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“I need you.”
Looking up from the veritable mountain of paperwork on her desk, Pepper’s lips curl up fondly at Tony’s words, and at the tinge of desperation that’s evident even through the speaker she’s hearing him from. “You always do,” she jokes, her smile growing at the laughter it prompts.
“Right as rain, Pepper pot. I think you might’ve actually been born to be right, and I don’t give a damn if it’s not possible, ‘cause if anyone could do it, it’s you—”
“Tony.”
“—I can’t even remember the last time you weren’t ri— hey, no, put that down—”
“Tony,” she repeats, leaning forward just as the other end of the line erupts into a frenzy.
“—No, not you, Tweety Bird, I’m— yeah, you, Point Break, plea— thank you, you can go help now, yeah? Pretty please?”
“Tony!” she all but yells, louder than she’d intended but apparently enough to be heard through the chaos.
“...Pepper?”
Though not just by Tony, apparently.
“Um, hi there,” she says, her words slow and uncertain at the new, decidedly not-Tony voice.
“Hi! ‘s me, Bucky! Tony’s holdin’ Nat ‘cuz she was takin’ a nap an’ she had a nigh’mare, and me’n Hawk an’ B’uce an’ Thor an’ Sam are helpin’ Tony with balloons! But dere’s lots an’ we have tiny hands, so Tony rem’bered you work here an’ said we should call an’ see if you c’help us!”
Pepper only just manages to hide the giggle building up inside, and she’s sure the smile on her face must look positively ridiculous. “Oh, that’s—”
“An’ we’s gonna have cake later, ‘cuz it’s Steeb’s bir—nooooo!”
“Hand it over, Bucko,” Tony’s voice comes back into range, soft but firm among the chaos around him.
“But—”
“Nope, no buts. Please... and thank you. Run along now, minion! No slacking off…”
“‘m not a minion!” comes Barnes’ disgruntled reply, and Pepper can practically see the glare Tony’s surely being treated to.
“That’s exactly what a minion would say,” he replies. “Back in line— hey Pep, you still there? Man, that kid’s got sticky fingers. I look away for half a second…”
“So you need me, huh?” she chuckles.
“It’s... Look, I know it’s still light out, I know you’re working—”
“I’m—”
“—but I just, y’know, thought I’d check my luck, on the off chance it’s a slow day—”
“Tony.”
“...Yeah, honey bunny?”
“What did you need?”
“Not that I need-need you, obviously. But it’s— hey, shhh, c’mere, honey... there you go,” he coos, voice suddenly gone soft with concern. “So, it’s uh, Steve’s thing today. You know. His birthday thing.”
“I remember,” she tells him. “I was thinking I’d drop by at around seven. Unless...”
“Unless what?” Tony prods.
“Unless you need my help?”
“Well, since you’re offering,” he says, and this time, Pepper doesn’t hide her laughter at how relieved he sounds. “It’s really— it’s so swell that you remembered your boss—”
“Ex-boss.”
“—Your ex-boss and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad grunt work he’s been forced to suffer today— six kids to feed and clothe and protect and a party to string together—”
“This party was your idea,” she reminds him, “and those kids are anything but a job—”
“Not a— it is absolutely a full-time job, Pepper pot. Twenty-four seven non-stop action while Steve schmoozes it up at SHIELD with the lackeys—”
“I don’t think training sessions count as schmoozing, Tony.”
“Yeah, well, who knows what they get up to over there—”
“You know exactly what they ‘get up to over there’,” Pepper says, rolling her eyes even as she stands from her desk and picks up her purse from her coatrack. The files on her table, not for the first time that day, suddenly don’t seem as compelling as they’d been before.
They’re certainly not as engaging as what she knows is on the other end.
“I do know everything, don’t I?” Tony says, and then laughs at some low, indistinct mumble that comes from somewhere around him. “Lunch time, huh? You clever kitten. Let me take a wild guess at what you’re up for— mac and cheese?”
Pepper laughs again at the excited cheers she can clearly hear him getting in return. “I just need to clear some things over with Cary, but I’ll be right over after that. Give me fifteen, alright?”
“Pep—”
“See how easy that was? You didn’t even have to ask.”
“God, I love you.”
“Love you too,” she says before disconnecting, and leaves her office with a grin that’s far more eager than it’s been in days.
- - - - -
“This was nice of you to plan,” she tells Tony later, after a busy hour of helping to corral, feed, and watch over six hungry toddlers. The party set-up had continued after, and now she’s curled up into one of the Tower’s ridiculously comfortable couches, heels kicked off and half a bag of balloons left for her to blow up.
“You know it, Potts. Nice is my middle name,” Tony shrugs casually, unwinding a roll of bright red streamers. From her perch on his lap, a tiny Natasha waves the end of it gently, and Pepper feels her heart warm when Tony softly, unconsciously caresses the crown of her head with his chin.
“That sounds about right,” she ribs him, tossing him the balloon she’s just finished tying up and laughing when it manages to hit him right on the forehead.
“Remind me why I called you over again?” he grumbles good-naturedly.
“To help babysit—”
“Ah, ah, ah, no— nope,” Tony tut-tuts, wagging a finger and grinning when Natasha lets out a soft, hushed giggle. “No babysitting. Absolutely zero babysitting. No babies here, Potts, so you can’t babysit not-babies.”
“Tony, that— god, that doesn’t make any sense,” Pepper laughs.
“It makes my kind of sense.”
“Nonsense, then.”
“Feisty, feisty,” he pouts. “Just zip it and keep blowing— and you two!” He calls over Pepper’s shoulder, and she turns to find Barnes and Wilson standing sheepishly in front of a toddler-sized lump of the same blue balloons she’d been blowing up. “Keep making Michelin man there any bigger, and Steve’s going to come home to some pretty empty walls. You good, Barton?” A muffled "yeah” from inside the balloon blob has him sighing forlornly. “I have to do everything myself, don’t I?”
“Me,” Natasha pipes up, pulling at his sweater, and Tony’s face softens as he presses a quick kiss to that red, red hair.
“You’re right, what was I thinking?” He murmurs. “You and me and Pep and Brucie-bear and Point Break can knock it out outta the park, hmm?”
“Yeah!” Thor cheers from the other side of the room, with an excited hop that also works to help stick the balloon in his hand to the wall. Beside him, Banner gives them a thumbs-up and a sweet smile, and Pepper revels in the affection for this team that she feels bubbling in her chest like a warm blanket.
- - - - -
The rest of the afternoon is, surprisingly, exactly how Pepper expected it’d be.
Decorations don’t take long to complete after that— most of them are only shoulder height, but she’s pleased to see them stay up that way— and by the time the custom-made Captain America tier cake arrives, only minutes before Tony announces Steve’s arrival, Pepper thinks she might even feel as excited as the rest.
Tony’s grin when she tells him so is pure contentment, and it only makes Pepper’s chest warm even more. “Cap tends to have that effect on people.”
“It’s not just Steve,” she corrects him. “He’s a great guy, yes, and he deserves every bit of happiness. But today... this is all you, Tony. You and these little ones,” she reaches down to bop Barnes’ stomach, smiling affectionately when the boy giggles and swats at her hand playfully. “You’re so good with them… Just like I always knew you’d be.”
Tony doesn’t say anything at first, just continues rocking back and forth in place, and from where she rests within Tony’s arms, Natasha sends her a seemingly approving smile. “They make it easy,” he finally responds, and Pepper thinks her heart might break— in the absolute best way, of course— at the quiet but unmistakable awe lacing every word. “Not that it’s like this all the time. Most days, there’s an extra set of hands around.”
“Helps that most days aren’t holidays too, I’m guessing?”
“Small mercies, Pepper pot,” Tony laughs, just as the elevator doors open and Steve Rogers steps out, duffel bag in his hands and standing in full Captain America uniform.
“Happy birthday!” His team yells, before he’s even taken three steps onto the floor, and Pepper watches every emotion play out openly on his face—confusion, realization, and finally, incandescent happiness as he makes his way further into the room.
“Happy birfday, Steeb!” Barnes is the first to get to him, all but barreling into his legs, and the rest are quick to join him; Steve lets out a breathy little laugh even as he takes the time to acknowledge every single one of his teammates. His grin is bright and handsome, cheeks flushed with boyish happiness, and Pepper is can’t help but admire the beautiful sight he makes.
“Finally, the man of the hour,” Tony says. There’s a faint breathlessness to his voice, but really, Pepper thinks, no one could blame him for it. “Surprise!”
“Sure is,” Steve laughs, ruffling Thor’s locks, “couldn’t even wait for me to change, couldja?”
“Not my fault you came home in full regalia. Feels like it’s my birthday too,” Tony winks. “Besides, I like to keep you on your toes.”
“Wouldn’t dream otherwise,” the Captain replies, and Pepper’s sure she can’t possibly be the only one to hear the honesty and wonder when he speaks.
“Good,” Tony nods once, in time with the tiny jostle he gives Natasha, who gives him a half-hearted glare in return.
Steve just rolls his eyes and walks over to place a soft kiss to the girl’s forehead. “Thank you, princess,” he says softly, before turning to Tony with eyes bright and vibrant with unconcealed gratitude. “Shellhead...”
“Happy birthday, big guy,” is all Tony says in return.
“Thanks,” Steve ducks his head shyly for a moment before turning Pepper’s way. “Miss Potts—”
“It’s Pepper to you. Always,” she replies, the words unplanned but not any less true for it. “And a very happy birthday, too.”
“Thank you,” Steve says. “This is... amazing.”
“You can thank them for it,” Tony gestures at the team still shuffling eagerly beside them, all of them wearing identical smiles and colorful birthday hats. “Pep and I are just the help.”
“Pretty sure you could never just be anything,” Steve replies, eyes locked onto Tony’s for an impressive amount of time before he seems to realize Tony had mentioned her too. “Either of you, of course.”
“No need to lay it on so thick, sunshine,” Tony snorts. “We already like you.”
Steve’s grin turns playful. “Y’know, now that I think about it, I was mostly talking about Miss P— I mean, Pepper.”
“Now that I think about it,” Tony shoots back, a wickedly familiar gleam of humor animating his own eyes, “the cake we got is too small for the birthday boy to get a piece.”
“Hey, you started it.”
“Wow, what are you, a hundred and one, or just one?”
“What I am is about to go find my cake and eat it.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself, honey bunch. I thought you knew me...”
Steve narrows his eyes, smirk still sitting pretty on his face, before finally feigning a sigh of defeat. “Enough to know when to pick my battles, I s’ppose.”
“See? Knew you were a smart guy.”
“Not as smart as you.”
Tony’s cheeks flush evens as he scoffs. “Not everyone can be, tiger. But you do well enough.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“And with that, you can go get dolled up while I put Red down and really get this party started. You hungry?”
Steve shakes his head. “Not too much,” he answers, and then gives them all a sheepish smile. “Coulson and Hill brought out some celebratory lunch, and I felt bad about declinin’. How ‘bout you?”
“Taken care of,” Tony waves him off, then turns to Pepper with a knowing grin. “See, Pep? What did I say? Schmoozing while I hold down the fort. Some team leader you are…”
Steve’s laughter follows him all the way to the elevator. “Oh, shaddup!”
“Zip it and scram, before I change my mind and hide dessert!”
“If I thought you would, Stark...” is the last thing they hear before the elevator doors shut and Steve is out of sight.
“Oh, Tony...” The words are out before Pepper even really knows what she means to say, but her thoughts— her knowledge, and the realization of what she’d only considered in passing up until now— are quick to rearrange themselves to fit this new truth.
Judging by the brief but sharp flicker of panic that passes over Tony’s face at her words, she’s almost certain she’s not the first to do so...
- - - - -
“That might’ve been the best birthday party I’ve ever had.”
In the hushed quiet of the Avengers tower living room, Pepper manages to catch the conversation even from across the other end of the couch. The volume from the movie they’d put on—an old cartoon Pepper can’t recall ever seeing, mostly for the benefit of the rest of the sugar-high team they’d needed to calm down— isn’t all the way down, just low enough to soothe the children to sleep.
It is not, however, low enough to drown the conversation between the two men huddled together on the love seat across from her.
“Better than last year?” Tony mutters, and the dimness of the room isn’t dark enough to hide the sight of Steve Rogers rolling his eyes as he elbows him.
“Infinitely.”
“Huh. Good to know. Now I can just scrimp on the fancy shit and just roll out the barbecue from now on, huh?”
“Permission granted, Iron Man.”
“It’s cute how you took that as a request,” Tony sniffs, though his grin all but lights up the room. “Say sayonara to the glitz and glamor, big guy— you’re stuck with this from now on,” he gestures to their slumbering teammates, scattered on the floor and the rest of Pepper’s couch.
“Wouldn’t want it any other way,” Pepper hears Steve say, and smiles into the cushion she’s curled into. “I can’t… remember the last time I was this happy.”
Tony’s voice is almost disbelieving. “Really—”
“Not that I’m not happy everyday,” Steve’s quick to continue. “Because I am. So much. Here with you… with all of you, it’s… it’s home.”
“Steve…”
“And if you don’t know by now, that’d I’d take being with you—all of you, however and wherever—over any of the frills this century’s got to offer… then I haven’t been doin’ a good job of showin’ it.”
Pepper sees Tony take in a shaky breath, and then another, before he speaks up again. “You’re somethin’ else, Rogers.”
“Back atcha, Stark. And I know I’ve already thanked you for all this—”
“More times than I can handle in one day, honestly—”
“Well buck up and take one more, Shellhead.”
“Should’ve gotten you an off-switch for a gift…” Tony mutters.
“So…thank you for the cake; it was delicious—”
“I damn well hope so, for the price I paid—”
“Oh, shut up,” Steve giggles, all crinkly eyes and crooked grin, and Pepper takes a long, quiet moment to appreciate the sight.
Tony, very blatantly, does the same.
“And thank you for the dinner, too.”
“Figured you’d prefer burgers and hot dogs to anything else.”
“I do,” Steve replies, soft enough that Pepper can barely hear him. “You know me pretty well…”
“If you say so, Cap.”
“Oh, and the balloons and streamers were… a nice touch.”
“Weren’t they?” Tony chuckles. “I had to send an intern to buy them both in bulk.”
“Remind me to send ‘em a thank you card.”
“Oh, they get a card? What do the people who did all the work get, hmm?”
“This,” is all Steve says, before leaning over to press his lips to Tony’s cheek. Even above the low noise coming from the television, Pepper can still hear Tony’s sharp, shocked gasp, and the sudden intimacy of the moment has her looking away for the first time that night.
“Steve…”
“Thank you, Tony. Really. For everything, not just... not just today, okay? You’ve done so much—“
“Cap—“
“Listen, please,” Steve cuts him off, and continues when Tony stays silent. “When I woke up, I... I had nothing. I was lost and— and afraid, and so angry, I’m surprised SHIELD let me go out there at all. And then the battle came and I just... jumped back in because what else did I have?”
“Hey...”
“But then you came along— you, the Avengers, everyone else— and just like that, I wasn’t... wasn’t alone. And now, I get to come home to this; I get to have a home to come back to, Tony. To my friends, my team… my family. To you. I know I don’t tell you as often as I should, but I’m so happy here. And everything I lost, all those years I was under... it was all worth it. I’d do it again, in a heartbeat.”
“You’re crazy,” Tony finally says, voice ragged with disbelief. “Batshit crazy, you know that?”
“Maybe,” Steve laughs. “But I meant every word.”
“I know you did, big guy…”
“You gave me a home. I couldn’t ask for a better present.”
“Christ, and here I was thinking the cake was sweet...”
“I think there was a compliment in there somewhere?”
“Nope,” Tony says. Even with her eyes closed, Pepper knows he’s smiling. “No compliments whatsoever. Wouldn’t want that head of yours to get any bigger.”
“Well, I guess you would know plenty about that, huh?” Steve says with a chuckle.
“Y’know, I’ve got half a mind to let that slide, on account of it being your day and all—“
“Much obliged.”
“All bets are off by morning, though, so take it in while you can.”
“Will do, Shellhead,” is all Steve says, and in the peaceful silence that follows the end of the conversation, Pepper allows herself to drift off for the night.
- - - - -
It’s not often that she stays over at the Tower these days, which is perhaps why she can’t help the yelp she gives when she’s wakes up the next morning to a pair of wide, curious green eyes inches from her face.
“извиняюсь,” Natasha whispers solemnly, even as a tiny corner of her lips curls up in amusement.
“That wasn’t very nice, darling,” she hears Tony say, seconds before he pops into her field of vision to scoop up the girl into his arms. “Come on, let’s get you some of Cap’s pancakes before the other gremlins gobble ‘em all up, yeah? You too, Pep. Up and at ‘em.”
“I’m surprised you’re up so early,” she grumbles, because even though she has yet to check her watch, the sunlight is far too soft for a late morning.
“Eh, you know how Rogers is, and toddlers aren’t much different than centenarians, as it turns out— I’m cursed to suffer through it. Chop, chop, Potts!”
Pepper gives him her most scathing glare. “At least let me freshen up,” she says, and doesn’t wait for a response before leaving the room.
She makes her way back minutes later— feeling far more refreshed and conscious than before— to a full but pleasantly quiet kitchen, and she hops up onto the last empty stool with a content smile. Next to her, Barnes is tiredly poking at a bite-sized piece of syrup-drenched pancake with half-lidded eyes, and on his other side, Barton is too busy stuffing his cheeks with his own bits of breakfast to notice. Thor, Bruce, and Sam mumble quietly to each other across from them, and standing over by the coffee maker, Tony rocks a still-smiling Natasha and spares each of them a watchful but affectionate glance.
“Good morning,” Steve tells her, depositing a full plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of her a second later with a grin, and she returns the greeting with one of her own.
“It’s too goddamn early for you two to be smiling like that,” Tony mutters. “I have a goddamn heart problem.”
“Can’t help it,” Steve says. “It’s kind of a great morning.”
“This is every morning, Cap.”
“Exactly.”
“Jesus, you should really pace yourself…”
“You love it.”
“Shut up and keep cookin’,” Tony huffs, but the smile on his face is more peaceful and genuine than she can ever remember it being, and as she looks down at her breakfast and digs in, she finds herself feeling just the same.