“The sun has set, and it will rise. It’s always there, it always tries,” Tony sang. He was dancing with the quietly whining 5-month-old in his arms, fighting to stay awake for his princess.
“The clouds may come, the rain may fall, when lightning strikes, and thunder calls. We may not always see its light, but it still keeps us warm-” As he nearly faltered, he felt hands pull Morgan from his arms. He opened eyes he hadn’t realized were closed, giving a tired smile to Pepper when she picked up where he left off.
“Even in the deepest night, and through the harshest storm,” Pepper sang, voice a rich and mellow alto. Tony gathered up a bit of extra energy, and the two sang the rest together.
“So though blue skies may have stormy weather, and some nights it’s hard to see, the stars all still shine together. Shine wherever you may be.” When the chorus was done, both adults held their breath and waited. After 30 seconds, Pepper set Morgan in her crib and turned up the white noise machine as the two slowly backed out of the room.
When they made it into the kitchen without any wailing, Tony nearly sobbed in relief. He hadn’t slept for more than an hour at a time in 3 days thanks to the crying and, since it was so hard for him to get rest anyways, he made damn sure that Pepper didn’t get woken up unless it was absolutely necessary. It was so rewarding spending time with his little girl, but she also needed to relearn how to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. It was just…
Someone snapping in front of his face had Tony jerking up from where he’d been drooling on the table. Rhodey was standing on the other side, looking amused with just a dash of pity, next to a much more obviously concerned Peter.
“Tones, I know you’re a genius, but there’s this thing called a bed. Why don’t you go test out how much less your back hurts if you sleep there instead?”
“Honey Bear,” Tony said with an epic yawn as he stretched out, “You know I did the value equation for this. Sleeping in the kitchen is cheaper than passing out on my way there.” He got up stiffly and shuffled over to the coffee machine before making a face.
Someone, whose name starts with “P,” and ends with, “-epper, light of my life,” had put a post-it on it that said, “No.” Paying his audience no mind, he gently peeled it off so that he could replace it later without being caught. Underneath, there was a second one taped down that said the same thing, only underlined. As he gazed mournfully at his mistress, he blocked out the muffled laughter behind him. No one would never understand their love, but Tony would not hold it against them. After Tony got water and sat back on his seat, the two calmed down enough for Peter to speak.
“That’s fair Mr. Stark, but Pepper would probably sleep better with you in there.” He adjusted his web shooters as he kept talking. “I mean, it can be hard to sleep alone when you’re used to sharing with someone, right? I can barely catch a wink without either MJ or Ned to cuddle.”
“First of all, it’s Stark-Potts. Second, I am mortally offended that you can call Pepper by her name, and yet I’m spoken to like some authority figure. For shame underoos!” Tony was prepared to continue with his teasing until the actual substance of what Peter said was processed. “Oh fuck, Pepper’s asleep? How long has Morgan been out,” He asked, already getting up to fill a bottle, “Sorry guys, let me just go get her before she can wake-“
“Whoa, calm down Tones. She’s fine, and out like a light, so no need to stress.” Rhodey’s smile as he got Tony to sit back down was so mischievous that the other man was instantly suspicious.
“Honey Bear, I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, but why is she fine?” Tony squinted as the smug radiated off his friend in waves before zeroing in on a sheepish Peter for an explanation. Within seconds, the young adult cracked and started rambling.
“Okay, so remember how I said that I was working on webbing that was more like actual spider silk a few weeks ago? I got it, but it came out more like dragline instead of the sticky stuff. Boredom got me seeing how much of it I could make at one time, and I got left with a ton of silk cloth that I’d brought over to show you. Rhodey had already taken over for Pepper when I got here, and you were zonked still, so I showed it to him and…” Peter trailed off with a shrug as Rhodey turned around.
On his back, Morgan was fast asleep, situated in the cloth so that she was seated comfortably. Tony almost stopped breathing out of habit because he didn’t want to wake her up, but…
She’d stayed asleep the entire time they’d talked, and probably long before that.
With an unholy gleam in his eyes that spoke of a man who had willingly walked through Hell catching glimpse of Heaven, Tony turned his friend around and willed him to give answers.
“It’s called a kanga, although this one isn’t traditional,” said Smuggy-McSmug-Face (okay, Tony acknowledged that he needed more sleep if that’s the best he could do at name calling right now). “My mother wore me in one until I was too big to carry, and my cousin’s wife insisted that I learn how to do it if I was going to watch her kids. Apparently, her youngest did the same thing as Morgan.” Rhodey looked apologetic as he continued. “If I’d known it was this bad, I would have definitely come over sooner and shown you how.”
After another nap for Tony, and Pepper waking up with her husband actually beside her for the first time in over a week, the next four hours were spent practicing how to wrap and secure a kanga. There were a few mishaps early on but, thankfully, it was with the giant bag of rice that they agreed to practice with, not Morgan. Both parents proudly wore Morgan in the spider silk kanga for several days, including both a board meeting and a walk through the park on Tony’s part, before a package from Wakanda arrived while Rhodey’s mother was visiting her “grand baby, since Tony might as well be your brother by now James.” Tony read the card out loud since all of them were wondering what had prompted the gift.
I hope all is well with your family, and mine is wishing you the best. My mother happened to see in the news that you were using a kanga to carry your daughter and thought it would be appropriate to give you another set. The design was her choice, but Shuri picked out its jina, ‘Lukozo lomya,’ beforehand. My mother and I agree, it’s very fitting when they will be used to hold the most beautiful part of any parent’s life. Have FRIDAY send a photo of Morgan in one when you can, or else my mother will have to come visit in person (which she would love because she does miss small children). Take care, my friends.
Touched, Tony set down the card while Pepper carefully unwrapped the kanga. Botn had a beautiful pindo of hemp seeds on a royal purple background, while the mji was lilac with animals dancing in the center above its jina.
“FRIDAY,” Pepper said, “Please make sure that Queen Ramonda and her family know that the gift is much appreciated, but she’ll have to get photos in person because they won’t send for some reason. We’re happy to have her here, of course, or come visit, whichever would be easiest for her.”
“Of course ma’am, and anything else?”
“Actually, I’m curious about the translation of its… ‘jina’?” Pepper said, the new word coming out as more of a question.
“It’s an Xhosa idiom meaning, ‘It is the seed of umya,’ which is a type of wild hemp. It’s applied to anything or anyone that is exceptionally beautiful.”
“Okay, that was a good choice on the part of my second favorite girl genius. Roberta,” Tony said, turning to Rhodey’s mother, “Do you still have the kanga that you used with Rhodey?”
“No,” she said, looking very confused, “I never used one with him.”
“What?” Rhodey said. “Mom, you have pictures of me in one on your back as a baby. You showed them to Atiena when she had the kids over while Damon was out of town.”
Roberta nearly sucked her teeth when she realized what had happened, but she settled for giving her son a flat look.
“James, I wore you in a lappa that belonged to Grandma Wonkehmi, who was West African. Do you even remember where Atiena’s family is from?”
“James?” Roberta asked, eyebrow raised.
“Yes child, on the opposite side of the continent.” Roberta smiled, giving him a pat on the knee.
Tony started snickering until Rhodey kicked him lightly, and from there it devolved into playful roughhousing. Roberta and Pepper just shared a look over their two idiots and smiled as they left the room to go find Peter and Morgan.
They had an old tradition of baby wearing to keep alive, and that’s a bit hard to do without the baby.
