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saiilorstars · 3 months

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Love Ours | Ch.9 Birthday Mania

Fandom: MCU • Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC

Summary: Seren plans Steve's birthday and it doesn't go according to plan at all.

Story Masterlist • Seren’s Masterlist

Also available on Fanfic ○ Ao3 ○ Wattpad

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @averyhotchner @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

[If you’d like to be a part of any OC’s works/edits, let me know!]

The moment that Steve opened his eyes, Seren was right beside him holding a cupcake with a lit candle in her hands. He closed his eyes again and let out a light chuckle.

"Straight to the point," he mumbled in the midst of his laugh. He cracked one eye open and looked up at Seren. "Good morning."

Seren was grinning from ear to ear and was quite loud when she wished him 'happy birthday!'. "You'll of course have a decent birthday cake later but for right now, how's about an old fashioned birthday cupcake?" she said and offered him the cupcake.

"For breakfast?" Steve raised an eyebrow at her as he sat up. "Breaking the rules…"

"Mm, I'm willing to make an exception today — it is your birthday, after all. Happy birthday, lovey. May you have plenty more years in your life." She leaned over and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "And I mean like hundreds more…"

Steve's expression at the number was priceless and he was very clear afterwards that he was not looking to live for hundreds more. "I'm 106 already, sweetheart. It's not about the quantity but the quality of life instead and without you, there's not much quality in my life." He took the cupcake from her hands, blowing out the candle.

"You didn't make a wish," Seren pointed out, her cheeks still flushed from his words.

"I did in my head," Steve said, taking a bite of the cupcake. "This is delicious, by the way."

"Thanks, I made them earlier," Seren said, and at his look she explained she had gotten up much earlier than him. "I couldn't sleep," she shrugged. She wiped a finger over the cream of the cupcake and popped it into her mouth.

"I hope you're not sleep depriving yourself for me," Steve said. "I don't need anything today, Seren, I told you."

"Why must you be oh-so-high-and-mighty about a simple birthday party?"

Steve chuckled at her disgruntled face. "I'm not—"

"Yes, you are!" she exclaimed. "What is so wrong about wanting to celebrate your very existence!?"

"Nothing, sweetheart, but I just don't want you stressing out over something that doesn't have to happen. I don't need anything," he said and reached a hand on her cheek, "But I do very much appreciate your intentions. So, what can I help you with?"

Seren hummed as she thought for a second. "Well, I pretty much have everything ready, just some last minute pick-ups in the afternoon."

"Of course you do," Steve playfully rolled his eyes. "Then I guess all I have to do is make myself look presentable, right?"

Seren nodded at him. "Make yourself look very pretty, please. Not that I think you'll have a lot of trouble with that."

Steve threw his head back and laughed. If he ever needed a boost of confidence, Seren would always be the one for the job. She had absolutely no trouble with it.

~ 0 ~

Throughout the whole day, everyone in the compound was wishing Steve a happy birthday and making comments about the upcoming party in the evening. Seren had been planning it for weeks now and had roped each member into doing certain tasks for her. Chloe, Wanda, Pietro and Vision were in charge of decoration considering they had probability, telekinesis, speed and flight on their side. Natasha and Thor were to supervise them because they were more than likely to get into arguments on the job — they were also meant to blow balloons somewhere along the way. Tony was in charge of music — a self proclaimed position, unfortunately and something Seren couldn't persuade him to leave alone. Bucky had the job of distraction, and he wasn't very good at it (Steve thought this because he had told him 5 minutes into a conversation that was his intentions for the day).

"So where the hell is my girlfriend?" Steve demanded to know when four o'clock hit and he hadn't heard a peep from her. She was small, yes, but still explosive. She should have been in communication with him at some point already.

Bucky, who had also self-proclaimed himself in charge of the alcohol at the party, was deciding between two wine bottles. "I think I should get the most expensive one, right? I mean, it doesn't really matter for us but it would be funny to see Chloe get drunk and make a fool of herself."

Steve rolled his eyes at the grinning face his best friend had on. "I'm gonna go find Seren." He was only halfway towards the door when Bucky called him back.

"C'mon, Steve, let her do whatever she needs to do. She's put her whole little hybrid heart into this shindig." Bucky set the wine bottles on the island and motioned Steve to pick one. "Personally, I think beer is better but apparently we need to have a variety of options for the guests."

"Who is even on this guest list, anyways?" Steve asked out of curiosity. He walked back to the island and looked over the two wine bottles.

"Not a lot of people," Bucky said honestly. "Seren said she was keeping it small for you."

Steve smiled to himself. She knew him so well.

"So, which one?" Bucky presented Steve with two more bottles for him to choose from.

Before Steve answered, a gust of wind blew in and suddenly Pietro Maximoff was ransacking the fridge.

"Which one of you took Wanda's lemonade? She'll kill whoever took it." He shut the fridge door with a huff and turned around, his face lighting up at the sight of the wine bottles. "Never mind!"

"Hold it," Bucky pointed at him. "Last time I checked, you're not 21 so go get a juice box."

Pietro rolled his eyes. "But I will be soon and I should be compensated for my troubles back there. Between my sister and Chloe, it's a miracle I haven't lost my mind already."

"Yeah, yeah, back to work," Bucky shooed him off.

"They're horrible," Pietro reiterated. "Especially Chloe and her bossy—"

"I'd watch your words about my girlfriend," Bucky cleared his throat and pretended to examine the ingredients of a wine bottle.

"Just take a water bottle, Pietro," Steve suggested kindly and sent the speedster on his way. He shook his head. "I think I'm gonna go—"

"Do I need to tie you up or something to keep you here?" Bucky put the wine bottle down and stared at his best friend sharply. "If you go and mess up Seren's schedule, she'll come for my ass and I don't feel like dying today. I feel like wine tasting, actually…"

Steve rolled his eyes and raised his hands in defeat.

~ 0 ~

He made himself look very nice — pretty — and was downstairs at the prompted time, according to Bucky. The party got started very smoothly and it was honestly fun, but Steve was worried. Seren had not shown up and what's more, she hadn't sent him any message nor called.

That wasn't like her.

Steve couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Nobody else seemed to think the same. Bucky's selection of drinks was a hit and so was the music — it was a party. The food was good, the drinks were good, the people — his friends — were all so kind and well wishing. Steve really appreciated everything they all had done for him but he couldn't enjoy any of it until Seren arrived.

And she didn't.

An hour turned into two.

Finally, Steve decided he had to do something. He went to find Chloe and cut her dance with Bucky short.

"No, I haven't heard from her," she told him. "Is she — is she not here?" She looked around the party, her senses slightly off with her amount of drinks.

"No," Steve shook his head. "And I know Seren would message me — or you, even — if she was going to be late."

Chloe thought the same. "Maybe she texted Nat or something."

"Or Stark," Bucky suggested. "Stark told me Seren had called in a favor from him for something for, uh, you?"

Steve went to go find Tony while Chloe and Bucky went for Natasha. When Steve found Tony, he cut straight to the chase. His heart was starting to hammer in his chest as the minutes went by and he knew nothing of Seren.

"No, she hasn't called me," Tony said. "She was supposed to be in about an hour ago."

"Where did she go?" Steve said urgently.

"I can't tell you, it was a surprise," Tony shrugged. "She made me swear it."

"I don't care — she's not answering anyone's calls! Where is she, Tony?"

Tony was still hesitant to answer. "I…look, if she finds out that I ruined the surprise—"

"Stark!" Steve snapped. "I don't care, alright? I want to know where she is so that I can go to her and make sure she's okay! Damn everything!"

"Steve!" Chloe exclaimed as she rushed towards him. "We found her! Well, Bucky found her, but we got her!" Steve immediately went to look for her in the party but Chloe told her she wasn't with them. "Don't freak out — Seren's okay — but she sort of, may have, had an accident…"

But of course, Steve's first instinct was to freak out. "What!? Wh-where is she? What — what happened!?"

Chloe once again reassured him that Seren was okay, but her words meant nothing to Steve until he could confirm with his own eyes that Seren was okay. She dragged him out of the party and into the hallway where Bucky was waiting for them.

"Bucky, where is she?" Steve went straight to his best friend, his face filled with anguish. "Where's Seren? Please, where is she?"

"Calm down, calm down," Bucky said, grabbing Steve by the arms. "She's fine! She's here — well, she's coming here. She'll be here soon."

Steve looked at Chloe, confused. "I thought you said she had an accident?"

"She did," Bucky re-confirmed. "But she's totally fine. I don't know exactly what happened, Seren wasn't very specific. She's being brought over by the medics — she literally forced them to discharge her and she's being brought over so calm down."

"I-I gotta go pick her up — I gotta go—!" Steve made two steps forward before Bucky blocked his way. "Buck, I need to see her!"

"I get that but there's no point! She's already on route here! She'll be here in 15 minutes, man! You're gonna miss her if you leave!"

Steve begrudgingly stopped pushing against Bucky. "What happened?" he demanded again.

"I don't know, Seren didn't tell me. She was quick — she was scared of the whole medic thing so she told me to be ready."

"Why did she call you?" Steve asked all of a sudden. "Why didn't she — why you?"

Bucky knew better than to fall for the jealousy trick. "She didn't. She called the compound and FRIDAY patched it through. I answered the call. You need to calm down before you see her. You're gonna scare her more than she already is."

The idea of adding more fear to whatever Seren was already feeling made Steve finally stop and take a breath. He needed to make sure that she was okay but he couldn't do that if he was going to make it so that she wasn't okay.

Fifteen minutes later, they were at the entrance of the compound waiting for Seren to finally arrive. Thankfully, in a few minutes, they saw a car pulling through the entrance and met it halfway.

Seren was trying to push her way out even before the car had stopped. She really didn't want to be anywhere near the medics. She practically fell into Steve's arms jumping out of the car. Steve took the chance immediately to check her out. She was dressed to the nines for the evening but there was a large gash running down her right leg.

Steve picked her up bridal style and left Bucky and Chloe to tend to the people Seren had come with. He ignored her assurances that she was fine and her pleas to calm down, bringing her straight to the medbay.

"I'm calling Helen," he said firmly and with no room to argue. Helen was the only medic in the world whom Seren could trust in. Luckily, she was one of the attendees of the party and so it was fairly quick getting her down.

"I'm fine," Seren told Helen as the woman examined her leg. "Just a small accident."

"Doesn't look small," Helen hummed. She was cleaning out the lingering blood on Seren's skin. "What happened?"

"Yes, what happened?" Steve waited impatiently to hear the answer. "And don't lie, please."

Seren groaned and explained that she had been struck by a car trying to push someone else out of the way. "All I did was fall — I've had much worse and you two know that!"

"It doesn't mean I can't worry," Steve told her, frowning. "I didn't hear from you all day. I knew something was wrong."

"Well, it looks superficial," Helen remarked, "But definitely something that'll take a few hours to heal even with your super healing."

"Why is it so big?" Steve said, his voice no longer angry but filled with concern.

"It was the car," Seren told him. "The license plate hooked on my skin. Hurt like hell but definitely not something I needed to go to the hospital for. It took me forever to get to my phone. That's why I couldn't call and even when I did, I just had to call the quickest number. I thought you would be having fun at the party so I didn't want to ruin it. I failed, obviously."

Helen smiled at the couple. "I think this is where I leave. Seren, the stitches will fall out when your skin starts closing on its own but you should be fine."

"I am fine, Helen," Seren reiterated.

"But you still won't be dancing tonight, I'm afraid. And no getting off the bed either, except for the restroom and even then you're going to need help."

"I got it," Seren sighed. "Thank you, Helen."

"Of course," Helen nodded and left the two alone.

Seren leaned her head back on her pillow. "As far as birthday parties go, I am the worst at planning them. I ruined your day, Steve. I'm so sorry."

"You're joking," Steve said flatly. "You have to be joking."

"What?"

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say any of that stuff because you did make an incredibly great party and you got hit by a car." Steve pulled a chair beside her bed and sat down. "But I was so worried when you didn't show up and you didn't answer my calls."

"I'm sorry, lovey," Seren sighed. "I swear it was supposed to be something quick."

"What were you even out doing?" Steve asked.

"Getting you your present, what else?" Seren reached for his hand and curled her fingers around his. "It was the last thing on my to-do list and by far the most important one." No sooner had she said that when she gasped and started looking around urgently for her bag. "No, no, no, no, no! Where's my bag!? Where's my — your present was in there!"

Steve was quick to push her back down when she made to get off. "Absolutely not!"

"Steve, I left your present in that car!" Seren struggled with Steve's hands gripping her wrists.

"I don't care about any present—"

"It was important!"

"Well, this is a promising sight," Chloe's voice froze the couple in their spots. She looked up at Bucky beside her then. "If you ever fight me like that, know that I'll blast you."

Bucky rolled his eyes and pushed her a few inches to the side. "Anyways, we came to deliver." He held up Seren's bag in his hand. "You left it back there."

"Oh my goodness," Seren breathed out in relief. "Bucky, I love you, thank you!"

"Hey now," Chloe flashed Seren a faux sharp look, "That's my line."

Bucky handed Steve the bag who then handed it over to Seren. She thanked him all over again.

"Should we tell them upstairs that the party's over?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah," Steve immediately said, gazing at Seren. "I won't be going back anytime soon."

"No, you totally should," Seren said, frowning. "It's your day."

"And you're my girl. That's way more important. Besides, how can I go to a party that you made without you?"

"He's got you there," Chloe shrugged. "Tell you what," she reached over for Bucky's arm and tugged him back with her, "We'll go back and keep the party going in honor of you."

Steve snorted. "Oh, really?"

"Chloe's got the right idea," Bucky nodded very seriously. "We'll save you some wine. Let's go!"

They could hear Chloe's laughter even as they disappeared into the hallway.

Steve went after them and closed the door. "No more interruptions. You need to rest."

Seren smoothed out her dress as best as she could and lamented the way their evening turned out. "I am so sorry, Steve."

"Sorry for getting hit by a car? You have to be joking," Steve chuckled and walked back to her bedside. "I'm just glad that you're okay. You have no idea what I was feeling earlier. Please don't disappear on me like that ever again."

"I wasn't planning on getting hit by a car but you know how 4th of July is. It's full of crazy people — even crazier than on regular days." Seren scooted on the bed and patted the spot next to her. "Speaking of, the fireworks will probably be starting soon and it's no balcony but the window's pretty big."

"That it is," Steve agreed and gazed at the windows. The sky was already being lit with fireworks from a good distance, only leaving soft noises of the cracks. Soon, they would be much closer. He sat down beside her and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I did love your party, by the way. Thank you."

"I'm glad you did," Seren said, "I wanted it to be perfect for you. I'm sorry you can't enjoy it anymore. I really don't mind if you want to go back, you know."

"I know, but I don't want to go back. You're here and I always want to be next to you. And you know what? My wish that I made this morning was to spend my evening just with you."

"Well…how about you at least open my present, then?" Seren reached inside her bag to pull out a wrapped present for him. "I think you'll like it."

"I think you're right," Steve said and took it from her. He was careful to unwrap it and soon found the makings of a frame. He expected it to be a picture of them — he wouldn't mind one more for their bedroom — but he found something very different instead. The picture was old from Time but the face was young…

"I, uh, I got Tony to help me out with all the permissions and stuff," Seren explained during the silence. "I thought you should have it."

"It's a picture of my mother…how did…how did you even find one?" All Steve had from his mother were his memories and a few sketches of her that he had made. As far as he knew, there was no tangible proof that his mother had ever existed.

"With a lot of work," Seren admitted and smiled. "But worth all the work to see that face." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Happy birthday. I owe you one birthday cake."

Steve was very, very, careful with the frame as he set it down on a table beside the bed. There were no words to encompass all the feelings in his chest. Even now as he gazed at the frame, he couldn't believe he was actually staring at a picture of his mother. His sweet and beautiful mother.

"You will never have to buy me another birthday cake," he said and turned to face Seren. "Not with this kind of gift." He cupped her face and tilted her head up to kiss her. "You are officially given a pass for the rest of my birthdays."

Seren chuckled. "You don't have to exaggerate, lovey. I'm glad you liked the present. It was totally worth getting hit by a car."

Steve's face fell flat and yet she giggled like it totally hadn't happened at all. Thankfully, the closer fireworks started and they cuddled to watch them through the windows. It was then that Seren admitted she had also had some doing in the fireworks for him.

Steve couldn't believe it and yet at the same time he did because it was something very her — trying to make him feel so special. "You're amazing," he murmured against her hair and peppered a few kisses, earning various giggles from her.

A/N:

Happy birthday to my boy ^.^

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