On The Run

Birthday

Chapter 19: Birthday

Living with Team Cap was about as far from living in the Avengers compound with what remained of Team Iron Man as it was possible to be. Whereas the compound was always quiet, as though something had been irreparably broken and it would be sacrilege to so much as laugh or smile, everyone seemed to be happy at the cabin-or at least trying to. As for what the members of Team Cap really felt, Vision wasn't too sure; in a way, they were hiding their emotions under a facade in a way Tony Stark never bothered to. But they were making the best out of their circumstances in whatever ways they could and he admired them for that. They were forever playing games, watching movies, or just sitting around talking about anything and everything they could possibly think of. They acted more like a family than a team, despite their circumstances.

Of course, stress was still running high-and there was still the constant fear that they would be found again by the government and arrested. Tensions frayed and sometimes snapped altogether. There were arguments about exactly what the Avengers were supposed to be doing-and the team got more and more stir crazy with every week that went by

Sometimes, Vision was surprised everyone made it through the day in one piece.

They always acted happy the best they could-even when it was clear they were anything but. Bouts of depression weren't infrequent; nightmares happened even more often. Most nights he would end up watching TV with someone at an ungodly hour, fending off the nightmares; everyone on the team had them, even Scott. But at least they tried. They were there for each other, through the good days, the bad days, and the days when all anyone really felt like doing was looking out the window at the outdoors almost longingly. Other than Clint's hunting trips, they almost never went outside for safety reasons.

Weeks passed. The media remained quiet. They settled into a routine-not an exciting one, to be sure, but a routine nonetheless. Every second Tuesday, Sam would head to the library (incognito and under a fake name, of course) to pick up books for everyone else (they read a lot). Sometimes they would have picnics in a sunny glade not far from the cabin, weather permitting. They trained as much as they could, sometimes outdoors and sometimes in the basement. At least one television was on and tuned to CNN at all times, waiting to hear just the tiniest mention of the team of fugitives. But they were never mentioned; their memory seemed to flicker and die as the weeks went by and eventually they became old news, passed up on for the next biggest story. No one minded.

May slipped into June, drawing near July. The temperature climbed until the air in the cabin was hot and sticky; they had to keep the fans running in every room just to keep things tolerable. Training sessions in the basement became nearly unbearable, especially for Steve, Bucky, and Sam who exercised constantly-Steve because he found it a nice way to relax and the other two because they wanted to outdo each other. Clint gave Wanda guitar lessons nearly every night, constantly printing out PDFs of new sheet music they could pore over together for hours. Vision would almost always listen to them play, Clint's low voice giving instructions following him long into the night.

Bucky was the first one to bring up Steve's impending birthday on July 4th-his 98th. "We should probably do something nice for him. After all, he's saved us more times than we can count."

Clint nodded, "Of course-but it's not like we have many things at our disposal." He raised a hand as if to gesture at the cramped cabin around them: the faded floral wallpaper, the dent in the kitchen table someone had obviously tried to paint over. It didn't look anything like the Avengers base, or even Avengers Tower; worst of all, it wasn't like they could go out and buy party decorations to spruce the place up.

Bucky glanced around the room with a small smile on his face and Vision could almost see the gears in his head turning as he thought up a solution. "That's all right. We never really had much to begin with. I'm sure I can figure something out-but I'm going to need help."