𝙎𝙋𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙀𝙍 ¹ | 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙈𝙖𝙭𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙛𝙛 (𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵)

[16] - 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳-𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺

ROGERS LOOKED GOOD for a 97 year old, which he can thank being frozen for almost seven decades for.

Steve's birthday celebration last year was a mess. Tony wanted to do the planning himself, which Natasha should've known right away would be a bad idea. He had the tower decorated to look like the early 40s and everybody wore clothes from that era. Steve's face when he arrived said it all, but forced a smile throughout the party to show appreciation for Stark's attempt.

Rogers thanked everybody afterwards, but said he'd like to keep adapting to the current world and not re-live his early days. Who could've blamed him? He didn't want to remember the times he fought against a Nazi dictator and lost his chance to be with Peggy Carter.

This time, Natasha decided to do the planning. Steve liked simple things, and with her knowing Steve very well, wanted to do a simple party. Sam also brought up the idea of getting some Independence Day decorations, since it was July 4th after all.

Y/N was in charge of setting up the decorations in the main lounge. The things he needed were delivered to the facility, and he went outside the building to get the boxes from the FedEx delivery man.

"Wow...you're the Specter." The older man said in awe as Y/N signed the form on his clipboard.

"You're actually one of the few to remember that name." He chuckled, still looking down at the paper.

"Is Captain America here? Can he sign something for me...I mean...my...son?"

"He's not here at the moment...but I'm sure he'll send you something if you give me an address. He won't mind."

"Really?" The man grabbed his notepad from his pocket, and fumbled with it. He quickly began writing in it, which was when Wanda walked out.

"Need any help?" She asked Y/N.

The FedEx employee-slash-Avengers superfan looked up as he held the piece of paper in his hand, "You're new...who are you?"

"What? You don't know..." Y/N looked back, thinking of what interesting hero name to call her, "The...Crimson Sorceress?"

Wanda rolled her eyes.

"I haven't...but that's a cool name!" The employee replied.  

"I actually haven't named myself, as a matter of fact." Wanda walked closer to the two.

"Nothing will ever beat my name for you." Y/N cut in.

The delivery man handed Y/N the paper, and began walking back to his truck. "It's been an honor delivering to you. Have a nice day." The man drove off, and Y/N put the paper in his pocket.

"We should start getting these inside."

He bent over to grab a box while Wanda used her telekinesis to lift two of them. She smirked and walked back inside while the young man carried the heavy box himself.

"Show off."

• • •

THE TWO FRIENDS were about done decorating the lounge, which consisted of a lot of red-white-blue colors. Y/N was on top of a ladder putting the last of the streamers on the ceiling.

"You actually think Rogers will like this?" Wanda looked around the room.

"I hope so. In my opinion, this is much more festive than what Tony set up last year." Y/N replied.

"The 40s throwback? Nat told me."

"Yeah...it wasn't good. I had to order knit tees and loafers to wear."

Wanda chuckled, "I bet you looked charming."

Y/N blushed at her compliment, but tried to hide it with a nonchalant reply, "You won't know. I burned all of the pictures I was in."

Holding the other end of the streamer, he tried reaching over to stick it on the ceiling. Y/N went too far, and ended up tipping the ladder the other way.

"Oh, crap!" He suddenly fell off, and was prepared to feel the impact.

Y/N closed his eyes and braced himself, but felt a weightless sensation. He opened his eyes, and saw that he was surrounded in a red mist. Wanda held out her arms, gently putting him back down on the floor.

"Are you okay?" Wanda ran over to her friend and crouched down.

Y/N lightly laughed, "Thanks to you. I was not ready to rock a cast for the next couple weeks."

Wanda laughed, and Y/N joined in after. Moments later, Sam Wilson walked in holding bags of snacks. He looked around the room.

"Woah. This looks great!" Sam looked at his young teammates and noticed them on the floor. He chuckled, "Am I interrupting?"

They got startled, and Y/N quickly got up with Wanda. "No, I had fallen..."

"I can make myself scarce. I think I forgot the Doritos."

"No need." Wanda cut in.

Sam smirked, he was going to tease these two for the weeks to come.

• • •

STEVE WALKED DOWN THE HALLWAY with Vision. The android had the job of basically stalling the soldier as the rest of the team finished setting up.

"Yes, Vision. I've seen Saving Private Ryan." Steve replied, who had just asked him if he saw the film.

"I'm simply asking if you consider it an accurate depiction of the battles you endured, sir. Studies show that many veterans agree it is."

"Then they are correct." Steve began to turn the handle of the door, "Minus the dramatic music playing during battle."

The two Avengers entered the dark lounge, where the lights suddenly turned on and lit up the room. Steve quickly noticed the decorations.

"Surprise!" The group yelled, which consisted of the current Avengers team plus Maria Hill, Clint Barton, and Tony Stark. Unfortunately, Thor wasn't there because of his quest to find the Infinity Stones and Banner was still missing.

Vision turned to Steve, "Yes. Happy birthday, sir."

The Captain got a hug from everybody.

"Romanoff set this up?" Steve asked.

Tony held a drink in his hand, "Was it that obvious?"

"Dude, you had me wearing an ascot last year." Rhodey turned to his friend.

"You like the Fourth of July theme? If not...it was all Sam's idea." Y/N asked Steve.

He laughed, "It's great actually."

"The great thing about Cap being born on the 4th, is that we get to have fireworks as well."  Natasha said.

The team continued the festivities. Steve appreciated how his friends planned another birthday for him. When he first woke up in 2012, he thought he had lost everything. He thought he'd be alone. But now, he had people with him.

He had a family.