Fated Marks

I fiddled with my white scalloped lace skirt and grey scoop neck top while I waited for Steve to come back from getting dressed.

“Hales, what are you doing tonight?” Tony asked.

“Not sure, depends if Will’s going to hog me all day.” I said having this annoying feeling I was forgetting something important.

“Oh…” He said sounding disappointed.

“Don’t you have meetings with the Pepper and I know you haven’t even started working on the commencement speech for MIT.” I said.

“That’s not important.” Tony said.

“What’s not important?” Pepper said walking in looking annoyed.

“Pep hey.” Tony said.

“You did not just say that the charity you begged me to help start even though I told you you had too much on your plate already is not important. You promised and the MIT commencement speech, it better be riveting and move people to tears or so help me…” Pepper started.

“But…” Tony said.

“You heard her, we had a deal. You keep up on work and I won’t hire a strict German Nanny to be your assistant for the year. Chop chop.” I said.

“But it’s…” Tony started.

“Tony.” Pepper said sternly.

“I’ll be working in the office.” Tony said walking away.

“Way to go Hayley, now he won’t suspect anything. What’s the plan?” Pepper asked.

“Plan?” I asked confused.

“For Tony’s birthday?” Pepper asked.

“What?” I said.

“You forgot?” Pepper said shocked. “You basically run his life how did you forget?”

“It’s been a crazy few days. Fuck!” I said.

“Hayley it’s fine. You’ve had a rough few days.” Bruce said.

“No this is not okay. I need to fix this. I need to make some calls.” I said. Taking my phone out.

“Rhodey’s flying in. Happy’s on his way to pick him up.” Pepper said.

“It’s too late to plan a party but we can still have a dinner here?” Natasha suggested.

“Dinner good. I’ll order a cake.” I said. “What do you get a guy that practically owns everything for their birthday?”

“It doesn’t matter what you get him. He says he isn’t nostalgic but he is. Just put some thought into it.” Pepper said.

“Hayley, I’m ready to go.” Steve said as he walked in.

“Change of plans.” I said.

“What happened?” Steve said looking worried.

“I forgot it’s Tony’s birthday.” I said dialing Elijah.

“Crap.” Steve said.

“Hayley.” Elijah said.

“I’m going to have to cancel on lunch. I forgot it’s Tony’s birthday and I need to plan a last minute birthday dinner and get a gift.” I said in French.

“I’m only in town for today, is it urgent?” Elijah said.

“The sooner this gets done the better. Uh, Can you meet me here?” I asked.

“Avengers Tower?” Elijah asked.

“Yeah, There aren’t any big meetings we can use one of the conference rooms. Just go to reception I’ll make sure they show you up.” I said.

“I’ll be in the area and one of my meetings got cancelled, is noon good for you?” Elijah asked.

“Perfect, see you then.” I said before hanging up. I looked up and everyone was just staring at me. “I had to move a meeting around. Okay I still need to go to Will’s place and pick up some baking pans and my potential gift. I’ll send Jarvis the shopping list so that’ll get done.”

“We’ll keep Tony distracted.” Clint said.

“Should be pretty easy, he’s a massive procrastinator just have Jarvis send him a reminder for something he needs to do.” I said. “Be back.”

With that we quickly made our way downstairs and got to making that shopping list. I had already promised Hulk that we were having a pizza night before I left so I was thinking pork chops, mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon and almonds. Then for cake Tony was a fan of red velvet so I looked up my favorite recipe and forwarded it all to Jarvis.

“Make a left here.” I told Steve who was driving my car.

“I thought we were going to Will and Nate’s apartment?” Steve asked.

“We are but we need to pick up some goodies. Trust me Will before noon on the weekend and low blood sugar is a bad combination.” I said. I took my phone out and texted Max.

ETA ten minutes. Order a dozen donuts make sure there’s at least two jelly filled, a maple bacon bar and double chocolate cake donut.

“We should start looking for parking. This place is great and it’s always packed.” I said.

“We could have taken the bike.” Steve said.

“Not happening. Not in this skirt.” I said.

“You look beautiful.” Steve said.

“Thanks.” I said leaning over to kiss his cheek. As we parked I noticed a Starbucks a few stores down that was pretty packed. Steve always hated going into Starbucks saying that coffee wasn’t meant to be that complicated. Sorry sweetie. “Damn the entire place is packed.” I said.

“The line’s probably moving faster than it looks.” Steve said.

“Either way it’s crunch time. How about I go get the donuts and you get the coffee.” I said.

“But…” Steve said looking flustered.

“Please, we’ll finish faster. I’ll text you the order so all you have to do is show the cashier.” I said watching, as he felt a bit alert looking around. Oh right, they’re all on the look out for potential exploding cars. “It’ll be fast. I have you on speed dial in case anything happens.”

“Be careful.” He said kissing my forehead before heading to Starbucks. I walked into the crowded hipster donut bar and started looking for Max. My phone buzzed.

Booth all the way at the back. Skirt looks good on you ;)

Someone got dumped again. I walked over and sat down in front of Max.

“Morning, this place is amazing.” Max said.

“Tried the snickers donut yet?” I asked.

“Snickers donut?” He asked.

“Donut with an entire snickers bar inside.” I said.

“I need to get back in line.” He said before I cleared my throat. “Right.”

I dropped my purse on the ground and watched as Max dropped a napkin.

“Such a clutz.” He said bending down. I heard shuffling before my purse was kicked over to me again.

“Don’t use those napkins. Here.” I said taking out a bunch of napkins from my purse with a wad of cash hidden in it. “You have a bit of chocolate on the corner of your mouth.” I said opening my purse to put my phone in. I looked over the documents I asked for and saw that they were all perfect.

“The outfit’s a little extra don’t you think?” Max said obviously referring to the outfit.

“Consider it a Christmas bonus. And an incentive in case I ever ask you for a rush order in the foreseeable future. Have a good day.” I said. Picking up the box of donuts before walking out.

I got to the car and Steve was still not back. I looked over to Starbucks and saw that he was walking back ducking his head. Someone noticed him. I unlocked the car and he dashed in.

“People are scary when they don’t get their coffee orders right.” Steve said.

“Yeah, thanks for doing that.” I said. “Want me to drive?”

“No it’s fine.” Steve said.

“Just go down half a block and make a left.” I said.

“Okay.” Steve said starting the car and driving off. We got to the apartment a few minutes later.

“You going to knock?” Steve asked.

“Uh, good idea.” I said knocking.

“Come in.” Will said.

I cracked the door open before stopping. “Everyone have their pants on?”

“Yes.” Josh answered.

“Good.” I said walking in holding the donuts. “I brought goodies.”

“Yay!” Will said.

“And coffee.” Steve said.

“Hey, I thought you were in DC?” Will said taking the coffee out of Steve’s hands.

“I came up for a visit.” Steve said giving me a look asking if Will knew. I shook my head before smiling at Will.

“This is actually an apology.” I said.

“For walking in here pulling out god knows what and throwing cash at me before walking out?” Will said and Steve gave me a look. “Because if you want to do that again I saw some Gucci loafers that would go great with the slacks I bought.”

“No but I’m glad you found something you liked. I need to ditch friends day.” I said. “I forgot it was Tony’s birthday.”

“You forgot? How you basically run his life?” Will said.

“I’ve been distracted lately anyways I actually need to head back to the tower and get started on cooking tonight’s dinner along with baking a cake and I need my pans and frosting tips.” I said.

“We moved those down to storage.” Will said. “I can go get those just going to need a hand.”

That’s what I’m here for.” Steve said.

“I’m just going to use the bathroom real quick, meet you down there.” I said.

“Cool.” Will said. “Come on spangles, let’s see you in action.”

I quickly walked into the bathroom and waited about a minute after the door closed to get to work.

I grabbed my spare identities and stashed them in a plastic baggie before putting it in back in the fireplace.

“What are you doing?” Josh asked.

“You’re better off not knowing. Where do you hide your cash?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?” Josh asked.

“You know what, where do you put the cash you don’t want Will to know about, the one you got from your old job.” I said giving him a look.

He sighed but moved the coffee table and pulled out some of the loose floorboards. “I did a few jobs for Marcel a few weeks ago. I’m trying to save up to surprise Will by paying off his student loans.” Josh said.

“Aww, you’re such a sweet heart.” I said pulling out the four stacks of ten thousand dollars along with the fake ID’s. “Rainy day fund for the three of you.”

“Since when do rainy day funds come with fake ID’s?” Josh asked.

“We don’t have normal lives Josh. The mistakes from the past can come back to bite us and the people we care about in the ass. This is in case my past decides to get back at me. If I ever call you and say it’s time to start roaming around Rome. You get all of this and take Will and Nate somewhere safe.” I said.

“There’s something going on isn’t there?” Josh asked.

“Don’t ask.” I said putting the floorboards back.

“We found it, though you are going to have to wash these really well.” Will said as he and Steve walked in.

“Perfect just going to need to buy piping bags.” I said. “See you guys at dinner.”

“We can’t. Nate got us rangers tickets.” Will said.

“I guess I’ll see you on Friday.” I said.

“No take backs we are going to get fucked up.” Will said.

“Fuck yeah.” I said giving him a quick hug before walking out.

We loaded everything in the car before getting in. I decided to drive so that Steve could take a break. The car was silent and Steve just kept giving me looks.

“Say it.” I said.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Whatever’s bothering you?” I said.

“You didn’t tell Will.” Steve said.

“He doesn’t need to know.” I said.

“He’s your best friend, someone who has been there for you good and bad. He’s your brother in everything but blood.” Steve said.

“That’s exactly why I’m not telling him. Will is my brother, the only family I had for a long time. I’d burn the damn world down for him and I know he’d do the same that’s why he can’t know. I’m trying to keep my good brother away from my insane murdering brother. This is for his own good.” I said. “Anything you want to do before we head back?”

“Uh no.” Steve said.

“You guys are afraid of leaving me alone that’s why you came with. You’re on body guard duty.” I said.

“Your brother tried to kill you Hayley what do you expect us to do?” Steve said.

I sighed. “How’s work?” I asked.

“We’re on vacation.” Steve said.

“Sure you are, so if I checked your phone there wouldn’t be any messages from Fury trying to get you back to DC?” I asked.

“We’re on leave.” Steve said leaving no room for argument.

“Steve.” I said. “You have responsibilities. You can’t put your job on hold just because you’re scared.”

“Hayley your brother’s tried to kill you two times in the past four days.” Steve said “How can you expect us to be okay with that?”

“I spent thirteen years straight with him and I managed to survive. I spent the past five years on the run and it took him three years to pin me down. I’ve been afraid every day of the last five years but I couldn’t let that stop me from living my life. If I had I wouldn’t have met any of you. You can’t give into the fear of the what if’s because that’ll just make you miserable.” I said.

“Is that why you want to go to Europe?” Steve asked.

“I’ve always wanted to go just never got the chance. Figured it’s a now or never situation. Mom used to go a couple of weeks every year for business, I got stuck with him and whatever nanny she hired at the time.” I said. “I know the circumstances aren’t exactly great but you got to make the most out of a bad situation.”

“You shouldn’t go.” Steve said.

“I’ve done a lot of things I shouldn’t have done, I don’t think this is one of them.” I said as we pulled into the garage. Steve stayed quiet but I could feel the worry from his mark. Just as I was about to open the door to the car he took my hand and stopped me.

“Hayley, just…” he started before leaning over and kissing me. Steve took me by surprise and it took me a second to kiss back. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not going to lose me. It’ll work out, promise.” I said giving him another kiss before getting out of the car. Steve unloaded everything and carried it all the way upstairs. The grocery list I had ordered for dinner was already there and I got started on cooking.

“Okay prep time. Need to baste and marinade the pork chops first.” I said taking the stock out and adding herbs.

“Where did you learn to cook?” Steve asked.

“Mom ‘worked’ a lot and hired a nanny to look after me when she and him were out. I learned a few things the rest I picked up from cooking shows and diners I worked at.” I said putting the meat in the fridge.

“I had to learn so I could help cook for my mom while she was at work.” Steve said.

“That’s sweet, where did she work?” I asked.

“She was a nurse at a TB ward.” Steve said getting sad. Oh fuck, he said she died from TB before.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” I said.

“No it’s been a long time.” Steve said. “So you had a nanny.”

“I did.” I said not liking the question I knew was coming.

“What was her name?” Steve asked.

“Maya.” I said.

“She must have been around for a while if she taught you this much.” Steve asked.

“She was.” I said.

“What aren’t you saying?” Steve asked.

“You don’t want to know.” I said.

“Hayley.” Steve said.

“I slipped up once and told her my mom and brother made us change names multiple times. I also told her that the guy my mom was seeing at the time did bad things. She asked and He took care of her.” I said.

“Took care of her?” Steve asked confused.

“Sleeping with the fishes.” I said taking out the eggs and milk.

“How old were you?” Steve asked.

“Around five-ish.” I said. “Last time my mom hired a nanny.” That made Steve stay quiet.

“Sorry.” He said.

“So am I.” I said.

“Miss Adams your twelve o’clock has arrived.” Jarvis said.

“Be right down.” I said taking off my apron.

“You mind just keeping an eye on the stock?” I asked Steve.

“Of course I just…” he said not knowing exactly what he needed to do.

“Can you just make sure it boils for ten minutes then turn it off.” I said.

“Okay.” Steve said.

“Thanks.” I said before heading to the elevator. I got to the conference room to find Elijah already setting up.

“Hayley.” Elijah greeted.

“Elijah, thank you so much for doing this so last minute.” I said as I hugged him.

“It’s no trouble.” He said in french. I arched an eyebrow at the sudden change in language. “This meeting has been a long time coming. I believe this is about your inheritance?”

“Yes, as you know very well my circumstances have changed and I want to make sure that in the event things don’t end well for me certain people are taken care of.” I said.

“Taken care of?” he said giving me a look.

“Look after, safe and sound.” I said clarifying before any hits were put out.

“Ah, sorry you’d be surprised the amount of people who put out hits in their wills.” Elijah said.

“I can imagine.” I said.

“Well before anything you should probably familiarize yourself with your assets.” Elijah said opening his briefcase and pulling out a file.

“Considering what my mom’s business was I think I know all the assets she has. Some off shore accounts foreign trusts safe houses with cash drops?” I said.

“Actually your mother made some very wise and smart investments. She owned a lot of stock in major companies including the one we’re in right now.” Elijah said sliding the file to me.

“Excuse me? We’re talking about the same woman who couldn’t remember to pay the electric bill unless I reminded her right?” I asked.

“We are your mother was a lot of things Hayley but she knew when she was given good advice. She took some of the funds you managed to clean and invested them in legal ventures, your nest egg if you will. I must say by the time she died she was earning about the same amount from her side ventures as she was her legal ventures.” Elijah said.

I opened the folder and took a look at what the investments were. I had everything from real estate to oil and technology. “That’s a lot of zeroes.” I said.

“It is, and it’s all legal. Taxes have been paid and your quarterly earnings are going to be quiet a sum.” Elijah said pulling out another file.

“I guess I can quit my job now.” I said. Would I? Nah I actually like being Tony’s personal assistant. What would I do with my free time if I weren’t working?

“You most certainly could if you wanted to. Now that you know that here is the information for the bank accounts were all your money is found. Keep that for your records. As for your contingency plan,” Elijah started.

“You can call it what it is Elijah, I won’t burst into tears.” I said.

“You ever think that maybe helping someone I consider a dear friend and sibling make arrangements for after their death is not something I ever envisioned myself doing?” He asked.

“Sorry.” I said. “If there was anyone else I trusted enough for this I wouldn’t put this on you.”

“I know this just never gets easier but that doesn’t matter this is business. DO you know who your beneficiaries are going to be?” Elijah asked.

“Nathaniel Fitzwilliam Archibald, William Alexander Adams, and my soulmates with the exception of Tony because he’s already filthy rich.” I said.

“Nathaniel Archibald why does that name sound familiar?” Elijah asked.

“My ex boyfriend, one of my closest friends. He’s the grandson of William Vanderbilt disowned after his father was imprisoned for embezzling funds from his clients. He’s pretty down to Earth for a guy that grew up in a life of luxury.” I said.

“And you want to make him rich again why?” Elijah asked.

“Because of him. He wiped an entire family off the map, parents, women, and children, to get back at his wife for leaving him. I have a feeling that if he does end up killing me he won’t just stop at me and in that case I want them to have everything they need to disappear. I already prepared cash stores and documents for them in their apartment. As for my soulmates, they can’t be superheroes forever. They will eventually have to retire.” I said.

“May I ask what did you do with the advance given to you on your birthday?” Elijah asked.

“Most of it is in my apartment upstairs but the rest of it I have in cash stores and go bags hidden in secure locations.” I said.

“Good.” He said. “How is this going to be divided?”

“Equal shares.” I said.

“Properties?” Elijah asked.

“Sold and profits divided equally.” I said.

“All right.” He said. “I’ll have the documents written up. I’ll be in London in a two or three weeks and you can go over and sign the final copy then.”

“Perfect.” I said. “So I just have to ask, why are we not speaking English?”

“You’re being watched.” Elijah said.

“Robot, Red head or blonde?” I asked.

“Looks like a college professor.” Elijah said.

“Bruce.” I said. “He had a meeting with the patent department today. I forgot.”

“Is this a normal occurrence?” Elijah asked.

“It is since I decided to be honest and tell them everything.” I said.

“Everything?” He asked.

“The family business, everything that happened leading me to where I am today.” I said. “They also know he’s after me so they’re a bit on edge.”

“A bit?” Elijah said.

“I still haven’t told them anything that could lead to them finding him so they’re keeping an eye on me.” I said. “It’s getting old real fast. I’m expecting them to try and convince me not to go pretty soon.”

“As they should.” Elijah said.

“You too?” I said.

“You’re a grown woman and no one can make you do anything anymore. You make your own choices but you also have to realize the insanity you’re walking into. You chose to get out of this for a reason. If you want to find her you’re going to have to face it all again. Are you really prepared for that?” Elijah said.

“I’ll do what has to be done.” I said.

“As we all do.” Elijah said as he picked up his files and closed his brief case. “I’d hug you goodbye but…” he said looking behind me. I turned around and could spot Clint, Natasha, Tony and Bruce looking at us.

“Actually we should just to teach them a lesson about snooping in private conversations.” I said. Good thing I shut down all communications. Being paranoid is sometimes a good thing.

“How about just walking me out?” He said switching to English.

“That works too.” I said getting up. Elijah opened the door for me as I walked out of the conference room.

“It was good seeing you again.” Elijah said.

“Shame you can’t stay longer.” I said.

“Yes but duty calls.” Elijah said as the elevator dinged.

“Well have a safe flight and text me when you’re in London and we can do something.” I said.

“I have always wanted to see a play at the globe theater.” Elijah said.

“If it’s Hamlet or Julius Caesar count me in.” I said.

“We’ll be in touch.” He said getting in the elevator.

“Thanks for coming.” I said.

“Anytime.” Elijah said as the doors closed.

I turned around about to walk to the private elevators when Tony finally popped out.

“Hey sunshine.” Tony said.

“Hey you, how’s the speech writing going?” I said casually.

“Great, those graduates are going to be bawling by the time I’m through with them. So who was that?” Tony asked.

“Who was who?” I asked playing dumb.

“Guy you were talking to, just got in the elevator?” Tony asked.

“My European boyfriend.” I said. “I’m going to need someone to keep me company while I’m away.”

“No way in hell!” Clint shouted.

“Him seriously?” Tony said. Natasha just looked shocked.

“Hey, you guys didn’t want me to be alone in another country now I won’t be.” I said pressing the button for the elevator.

“Uh I don’t think this is what we had in mind.” Bruce said.

“Neither did I but we take what we can get.” I said biting the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from laughing.

“Hayley there is no way in hell you are hooking up with… with… that guy.” Tony said.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.

“He’s… older!” Clint said looking pretty serious.

“So are all of you.” I said getting in the elevator with Bruce and Natasha.

“But…” Tony started and the doors closed.

It took about a second before I just busted out laughing.

“Hahahaha, I…I… can’t believe he bought that!” I said laughing.

“So he’s not our replacement?” Bruce said.

“Why would you ever think that?” I said.

“You two looked close.” Natasha said.

“He’s an old friend, also happens to be my lawyer.” I said wiping tears that had fallen out in my hysterical laughter.

“Oh.” Bruce said awkwardly.

“Hey, don’t ever think I’d replace any of you.” I said taking Bruce’s hand. “I just saw you guys snooping and decided to mess with you a bit. It’s a bit sad how easily you guys fell for that.”

Natasha pulled my hand away from Bruce and kissed me. She threaded her fingers in my hair and held me in place as she deepened the kiss. I put my hands on her waist and pulled her closer.

The elevator dinged and I heard the door open but I didn’t bother getting out. Natasha snapped out of it before me. He just muttered something really quick in Russian before taking my hand and walking me into the elevator.

“What did you just say?” I asked. She gave me a smirk and kissed my cheek before going to sit on the couch.

Out of all the freaking languages I knew why couldn’t one of them be Russian?

I got back to work on boiling the potatoes when Clint came in.

“Hales I know the past few days have been rough for you but breaking up, really?” Clint said.

“Clint.” I started.

“No I meant it when I said I wanted a future with you…” Clint started.

“Clint.” I tried to get his attention again.

“Seriously hales I thought we were over this…”

“Clint!” I yelled.

“What?” Clint shouted back.

“I’m not breaking up with you, and I’m not hooking up with anyone else. I meant it when I said you were stuck with me. There is no one else for me except you know my other five soulmates. I was trying to get back at you dummies for snooping.” I said.

“Oh.” He said feeling embarrassed.

“Yeah.” I said.

“I’m gonna go…” he said pointing towards the couch.

“Go do that.” I said giving him a smile. I was so going to tease him for that later.

A Few Hours Later-

“Need a hand?” Clint asked.

“No I got it covered, you mind tasting this, I feel like it’s missing something.” I said offering him some of the mashed potatoes.

“Let’s see.” Clint said taking a bite. “Mh, that is so good.”

“Salt? Pepper?” I asked.

“Nope you’re good.” Clint said sneaking another bite.

“That is a nice cake.” Natasha said opening the fridge. “How did you do that?”

“I worked at a bakery for a few months, picked up a few tricks.” I said.

“That is really detailed.” Bruce said taking a peak.

“I try, so the pork chops are out of the oven and so are the string beans. Potatoes are ready and so is the gravy. My gift’s wrapped, Pepper and Rhodey…” I started.

“On their way up ma’am.” Jarvis said seconds before the elevator dinged.

“What is that smell?” Rhodey said sounding almost like a moan.

“It’s either the pork chops, mashed potatoes, string beans with bacon or the cake and goodies Hayley made.” Steve said.

“Woah.” Pepper said taking in the feast.

“If you’ve seen these guys eat, you would know this is barely enough.” I said. “How are you Rhodey?”

“I’m good, where’s the birthday boy?” RHodey asked.

“Still in the lab, we made him think we forgot what today was and buried him in paperwork.” Pepper said.

“Technically I did actually forget.” I said.

“And he’s actually doing his work?” Rhodey asked.

“I threatened to hire a strict German nanny as my replacement for the year of he didn’t.” I said.

“Nice.” Rhodey said.

“I should probably go get him.” I said. “No picking at the goodies before dinner.”

“Aww.” Everyone whined. I got in the elevator and made my way downstairs. I cringed at the sound of ACDC blasting through the room making the ground shake.

“JARVIS MUSIC OFF!” I shouted. It was so loud Jarvis couldn’t listen. I took my phone and hacked in to shut off the music.

“Don’t turn off my music.” Tony called off.

“You’re gonna go deaf if you keep that up.” I said watching as Tony put down his tools and stopped working on his suit to look at me.

“Here to break up with me because that would be the cherry on top of an already crappy birthday?” Tony said.

“Tony.” I said.

“No Hales just say it already.” Tony said.

“I’m not breaking up with you, you idiot!” I shouted.

“Then what are you here for?!” He shouted back.

I took the blindfold I had with me and walked up to him.

“Hales I…” Tony started.

“Shut up.” I said putting on the blindfold and leading him to the elevator. “For the record the guy I was talking to was my lawyer dummy.” I kissed his cheek and led him to the elevator.

“Why do you have a lawyer?” Tony asked.

“Name change and some paperwork I needed to sign.” I said.

“And you hugged him because?” he asked.

“He also happens to be an old friend.” I said as the elevator door opened. “Walk.”

He took a few steps and I slipped off the blindfold.

“Surprise!” Everyone shouted.

“Oh.” Tony said.

“Yeah.” I said with a smirk.

“I love you.” He said.

“I actually did forget your birthday until Pepper reminded me this morning.” I said so he wouldn’t feel so bad.

“But she did put all of this together in a few hours.” Pepper amended.

“Wait till you see the cake.” Rhodey said.

“So we’ve got pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, string beans with almonds and bacon, and salad. Plus a bunch of goodies and cake.” I said.

“You made all of this?” Tony said.

“She did.” Steve said.

“Let’s sit down before it gets cold.” I said ushering everyone to sit down.

We ate dinner and then I brought out the cake. I only put one candle because I forgot to buy candles.

“I think you’re missing a few Hales.” Clint said.

“If I put the actual amount I’d probably cause a fire.” I said.

“Hey It’s supposed to be my special day. First you bury me in paperwork, then you make me think you’re trading me in for a newer model…” He said making me laugh. “And now you’re calling me old.” Tony whined.

“You look good for your age.” I said not being able to help but get an extra hit in. Tony just gave me a look. “I’ll make it up to you. Make a wish.” I said lighting the candle.

“Are you going to make my wish come true?” He said giving me what I can only describe as a panty dropping grin.

“We’ll see.” I said.

He blew out his candle and then we all opened presents. Everyone stuck to gag gifts or vintage rock t-shirts.

“Okay, I need to you to listen. For my gift you can either just have this one.” I said putting a small box down or you can have both.” I said showing him an envelope.

“Both.” He said.

“But if you choose to get them both there are rules.” I said.

“Seriously?” He said.

“Dead serious. If you choose to see what’s in the envelope you can never tell anyone else what’s written inside.” I said.

“What’s inside of it?” Steve asked.

“Yes or no Tony?” I asked ignoring Steve.

“Say yes Stark.” Natasha said.

“What would I want that if no one would ever know what’s inside?” Tony asked.

“I had a hard time figuring out what to get you. I mean what do you get the guy that already has everything. Then it hit me what’s the one thing you love doing above everything else?” I said.

“Well sunshine…” Tony said giving me a flirty look.

“Get your head out of the gutter man.” Rhodey said.

“You love taunting and teasing. This is the ultimate thing you can hold over everyone in this room’s head.” I said. “Nat and Clint would probably kill for this.”

“What is it?” Tony asked.

“Well you already know my middle name…” I started.

“No.” Tony said giving me a look.

“Well if you can’t keep it to yourself I may as well burn it.” I said taking the lighter.

“Stark!” Clint, Steve and Nat shouted.

“I can never tell them.” Tony said.

“No one ever.” I said. “If you do, I’ll never speak to you again.”

“A bit much don’t you think?” Pepper asked.

“My middle name’s Chauncey.” I said.

“Oh god that’s bad.” Pepper said barely holding back her laughter.

“So what’s your answer?” I said waving the lighter close to the envelope.

“Eh… Damn this is… wow… mmmh, Compromise?” Tony asked.

“Yes or no.” I said flicking on the lighter.

“Okay Okay Okay, yes!” He cheered.

“Come on.” I said.

“You’re not doing it here?” Bruce asked.

“Hell no, I’m not risking you finding out.” I said leading Tony into the bathroom.

“Okay you know the rules. You never say this out loud or tell anyone ever.” I said.

“Give me the envelope already!” He exclaimed. I handed it to him and his hands were shaking with excitement. “That’s your…” He said laughing. “Wow your mom hated you. Seriously this and Chauncey what did you do?” Tony said laughing. I took the paper and set it on fire.

“No idea.” I said waiting to the paper to burn before dumping it into the sink and turning on the faucet.

“That was the best birthday present ever.” He said still laughing.

“Don’t ever say I don’t trust you. I went against my better judgement telling you that.” I said opening the door.

“You guys have no idea what you missed out on.” Tony said still chuckling.

“You chose him to keep your name a secret? You know he’ll tell us before dinner’s over.” Natasha said.

“No he won’t.” I said.

“I won’t this is… this is way to good to let this slip out.” Tony said still chuckling. He was enjoying the leverage.

“Can you at least tell us if it’s as funny as Chauncey?” Pepper asked.

“Oh trust me it is.” Tony said. I gave him a look and he instantly shut up. “Thank you.” Tony said taking my hand. I leaned over and kissed him.

“Happy Birthday Tony.” I said.