girl genius ¹ ≫ young tony stark

sixty six

August 23, 1999 - New York, NY
5:21 AM, EST

"Ready for tomorrow?" Tony asked as he and Shelby sat at their table, eating breakfast.

"No," Shelby replied, staring at her peanut butter-laden toast.

"What?" Tony chuckled. "Come on, Shelbster. You're always excited for your birthdays."

"Well, not this one," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, turning to look at her. "It's the big three-zero! That's exciting!"

"Not really," she said, frowning.

"Shelby..."

"Remember that off-Broadway show we saw?" Shelby said, mixing a spoonful of sugar into her coffee. "The one-man show, by the Rent guy, before he passed?"

"Yeah, what was that called?" Tony asked, scratching his chin. He was trying to grow a short beard, though Shelby wasn't sure how she felt about it. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?"

Shelby groaned. "No. Tick, Tick, Boom! There was a song where the guy was freaking out about turning thirty. That's exactly what I feel like."

"You're just turning thirty, Shelby. It's not a big deal. Like, no one is going to roll you into a nursing home," Tony said, crunching on his cereal.

"It is a big deal! It's ... it's thirty! I mean, my twenties are over. They're supposed to be the best decade of your life," she said, slumping in her chair.

"And?" Tony said. "You accomplished much more than the average twenty-something in the past decade, Shelby. You married me, for one, and for two, you went to the moon," he joked. "I'd say your twenties were a great decade, but the decades to come? They're going to be great, too."

"It's just a weird feeling," she said, staring into her coffee. "I mean, right now, I'm sexy, I'm cool. Someone asks how old I am, I say, 'twenty-nine!' But tomorrow, if someone asks how old I am, I'll say thirty."

Shelby knew that society placed extra pressure on women as they aged in comparison to men, so Tony could never truly understand what she felt like inside.

"Shelby, believe me, you'll still be sexy at thirty," Tony replied with a smirk.

Shelby rolled her eyes and stood up, shoving the last of her toast in her mouth. She didn't like being bothered by her age, but she was, and she couldn't help it. Tony wasn't helping, no matter how hard he was trying to laugh off the matter. She was just getting annoyed. "I'm going to work," she said, dumping the rest of her coffee in her travel mug.

Tony watched her, his brows furrowed together. He'd taken the morning off to pick up her birthday present. "Okay ..."

Shelby took the elevator down to the lobby and headed out to the street, where she hailed a cab to take her to the office. Tony always insisted that she could have Happy drive her, and she usually just rode with Tony anyway, but today, she didn't feel like it. In fact, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Shelby Colewell didn't feel like doing anything.

As she sat in the back of the cab, stuck in traffic as they made their way through Manhattan, Shelby realized something.

She was in charge.

Partially, at least, along with Tony.

And she didn't want to go to work today.

"Actually, could you pull over here please?" Shelby said, leaning her head between the front seats of the cab. The cabbie pulled over immediately, and Shelby handed him a wad of change before getting out.