Sweet! A new chapter ;)

Chapter 7

"This screams worst idea ever." Clint stated as he preoccupied himself stirring some sauce on the stove. Kate simply blew a raspberry while she helped Bucky set up dining ware on the small table in the kitchen. Since Kate's bright idea of helping Steve to hook up with Tony, the group decided to go to Steve's Brooklyn apartment to set up a date night for the two Avengers leaders.

"Tell us what you're really thinking, Hawkeye Sr…" Bucky snorted.

"Ok, fine." Clint responded, setting the stove burner on low and facing his accomplices. "This idea really screams cluster fuck of a train wreck that's gonna explode spectacularly in our faces and cause even more unforgiveable damage to Cap and Tony's already fractured friendship." Just as Clint finished his mini-rant, Steve stepped out of his room, changed into a polo shirt and dressed pants, with a paled expression that screamed regret.

Steve swore under his breath, "I can't go through with this."

Kate ran up to Steve and started to push him back towards his room. "Not in that shirt, you're not." Kate chirped. "And don't listen to Clint; he's a train wreck when it comes to relationships."

"Bucky, what do you think?" Steve asked his oldest friend.

Bucky tried to hide his smile. "I have to agree with Hawkeye Jr on the shirt."

Clint gave an exasperated sigh. "You do realise that you're taking love advice from a seventeen-year-old girl who's is fixated on romanticised vampire movies…"

"That's not true…" Kate pouted. "I'm more into The Hunger Games…"

Steve didn't know how to respond to the banter between the two Hawkeyes; his mind began to wander about how horribly things would go with Tony by tricking him into this date, not even considering how to lure Tony to his apartment. It wasn't until he felt a tug from his pants pocket that he realised belatedly that Bucky stole his Avengers card. "Bucky!" Steve yelled. "What the hell?!"

"One emergency Avengers call sent only to Tony's card, done!" Bucky smirked and tossed the card back to Steve. At Steve's narrowed glare and Kate's maniacal giggles, Bucky simply added. "What? Might as well use that trick Stark taught me for his own good."

Steve couldn't believe what was happening to him; he looked at Clint for some sympathy but only got a glare and a few pointed hand gestures that he knew in sign language.

'This is on you for listening to this dumbass idea. This is gonna end badly.'

Tony sighed as he finally left Hank's lab and made his way to his workshop. Not so much as to work on something, but to at least get himself into a comfortable atmosphere to settle his nerves after receiving the news that he's pregnant — with Steve's baby. "Fuck my life." He muttered, thinking of all the ways he might end up screwing up his kid's life. "Thank you, Howard, for your A+ parenting…" He said sarcastically; with Howard Stark as a parent, no wonder he was so messed up. As he continued to dwell on his pathetic childhood and how it would cross into his baby's life, his Avengers called signalled an emergency.

'Odd…why is Steve calling people to assemble at his place in Brooklyn?' Tony thought as he examined the GPS coordinates reflecting from the call. 'This must be another covert mission and he wants to go over Intel away from S.H.I.E.L.D.' Using this logic, Tony was ready to call his armour but stopped himself. Placing a hand on his stomach, he thought about the repercussions that the armour could have on his baby's development. Making up his mind, Tony decided to head towards the garage and entered one of his more ordinary cars to slip into Brooklyn undetected; after all, if this is a covert mission, he can't bring unnecessary attention to Steve and whoever else might be involved…

It's been ten minutes since Clint, Bucky and Kate left his apartment and another half hour since Bucky's fake Avengers Assemble call to Tony.

He began to nervously pace in the living room, thinking that 'Hey, Tony's a genius; he would realise that this was a set-up', especially after how things happened the last time they were in a room together. With thoughts wandering back to that night in Madripoor, Steve slapped himself, trying to get his thoughts cleared. He needed this dinner to go right, not make it seem like he's rebounding from his break up with Sharon. "Get it together, Steve…" he muttered to himself. "This is being counter-productive…" Trying to steel his nerves, Steve decided to preoccupy himself with reading until Tony arrived.

Pulling out a random book from his shelf, Steve opened it to realise that he had selected one of his old photo albums. He started to flip through the pages, smiling to himself as some memories began to resurface… there was the picture taken from the group's first interview together when he joined the Avengers; Clint's somewhat questionable fashion changes (why he didn't ask Jan to design his new costumes always baffled Steve; hell even Tony had some good designs if Bucky's Captain America uniform and Carol's new suit could be used as reference); a picture of Tony with Cassie, and a few others of Tony and Peter, then a picture of Tony, Doreen and Danielle…

That was everything started to click in Steve's mind…Tony's unconventional nurturing nature when it came to the young people who joined the Avengers, almost parental; the way he automatically develops updates and upgrades to everyone's weapons and uniforms – his included. What really drove everything to heart was seeing a picture that he completely forgot about: a picture of him and Tony after playing basketball together at a local gym alongside other pictures at a fair…

Everything he ever wanted – stability, structure, family – all these years, and he had it with Tony. Granted, there were the bad times like Tony's battle with alcoholism and the mess of the Civil War, but they always found their back together, stronger than before. "Why didn't I see this earlier?" Steve asked himself, feeling stupid; all these years he was in love with Tony and was just stupidly blind to realise it. It had to take that night in Madripoor to bring it to light. He was shaken from his thoughts as there was knocking at his door.

Taking a deep breath, Steve marched to the door to open it. Tony stood there, bemused at the lack of conversation inside the apartment. Not taking a chance to sound like a fuck-wad by blurting a confession, Steve simply held onto Tony's hand and led him inside the open living room where the dining table was readily displayed with two covered dinner plates and candles aflame.

Upon seeing the set-up, Tony was ready to hyperventilate. "Steve, what's going on?" Turning to glare at his supposed friend, the look that Steve had – of devotion, tenderness, yearning – and the affectionate way Steve held onto his hand, it all clicked. "Oh God…this can't be happening…" He started to back away from the soldier.

"Tony, before you say anything," Steve raised his hands in a placating manner, hoping to calm the nervous genius. "I just wanted to let you know that I know everything now…with what happened to Sharon and the baby while I was dead. The conversation we had wasn't pretty but it had closure and I'm ready to move on…" He tried to offer Tony a smile, as shaky as it was, but he hoped that what he was trying to say got through to the shorter man. "I've done some reflecting and realised that the person that I should be with all this time was you."

Tony was floored by the confession. He wanted to say something…anything…in regards to the situation, but his mouth moved faster than his brain. "I'm pregnant."

Everything crashed inside Steve's mind at that moment.

He figured that there would be some hesitation on Tony's part from his confession, a part of Tony's mind would be in denial and trying to push him and Sharon back together – Tony was always the self-sacrificing member of the team – but this was unexpected. He could have sworn he heard slamming sounds, only to regain his senses of Tony snapping his fingers in his face. "How?!" He felt stupid stammering the one word.

Tony sighed and decided to sit on the sofa, Steve following suit. "Remember when we helped the Asgardians during the siege and I told you about how I made a deal with Odin to infuse my armour with magic?" Steve nodded numbly, recalling that battle. "Well, according to Thor," seeing the raised brow from Steve's confused face forced Tony to elaborate on his story. "I was having a nauseous episode while talking with Thor and he rushed me to Beast's lab. Anyway," He tried to compose himself. "It turns out Odin usually blends his magic with Frigga's…"

"Who's the Goddess of Fertility…" Steve finished for him. Tony nodded to confirm Steve's statement.

"It seems as though the magic somehow seeped into my bloodstream and, well, after what we did in Maddripoor…" He was cut off by Steve's chapped lips pressed against his own. He almost completely shut down until he heard Steve's coarse voice muttering three words:

"Marry me."

Happy belated New Year's and Valentine's Day, my darlings!

So, after finally buying a new computer after my previous one crashed (fuck technology) I finally updated. Hopefully my next update comes before Captain America: Civil War comes out this spring…

All constructive criticisms would be appreciated. ;)