Title: Birthday
Author: Sgt. Pepperony
Fandom: Avengers (MCU)
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, characters Property of Marvel and Disney.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Clint, happy birthday to you," everyone sang as Clint was presented with his birthday cake. He was beaming away as he balanced Nathaniel on his hip. As he blew the candles out, there was an applause and chatter.

Distancing herself slightly from the gathering, Wanda looked on with a look of uncertainty, wonder and sadness. She excused herself to leave. On the porch she took a deep breath. She felt guilty that she was feeling like this on a happy occasion. Yet it had only been a few weeks since her twin had been laid in the ground and even among many people she felt so lonely. She was not entirely sure the team had forgiven her for her actions and what she did to them. Clint only really forgave her because he had not been affected. Then again Steve had been kind to her in her hours of despair. So kind that it confused her.

"Penny for your thoughts?" someone asked behind her. She jumped and turned around. Steve was there and holding a drink. "You okay?"

"Yes," she lied. "Just needed some air."

"You know you can tell me anything."

"I never really had a birthday party. Not one like this. Pietro and I only really had small special dinners with our parents before they..."

"Oh. You know I never really had one either. Not before I joined the SSR."

"It's nice. It's nice to have someone who loves you and wants to celebrate your birthday."

"When is your birthday?"

"Next week. On the fifteenth."

Steve then got a spark. He was going to organise a birthday party for Wanda if it was the last thing he did.

-o-

"So what you thinking? Barbecue on the balcony? Dinner? Frat party?" Tony asked when Steve informed him of his plan. Tony was working on fixing his suit while Pepper was working on her tablet and Rhodey was testing out the new features on the War Machine suit.

"Don't know. Definitely not a frat party," Steve answered. "What about something like the one we had before Ultron? Only less people."

"Well, that's not hard to do. So why are you doing this? Trying to get into her panties or something?"

"Does every nice act towards a woman have to have the promise of sex in return?"

"If he did then we wouldn't still be together," Pepper commented not looking up from her tablet.

"I'm just saying, you haven't stopped making googly eyes at her since you met her."

"I don't make googly eyes."

"Rhodey, back me up," Tony called across the lab.

"He's right. Not to mention the little doodles you make of her. It's kind of cute and kind of pathetic," Rhodey added. "Just ask her out man."

"Her brother just died, I don't think a relationship would be the first thing on her mind." Steve sighed. "She has no one. No family. We're her family now, so I want her to know that she has people around her who care about her."

"Aww," Pepper exclaimed looking over at the three men. "That's the sweetest thing ever."

Steve shrugged sheepishly, Rhodey looked at Steve with some slight administration and Tony rolled his eyes.

"She's never had a really party and I think it's a good way to welcome her into the team."

"Alright, alright," Tony said. "You can use the function room."

"Does that not technically belong to all of us anyway?" Rhodey asked.

"Yeah, but I usually like to be there."

"Drunk or sober?" asked Pepper.

"Depends on the week."

-o-

Steve had spent the next week getting things together for the party, which was only easy because Natasha had been training Wanda in the gym. Wanda was none the wiser.

By the time Wanda's birthday rolled around, Sam had been hired as a chef, Natasha as bar staff, the decorations had been bought and Thor and the Bartons had arrived. It was only a small get together but more than what Wanda had before. There was only one problem: Wanda had predictably fallen into a funk. It should not have been surprising since it was the day Pietro was born as well and the only time they had been apart until he died.

It was so bad that she hadn't gotten out of bed, which was a problem because they needed to get her out the Tower in order to set up.

"Sweetie, I know that you don't want to get up but you can't spend all your birthday in bed," Pepper said as she tried to convince Wanda to get out of bed.

"I don't care. I don't want to even acknowledge this day exists."

"I know. Okay, let's not mention the b-word and go on a girly shopping trip. You could do with some new dresses."

Wanda sighed and sat up, "As long as we do not mention it's my birthday?"

"Deal. Now come on, get dressed."

Fifteen minutes later, Steve had been given the all clear and everyone had been ordered to their tasks. It was just a case of keeping Wanda away long enough to make the party come together.

-o-

"You know when I agreed to come out I thought it would mean day dresses," Wanda said grumpily.

"Well, seeing as it's my credit card, I thought we throw in a few dressy dresses. Like this one," Pepper explained holding up a blue number.

"Blue is not really my colour."

"Can't keep buying red or black."

"They suit me though."

"Can we at least try pink?"

Wanda sighed and took the fuchsia dress and went to the changing room. The thing was strapless so she put it on effortlessly. Surprisingly, the pink suited her, and she usually hated pink.

"What do you think?" she asked walking out the changing room.

"An absolute knock out," Pepper replied. "Steve is not going to stop taking his eyes off you."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not really my place to say but I think Steve might have a tiny crush on you."

"I don't get it."

"Steve really likes you, and not just as a friend."

"Really?"

"Come on Wanda, he looks as though he can't believe his eyes half the time."

"He doesn't love me Pepper."

"Hey, who said anything about loving you? I'm just saying that Steve doesn't attach himself to women that much and when he does, he looks like a right little puppy."

"I still think it's absurd."

"Okay, whatever you say. I think you look really beautiful." Wanda, for once, curved her lips into a smile. "So, I know that you didn't want to do anything tonight, but what do you reckon to going out on the town?"

"Umm... Maybe."

"Not to actually celebrate your birthday, but just for the hell of it."

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

-o-

By the time that Pepper and Wanda had returned everything had been just about set up. Steve had been checking the time and trying not to panic.

"Rogers, relax, we have got this," Natasha said putting her hands on his shoulders. "You sure you're not doing this because you like her?"

"Why does everyone assume I am doing this because I am in love with her?"

"Who said anything about being in love with her?" There was a smirk on her face and Steve blushed a bit. "Admit it Rogers you like her."

"We are not having this conversation."

"Well, I need to get ready anyway."

She was still smirking as she left Steve. It had occurred to him that he needed to change into something smarter as well.

In the meantime, Wanda had put on the pink dress and she smiled nervously. It was not an outfit she was used to, mostly due to how expensive it was. It was beautiful on her and she never thought pink would suit her. Part of her wondered if Steve would notice. She had not taken Pepper's words seriously at the time, but then she started to recollect some instances where Steve had looked at her differently to the way he looked at Natasha. Maybe he did like her. He did like her, he said so himself, but he meant it as a friend more than anything. She would be lying if she said there was not a slight attraction to Steve. She had caught him naked in just a towel on the way back from Sokovia and she had not been able to get the image out of her head. Not to mention that Steve had treated her so generously in the aftermath of everything that had happened between them. Maybe it would have been worth asking him out.

"Wanda you ready? Thought we would grab some drinks from the bar before we go," Pepper said through the door.

"Be out in a moment."

-o-

"Right, Pepper says they are on their way! Everyone get down, Thor, get the lights!" Steve yelled to everyone. Thor switched the lights off and hid beside Jane.

"Is it a really bad time to ask to go to the bathroom?" asked Sam.

After a few moments, the lights switched back on and everyone jumped from their hiding place and shouted, "Surprise!"

Wanda's face was shock, but it wasn't a happy shocked face. It was more a face of confusion and horror. Steve slowly realised that he may have made a big mistake in doing this when Wanda's bottom lip started quivering.

-o-

Steve was sitting at the bar with his face in his hands while Tony and Sam were at a loss to what to say to him. Wanda had run away from the party in tears and it confirmed that the party was a massive mistake.

"It's times like this where I wish I could get drunk," he mumbled through his hands.

"Don't beat yourself up. It was a great idea," Sam reassured.

"She burst out crying."

"Well, maybe she needed to clean her eyes," Tony suggested. "Look, Pep and Romanoff are in the bathroom now trying to convince her to come out."

Steve groaned and hit his head off the bar. In the meantime Natasha and Pepper were trying to convince Wanda to come out the bathroom. She had been in there for the last fifteen minutes crying and Pepper and Natasha were at a loss for how to help her.

"Wanda, please come out," Pepper pleaded. "If not just tell us what's wrong."

Wanda eventually unlocked the door and showed her red rimmed eyes that had black mascara and eyeliner running down it, "Pietro and I never had anyone who cared enough about me to organise a surprise birthday party."

"Oh sweetie."

"So when the lights switched on I was happy but then it hit me like a punch in the gut."

"Wanda, Steve put a lot of effort into this to make you happy," Natasha told her, almost as though she was scolding the younger woman.

"I know. I saw his face. I really hope he knows I did not mean it."

"Well," Natasha said grabbing a wet paper towel, "what you need to do is to go out there and explain to him why you balked."

Natasha cleaned Wanda's face and Wanda took a deep breath, "Okay. I can do this."

-o-

"Steve?" a small voice spoke behind him.

Steve turned around and saw a bare faced Wanda smiling nervously, "Wanda. Listen-"

"Can we go outside to talk?"

"Yeah." They went out onto the balcony. It was surprisingly warm for the time of day, yet goosebumps appeared on Wanda's arm. "Wanda, I'm sorry. It was insensitive of me to assume you would be happy with me organising a birthday party for you."

"Steve, I am happy. I burst out crying because I never had anyone who cared enough about me to throw me a birthday party."

"Oh." Steve was struck dumb and rubbed the back of his head. "I thought you were upset because you didn't want to have your birthday acknowledged."

"I just didn't want my birthday acknowledged because I didn't want pity. You didn't do it out of pity. You did it because you wanted to see me happy."

"I do want to see you happy. You deserve to be happy more than anyone I know."

Wanda took his hands, "You know what would make me happy. Dance with me."

"You want me to dance with you?"

"Yeah. Come on."

The song had changed to something relatively slow enough that they could move together without the risk of tripping over each other's feet. Yet they were surprisingly close. Steve had his hands on her waist while Wanda had her arms around his neck. She smiled softly, and Steve noted how pretty she looked when she smiled. He had not really seen her smile before and it really suited her.

"This whole party is the nicest thing anyone has done for me," she told him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I really thought you deserved all of this."

"Do I?"

"I think everyone deserves to know that some loves them." It was just a slip and Wanda froze. Steve began to blush bright red once he realised what he had said. "Wanda, I-"

Wanda silenced him with a kiss. It took a moment for him to register the soft feel and taste of her lips but he gladly reciprocated as he pulled her close. Somewhere in the distance someone yelled, "Go Cap." It was probably Tony or Sam, but Steve was too intoxicated with the taste of Wanda's lips.

Wanda's head was a mess. Fireworks, confusion and lust were all tangled together in her brain as she pulled out of the kiss.

"That was..." Steve began but couldn't find the words to describe it.

"That was something," Wanda finished. They both smiled and rested their foreheads against one another. "I think I love you too."

Steve smiled softly and they continued to dance together, not wanting to let go of the first bit of happiness they had experienced in years.