I really hope you come back soon :) I have a prompt that im dying for somebody to fill out and i know you are the right person for it. But I hope all is well and better for you :)
Clint having a bad dream about his time under Loki's control. Like he goes and gets a midnight snack and runs into Bruce. Idk this is my first time requesting anything. Thank you.
812 words; PG
Minor mention of violence
In his line of work, Clint knew there were going to behorrors and situations that stayed with him and ate at him, sitting there as aconstant reminder of what he had done or seen. Even before joining SHIELD, hehad been through enough crappy life experiences to know it. After startingSHIELD, it was solidified. It helped knowing they were taking out the bad guys,though. Sometimes the only way to put a hush to the thoughts and dreams was toremind himself that it was to help people, and it did the trick. It had alwaysworked for him, and he had been able to carry on just fine.
Things after Loki, however, were not that simple. It wasdifferent when you weren’t in control of your own actions, and you werepowerless to stop innocent deaths and attacks on friends. Knowing you wereworking for the enemy without even being able to protest was simply awful, andeven months after getting Loki out of his head, there were still times whenClint would wake up shaking, covered in sweat, wondering if he really hadbroken free from the clutches of that bastard. These dreams and memories weren’tso easy to shake, and sometimes he had to get up and burn off a little energyto calm himself down.
Booze and ice cream also worked some nights.
Yawning, Clint reached to turn on the kitchen light in thecommon area, only to pause when he realized it was on. If the floor was quietor vacant JARVIS tended to turn the lights off, so it meant someone was awake –just knowing that was enough to keep him on edge, and he tensed until herealized who was in the room.
“Oh, Banner. Hey.” There hadn’t been anything to get worriedabout in the first place, and he felt a little silly for getting worked up overthe damn light being on – he blamed it on the nightmare.
Bruce was leaning against one of the counters, dressed in apair of sweats and a long sleeved shirt, with a bowl in his hand. When he heardClint, he offered a little wave. “Hey. Late night?”
“I guess you could say that. You’re up pretty late, too.”Clint opened the fridge and peered inside, idly wondering why Bruce was awake.He didn’t ask, though, because he didn’t really want the same thing asked ofhim.
He quickly located a beer and then opened the freezer tofind some ice cream, knowing it would be well stocked; with so many people inthe tower, they always made sure to keep a variety of flavors, but tonight hewas looking for just plain vanilla. It took a few minutes of rummaging beforehe started to get annoyed and a few muffled curses slipped out as he pushed themint chocolate chip and strawberry aside.
“What’re you looking for?” Bruce was suddenly standing rightbeside him, and Clint jumped.
“Jesus, you’re sneaky,” he mumbled. Reluctantly, he closedthe fridge. “Was just looking for plain vanilla, but I guess you’re out.” Whenhe looked up, he couldn’t help but notice the sheepish grin on Bruce’s face. “What?”
Bruce tipped his bowl forward slightly to reveal itscontents and he chuckled a little when Clint saw it was vanilla. “Looks like Itook the last of it. Great minds think alike?” His smile turned a little moreapologetic with Clint huffed.
“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll get the… isn’t there a cherrysomething in here?” The rummaging in the freezer continued again, but beforeClint could even grab the next container, he felt himself get poked in thesize. “Hey, what-“
Bruce was holding out a spoon, bowl still in his other hand,eyebrows raised. “There’s plenty here for the both of us, and before youprotest, I’m just going to say that I really don’t mind sharing. I can tell youneed it.” He waved the spoon at him as if trying to tantalize him. “What do yousay?”
Clint watched him for a moment before slowly closing thefreezer door, still eyeing the spoon suspiciously. It was true that he neededthe ice cream – hey, it helped calm him down – but he was waiting for Bruce topress forward and ask questions. Everyone was always saying that talking wouldhelp solve the problem, even if recounting the nightmares and what he had beenthrough was the furthest thing from what he actually wanted to do. When he didn’tget a following question, though, he reached out to take the spoon.
Huh. That certainly was different, but he sure couldappreciate it. Talking wasn’t going to help, but the company might be nice.
“Okay,” he said slowly, a faint smile twitching at his lips,and he dipped his spoon into the ice cream. “Sharing it is.”
Steve is utterly very exhausted and Tony takes him to bed and snuggles him and makes him sleep (stony)
Guess whose computer was broken... Oh, that’s right. Mine. -__- Sorry about the delay, guys. The laptop is up and running again, so here you go!
810 words; PG
Tony knew exhaustion. He knew what it was like to keepyourself going for days and days at a time until you felt like you were losingyour grip on reality and things were getting a little fuzzy around the edges.He did it all the time – sometimes it was because he got so absorbed in hiswork that he just kept going, going, going, but other times it was a moreconscious decision. Nights of dreaming of the wormhole and of Afghanistan werestill far too common, and sometimes Tony didn’t know if trying to sleep wasworth it. Nightmares like that left him feeling more exhausted than when hefirst went to bed.
However, even if he ran himself ragged and stayed awakefor days at a time, he didn’t particularly like it when he saw others doing thesame thing – and, okay, by “others” he meant Steve. He didn’t like it whenSteve wore himself down until he was absolutely exhausted, because it didsomething in Tony’s chest, like a ball of worry was settling in until he couldfix it and make Steve better again. Hey, he was good at fixing right?
Well, some things.
The thing about this, though, was that it was new.Sure, he had been friends with Steve for a while now, but their relationship –an actual, romantic relationship – was just at its start, and Tony really,really didn’t want to rock the boat. They were doing well; better than Tony hadimagined, and he wasn’t eager to change that, which was why he wasn’t quitesure how to address the zombie-like Steve he was currently watching at the dinnertable. If he told him he needed to go to bed, he knew the response it wouldearn: “oh, that’s rich, coming from you.” And yeah, he didn’t want a fight.
Still, as Steve’s head tipped down towards his plateof spaghetti, he sighed. He was going to have to do something.
It had been a particularly long week. There had beenmeetings, briefings, battles, trainings, and it was clear that Steve had beendoing a little too much. He had hardly engaged in small talk at the teamdinner, and he looked closer and closer to falling face first into his food astime went on.
“Hey, Cap, you good?” Clint nudged him, causing Steveto startle and abruptly sit up.
“Wha – yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” The smile he offered wasstrained and when he turned back to the food, he merely picked at it, lookinglike his eyes were starting to droop again.
As the others started to finish their dinner and leavethe table, Tony felt like he needed to step in.
“Hey.” Gently, he laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder andoffered an affectionate squeeze. “Come on, big guy, it’s time for bed.”
Steve blinked rapidly and looked around. “No, it’s – we’regonna watch a movie.” The protest was a lousy one, and Tony shook his head. Atleast he hadn’t really seemed too put off by the idea/
“We’re gonna get some rest, Cap. Alright?”
There was a moment of hesitation, but then Stevelooked up. “You too?”
The invitation was clear to Tony, and he knew Stevewas asking if he would actually be sleeping to. If it got Steve to rest, heknew he would agree. Getting Steve into bed to actually sleep was the priorityhere, and if it made him happy to lay there and cuddle, then so be it.
“Yeah, me too. Come on.”
Getting to the bedroom was slow, though neither wereparticularly in a hurry. Steve let himself be guided along by Tony with a handon the small of his back, and he offered him a small smile as they stepped intoTony’s suite.
“I think you left some pajamas here last time. I cango-” Before he could finish, Steve was flopping down onto the bed with a littlegroan, apparently forgoing the idea of changing. Well then. Tony shrugged andstripped out of his shirt and pants so he was merely in his boxers, and heclimbed in too so he could scoot over and curl up at Steve’s side. He alreadyhad his eyes closed, but he immediately shifted into Tony’s embrace when hefelt him move closer, ending up with his arm slung over his waist.
“Get some rest, okay?” Tony’s free hand gently cardedthrough Steve’s hair. A soft mumble of something came out of the blond, butwhatever it was was lost on Tony; he was practically already asleep and he’donly been laying there a minute or two. It was good to see him resting, though,and Tony smiled as he settled down again. So long as Steve was asleep, he wasn’tplanning to move, and that was perfectly fine by him.
Steve's having a panic attack (real bad ) and tony is there for him ( kinda GEN but its fine anyway) (i really want steve angst)
I’m a horrible person who can’t update regularly. I know, I know.
937 words; warning for panic attack
It had been another late night. The last fight had left the ventilationsystems screwed up, and what should have been a quick fix had turned into hoursupon hours of upgrades and new designs. Why just fix the system when he couldmake it better? It was how Tony was – if he could make it better, he would, andhe wouldn’t stop until he was done (or being pulled away by Pepper, but thatwas a different story).
Sighing, Tony pushed back from the workbench and rolled hisshoulders, feeling the stiffness from remaining bent over his work for so long.A quick trip upstairs should get him limbered up and refreshed, and he probablyneeded to eat anyway.
“Leftover pizza?” he mumbled to himself as he stood, and ashe stretched his arms over his head, JARVIS spoke.
“Captain Rogers is needing assistance in the common area.”
Tony blinked. His relationship with Steve, at this point,was interesting. He wasn’t sure what the word for it could be. Friends, maybe?Steve referred to them that way and that was fine by Tony, but it still felt a little strange to regard the man as suchafter their bumpy start. Sure, apologies had been made, but maybe Tony held alittle bit of a grudge.
Maybe some of that was Howard’s fault. Being told you’dnever shape up like Captain American tended to cause some resentful feelings,and he was trying not to hold it against Steve. He did like the guy. They wereactually getting along most of the time now.
Shaking his head, Tony resolved to not let his thoughtsdrift towards Howard. The man didn’teven deserve that much. If Steve wanted him, then he’d see what he needed.
“What’s he want?”
“He seems to be experiencing a panic attack, sir.”
Tony blinked. It was likely that JARVIS was the onerequesting his presence, and not Steve, but Tony headed up all the same to seewhat was going on.
He found him in the living area on the couch, leaningforward with his head between his legs. He was shaking, and Tony could see hewas breathing hard as if he couldn’t catch his breath.
“Cap,” he started slowly as he approached, though he heldboth hands up when Steve looked at him. “Hey, big guy. You okay?”
Steve’s just stared at him as if he didn’t know how toanswer. “I’m – I can’t –“ he finally tried to stammer.
“Hey, alright, that’s okay.” Tony slowly approached andcarefully sat down beside Steve, not wanting to make it worse by doingsomething that could startle him. He’d been around this block a few times –with his own fair share of panic attacks, he felt like he had a pretty goodidea of what Steve was feeling. Fear. Overwhelming panic. The feeling ofeverything slipping out of your control. “Slow your breathing down, alright?”
Steve nodded jerkily, but his chest still heaved. “Feelslike – my heart’s gonna beat out of my chest,” he gasped, voice cracking on thelast word and Tony slowly, carefully reached out to place a hand on Steve’sback. Slow movements were a good idea right now, he knew.
“I know, big guy. We’ll get you calm, though, okay? We’resitting in the tower and we’re not in danger right now. Just hanging out in thecommon area, right?” he murmured as he tried to soothe. The look of fear ofSteve’s face was enough to make him uneasy and more than anything he wanted towipe that expression away. Make it better. Having someone – JARVIS – talk tohim always helped, so that’s what he planned to do.
Steve nodded, a little more controlled this time. “Right,”he whispered. “Can you just… keep doing that? Please?”
The note of desperation in Steve’s voice made Tony’s heartjump and he nodded. He could keep talking. He could fix this. “Of course.” Hekept gently rubbing at his back in slow circles. “Just try to keep your breathingsteady and remember that you’re alright. Your heart’s gonna quit beating soquickly here and a second, and you’ll be okay, and then…”
He wasn’t sure how long he talked or how long he rubbedcircled against Steve’s back, but he eventually noticed that the tremors inSteve’s hands had subsided and he seemed to be breathing normally. He had hiseyes closed, but when Tony paused he opened them. “You good?”
The smile Steve attempted turned out more like a grimace,but he was able to nod. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m.. okay now.”When he looked back, his smile seemed more genuine even if it was still alittle shaky, and he took a slow, deep breath before blowing it out. “Thankyou, Tony.”
Tony watched him for a moment as if he wasn’t really sure,but he had started breathing normally again. Shaky was how he would describehim, but he seemed calm. At least calmer than before. “Well. Good.” He started to stand up, but ahand on his arm made him stop.
“Wait!”
Steve was looking at him with an uncertain expression and hesmiled sheepishly when he realized how tightly he’d been holding Tony’s arm. Quickly,he let go.
“Stay?”
There was a moment where Tony just looked at him, and thenhe smiled. “Alright.”
His answer seemed to make Steve happy and he noticed hisshoulders relax when he sat down beside him again. “Alright,” Steve repeated,looking over at him, and he nodded once as if to show he was okay. “Thank you.”
Hey all! Sorry I haven't posted in a while - I'm going to try to get something out in the next few days. Things have just been crazy busy for me, and I've got a lot of great prompts I want to make sure I give justice to! :)
The adjustment hadn’t been easy for Bucky, though it wasn’tlike anyone had really expected it to be. There were still days where he wantedto do nothing but lay in bed in his dark room, and other days his emotions wereerratic and he destroyed punching bag after punching bag in the gym. There weregood days, though, and increasingly they were starting to outnumber the bad. He’dexplored the old parts of Brooklyn he still remembered and the new ones he didn’t.He quickly became a big fan of the internet, and Google – so helpful, right? –and living in Avengers Tower had provided him with plenty of opportunities toget acquainted with new tech. Some things he got the hang of, programed memoriesof learning to operate HYDRA’s weapons and artillery and gadgets still in theback of his mind, but other things he was still adjusting to.
Like JARVIS.
Seriously, who programmed a thing to talk out of theceiling? Weird.
Even weirder for Bucky, though, was acknowledging the factthat Steve had a family. He’d had one before, of course – Bucky had known Steve’sMa and been over at their place all the time, and Bucky was his brother nomatter was anyone said – but this was different. Married with a kid different.
Learning that gay marriage was a thing had certainly been a shock,but nothing to oppose from Bucky’s standpoint. He’d immediately been able tosee that Stark made Steve happy from the way his friend smiled when he talkedabout him to the way they interacted, with Steve always seeming to at ease andcomfortable, eyes lit up with happiness whenever he looked at Tony. It was niceto know Steve had found someone. God knows Bucky had tried to set the guy upplenty of times back in the day.
The kid, though… that was something a little weirder forBucky. It wasn’t that he hated kids or anything. He had no personal vendettaagainst babies, but he just didn’t know what to do with them. Peter was cute,sure, but he stared and drooled a lot, eyes transfixed on the shiny metal ofBucky’s arm whenever he was exposed, and he felt out of place interacting withchild. Even Clint seemed better than him with the kid, cooing at the boy,tickling him, hell, looking at the ten month old like he’d hung the moon, andyet Bucky… yeah. He didn’t really even like to hold the thing.
Part of it was the arm. It flexed and plates shifted ontheir own at times and his immediate fear had been the kid would get a fixercaught or skin pinched in the metal, and that would be a nightmare. Tony hadseemed to pick up on it and upgraded his arm to something more mobile, moreefficient and less dangerous, but sometimes he still worried. The last thing hewanted was to hurt Peter. He’d hurt enough people already.
Even without the arm as an issue, though, he just didn’tknow what to do. The kid stared at him expectantly like he wanted him to do atrick, and Bucky would just stare right back until a toy or cartoon caught thekid’s attention. He wasn’t really ever alone with the kid so it was fine, butof course, Tony Stark had to go and change all that.
Bucky had been in thekitchen, minding his own business and waiting for his toast to finish crisping,when Stark had rushed in, hair disheveled, shirt half buttoned, and one ofPeter’s toys between his teeth. The baby was perched on his hip, but as soon asTony saw Bucky he was all but dumping the kid in his arms.
“Barnes, Bucky, my lifesaver – you’ve gotta watch Peter.Pepper called and there’s an emergency meeting, and no I can’t skip this onebecause I’ve skipped the last three, and Steve’s not back from his thing withSHIELD to watch Peter, so basically,” he paused, just for a moment to snatch acup of coffee that Bucky had been preparing for himself, thank you very much, “youneed to watch him til Steve’s here. Like, half an hour tops, mkay?”
Stark was still bustling around the kitchen, adjusting histie and putting on his shoes, and Bucky was just staring at the baby in hisarms.
He had to watch the kid. He had to take care of it.Seriously?
“Milk’s in the fridge. Ask J if you need help heating it up.Diapers are in his room, teething tablets are in the bathroom, and he might begetting sleepy. Usually has his morning nap around this time, so.”
There were no time for questions as Tony moved forward,planting a kiss to the child’s head. “By Petey, be good.” He was headingtowards the elevator as he spoke. “Ask JARVIS if you need something!” Buckycould hear the ding of the elevator, and then Stark was gone.
He sighed.
This was going to be interesting.
-
It turned out that babies could entertain themselves. Peterhad seemed happy to play on his floor mat with some stuffed toys for a whileBucky sat on the couch eating his toast. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, right? He’dsit here, the kid would crawl around and babble, and it’d be fine. No big deal.
No sooner had the thought entered his mind, however, didPeter start to cry.
It came out of nowhere, a full-blown wail of despair fromwhere the baby was parked on the floor, one stuffed bear clutched in his handas he cried as if the word was coming to an end. The sound made Bucky jerk upfrom the couch immediately. Shit. What was wrong? JARVIS wasn’t supplying anyadvice, so he cautiously picked the baby up and supported him, bouncing himmuch like he had seen Steve do when trying to offer Peter comfort. The criesfaltered, for a second, but then they were back full force, tears and snotbecoming smeared onto Bucky’s shirt when the child pressed his face to hischest. Nice.
Well, he decided. Time to start going down the list.
It turned out it wasn’t a diaper issue. It hadn’t reallyseemed wet though Bucky had opted for a fresh one just in case, but acombination of cold wipes and a squirmy kid had only resulted in an even morepissed off Peter and a slightly frustrated Bucky.
JARVIS had informed him it was not time for a feeding, so atleast he didn’t need to heat up some milk.
That left tiredness, and as he paced in the nursery withPeter in his arms, he remembered what Tony had mentioned about the morning napor whatever. Great. Now he needed to get the kid to sleep.
Bouncing, rocking, putting Peter in the swing, and evenswaying back and forth had done nothing to soothe the cries. It had definitelybeen more than thirty minutes and Steve still wasn’t back, and Bucky wasstarting to wonder if he’d been duped into some several-hour babysitting job.He wouldn’t be surprised.
“Come on, kid,” he mumbled as he walked across the nursery,Peter propped against his shoulders while he lightly bounced. “Your pops alwaysgets you to sleep real quick, huh? You’re just being difficult for me.” Hehuffed out a sigh and just kept walking, wondering how any parent ever hadpatience for this stuff. Even now, he found himself grateful for the crap hisown family had put up from him.
As he carefully shifted Peter in his arms, he attempted tosnuggle the boy against his chest when he sat in the rocking chair once more.The baby was clearly sleepy, his little eyes drooping even as he cried andfought his exhaustion, and Bucky had to chuckle when a little fist punched intothe air in opposition as if he was simply refusing to get sleep. Bucky did haveone more idea, though, and as he gently patted the child’s back, he started tohum.
He knew Steve sang to Peter (and he was going to spare thekid’s ears) so maybe humming would help.
Maybe.
God, he hoped so.
It was clear Peter still tried to fight it, but eventually,his droopy eyes could do nothing but completely shut as he drifted off tosleep. The welcomed silence was blissful and Bucky leaned back, closing his owneyes to enjoy it. Oh, no, he wasn’t about to move and put the kid in the crib.Not if that meant risking another crying fest. He’d just stay there and holdhim. Besides, it wasn’t too bad and this rocker was actually prettycomfortable.
When Steve got home not long after, he was greeted with thesight of his best friend and son curled up in the rocking chair together, bothasleep. He had to admit, it was a cute sight. And if he snapped a picture ortwo, he certainly wasn’t going to tell Bucky.
Oh how wonderful ! I've been looking for somebody to do this for me. Its based on a Charmed Episode its called the day the magic died. Tony could be in Pipers place and Steve to rescue him and help deliver the baby. Please and Thank You ! so so so much !
I love Charmed! Watched every season growing up. :) I even watched this episode as a refresher, so certain elements of this response are taken right from the show itself.
Also, for purposes of explaining the team within this magical word, the Avengers are a group of witches/wizards/magic folk or whatever you want to call them who fight “evil” magic-doers in their world.
2033 words; PG-13; language, mpreg, and birth scene
They hadn’t really been aware that the day was coming – theday where magic, on both sides of good and evil, would cease to exist for 24hours. When they’d woken to find their powers were gone, they had immediatelypanicked. What would happen if there was an emergency and they had no powers?What would they do if there was a call to Assemble? Of course, they had workedwithout their powers before, but knowing everyone would be without them madethem all restless.
Still, it was reassuring to know Evil presumably had nomagic as well. It would make it harder for them to plan something and carry itthrough, something that soothed the minds of the team as they left to see ifthe problem could be fixed. They were calling a meeting to see if magic couldbe restored before something disastrous happened. A day without powers for bothgood and evil was problematic, to say the least, and they at least wanted toknow if it would be a long lasting thing.
Of course, no one had accounted for the attempted kidnappingof Tony Stark’s baby on the day the magic went out, while the team was gone, either.
There had been a SHIELD nurse who had offered to help himduring the last trimester, mostly because he had been placed on bed rest duringthe last few months of pregnancy due to concerns of premature labor. She had beennice – the entire team seemed to like her, even Steve, and Tony was grateful tohave someone willing to help him when Steve was called away for work or anemergency. As much as the man wanted to stay home, there were times when he hadto go into SHIELD to handle things. It was better to get a lot of work out ofthe way before the baby actually arrived, but neither of them liked it muchsimply because they wanted to be in close contact with Tony pregnant. That waswhy when the nurse had offered to stay with Tony as the others went to themeeting and it had soothed Steve’s worry somewhat.
But they really shouldn’t have trusted the nurse.
As Tony laid in bed on his side, breathing throughcontractions that were now four minutes apart, he glared at her. “Stay the fuckaway from me.” His arm curled protectively over his stomach and the nurse,Trisha, smirked. The door opened and another came inside and Tony already knewhe was a demon, too.
“Oh, Tony.” Trisha rounded the bed as she folded a damp washcloth in half. She moved to place it across Tony’s forehead even as he tried toswat her away, not even wanting her to touch him. “We’re not going to hurt yourbaby, so don’t you worry. We’re merely going to take him and raise him as ourown.” Her grin widened as she walked to her medical bag and she pulled out afew things, getting ready for the baby that would soon arrive.
“What, you and the demons? Funny,” Tony snapped, breakingoff him a grimace as another contraction came over him. That one had only beenthree minutes apart from the last one. Shit. He didn’t know when the team wascoming back, but he sincerely hoped it would be soon. If it wasn’t… his babywas going to be gone and he would be dead, and he had no powers to stop them.
“Of course. The child of Iron Man and Captain America… canyou imagine the potential waiting within this child?” The other, Cronyn, spokeup that time. He sat on the edge of the bed and grinned. “We’ll make sure yourchild becomes one of the greatest rulers evil has seen in centuries.”
Tony growled. “You won’t,” he began, breaking off in a cryof pain as another contraction hit him. They were getting closer and closertogether and he knew he was already dilating, meaning it was only a matter oftime before the baby was born, and Tony needed to think of a way out this, fast.If he didn’t, he wouldn’t see his child.
As if on cue, there was a noise from across the house. Bothdemons looked up and Cronyn was the first to rise. “I’ll handle it. You dealwith him.” He pulled out a dagger and headed out of the room as Trisha satbeside the bed, timing Tony’s contractions. She turned to the bedside table toget a few towels that she’d placed there earlier, and Tony took her timesturned away as an opportunity to act. From the table on the other side of thebed, he grabbed a lamp and smashed it into the back of her head, which gave himjust enough time to get up and leave the room before she could regain hersenses, albeit a little slower than he would have liked. The pressure againsthis pelvis was increasingly worse and his next contraction was only two minutesfrom the last, tell-tale signs that his baby would be here sooner than he wouldlike, but he had to get out of here or at least contact Steve.
“JARVIS,” he breathed, hand propped against the wall. “Placea call. You’ll need-“
“Not so fast.”
When Tony looked up, Cronyn was there and he let out a noiseof frustration and pain, arm curling around his stomach out of instinct. “You’renot taking my baby. You’ll have to kill me first.”
“Then so be it. But you can’t do much now, can you? The baby’spractically crowning,” Cronyn grinned as he approached, dagger still in hand.
Tony knew he was right. Already, he was having to resist theurge to push, and what the hell was he supposed to do to this bastard while hewas literally in the middle of giving birth? He couldn’t exactly do much, andwith the pain he was in…
“Hey, dickbag, you mind stepping back from my friend?”
The sound of Clint’s voice made Tony’s head snap up and hewas greeted with the sight of his friend armed with his trusted bow and arrow.He made a sound of relief, but as soon as he did Cronyn was moving behind him,blade pressed to his throat.
“You do anything to me and he dies,” he hissed, but Tony waslocking eyes with Clint.
“Kill him,” he said, though his voice waivered more withpain than uncertainly. He knew what needed to be done here. “Kill him and savethe baby.”
Clint’s eyes flicked from Tony to Cronyn, hesitating.
“Clint, listen to me. You save the baby. Do you hear me?You-“
Suddenly there was movement behind him and Clint was rushingforward as Cronyn’s grasp on Tony was gone. He wrapped an arm around his friendin support, trying to keep him from falling over.
“What…” Tony breathed, turning to see Steve there, dagger inhand.
Cronyn was within his grasp and squirming, and Tony watchedas Steve’s dagger plunged into the demon’s chest.
“It won’t kill him,” he gasped, but Clint was shaking hishead.
“Tipped with pure magic,” Clint told him with a smirk,watching as Steve let go of Cronyn. Flames erupted around the demon and suddenlyhe was gone with a shriek, sent straight to the pits of hell by Steve himself. Tonywas tempted to say good riddance, but speaking wasn’t very conducive rightthem.
“Told you it’d come in handy sometime, huh?” Steve grinned,turning the knife over in his hands. A blade formed from pure, concentratedmagic was enough to vanquish the demon even in the absence of their powers, andthey were lucky they’d been able to get their hands on it from SHIELD.
“That’s great, but-“ Tony broke off and Steve rushedforward, supporting him. “Baby. Baby’s coming now.”
Nothing else needed to be said for them to spring intoaction. Steve helped Tony to the nearest surface – the dining table, it seemed –as Clint grabbed cushions from the couch and blankets to spread out, offeringcomfort. As Steve helped Tony up to lay down, Natasha and Bruce were runningin, one with towels, the other with a medical bag.
“Holy-“ Natasha began, but Tony interrupted her.
“The nurse-“
“Being escorted to the Underworld by Thor,” Bruce assuredhim as he came beside Tony, placing a cool cloth to the back of his neck.
Tony just nodded, hand flailing for someone to grab onto.Clint caught his hand and he let him squeeze, though he winced. “God, don’tbreak my hand.”
“Shut up!” Tony snapped. Steve rubbed his leg gently fromwhere he stood between them.
“Hey, Tony, I need you to stay calm okay? You…” he lookeddown and his breath caught, “Oh- oh, he’s crowning-“
Natasha was digging in the medical bag for the bulb syringeto clean the baby’s nose and mouth and Bruce had the clamp for the umbilicalcord ready. All these items had been collected in advance in case worse came toworse and a home birth was needed, and right then everyone was certainlygrateful they’d thought ahead. If they hadn’t, it would only make this tentimes more hectic than it already was.
“Tony, you need to give a big push with your nextcontraction,” Bruce soothed from his side, nodding once to Steve who was stillbetween Tony’s legs. “The baby’s practically here, alright? Just a big push.”
“Fuck. Fuck, I-“ Tony broke off as he started to bear down,a sound of pain escaping through his clenched teeth. Bruce continued tomurmured words of comfort from his side, but suddenly Steve interjected.
“You can do it, honey. His shoulders are almost – just onemore –“ As Tony pushed with the next contraction, Steve reached down and whenhe stood again he was holding a whimpering, squirming baby. All he could thinkof was how quickly it had all happened, and now there he was, holding theirnewborn son in his arms as he gaped.
His shock was apparent and both Bruce and Natasha moved intoaction, suctioning the baby’s mouth and cutting the cord as Clint moved toSteve with a towel. Within seconds, the baby was letting out a full-blown wail,and Tony choked out a watery laugh of relief now that he was actually crying.It was like music to his ears.
“You did it, sweetheart,” Steve beamed as he swaddled theirson and moved closer to place him into Tony’s waiting arms. He smoothed hishand through his husband’s hair and gently pressed a kiss to his forehead,pride swelling in his chest. “You did it.”
Tony, however, was more focused on the little guy in hisarms. He took the edge of the towel to gently clean his little face, smilingwhen he seemed to be calming down from his angry cries. “Hey, little guy.Couldn’t wait to get here, huh? You couldn’t wait?” He was absolutely enamored,expression one of wonder as he looked at the little person in his arms almostas if he couldn’t believe all of this was real. “Look what we did,” he saidsoftly to Steve after several moments, and the blond let out a hum inagreement. “We made this.”
“Perfect, I know.” Steve gingerly touched their son’s cheekbefore he kissed Tony’s, expression mirroring that of his husband’s.
“Perfect,” Tony agreed.
From across the room, there was a muffled curse and a bang,and they all turned to see Clint standing near a smoldering end table,expression sheepish, hand rubbing the back of his neck.
“Magic must be back,” Natasha said dryly. “Clint’s blowingthings up again.”
“Hey, it was an accident!” He protested as he waved a handover the smoking pile. When he looked up again, he was grinning. “Now can Ihold the baby?”
“Get your powers under control and then we’ll talk,” Stevechuckled, looking back to his son. “We’re going to be keeping this one closefor a little anyways. Right, Tony?”
Tony nodded, though his gaze didn’t leave the baby for asecond. “That’s right.”
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