Now that I'm finished school I'm going to finish this story. Thank you for the reviews.
Maria avoided Steve for a total of 12 days after their family dinner. He had called her a number of times, and left long messages on her phone. This was mainly because Steve had no idea how to turn off his cellphone, and sometimes he was lucky if he did.
The truth was, Maria was completely embarrassed by not only her behaviour but her fathers. She was beyond furious with her father, and spent every single day after their fight with her hearing aids out, and her eyes casted towards the ground. She didn't want to speak with him, let alone look at him.
Pepper had been furious over Tony's reaction and pulled him aside before exploding into a furious rampage. He couldn't help but hang off of every single word she said, and realised at the end of their one sided conversation that Pepper was right.
Maria could have picked any man in the world; she was rich, smart, beautiful, and the daughter of the amazing Iron man (Pepper's words of course). But Maria chose Steve, a man who treated every single woman and man he came across with respect. A man out of his time, and a man with better values then Tony.
Steve didn't drink, sleep around, or care much about things a normal man his age should. Because Steve was one of those made up men, in romance novels. Maria had picked the perfect boyfriend, a boyfriend who truly loved her and respected her. Tony should have been proud.
Maria was unaware but with the understanding she could do far worse he showed up at Steve's apartment with a serious look casted over his face. The only way he could be more terrified over the appearance of his girlfriend's father was if he showed up in his armor. There the two had a long conversation.
Steve watched Maria play with the large sunglasses on her face. Her long black hair was pulled back tightly, and the soft glow of blue shone out of her ears. She wasn't stupid enough to believe that if someone saw her they wouldn't know who she was, because she was the only one in the world with a pair of glowing blue hearing aids.
But sometimes people didn't notice her ears because people were too preoccupied with their lives. Steve couldn't seem to sit still and even though he had a talk with Tony, he was still as nervous as a doe. Steve couldn't think of any words to say, so he slowly started to formulate something in his head, but he didn't get the chance before Maria spoke.
"Look, I'm sorry I ignored your calls, I was just embarrassed." She said, nodding away the waitress that sat down two small glasses at their table. Steve didn't pay much attention to the woman as she walked back into the restaurant. There was a small number of people on the patio with them, and the idea of so many people being around them made him nervous. But there was more people inside so he would take what he could get.
"It's alright, I get it. Your father is a little…over whelming." Steve said, cringing at the mention of her father. Everyone that met the man, understood why Steve felt that way. It was also a complete mystery how Pepper had managed to say with him so long, and how he had managed not to ruin his daughter.
"Steve, it wasn't just Dad. But how I reacted…I don't want to scare you off because I…" It was hard for her to say it. She had in fact told Steve before how she felt, but she promised him that it wouldn't be something he would hear often. Like her father she didn't like to tell people about her feelings, and would much rather avoid the subject all together. Telling Steve once how she felt was good enough, and unless it changed he didn't have to worry about it.
The large smile on Steve's face made Maria blush madly. They both knew that when she had moments like this that he had won, that he had managed her to admit it one more time then she was willing too.
He of course felt the same way, and often told her. But it would take him a very long time to work up the words. But slowly over time it was taking him a lot less and the words were easier to slip out of his mouth. They were love sick fools, and they were both very well aware of it.
If only Bucky could see him now. He wouldn't believe that his best friend had snagged such an amazing girl. Steve could hardly believe it himself, sometimes he worried that he would wake up and it would all be a dream.
"I know." Steve fidgeted around in his chair, carefully watching Maria. He was getting more and more nervous as the seconds past, and it wouldn't be long before he exploded.
"And yet I keep telling you." She said, a small playful smile on her lips and once again she looked up to the waitress who brought them their food. Maria had noticed a long time ago that Steve never had any eyes for other women. When he was with her, she was the only woman he wanted to look at. It was strange to her at first because every boyfriend she had, had up until this point would carefully eye other women. Women just like their pretty little waitress.
"I like it when you tell me." The words sounded strange on his lips, and it always caught him by surprise when he flirted with Maria. He was sure that she kept these moments in her vast memory because she never seemed to forget anything.
Steve ran a hand over his face, lingering on his jaw for a brief second as he collected himself.
"I talked to your father a few days ago, he said he was okay with it as long as you finished school, and we waited a couple of years." The words sounded stupid coming from his mouth and he knew how it had sounded when Maria scrunched her face up. She swiftly placed her glasses on the top of her head, and she clenched her jaw tightly.
He knew it was going to be a rampage of words, so he stupidly put a small box on the table in his panic. He had tried to ignore it in his pocket, but it seemed to weigh almost as much as his conscious.
It was enough to distract Maria from her anger. She silently looked at the box extremely confused, with her face scrunched up she reached out a small hand to grab it. Steve could have sworn that he heard her ask what was with the box until she opened it.
It seemed like her brain slowly tried to figure out what was going on, as she looked at the ring. Steve waited silently for her to figure out what it meant. Maria looked up at him her mouth slightly a jar.
"Steve are you asking me to…." Her eyes were back on the small diamond ring inside. The size of the diamond had made him nervous, from what he heard the bigger the diamond the better. But the ring had been his Mother's, and it was tightly locked away by Howard Stark when he had gone missing. When he was found S.H.E.I.L.D gave him the key to a large storage container that had everything he owned. The ring was one of the many things he found.
"Marry me? Yes." It was rare for him to sound confident around Maria, because she clouded his thoughts. But today, the hammering in his chest and the slight crack of his voice showed that he was really nervous. Nervous that she would say no.
Maria had finally understood what was going on.
Steve wanted her father to know they were dating so he could ask permission to marry her. She couldn't imagine how her father handled the request but she was sure there was at least 5 death threats, but she would have never of guessed that her father would be okay with it.
Steve watched silently, extremely nervous as Maria thought. She gently ran one of her fingers over the sparkling diamond band as he nervously waited for her answer. Their engagement would be a long one, she had to finish school first, and they would have to look for their own home.
Maria looked up from the ring with wide eyes. This was the moment he was waiting for, and as she swallowed she stumbled over her words.
"Only if you kiss me… Right now." She choked, it was meant to sound a little more romantic then it actually came out. If she knew any better, she sounded more nervous than Steve. He hadn't kissed her before and the very idea of him doing so made her blush madly.
Steve's face was equally as red as Maria's, he nodded his head. He hadn't kissed a girl before and couldn't think stright at the though. If kissing her meant she would agree to being his wife then, he would kiss her. Summing up enough courage, he ran a strong hand along her jaw and pulled her into a kiss.
Fear was not often something Tony showed, so when his daughter walked into the room he quickly flicked off the TV and turned around to look at her. The smirk on her lips was evident, and trying to hide the fear in his chest he thought of the first thing Maria wouldn't be able to shut up about.
"Well, let see it!" he demanded holding out a hand for his daughter's. Maria rolled her eyes pretending that she wasn't interested in showing it off, when they both knew she had driven home looking at the ring.
Her father frowned; the ring wasn't as impressive as Maria thought. His wife's was much larger, so large that Pepper sometimes had to turn it around on her hand so the diamonds wouldn't get in her way.
"It's perfect." Maria told her father when she saw the look on his face. She knew what he was thinking, and like Pepper, Maria agreed not everything had to be big and flashy to be prefect. The ring Steve had given to her was from the heart, even if it had cost him nothing.
"It could have used a bigger diamond." Her father argued, turning himself around on the chair. Maria's frown deepened, it was obvious that Tony wasn't happy about this entire thing, but he had agreed to it. He had given Steve permission to ask her!
"It was his mother's." She snapped, Tony raised an eyebrow, he knew exactly how to push Maria's buttons, and sometimes he had no idea he was. It's just the way he was; even Pepper got extremely annoyed with the man. His brain just worked differently.
"So hand-me-downs?" He asked, Maria at this point had enough of her father and pushed herself off the table she was leaning against.
"You were the one who gave him permission. So you were the one who agreed to him being your son-in-law." Maria pointed a stern finger at him, Maria had trapped him and he sighed in realisation. He had agreed to Steve being his son-in-law, and he had no one else to blame but himself. Holding his hands up in defeat he rolled his chair in circles.
"Your mother wants Steve over again for dinner; sometime this weekend. She's upstairs trying to pretend Steve didn't ask you to marry him." Maria nodded her head in understanding, the whole situation seemed a little bit strange, but then again it's not like Maria grew up normal.
Not very many children could say that their father was a superhero. Maria could, so it just seemed fitting that Maria would marry the original superhero, or have a very strange life.
"I'll talk to Mom, I have plans Saturday but we could do Sunday." She mumbled, Tony had not heard of any plans so he curiously looked at Maria.
"The girls want to go out, celebrate a happy engagement." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. The idea of going out to party because she was engaged sounded stupid, but she said yes because her friends were so adamant about it. Even after she explained that they wouldn't be tying the knot for a few more years.
"You're under age, you shouldn't be…." Tony had realised where the argument was going as soon as he brought it up.
"But I'm old enough to get married? Great values there dad!" Maria argued, the smirk on her face would have been cute, if she hasn't known she had out smarted her father. Today was one of the few days his daughter would out smart him in an argument. It was also one of the very few days that he gave up in an argument. He tried to contain his smile.
"FINE! Do what you want!" He exaggerated because in a strange way he was proud that his daughter had won this little fight. She was truly his daughter.
"I wasn't asking for permission." Maria laughed slipping out of the room narrowly avoiding her father who playfully grabbed for her.
Please review!