Steve allowed Tony to push him out the door and toward the car Happy had waiting for him. "I feel ridiculous."

"You look fine. In." Tony slid into his seat after his husband.

"Since when do you want to go to a press conference?" Steve smoothed the cuffs of his shirt for the thousandth time.

"Never. But I'm accustomed to the obligation." Tony leaned over and straightened one of the pins on the jacket of Steve's dress uniform.

"Why do I have to be there?"

"You're an American icon; it's Independence Day."

"The general public doesn't know I'm me."

"Okay. I'm an American icon, it's Independence Day, you're married to me."

"I still think this is ridiculous."

"Steve, shut up."

"Tony—"

"Shut up or I will shut you up, and I don't care how uncomfortable it makes Hogan."

Steve rolled his eyes and settled into the corner of his seat.

They arrived at a building downtown where Pepper was waiting for them. She walked with them to the elevator. "I thought you were never going to get here." She handed Tony a folder and straightened both his and Steve's jackets. "Everyone is waiting upstairs. I'll be up in a minute." She ushered them into the elevator.

Tony flipped through the folder too quickly for Steve to see what was in it. The elevator neared the top floor.

"Steve?"

"What?"

"Please don't kill me for this."

"What?"

The elevator opened onto a ballroom full of people, all of whom shouted, "Surprise!"

Steve's face went blank and he turned to Tony. "You lying—"

"Yeah, yeah, I lied, but come on birthday boy, there're people here for you." Tony pulled his husband out of the elevator.

"I don't even know this many people."

"Don't worry about it, most of them are S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You are a dead man."

"I've been a dead man for, like, a decade." Tony grabbed a glass of champagne. "It's your party, dear. Enjoy yourself."

Steve's retort was cut off by someone throwing their arms around him from behind. He twisted to see who it was. "Darcy?"

"Hey you!" She stepped back. "What's up, old man?"

"What are you doing here?" He pulled her into a hug, and then let her go. "I thought you moved to England."

"I did. But c'mon man, I couldn't miss this. Besides, Tony paid for my plane ticket. He paid for my boyfriend too. He's here somewhere, probably looking lost and star-struck." She glanced around and shrugged.

"Well it is good to see you."

"You too big guy." She leaned up on tip toe to kiss him on the cheek. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you, Darcy."

Tony snaked an arm around Steve's waist. "Am I forgiven?"

"Not yet." Steve removed Tony's arm from around him, making Darcy snort with laughter.

"Hey there, Cap." Natasha emerged from the crowd in a skintight red dress. "You look spiffy."

"You look, uh, I don't have a good adjective. You were in on this?"

"Everyone but you was in on this." She patted his bicep. "And Darcy? The confused British kid belongs to you, right? He's at the bar. He needs a chaperone."

"Oh okay, yikes," Darcy ran off to see to her pet boyfriend.

Natasha looped her arm through Steve's and tugged him into the crowd where S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, most of whose names he did not know clapped him on the back as he passed. "I know. You didn't really want anything, but you ought to thank Tony anyway. He went to a lot of trouble to put this together." She paused and nodded at a tower of wine bottles. "All of it bottled in 1920. I have no idea how much he spent and I know he doesn't care. So he's bad at subtlety, whatever, he loves you and this is how he's showing it. Now get your inhumanly toned ass around the wine tower, Thor has something for you."

Steve nodded, patted her shoulder, and circled the tower of bottles. There was Thor, dressed in his best, with each of the twins in his arms. "Steve!" Thor boomed and set down the children down to run to their father. "Happy birthday, my friend."

"Daddy!" Ana threw herself at her father, while her brother latched onto his leg. "Papa said we couldn't tell you we weren't staying home like you thought."

James grinned. "Soon as you were downstairs, Thor brought us here for your party."

Steve smiled and hugged his children, deciding to not worry about how Thor got them there. "You are all so sneaky."

Across the ballroom, Darcy patted Ian's shoulder. He swallowed a drink. "I can't believe you know these people."

"Yeah, well, interning in New Mexico got weird." She nodded to where Thor was laughing with Steve. "Short version: Mr. Thunder and Lightning showed up, I tazed him, got in with this crowd. Temporary roadie to the Avengers." She shrugged. "And, uh, then I had Iron Man and Captain America's babies."

Ian nearly choked. "You what?"

"They needed a surrogate. I volunteered."

"So, those kids, they're yours?"

"No, not really. I just gave birth to them. Love 'em, but don't have the parental responsibilities. Except tonight. I told Tony I'd be mommy for the night so he and Cap can have their fun."

Ian sighed and ordered another drink. Darcy ruffled his hair fondly.

By evening, the twins had gone to the tower with Darcy and Ian. Tony leaned gently with his hands on Steve's back. The centenarian was seated at a table surrounded by low-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who he, Tony, and Natasha were steadily drinking under the table. Only Hill, Coulson, and a younger brunet man seemed to be smart enough to not try to keep pace.

"Hey, you," Tony gestured at the brunet agent. "Where have I seen you before? I've seen you before."

"He's the guy who was playing Galaga on the Helicarrier during our first mission as a team." Natasha took a swig from a bottle of flavored vodka and won another hand of blackjack. "Agent Carter Reed, level two, technologies department."

"Thank you, Agent Romanov." Agent Reed was flushing with embarrassment. "I was hoping no one remembered that."

Tony laughed. "Ah, Galaga!"

Steve reached up and took Tony's hand. "Hard to believe that was seven years ago."

"Says the man born in 1920." Clint examined the label on the wine bottle he was drinking from, then held it up in a toast.

"Point made." Steve chuckled. Tony had officially been forgiven several hours before, and Steve was enjoying himself.

"I think the harder thing to believe is that I was clinically dead at the time, and the two of you hated each other." Coulson ate a potato chip. "Look how far we've come."

"But then as now, I turn up unannounced and uninvited." Loki sidled up to the table, ignoring the arsenal that had been drawn on him the instant he spoke. "No thanks to my brother, I've gotten leave to join the celebration. Have a present." He set a delicately tooled leather bound sketchbook on the table.

Steve picked it up. "Wow, this is nice. Thank you."

"I'd heard you draw." He turned unenthusiastically to Coulson, who had a handgun trained on him. "I've no plan to kill you again, you can put that away. That goes for all of you. Most of you seem too knackered to aim properly regardless."

No weapons were put away. Loki shrugged, took a seat, and poured himself a glass of champagne. "So you've made it a century. Not much by my book, but quite an achievement for a human—though I dare say being cryogenically frozen qualifies as cheating."

"You really are going to make a habit of this, aren't you?" Tony sounded peeved.

"When I can." Loki sipped his champagne. The birdcage-chain bracelets were still present on his wrists.

"What do you mean he's going to make a habit of this?" Agent Hill shot Tony a look.

"He sort of crashed my forty-first birthday."

"I did. We played poker." He set down his glass. "I don't intend to be here long."

Steve fingered the corner of his new sketchbook. "If he's not going to be here long, I think it's safe for the weapons to be put away. Please."

Slowly, the arsenal was stowed, but the agents maintained a wary surveillance of the uninvited guest. The card games resumed, but the drinking and chitchat was stilted.

"Would you mind?" Thor gestured at the sketchbook with a pen he'd gotten from somewhere.

Steve gave him a puzzled look.

"It isn't cursed." Loki sounded exasperated.

"I'd like to be sure. Not that I don't trust you, brother, but, well, I don't trust you."

Steve pushed the book across the table toward Thor. "Be my guest."

Thor drew a small, harmless looking fish on the corner of the first page. Nothing happened.

"I told you." Loki sipped his champagne.

"Couldn't a curse be designed to only affect humans?" Jane asked then glanced at Loki. "You are exactly that much of a clever bastard."

"Thank you, but it isn't cursed, I swear, do I get no credit?"

"None whatsoever." Clint casually cracked his knuckles.

"Would everyone like to doodle on the first page, just to be sure?" Steve asked.

Pens and pencils were scrounged up and—all in the name of safety—a table full of grown men and women, many of them trained killers, were doodling thumbnail drawings and birthday wishes. Several SHIELD agents added fish friends to Thor's, Clint added a fishing line and worm, Tony added a shark chasing the fish, Natasha added a sea serpent chasing the shark. When the book got passed to Coulson, he reluctantly drew in his car. Steve took his gift back, saying it seemed safe.

When Loki vanished about a half hour later. Coulson turned on Steve. "Why, exactly, were you defending him?"

"Because I didn't want a fight, and I actually believe he means no harm."

"He—"

Steve cut Coulson off. "Is unstable and tried to kill you, I know, but—"

"He did kill me."

"You don't look very dead to me, Phil. You weren't out for all that long, and I'm sure it was traumatic, but you didn't miss much and when you woke up everyone you knew was still alive, so I apologize for not being impressed. I prefer to see the best in people, you know that. God knows I must, or I wouldn't be married. As such, I am prepared to give Loki the benefit of the doubt. I'd appreciate others doing the same. If you treat someone like a monster, that's all they can ever be."

Coulson stared at him.

Tony put a hand on Steve's arm. "Shame we can't chalk that little spiel up to the wine. Anyway, I'm gonna say we should all go home. Yes, this is me trying to defuse a situation, not my strong suit. So, yeah, everybody to the coatcheck."

Probably because no one was used to Tony calling an end to a party, everyone actually listened. On the ride home, Tony asked, "What's changed your tune about Frosty the Iceman?"

"What?"

"Loki. Last time he showed, you did not want him anywhere around. What's changed?"

"I've had a long time to think about what he said about not having been himself. Now he's in prison. Also he seemed fine, if questionable, when we all played poker and I don't think Thor realizes it, but from some of his stories it really sounds to me that Loki got sidelined most of their childhood. When you think about that, it's less that he's evil so he tried to take over the world and more that he's immature and was acting out. He's just a brat, but brats can get better."

Tony leaned against the door of the car and studied his husband. "You really are just an idealistic, shiny-eyed kid from Brooklyn." He kissed Steve's cheek.

Steve chuckled and shrugged. "I am." He kissed Tony back.

By the time they reached the top floors of the tower, Steve's tie was around Tony's neck. They exited the elevator and nearly ran into Darcy's boyfriend, Ian. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uh, hi."

"Hey." Tony's mouth twitched into a grin. "Thanks for helping Darcy watch the kids."

"Not a problem, they're great. Everyone but me is asleep. Time change. To me it's morning. You know what; I'm just going to get out of your way." He made off down the nearest hall.

Tony chuckled and let Steve half carry him to their room. The door closed behind them. Clothing started hitting the floor. One hand on the back of Tony's neck, the other on his hip, Steve glanced at the ceiling. "Jarvis, don't let anyone in here until we say otherwise."

"Yes, sir."

Sometime later, with the lights of Manhattan dimly twinkling through the darkened windows, Tony tucked his face against Steve's shoulder. "So, which of us here is the Redenbacher?"

"What?" Steve chuckled.

"Like a cougar, but a guy. You're more than twice my age, but you're also like thirty, so I'm sixteen years older than you at the same time you're twice my age."

"Does it matter?" Steve kissed Tony's hair.

"Not really, just something I thought of."

"I'd say it's you."

"But you're a hundred." Tony grinned, rolled, and sat up such that he was straddling Steve's waist.

"But, really, I'm thirty." Steve sat up slowly, rested one hand on Tony's hip and the other on his arm. "You're old."

"Not that old." Tony ran a thumb over the blond's cheekbone then shut his eyes, one hand in Steve's hair. "I'm good for another round."

"Prove it."

"Yes, Captain."