I know I'm late. I was working the past weekend and I have long days at work. The kind where you're just happy to do other stuff than sit in front of your computer (and it does sound weird).

Anyway. Late I may be, but I still have chapter 13 ready!

A cute, fluffy chapter (mostly) with sugar and balloons.

No joke.

Enjoy!

Chapter 13: Birthday Plans

"No. No way. We're not putting a huge piñata shaped like a rainbow-colored dragon in the middle of the living room." I protested, stopping the spinning motions of Tony's chair – which I had stolen, although the man had merely taken a spot on the corner of his desk to sit – to shake my head.

"You are no fun. This piñata would be loads of fun."

"Tony, just no. Believe me, that's not for Vanessa."

"Come on!"

"I think you should let Alexanne handle the organization." Natasha cut in and I shot her a grateful smile because Tony would think twice about it before messing with her.

Stark huffed. "Fine. But don't hold yourself back too much. You said 'party', so let's have a real party!"

"Just so you know; Vanessa isn't much of a drinker." I said absently, scribbling down a list of what we needed on a StarkPad.

"Thor will drink her glass."

"And I don't want the party to end with everybody drunk, so there has to be a limit on the quantity of alcohol."

Natasha nodded once. "I can keep an eye on the bar."

"That would be great." I said, ignoring Tony's disgruntled look. "Casual clothing. We want it to be a surprise and Ness is going to know what's going on if she is forced into a dress."

"Come on, Lexy, give me something to work with!" Tony asked.

"Patience!" I growled in a way that left no place for arguing. The genius apparently got it – for once. He shut his mouth and merely glared at me to express his dissatisfaction.

Nodding to myself, I continued my list. "Not too many people. Let's keep it between ourselves. No inviting strangers to the party, please."

"You really are no fun."

"I can be fun. When I want to. Decorations… We'll need balloons, ribbons, maybe a 'Happy Birthday' banner… Purple, green, white and cream."

"Hmm… Tasteful." Natasha commented.

I smiled. "Yeah, well… I'm going with colors that will please Vanessa while blending sufficiently well together that they won't be an eyesore. Now, for the music… I'll have to find a way to steal Ness' music player to see what she's currently listening to. Lighting… You wanna take care of something, Tony? We'll need a place where we can move around freely, with party lights. Maybe we could also add some video games to the party… And a movie later? But which video games? And what kind of movie?"

Okay. I was slowly developing a headache. I wanted Vanessa's twenty-fifth birthday party to be awesome but, as I wasn't exactly fond of parties in general – too much noise, too many people and the fact that I didn't know how to dance without taking the whole dance floor – I was trying to put ideas together without having much of an idea of what the result would look like.

"Food?" Natasha prompted.

I had never been so grateful for her presence before. But well, I didn't know much about her. She was an assassin, an agent of SHIELD, an Avenger. She was Black Widow and did not have that name for nothing. The woman, even if she wasn't much taller than me, was overwhelming by the aura of danger I swear I could feel around her. She was quiet, deadly efficiency and I really didn't want to get on her bad side.

How not to get on someone's bad side?

Steer clear of them.

But it was kind of hard to steer clear of someone you shared living quarters with.

Anyway. Food.

"Uh… Food… Well, Nessie isn't exactly fond of trying meals she never tasted before – which I always thought kind of weird, but maybe that's just me – so I need something I know she will like… Something simple…"

I cursed my best friend silently. What would she want to eat on her birthday?

Come on, De Bellefeuille! What's her favorite meal, already?

"Lasagna with loads of cheese. Like, literally dripping cheese. With garlic-buttered slices of warm bread. And alcohol and juices, but we had already agreed on that." I decided.

"So that's covered. Tony will take care of the lights and of the alcohol. Clint and I will keep an eye on Vanessa during the preparations to make sure she doesn't accidentally walk on us. Bruce and Steve can mind the food and I'm sure that Steve can also help with the decoration. Thor could too." Natasha summarized.

I momentarily wondered if it would be okay if I was to start to call her 'Tasha' like Clint did, before deciding that it probably was too soon for that.

"If anyone has an artistic taste, it's Steve." I agreed. I had caught a glimpse of his sketchbook once and wow; I was a little jealous. I'll help around and keep an eye on you, Tony, since I'm wary of what crazy ideas can go through that genius brain of yours. And I'll manage Thor."

"I don't have crazy ideas but awesome ones."

"Yeah, right. Could have fooled me."

But Tony wasn't even listening to me anymore. "All of this has to be ready without Vanessa knowing in…?"

I winced. We were March 14th. "Seven days. It has to be ready on the 21st."

"You are of course aware that it isn't a lot of time to do this."

I bristled, glaring at him. "I know! Sorry if I've been thinking about other things in the previous weeks!" I snapped. I already felt bad enough as it was for almost forgetting her birthday, thank you very much! "So yeah, seven days. I noticed that subtlety isn't exactly your strong point, but I'm sure you can manage."

The doors to Tony's workshop opened suddenly, making us jump but for Natasha, who either was hard to surprise or didn't jump when surprised.

Vanessa came in.

Crap!

"There you all are! What are you doing?"

Nothing that will interest you." I lied smoothly, saving the party list and opening one of the documents I was translating. "I'm working on my translations of the Arc Reactor documents and making some things clear about them with Tony. And Natasha was down here for something about a new gun, right?"

Natasha took it all in stride. "Yes. We were discussing on a new gun with a different type of bullets. A new idea of Tony."

"Electrical impulsion. I'm not done, but when I will be, it'll be a brilliant weapon." Thankfully, Tony did not hesitate to take up the lie, actually bringing up on his blue prints a gun model and a couple of different bullets models. "Just imagine. You load your weapon with those babies – who will vary in size – and shoot. The energy liberated by the propulsion of the bullet will activate the electrical impulsion of it and when it will hit its intended target, it will free an electrical charge that could knock out or even kill the target." he explained.

Not interested in the technicalities, my best friend let out a soft polite "Ah…", then:

"It's lunchtime. You're coming up soon?"

"Yeah, we'll be upstairs in a couple of minutes." I answered and Vanessa nodded before exiting the workshop.

We waited about two minutes in complete silence before Tony let out a noise of relief.

"That was too close. JARVIS, why didn't you tell me that Vanessa was coming down?"

"She asked me not too, sir."

"That woman turned my AI against me." Tony huffed and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

"I think he likes her." I quipped.

"Then, there is a risk that he might jeopardize the party by answering any suspicions she might have toward the subject." Natasha remarked.

It has the effect of a bucket of ice dumped on my head – which had happened once for a stupid dare – and I shook my head furiously. "He wouldn't… JARVIS, if the party is to be a surprise, Vanessa must know nothing of it, okay? Don't tell her anything at all about it, even if she asks!"

It wasn't my place to give orders to the AI, but he had to keep it quiet if I wanted the surprise to be perfect.

"Understood, Alexanne."

And it had taken a while to get him to call me that.

"Thank you, JARVIS. Now, let's go have some lunch."

*o*O*o*O*o*

As the days ticked by, we managed to smuggle everything we needed in the Tower without Vanessa knowing. Decorations, food and drinks, gifts… even some fireworks (Tony's brilliant idea, I had to admit).

Now, early in the morning on March 21st, I was having a solid moment of panic.

I had to get Vanessa out of the building. Subtly.

Then decorate the living room – which had been decided as the place where we would have the party. There was food to prepare and I had to make sure that there was an easy access to it and the drinks. I also had to manage the preparations, make sure that Tony didn't do anything crazy, clear the space for fireworks on the top of the Tower…

"Fucking hell, what was I thinking?"

Okay, calm down. You can do this, Lex. You can organize this party properly and then say: "I organized a party once and it was awesome. It will be awesome, Vanessa will love it, and you're worrying too much for nothing.

Again.

There was a knock on my door and my eyes flickered from the wall – I seriously contemplated redoing the whole decoration of my room – to said door.

"Coming."

I opened the door on Thor – over-excited, cheerful, boisterous Thor – who smiled brightly.

"Vanessa is still in her room and I do not think she knows of the party!" the god announced. "The Captain wants you to eat something before we begin to prepare for the festivities."

"Right. Breakfast. I have to get Vanessa out of the Tower after lunch. Not before. She'll be suspicious otherwise. And Thor, calm down, please. Just a little." I was stressed and I don't know why his excitement made the stress worse. Maybe because I didn't only want to please Vanessa. Maybe because I wanted to prove that I could do something of my hands and brain to the Avengers.

Maybe…

Argh! I don't honestly know!

It visibly took him some effort, but the Norse god managed to control his level of jumpiness, although the bright smile didn't lose any of its intensity. If I was to put a wire between those white, grinning teeth, I wondered how long it would take before a battery was charged.

"Can't wait to participate in a Midgardian birthday party?" I asked as I followed Thor to the nearest elevator.

"Indeed. Tony Stark told me that Midgardian birthday parties are different from Asgardian ones. It is obvious already for you do it once a year. On Asgard, we have gigantic feasts for special age-reaching only. I remember my coming of age fondly. I had never drunk so much ale before. But I understand that for humans, every year must be special, since you have so little time to live." He looked mournful at that.

It made me a little mournful too.

"But I am very eager to see the result of your thoughtful planning!"

A fair number of answers went through my head, but I finally settled on a muttered: "I just hope this will turn out well."

Having finally learned that slapping me between the shoulder blades wasn't a good idea, Thor patted me on the shoulder. "I am sure that it will please Vanessa."

I sighed. "I really hope you're right."

In the kitchen, I was met by the mouth-watering scent of waffles, which had me having a fleeting thought about maple syrup. Did Tony have some in those fancy cupboards of his?

All thoughts on maple syrup flew out the window when Steve presented me a plate of delicious-looking waffles, which I thanked him for with a smile. Sure, with the stubborn lingering crush – was it really something I could consider as a 'crush' anymore? – it still hurt a little to act as if nothing was wrong around him, but even if I was extremely emotional, I was getting pretty good at keeping a straight face; pretty good at acting as if I had gotten over it.

I was an awfully good liar.

And I wasn't sure that I liked it.

Okay. Let's direct my thoughts on something else! Now.

"Since Vanessa isn't there, we might as well review the planning. After lunch, not before, I'll find a way to drive Ness out of here. Tony, you'll get started with the lights. Natasha, Clint and JARVIS will keep an eye out for Vaness while helping around. Bruce, you're handling the food with Steve, who'll also give me a hand with the decorations. Thor will be in charge of moving the furniture around and I'll supervise the whole thing."

They all nodded in agreement and JARVIS chimed an "I will do so".

"And I'll try not to be too bossy." Because, seriously, supervising meant that, supposedly, I could give orders. But actually giving orders to the Avengers just seemed awkward. And anyway, a 'please' was always agreeable and made people more efficient.

"What about the music?" Tony asked.

I smiled, proud of myself. "I managed to get Vanessa's music player and copy her current playlists on a computer that JARVIS will have access to."

"What about the games?"

"I already got a few prepared ideas."

JARVIS announced calmly that Vanessa was coming down. I had to give it to her; her timing was kind of perfect, even if she wasn't aware of it.

We had first been all sitting around the table. In the space of a few seconds, Steve went back to making a new plate of waffles, Bruce plunged into some scientific magazine that called forth unpleasant memories of my high school years – God, did I hate science even if I wasn't that bad – while Tony grabbed a StarkPad. Thor dug with appetite in his pile of waffles. Natasha and Clint started a staring match, which interested me even less than the scientific magazine. I finally grabbed a StarkPad myself and opened a webpage while I continued to eat.

When Vanessa arrived, it looked like any morning in the last week, if you didn't count the fact that she was up surprisingly early. It wasn't even nine yet.

"Morning!" I chimed cheerfully, which was a great way to get an unimpressive sleepy glare from my friend.

"Hi." Ness answered. Her brown eyes searched mine meaningfully, but I only raised an eyebrow in silent 'confusion' until she looked away.

"Out of bed early, Loch Ness?" Tony teased her.

My best friend shrugged coldly. "Yeah, so?"

"Orange juice to start the day?" I offered. I felt bad for acting as if I had forgotten her birthday. I mean, come on! I would be a poor excuse of a friend if I didn't remember that her birthday was exactly two months before mine.

Ness shrugged again in answer and if I hadn't been planning the surprise party, I would have felt awful for doing this to her.

I really hoped that she would enjoy the party.

*o*O*o*O*o*

My laughter was filling the room as Thor happily bounced me around, his big hands on my thighs anchoring me on his massive shoulders.

"Jeez, Thor, wait! Just wait until the balloons and decorations are taped before moving elsewhere! You're going faster than me!" I protested breathlessly, muffling a giggle in my hand at the sight of Steve. He was struggling not to drop or pop the dozen of inflated balloons he was carrying awkwardly.

"Watch your footing, Cap! I've got wires everywhere!" Tony warned absently, surrounded by what looked like miles of wires – red and black, with various stickers of so many different colors that it looks like a rainbow had dripped over them.

Since Clint was currently on watch duty – and the picture of him perched like his namesake on the edge of a building was weirdly hilarious – Natasha was helping with the decorating too. As gracious and nimble as a deer, she was going around the room with long – apparently endless – ribbons which she used to stripe the middle part of the walls with cream, white, green and purple continuous lines. The result was pretty nice, I had to admit, and I gave myself a mental pat for my choice of colors.

As Steve handed me a green balloon, I noticed that Thor's hair rose to follow its movement.

The wonders of static electricity!

I gleefully rubbed the balloon against the blond mane to create even more static before finally taping it to its place on the wall.

If anything, Thor was more fascinated than me by the science of it; although, when you could call electricity to your hand by will alone, the creation of it by simple means such as rubbing a balloon on your head probably was a wonder to the god. Eager to recreate the phenomenon, his large hands selected a white balloon and rubbed it strongly against his own head.

Too strongly.

The inflated balloons popped loudly, making me jump badly. I slipped backward and almost fell from Thor's shoulders. My hands grappling at said shoulders saved me in extremis from what would have been a huge bruise on my bottom but it got me in quite an awkward position; I was unable to drag myself up again and wasn't too keen at the idea of getting the aforementioned bruise by letting myself go.

"I got you." Thankfully, Steve came to my rescue; his hands closed on my waist and he hoisted me back up on Thor's shoulders. Automatically, my legs curled as far as they could go around the god's bulk to anchor myself in place once more and I thanked Steve breathlessly, blood loudly rushing to my ears, adrenaline pumping through my veins. It was a little ridiculous that I got so excited over a near fall, but I had always had extreme reactions to little things.

"I am sorry that I unsettled you so, Alexanne. Balloons are far more fragile than I first believed." Thor apologized, patting my thigh.

I patted his head. "It's alright. When I'm surprised, I react violently." I looked down at Steve, who was gathering the balloons – that he had dropped to help me – back in his arms. Some part of my brain couldn't ignore the way his hands, warm and strong, had felt around my waist. And that same part couldn't help but to have me trace with my eyes the lines of his arms, yearning for something I could never have. When Steve looked up, I looked away quickly, schooling my features into a pensive look; looking as if I was analyzing the current state of the living room instead of unabashedly staring at him.

"Let's go a couple of balloons there." I decided, pointing the direction to Thor.

About an hour later, the decorating was done – the result looked pretty neat – and I was helping Bruce with the final touches to the cake. It was a vanilla and strawberry cream cake and I hoped that Vanessa would like it.

Tony was about done with the lights, having requested some help from Natasha and an unsure Steve when it had been time to finish the wiring. Thor had been sent outside under the pretext of giving some company to the lonely hawk – who had probably been happier before the god had joined him – but it was really to get his over-six-foot excited self out of the way.

"I'm done!" Tony exclaimed, coming toward the kitchen. "And Capscile is a lost cause with electricity and connections."

"I just don't understand why it doesn't simply work by plugging everything in a matching hole!"

"Because there are specific holes for specific plugs, Rogers."

"Guys!" I snapped sharply before it could escalate. Thankfully, they both understood and shut their mouths.

When Tony tried to enter the kitchen, however, I barred his way. "Whoa, not so fast! You're done with the lights; good! You have the time to grab a shower. No approaching the food with those dirty hands of yours, Stark." I almost sounded like an order. Almost.

"I think we should all grab a shower." Bruce said.

"I'll go relieve Clint as soon as I'm done." Natasha added before swiftly disappearing.

Okay, a shower sounded nice.

And after that, it's a countdown until Ness comes back.

*o*O*o*O*o*

I had stopped doing a countdown after half an hour had gone by.

And I had started to get a little worried by the time Natasha announced that Vanessa was finally coming back, almost three hours after she had gone out.

A wave of excitement drowned the questioning marks popping in my mind. We all hurried to our hidey-holes; as I was the smallest, I squeezed myself in a small place – between the wall and a huge speaker – so that Steve and Thor would have access to the bigger hiding spots. As soon as everybody was in place, Tony hissed:

"JARVIS, lights 0%. Darken windows."

Everything went pitch black in a split second, so suddenly that it took me a while before I could begin to discern my hand in front of my face. Thank God, I wasn't claustrophobic.

There was a giggle, a hiss of silence. My eyes were on the elevator doors – at least, somewhere in their vicinity.

It was so quiet now that the only thing I could hear was my thumping heart and the constant buzz of the appliances. It soon was joined by the soft hum of an approaching elevator.

Tony quickly ordered "Elevator lights, 0%" about two seconds before the doors opened. I could picture Vanessa's face at stepping out of a dark elevator into a room just as dark.

Following the timing we had agreed on, I counted three seconds, then jumped out of my hiding spot with a loud "Happy Birthday" chorused by the Avengers.

The low sound of music and all lights came on at the same time, dancing rainbows suddenly covering the floor and walls. It was blinding for a few seconds, but I still threw myself on Vanessa, wrapping her in a hug, blinking fast to chase away the black spots. I was standing in her bubble, but just for this once, I don't think she minded it all that much.

"Happy 25th birthday, Vanessa."

We're back to more angsty stuff in the next chapters.

That's why a light, fluffy chapter was needed and I hope you liked it!

Unless I have a problem, next chapter will be up on Saturday, as usual.