe buy some food from whoever’s selling it that day, and walk their way around the park until they get home again.