To All Those Brave and Lovely

Tony's Birthday

He's still in the lab when he gets the call.

Tony hadn't meant to stay there for so long, but the med student/engineer that he had taken on for the spring semester actually had a good idea, and with Tony's help they were right on the verge of a break through.  He lived for those moments, when the puzzle was clicking together and you knew that you were right on the edge of completing what you were working on, that in a few seconds you would be moving the world forward, or even changing it completely.

This was someone from their medical branch, who was working with prosthetics.  She had to sign a bunch of confidentiality agreements to be able to work here,  but then she got to read all about Bucky's metal arm and the fall and what Hydra did to him, and then she had been put to work fixing it.  "If this works,"  Tony promises her, talking around the screw that he had clenched in his teeth, "I'll buy you anything you want.  You need a house?  I'll buy you a house, as long as you sign on with Stark Industries full time."

"I already have a house,"  Her mouth was twitching up but she wasn't really falling into the banter.  He didn't really expect her to, not when there was information and science and break throughs to distract her.   "Buy me a cat?"

He laughs, the answer breaking his concentration, which is around the time he realized that his phone was ringing.  Normally, he would ignore it this kind of situation, but with everything that happened, he's always half afraid that every phone call will hold bad news.  "Sorry."  It was Pepper, her face lighting up the front of his phone, so he couldn't reasonably ignore it.  He doesn't even want to.  "I have to take this."

The girl (Avery, that was her name) only nodded and then threw a hologram up against the wall, not even bothering to ask why he was leaving.  She was a genius, and he had picked her out of a small town in Kentucky to throw her into the big wide world of science.  Sometimes he wonders if he actually did her a favor.

"Hey, Pepper."  It made him happy to talk to her, even though he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he had done something wrong without realizing it.  "How was your day?"

They normally don't talk like that, with small talk, but he didn't really have a clue why she was calling.  But she was angry.  He can always tell when she's angry.  "Do you realize what time it is?"  She doesn't give him a chance to answer, just stream rolled on ahead, and he smiled in spite of himself.   "It's like, eleven at night.  Why are you still at the lab?  You're never at the lab."

"Breakthroughs, pep."  He could tell her about James and the constant pain in his metal arm, how they were this close to fixing it, and he thought that Avery was actually nonthreatening enough that Bucky would let her touch him.  It was a win-win all around.  "Big science related things are happening here."

"Well, do you know what's happening here?"  He didn't, really.  He had specifically  checked to make sure he didn't need to be home tonight, because it was his birthday, and after that party where he was dying from blood poisoning and forced Rhodey to steal one of his suits, he didn't really feel like celebrating.  So he buries himself in his work and his lab, and this little bit of progress with the Winter Soldier Situation was worth it.  But Pepper was still angry, which made him feel like he was missing something.  "Your daughter and Spider-Man have made you a cake, and have been waiting all night for you to get home."

There are moments where things truly surprise him.  There haven't been many, since the sky opened up and aliens poured out of it, but there are a few.  This is one.  "What?"  Avery looked up, and he waved her away.  "Why would they do that?"

"Because you promised me that you'd come home tonight."  Pepper was aggravated.  He wondered if she was at home or just making this call from her office, which, hypocrite.  "And I promised them you'd be home.  So how about you do us all a favor and finish what you're working on, alright?"

Tony sighed.  He didn't want to leave.  He wanted to help fit together the last few pieces on the arm, and then start working on a way to remove the old one without hurting Bucky.  "Alright."  He scrubbed a hand over his face.  "I'll be there."

It's after midnight by the time he makes it home, shoes squeaking on the floor as he walks to the kitchen.  And there, slumped over the kitchen counter by a cake and a gift bag, was Nora.  

"Hey,"  He nudges her on the shoulder, gently, but she wakes up immediately.  When she sees its him, she blinks accusingly and then slumps back down to the counter.  "Wakey wakey."

"Pepper said you would be home hours ago."  She was sulking.  Most definitely sulking.  "We made you a cake."

"I see that."  He squinted at the frosting.  "Is that supposed to be me on the front?"

There was a robot in red and gold that looked vaguely like Iron Man, but only because he was taking an educated guess at what it was supposed to be.  It sort of just looked like a bunch of blocks stuck together.  "Peter promised he could do it,"  She still wasn't awake, and was just now really looking at the time on the clock.  "Peter lied."

"Peter helped?  Did he go home?"  He feels more awful with every word she says, and also ten times worse every time he looks at the cake.  

"No, he..."  She looked beside her, then down to the floor and snorted.  When Tony leaned over the counter, he could see Peter sprawled out across the ground, icing smeared across his face.  Nora tossed a blanket down over him.  "He fell of the chair."

"Oh.  Well."  He didn't know what to say.  Tony was used to flashy presents, to things that were either meant to be shown off or as a joke.  He didn't know what to do with a scribbled together card and homemade cake, but he was incredibly afraid that he might cry.  "Thank you.  You guys didn't have to do that."

"Yes, we did.  Every parents needs their kids to make them a crappy cake at least once. You just got a late start." She blinks, blearily, then shoves it at him.  "I'm going back to bed."

"Okay."  He wanted to say more, but then she was nudging Peter with her foot and dragging him over the to couch, and after a few mumbled happy birthday's, they were both playing tug of war with the blanket, leaving him to stand alone in the kitchen by himself.

"May I suggest, sir,"  It was  FRIDAY's voice, coming in through the speakers.  Sometimes he wants to delete Friday.  "That you take it down to the workshop?"

The workshop, when he got there, was decorated, too.  There were balloons tie to every surface and streamers hanging down from the doors, and DUM-E had a birthday hat stuck down on his head.  Happy Birthday started blasting the moment he walked through the doors, so loud that he almost dropped the cake.  

"It was supposed to be a surprise."  Pepper was stretched out on the couch, flipping through a pile of folders and putting her signature down on the ones she liked.  She was a better CEO than he ever was.  "Guess it still was."

"You shouldn't throw surprise parties for a man with a heart condition,"  He grumbled, but he was only half-hearted about it, because he was digging through his present and pulling out a set of miniature Avenger's action figures, along with a full size Spider-Man one and a shirt that said that Spider-Man was his favorite superhero.  The shirt was homemade, and the lettering was hot pink.  "Can't believe you let them do that."

"And I can't believe that of all days, this is the one you decide to be late."  Tony sat down beside her, and she put her feet up into his lap.  "Did you like it?"

Tony considered it for a moment, staring down at the cake on the counter and the gifts spread in front of him.  "They're good kids, aren't they?"

It was better than a thank you, or trying to explain why he had been so intent on staying away.  She understood, anyways.  "They are."