Chapter 5 – Birthdays Sometimes Just Suck
The final chapter in this fic.
The morning of the day Pietro had chosen for his and Wanda's birthday celebration dawned bright and clear. And extremely pleasant for Quicksilver, as he woke to the delicious sensation of his girlfriend's tongue caressing his cock.
"Darcy," he moaned her name, still half-asleep for a few seconds, heard her husky laugh before she opened her mouth and took him in deep. "Ah, hell, Darcy!" he had to fight not to arch up, to shove himself into her throat, "oh, meiča, that feels so good, your mouth," he babbled as she bobbed her head.
She took him a little deeper, relaxing her throat before humming around the head of his cock, and his eyes rolled back in his head. "Darcy," he panted, "I'm going to come."
Pietro probably had no idea that he wasn't speaking English, but she'd heard those particular words in Latvian a fair few times now and had a pretty good idea of what they meant. Darcy smiled around him and bobbed her head a little quicker, listening to his strangled groan, feeling with her lips the hard pulse travelling up his cock as he exploded into her mouth.
Darcy hummed with satisfaction, swallowing him down and then licking him clean, knowing he was watching her, his blue eyes half-lidded. He was more than half-hard again by the time she'd finished, and she laughed quietly.
"Want me to do that again, birthday boy?" She slid her lips teasingly over the swollen head, flickered her tongue into the slit at the very tip.
"Clearly this is the best birthday I ever had," Pietro said to the ceiling, "thank you very much, God."
"I'd feel more complimented if it wasn't the only birthday you've ever had," Darcy pulled off and grinned up at him.
"I am very sure I'll never have a better wake up call than your sweet mouth on my cock, though," he said with a grin, sitting up and reaching for her. Darcy smiled, pleased, let him wrap his arms around her and hug her close for a moment.
"So, she said cheerfully, "you got your birthday blowjob, and if Steve knows what's good for him he should already be in the kitchen making enough blueberry waffles to feed the ravening hordes. Anything else you'd like before we go to join him?"
"Oh, I think you know what I'd like, meiča," he murmured laughingly, laying back and pulling her across his body. "I'd very much like to hear you screaming my name as I fuck you into next week."
Darcy groaned as he slid between her legs; she was wet and slippery, and Pietro grinned up at her.
"Start without me, did you? No fair. You know I love to watch you touch yourself."
She did know that. He'd made it very clear. But she shook her head. "Didn't need to. Just blowing you got me this wet."
"Darcy." His eyes darkened. "You are..." he shook his head, unable to find the word he wanted in any language. "I love you."
"Wh-what?" Darcy blinked, a little stunned. He hadn't actually said the words before, not in English, anyway, though she'd suspected him of babbling them in Latvian once or twice in the midst of their lovemaking.
"I love you. I'm utterly fucking hopelessly in love with you, didn't you know that by now?" Pietro stilled the gentle grinding movements he'd been making against Darcy's groin, looked up into her shocked dark blue eyes. "I think I've been in love with you since the very first day we met."
"Pietro..." Darcy wasn't even sure what she was going to say. And her words would have to remain unspoken, for at that exact moment, the Assemble alarm went off.
"Oh, fucking hell, no!" Pietro shouted as Darcy startled and rolled off him. "What the fuck! JARVIS?"
"A genuine alarm, sir," JARVIS replied in regretful tones. "Serious problems in Wakanda."
He was already out of bed, speeding into his clothes. "That's in fucking Africa!"
"Yes, sir," JARVIS replied patiently. "Mr Stark and Colonel Rhodes are already en route. The quinjet will be taking off in six minutes."
Pietro let out a string of curses in Latvian, looking at Darcy sitting in her bed, arms wrapped around his knees, staring at him wide-eyed. Six minutes was more than enough time, with his speed... swiftly he pressed her to lie down on her back.
"I'm not going without the taste of you in my mouth, the sound of your cries in my ears," he told her roughly, "so hold on tight, meiča, this is going to be a quick one."
Already aroused, it took less than sixty seconds for Darcy to come on his rapidly vibrating tongue. By the time her hammering heart had slowed, he was long gone, with a last kiss to her lips and a whispered;
"We'll be back in time for the party, meiča. I'll make sure of it."
Those who stayed behind in the Tower while their loved ones went out to save the world had developed a certain ritual. They'd gather in the penthouse – or the basement safe room if the attack was in New York – and stay together until the Avengers arrived back. No matter how long it took. Nobody wanted any of the others to go through the awful waiting alone, any more than any of them wanted to be alone.
They didn't turn on the TVs. JARVIS would keep them apprised of what was really happening, not the rampant speculation which was all they would see on news channels.
The first couple of times Darcy had sat with Pepper and Jane in vigil (before Pietro and Wanda came to the Tower) they'd talked stiltedly for a while, until Darcy had raided the bar, poured them all drinks and insisted they watch a movie. Over time they'd discovered even better ways to pass the time. Gaming marathons were now the norm. They all settled down quietly and started playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. The drinking would come later, once they heard that the fight had started.
"What do we do about the party?" Pepper asked quietly, mid-morning, when they were taking a break for a little while. "Should I cancel the caterers?"
"No," Darcy said stubbornly. "Pietro said he'd get here. He said he'd make sure they'd be back."
Jane and Pepper exchanged glances. Eventually Pepper shrugged. "Frankly, if we cancel this late I'll still have to pay them anyway. They may as well come."
"Do you still want to make the cake, though, Darcy?" Jane asked hesitantly. "Because we should probably get on that."
"Cakes," Darcy corrected. "One for Pietro, one for Wanda. Yes – yes, let's go do that. That'll pass a few hours, won't it?"
She tried not to see the pitying, understanding looks on Jane and Pepper's faces as they nodded, agreeing with her. They were a lot more used to this than she was. Yes, she'd worried with them before when the Avengers went out, but she'd never been in love with one of the team before.
Darcy stopped halfway into the elevator. "Oh my God."
"Darce?" Jane pushed at her gently, trying to move her. "Are you all right?"
"I'm in love with him."
"Ye-es – oh, you hadn't realised that yet?" Jane and Pepper looked at each other.
"Well, it's not exactly the best of timing," Pepper said diplomatically, "but I'm sure you can let him know when he gets back?"
"What if he doesn't? Get back, I mean…" Darcy suddenly understood exactly why it was that Jane couldn't focus on Science! when Thor was out on a mission. And why Pepper's hands gained that fine tremor every time JARVIS interrupted them with an update.
"You stop thinking like that right now," Jane said very firmly, giving Darcy a surprisingly hard shove to move her into the elevator. "We're going to go down to the kitchen and we're going to make cakes. And then you've got a three o'clock appointment to collect Pietro and Wanda's birthday presents, I believe? Happy can drive us and we'll all go."
Darcy bit her lip and then nodded. "Okay. Yes, okay, let's go do cakes and pick up the presents and act like it's all going to be fine and they'll definitely be back in time for the party, right?"
"They will definitely be back in time for the party," Jane and Pepper agreed in unison.
Jane and Pepper were actually both very good in the kitchen. Or at least Jane was when she focussed, which she was today. Yay for scientific precision and careful measurements. And Pepper was, as with everything else, super-organised, plus she had beautiful calligraphic handwriting, so Darcy got her to do the icing. Further taste tests on the twins had led Darcy to decide on a banana-and-cinnamon cake for Wanda, and given Pietro's love of choc-cherry cookies the choice of a Black Forest gateaux had been pretty obvious for him.
Darcy lost herself in the baking, the familiar rhythms of the kitchen, the warm rich scent of the cakes as they came out of the oven, until finally Pepper nudged her.
"Happy will be ready to pick us up in ten. Let's go clean up a bit."
Darcy looked down at herself, at the cocoa-and-flour dusting of her clothes, and couldn't help but laugh. "You might be right."
"I know I am," Pepper's blue eyes twinkled. "I know they won't care where we're going how we look, but if we get the back of Tony's Bentley messy we'll never hear the end of it."
"Does that mean I shouldn't tell him what Thor and I did on the hood of his new Audi last week, then?" Jane asked, innocent-faced, and Darcy laughed properly. Jane could be such a troll at times.
"If I was you I would never, ever bring it up. JARVIS, make a note that I don't want to drive the R9," Pepper didn't even break stride as she headed for the elevator. "Downstairs in ten minutes, girls."
Ten minutes was barely enough time for Darcy to change clothes, wash her face and carefully clean up a stray bit of whipped cream that had somehow got caught in her hair. She almost cried when she started thinking about how Pietro would probably have insisted on cleaning it up and then probably suggested a number of other filthy uses for leftover whipped cream. Well. There was plenty of it in the fridge. She could suggest it herself, when he got back. Darcy straightened her shoulders and headed for the door.
"Any news?" she couldn't help but ask JARVIS in the elevator on the way down to the parking garage.
"The fight proceeds, Miss Lewis. The Avengers have sustained no significant injuries at this time," JARVIS reassured quietly.
"What about less significant injuries?" she couldn't help but ask.
JARVIS gave a very human-sounding sigh. "Do you really want to know about the scrape on Agent Romanoff's elbow and the scratch on Ms. Maximoff's chin? The bruise Prince Thor accidentally put on Agent Barton's back?"
"No, it's all right," Darcy admitted sheepishly. "Just, significant injuries then. You'll be keeping in touch with Pepper while we're out?"
"Of course, Miss Lewis." The door slid open then and Darcy forced a smile to her lips as she saw Pepper and Jane already waiting by the Bentley with Happy.
Darcy had to wonder how many people rocked up to an animal shelter in a Bentley. But the staff didn't turn a hair, and soon they were on their way again, Darcy and Jane each holding a cat carrier on their laps. Clint and Darcy had come by earlier in the week and chosen the two young cats – one male, one female, already friends – and Darcy had arranged to collect them today, after they'd received their vaccinations and been desexed.
The half-grown female kitten – Clint's gift for Wanda – was pure black save for a single white spot on her chest. She had long soft fur and mewed very quietly, batting gently at Jane's fingers through the bars of the carrier.
Pietro's cat was a shorthaired steel-grey animal with a ragged ear who the shelter staff thought might be a Russian Blue. Beyond a single enraged squall when put in the carrier, he hadn't made a sound, just squatted thoughtfully and stared up at Darcy.
"Hey, buddy," Darcy whispered softly, reaching a finger into the carrier to rub the cat's head. "You'll get to meet your new person soon. He'll be back real soon. He's gonna be so happy to meet you."
Bright green eyes watched her for a moment, and then the cat began a faint crackly purr which soon grew in volume until it sounded as though there was a miniature tractor in the back of the car.
The three women headed back up to the penthouse, cats in tow. Pepper was completely unbothered about letting them loose to run around her space – she liked cats – although she did insist on putting out a litter box and showing the cats where to find it. Which was smart, Darcy had to admit.
It was Jane who cracked first this time and asked JARVIS for an update on what was happening in Wakanda. The answer that the fight was still continuing stressed all three of them out; there wasn't much that could keep the Avengers engaged this long. Wordlessly, Pepper got up, headed to the bar and started making a pitcher of margaritas.
They were into the second pitcher when JARVIS informed them that the caterers had arrived and were setting up on the common floor. But the Avengers still weren't on their way back, and when Pepper got up and headed wordlessly off to go see to the caterers, Darcy found herself beginning to sniffle.
"Don't cry, Darce," Jane moved closer on the couch, put her arms around her friend. "Please. They'll get back, it's all going to be fine."
"I just," Darcy sniffled into Jane's shoulder, "I just wish I'd had the chance to tell him I loved him before he left. He said it this morning and I was so shocked, it wasn't until after he'd gone that I realised how much I love him too…"
Pietro's cat hopped up on the couch beside Darcy, pawed at her leg. She grabbed it up for a cuddle, sobbed a few distraught tears into the dense grey fur. The cat, surprisingly, didn't struggle, going limp in her arms. Perhaps it sensed that she needed comfort.
Pepper returned as Darcy was getting herself back under control, accompanied by U bearing a tray of delicious little morsels selected from the catering downstairs.
"We're certainly not going to let all this deliciousness go to waste," Pepper said bracingly, gesturing to U to put the tray down on the coffee table. "Tuck in, girls."
Jane, with her low body mass and a complete lack of alcohol tolerance, was the first to pass out. Pepper and Darcy laid her down on a couch and covered her with a blanket. Both cats settled down happily atop the sleeping astrophysicist.
"How do you do this?" Darcy asked in a low voice, following Pepper back to the bar as the older woman picked up the empty margarita pitcher. "You and Tony. You've been together for, what, six years now? Didn't you get together right about when he became Iron Man? I mean, I know you were briefly superpowered as well…"
"Very briefly, thank God," Pepper still shuddered at the memory of the Extremis burning through her veins. "Look, I just – you just have to deal with it. Tony wouldn't be Tony if he wasn't Iron Man, I know that now. Yes, he'd like to be able to stop fighting. But after Ultron, I think he's realised that it's not possible. The world needs the Avengers, Darcy. And they need each other. Pietro's one of them already, do you know how many times he's saved Clint or Nat or even Steve from serious injury in the last few weeks?"
Darcy blinked, shook her head. "He doesn't – talk about missions."
"Ugh," Pepper couldn't help but laugh, thinking about how Tony never let anyone hear the end of how he saved the day on missions. "Well, he probably should. To somebody, even if not you. But I can assure you he's very much a valued member of the team. As are you." She handed Darcy a full margarita glass. "Now let's get drunk and wait for them to get back."
The quinjet landed about an hour after midnight and the weary Avengers – plus Maria Hill, who'd gone with them as an extra pilot – staggered out. Filthy and exhausted, they all wanted nothing more than their beds.
There was a big room behind the quinjet hangar where the team often found themselves hanging out. A common area, they often gravitated here.
"Guys," Steve, the first through the door from the hangar, stopped dead. "Whoah. Look."
They all crowded in behind him, staring in silence.
The room was beautifully decorated, tinsel and streamers and sparkling fairy lights, though not a balloon in sight. Banners hung at each end of the room, one saying Happy Birthday Wanda and the other Happy Birthday Pietro. There were bottles of champagne in buckets of melting ice, covered platters of food on the tables.
"So much effort," Pietro said, staring around. "They did all this since we left this morning."
"So much love," Wanda whispered softly. "And it's past midnight…"
"A good birthday party always goes on until at least dawn," Tony said after a moment, straightening weary shoulders. "Ten minutes to clean off any evidence of blood and gore and report back here, Avengers. Where are the ladies, JARVIS?"
"In the penthouse, sir," JARVIS flashed an image up on the screen, Jane asleep on one couch and Pepper and Darcy on the other.
"Well, since I'm the only one not covered in yark, I shall go fetch them," Tony said cheerfully.
"We don't all get to hide in a splatter-proof suit," Clint muttered to his back. Wanda, leaning against him, laughed wearily.
"He's right. We do need a shower."
"Separately," Pietro called after the two of them, "or you two won't end up coming back to the party, and it's partly your party, sister!"
"Don't worry Maximoff, I'm too tired for anything like that," Clint called over his shoulder with a chuckle.
"You could sleep, if you're tired," Wanda looked up at him.
"And miss your party? Not happening, my enchantress. Let's go get cleaned up. I want to see you wear that beautiful red dress I know you bought last week. And I didn't give you your birthday present yet."
"Did you not?" she smiled up at him, reaching for a kiss. She knew what her gift was, of course – it was almost impossible for her not to read Clint's mind, especially when they were intimate – and the idea delighted her. But she was happy enough to let him think he was surprising her. And she was very keen to see Pietro's reaction.
Pietro, of course, was washed and changed before everyone else. He debated heading up to the penthouse, but maybe Darcy wasn't still there – or maybe she was in her apartment getting changed… in the end he just shrugged and headed back to the party area. Might as well make himself useful and uncover some of those platters of delicious food. And not incidentally, eat some of it.
Steve and Thor, both of whom had metabolisms that ran similarly to Pietro's, turned up within a couple of minutes with the same idea. Fortunately whoever had organised the food – all three of them bet on Pepper – had taken that into account and there were plenty of deliciously caloric snacks available. There were even some of them left when the others arrived.
It was fortunate that Pietro didn't have a mouthful of food when Darcy walked in, because he would probably have choked on it. She looked amazing in a figure-hugging royal blue gown, her dark hair tumbling around white shoulders, her soft bosom swelling above the dress's low neckline. But it was her smile he focussed on, her warm, welcoming smile, her blue eyes joyous as she saw him.
She saw his blue eyes, his silver-blond hair, for only a moment before he blurred and reappeared before her, her, hair lifting and settling in the wind of his passage, and then his lips were pressing down on hers, warm and firm, his stubble rasping her chin.
Pietro could have lost himself forever in kissing Darcy. He only got to for a few seconds, though, before there was an angry squall and the cat he hadn't noticed held in Darcy's arms, unimpressed at behind squished between them, sank its claws into Pietro's stomach.
"Ai!" he stepped back, startled, and the cat came with him, claws caught in his shirt. Chuckling, Pietro caught the animal, cradling it in his arms. "Hello, little friend," he murmured with a chuckle, reaching a finger to scratch under the cat's chin, rewarded at once by a rumbling purr. "And who might you be?"
"Happy birthday," Darcy said with a tremulous smile.
"Hm?" he looked up from the purring cat. Saw her looking at him, nodding to the cat. " For… me?" he blinked in astonishment.
"All yours." Darcy stepped close, lifted her fingers to stroke the cat's fur. "What will you name him?"
Pietro looked down at the cat, a little stunned. "Resgalis," he said after a few moments of thought. "It means, mischief."
"Let us hope you are not tempting Fate, brother," Wanda's voice said behind him, and he turned to see her with a black cat riding her shoulder.
"You do realise how very witchy that makes you look?" Pietro couldn't help but chuckle. She only smiled her mysterious smile.
"I called her Neziņa."
"Of course you did. It means darkness, obscured – suspense," he translated for Darcy. She laughed.
"You're really not doing anything to convince Tony that your nickname shouldn't be Spooky, Wanda!"
"Oh, what a beautiful cat," Natasha walked in at that moment, saw the cat on Wanda's shoulder, then Resgalis in Pietro's arms. "Two of them for the birthday kids? Well aren't you two lucky."
"The VIP has arrived, you can start the party now!" Tony announced loudly at that moment, making his entrance with Pepper on his arm.
"It's not your birthday party," Natasha pointed out.
"Still the most important person here," Tony winked at her cheerfully. "Why aren't any of these champagne bottles open? Get on that right now, Barton!"
Clint laughed and detached from Wanda's side. Soon the champagne was flowing and everyone was gradually getting into the party mood. Natasha kidnapped Pietro's cat almost immediately and settled onto a sofa, petting him.
"Looks like someone else might need a cat," Darcy nodded towards the Russian.
"No overrunning my Tower with the little monsters, now," Tony said firmly.
"Animals are good therapy, Stark," Sam said easily. "And considering as how pretty much everyone who lives here has PTSD to some degree… a few cats would probably be really good for the team, actually."
Pietro tugged gently on Darcy's arm, drawing her away from the amiable bickering. She went with him willingly, turning her face up to smile at him.
"You really weren't hurt today?" she asked softly.
"Not so much as a scratch. Really." He smiled down at her, lifted his hands to frame her face. "Thank you for this, Darcy. For all this." He gestured around the room, at the wreckage of the cakes she'd made so lovingly. "I know it's the first birthday party I've ever had, so I'd sound a bit dumb saying it's the best one ever – but I do know it's the one I'll always remember."
"Don't say things like that, you'll make me well up again."
"Again?" he looked closer at her face, saw the faint red rims to her eyes. "Ah, meiča – you wept, for me? Don't, Darcy, don't do that to yourself."
"Can't help it," she sniffed, looking down, "love you too much."
Pietro was silent for a stunned, incredulous moment, and then he wrapped his arms around Darcy and kissed her very thoroughly indeed. "I love you too, meiča," he said softly, "always."
THE END.
I am aware that the ending to this might seem a bit abrupt. But the fact is, I made the mistake of going to see Age of Ultron (opened here in Oz on 23 April) before I finished this, and I am failing to deal quite spectacularly.
I am put in mind of my favourite Tumblr post, which says 'The canon you are witnessing is experiencing a large amount of fail. Would you like to apply fanfic?'
FUCK YES I will be applying fanfic. Stupid-ass canon decisions. *grumbles*. Consider this the first instalment.