Author's Note:
Sorry for anybody who is reading my 'Age of Kristina' story, I really wanted to write this.
Anniversaries are used to mark an important occasion; what bigger occasion is there than saving the world? The Avengers meet up for the 6th anniversary of defeating Ultron- Is it possible that they still don't know everything about each other? What new secrets are revealed and what secrets remain hidden? Two-Shot.
Couples: Steve/Natasha; Clint/Laura; Tony/Pepper.
Other characters: Bruce; Vision; Rhodey; The children of the Avengers.
I hope you enjoy it!
Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were sitting in the lounge area of Stark's tower. Stark had invited the original Avengers to mark the six-year anniversary of defeating Ultron. He was pleased that he had managed to convince Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Vision. Wanda Maximoff turned down the meet up, like she did every year, as she did not see it as a celebration, but a reminder that she lost her brother Pietro. Sam Wilson said he might pop in if he finished his mission early, but seeing as it was expected to last another two weeks, it didn't seem likely. Rhodey and Pepper were also going to attend, even though they technically were not involved in taking Ultron down. Thor, was the only member of the team who did not even reply; then again, it was always difficult getting a hold of him since he became the king of Asgard.
Tony smiled as he thought about the words he was going to have with Clint, after finding out that he had another child without informing him. When Tony had called Laura, Clint's wife, and convinced her to come as well, she revealed to him that she needed four children tickets, not just three like he presumed. He didn't know how old this new child was, but he was not going to accept that he didn't know or that he didn't some how figure it out. One thing Tony hated, was when he missed something.
"It's just going to be the team this time? Right?" Banner asked.
Tony simply smiled in response, "More or less."
"Because last year, there were more than two hundred guests," Banner reminded him.
"That was the five year anniversary; another big party isn't due until the tenth anniversary," Tony answered with a small smirk. After the first anniversary, he always thought of a surprise for the team. On the second year, Clint was busy and didn't turn up, so he had an ice-sculpture made of him. On the third year, they had everybody turn up, and he had surprised everybody by allocating them all a floor or section of the building which would be theirs to use at any time. Tony quickly realised, that for Clint, Natasha and Steve, that they would use the tower between missions, to recover or clean up before continuing on. It was a bit like a sanctuary for them. There would be the occasion that a member of the team would drop by unannounced for a specific amount of time, just to visit Tony or for time away from whatever they were doing; but usually, it would be for business, like updating of tech or needing help with something for a mission. On the fourth year, Natasha, Sam Wilson and Thor were all absent from the celebration; meaning they missed the adult sized bouncy-castle and water fight. The fifth anniversary managed to gather everybody apart from Thor, and had a massive celebration. Thor had come down a month prior and met up with most of the team over three days, but it wasn't the same without him at a party.
"You can tell me what the surprise is," Banner informed him, wanting some more information and time to prepare for what may come.
"Maybe the surprise is, that there is no surprise," Tony replied. He didn't add that Pepper had warned him to not let things get out of hand. A couple of years ago, they found out that because of everything that had happened, Tony wasn't able to conceive a child of his own and after much debate, they agreed to adopt. Tony didn't want Pepper to be impregnated by somebody else. They had originally intended on adopting a baby, but when visiting an orphanage to see a baby boy of 7 months, they met a 4 year old girl-who Tony was convinced looked like a mini version of Pepper. The were astonished to find out that the boy they were planning to adopt had an older sister, who they had decided to adopt separately as no one wanted to adopt siblings. That is when they decided to take in both of the children. Meaning that they now had a five year old girl and 14 month boy; named Kathryn and Hayden respectively.
"I find that hard to believe," Banner admitted as he took a sip of his orange juice.
Before Tony had chance to reply, the elevator opened to reveal a very muddy and slightly beaten up Clint and Natasha. "Uhm… I know I said it was a casual celebration…" Tony started as he stood up to greet them.
"And I spent hours on this look," Clint said with his usual casual smirk. "Hey Banner."
Banner raised his hand in greeting.
"We ran into a little trouble on our mission, took us longer to get back to our extraction point," Natasha explained simply, getting straight to the point, before checking the time. "Is Pepper around? I don't have a change of clothing."
"She's getting the kids ready," Tony replied, he looked at Clint with a grin. "Talking about kids…"
"I'm going to get cleaned up too. I have clothes here anyway- I told you should keep some here," Clint said, interrupting Tony as he walked back into the elevator with Natasha.
"I would have clothes if you didn't lose my go-bag," Natasha retorted, a hint of anger and deadliness in her voice.
Tony turned back to Banner with a smile, "The gang is starting to arrive. I honestly expected Steve to be the earliest."
Banner nodded, "I guess they knew they didn't have time to get ready somewhere else." He replied wisely. "Or they wanted to make a mess," he said, indicating the mud covered floor.
Tony's mouth nearly dropped opened, "They are tracking mud around everywhere!" he exclaimed as he pulled out his phone and tapped away on it for a few moments. Within a minute, a small iron-man look-a-like flew in and started cleaning the floor, another two flew past to locate the rest of the mess caused by the two assassins.
The elevator opened and Steve scooted out of the way when the robot flew in and started cleaning the floor. He stepped out and looked at Tony, "Do I want to ask?"
"Just cleaning up some mess," Tony answered. "Good to see you." He said as they clasped hands in greeting and Tony patted Steve on the back.
"Great to be here. There's not going to be a hundred people turning up, right?" Steve inquired with a natural smile, like he wouldn't mind what they did regardless.
"It was two hundred," Banner specified as he approached Steve.
"Hello Bruce," Steve said civilly. "How is working with Tony, he hasn't driven you to madness yet?"
"Not quite," Banner laughed.
"Mock all you like, I still pay for most-"
"And we appreciate it," Steve said, interrupting the inevitable rant. "How are the little ones?"
"You have no idea how magical it is," Tony said with a smile. "Although, there are times when they are just so difficult."
"I understand," Steve replied with a nod. "But no matter how difficult they are, they're worth it."
"Exactly," Tony said tilting his head to the side. "When are you planning on settling down?" he asked, the way Steve spoke about children, it was obvious he had put thought into a family.
"Oh… uhm…" Steve muttered, looking around awkwardly.
"You have a girlfriend, don't you?" Tony said, clapping Steve on the back. "Who's the lucky lady?"
"When are everybody due?" Steve asked, changing the subject. "I thought I was on time?"
"We haven't finished our conversation," Tony said, not answering him.
"As far as I know, we're just waiting for Vision and Rhodey. Natasha and Clint are getting cleaned up after a mission and Pepper was upstairs." Banner answered.
"A small celebration," Steve replied with a smile and nod of approvement.
"There's another guest or two… who should be here soon," Tony added cryptically.
"I thought you said there were no surprises," Banner commented.
"Did I? I don't recall that," Tony replied with a smirk as the elevator opened. "Rhodey, there you are."
Steve and Banner greeted the newest arrival before heading to the kitchen.
Clint returned to the floor as everybody was seated on the couches, after grabbing himself a beer he joined them. "I'm getting too old for this," he confessed.
"Usually when somebody retires, they stop doing missions," Rhodey pointed out.
Clint nodded, "That would be the sensible thing to do. But it's a casual thing, it's good to have a bit of money coming in."
"Yes, especially with four kids now," Tony spoke.
Clint sent him a look of confusion, "I only have three children, Tony."
Rhodey looked between them confused, "Wait, Barton has children? When did that happen?" he asked, completely out of the loop.
"Yes, I have three children, two boys and a girl," Clint informed Rhodey, sending a small glare in Tony's direction, "I'd prefer if you kept that quiet though. I want them to be safe from any enemies I have made in the past."
Rhodey nodded, confirming that he wouldn't blab that information as Vision walked in and sat down, he was greeted quickly, before everybody returned to the conversation.
"Clint, I can keep a secret, when was the youngest born?"
"Nathaniel… you know when he was born. Are you okay?" Clint asked, his expression concerned.
Tony looked around at the concerned faces of his friends and shook his head, "I'm fine." He looked up when Pepper walked in with Natasha and his children. Kathryn ran up to him, to which he instantly picked up and placed her on his lap. "Natasha, you're a women of completely honesty. How many children does Clint have?"
"Three; Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel," Natasha answered as she handed Hayden to Pepper. Then she turned to face them all, and the violent bruise across her jaw line came apparent. "Why?"
"What happened?" Steve asked, standing up quickly and moving across the seating area to look at the bruise. He tilted her head to the side.
"It's nothing," Natasha said dismissively.
"Must have happened when you fell face-first onto…" Clint started, but stopped suddenly when Natasha set a glare on him.
"Face first?" Steve questioned, look at her with slightly wide eyes.
"It's nothing," she repeated.
Tony slung an arm around Peppers waist when she sat next to him and was prepared to bring the conversation back around to Clint hiding that there was another child, when he noticed Banners expression. He looked sad, almost longing. Following his gaze, he examined Steve and Natasha; he knew Banner and Natasha little relationship didn't last. All he knew was that before the first anniversary, Banner came back and tried to make things work with Natasha. However, she completely shut him out and declared that she wasn't some damsel in distress who would wait for a man to return after disappearing without a word, and as far as she knew, there was and never would be nothing between them. The conversation might not have been that bad, if it hadn't of been in front of Pepper, Steve, Clint, Coulson, Maria, Fury, Thor and himself. Tony had also observed, that over the years, Natasha had become more open with most of the team, apart from Banner.
He watched as Steve stroked Natasha's jaw gently, across the bruise as he examined it. Tony knew, that had this been a few years ago, Natasha wouldn't have allowed anybody bar Barton to touch her. She has learnt to trust more and was closer to a few people and for some reason, that seemed to be bothering Banner-maybe because he wasn't one of them.
"Is Thor or Wilson coming?" Natasha asked after finally swatting Steve's hand away. She stole Clint's beer from his hand and took a sip before returning it to him.
"Get your own!" Clint protested, which Natasha only responded with an eye roll.
"I'll get you one," Steve offered and heading to the kitchen without waiting for her reply.
"Just waiting for-" Tony started as the elevator opened, "That must be them."
Laura and four children walked out, causing Clint to instantly set his beer down and stand up, "Laura, what are you doing here?" he asked with confusion.
"Tony invited us," Laura answered. Although, her answer was almost lost by Nathaniel's voice shouting 'Daddy!' and the two year old boy's voice shouting 'Mommy!'. Both of the little ones ran-to the best of their abilities-towards their parent of choice. Lila half walked-half ran into Clint's arms with her younger brother as Cooper stayed back with his mother.
Tony's eye brow's furrowed when the youngest member of the crew shouted Mommy, and his eyes widened in realisation when Natasha stepped forward, bent down and caught the youngest child in her arms. She gave him a kiss before holding him tight to her, "Hey baby." She said softly, which was heard clearly by the other people in the room, who were all speechless.
"Tony, why did you invite my wife without telling me? I would have met her before hand instead of coming straight here," Clint spoke, holding 6 year old Nathaniel. Although, no one even registered his voice as they were all absorbed by Natasha apparently having a child.
Natasha looked at them all for a second, before turning to Lila and giving her a hug with her free arm. That seemed to have brought enough time for Tony to snap out of his trance, "You have a son?"
Natasha looked at him, "Yes." she confirmed shortly, not expanding and her eyes were daring anybody to ask anything else.
"Excuse me," Banner said as he stood up and walked from the room at a quick pace. Natasha watched him leave with a look of guilt on her face, although, Tony wasn't sure exactly what she was guilty about.
"Uncle Steve!" Lila announced as she met him halfway into the room, greeting him with a hug. She was followed by Nathaniel, who also exclaimed 'Uncle Steve'.
Steve hugged them both, picking them up with ease, "What are you two doing here?" he questioned with a good natured smile on his lips. They both giggled before he put them down and looked up.
"Daddy!"
Steve patted Nathaniel's head before he ran back to his dad and walked with Lila over to the group, "I didn't know the children were coming." He commented as he handed Natasha the beer and took the boy instead.
"Wait- you and Natasha had a child together?" Tony exclaimed.
"How did I not know about this?" Pepper asked, looking between them. "How long have you two been together?"
Natasha looked at her, "Four or so years, I think."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Pepper asked her.
"I didn't think it was important," Natasha answered with a small shrug as she sat down on the couch. Lila instantly sat next to her on the couch, remaining quiet and was joined by Steve.
"Okay, you need to tell me everything, right now," Pepper announced. Everybody turned their attention to Natasha. Including Clint and Laura who took their seats. Pepper sent Clint a confused glance.
"I don't know the whole story, she turned up with James when he was a few months old and asked if we could baby-sit him," Clint informed them.
Natasha sighed, "Is it really that big of a deal."
"Yes, now spill."
Natasha looked at Steve, "I guess it started four years ago, to this day. After the whole registration situation, we had been slightly distant, but we talked at the party and sorted things out." She looked at them, wondering if that was enough.
"Together we went on a few missions following that and slowly got closer," Steve added.
"And that's when you started dating?" Pepper prompted.
"We didn't put a label on things," Natasha spoke.
"Hold on, how old is the little guy?" Rhodey asked suddenly.
"2 years, three months," Steve answered as he bounced James on his lap.
"That would mean… you went on a mission with me when you were four months pregnant?" Rhodey said with wide fearful eyes.
"I was three months pregnant," Natasha corrected.
"And she was in denial about being pregnant. Called the doctors incompetent and stupid. Refused to even think about the notion of pregnancy."
"Because, I can't get pregnant, Steve," Natasha stated calmly.
Steve lifted James up, dangling him as proof and handed him over, "Are you sure. I think James is living proof that you are wrong about that matter."
Natasha accepted James, "I am still trying to work out how that is possible."
"James… you named him after Bucky?" Tony asked, receiving a simple nod from both Natasha and Steve in confirmation. "Right, now that that's all settled-somebody go find Banner, I think it's time for a game of Mario Kart."
I'd love a review!
The next chapter will be up very soon! :D