rogers_that: (Default)
Steve Rogers ([personal profile] rogers_that) wrote in [community profile] fossilised2018-07-04 03:34 pm

Birthday fun

It all started with a cake. Not enough stories these days did anymore, especially not in the lives of the Avengers. This wasn't just any cake either. It wasn't store-bought, picked up from the grocery with a hope that the teenager doing the lettering spelled a name correctly. It wasn't from a fancy bakery, though the person who had taken it upon himself to do the baking could have afforded something outlandish. No, this cake came from various boxes and cartons, the contents of which were painstakingly mixed together in more or less the way the recipe card was read off.

There may have been some corners cut, the eggs might not have been carefully folded (mostly because how do you fold eggs when they're goopy), the buttercream might be too runny, but the result was still fairly remarkable.

Even more remarkable was how intact it arrived, in a box in the back of an Audi, to all the usual fanfare Tony himself enjoyed when speeding through the security gates that those working at the Compound feverishly rushes to open for him. One scratch on that car would mean less of a Christmas bonus for everyone.

The cake was transported carefully from the back of the car towards one of the living quarters, a building shared by most of the non-retired Avengers. It did not need to be announced, so the man carrying it didn't bother to knock. Not at the front door and not at the recipient's bedroom. There was no need. No one would be awake anyway.

The time on his watch read 11:58 and so the cake was forced to wait a full two minutes until the day rolled over to be dramatically presented.

Tony Stark burst through the door and JARVIS started the Star-Spangled Banner on his cue, red and blue lights flashing. It was all beautifully patriotic, much like the cake itself, decorated to resemble Captain America's shield. "Happy Birthday, Grandpa!"
starkingenuity: (happy - smirk smile)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-07 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Tony let people down consistently. He was sure of it. And he also really did think that he should be enough for everyone. Steve had pegged him perfectly, though he would absolutely never come right out and say it. Tony knew he had a whole lot of problems when it came to social skills. He could charm the pants off of almost anyone as long as he kept himself at a distance.

Getting to know him revealed all of his flaws. And that’s what drove people away, or so he would have everyone believe if he ever admitted to his own fears.

“With the way America is going, maybe we all should make friends with the French,” Tony teased in an effort to make Steve shy away from all of his horrible insightfulness. “But that’s talk for another, non-patriotic set of birthdays. What do you want to do for yours? Don’t say ‘go to Coney Island’.”
starkingenuity: (Default)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-07 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)

“You want to work. On your birthday.” Tony just wanted to make sure he heard that right. Now he might like to work on his birthday, but he genuinely enjoyed creating. Steve didn’t really use his fists like that. It wasn’t his job and his hobby.

Truthfully though, Tony had no idea what Steve did on his time off. Draw? Bake? Sample artisan cheeses while antiquing?

“I cleared my schedule. So did most of America that doesn’t work retail.”

starkingenuity: (confused - puppy surprise shock)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-08 11:24 am (UTC)(link)
Tony didn’t like the look on Steve’s face. Steve always looked two shades of sad at all times, even when there was nothing to be sad about. Victories often went uncelebrated by the Captain or he would disappear away from get togethers if people laughed too much.

None of this was right. Steve was alone in the Compound, surrounded by agents that technically worked to assist him and idolize him, but weren’t the people you go out for a drink with.

“You’re not. There is no exception to the rule. Even the bad guys take vacation. I’m sure most of them have hobbies. Even if they’re evil hobbies. Like coin and stamp collecting.” Tony had sort of that ‘come on, let’s play!’ look in his eyes, a little childish, a lot goading. “Don’t tell me you’re tired either. I know you need like three minutes of sleep a night.”
starkingenuity: (curious - peer frown smirk amused smug)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-08 12:09 pm (UTC)(link)
“People do the things they like to do,” Tony said, stubbornly. He was trying to gauge what that was with Steve. He knew the blond to be decent at video games, unable to get drunk, and a quick learner when it came to design software but none of those were really Steve’s hobbies. Drawing was a one person activity, too, and while Tony was impressed, he couldn’t spend the next three hours watching Steve put down lines on paper. “What’s something you’ve never done and want to do?”

If he heard about the dance hall fiascos and the charming little dinners, Tony would try to one up it. It was only midnight. The night was getting started. He had a fast car and a will to get them back to the city before any of the clubs could make their last call.

Tony was up for pretty much anything that didn’t involving hurting people or animals. He didn’t think that Steve had an affinity for big game hunting or East Asian sex tourism though, so he didn’t feel the need to specify that.
starkingenuity: (point)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-08 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
This was just so sad. Tony had no other words for it. He watched Steve for a moment before he pushed back from the table and the cake and the coffee and stood up.

“We’re going to the city. You’re going to put on something nice. With a collar. Don’t comb your hair, leave it like that. You’ve got fifteen minutes.” If Tony had to take the lead on this, he would. He could be the master of ceremonies in a pinch, even if those ceremonies were more typical than Tony himself tended to like.

Then again... typical was probably one of those things that Steve never got to experience. He was either sick and poor, or a super soldier at war. There had been no downtime. Minus his little stint with the USO lifting chorus girls and punching Hitler.

Tony turned to look at himself in the chrome hood of the gas range and ran a hand through his hair. It was a good thing he always looked his best.
starkingenuity: (wince - ouch silly smirk business)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-08 01:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Having been dicking around with the toaster (not that it needed rewiring, he was just bored), Tony was forced to do a double take at Steve when he announced that he was ready. His eyes settled on that tie and while it did amazing things for his eyes, they weren’t going to take out a home mortgage or ask for a business loan at a bank. Tony found his eyebrow arching more than he initially wanted it to, betraying his half amused concern.

“We’re not going to sell people vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias door to door at midnight,” Tony said, putting the toaster down to immediately invade Steve’s personal space. He didn’t do that often, Tony was not a touchy-feely sort of guy.

But something had to be done at Steve’s appearance. The clubs Tony used to frequent were upscale with a good drink list and slightly over crowd, but he wasn’t going to take a Mormon out to them. Off came the tie, if Steve let him get that far, and Tony would even unbutton at least one or maybe two buttons by the collar. Sleeves were getting rolled up.

That would be much better.

“If Commissioner Gordon calls us on the Bat Phone it lights the Bat Signal, we’ll come right back. Promise.”
starkingenuity: (explain - talk shoulder amused science)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-08 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
“Could you attempt to trust me for two minutes,” Tony said, fighting off Steve’s hands. “This is the style. You can press the creases out tomorrow.” He even have Steve a good old thwak on his chest to keep him still while he went about his business.

Honestly, just a little mess somehow made Steve look even better than usual. Nothing would outdo those tight white t-shirts but the club Tony wanted to go to had a strict dress code. Collars. No cut offs. No sweats. No work boots.

For good measure, Tony tussled up the blond’s hair and nodded.

“Okay. No backseat driving. Come on.”
starkingenuity: (puppy - confused listen ponder smile)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-08 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
“To introduce you to late night jazz,” Tony said, which was both an answer and another question. Pepper hated jazz, almost as much as she hated all of Tony’s music. Death metal and 70s rock weren’t her things. The club was going to be loud, but not in the way Steve might be dreaded. There wasn’t dancing, just a lot of dark cloth covered tables and velvet Love seats, waitresses bringing you drinks and food from the bar, and a lot of smoke.

You could outlaw smoke from bars in New York but no one had managed to do it yet for jazz clubs. Especially ones that played on until three AM.

Steve could worry about what Tony meant on the hour it took them to drive into the city at breakneck speed. For flavor, Tony had JARVIS play some of his favorite mellow tunes. It was all about the mood for Tony. And right now he wanted something smooth.

And maybe Brooklyn pizza after. They tended to stay open late for the booze hounds dragging ass after last call.
starkingenuity: (business - tux limo)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-09 10:35 am (UTC)(link)
If Steve hadn’t been the most progressive man of his time, Tony had no idea who that would be. He watched Steve out of the corner of his eye as they drove, mostly encouraging the other man to speak. These were rare tidbits, little pieces of a puzzle that no one had but himself.

By the time that they hit the city, traffic had opened up a little. Tony might have had something to do with that, of course, wiring sensors into his car and writing software to detect him coming to shift the flow of traffic so that he didn’t have a huge amount around him at any given point. The algorithm hadn’t been all that complicated either.

They arrived at a whole in the wall little place before too long and Tony parked like a jerk in a loading zone before he got out of the car like he owned the entire block.

“Mister Stark! Yo! It’s been awhile!” a big bouncer called to him and Tony tossed his keys at the man.

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder, gonna take the usual table?”

“You got it, Mister Stark!” How that large man fit behind the wheel of Tony’s car proved what an amazing engineer Tony was, if nothing else.
starkingenuity: (Default)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-10 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)

Pepper. Steve kept bringing her up and while Tony didn’t exactly mind, he also wasn’t too thrilled having to brush it off. “She’s not a jazz fan,” he said, which was a non-commital here nor there.

He could feel himself unwind, however, the moment the background noise rose the moment he stepped through the door and headed towards a higher tier table, two steps above the rest. Corner pocket, right side of the stage. He liked to watch the pianist and that vantage point gave him s good view.

“I used to come here a lot. To relax,” he had to shout at Steve as they sat and a waitress came over. She had Tony’s drink already and crouched next to Steve to get his. They were discrete there, it was why Tony liked it. Sometimes you just didn’t want to get mobbed.

starkingenuity: (Default)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-10 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)

It might be after midnight but they were only between sets here. Another would start in a few minutes, the musicians were all just laughing and drinking at the bar. Tony’s eyes didn’t leave Steve’s face, didn’t follow the woman back to the bar, and didn’t scan the thin, rectangular menu on the table between them, tucked into a space between the drink specials and a single candle.

Steve interested him in this light. He found himself deconstructing each movement of his face, each eyelid twitch or the way his mouth moved. The man wasn’t a machine, though the case might be made that every person was mechanical in some way.

“Hungry? You didn’t eat as much cake as I thought,” he said by means of covering up for the fact that Steve had obviously noticed he was staring. “They don’t have great pizza but their wings aren’t bad.”

starkingenuity: (drink - smirk gesture tshirt)

[personal profile] starkingenuity 2018-07-11 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
Tony might disagree about liking someone more than was appropriate, because who made the cap on liking people and where exactly was it set anyway? He didn’t have to defend himself, luckily, because then things might have gotten uncomfortable for Steve. Tony wasn’t exactly known for being meek.

That wasn’t the focus of the conversation anyway. “Birthday boys don’t pay,,” Tony said with certainty. Unless that birthday boy was Tony Stark, because then he paid for everything. Money wasn’t something he worried about. There was more in his account than he could spend and he tended to spend it on things you couldn’t buy off of Amazon. It would take Stark Industries tanking and all of his real estate crumbling to really feel an impact.

Besides, that’s what people said in movies and on commercials. Friends pay for friends on their birthdays. Simple as that.

“And I already have a tab running.” They just charged him end of the night.

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