Hero (Loki & Avengers)

Twenty-Five

"Happy birthday!" I hear shouts in my room at the crack of dawn, and I jolt up in bed to see Tony and Pepper at my bedside with a gigantic sheet cake and balloons.

"What on earth is going on?" I laugh, rubbing my eyes of their sleepiness.

I stand from my bed and take the two gift bags Tony hands me.

"Pepper, hi!" I smile, pulling her in for a hug. She stops by the compound from time to time but I rarely get to see her. I'll always remember the first day I got my powers, and how she was the only person able to calm me down and make me feel safe. I'll hold that moment dear to me forever.

"Cassidy, it's so good to see you. I wouldn't miss your birthday for the world." She says into my hair as I embrace her.

I pull away from her and give Tony a side hug, leaning my head against him, because he has his hands full with my cake.

"Happy birthday, kid. The big 23." He says and I laugh.

"Yeah, a really important year." I joke, "You guys didn't have to do all this but thank you."

"Of course we did. Get ready, then it's dining room in fifteen minutes." Pepper commands and I nod.

They leave me be, and I quickly throw on jeans and a nice blouse. I do my makeup for the first time in what feels like forever, and then I head out towards the living room.

It's been a few weeks since we visited Connors lab, and I saw Dylan again. I haven't heard from him since, not that I was expecting to. My anger towards him as morphed into a dull and ever present sadness. The ache of a lost friend.

Still, these weeks have been incredibly bright ones. My mother has come to visit me here at the compound a few times, and she's taken quite a liking to Thor. I can't blame her. He's intimidatingly attractive. Mom came yesterday to visit too because today, on my birthday, she's working a double shift.

I don't find anyone in the living room, so I keep walking down the hall towards the large dining room. The second I turn the corner into the dining room, I'm met with an onslaught of cheers and colors and the aroma of food in the air.

The sprawling dining room table has been decked out in an assortment of every breakfast food I could think of and then some more. The room is covered in streamers and balloons and party hats, and each place setting has china and silverware that look like they're worth more than my house.

"Hey, it's the birthday girl!" Banner cheers, popping a paper party hat onto my head. I look around the room, smiling ear to ear.

"I haven't had a birthday party since I was ten." I laugh.

"You haven't had a birthday party like this ever." Tony comments and I laugh.

Everyone stops by to wish me a happy birthday, and to give me gifts that I can't help but feel guilty for already. Tony brought me out to the garage before we ate and gifted me a brand new car, and I almost passed out. When my mom finds out about this she's going to cry. My family can't exactly afford new expensive cars on a whim.

Then everyone files through the buffet and settles in a seat, and I choose mine right next to Loki and Tony, the two most important men in my life. We all eat, laugh, and drink a lot of champagne.

The rest of the day is a blur of wonderful memories, and I genuinely can't remember ever being this happy. We play games out on the lawn, and I realize I'm horrible at horseshoe but with Clint on my team we win in a landslide anyways. We even sing karaoke, and Loki stuns everyone into silence when he belts out a song. He's a good singer. I don't think any of us knew that.