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Even though she’d specifically told everyone it wasn’t a big deal, when Ava wakes up on her birthday, the first thing she sees when she goes into the kitchen is the date circled in bright red and ‘AVA’S DAY’ scrawled in Yelena’s handwriting beneath it.
Birthdays aren’t all that bad for Ava, thanks to Bill, but for so long, the only person around to celebrate with was Bill, and now Bill was on the other side of the country and she was going to celebrate her first birthday in this new place, with new people and none of the birthday traditions she’d grown used to.
The weeks leading up to her birthday where Bill would make a show of crossing the days off the calendar while Ava feigned embarrassment, and deflected his attempts at finding out what she really wanted as a gift. Bill always made sure S.H.I.E.L.D kept her birthday clear — of training, of missions, of everything — and he’d dedicate his time to making sure that for that day, Ava could just be.
Thanks to Bill, Ava’s birthday was the day she got to sleep in. There was no harsh alarm, no testing, no suiting up for a far off mission where eyes would be on her all the time. Instead she got to start the day with the soft glow of candlelight while Bill sang her happy birthday and she groaned about getting five more minutes of sleep even though she’d been waiting for him to come in for at least half an hour. When she could, she’d help Bill make breakfast. He’d shown her how to crack an egg with one hand and flip a pancake using the pan on her thirteenth birthday, and to this day whenever Ava set her mind to making breakfast she was back in the pristine S.H.I.E.L.D kitchens, working carefully to avoid making a mess while Bill encouraged her. He never yelled, even on the rare occasion when the eggs slipped through Ava’s palm and splattered at her feet. He’d just hand her another and tell her he wasn’t leaving until he got to eat some pancakes made with Ava’s love.
He normally took her out, someplace crowded where a flicker every now and then wouldn’t draw too much attention. He kept a firm grip on her hand, and when he tried letting go after he suspected Ava had outgrown the need to have her hand held in public, Ava started holding on twice as tight. Her favourite birthday outing was when Bill had taken her to an arcade, bragged about how just how good he used to be at pinball and then watched in awe as Ava had set a new high score on the machine. He’d been a little less full of awe when Ava had called him old man while handing him his ass in Street Fighter.
When S.H.I.E.L.D had fallen and Ava’s condition had become dire, birthdays became more indoors. They’d let themselves take a break from the daunting task in front of them to just exist. Bill started ordering ice cream cake and junk food and they’d marathon old movies together while pretending to ignore the fact that each birthday might have been Ava’s last.
When her life had taken a more solitary turn, Ava had continued the traditions herself. Crossing off the days. Pre-ordering an ice cream cake to her house, and if she happened to be on a mission, she’d buy a cupcake, stick a candle in it and celebrate as best she could.
She hasn’t given too much thought to what this year’s celebration should be but she imagines it will be the same as before. Cupcake with a candle, and a weighted blanket while she watched old movies and stuffed her face.
It’s sad, Ava knows, but it’s the routine she’s built and the thought of the others going out of their way to try and give her the perfect day when her idea of a perfect birthday is probably a little pathetic by their standards fills Ava with dread.
To her surprise, the Tower is silent. She’d slept in of course, and knew the kitchen would be empty when she finally made it down, but it’s eerily silent. No Alexei laughing loudly at whatever online videos to show the team. No John and Yelena bickering while Bob tried to make them see that they were technically in agreement about whatever thing they were arguing about. The common area is empty, the weight room and gym are both empty. Ava presses her ear to everyone’s doors, and when she hears nothing she breathes a sigh of relief. She’d expected to spend the morning fighting off Yelena’s attempts to sing to her and make her wear a birthday sash. She’d lived through Bob’s birthday, and she knew it was a fight she’d lose.
The first thing Ava does when she realises she’s home alone is get cozy. She slips into her softest pyjamas and carries her weighted blanket to the couch. The second thing she does is Doordash some cupcakes, some candles, and some food — all on the Avengers’ shiny corporate card of course.
She spends her time waiting for delivery by scrolling through the movie selection and planning out her perfect marathon, and once she’s collected her food from reception she lights a couple of candles and video calls Bill Foster.
The phone rings, and rings and rings, and Ava is worried that he might still be asleep when he picks up, eyes barely open and a birthday hat sitting precariously on his head.
He breaks out into song before Ava can pretend she’s just calling to say hi.
“Ava! Too busy with your cool new friends to make me some of those birthday pancakes?” he asks after Ava’s blown the candles on her cupcakes out.
“If it makes you feel any better I didn’t have any pancakes at all. I’m saving my appetite for when you finally come visit me,” Ava smiles.
“Visit you? I’m an old man, Ava. Cross-country flights are no longer good to me,” he jokes. “Besides I’m not sure that appetite of yours knows how to be tamed.”
Ava laughs, but she feels a tug of sadness in her chest as she looks at the grays on his head and the lines beginning to etch into his face. She’d have to make sure they saw each other in person more often from now on.
“You’ve been old forever, Bill. I think you’ll manage,” she laughs when he scoffs at her, threatens to hang up the phone even as he turns on his bedside lamp for better visibility.
“So what are you doing now that you don’t have your old man to keep you company?”
He yawns, and if Ava was less selfish she’d let him get back to sleep, but today’s her birthday and if she couldn’t be with Bill in person, she’d get as much as she could from him over the video call.
“The usual. Junk food, movie marathon,” she shrugs. She angles the phone camera towards herself. “See? Pyjamas and junk food. I’m feeling Star Wars today,” she smiles.
Bill frowns.
“And your new friends? Are they watching with you?”
“No. I specifically told them to act like this was any other day,” Ava shrugs. “I think they’re all out,” Ava says. “It’s been silent since I woke up.”
“You don’t sound too happy about that,” Bill says with a small smile. “Were you expecting them to surprise you?”
Ava rolls her eyes.
“I did expect a surprise, but not the way you think. I thought I’d be spending the day dodging them, but now it’s just quiet. It feels too easy,” she laughs. “I’m almost more terrified that there’s a birthday clown waiting to pop out from the ottoman or something,” Ava laughs nervously. She wouldn’t put it past Yelena.
“All that spying has made you paranoid Ava,” Bill smiles. “But if you’re happy with this, then I’m happy for you. Don’t leave me waiting too long for those pancakes though,” he laughs again.
Ava smiles. It felt good to see Bill smiling because of her, and to hear him poking fun at her like he used to. She keeps him for a little while longer, then lets him go back to sleep with the promise of an in-person visit soon enough.
With Bill off the phone, and Ava truly alone she hits play on A New Hope. If John and Bob were here they’d complain about proper watching orders, and Ava smiles as the film opens, thinking of John standing in front of the TV pleading his case while Bob joined in just as passionately from the side.
They would’ve liked this marathon, and she’s a little disappointed she didn’t think to let them in on this, but it’s too late now. The movie is already playing and they’re off doing whatever. They’d probably be back soon, and she’d invite them then.
She sprawls across the couch, the pressure of the weighted blanket comforting her.
Despite her insistence on not having the rest of the team celebrate her birthday, the silence of the Tower proves too much for Ava. She’d grown used to the shuffling of feet, and loud yells and constant conversation. It feels too empty now, too much like the places she used to live in before.
She calls Mel, who picks up on the first ring.
“Ava. Hi,” Mel answers cautiously. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Well, maybe. I’ve just been home all day and no one else is here. Did I miss a mission brief?”
“No. Yelena specifically requested you sit this one out. Since it’s your birthday and all,” she answers.
“Oh. Where’s Bob? I thought he wasn’t cleared for field missions.”
“He’s not, but he is cleared to run errands on my behalf. So that’s what he’s doing.”
There’s a nervous pause.
“Is that all?”
“I guess. Do you have anything for me to do then?”
“No not really. Happy Birthday!”
Mel hangs up before Ava can insist, and Ava is left staring at her phone in disbelief.
She tries to watch the movie again, but her body buzzes with a restless energy and soon she’s pacing around the tower. She arranges and rearranges the books on their makeshift bookshelf, then sets her mind to reorganising furniture. She changes out of her pyjamas and takes a walk, trying not to let the noise of the city disorient her too much. She drops by every chain she can think of to collect the free birthday rewards and doesn’t say no to pictures when people stop her on the streets for pictures. She takes all the treats she’s collected and sits in a secluded park that she’s sure is meant only for residents of the nearby apartment buildings while she eats her stash of goodies.
She checks her watch again and again, waiting for the hours to tick by as she lays on the grass and listens to the sounds of people around her, and when she thinks enough time has passed she wanders back to the Tower.
To her relief, the Tower is alive when she comes back. She goes over how she’ll ask them to watch her movies with her as she waits for the elevator door to open.
What was the most casual way to let her friends know that she did want to spend her birthday with them as long as they didn’t sing for her?
Bob is waiting outside the elevator when she steps off.
“Ava, where were you?”
He blocks her path, sways to the left, then to the right as she tries to walk around him.
“I went out. Is there a reason you’re in my way?” she asks, trying to sidestep him.
She’s blocked again.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
From the living room, she can hear Yelena whispering, but no matter how much she strains, she can’t make out what she’s saying.
“Right now. You’re in my way. Don’t make me go through you, I’ve heard it’s unpleasant,” she threatens.
“It’s not like you can,” Bob fires back, looking over his shoulder.
“I can certainly try.”
“And I can certainly stop you.”
“On my birthday? Cold, Bob. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“It’s your birthday? I didn’t know.”
“Please leave the lying to the rest of us Bob. It’s on the fridge,” Ava laughs, crossing her arms. “I also watched you put everyone’s birthdays in your phone so you wouldn’t forget.”
Bob deflates, and Ava takes the opportunity to walk around him, and straight to the living room where Yelena and John are arguing over the best place to put the giant Stitch plushie that’s currently on the couch.
They both fall silent when they see her, and then glare at Bob behind her.
“You said you’d distract her,” John huffs. “She doesn’t look distracted to me.”
“Distract me?”
Yelena laughs nervously.
“I know you said you didn’t want us to make a big deal, but it’s your first birthday as an Avenger and that’s a big deal, Ava. And really, I was going to leave it alone but then today when we were out and about on our mission of course, we saw Stitch and we thought you would love Stitch so we brought him home for you. That’s all we did for your birthday,” Yelena says.
“So that’s not cake behind you,” Ava says, pointing at the cake box behind Yelena.
“It’s my cake,” John covers. He tries to close the box, but Ava’s there before him.
“You — John Walker — ordered an ice cream cake that says Happy Birthday Ava with three exclamation marks and a smiley face, for yourself? Is that what I should believe?”
Ava wants to sound stern. She wants to sound like she’s mad that they didn’t respect her very unreasonable request, but she can’t stop the smile on her face. Of course they’d gone behind her back to celebrate anyways. Of course they’d brought her a giant Stitch.
“Well technically he didn’t order it. Bill Foster did,” Yelena shrugs.
Ava lights up at the mention of Bill’s name.
“Bill ordered it for me?”
“Yes. We didn’t know what your favourite flavour was and we knew you wouldn’t tell us so we just … asked Bill.” Yelena looks a little nervous. “I hope you don’t mind, I know you haven’t introduced us,” she trails off, before looking at Ava again. “It’s just we wanted to do something and thought we should get a cake at least. And maybe sing–”
“No singing. We can have cake and watch Star Wars together but there will be no singing,” Ava instructs.
“Okay, we will sing for you next year,” Yelena counters, leaving no room for argument before she wraps Ava in a hug. “Oh this is so exciting. I thought we were really going to do nothing for your birthday,” she sighs. “Bill Foster will be so happy you aren’t moping around. Do you know he said that to us? He said ‘make sure she doesn’t mope around, even if she tells you she wants to mope around.’”
“I don’t mope,” Ava laughs as she imagine Bill instructing Yelena.
“You do a little sometimes. Like when you spent weeks building your island in Animal Crossing and didn’t get your favourite villager,” Bob points out.
“Or when you thought you hid the last tub of chocolate fudge ice cream really well and Alexei found it anyway,” John adds.
Ava’s shocked by the revelation that she still ‘mopes’, but she’s even more shocked that everyone notices.
“Stop making that face, we know you by now,” Yelena says.
“Yeah. I guess you do,” Ava smiles, happy to be spending the final part of her birthday with them — despite what she may have thought before.
Ava stares at the giant Stitch still sitting on the couch.
“Thank you guys, for not letting me mope around,” she says quietly, as she feels its fur. She already knows where it’s going in her room — in the corner across her bed, beneath the shelf that hold the white teddy Bill had gifted her all those years ago. They could keep each other company that way.
“Of course, Ava. Happy birthday,” Yelena smiles, pulling her into a hug. Ava feels Bob join, and then John, and for the first time that day her birthday really feels like her birthday, and Ava couldn’t be any happier.