At her comment on his eyes, Steve burst out laughing. "Sorry," he finally replied, "I don't think there's much I can do about that." He reached out with the hand that had been holding his plate, and cupped her cheek, before leaning in to kiss her sweetly for a moment. "Afraid you're just gonna have to learn to deal with it, darling."

The endearment slipped out without his even having to think about it; it took him a moment to even realize what he'd said, but then he just grinned even more happily at her.