As little Cole Stark celebrated his second birthday he could tell the grownups were excited about something. The toddler munched on his cake, getting equal amounts in his hair as in his mouth, and listened. He picked up a few words that he knew. Baby. Happy. Mother. Father.
It didn't bother Cole that everyone was happy. What bothered him was that everyone was surrounding Uncle Thor and Aunt Jane and no one was paying any attention to him. He calculated that, in the past, the best way to get attention was to either throw a fit or do something adorable.
He attempted the latter by smearing a blob of chocolate frosting all over his face and giggling like it was the best thing in the world. His mommy looked over at him, smiled, and then went back to talking. Perhaps being cute was not enough in this situation.
"We're so excited for you," Pepper said, holding Jane's hand, "Do you have any name ideas yet?"
"Thor doesn't want to find out the gender so we've been brainstorming names for both boys and girls. I really like the name-"
"Mommy!" Cole shrieked as loudly as he could, shoving his plate and sippy cup onto the floor. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Cole noticed that his mother was tiredly coming toward him with a napkin. She swiped the chocolate off of his face and tutted scoldingly.
"Calm down," Pepper pulled him out of his high chair, "What's the matter?"
"Cake." Cole pouted.
"Tony, would you mind getting him another piece of cake?" Pepper sighed.
"No problem Pep," Tony chirped, putting down his own plate and slicing a piece. He rolled his eyes, "He's got a tooth coming in." The billionaire explained.
"Poor guy," Laura Barton sighed, "That's never fun."
"Hey, kiddo, you want some cake?" Tony asked, holding it out to his son.
Cole considered it and decided that if he acted satisfied they'd go back to paying attention to Thor and Jane. Rather than accepting the cake that his daddy was offering, he tipped it so that the chocolate fell into Tony's lap. Then Cole continued crying.
"I think maybe it's nap time." Pepper started carrying him off to his bedroom as the adults waved goodbye. Cole would not be so easily defeated.
"Hugs?" He asked, stopping his tears.
"You want to hug your friends?"
"Hugs." He agreed and then wiggled until Mommy put him down. He immediately ran over and hugged each of the Avengers as they exclaimed over how cute he was and wished him a happy birthday. When he got to Uncle Thor and Aunt Jane he paused. Everyone else was saying nice things to them so maybe he would too.
"'Cited!" He exclaimed, knowing his little voice was more adorable than kittens and bunnies combined, "I'm 'cited for you!"
"Aww!" All of the adults cried, "So sweet. Oh he's going to love having another friend to play with. Oh my gosh, he's just an angel."
Cole accepted the praise and nodded to each adult proudly. He glimpsed his father smirking and his mother rolling her eyes. They knew exactly what he was up to, but that didn't stop him from giving Thor an extra hug and blowing Jane a kiss.
"Okay Cole, time for your nap." His mommy called and he gave one last stunning smile before running off to bed.
The little boy had no idea what he was "'cited" about, but he'd heard something about a new friend, which was always a good thing. If he got enough friends then someday he could have his own Avengers team, just like Daddy. The toddler smiled happily, tummy filled with cake, and drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Thank you so, so much to everyone who has followed and favorited so far! It means a lot to me that you are interested in my story! Thanks to everyone who has read this, I'm glad I've entertained you for a few moments!
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