Birthday

That Thursday after lunch they quietly strolled home, enjoying the sunshine and change from the previous week's rain. As they finally approached her door, Eleanor put her hands in her pockets and grinned up at him. "Do you want to come in?" There was a slight twinkle in her eye that made Steve instantly suspicious. Despite knowing she was hiding something, Steve shrugged. He didn't have anything else planned for the afternoon. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, ushering him to follow her.

From behind her, Steve mentioned aloud, "I don't want to impose on whatever else you have planned for the afternoon." He slipped off his shoes, knowing that his protests would likely be heard on deaf ears. More than anything he was curious about what the real reason she wanted him to come inside.

As she hopped on one foot to untie her tennis shoes, she began to speak. "I did just a teeny tiny bit of research after I found out you were Captain America."

"You did?" His eyebrows raised.

She laughed as her shoe finally came off. "Yeah. Like the basic level of stalking. You don't have a Facebook but like, the internet knows you." She didn't make eye contact with him as she set her shoes on her shoe rack.

Steve just raised an eyebrow, she had explained Facebook just earlier that day, and he was glad that he didn't have one. At the same time, he was aware of his internet presence, Tony had an alert that notified them whenever they were mentioned in the news. He'd read a few articles about himself, usually told from a political standpoint, but he wasn't sure what she was referring to. "Okay- and this is going somewhere," her hand waved at him to follow her as she began to walk backwards toward her kitchen.

"Yeah. I mean- yes. I came across a very important piece of information. Very important."

Still not sure what she was talking about Steve nodded for her to continue, following her down the hallway of her apartment, which seemed oddly dark for it only being three in the afternoon. She hadn't turned on the lights though. Suddenly as they stepped into the dining area of her kitchen, she flipped on the light and lifted her hands above her head. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" Her apartment was decorated with streamers and a few balloons, he could see a plate of cookies and a small cake with the numbers 9 and 7 on them, along with a bag with wrapping paper sticking out of it.

He let his smile spread and he laughed. At first, the laughter was from surprise, but then it quickly warmed his heart and he could feel lit in his stomach. Quickly, he realized that he could hardly stop laughing and his eyes watered up as he began to try an catch his breath. Then he was laughing at the thought that he couldn't really stop because he hadn't been this surprised in a long time. Not in a good way.

Eleanor looked absolutely proud of herself as she sat in the seat closest to the cake, fumbling around for a lighter and grinning, not commenting on his unceasing laughter "I know your birthday is next Wednesday, what with all of the parade and the festivities, and I figured you'd be doing things with all your fancy superhero friends, so I didn't want to stop you from doing any of that fun stuff. I also wanted cake. Because I really like cake."

She lit the numbers at the top as Steve finally sat down.

"I hate the birthday song. So just make a wish and we'll hope it comes true."

The super soldier really didn't have the words, or much of a wish either, but he closed his eyes anyway and quickly huffed the candles out. Eleanor gave a light cheer and started in on the cake, using a long bread knife to cut it.

"Thank you, Eleanor," Steve nodded to her. "I really was surprised."

"I don't know what you used to do for your birthday, but I figured it was something more on the quiet side?"

Steve just nodded in confirmation. "Bucky and I, we usually spent some time together, early on my mom sometimes couldn't afford to bake a cake like this. Did you make this?" The cake was small, but in lovely cursive, it had Happy Birthday Steve, the edges were ruffled in different colors of frosting. Rather than the theme for most of his birthday cakes being red-white-and-blue, this cake was a light brown color and the frosting was white, green and red.

"I wish. My decorating skills are sub-par. You can tell with the cookies." When his attention turned to the cookies there was a distinct difference, and he couldn't help but snort. The frosting was uneven and while it looked like the sprinkles were originally supposed to have a star design, they were clumped together and looked a bit messy.

"They aren't that bad."

"Oh, they're pretty bad. My artistic skills start with photography and end at classroom materials building. But they taste great, I promise"

Steve motioned to the small banner and the streamers. "I'd say your interior decorating skills are pretty good too."

Ignoring his teasing comment, Ella cut into the cake and put almost a fourth of the cake onto one of the plates she had set out. She pushed it over to him. And gave herself a piece that was slightly smaller, but still sizable. Steve bit into his cake and almost groaned. While he'd been awake for his last birthday, it'd been before the attack on New York and he'd still been readjusting. This would be his first birthday with people he could call his friends. He hadn't had a cake yet this year either, but the consistency was perfect. He could tell it was packed with sugar, but the flavor was so good he couldn't bring himself to care much.

As they sat quietly eating the sweets left out, Steve had a thought, "When is your birthday Ella?"

"March 6th." Steve logged the date in his head, hoping that he would have the chance to write it down when he got home. It was only a few days before Bucky's birthday, so he figured it wouldn't be too hard to forget. He took a few cookies off of the other plate, grinning down at the horrible decoration before actually taking a bite. Eleanor was right when she said they tasted much better than they looked, and he was already crossing his fingers that she'd give him a container to take some home with him.

"Honestly though, thank you, Ella." He motioned down at the food she made and around at the decorations. "I have no idea what Tony has planned, but I know it'll be more exhausting then it will be fun."

The brunette laughed, "I figured as much."

After they had finished eating, she did pack up the cookies into what she called a 'Tupperware' container. She put it by the door near his shoes before they took out one of her board games—a game called Sorry—and sat down for a rather intense set.

"I'm not going easy on you because you're old now," Eleanor said as she shuffled the cards.

Steve just laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it."

On the day his birthday did arrive, Steve couldn't help but sigh when he entered the living room of the top floor to find it decked out in Red White and Blue. Bruce even sat at the counter eating a red pancake when he walked in. The scientist seemed to be reading an article on his tablet in front of him as he ate.

"Did you make these pancakes?" Steve didn't mean to startle him, but Bruce was so enraptured in what he was reading that he jumped and dropped his fork before turning around.

Bruce shook his head as he remembered the original question, "No, Tony had a crew come in last night to do the decorating and this morning he asked the chef to only make things 4th of July Themed. I think he's going to want you to wear your suit all day too." Adjusting his plate, Bruce grabbed another pancake off the stack along with a few slices of banana that were left off to the side. Steve sighed as he took a seat and slid a pancake onto a plate as well, finding a spot a seat down and glancing at his watch.

"Could be worse honestly."

Bruce just laughed and nodded his head in agreement. As if he had been summoned, Ironman himself walked through the door. Tony was fully dressed in a suit, which was a bit of a surprise from the millionaire who preferred to wear his pajamas until pepper told him he needed to change into real clothes.

"OLD MAN!" He said, slightly too loudly for it still being morning. "We're going to walk in the parade, where are your clothes?" Tony motioned to the athletic outfit Steve was currently wearing after his run.

"We're walking?" Bruce also looked up at the millionaire confused at his behavior. While neither of them could claim they were surprised by Tony's parade announcement, they were both still not expecting to be told only a few hours before it was about to happen.

"Well, riding on the Avengers float in celebration of your birthday. Old people like parades. It starts at 11." Tony checked his watch. "I said we'd be there at 10. You've got like an hour." He glanced at Bruce using his hand to tap on the stark watch he was wearing. "You too you big green monster."

Steve stared at Tony for a few moments before finishing off his breakfast and drinking a protein juice. Clint liked to keep them in the refrigerator and insisted that they were good for you. Steve honestly was not the biggest fan, but he also knew that Tony drank the orange juice straight out of the carton and after watching a documentary about food and germs, Steve did not want to get anywhere close to it. He had a bit of food in his own fridge of course, but the meals in this common space were always pre-made. He also always got a good sense of what everyone on the team was doing when he sat up there. Sometimes, being alone for too long could make someone a bit stir crazy. While he now had Eleanor, he also still had to keep up some form of normalcy with his teammates before they started asking questions.

Tony sat on his phone and was munching on a blue pancake and chatting quietly with Bruce about the parade when Steve finished. As Steve began to walk out of the room, the clack of heels caught his attention as Pepper sped walked into the room. She stopped when she saw the plate of pancakes and made eye contact with Steve from across the room. "Happy Birthday Steve." She smiled at him and then nodded to the food. "Did you eat?"

"Yeah. I was going to head to my room to get changed?"

"Of course. If you don't mind I'm sure people would love the uniform, the parade will only be a few hours. I made sure the rest of your day was free for whatever you want to spend it doing. Your room is soundproofed from the fireworks in the evening too if you'd rather stay in, up here they can get sort of loud sometimes." Pepper nodded towards the windows in the main living space and the wide doors that opened to the penthouse balcony and the helecarrier landing.

This woman thought of everything, Steve couldn't help but smile at her in response. Steve hadn't really thought of the sound of fireworks. The previous year they had nearly caused him a panic attack, while he was in his Sheild Issued apartment. At the very least, he was glad for the reminder. This year he'd be more prepared. Steve thanked redhead before making his way towards the elevator.

Once Jarvis had dropped him off on his floor, Steve saw his phone blinking on the counter. The text message, in all caps, read: HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN GRANT ROGERS. And when he opened it, little balloons floated up from the bottom of the screen. He couldn't help but smile and send Eleanor back a Thank you in response. After a moment, he also decided to send her another message.

"Will you be going to the parade?"

Almost immediately he got a response back, and he could hear her chuckles almost through the phone. "Hard pass, too many people. Are you going?" He could see her drinking her tea and sitting on the couch relaxing. She had told him the previous week that she had no 4th of July plans and was just going to take it as it came.

"Apparently it's a team function. Even Bruce has to sit on the float"

"Hahaha, a float? I'll make sure to turn on the TV and keep an eye out for you. Did they tell you about any other plans?"

"No, It sounds like they're giving me the afternoon to myself. Pepper said my apartment is soundproofed from the fireworks, so I'll probably be here for that"

There was a series of writing ellipsis for a few moments and then it disappeared, so Steve walked over to his closet and changed into his show uniform. Shield had given him a new one, that was a darker blue shade and a little more covert. The brightly colored one that Phil Coulson had helped design was what he used primarily for going places—Pepper had mentioned to him that it's a bit more patriotic and flashier.

Once he set his shield next to his counter, he checked his phone again.

"I hadn't thought of the fireworks. I'd invite you over, but my apartment is the opposite of sound proof. I recommend the movie 'The Sandlot' for your viewing pleasure it's about baseball and summer and I think it's right up your alleyway." Steve nodded his head to himself and wrote on a notepad that was sitting on the table. Eleanor had made a habit of almost daily telling him something he should check out, usually in the form of media. Her choices were almost always perfect, and he was always surprised at how she could almost gauge his mood based off of text messages. Something she said was accomplished by growing up as a millennial.

"Appreciate it." He didn't know what else to say, so he grabbed his shield, put his phone in one of the utility belt pockets, and headed back to the elevator to head upstairs to the penthouse once more. He knew that he'd still be early, but knowing Tony's prescient habit of telling everyone the wrong time, he tried to make it a habit.

By the time he walked out the doors, nearly all the Avengers were present. Natasha almost seemed like she was pouting on the couch next to Clint and Bruce, while his clothes had changed, looked like he had hardly moved from the counter. Steve stood in the entryway for a moment before Tony walked out from the corner of the kitchen.

"The Spangled man is here! Let's go!" He motioned to the others who all reluctantly made eye contact with him, also dreading the fact they would have to be the center of attention again, but they also stood up and walked towards the door.

Steve could hear Clint say under his breath: "there better be cake," as he made his way over to the elevator.

Tony had them escorted in a limousine to the convention center where they all got out in a hidden location and were escorted to the float they would be standing on for the entire hour and a half parade. Each member was given a location to be, Clint got to sit on the top of a make-shift building, Bruce was told to sit on a park bench, Tony stood at the front and Steve had to stand on top of a car. At the very least he was glad they did not have to do any acting. He figured it would have reminded him too much of his Bond Tours prior to fighting on the front lines. While he had gotten much better at memorizing and not reading things off a script, he still absolutely hated being in front of a crowd.

Almost as soon as their positions were taken the float jerked forward to follow the band with stage girls dancing in front of it. He couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to dance and walk the entire 3 mile stretch.

As they approached the main section, where all of the cameras sat, Steve watched as Tony took a microphone from someone on the street, suddenly realizing what that could possibly mean.

"Hello Americans!" he seemed to yell into the microphone. The speakers across the way echoed him, but the roar of the crowd was almost just as loud. "We celebrate not only Independence Day but also the birth of our American hero! Captain America!" Despite it being daylight, he felt as if multiple spotlights were suddenly being shone on him, standing on the prop car on this float. He knew cameras were zooming in and despite wanting to hit Tony stark, he gave a small smile and a wave.

And then the crowd erupted in a rendition of Happy Birthday.

Steve could only think of the private cake he had gotten days earlier and the lack of the song and was curious of Eleanor had figured he'd be publicly embarrassed today in this specific way. Wither or not she had, he was grateful that his private birthday party (reserved for 2 people) had been a quiet affair. Thinking about her watching made him look at each camera a bit closer, even more, curious as to which channel she was watching. He should have asked her prior to getting on the float. The torture ended in less than a minute and he gave everyone a nod, skipping the microphone for a voiceless thank you.

About an hour later, as the elevator dropped him off at his floor, Steve took out his phone and glanced down at the two text messages on his phone. One was of Eleanor's response to his message that morning, and the second one was a picture of him on Television looking right at the camera. Beneath the photo, her message read "Aren't you glad we didn't sing happy birthday? That looked a bit like torture."

Steve just chuckled and nodded his head at the phone, looking at the time and telling Jarvis to start the Sandlot on his television as he threw a microwave popcorn into his microwave. His afternoon plan was to sit back and watch the Sandlot and possibly another movie, and then to drink a beer and watch the silent fireworks from his window. He knew that it was likely there would be cake when he went upstairs for dinner, but he also knew that it probably would not be as nice of an event or as big of a surprise as Eleanor had given him the previous week. But as for birthdays, he could confidently say that this one wasn't too bad.