Chapter 4
“Seriously, why did you all decide, suddenly, to take me shopping for clothes?”
Steve raised his eyebrow at Natasha, who just smiled innocently at him, while dragging him through the men clothing store behind Charlie and Raven.
“You need new wardrobe. You can’t spend your life just wearing plain T-shirts and plaid shirts. They don’t do you justice. You need something that truly shows how hot you are.” Natasha answered immediately, watching Raven taking some sweaters and jackets and piling them in front of them.
“Tony doesn’t seem to be bothered by my fashion sense and he is the only one that his opinion matters to me.” Steve rolled his eyes as he just let himself be dragged around. “Besides, I don’t think this place works for me.” He commented, as he looked at the pile of shirts Raven presented with disdain.
“What do you mean? These things will look great on you!” Raven looked at him indignantly. “This is what guys in your age wear these days.”
“Dean is exactly my age and I don’t see him wear any of this.” He pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
“Seriously? You are taking the Winchesters’ fashion sense as an example?” Raven chuckled with a shake of her head. “When they shop for clothes they just go directly to any plaid thing, then grab it and go. Come on, you are married to Tony Stark, you need to look the part!”
“But I have the same fashion as them.” Charlie raised an indignant eyebrow at her.
“And it suits you, honey.” Raven smiled sweetly at her way, earning a blush from her.
“Fine, but nothing with silver.” He commented as he grabbed a shirt with silver linings in it, then a hairy, grey sweater. “Or hair. What is this? This shirt has actual padlocks on it! Seriously?” he looked incredulously at the three women in front of him.
“Fine. What about this blue sweater? Look how soft it is.” Natasha extended it to him, thankfully, a normal looking blue sweater.
He reached towards it, while eyeing her in suspicion. His eyebrows jumped, when felt how soft the sweater was. “Wow, this is actually pretty nice.” Then he checked the price tag. “350 dollars?!”
“It’s on sale. It was 700 then it’s down to 350. So you are saving like, I don’t know, 200 dollars.” Raven stated with a nervous smile.
Steve just stared blankly at her. “Both logic and math are taking a serious hit today.”
“Yeah, math is not my strongest suit.” She winced under his blank stare.
“Hey, try this leather jacket. It will look good on you.” Charlie said as she handed him a seemingly normal black leather jacket.
He took it curiously, then shrugged it on. He turned to check himself in a nearby mirror.
“Huh, that does look good actually.” He admitted with an impressed look. Then he made the mistake of turning a little to check the back, only to find words written on the back in silver glitter. He turned back to his friends with a disapproving frown. “’Boys will be boys’?”
“What? They will be!” Charlie defended, only earning an unimpressed raised eyebrow for her trouble.
“That’s it. I am getting out of here.” He shrugged out of the jacket, placed it on the pile, then made his way towards the door. Only to find the three women blocking his way.
“Where are you going?” Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Home? It’s almost lunchtime and if I didn’t make food for Tony, he will completely forget to eat.” He answered as he tried to walk around them, but they were moving fast to block his way.
“I told Dean to feed him, then change his litter box and scratch his head till he falls asleep.”
“He is not a cat, Nat.”
“That’s right. He is a grown man. He will be able to survive without you for just a few hours.”
“But I just need t-“
“Come on, Steve. We will take you to a better store, just be patient for a few more hours. It will be worth it.” Raven gave him her famous puppy dog eyes.
He trailed his eyes over the three women, each giving him her version of a puppy eyed look.
“Fine.” He sighed in defeat. “Just two more hours. That’s it.”
“You got it!”
***
“Well, this is horrible.”
Dean sighed tiredly as he stared at the two new couches Tony ordered, that were sadly too big for the elevator.
“Now what?” Bucky asked with a frown. “Why did Tony ordered a new couch anyway? What’s wrong with the old one?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” Sam shook his head with a sigh.
“Is it the same reason you got a new kitchen counter?” Erik raised an eyebrow at them.
“Let’s just say, Steve and Tony decided to relive their honeymoon a few days ago.”
“Oh, come on! This is the fifth time Tony bought a new couch! The country will run out of couches by their twentieth anniversary or something.” Clint groaned in frustration.
“Anyway, how are we going to get these two couches to the penthouse?” Castiel asked, as he trailed his eyes over the overly big couches.
“The stairs?” Thor suggested with a shrug.
“It is almost a hundred floors! You want to climb up all that while carrying a couch?” Dean looked horrified by the mere thought.
“Do you have a better suggestion?”
They all looked at each other helplessly, finding no other solution.
“Goddammit!” Dean cursed, before moving towards one of the couches. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Dean, Castiel, Erik and Bucky took hold of the first couch, while Sam, Clint, Thor and Bruce carried the other one.
The second problem appeared when they realized that the staircase was a little narrow for the big couches.
“Okay, we can do this.” Sam said in determination, as he nudged team first couch to climb up first. “We can make it work, if we pivoted the couches a little. Come on.”
Erik and Castiel turned the couch a little while they climbed the stairs, managing to successfully trap Dean and Bucky against the handrail and shouting obscenities at the both of them for their trouble.
“Sorry, Dean.” Castiel winced a little while Erik looked at them in amusement, obviously enjoying this. They remained trapped, until they pivoted a little up the stairs.
“Yeah, that’s good. Now pivot more.” Sam called out as they followed them with the other couch. “Pivot. Pivot. Pivot! Pivot!”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Erik and Dean shouted at him in frustration.
“Fine, just go left! Left. Even more left.”
“There is no more left left, Sam.” Castiel growled, while he was being crushed against the wall by the couch.
“Try to lift it over your heads. Come on, you got it. You can do it. You can-“
Then suddenly, they lost their hold on the first couch and it fell off the handrail to full on the other couch along with the unsuspecting team second couch.
“Shit!” Clint yelled, as he tried to release himself from between the two couches.
“Well, I guess it is not going to pivot anymore.” Sam winced, as he tried to help Bruce in releasing Thor too.
“You think?” Dean, Bucky and Erik snarked back at him, while panting from the effort.
They stood there, looking at each other for a few silent moments.
“Hey, Sam?” Dean called out, while still panting.
“What?”
“What did you mean when you said ‘pivot’ anyway?”
***
“Where is everyone?”
Charles asked as he watched Tony walking around the room, making sure that everything was in its right place for Steve’s surprise party.
“They are bringing up the two new couches I ordered.” He replied distractedly.
“Why did you buy new couches?” Charles questioned in confusion.
“Well, Steve and I kinda defiled the old one and the Winchester couple caught us, so I had to buy another one in compensation so Dean could stop glaring at me.” Tony rolled his eyes at that.
“So why two couches?”
“In case this one get defiled too.” He smirked at him and it was Charles’ turn to roll his eyes. “You are just jealous because we can do the deed anywhere we want.”
“You do realize that my home is filled with children, right? That is not an option for me.” Charles raised an eyebrow at him.
“You did it in stranger places when we were in college, dude.” His smirk got bigger. “Behind a diner. In a closet. In a-“
“My God, don’t say that in front of Erik.” Charles groaned, while covering his face. “He gets red in the face when he hears a hint about my former playboy statues.”
“Maybe I should tell him about the time you-“ before he gets to finish, the door of the stairs flanged open, revealing a red faced Dean, Bucky, Erik and Castiel maneuvering a couch through the door, followed by Thor, Clint, Bruce and Sam carrying the other couch. “Hey, you need help?”
“Well, we climbed up maybe a hundred flights of stairs, maneuvered a narrow hallway, dodged a rabid rat, but these last three feet are where it gets really tricky.” Dean snarked with a roll of his eyes, as they made their way through the room.
“You are being very mean lately.” Tony pursed his lips as he watched them. “Why didn’t you use the elevator?”
“It was too small for the damned couch.” Erik growled, while they shuffled the couch in its place. “Also, what kind of a couch that doesn’t have metal in it?”
“The wooden kind?” he grinned, while Erik glared at him.
“Where do you want this one?” Thor asked, gesturing for the couch they were carrying.
“Just place it next to the other one. We can use the extra seating.”
“Okay. Since I have no desire to walk on you or carry another couch up this fucking stairs, here’s the new rules.” Dean rounded on him, after they placed the couches. “First, and this is for everyone here, no funny business on any of the couches or the kitchen or anywhere we use frequently. You want to be creative in your sex lives, just let it inside your bedrooms away from our eyes.” He then pointed at Tony. “Second, if any of these couches got defiled, I will break it in half on your head. I mean it!” he trailed his eyes over the others. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, dad.” They all said together in a cheeky voice, Castiel tried to hide his grin at Dean’s red face then.
“Whatever. I will go check on the damned cake.” He just sighed and marched towards the kitchen, while muttering under his breath. “Fucking family. Fucking couch. Fucking iron asshole.”
“Oh, do you see how much he likes me?” Tony grinned at his retreating back.
“We are drowning in the love between you.” Erik commented dryly with a blank face.
“Daddy doesn’t like mommy right now.” Clint grinned at him cheekily.
“Okay, no, ew. That is just wrong.” Bucky grimaced at him. “Also, this implies that Cas is the other mommy and that is even more wrong.”
“No, Cas and Dean together represent the daddy, while Steve and Tony represent the mommy. So technically, Cas is also daddy.”
“So now I am a lesbian?” Tony raised an eyebrow at Clint.
“This is one of the weirdest conversation I ever heard, and I read minds for crying out loud.” Charles sighed as he glanced at Castiel, who just shrugged, like he was used to these conversations by now. “When are the girls going to bring Steve?”
“Not before another hour, hopefully.” Tony answered as he looked down at his watch. “By then we will all be prepa-“ he was cut off by his phone ringing, he pulled it out to find it was Natasha calling. “Yeah? What? What do you mean Steve slipped away from you and at the Tower? How did he slip from the three of you?! he is tall as a building! Seriously? Fine, just come here already.” He ended the call with a groan. “Great, just great.”
“Just go distract him or something for ten minutes.” Charles sighed with a roll of his eyes. “We will handle it here. Go.”
***
Steve got off his bike, just when Tony got out of the elevator and was fast walking towards him.
“Hey, honey. Wow, you are here early.” Tony was giving him an overly wide grin and was fidgeting nervously. That was the indicators of him hiding something.
“Yeah, I sneaked away, while the girls were discussing if a red leather jacket will look good on me.” Steve rolled his eyes as he moved to meet Tony halfway. “I left before they decide to match it with a leather pants or something.”
“You will look good in a red leather jacket. And pants. Hell, you will look good even if you wore a trash bag. That’s how hot and perfect you are.” Tony’s grin was getting dangerously wider.
Steve stopped, and looked him up and down suspiciously. “Is something going on?”
“What? I am just complementing my overly handsome husband that I missed all day.” Tony stepped closer to him to trail his hand down Steve’s chest. “Can’t I just complement your perfection once in a while?”
“You are being weird.” Steve raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you want sex or did you do something bad?”
Tony blinked at him, like he was trying to find the right answer.
“You know? We didn’t try sex in the garage before. Come on, let’s do it on Dean’s car!” he pulled at his arm, but Steve didn’t budge.
“As much as I’d love to, but I don’t think Dean would let you live longer than a day if we did that and I kind of want you alive.” Steve raised an eyebrow at him, with a long suffering sigh. “Dean is very vicious when it comes to his car, he might kill me in the process to get to you.”
“Fine. Let’s do it in one of my cars, come on.” Tony tried again to pull at his arm, but Steve was unmovable when he wants to be.
“What’s going on?” he looked seriously at Tony. “Are you trying to distract me or something? Did you set the penthouse on fire and the others are trying to put it out before I come up?”
“That was one time.” Tony rolled his eyes at him. “And it was an innocent accident. No one got hurt then!”
“Clint’s hair was on fire and the kitchen was nothing more than a pile of dust.”
“Technicalities.”
“Come on, Tony, the girls dragged me around all day. I just want to lay down and forget about the unholy amount of clothes I saw today.”
“I heard sex in a car is very relaxing.”
“Sex in bed could be relaxing too.”
“But in the car we could-“ Tony stopped when his phone pinged with a new message, he grinned when he looked at it, then pulled at Steve’s arm again. “Fine, let’s go up now.”
“They put down the fire already?”
“Something like that.”
***
Steve kept giving Tony suspicious looks the entire ride in the elevator, while Tony kept smiling at him innocently.
“Am I going to find an orgy in the penthouse?”
“That will be weird, since each one of the team is in a stable relationship. That will mean an orgy with just Clint. I don’t think this how it is supposed to work.”
“He will make it work believe me.” Steve sighed with a shake of his head. “Then why are you vibrating in excitement? What did you do?”
“You will find out soon enough.” Tony grinned just as the doors opened. He took hold of Steve’s arm and dragged him behind.
“Tony, for god’s sake, just tell me-“
“Happy Birthday!” a group shout made Steve jump and stare at his family, who grinning manically at him, while throwing confetti at his face. Decorations and balloons where everywhere in the penthouse, with a huge pile of presents on a table in the middle of the living room where everyone were gathered.
“What?” Steve blinked dumbly. He actually forgot that today was his birthday. He could barely remember his own name; after the amount of shopping he was forced to do today.
“Happy Birthday, honey.” Tony squeezed his hand as he gave him a soft smile, before leaning in to press a chaste kiss to Steve’s lips.
“Really?” Steve’s eyes trailed over everyone in the room, a grin slowly taking over his face.
“No, we just decided to decorate the place and bring presents, because we were bored.” Dean rolled his eyes, earning three jabs in his ribs by Sam, Castiel and Natasha for his trouble.
“Ignore the six feet tall kin doll, please.” Tony groaned with a shake of his head.
“I really don’t know what to say.” Steve was grinning at everyone around him, while taking Tony’s hand gently in his. “I actually forgot about my birthday from all that obsessive clothes shopping earlier.”
“We are sorry about that, by the way.” Charlie winced a little at him.
“I am not.” Natasha just shrugged, while sharing a grin with Raven. “It was fun watching the disgust on your face increasing by each store we enter.”
“There were shirts with glitter on them! Men’s shirts with glitter! Seriously?” Steve objected indignantly. “Not to mention the colors. Who would wear a lilac sweater anyway?”
“I own a lilac sweater.” Charles pointed out with a shrug. “I hate it, but Erik likes it.”
“It looks really good on him! It brings out his eyes!” Erik defended immediately.
“I bet you will look amazing in one.” Tony drawled as he looked Steve up and down with a smirk.
“Oh? Well, maybe I can get-“ Steve started with his own smirk but didn’t get a chance to finish.
“Let’s get the cake before they get carried away and forget we are here!” Dean exclaimed, as he pushed Sam towards the kitchen to help him get the cake.
They both came carrying a large tray with a metal cover, keeping the cake out of view.
“Wow, that’s a big cake.” Thor commented appreciatively.
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t allow anyone to see the cake.” Tony raised an eyebrow at Dean when they placed the cake on a table. “Why so secretive?”
“Just wanted it to be a surprise.” Dean smirked at him and looked up at Steve. “Come on, dude. Reveal your cake.”
“Okay.” Steve just chuckled as he came forward and removed the metal cover with a swoosh.
They all stared. For a long time. Just stared without saying anything.
Because the cake turned out to be separated into two parts. The first part was made into Steve’s shield. Red, white and blue with the star in the middle and everything. It was beautifully made.
The second part, however, was made into an ass. A blue, perfectly shaped ass with a belt, which represented Steve’s backside, while wearing the suit. With the words ‘Happy Birthday, America’s ass’ scrawled under the ass.
They all just kept blinking stupidly at the cake, while Dean just watched them with a very proud grin on his face.
“Dammit, Dean.” Castiel sighed with a shake of his head. Lips trembling as he, obviously, tried very hard to not laugh.
“I am going to kill you.” Tony said with a blank face. Like he wasn’t sure which emotion should be on his face then. “Or you are going to kill me. I am not even sure anymore.”
“You have to admit, the resemblance is uncanny.” Charles commented, unable to withhold his laughter anymore.
“This is payback for the ass print on the counter, isn’t it?” Steve questioned, an amused smile on his face.
“I will never live it down, dude. Never.” Dean glared back at the captain.
One minute of complete silence, then the room erupted suddenly with bouts of uncontrollable laughter.
“Oh my god, this is golden.” Bucky guffawed as he leaned heavily against Dean, while clapping his shoulder. “You just made my entire year.”
“That’s it, Dean is on cake duty in all the upcoming birthdays.” Clint announced, while laughing his heart out.
“Great.” Dean rolled his eyes, but was grinning as he watched the others laugh.
“I am trying so hard to hate it, but I can’t.” Tony shook his head with a laugh. “How the hell I am supposed to hate it? That damned cake summarize everything I love perfectly.”
“I don’t feel objectified at all.” Steve rolled his eyes, but he was grinning in amusement.
“Well, I call dibs on the right ass cheek. I left a little mark on the real one last night, so I think it will be fitting.” Tony smirked as he slapped Steve’s ass lightly to emphasize his point, earning a very impressive raised eyebrow from his husband.
“Ew, no, no, don’t ruin this for me.” Dean warned as he pointed at Tony accusingly. “This is my revenge. Don’t you steal it away from me!”
“Oh? What did I say?” Tony gave him an overly innocent look. “I was just saying that it will be fitting, since I eat the real thing almost every night and-“
“Just give him the whole ass.” Erik groaned with a grimace. “He ruined it for everyone. No one will eat it after what he just said.”
“I am pretty sure that’s his plan from the start.” Bucky rolled his eyes with his own grimace.
“No one is allowed to eat America’s ass except me!”
“Oh my God.” Steve covered his face with his hands, as he struggled to not fall on the floor and laugh until he dies. “This is too much. This day is too much. My life is too much.”
“Just give Tony the right cheek and Mr. Too Much the left cheek and we will share the shield.” Natasha announced, while handing Castiel the knife, who just blinked back blankly at her. “You can handle a blade professionally, so obviously you will be able to cut the cake in equal parts easily enough.”
“You can handle a blade pretty admirably too.” Castiel scowled at her.
“Yeah, but I am not feeling comfortable enough to split America’s ass into two.”
“How very thoughtful of you.” Steve just rolled his eyes at her.
“You know how thoughtful and kind I am.”
Castiel jut took the knife from her with a pointed glare at Dean, who just shrugged unapologetically at him with a shit eating grin splitting his face.
“I just need to point out something.” Dean started as he looked up at Steve with a grin. “My God, you are so old. Like really old.”
Steve blinked back at him. Then blinked even more. “Dean, you are seven months older than me.” He deadpanned with a blank face. “Thor is more than 1500 years old. Your husband’s age is undefinable, because he was born before calendars were created by a few billion years. Should I keep going?”
They stared back at him, Dean turned his eyes towards Castiel, who just shrugged casually at him.
“Oh my God, we are so old.” Dean whined loudly suddenly.
“You are in your early thirties.” Tony blinked back at him.
“I am forever twenty-nine, thank you.”
“Of course you are, Dean.” Castiel just smiled at him to shut him up. “Now, let me cut this cake, before someone snatch the knife from me and shove it into you?”
“That someone will probably be me.” Erik pointed out in warning.
“Get in line, Magnets! No cutting!” Natasha protested indignantly.
“But it is a very long line! I am not that patient.”
“Love of the people, Cas. Learn how to gain the love of the people from me.” Dean rolled his eyes, while flipping Erik and Natasha the bird. “Fucking birthdays.”
“Language.” Steve smirked at him, managing to make everyone laugh at Dean’s indignant glare.
***
They finally managed to finish the cake without Steve having to kill anyone from the amount of unholy ass jokes they kept saying, while he was eating the left side of his ass. Dean is so going to have a hell of a surprise on his birthday, he will make sure of that.
After the cake, suddenly everyone were shoving their gifts into his face, each one urging him to open their gift first. He was overwhelmed by the huge amount of gifts. He got gifts even from his friends, who weren’t able to come to the party, which was very sweet and nice really.
He got a pretty nice looking shirts from Natasha, that she thought will look pretty good on him. The entire Harry Potter book series from Sam, which made him grin like a nerd from what Tony said. From Thor he got-
“Is that a golden stick?” Dean raised an eyebrow at the golden small staff in Steve’s hand.
“No, it’s not.” Thor smirked, as he gestured for Steve to fist it in his hand. “Make a room, then press it from the sides.”
Steve stood up and did what he was told, then they all gasped when the small stick suddenly got longer and became a pretty good looking spear. “This is one of Asgard’s finest weapons. It can kill anything. Also, there were two spears only, so Castiel, here’s your early birthday gift!” he said, while throwing an identical golden stick at Castiel, who caught it out of reflex.
“Really?” Castiel asked with wide eyes as he fisted the stick and watched it becoming a spear. “Thank you.”
“Thanks, Thor.” Steve grinned at him gratefully.
Next, he opened Dean’s gift only to snort loudly, when he was greeted with an Iron Man pajamas.
“Isn’t it enough that you got me a Captain America ones on my birthday?” Tony sighed at the eldest Winchester.
“Now you have matching pajamas. You are welcome.” Dean just grinned at them proudly.
Clint’s gift however made Steve blink down at it stupidly, while Tony’s face changed into several shades of color.
“Clint?” Steve called calmly.
“Yeah, Cap?”
“Why did you get me lingerie?”
“It’s for men, and to spice things up a little.”
Tony’s face was deep red, probably imaging Steve in them from the way he kept shifting uncomfortably, while Steve just watched him with deep interest.
After Bruce, Charles, Raven and Charlie’s gifts, and getting a few old pictures from Bucky from their time in the orphanage that got him a little teary eyed, he couldn’t help but grin at Erik’s gift.
“A new Swear Jar?” Steve questioned with a laugh.
“To replace the one I threw from the roof.” Erik rolled his eyes with a glare Charles’ way, which was what told them that it was the telepath’s idea to get Steve a new Jar. “I will try to not throw that one too.”
“Great, we are back with the jar.” Dean sighed in defeat, while Castiel and Steve smirked at him.
“Cas, why is your gift moving?” Sam asked as he blinked at the shaking, large box in Steve’s hands.
Castiel shrugged calmly with a smile.
“Tell me there will be nothing jumping at my face when I open this.” Steve said, as he watched the box nervously.
“No promises.”
“Great.” The soldier sighed, but started to open the box carefully. Only to be greeted by an energetic ball of white fur and loud happy barking.
They all stared at the little white Husky puppy with big blue eyes, as it jumped Steve while barking happily.
“You got him a puppy?” Natasha smiled, as she saw the delighted look on Steve’s face as he held the little happy puppy.
“He is so cute.” Sam grinned, as he scratched the puppy’s ears happily.
“It’s a rare breed, how did you afford it?” Tony asked, as he looked up at Castiel curiously.
“Pool hustling and poker. Lots of the both of them. You should know that I am banned from half of New York’s bars now.” Castiel winced sheepishly, as he rubbed the back of his head.
“No!” “Yes!” Dean and Tony shouted respectively, the former in dismay the latter in joy.
“Where are we going in our night outs now?!” Dean whined.
“We will finally go somewhere other than a bar!” Tony rejoiced in happiness, earning a glare from Dean and laughs from the others.
“What are you going to call the little ball of joy?” Thor asked curiously, as the little puppy started to lick all over Steve’s face.
Steve pulled the dog away and gazed at him for a few seconds.
“Well, the only name I can think of is ‘Angel’” Steve announced with a side grin at Castiel. “The fur and the color of the eyes fits perfectly.”
Castiel just smiled back at Steve’s grin, while the others just grinned down at the little puppy.
“Yeah, it actually fits.” Tony smiled as the dog started to lick Steve again eagerly. “Hey little buddy, don’t get too comfortable in licking my things.” He raised an eyebrow at the puppy, earning a loud happy bark. “Anyway, Steve, it’s my turn.”
“I am really hoping you mean your turn in the gift.” Dean commented dryly, earning a smug grin from Tony as he handed Steve a small gift box.
Steve opened the last gift from Tony, to find keys inside it.
“Is that-?”
“Yup, I build you a brand new motorcycle instead of the one you keep using as a shield lately.” Tony grinned excitedly at him. “It’s made specifically for you, it will withstand anything you put it through, lighter than ordinary motorcycles, twice their speed, brakes work perfectly and has its own protective shield.”
“That’s amazing, Tony.” Steve grinned at him, as he leaned forward to press a grateful kiss against his lips. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“I actually have another gift.” Tony announced as he looked at the others. “You know for a while now, we all need a vacation. So, in two days, we are all going to a tropical island for a week!”
They all whooped cheerfully and grinned at him excitedly.
“Sorry, Tony, but we can’t.” Charles shook his head as he gestured towards himself and Erik. “Raven can go, of course, but I can’t leave my school for an entire week. Who will care for the children?”
“Logan and Hank are there to take care of the school, and you can give your kids a week off, they deserve it.”
“I don’t know, Tony. I just-“
“Come on, Charles, just one week. You need this, trust me.” Tony looked pleadingly at him, until he saw him crack a little. “Besides, what could go wrong in a week.”
“You are right.” Charles sighed in defeat. “It’s only a week. It’ll be fine.”