Just going to say he was in the ice for a lot less time than in canon

Steve would never say that he was nervous about his date with Midge. He was just… slightly anxious because he wanted it to go well and he didn’t have a lot of experience with dating. That was different from being nervous. Somehow. It had just resulted in him spending about half the day baking calzones just to make sure that he could get the dough right and also the cooking temperature and time, because no matter what a cookbook said there were always hiccups. It did mean that he had some very happy neighbors who got fed with the results that turned out edible. The evidence of the inedible ones were hidden in a dumpster outside his apartment. It also meant he’d tried on about three outfits before deciding on the grey slacks and blue button up shirt that he’d originally tried on.

So by the time Midge was supposed to show up, Steve had Miles Davis playing on the record player and a apron on to make sure that he didn’t make a mess when making the dough, which he figured was probably best to prepare beforehand. It did leave him a little covered in flour but that couldn’t really be helped. All in all, he was pretty sure that he was ready for his date.

Just thinking about seeing Midge again made him smile though. He’d seen her set twice, having watched it a second time after catching it once. She’d laughed or smiled through the entire thing had had been impressed by not just how funny she was, but by how clever that sense of humor was. His world had been a little upside down since coming out of the ice, especially the idea of dating, but he didn’t think that he could really pass by the chance to have dinner with Midge. That was a “what if” he wasn’t going to spend his days thinking about.