Shuri and Peter worked hard all day on February 14. It took a bit of creative thinking in order to the entire team out of the Tower, but in the end, they had succeeded.

Peter told Steve and Sam about some kind of Veteran's convention he'd found on Facebook (which led to a series of questions about why he had Facebook in the first place), while Natasha was gone with Maria and Nick for some unofficial not-SHIELD business. Like usual, Tony and Pepper were attending meetings at SI and T'Challa had been told about a surprise UN meeting in Los Angeles that wasn't going to happen. With everyone successfully distracted, the two turned the Tower into a Valentine's Day disaster.

The training room was first then the private conference room. After that, they convinced Happy to drive them to the park so they could set up more decorations there. On their way to a restaurant Shuri had booked out for the evening, they stopped by Wendy's. By the time they'd finished all their decorating, they were exhausted and went to Peter's room to take a nap. Making sure FRIDAY knew to wake them up when the first person arrived at their destination, they both fell asleep on a pile of beanbags and with enough bags of candy to last them until kingdom come.

* * * * *

When Sam arrived at the park, he was surprised to find the gazebo lit up with Christmas lights and hearts dangling from the roof. He looked around the sheltered area and immediately made his way to the heater plugged into one of the low walls. It was only after he'd warmed his hands that he realised he was the only one there.

Looking around again, Sam frowned. There was food sitting out on a table and soft music coming from... somewhere. However, the gazebo was completely empty.

"Hey."

Sam jumped. Apparently, he wasn't as alone as he'd thought. Spinning around, he saw Maria Hill standing in the entrance bundled up in a down jacket.

"Hey," Sam replied, "You get invited here too?"

"Yeah," Maria said, a strange look crossing her face. Maybe she'd received a suspicious letter just like him. "Looks like the party was cancelled."

"But it's all set up and there's food," Sam said, reaching for a bowl of chocolate-covered pretzels to prove his point.

With a slight shrug, Maria joined him beside the heater. When she went to turn it up, she found a note taped to the back. As she read it, she snorted then passed it over to Sam.

Happy Valentine's Day, Sam and Maria! Enjoy your Avengers' sponsored date.

The note wasn't signed, but Sam had a feeling he knew who had set them up anyway. It had been Steve that suggested the Veteran's convention and Natasha had distracted Maria. He'd have to make sure to get those two back after this. For now, though, he was going to enjoy his chocolate covered pretzels and wine.

* * * * *

Natasha found the vodka immediately. It was sitting on one of the training room benches amidst a bag of takeout from her favourite Chinese place. Whoever had planned this clearly knew what they were doing. However, she'd have to have a word with Peter and Shuri about how they got a hold of the vodka.

"What's this?" Steve asked from behind her.

She turned around, the vodka bottle open and still in her hand. At the sight of Steve walking into the training room, she smirked.

"Ah, so that's what they were planning," she murmured to herself.

Steve frowned and looked down at the takeout.

"Who? Where are the others?" he asked at the same time.

"Probably on their own dates," she replied, taking a drink from the vodka.

Steve's eyes shot open and he looked up at Natasha to make sure she was kidding. When he realised she wasn't and he likely looked stupid, he forced himself to regain some composure.

"This is a date?"

Natasha gestured around.

"That's the idea, but I say we just eat it all then see who lasts the longest in a spar session afterwards," Natasha suggested.

Steve grinned and nodded, reaching for a takeout box.

"You got yourself a challenge, Romanoff."

Natasha grinned as well and grabbed the other box before sitting criss-cross on the floor. She was so going to win.

* * * * *

T'Challa wasn't sure how he expected an Avengers' party to be decorated, but the decorator had outdone themselves. The conference room had low lighting with a chocolate fountain bubbling on a table. On the walls, paper hearts were hung up and the ceiling looked like the night sky. An entire table was covered in food he recognised as Wakandan dishes.

"This is amazing," Nakia said, looking around the room. T'Challa glanced at her and smiled.

"Yes, it is quite beautiful," he agreed. Nakia turned and gave him a suspicious look.

"Didn't you say this was a team party?"

T'Challa nodded.

"Where are the others?"

"I do not think they will be joining us," T'Challa answered, looking around the room once more.

Nakia raised an eyebrow and T'Challa motioned to the two chairs that sat at the conference table.

"Clearly this party was only for two."

"You tricked me," Nakia accused playfully.

"I was tricked too," T'Challa reassured her.

Nakia rolled her eyes and released his hand, heading towards the table of food.

"At least this prank led to good food and not a kidnapping," Nakia said. T'Challa nodded and joined her in grabbing food. He was rather pleased he hadn't been thrown across the room this time either.

* * * * *

The restaurant was completely empty when Pepper and Tony walked inside. Other than the hostess at the front and the waiters standing in the back, they were the only ones in the restaurant. They didn't even seem surprised when the two showed up, welcoming them immediately and leading them towards the table with the best view of New York.

"Did you plan this?" Tony asked, sitting across from Pepper and reaching for her hand. Raising an eyebrow, he told her, "The glitter thing wasn't necessary."

"No, this was not me," she assured him, smiling at the reminder of the glitter bomb.

Tony frowned, trying to think of who else would have done this.

"Did the team do this?" he asked. Pepper shook her head and her smile grew as Tony's frown deepened. "Do you even know who did it?"

"I have my suspicions," she replied, "I'll have to check when we get back to the Tower."

"So they're at the Tower?" Tony asked. Pepper laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm just making sure this is safe! If this is a trap and you get killed because I didn't take enough precaution—"

"It's perfectly safe, Tony," Pepper told him gently, sensing his growing panic.

He pulled his eyes from where he'd been checking the restaurant for signs of danger and looked at her.

"They never would have done something to put us in danger."

"So there's more than one?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

Pepper kissed him shortly and smiled.

"Let's just enjoy our meal," she told him.

* * * * *

When Tony and Pepper returned to the Tower later that night, Pepper walked across the penthouse to where Peter's room was. She carefully pushed open the door and looked in. Sure enough, Peter and Shuri were fast asleep. FRIDAY was playing a Hallmark movie on Peter's TV and Valentine's Day candy was scattered in front of them. A container of pink, red, and silver glitter sat on Peter's desk beside multiple pink envelopes and heart stamps.

"See? It was a harmless date," she whispered, shutting the door to the room. Tony rolled his eyes. "Let's just go to bed, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tony said, scooping Pepper up and carrying her down the hall to their bedroom.

For all the panic the two kids had caused with the secret date, he was glad to know they had his back for romantic evenings. Maybe he could hire them to plan every date night.