silver lining | tony stark's daughter (III)

ONE

chapter one;
happy birthday lucy

THE BRUNETTE STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM. Circled around her was her closest family and friends, singing happy birthday. The cake in front of her was almost as tall as she is with sixteen candles scattered around each layer. She didn't know why Tony would go all out on her sixteenth birthday, considering the fact that not a lot of people are going to show up anyway. But she was grateful for him and her family.

Tony stood on her right with Pepper on her left. Their break ended after a little push from Lucy. After the accords, Lucy begged Tony to let Pepper stay at the new compound. That was all it take. A week after, the two went on a date and it felt like some things never changed. But, of course it did.

A few months ago, she definitely expected a lot more people to be at her sixteenth birthday. "Make a wish, sweetheart" Tony said. Lucy closed her eyes, and it didn't took her long to think of a wish. I wish everything turns back to the way it was before, she wished. She blew out the candles and opened her eyes to see her family and friends clapping their hands. "Alright, let's eat this thing!" Tony said, earning cheers from everyone.

Lucy sat on the couch along with Kennedy and Peter. They were all eating the signature Red Velvet from Lucy's favorite bakery in Seattle. Yes, Tony flew Lucy's sixteenth birthday cake all the way from Seattle. "So, are you going back to school this year?" Peter asked.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely" she said. "I'm keeping myself busy this year" she added, scooping a spoonful of Red Velvet cake into her mouth.

Kennedy gasped. "Oh my god. You should join the Academic Decathlon team!" she said, turning to Peter. "Spider-boy's the captain of the team" she smirked. Lucy raised her eyebrows in amusement as she turned her head towards Peter.

"You are?" she asked. Peter scoffed.

"No- not really" Peter said. Kennedy furrowed her eyebrows, as Lucy was too.

"What do you mean not really?" Kennedy asked. The TV in front of them was playing a crime documentary of Ted Bundy, and as Kennedy and Peter got lost in their own banter, Lucy noticed two figures standing near the bushes. Behind the TV was a huge window that is covered with thin beige curtains. Lucy still noticed the shadow of the figures behind it. One of them was wearing a hat. She furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion.

"Hey, I'm gonna get some more cake. You guys stay" Lucy said. She stood up and slowly made her way to the door. She turned her head to the dining room to still see Tony and the rest talking and catching up. She turned the knob as silently as possible and stepped outside. Her feet was  met in contact with a box that was left on the doorstep. She picked the brown perfectly wrapped box and turned it to see the sender. Her heart dropped.

She turned to her left to try to find the two figures, just to see the both of them walking away from their spot. "Hey!" Lucy called. The two figures stopped, and they turned to each other. Lucy noticed how their shoulders sunk as they sighed. "Steve? Nat?" she whispered just enough for them to hear, her voice breaking.

"We couldn't have missed your sweet sixteen" a voice that she had not heard in a long time said. They turned to face Lucy and she dropped the brown box to ran towards them. She embraced them in a hug, tears falling on her cheeks. "How are you doing, sweetie?" Natasha asked.

Lucy sniffled and pulled away from the hug. "I'm good, I'm good" she chuckled. "You're blonde!" she said. Natasha laughed and nodded. Lucy turned to Steve. "You have a beard?!" she said. Steve laughed and Lucy followed. "This is gonna take a while for me to get used to" she said.

Ever since she opened the letter that Steve gave, she knew that she had to forgive him. She's never the one to hold grudges anyway. She knew his words that day were merely out of their emotions. Every word and thing that she did that day, it was merely out of her emotions.

"You listened to me, finally for once" he said. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. "The boy from Queens" he said. Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes. Natasha let out a small chuckle.

"How have you guys been?" Lucy said. "Wait, where have you guys been?" she asked. Steve turned to Natasha, who shrugged.

"Everywhere, basically" Natasha said.

"Turns out being a criminal isn't that easy" Steve joked. Lucy sighed. It was technically her fault that Steve, Natasha and the rest of them were labelled as the 'criminal'. "The coordinates that I gave you is our.. base I guess"

"Was our base" Natasha corrected.

"Was our base" Steve confirmed. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The government happened" Steve said. Silent fell between the three of them. Lucy felt a pang of guilt on her chest. Steve must have noticed, because he was the one to broke the ice. "We want you to have this" Steve said, handing Lucy a burner phone.

"Just in case of emergencies" Natasha added. Lucy smiled and took the phone into her hand.

"Thanks, guys" she said. "Do you guys wanna get in?" she offered. Natasha smiled in sympathy. She knew the answer.

"You know we can't, sweetheart" Natasha said. Lucy nodded understandingly. "We have to go, actually" she added.

"Yeah. Before these cameras send our faces to the FBI" Steve said. Lucy sighed and pulled the two of them into a hug.

"I wish you guys can stay here longer" she said.

"Me too, kid" Steve said. Natasha smiled at her and mouthed her goodbye before turning on her heels and ran away with Steve's fingers tangled with hers. Lucy sighed. She turned to the burner phone in her palm. She nodded and sighed, turning back into the house as she carried the brown box.

She was never the one to believe in wishes, but that was the day that changed her mind. Maybe there was someone out there, the universe or any higher power that listened. Or maybe there isn't. Because no amount of wishes could've brought the Old Lucy back. The one filled with hope and trust. As she stepped back inside, her tears dried up and, she put out another happy front, drowning herself in empty chatter and birthday songs.

A/N
you guys have no idea how excited i am for this book!! this is where lucy's rebelling phase will start lol its kinda fun. i hope you guys enjoy this first chapter! will be updating more of it dw :)
also, how do we feel about the grammys? i feel like lucy would've been stoked with taylor swift winning aoty lol