We finally get to find out what happened on Clint's floor. Scorch mark mystery reveled!
Also now we get to see what happened on Peter's birthday too.

By the by, I'm taking some time off until after New Year's day. Just cause I'm not going to be home for a while, and I have homework to do. So by the 4th chapter 9 should be up, give or take a day or 2.

And I didn't have time to beta it, so if you find any mistakes point them out, I'll fix them when I can.

11:16 am

Clint and Steve walked in, each pushing a cart full of waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and 2 pitchers of orange juice and milk. Natasha was still reading the New York Times, but now she was joined by the two Asgardians, this time in street clothes, and Tony sitting next to Peter in his highchair. The group of 7 was occupying the end of the table closest to the door.

Stark Tower was known for being at the forefront of the latest and greatest technology. And yet, the 5th floor dining room was something paradoxical; step through the automatic sliding doors, leave the present behind, and enter a room of an era past. A grandiose 16 seater table made out of mahogany in the center of the room, with matching baroque patterned chairs, red and gold. The center pieces were several candles in spiral fixtures, each on lace covered, circular fabric bases.

Clint and Steve started to place the assortment of dishes around the table; Peter was fussing in his highchair, bored as toddlers get with lack of excitement. Tony was teasing Clint for wearing an apron (Steve's rule), Loki and Natasha were discussing current events, and Thor was entertaining himself with the comics section. Bruce walked in with an air of calm around him.

"Glad you could join us Brucey. How did the yoga go?" Tony asked, sarcasm laced in his words.

Timidly, Bruce shuffled over to the open seat on Tony's right-hand side. "It was very relaxing. Maybe you should try it, you might stop needing coffee in the morning to function." Bruce remarked.

"Touché." Tony took a sip of his coffee.

"Friend Stark, if memory serves me, was yesterday not the last of the social service visits?" Thor asked from across the table already piling up his plate with food.

"Yeah it was. And I think it was a success." Tony answered and then forked pancake into his mouth.

"Successful my ass!" Clint shouted his mouth full of waffle and bacon.

"Language." Both Steve and Natasha scolded in unison.

Clint made an audible gulp," Sorry, but come on, we almost got busted because of Stark's stupid mistake."

"I resent that. Whose genius idea was it to have Peter's birthday party on their floor with flammable material hanging on the walls?" Tony defended.

"Whose genius idea was it to let the party happen on said floor?" Clint snapped.

"At least I wasn't too lazy to not get the cake, and let the clumsy robot get it." Tony set his fork down and stood up.

"Are you accusing me Stark?" Clint also stood, pushing his chair back.

"I'm not saying it's not your fault if that's what you mean."

"Wanna take this outside?" Clint crossed his arms, chest huffed.

"Glad—" Tony almost completed.

"Ladies!" Natasha slammed her palms on the table," unless you're willing to put on bikinis, fight in kiddy pools full of chocolate pudding, and have me record you, sit your asses back down and have breakfast like normal people."

Stunned, both men sat down. After a moment Tony commented," You've put a lot of thought into that haven't you?"

Natasha got a little flustered and sat back down," That video would actually make a lot of money on eBay. Only reason why I said it." Natasha tried to sip her orange juice nonchalantly.

"How about we drop Peter's birthday as a topic?" Steve interjected in a semi-assertive tone. It was obvious he was more than a little annoyed.

"So… uh… Thor, Loki, how is Asgard this time of year?" Bruce tried to divert.

xxOOxx

2 Months Earlier, August, Peter's Birthday

"Please Tony, you won't regret it. My floor has the best view anyway." Clint was trailing behind Tony in his lab.

"Clint, Peter won't even remember this birthday, why does the view matter?" Tony was checking stats on several holographic displays.

"It matters because the… um…the pictures!" Clint paused in between, making it up as he went.

"The pictures?" Tony had a questioning look on his face.

"Yeah the pictures. We can open all the windows and use the balcony, that'll make for nice pictures."

Tony was silent for a few minutes, moving images around on the display. Sighing he rubbed his eyes and turned to Clint," Fine, but you have to disarm everything on you floor."

"Awesome!" Clint cheered, and jumped, and did a little dance. "You won't regret it Stark." With that Clint bolted to the elevator.

"I think I'm regretting it already." Tony turned back to the screens. "JARVIS how's the programming for CLARC?"

"96% complete sir. Would you like to make any last minute modifications to the skeleton sir?" JARVIS inquired.

"No, put the stuffing and fur on it. Just make sure I can access the control panel." Tony shuffled over to a metallic skeleton that resembled a 2 and a half foot bear. DUMMY brought over what looked like to be a teddy bear's exterior. Tony sat down and began the final process of making the bear look like a bear.

xxOOxx

3 Hours Later

"Natasha how is the banner coming along?" Steve asked as he set down the last bowls of chip and dip on the table.

Natasha answers after a few moments. She jumps off a step ladder." I'm done with the banner."

"Can you do me a favor then?" Steve asked a little meekly.

"Sure Cap. Let me guess, you want me to drag Tony out of his lab?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Please and thank you Tasha. And on your way down could you send Barton and Bruce up?" Steve was moving about the room, adjusting small things here and there.

"Sure thing, and Steve…" Natasha was standing at the door way.

"Yeah?" Steve looked up from a table.

"Try and relax. It's a small birthday party with friends; it doesn't have to be perfect."

"Ok, I'll try."

xxOOxx

"Red or blue, red or blue, red or blue. JARVIS, which is better, red or blue?" Tony kept switching between holding a red or blue ribbon up.

"I believe a green ribbon would work best with the yellow wrapping paper." JARVIS responded.

"Yeah, I think so too. Ok wrap up CLARC and sent it up when it's ready." Tony took off his goggles, set down the ribbons, and walked to his bottle of Gatorade on the other side of the lab. He was watching DUMMY and U wrap Peter's present when Natasha walked in.

"You do know that Steve is freaking out upstairs right?" Natasha remarked. She was standing nect to Tony watching the robots work.

"Yeah I know. It's best to let him freak out on his own. If I'm there, we'll start fighting. Besides, I like him when he's a little riled up." Tony winked at Natasha, still sipping his Gatorade.

Natasha just rolled her eyes.

xxOOxx

Later That Night

"Ok, come on everyone, pick a spot and stand still." Bruce was trying to wave everyone into the picture. The whole family was there: Clint, Natasha, Thor, Loki, Pepper, Steve, Tony, Peter, Happy, and Bruce.

"Tony try to keep Peter still, he's not looking at the camera." Bruce asked as he set the self timer and rushed to his spot nest to Natasha.

The orange light on the camera began the count down at the same time DUMMY and U rolled in with Peter's cake, candles lit. The camera flashed, and everything went to hell. DUMMY and U became disoriented because of the light, they sent the cake flying. It hit the wall and the sparkling candles caught the streamers and posters on fire.

Flash after flash kept going off, taking more, and more pictures. There was a frame by frame sequence of the Avengers breaking into action, trying to stop the fire. Not too long after the last picture was taken, the sprinklers kicked in and extinguished the fire. There were scorch marks along the wall and ceiling were the streamers used to be.

Steve took Peter from Tony and bolted out of the room. Tony started running to the control panel aiming for the fire alarm. Clint and Natasha pulled table cloths out and tried patting down the fire. Thor focused on keeping Bruce out of sight of the blaze. Bruce's eyes were his tell-tale green, and Thor was doing his best to get Bruce out of here.

Loki just stood back, leaning against a wall, sipping punch. He looks on with a gleeful gleam in his eye, and a mischievous smile on his lips," Midgardians and their ludicrous machines. I'm glad I chose to attend this festivity."

xxOOxx

2 Months Later, October 1:23 pm

"Red or blue?" Tony was holding up 2 different colored ties in front of the mirror.

"Definitely the red one." Steve said peaking out of the bathroom, toweling his hair dry.

Finishing tying his tie, Tony says," I have a few minutes before I have to go Steve. We could—"

CLARC walked into their room, knocking on the wall first," Sirs," CLARC interrupted in a voice similar to JARVIS," Peter is becoming restless. I believe he is going to wake up soon."

Tony made a groan and pouted at Steve.

"You heard him Tony, Peter is waking up. Why don't you go to the meeting a little early?" It was said as more of a command than a question, as Steve walked out of the room in only denim jeans and a towel around his neck.

"What and no good bye kiss?" Tony whined, standing in front of the bed.

Steve strode over to Tony; he put one hand on his lower back, pulling him in, closing the space in between their chests. With his other hand, he grabbed Tony's chin in between his thumb and index finger, and tilted his head up. Slowly Steve lowered his head and kissed Tony softly on his lips. Gently Steve nipped at Tony's lower lip, and Tony melted into the kiss.

Peter's crying ruined the moment and the two broke apart. "Well like you said, I should get going to that meeting." Tony breathed onto Steve's lips. He let go of Steve and walked out of the room. "See you at dinner hot stuff." Tony yelled out from down the hall.

Steve sighed and shook his head. He walked to the threshold and CLARC held up his paw for Steve to grab. "I'll never understand why Tony put in this little habit of yours to hold hands." Steve commented to CLARC.

"I don't either, but I assume it's because of some childhood event, or lack of, that left a psychological effect on Mr. Stark." CLARC replied on the short walk to Peter's room.

"I think you might be onto something there." Steve said as he let go of CLARC's paw and went ot go pick up Peter.