Security Pete was stood waiting for Eva at the gates to the compound. On top of his carbon fiber helmet he was wearing an orange party hat. He did not look very happy about it.
"If I knew you were invited," he said, "I would have called in sick."
"That's not very responsible," said Eva, steadying her bike with her foot. "Is it?"
"Just ride through already."
The refurbished compound was vast and, most of the time, far too empty; Eva was grateful to see it filled with people for once. Tony was throwing a party for… well, she wasn't quite sure what for, actually. She'd have to ask Vision.
Her best friend was waiting for her in the underground parking lot. She pulled into a motorcycle bay next so Steve Rogers' old Harley (now covered in dust) and pulled her helmet off before leaning over to hug him.
"Remind me why this is happening," she said.
"The real reason, or Mr Stark's excuse for it?"
"Second one. We all know he doesn't like it quiet."
"A celebration of National Laugh and Get Rich Day."
"Of course it is," she muttered, getting off the bike and approaching the box mounted to the back. "Can you open it for me? What with you being superhuman and all, she won't scratch you up as much."
"Of course."
Eva's invitation had included a plus one, and since her only other friend was currently a political refugee on the other side of the world, she'd decided to take Rachel Carson as her date to the party. It made sense – she could stay overnight without having to worry about getting Mrs Jensen on floor five to catsit for her, and Tony liked her pet more than he liked her anyway. The only problem had been transportation. With nobody to give her a lift and not enough money to get a cab to and from the compound, Eva had had to stick Rachel Carson in her top box and hope that she didn't get travel sick in there.
The other problem with this was that, in the words of a book Eva had read once, Schrodinger had been mistaken about the whole cat-in-a-box thing: "the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious."
Sufficed to say that Rachel Carson was the latter.
Once the cat had calmed down enough for Vision to get a proper hold on her, they made their way up a back staircase to his room so that Eva could change out of leathers into party clothes. "Can you help me with this eyeliner?" she asked, as she added the final touches. "My hand always gets shaky when I'm trying to do stuff in a mirror."
Vision, who had put on his favorite jumper for the occasion, took her chin and gently lifted it so that her head was at the right angle. "I'm not quite sure what I'm doing," he admitted.
"You'll be better than me. You might be the only person in the world who's capable of getting it symmetrical."
"I'll do my best." His hands were nice and cool on her face and, unsurprisingly, he drew the black line across her eyelids perfectly. "Is that alright?"
"Wonderful." She kissed him on the nose and jumped down from the bathroom counter she had been sat on. Vision's en suite was only used by her – she had a spare toothbrush in the sink and a make-up bag in the cupboard. The only thing that was actually his was a purple rubber duck with a green suit and gold cape sat on the edge of the bath tub that some superhero fan had sent him. All the rooms had one. Fans were weird.
In the main social wing of the compound, people in fancy clothes were lounging around, talking and laughing, while one of those old man bands Tony liked played over the sound system. Rachel Carson was dozing in a designer chair while a bunch of people Eva didn't recognize fawned over her, and she didn't notice Tony among them until he stood up and jogged over. "Well, well, well," he said, "if it isn't Mork and Mindy."
"You will never be funny," Eva said, and he patted her on the head. "Where's Pepper?"
"Not sure. I hope she's not going to embarrass me," he said. "She does have a habit of causing a scene. Can I say how delighted I am you brought Rachel Carson? I've always been fascinated by her work, especially her essays in the Atlantic Monthly. Also, her stomach is just so fluffy!"
"I hope she bites you."
Eva spent most of the evening with Irene, Dr Selvig's Swiss assistant, talking about the newest season of Stranger Things. By the time she had finished her verbal essay on why Bob managed to be both the worst and the best, things had died down a bit and she could rejoin the main party without her palms getting all sweaty. She used to rely on drink to get her through functions like this, but she was doing her best to stay off it as a New Year's Resolution.
By one in the morning it had boiled down to just a handful of people: Eva, Vision, Tony, Pepper, Rhodey and Maria Hill. They were playing Uno and Eva, who had no poker face and was easily enraged, was just one Draw Four away from flipping the table. Tony had yet to lose, and liked waiting until it was a showdown between just him and one other person before forcing them to pick up half the deck and triumphantly dropping his single yellow 3 in the center of the table before standing up and taking a bow.
"I HOPE YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU LOVE DIES!" Eva yelled, as this happened to her for the fourth time.
"Don't jinx it. Another round?"
"Absolutely not," Pepper laughed, as Eva gripped the edge of the table.
A/N the book mentioned in the Schrodinger's cat bit is Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, which is my favourite book ever. Of all time. Also, I AM SO READY FOR BLACK PANTHER. I love everything that they're doing with Wakandan culture in it, stuff like that is always my favourite parts of these movies. Plus I fancy Danai Gurira a lot.