Now We Are Four
Title: Now We Are Four - First in the 'Playdays' Series.
Author: plumoneoneseven
Rating: PG
Genre: Kidfic. Family. FLUFF you could drown in.
Spoilers: Not a chance. Set somewhere around about post-Breakout but pre-Sentry in the New Avengers continuum... But it's probably best not to think about that since it's very, very AU.
Warning: The fluff might kill you. Seriously. Stock up on insulin for this series. (Oh yes I said series...) Un-beta'd by outside forces.
Disclaimer: Hah, yeah, cos if I owned the Marvelverse I'd totally still be writing this stuff as fanfic and not putting it into CANON. /sarcasm. Title deliberately misquoted from A.A.Milne.
Notes: I'm British. I've tried to use the American spelling for things since it's, y'know set in the US, but I get the distinct feeling there's a mish-mash of both in here. Sorry. If anything is really jarringly wrong, please let me know. :)
-----------
"In retrospect, jelly sandwiches were probably a bad idea..."
Steve glared at Tony, who held the wriggling, giggling, jelly-smeared four-year old at arms length.
He held the glare for a moment before looking down at his shield with a mournful expression. Strawberry handprints covered the shiny surface and the smudged impression of a smiling face could just be made out on top of the star.
Tony snorted at Steve's grave expression and turned it into a cough when the glare swung back in his direction.
"I'll just go give him a bath then," he said sheepishly and wheeled round, marching out of the room and away from Steve's accusing expression.
"No! Don't wanna bath!" The child pouted, suddenly wriggling for all he was worth.
"Come on Pete, you're all sticky, we need to get you clean again." Said Tony in his most level and mature 'grown-up' voice.
Pete shook his head violently and went limp, instantly becoming heavier than Tony could have thought possible from such a tiny person. Pete slipped slightly and Tony lowered him to the floor to regain his grip where he slid completely out of Tony's grasp and scampered off down the corridor, high-pitched giggling following in his wake.
Tony huffed under his breath as he watched the child disappear round a corner then turned back and stuck his head around the doorway of the room where he'd left Steve to clean his precious shield.
"You'll have to leave that for later."
Steve looked up from his work with a quizzical expression.
"He escaped."
Steve's expression was a mixture of amusement and annoyance as he set the shield aside for the moment. He stood, stretching out tired muscles.
"Right. ...Which way did he go?"
Tony lead the way down the hall.
----
Meanwhile, Pete had found his way to the bedrooms. A door up ahead was ajar, and low, interesting music poured out. He pushed open the door far enough to slip into the room and peered around it.
He looked down the length of the bed to see Logan lying on his back, one arm tucked under his head reading a book while the Sinatra CD played on his stereo.
Pete waited a moment without saying anything, just listening to the music and watching Logan turn pages.
"What is it kid? I'm busy." Logan asked, the book still holding most of his attention.
Pete stepped around the door, his eyes wide.
"How'd you know I was there? I was being real quiet so's you wouldn't hear me."
Logan sniffed and lowered the book. "Practice." He looked Pete up and down and took in the light coating of jelly. "What happened to you?"
"Dinner." Peter said simply, smiling. "But Tony wants t'give me a bath and I dun't want one." He frowned, thinking and then brightened. "Can I hide with you?"
Logan sighed and, making a mental note of the page number, dropped the book to his nightstand. He stood and crossed over to the diminutive Peter. "Sorry kid, I think you're gonna need that bath. You're pretty dirty. ...Tony! Got 'im!" He called out into the hall, where Tony and Steve were following the jelly and crumb trail and approaching fast.
Pete shot Logan a hurt look and darted out of the door, only to be caught in a death grip around the middle by a swiftly moving Steve.
"Gotcha!"
Pete squealed and pouted for all he was worth. "I dun't wanna have a bath!" He bellowed.
"But we can play with your duckies if you have a bath, and Steve can put bubbles in for you." Tony cajoled, sidling up to Steve's side and attempting to placate the boy.
The pout lessened slightly. "Can I have my boats too? And my bucket?"
"Of course, kid, Steve'll let you have the boats and the bucket, right Steve?" Logan replied, raising an eyebrow at Steve.
Steve nodded, "You can have your boats, but you can only have the bucket if you're really good and have a bath right now."
Pete sighed dramatically and gave in. "Okay. I'll be good. But only if I can have a hug from Teddy first." He held out his arms to Logan, his sticky, jelly-covered face beaming.
Logan looked down at his clean t-shirt, rolled his eyes at the grins that Tony and Steve were totally failing to suppress and accepted the strawberry-scented hug.
"Good Teddy," grinned Pete, leaning back and patting Logan's face. Tony's grin especially was threatening to burst into full blown laughter.
"Go get clean kid, and I'll see you later." Logan grimaced, simultaneously ruffling Pete's hair and trying to wipe strawberry crumbs out of his sideburn.
"'Kay. ...Steve, can Tony help me play with my boats?" Pete asked as Steve nodded to Logan and started off down the hall towards the bathroom.
"Later, Logan." Tony nodded, still grinning and following in the wake of Steve and Pete's excited chattering.
----
'It wasn't getting Pete into the bath that was really the problem,' reflected Tony, 'it was getting him dry afterward.'
The boy in question was currently sitting on Tony's lap, wrapped in only a towel, writhing madly and howling with laughter while Steve attempted to dry his feet and Tony simultaneously dried his back.
After the second or third kick to the face, Steve gave it up as impossible and plugged in the hairdryer instead, putting it on the lowest setting before starting to wave it over Peter's bowed head, combing out the dark strands with his fingers.
Raising his voice over the noise of the dryer, Tony spoke. "The quicker we get you dry, the quicker Steve will be able to read your bedtime story, so stop squirming."
The movement stopped and Tony finished drying Pete in record time.
He plonked him down on the bed, still bundled in the towel with a "stay still for Steve" for good measure and went to find pajamas.
"Batman or Superman?"
Tony came back holding a set of clothes in each hand and waved them at the boy who was now jumping on the bed, naked, while Steve tidied away the hairdryer and pretended not to notice.
"Batman!" He shrieked and leaped off the bed with a huge bounce, leaving Tony to drop both sets of sleepwear so that Pete didn't end up crashing to the ground.
"Come on Picasso, let's get you to bed. Into your 'jamas and tucked in for storytime with Steve."
Steve smiled warmly at the pair of them and went to poke at the bookcase, looking for a good story to read.
"'Kay." Pete made 'put me down' motions and Tony obliged, dropping him back to the bed before retrieving the pajamas from the floor.
"Batman tonight, Superman tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yup."
Tony held out the bottoms and Pete wriggled into them, then held his arms up for Tony to drop the top over his head. His hair stuck out all over the place when he emerged from the top and Tony stroked it back down fondly, grinning.
"Where's Teddy?" He asked. "Go find it." He said, sending Pete padding off barefoot to the corner of his room by the bookcase where a small pile of toys had begun accumulating to look for it.
Pete tugged on the leg of Steve's pants to draw his attention away from the books. "Steve, have you seen Teddy? I can't find him anywhere." Pete sighed.
"Where did you have him last?" Steve asked, echoing everyone who's ever been a parent.
Pete put his head on one side and made a 'thinking' face. "Before dinner. On the big couch."
"Well, let's go find him then, so you can get a story. You can't have storytime without Teddy." He replied solemnly.
Across the room, Tony snorted, but his face softened into an affectionate smile as he watched Steve take Pete's outstretched hand and lead him off to the lounge.
When they returned, Pete was balanced on Steve's hip, 'Teddy' clutched in one hand by the foot, fingers of his other hand firmly curled up over his nose, thumb wedged in his mouth.
In Steve's other hand was the book they'd been reading earlier. Tony bit back a grin at the picture they made.
'Teddy' was a brilliant buy, no matter that it'd cost too much from the store, the plushie Wolverine toy was worth it's weight in gold as far as he was concerned, for two very good reasons, and only one of them was because it meant that Pete had started calling Logan 'Teddy'. It also kept him quiet, having one hand on teddy and the other in his mouth.
Tony sat on the edge of the bed and accepted Pete as Steve handed him over, tucking him under the covers, and waited for Steve to sit on Pete's other side.
"We swung by Logan to say goodnight." Steve told him, settling himself down.
Pete nodded, thumb making a popping noise as it slipped out of his mouth and leaned up against Steve. "We said g'night to Teddy."
"You sure you want this story, Rembrandt? You had it earlier, remember?" Tony nudged Pete with an elbow. Pete giggled sleepily and nodded.
"Yep. This story's the best one."
"All right, you know best I'm sure."
"Read to me Steve? Please?" Pete looked up at Steve, imploring.
Steve wrapped his arm around Pete's shoulders so the book was in the boy's lap, snuggled Pete up against him, opened the book to the first page, cleared his throat and began.
"Every day, Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch would be home at six o'clock sharp to read to Young Sam, who was one year old. Six o'clock, no matter what... or who... or why... because some things are important..."
End.
Note: The story at the end there is of course 'Where's My Cow?' By Terry Pratchett. I didn't want to note this at the top, because I thought it might spoil the surprise. If you've never read it, it comes very highly recommended to people with or without children!
ETA: niblick_iii wrote me shiny things in this 'verse (which belongs to the collective of niblick_iii, requiem2adream, bethan_b_bad and Me) to cheer me up because my computer got deaded and she felt guilty about it. And also because she is AWESOME. :D Read her story here.
And her second story in this verse which now really belongs more to her than anyone else just by dint of her having written more stuff in it is here. We love you niblick_iii you rock so hard.
Author: plumoneoneseven
Rating: PG
Genre: Kidfic. Family. FLUFF you could drown in.
Spoilers: Not a chance. Set somewhere around about post-Breakout but pre-Sentry in the New Avengers continuum... But it's probably best not to think about that since it's very, very AU.
Warning: The fluff might kill you. Seriously. Stock up on insulin for this series. (Oh yes I said series...) Un-beta'd by outside forces.
Disclaimer: Hah, yeah, cos if I owned the Marvelverse I'd totally still be writing this stuff as fanfic and not putting it into CANON. /sarcasm. Title deliberately misquoted from A.A.Milne.
Notes: I'm British. I've tried to use the American spelling for things since it's, y'know set in the US, but I get the distinct feeling there's a mish-mash of both in here. Sorry. If anything is really jarringly wrong, please let me know. :)
-----------
"In retrospect, jelly sandwiches were probably a bad idea..."
Steve glared at Tony, who held the wriggling, giggling, jelly-smeared four-year old at arms length.
He held the glare for a moment before looking down at his shield with a mournful expression. Strawberry handprints covered the shiny surface and the smudged impression of a smiling face could just be made out on top of the star.
Tony snorted at Steve's grave expression and turned it into a cough when the glare swung back in his direction.
"I'll just go give him a bath then," he said sheepishly and wheeled round, marching out of the room and away from Steve's accusing expression.
"No! Don't wanna bath!" The child pouted, suddenly wriggling for all he was worth.
"Come on Pete, you're all sticky, we need to get you clean again." Said Tony in his most level and mature 'grown-up' voice.
Pete shook his head violently and went limp, instantly becoming heavier than Tony could have thought possible from such a tiny person. Pete slipped slightly and Tony lowered him to the floor to regain his grip where he slid completely out of Tony's grasp and scampered off down the corridor, high-pitched giggling following in his wake.
Tony huffed under his breath as he watched the child disappear round a corner then turned back and stuck his head around the doorway of the room where he'd left Steve to clean his precious shield.
"You'll have to leave that for later."
Steve looked up from his work with a quizzical expression.
"He escaped."
Steve's expression was a mixture of amusement and annoyance as he set the shield aside for the moment. He stood, stretching out tired muscles.
"Right. ...Which way did he go?"
Tony lead the way down the hall.
----
Meanwhile, Pete had found his way to the bedrooms. A door up ahead was ajar, and low, interesting music poured out. He pushed open the door far enough to slip into the room and peered around it.
He looked down the length of the bed to see Logan lying on his back, one arm tucked under his head reading a book while the Sinatra CD played on his stereo.
Pete waited a moment without saying anything, just listening to the music and watching Logan turn pages.
"What is it kid? I'm busy." Logan asked, the book still holding most of his attention.
Pete stepped around the door, his eyes wide.
"How'd you know I was there? I was being real quiet so's you wouldn't hear me."
Logan sniffed and lowered the book. "Practice." He looked Pete up and down and took in the light coating of jelly. "What happened to you?"
"Dinner." Peter said simply, smiling. "But Tony wants t'give me a bath and I dun't want one." He frowned, thinking and then brightened. "Can I hide with you?"
Logan sighed and, making a mental note of the page number, dropped the book to his nightstand. He stood and crossed over to the diminutive Peter. "Sorry kid, I think you're gonna need that bath. You're pretty dirty. ...Tony! Got 'im!" He called out into the hall, where Tony and Steve were following the jelly and crumb trail and approaching fast.
Pete shot Logan a hurt look and darted out of the door, only to be caught in a death grip around the middle by a swiftly moving Steve.
"Gotcha!"
Pete squealed and pouted for all he was worth. "I dun't wanna have a bath!" He bellowed.
"But we can play with your duckies if you have a bath, and Steve can put bubbles in for you." Tony cajoled, sidling up to Steve's side and attempting to placate the boy.
The pout lessened slightly. "Can I have my boats too? And my bucket?"
"Of course, kid, Steve'll let you have the boats and the bucket, right Steve?" Logan replied, raising an eyebrow at Steve.
Steve nodded, "You can have your boats, but you can only have the bucket if you're really good and have a bath right now."
Pete sighed dramatically and gave in. "Okay. I'll be good. But only if I can have a hug from Teddy first." He held out his arms to Logan, his sticky, jelly-covered face beaming.
Logan looked down at his clean t-shirt, rolled his eyes at the grins that Tony and Steve were totally failing to suppress and accepted the strawberry-scented hug.
"Good Teddy," grinned Pete, leaning back and patting Logan's face. Tony's grin especially was threatening to burst into full blown laughter.
"Go get clean kid, and I'll see you later." Logan grimaced, simultaneously ruffling Pete's hair and trying to wipe strawberry crumbs out of his sideburn.
"'Kay. ...Steve, can Tony help me play with my boats?" Pete asked as Steve nodded to Logan and started off down the hall towards the bathroom.
"Later, Logan." Tony nodded, still grinning and following in the wake of Steve and Pete's excited chattering.
----
'It wasn't getting Pete into the bath that was really the problem,' reflected Tony, 'it was getting him dry afterward.'
The boy in question was currently sitting on Tony's lap, wrapped in only a towel, writhing madly and howling with laughter while Steve attempted to dry his feet and Tony simultaneously dried his back.
After the second or third kick to the face, Steve gave it up as impossible and plugged in the hairdryer instead, putting it on the lowest setting before starting to wave it over Peter's bowed head, combing out the dark strands with his fingers.
Raising his voice over the noise of the dryer, Tony spoke. "The quicker we get you dry, the quicker Steve will be able to read your bedtime story, so stop squirming."
The movement stopped and Tony finished drying Pete in record time.
He plonked him down on the bed, still bundled in the towel with a "stay still for Steve" for good measure and went to find pajamas.
"Batman or Superman?"
Tony came back holding a set of clothes in each hand and waved them at the boy who was now jumping on the bed, naked, while Steve tidied away the hairdryer and pretended not to notice.
"Batman!" He shrieked and leaped off the bed with a huge bounce, leaving Tony to drop both sets of sleepwear so that Pete didn't end up crashing to the ground.
"Come on Picasso, let's get you to bed. Into your 'jamas and tucked in for storytime with Steve."
Steve smiled warmly at the pair of them and went to poke at the bookcase, looking for a good story to read.
"'Kay." Pete made 'put me down' motions and Tony obliged, dropping him back to the bed before retrieving the pajamas from the floor.
"Batman tonight, Superman tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yup."
Tony held out the bottoms and Pete wriggled into them, then held his arms up for Tony to drop the top over his head. His hair stuck out all over the place when he emerged from the top and Tony stroked it back down fondly, grinning.
"Where's Teddy?" He asked. "Go find it." He said, sending Pete padding off barefoot to the corner of his room by the bookcase where a small pile of toys had begun accumulating to look for it.
Pete tugged on the leg of Steve's pants to draw his attention away from the books. "Steve, have you seen Teddy? I can't find him anywhere." Pete sighed.
"Where did you have him last?" Steve asked, echoing everyone who's ever been a parent.
Pete put his head on one side and made a 'thinking' face. "Before dinner. On the big couch."
"Well, let's go find him then, so you can get a story. You can't have storytime without Teddy." He replied solemnly.
Across the room, Tony snorted, but his face softened into an affectionate smile as he watched Steve take Pete's outstretched hand and lead him off to the lounge.
When they returned, Pete was balanced on Steve's hip, 'Teddy' clutched in one hand by the foot, fingers of his other hand firmly curled up over his nose, thumb wedged in his mouth.
In Steve's other hand was the book they'd been reading earlier. Tony bit back a grin at the picture they made.
'Teddy' was a brilliant buy, no matter that it'd cost too much from the store, the plushie Wolverine toy was worth it's weight in gold as far as he was concerned, for two very good reasons, and only one of them was because it meant that Pete had started calling Logan 'Teddy'. It also kept him quiet, having one hand on teddy and the other in his mouth.
Tony sat on the edge of the bed and accepted Pete as Steve handed him over, tucking him under the covers, and waited for Steve to sit on Pete's other side.
"We swung by Logan to say goodnight." Steve told him, settling himself down.
Pete nodded, thumb making a popping noise as it slipped out of his mouth and leaned up against Steve. "We said g'night to Teddy."
"You sure you want this story, Rembrandt? You had it earlier, remember?" Tony nudged Pete with an elbow. Pete giggled sleepily and nodded.
"Yep. This story's the best one."
"All right, you know best I'm sure."
"Read to me Steve? Please?" Pete looked up at Steve, imploring.
Steve wrapped his arm around Pete's shoulders so the book was in the boy's lap, snuggled Pete up against him, opened the book to the first page, cleared his throat and began.
"Every day, Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch would be home at six o'clock sharp to read to Young Sam, who was one year old. Six o'clock, no matter what... or who... or why... because some things are important..."
End.
Note: The story at the end there is of course 'Where's My Cow?' By Terry Pratchett. I didn't want to note this at the top, because I thought it might spoil the surprise. If you've never read it, it comes very highly recommended to people with or without children!
ETA: niblick_iii wrote me shiny things in this 'verse (which belongs to the collective of niblick_iii, requiem2adream, bethan_b_bad and Me) to cheer me up because my computer got deaded and she felt guilty about it. And also because she is AWESOME. :D Read her story here.
And her second story in this verse which now really belongs more to her than anyone else just by dint of her having written more stuff in it is here. We love you niblick_iii you rock so hard.