[for Various] Steve Rogers' Birthday

[onlyapassenger]

Memorial Day had passed by with little more than a couple of a beers and a five minute conversation, but Bucky'll be damned if he lets Steve's birthday go the same way. Even during the darkest days of the War, birthdays were always given the special treatment; hell, Toro once blew their cover making sure Bucky had a good one. The gruelling grind of the past couple of months is still fresh in body and mind, but in the simple preparation for the day's get-together, Bucky's found some semblance of peace.

He's not much of a party animal -- he's not even much of a planner -- but things fall into place easily enough. They set up in and around Steve's place, that nice bar of his getting some use for once. There are a couple of goats spinning on a spit outside, courtesy of Thor, and a more traditional grill manned by Bucky himself. Platters of cheeses and fruits and vegetables line a table covered in a red, white and blue tablecloth, and there's more than enough flag-themed birthday cake to go around (strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream make up the familiar stars and stripes, doubling as both food and decoration). Music from Steve's youth plays in the background out of borrowed speakers, and in lieu of streamers, there's a banner that stretches over the front door of his house that reads HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLD MAN.

It's not a lot, but it's something.

[Open to Marvels, significant others/close friends of Marvels, and any assorted friends of Steve. This post will be linked to the main community on July 4th. Slated post here. ST/LT welcome!]

Comments

[notawastedlife]

If the aliens from Independance Day were to pick this year to show up, Tony reflected, it probably wouldn't go well for them. Just check out this crowd. There was- he wasn't going to do a role call. There were a lot of people who could make troublesome aliens' day very unpleasant, they were all standing around a grill chatting nicely. Mostly nicely. He was trying for nice.

This was... probably preferable. Suit was shaky, he was trying not to make a thing of it, but it had seen some wear and tear. Also not unlike... everyone standing around the grill.

Listening to- wow. "This is surreal," he decided.

[apoorupbringing]

"You're gonna have to be more specific," Chase said, stopping at Tony's elbow with his hands in his pockets. The facts that Chase was a) welcomed and b) not the oldest person there were thoroughly freaking him out.

[notawastedlife]

"I'm at a flag-themed event and no one's trying to sell me on invading a small, oil-rich country?" Tony ventured. "That, for one. For starters."

[apoorupbringing]

Chase shot Tony a sideways look.

"Dude, what kind of fucked up Fourth of July parties did you go to as a kid?"

[notawastedlife]

"That was... less as a kid," Tony said, "although still more than you'd think, Stark Industries had some weird parties."

[daretodo]

"What were you saying again, about dating or whatever?" I ask, because in light of the news from ol' Jade Jaws, my love life (and continued lack thereof) is back at the forefront of my mind.

[notawastedlife]

"I think I was more in favor of the whatever, I think... you could do with some whatever-ing in your life," Tony said, craning around to fix Peter with an appraising look as he tried to work out where this was coming from. "That's what I was saying."

[daretodo]

"Apparently, Hulk's smashing Wanda," I say off his look, then promptly shake my head to get rid of the mental image. "Makes a guy reassess a few things."

[notawastedlife]

"Bruce?" Tony said, eyebrows going up. "And..." He twisted, trying to get a bead on Wanda, if she was present, to remind himself of what that consisted of. "That sly dog."

[daretodo]

Still shaking my head, I cough out a disbelieving laugh. It's just weird, you know? At least I'm beyond the stage of grief that makes me automatically bitter of anyone else's happiness, but... Weird.

"Heh. Yeah," I reply. "So anyway, that's a thing that's happening."

[notawastedlife]

"Do you think he's the candles and Barry White type, or does he just... cut loose?" Tony said, now attempting to spot Bruce in the mix, as if this super-appropriate line of thought could be assessed just by looking at him. "I feel like it could go either way."

[daretodo]

"Maybe he mixes it up?" I say, following Tony's line of sight. "Candles one night, property damage the next. Wanda's still in one piece, so I think we can rule out a classic Hulking out scena... rio...." I trail off, horror dawning on my face. "Oh God, you don't think he-- In bed? Not here, but--" I shake my head quickly and put down my plate. "Oh, God."

About the only good thing the loss of my powers has given me is a more relaxing love life -- when I have one, that is. I don't have to constantly be worrying about hurting the person I'm with just from a simple touch. It was nice. I'll probably never have it again, but it was nice. That doesn't mean I want to think about what it must've been like for Hulk back home. Yeugh.

[learnfromthem]

"You're not used to this?"

I don't actually know if this guy likes me-me or not, but I think I can more or less say the same thing about the Tony Stark at home, too. Not that it really matters, I guess. It's a party and I'm just a little bit tipsy on a glass of punch that was more spiked than I thought it was going to be and parties mean mingling.

So I'm, like, mingling.

[notawastedlife]

Ah. Lab rat who wasn't lab rat. Speaking of surreal...

"I'm not a hundred years old and from a black and white television series, so... no," Tony said.

[learnfromthem]

"Okay, but no way is this the weirdest party you've been to," I reply, stirring my drink with my straw before I take another sip. "Money and eccentricity go hand in hand."

[notawastedlife]

"But it is possibly the most sincere party I've ever been to," Tony said, gesturing to the event at large with the hand holding his drink. "Which is weird. To me. It's new. And thus... weird."

Well, relatively new, he had been here a while, there was the occasional event like this. Still, though.

[learnfromthem]

I point at him with my straw.

"Okay, I'll give you sincere," I say, nodding. "That one's fair. Not a whole lot of sincerity among the rich and famous."

My eyes narrow a little at his drink. "Wait, does that have--?"

Foot in mouth, Kate, foot in mouth. I clear my throat.

[notawastedlife]

"A full body, with layers of salt and hints of peatiness? Sure does," Tony said, taking a sip and raising his eyebrows at her over the glass. New people got to ask about that even less than the usual kind. Even new old people. Maybe especially new old people.

[learnfromthem]

He's probably the most famous alcoholic on the planet, but that's in my universe. For all I know he's just Mr. Casual Drinker over where he's from. Doesn't make it any less--

"--weird," I say under my breath and around my straw. I have some tact. I know better than to ask, even if the question is right at the tip of my tongue. Pausing a second, I fish around for a change in subject.

"Did you see the sharktopus?"

[bannered]

"You too, huh?"

It's safe to say that Bruce has never imagined himself at a barbecue - and especially not one held by various other card-carrying members of the Avengers initiative, whether from past or present or another universe entirely. Still, it feels - good, in a weird sense, to bring everyone together. It puts him oddly at ease and on edge at the same time.

He shifts to stand next to Tony, glancing down at the suit with a tilt of his head.

"Aren't you warm in that?"

[notawastedlife]

"I'm warm in anything, it's a warm island," Tony said, adjusting a lapel and eating a piece of goat off a kebab on his plate. "Speaking of warm feelings..." He suggestively popped his eyebrows. "I hear a rumor about you and Langkowski."

[bannered]

The emotion that bubbles up inside Bruce could really only be described as annoyance, and his gaze scans the party until he finds Peter, conveniently standing on the other side of the group.

"Really?" he replies, injecting his voice with naivety as he maintains a mild death-glare. "What rumor would that be?"

[notawastedlife]

Tony paused at this with the plate halfway extended towards Bruce, and then after a moment held it out the rest of the way.

"That you've struck up a beneficial scientific partnership," he said, which was diplomatic, he thought, which wasn't entirely his style so he added, "So to speak."

[bannered]

Bruce takes a kebab from the plate without glancing at it, merely holding it between his fingers before he looks down at exactly what he's taken.

"Something like that," he says, biting a piece of meat off the skewer with a sigh.

[notawastedlife]

"You're ambivalent and I don't know why you're ambivalent," Tony said. "She seems nice, she is... fairly scorching. Is it the used to be a man thing? You can't let that get to you, be cooler than that."