"Oh, hey, good morning." Coulson waved at both of them and stood up to make coffee.
Steve obviously still felt a bit awkward, but he wasn't the type to avoid things. He could only put down his phone, stand up, pat Bucky on the arm, and say, "Sorry, yesterday was a misunderstanding. We really shouldn't have barged in so recklessly."
"No worries." Bucky smiled, his face saying, "I forgive this world." Even Natasha, who was notoriously fierce, didn't say much, just rolled her eyes at Steve and walked to the other side of the sofa.
"Uh..." Steve made a syllable as he watched her back, then said, "I'm very sorry, ma'am, I might have misunderstood you. I swear I won't do it again."
"It's okay." Natasha tossed herself into a single-seater sofa, stretched out vigorously, then curled up and said, "Our dear Mr. Barnes apologized for you very sincerely, so I can only forgive you."
Steve breathed a sigh of relief, but soon he felt something was off. But the topic quickly flew by; Bucky and Coulson started chatting. Natasha was rapidly typing on her phone, obviously in a group chat. Steve couldn't find a chance to join the conversation, feeling like a fishbone was stuck in his throat. He almost hated his curiosity.
Then Stark barged in, making the scene a little awkward for a moment. The Nano Armor retracted, Stark spun around on the spot, pinching his fingers, and said, "A minor system error."
With a "bang," Peter, clutching a Pikachu, also tumbled in, followed by Fury's furious entrance.
"You two damn terrorists! Didn't I tell you not to practice cooking in the kitchen at home?! You've blown up two-thirds of the cabinets and broke the refrigerator! Redoing the kitchen will take half a month!!"
Stark rubbed his nose and said, "I just thought the heating wire distribution in the electric griddle was a bit off, you know, no mechanical engineer can tolerate that."
"I swear I didn't mean to spill the flour!" Peter extended his hand, vowing, "I just didn't see the fork lying on the floor and accidentally stepped on it. And no one could have predicted that the electric griddle would spark at that exact moment..."
Beside them, Steve couldn't help but cover his forehead. He leaned on the back of the sofa and said to Coulson, "You were right, Coulson. I shouldn't have had any expectations for my birthday party."
Then Nick also rushed in and said to Peter, "Great, Peter. You've finally figured it out! Our Third Generation Spider-Man is finally returning!"
"Uh..." Peter scratched his head awkwardly and said, "I want the power of the Spider Totem back not to continue being Spider-Man. Mainly, the kitchen is indeed a bit too dangerous; I need the Spider-sense to help me survive."
"No, Peter, how fast was the response of my Nano Armor! Didn't it succeed in getting you out of the explosion?"
"Of course, but I would rather not step on the fork."
Stark let out a long sigh and then said somewhat resentfully, "If Shiller hadn't asked me to make burger patties from scratch, I wouldn't have had to use the electric griddle... Speaking of which, the spiral heating wire is unreasonable. I've already thought of a better design; I'll make a prototype this afternoon and send it to the factory for mass production. I'll name it Stark Electric Griddle. It'll definitely take the world by storm, and everyone making cheeseburgers will remember me!"
Steve walked over to the sofa and sat down again, saying to Coulson, "Your comment about cyborgs made some sense, but clearly, not only those who've undergone genetic modification are madmen."
Speak of the devil, and Shiller appeared right then, almost last to arrive. After walking in, he sat next to Steve, put an arm around Steve's shoulders, and said, "Dear Captain, are you sure you want to kick the best cook among your friends out of your birthday party group? Who else can you count on? Tony's pre-packaged meals?"
"At least pre-packaged meals won't make me so embarrassed in front of my friends." Steve retorted, not to be outdone, "Doctor, this joke is too much."
"Really? More than before?"
Steve was actually speechless. Yes, Shiller, by stirring the pot, almost caused them to simultaneously provoke the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, but comparing it to his previous chaotic antics, this was indeed just a harmless joke, even showing a bit of harmonious charm.
Steve sighed and said, "Alright, but you owe me. What are you planning to bring?"
"I can't tell you now, otherwise..."
"He's preparing goose and duck." Pikachu hopped onto the back of the sofa chair and said, "Seems like they're roasted, and then dipped in some kind of jam."
Shiller grabbed Pikachu by the tail and lifted it up. Pikachu squealed and shouted to the others, "You have no idea how fragrant he made the entire first floor of the sanatorium this morning! I guarantee when you smell it, you'll be starving enough to gnaw on a cow! But he just insists it's a failed dish and wouldn't even let me taste it!!!"
"Because it really is a failed product." Before Shiller could see the electric sparks emanating from Pikachu, he had already tossed it onto Nick nearby, then said, "The oven desperately needs improvement; it can't roast a crispy skin, and the meat inside isn't juicy enough. The plum sauce recipe needs adjusting, only some taste-bud-less white folk would think this thing tastes good."
"So, Doctor, I'll find you later for this month's psychological evaluation." Steve glanced at Bucky and Natasha, clearly wanting to satisfy his curiosity.
"Of course, you're very welcome." Shiller nodded with a smile, then turned his head to look at Bucky and Natasha, saying, "You two will have to come a bit later today; psychological evaluations are more important, after all, I have to live up to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s salary."
"Wait, they're both going too?" Steve said, "Then I'd rather not go."
"It's okay, Captain. They're just going for emotional counseling, and their relationship should have nothing to do with you. Or are you hoping for some connection?"
Steve shook his head desperately, scooted a bit farther away, and said to Shiller: "I have no interest in the relationships between any of you. Carter should be awake now, I need to go check on the kids."
As he fled the room, he heard laughter erupting behind him. But Steve didn't regret his decision at all; he just wanted to be with his normal, beloved wife and children. Staying any longer with this group of madmen, he feared something might go wrong with his own genes.
But apparently, life isn't going to let him off that easily. He had just arrived home and hadn't even rocked his fragrant, soft child for a few minutes when he received a phone call. Ten minutes later, Erik and Charles showed up at his door.
These two were even more heavyweight; thinking about their entangled grudges, Steve even felt that Bucky and Natasha were nothing. He might as well have stayed at the Avengers Base.
However, these two really had serious business this time, so Steve couldn't easily refuse. He poured a glass of water for each of them and said, "Sorry, Carter is sensitive to caffeine during pregnancy, so we didn't prepare coffee at home. Shall I add some ice cubes for you?"
"No need to bother." Charles gently smiled at Steve and said, "We actually came to check on Mr. Little Rogers, who is almost a year old now, right? It might be time for some mutant ability testing."
Steve immediately became a bit anxious, while Charles used his abilities to soothe Steve's brainwaves and said, "Don't be nervous, Captain. So far, Little Tommy shows no physical defects, and both his intelligence and language abilities are normal. Even if his mutant ability is very weak, it wouldn't affect his normal life. If he doesn't use it proactively, no one would even notice he's a mutant…"
"I'm not saying I don't want him to be a mutant." Steve said, "But as you mentioned, mutants might have a sudden surge of power, and his mother is just an ordinary person. I'm really a bit worried…"
"That is indeed an issue." Charles gently said, "At Xavier Genius Youth Academy, many young mutants have similar family issues, some even quite tragic, forcing me to seal their memories. So we came early, if we can figure out his mutant type, we can prepare accordingly."
"But his appearance and behavior are truly ordinary. If not for the test report showing the X Gene, I would have thought he was just an ordinary person."
"That's actually good news." Erik said, "It suggests his ability might transcend the physical, like Charles and me."
"But such abilities are exceedingly powerful." Steve said worriedly, "If he really is like you two, I can't even imagine the havoc when his powers explode."
"Quite the opposite, Captain." Charles said, "Based on our observation, the stronger the abilities, the closer they are to this world's origin power, the better control over their abilities they have. Otherwise, with so many Alpha-Level mutants, if each one went off, Earth would long cease to exist."
Steve nodded; he certainly had considered this. With mutants like Charles and Erik, if their powers exploded in their entirety, the human race would be long extinct. So it probably isn't the case.
Steve was from that era, and he was sure he hadn't heard alarming incidents characteristic of Erik and Charles in their childhood. This indicated their power explosions were not large-scale, possibly not even local news.
Moreover, in the more recent era, Wanda was similar; the power of Scarlet is known to be mighty among the top, yet if it had truly exploded, not only Earth but the Milky Way would have ceased. Yet she and her kids, who are also mutants, are doing just fine, which gives Steve considerable peace.
"Alright, let's go see Little Tommy first." Charles stood up and said. Before entering the nursery, he paused his steps, saying, "Actually, we came today because Franklin sent us."
"Franklin? Who's that?" Steve couldn't immediately recall who the name belonged to.
"Possibly the most powerful mutant of all time." Charles looked at Steve and said, "Time travel, reversing the future, every imaginable superpower he has. He's Dr. Reed and Dr. Susan's child."
Steve seemed enlightened and said, "What did he tell you?"
"Thomas Rogers is a very powerful mutant, and he will unleash his abilities at his father's 100th birthday party."