New York City, Thursday Evening

[imafuturist]

Having a birthday on the 4th of July when you were also Captain America was A Thing. A hilarious, terrible thing.

But that didn't stop Tony (mostly Jan) from throwing him a birthday party with more doubles than strictly necessary. Their friend groups were weird.

The barbeque had gone one since the afternoon and now it was finally getting dark enough for the fireworks to cap off the celebration.

Tony staked out a couch for them both to enjoy the show now that it was slightly less unbearably hot. "C'mon, birthday boy."

[for the guy!]

Comments

[imafuturist]

"Don't you even encourage it."

[heroic_jawline]

"But it's my birthday," Steve said. "Wouldn't it be a nice gift?"

It would not.

[imafuturist]

"I will go home to Patriot." He would not.

[heroic_jawline]

"I bet I could duet with Patriot next year, " Steve teased, "but we'd have to practice a lot."

[imafuturist]

"A whole lot of howling," he teased right on back.

[heroic_jawline]

"How do you think the Commandos got their name?" Steve asked, laughing.

[imafuturist]

"By singing with dogs?" Tony asked, laughing.

[heroic_jawline]

"By singing in general," Steve said. "We were so very loud in bars."

[imafuturist]

"Oh, I need to hear about this."

[heroic_jawline]

"Not much to it," Steve said with a little smile. "Dugan would start with old Irish drinking songs mostly to make Monty look like he'd bitten a lemon. Naturally Buck and I knew 'em, Frenchy loved to tick of Monty and Morita wasn't going to miss out on any sort of ridiculousness. Danny Boy sung at the top of your lungs isn't a pretty song."

[imafuturist]

"Aww, I'm sure you sounded lovely," tpny replied. "The others... Eh."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve laughed. "You are biased."

He peered around. "Sam hitting on Carol yet?"

[imafuturist]

"It's cute how he always swings for the fences."

Carol was deeply amused and totally allowing this to continue.

[heroic_jawline]

"Well, a healthy sense of self-worth is important," Steve said, finishing off his hot dog. "Is there steam coming out of Rhodey's ears?"

[imafuturist]

"Shhh. Don't let him know that we all know."

Tony was such a great friend.

[heroic_jawline]

"The other Rhodey's starting to wonder," Steve said, making a noise suspiciously close to a giggle.

[imafuturist]

"Oh no. Who would have guessed this would happen?" Both of them. It was both of them.

Cruel people they were.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve was definitely snickering now. "Oh, no."

[imafuturist]

"Play nice while I rescue Rhodey with a beer," Tony said. "Maybe get me a hotdog."

[heroic_jawline]

"Yes, dear," Steve said fondly, getting up as well. "I'll try to make the other Tony look less like he hates being here."

[imafuturist]

Tony grinned and kissed him on the cheek for that. "I'll rescue you if it looks tense."

[heroic_jawline]

"So give me five minutes," Steve muttered, running his fingers through his hair and ambling over.

"I'm so glad you could make it," he said sincerely, smiling at Tony. "I know how busy you are."

[imafuturist]

Tony seemed to startle a little bit, putting on a quick PR smile that Steve unfairly knew the difference between.

"Well, I was invited." Wasn't that a shock? "So I thought I could swing by."

Also. No Pepper with him. Which wasn't ideal. But a lot in his life wasn't exactly ideal these days.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve had defaulted to slightly strained earnestness, like being more sincere would make Tony believe it.

"I'm glad you're here," Steve repeated. "Do you need a hot dog?"

[imafuturist]

"Sure?" He eyed Steve suspiciously for a moment before doubling down. "Yeah. Who doesn't love tubular meat?"