Clint, Thor, Loki, Sam and Bucky were sitting downstairs playing cards when there was a crash in Bruce's workshop and he came running down the stairs.
"It's Tony's birthday!" He said frantically. "It's Tony's birthday, where's Tony? He probably didn't remember so there's time-"
"It's Tony's birthday?" Bucky asked. Bruce gave him an incredulous look.
"No, I just ran down the stairs yelling that it was as a big joke. Yes it's his birthday!"
"Rhodey says he remembered," Clint offered, waving his phone. "He's coming over at eight. He takes Tony to dinner."
"Its like ten now, right? So Tony might not even be awake. Where's Steve?"
"Uhhh..." Clint shrugged.
"He's with Tony, they're asleep," Natasha slid around the staircase (from where, nobody knew). Bucky gritted his teeth. "Are you still mad at me, sweetheart?"
"Little bit, yeah," Bucky spat.
"We can spar later. Tony is not gonna find out we forgot his birthday."
"I actually didn't know it was his birthday," Sam said.
"Yeah, neither did I," Bucky agreed.
"Okay, so you two get a pass, whatever, but we have to do something. Rhodey always takes him to dinner so we have til eight to do something."
"We could put party hats on all of the midgardian creatures!" Thor suggested. Clint nodded fervently in agreement.
"Fine, you two can put hats on all the dogs and cats and whatever other hellish beasts live in this house. Bruce and Loki are in charge of shopping, I'm gonna make a cake," Nat instructed. Bucky snorted. "What?"
"You're gonna make a cake? You, Natasha? Who once burnt her eyebrows off trying to boil water in Napoli?"
"That stove was broken! And fine, you and Sam can help, since you don't trust me."
"Why do I have to go shopping?" Loki asked, sticking a hand in the air.
"Because I don't trust Bruce by himself."
"Can we invite Vision and Wanda over? Can we have a PARTY?!" Clint begged. Nat started shaking her head, but Clint slid off the couch and knelt in front of her to beg. "Come on. Please, please, please, please, pleaaaaaaaase, please, plea-"
"Fine! Whatever! Okay!" Nat caved. Clint, Thor and Sam cheered. Nat rolled her eyes.
"Lets go before they loop us into their crazy," Bruce said to Loki, who nodded and followed him to the garage. "Text us if you need anything."
"Love you!" Clint called. Loki blew him a kiss and Bruce snorted.
"How are we going to put hats on our small friends if we do not have hats?" Thor asked Clint.
"Thor, babe, please. You think I don't have an emergency stash of party hats?" Clint scoffed. Thor laughed and the lamps in the room shook. "Lets get the dogs first," Clint hopped up and ran upstairs, followed by Thor.
"So it's just us," Nat said, eyeing Bucky. He nodded and glared at her. "Wanna make that cake?"
"Only because it's Tony's birthday," Bucky grunted.
"Well, I'm excited!" Sam cheered. Bucky gave him a look, but Sam just poked him in the gut and walked into the kitchen. "Do we have cake mix?"
"Sam, babe, please. You think I don't have emergency boxes of cake mix?" Nat snickered. She walked past Bucky into the kitchen and he followed after a minute.
"Why did you have four boxes of emergency cake mix?" Bucky asked when he walked in and saw the boxes on the counter. Nat shrugged.
"You never know when you're gonna need a lot of cake."
"That's true," Sam nodded. Bucky rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so are we making four boxes worth of cake?" Bucky picked up a box and glanced over the instructions.
"Hell yeah!" Sam and Nat exclaimed at the same time. Then they high fived.
"Fine. We're gonna need a dozen eggs, and uh... Like, two really big bowls, and milk."
"The instructions say water," Nat said, pointing at the box.
"Yeah, well, that's mediocre. Do you want to make a giant mediocre cake? No. Of course not. So we're using milk."
Sam grabbed the milk and eggs from the fridge and Bucky pulled down the two biggest bowls he could find and started mixing all the cake mix together. Nat and Sam watched him do that for a few minutes and played a clapping game.
"Sam, it's one two one two clap then up down," Nat said for the fifth time.
"Okay, okay, I got it," Sam said, and then he messed it up. "Oops."
"How's the cake, master chef?" Nat asked. Bucky grunted in response. "Good talk."
"He's still mad," Sam said quietly.
"I know. But he can't stay mad forever. He loves me."
"Says you," Bucky muttered. Nat kicked him gently in the leg.
"Unleash the hounds!" Clint hollered, and dogs and cats came barreling down the stairs in party hats.
"Jesus Christ," Nat muttered. Bucky and Sam started laughing.
"My babies! Look at them!" Clint cheered. "Thor, release the birds!"
And two owls came flapping around the corner, also wearing party hats. Sam jumped in excitement.
"Birrrrrds!" He exclaimed. Bucky grinned, and he wasn't looking at the birds. He was looking at Sam. Natasha smiled. She was glad Bucky liked Sam.
"Hey, lover boy, you better watch that cake mix," she nudged him. Bucky glanced at the bowl and saw a cat had jumped on the counter and was about to put a paw in.
"Scat, you fiend," he said quietly, picking up the cat and stroking it.
"I love Midgard!" Thor boomed, appearing at the top of the stairs with sugar gliders on his shoulders. Wearing little paper party hats.