[OPEN] apple pie is officially banned from this party, aka Steve Rogers' birthday

[anotheroldsoldier]

who: ANYONE
what: 616 Bucky, Peggy, and 616 Tony throw a birthday party for Steve.
when: July 4th, afternoon into the evening
where: A nice park
warnings: Birthday fun. :v


Steve Rogers, former (and still) Captain America, was born on the Fourth. It was pretty much fated. That said, he deserves a party that has nothing to do with Independence Day, and that's what Bucky, Tony, and Peggy set out to do. They rented a nice little park with some good open, grassy space perfect for a pick-up game of football (American, of course). On one end of the park, in the relative shade of a couple of large trees, they've set up two long tables - one for food, and one to deposit presents for the birthday boy on. The picnic tables already in the park have nice blue tablecloths to eat on. A banner hung between the trees proclaims, "Happy Birthday, Steve!", in blue letters on white.

The decor tries to stay away from Fourth of July colors - there isn't a speck of red, just shades of blue and white, and it's all very put-together and classy looking (thank you, Peggy and Tony). It's the sort of party they thought Steve would want, outdoorsy and casual, just a gathering of friends and whoever else wants to come by to wish the birthday boy a happy one.

Invites
Invitations have mostly been word of mouth and texts sent to people Steve is friends with, nothing too fancy. They just say to drop by and wish Steve a happy birthday, have some food, and spend some time hanging out; Rogers wouldn't want anything fancy anyway. That said, they won't turn anybody away from the barbecue if someone decides to just crash the party, as long the behavior stays respectful.

Food
The food is mostly standard American barbecue fare. Two large grills have been set up near the tables and someone (often Bucky) is usually cooking on them - an array of burgers, hot dogs, steaks, even some ribs and chicken. Side dishes are laid out on the food table, the usual simple things. Here and around the picnic tables are a good place to mingle; there's plenty of food for everyone, and metal tubs full of ice and bottled soft drinks. There isn't much alcohol present at this party, though, just one of the tubs set aside with beers in it.

There's also a massive cake for Steve, with close to a hundred candles dotting its layers - Bucky's idea, payback for the time he couldn't see his own cake for all the candles.

Tossin' the Old Pigskin
They're all (mostly) adults here, so there aren't 'party games' necessarily, but there are a couple of footballs and some frisbees in the grass for anyone who wants to play a game in the lush field. Just be careful if the heavy hitters decide to arrange a game, it could get pretty out of hand.

Comments

[wingedman]

Sure there isn't.

[He's pretty sure the other Tonys claim the same thing about their tech, but he's not even talking about them right now. Thanks to Wanda's tailoring, he doesn't even have to take his shirt off to show off; the flexible ribs of metal wings slide through the holes in his shirt, telescoping out to a wingspan fully as wide as the jetpack, and the holograms activate with a quiet hiss, scarlet red plumage furling out - all of this happening in the blink of an eye.]

You were saying?

[buildsomething]

[Tony might have been about to comment, but the display pretty much knocks the words right out of him. Congratulations, Sam, you have officially rendered Tony Stark speechless.]

What the hell. [His eyes are wide.] Wilson, what did you do?

[wingedman]

Cybernetic implants, made to order. Told you they had some fancy tech.

[Sam might look a little smug, because it's not every day Tony ends up speechless.]

[buildsomething]

[Tony just stares for a moment longer, then gestures for Sam to turn around. What, it's professional curiosity.]

The backpack wasn't doing it for you anymore?

[wingedman]

You want me to take my shirt off, too?

[Is there a hint of flirtation in his voice? Maybe. Whether or not it's serious is anyone's guess. But he complies with Tony's request.]

I love the backpack, man, it's great. Still got it. [He could never get rid of Redwing, for one thing.] But this is fast and easy - and lighter. Lets me skip arm day from time to time.

[buildsomething]

Hey, if you're offering. [Tony snorts, but he won't lie, his attention is almost entirely on the implants on Sam's back.]

Skip arm day sure, but doesn't it kill your back to have to support all that?

[Unless the implants go farther in than they look? What he wouldn't kill for an xray right now.]

[wingedman]

Well, I didn't say I skipped back day.

[They do actually go pretty far in - plus the frame is fairly light, made from some futuristic alloy.]

They're self-powered, I don't have to actually flap or anything. Whole thing's integrated into my muscles and my nervous system.

[buildsomething]

I figured that, but you still have to brace the weight of it. Jesus. [The latter is a lot quieter, more to himself. But he makes himself step back before he can get too carried away.]

Who knew you wanted to take the bird thing that far? [It's half a joke. Mostly it's stopping him from asking why.]

[wingedman]

[Well, he's definitely not mentioning anything about talking to birds now. Or introducing him to Jareth, which is clearly Tony's loss.]

Yeah, yeah, everyone's always gotta make bird jokes.

[A good-natured eyeroll.]

Everyone from the other world goes by their codenames constantly, do you know how many times I've had to ask people to call me Sam instead of Falcon?

[buildsomething]

[Tony gives him a long, dry look, and then just waves a hand to encompass all of Sam, including the wingspan. The man has wings and calls himself Falcon. What else is he supposed to do?]

Do they? [It's vaguely curious. None of them have done the codename thing with him.] Haven't heard it. They do keep threatening me with nicknames, though.

[wingedman]

[It's not that he really calls himself that; it was the code name for the EXO-7 project (as Tony knows well) and the moniker just kind of...attached itself to him. Sam would have come up with- okay, he doesn't know what kind of name he would have come up with.]

Well, I mean, there are three of you. Gotta tell all of you apart somehow.

[buildsomething]

You know, I noticed that. [He's also noticed that he has a good decade on both of them. He's really not looking forward to whatever nickname he winds up saddled with.]

There's two Caps, too. Go figure.

[wingedman]

And two Buckys, two Stephens - I didn't even know he existed in our world till he showed up here - and two Lokis.

[Sam's been here for months, he knows about everyone.

(Or so he thinks. He still doesn't have any idea about the Guardians of the Galaxy.)]

[buildsomething]

[Tony's expression twists just slightly at the first name on the list, but they're actually having a perfectly civil conversation, so he's just going to go with it.]

Probably more of all of us than any one place needs.

[wingedman]

[Yeah, yeah, he knows. Look, Sam's just stating the facts here.]

Yeah, tell me about it. I actually got almost all of us into a room for a potluck dinner a few months ago. Even got my security deposit back, which is the real miracle.

[buildsomething]

[He schools his face into something like exaggerated surprise. They're just not going to dwell.]

As the person who's been feeding most of them for a while, let me congratulate your wallet, too.

[wingedman]

Trust me, I did everything in my power to get other people to buy as much food - plus the other Steve and Bucky went hunting outside the perimeter for the meat.

Although it turns out that when you invite a ton of people who can't cook to a potluck, they all just complain and ask if they can bring booze instead of, like, going to the store and buying something that's already made.

[Sam just rolls his eyes. Avengers, honestly. And you'd be surprised at how good he and Wanda are at making a dollar stretch when it comes to preparing food.]

[buildsomething]

That's why I don't bother. [Well that and it's usually easier for him just to supply everything. But there were reasons why Stark Industries generally did catering rather than potlucks.]

But you got everyone into a room and no one killed each other? I'm impressed.

[wingedman]

Loki - the younger one - was even there. He made some damn good salmon, actually. Guy's a good cook.

[Yes, he's casually talking about Loki.]

[buildsomething]

[Tony's eyebrows lift slightly, though whether it's at the idea of Loki cooking or Sam's blase recounting is hard to tell.]

I'll remember that. Just don't ask me to try. [He can acknowledge his own failings there.]