You Head Home

After leaving The Plaza, you hailed a cab and decided to head home to change before going to work.

However, your plans are changed when the taxi drops you off and you notice Tony standing outside, seemingly waiting for you. After giving the cabbie his fare and tip, you walk towards him.

"Tony." You greet.

"Sir." Tony responds.

"You're never going to stop doing that are you?" You shake your head.

"**** of habit...sir." He says with a straight face though if you didn't know any better, you'd think he was fucking with you.

"What can I do for you Tony?" You ask.

"Have you had a chance to review my new security proposal?" He asks right back.

"Not yet." You answer. "But I promise, it'll be the first thing I review today."

He reluctantly accepts. Thinking your conversation is over, you go to walk past him but he doesn't move. You back up and look him in the eye again. "Is there something else on your mind Tony?"

He looks visibly uncomfortable which worries you. You've known him nearly five years and you've never seen him like this. Whatever it is, it seems serious.

After a long delay, Tony finally answers you. "I...ahem...What I'm about to tell you, I...I need your word that it stays between us."

"What's going on?" You nervously ask.

"Your word." He reiterates. "Please."

You look him dead in the eye. His expression is unreadable, which is something that you don't usually mind. But right now, it quite honestly scares the shit out of you.

"You have my word." You assure him.

Almost as if a hundred pound weight was taken off his shoulders, Tony relaxes slightly.

"Now what's going on?" You ask again.

"You know better than anyone." He begins. "I am a private person. I keep each aspect of my life separate from the other. It's how I survived the Rangers and why I'm able to do my job as well as I can." He pauses while shifting his weight from side to side. "Something....has come up. Well...not really. It's been happening for a while." He takes a deep breath to compose himself. "I've....I've been seeing Tina....socially."

Slightly stunned, you look at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. Your reaction catches Tony off guard.

"Jesus Christ Tony." You say between laughs. "You had me thinking you fucking killed a guy. Holy shit."

"I thought this would be a more...serious matter." Tony says slightly perturbed at your outburst.

He's not wrong in that regard. It's been a long standing rule at the club that relations between co-workers was prohibited. Now obviously, that hadn't stopped people in the past and all of them were eventually let go(though each one gave more than that as a cause for termination). But the thought of letting Tony go? That just isn't happening.

You compose yourself and look at your friend as seriously as you can. "How long have you two been seeing each other?"

"Eight months." Tony admits.

"Damn." You say.

"Is that a problem?" He asks with what you assume is nervousness in his voice. You've never heard him be anything other than calm, cool and collected so you really don't know.

"Not at all." You answer. "I'm just really impressed you two have kept it quiet this whole time."

"Thank you sir." Tony responds though you can tell that's not what he wants to hear.

"Look, Tony, I've known you for years. You're the best at what you do and without you, well, let's just say I don't want to think about that. And Tina's the best waitress we've had since I've been here. She's amazing with everyone and that's the reason why I put any new wait staff with her. You said you guys have been together for eight months? I honestly had no idea. In my mind, you guys keep doing what you're doing and I wish you nothing but the best. Neither one of you has anything to worry about as far as I'm concerned."

Tony eases up at your assurance but then a thought occurs to you.

"Out of curiosity, why even come to me now about it?" You ask. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did. And I'm happy for you but you've gone so long without telling me and I obviously had no clue about it. Why now?"

Tony tenses up slightly before answering. "I love her and I want to ask her to marry me."

"Well damn." You respond smiling.

The two of you continue talking for a while. You congratulate him and tell him that if he and Tina need anything, to not hesitate to ask. You shake his hand and go about your day as you await dinner with Daisy.