It's Tony Stark's birthday today so y'all know what that means. Angsty birthday fic time! Enjoy!

When Tony woke up on the morning of May 29th, he honestly thought that this birthday would be better than any of the others he'd had. Growing up Tony's birthday wasn't celebrated by his family. The day was a spectacle, but it wasn't really about Tony. Howard and Maria Stark would parade him around at galas to show all the old men that Tony was well behaved and would listen to them when he took over SI when he was older.

A lot of that was probably the cause of his rebellion when he reached 14 and was sent off to MIT far too young and all alone.

He never really got presents either. Ana and Edwin Jarvis would make him a cake to enjoy when he got back far to late from those galas. That was always nice. Tony liked cake. Especially chocolate cake. But, after they died that all stopped and Tony was stuck with the galas. He couldn't even escape them when he was at MIT. Rhodey had tried to celebrate him a few times but Tony was always dragged away to play nice with old coots with too much money.

Most of those nights he'd just get drunk and ignore everything going on around him.

And that really didn't change after Howard and Maria died. Tony stopped having those stupid galas and just opted to throw giant parties and consume ridiculous amounts of alcohol. Tony didn't particularly enjoy this setup. He wasn't too comfortable with sleeping around and drinking so much, but he'd cultivated an image and Stane had continued to push Tony to maintain it. Tony knew now that Stane was just using him and the thought still hurt.

Tony could say for sure that the worst birthday he had was in the god damn cave. The same day he turned 38 years old he had Yinson's hand in his chest readjusting the new arc reactor that Tony had created. A wire had corroded and needed to be fixed. It was one of the worst feelings in his life.

His next birthday wasn't much better. He was dying and felt pressured by everyone to throw a huge party again. Nobody really knew he was dying. In an effort to keep the world from being even more angry and disappointed in him, Tony threw the party and got absolutely wasted and ended up fighting his best friend. And to top it off the next day he found out that Natasha was spying on him and that SHIELD knew he was dying and had some solutions and things for him yet they waited until the very last possible second to give them to him.

It hurt. It really did.

So, Tony didn't really have a great track record with birthdays. But this time around he had plenty of people he wanted to consider friends with him as well as his totally amazing girlfriend Pepper. The day felt great, the sun was shining, he actually got some sleep the night before. But when Tony rolled over and saw the other side of the bed was empty it very quickly went downhill. Pepper should have gotten home from her business trip late the night before but she was noticeably absent. Tony rolled over to check his phone and saw a message waiting there for him.

Pepper: Sorry Tony. My flight got delayed because there's a storm rolling in. We'll celebrate together tomorrow. I'll call you once I land. Love you.

Tony frowned as he looked at it. He knew some times things like this were unavoidable, but he still wished that Pepper was there. He always felt sad and lonely when she wasn't there. It also didn't really help that Rhodey was currently deployed and Happy was with Pepper. So, it was just going to be Tony and the other Avengers for the day. No matter. Everything could be salvaged.

So, Tony got up, took a very quick shower, threw on some comfortable clothes, and made his way to the common area to make some breakfast. When he arrived the others were already sitting down and just finishing their breakfast. Tony was a bit disappointed that they didn't wait for him. He poured himself a large cup of coffee and took his seat.

"So, guys, what's the plan for the day?" asked Tony as he looked at everyone.

"Training. We need new upgrades on our gear Stark." Spoke Steve as he finished taking an incredibly large bite of eggs.

"I'll get those started tomorrow morning. I was planning on taking a bit of a lazy day for once." Spoke Tony as it became very clear that none of them had really remembered that it was his birthday.

"Wow, Stark. That's incredibly selfish. What if we get a call out tomorrow? We need new gear." Spat Natasha and Tony's heart sank a little bit.

"Look, it's just one day off. I hardly ever take those. I work literally every single day and almost every single night. I don't think one day will hurt." Protected Tony and he got a few funny looks back from some of the others.

"Do you even care about this team Stark?" sneered Steve and Tony tried to keep his face from falling.

"Of course I do. I just…"

"No. If you cared you'd be down in that lab of yours working. Real heroes don't take breaks."

Tony didn't really have a reply to those harsh words. If he spoke up to defend himself he'd just invite more shouting and possibly getting kicked off of the team he was already in a very tentative place with. Despite never really showing it, Natasha's profile of him hurt and having Steve around just dug up all the old insecurities Howard had planted in his mind all throughout his youth. So, without even grabbing something to eat, Tony sighed, stood up, and sulked down to his lab.

"Well, Happy Birthday to me I guess." Sighed Tony as he got into the elevator.

Tony worked in silence for a good hour. He was all by himself with nobody to talk to except JARVIS and his bots. It was kind of sad. No, scratch that. It wasn't kind of sad. It was sad. It was so sad that Tony didn't really get any actual work done. He just sat there and let his mind wander and dwell on all his mistakes. He knew that nobody really liked him, but it still hurt to be treated like garbage by the people he should trust.

As Tony sat there and pondered the very fabric of his existence he failed to notice that Bruce had entered the lab. He was there standing there with a small wrapped gift in one hand and a plate of snacks in the other. Bruce had been warry when he entered the lab. He had a feeling that Tony would be in a foul mood after what had occurred in the kitchen but he hadn't expected the sullen silence that filled the normally lively lab space.

"Hey, Tony. Happy Birthday." Spoke Bruce as he walked in closer and got Tony's attention.

"Oh, hey Bruce. What's up?" asked Tony as he looked up at his friend.

"Just wanted to give you this and to see if you were up for some fun science stuff." Smiled Bruce as he put the wrapped gift on the bench next to Tony. He knew Tony had a thing for being handed things because of a few incidents from his childhood.

"You… you got me a present?" asked Tony as he picked up the present gingerly.

"Of course I did. You're my best friend Tony." Smiled Bruce and Tony's eyes shone.

Tony ripped the paper off of the present and smiled with glee when he saw what was inside. It was a new screwdriver set done up in Iron Man and Hulk colours.

"I love it! Thank you so much Brucy." Spoke Tony as he pulled his friend into a hug.

"I'm glad you like it. Now how about we ditch this and go do something fun?" smiled Bruce and Tony's face fell a bit.

"I need to get the new upgrades done for the others. I'm not really a big fan of getting yelled at for not working. Reminds me too much of Howard." Sighed Tony and Bruce frowned.

"Screw that. We're leaving and having fun. It's your birthday. You made sure that I had fun on my birthday and I'm going to do the same."

Tony didn't have much room for argument as Bruce grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the lab and down towards the one Tony had set up for him. The two spent the morning making increasingly complex Rube-Goldberg machines just to do simple tasks. They even filmed a few of their attempts to post on social media. Tony was actually having a great time. He was happy and was actually able to put the arguments of that morning behind him.

Well, until the two of them surfaced for lunch.

Tony couldn't quite recall what exactly had happened. One minute he and Bruce were laughing and searching for snacks in the kitchen and the next Tony was being berated by the others for not working once again. All the yelling just made Tony exhausted. He was so sick and tired of all the yelling. He'd grown up surrounded by yelling. All his adult years had been filled with yelling for one thing or another. He was just so sick and tired of it.

"Incoming call from Ms. Potts, Sir." Came JARVIS's voice though the tower's speaker system interrupting the loud voices of the other Avengers filling the room. Tony smiled a bit bitterly but answered the phone. He really missed Pepper and it would be nice to hear her voice.

"Hey Pep." Smiled Tony as he answered the call.

"Hey, Tony. Happy Birthday. Sorry, I'm not there."

"It's alright. I know how flights can be. I can't wait till you're home though. I miss you."

"I miss you too. Are you around everyone else?" asked Pepper and Tony frowned.

"Yes… Why?"

"Put me on speaker Tony. I wanna talk to everyone."

"Are you sure?" asked Tony. He was hesitant to follow that request.

"Of course." Tony sighed again.

"If you insist." Tony pulled his phone away from his ear and put it on speakerphone.

"Hello everyone." Came Pepper's chipper voice thought the phone and a few of the other Avengers gave a greeting back.

"Hello, Ms. Potts. How are you doing?" asked Steve ever the gentleman.

"I'm doing alright. I was just calling to see how everything was going. Is everyone having fun? Please tell me you saved me a piece of cake."

"What cake?" asked Steve, the confusion clear in his face.

"Tony's birthday cake of course. I made sure it was delivered for today."

"That was a birthday cake? I thought it was just there to eat." Spoke up Clint though he didn't look the least bit guilty.

Pepper was silent on the other end for a moment before she spoke up again. Her voice was eerily flat and Tony just knew that she knew things weren't right at the tower.

"Tony… what's going on?"

"Pep, it's fine. It doesn't matter." Spoke Tony hurriedly

"It does matter Tony. Obviously, something is wrong. You deserve a good birthday for once. We'll talk when I get home, alright?"

"Yeah… alright. Love you Pep."

"Love you too Tony." And with that, the line went dead.

Everyone just sort of stood around silently for a moment. Tony and Bruce were working on staying calm while the others absorbed the information they had just received. There were a lot of emotions running around in that room. Some were angry. Some were sad. There was a huge air of disappointment and slight disapproval. The room stunk of hurt emotions.

"You could have at least told us it was your birthday." Spoke Steve as he gave what Tony called "The eyebrows of disapproval".

"And what would you guys have done with that information. It's clear that none of you guys, bar my Brucy Bear, even give a shit about me to allow me even one day off."

Nobody knew how to respond to what Tony had said. He was right. They hadn't even allowed him one lousy day off despite all the work Tony did. The fact made them all feel horrible and none of them knew how to process it. If it had been anyone else on the team they would have known it was their birthday and celebrated with them. They would have given them time off and made them feel happy and special for the day.

So why was that different for Tony?

It really all came down to the prejudice they all had against him from Natasha's profile she made on him. The profile she made while Tony was sick and dying. It came from the old gossip articles printed about Tony when he was a grieving young adult after his parents died and he had to inherit a major weapons company well before he was ready. They never took the chance to get to know who Tony actually was. And now Tony was continuing to pay the price for that.

"I'm… I'm sorry Tony." Spoke Steve as he looked back at the man.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it when I'm not being treated like a person." Sighed Tony.

Tony allowed Bruce to lead him out of the room while the others stood there in shock over what had transpired. They knew they needed to fix this. They just didn't know how. But Tony didn't know what they were thinking or feeling. He was just upset and intent on curling up somewhere with Bruce and doing something mind-numbing and happy.

Tony spent the rest of the evening curled up with Bruce in his lab. They worked on a few projects and munching on take-out and some cupcakes that they ordered. It was better then nothing and Tony was just grateful to have someone around who cared. It may not have been a good birthday, but at least now Tony knew who he could truly trust. He had his people and he could be happy with that.

At least he had that. Close friends and an amazing girlfriend. It was more then he could ever ask for.

Yes, this was angsty. But what do you expect from me? There's always some sort of angst in my works. Plus I'm still salty over Endgame and the Avenger's treatment of Tony throughout the movies. So, maybe I'm projecting a bit. Oh well, at least in fanfiction Toy is still alive. I'll see y'all around. -Shadows