Thanks
Write by Asrial
Translate by a sweet reader who don't want to be named
Beta by RemyMcKwakker
A hugethank youtothe sweet translatorfor his translationof the text andabig thank you toRemyMcKwakker to correctthe translation. Thank youallfor your helpand your work ladies
Tony laid the baby in his cradle. He was blue, like his mother. But for Tony, he was the most beautiful baby of the creation.
Loki had almost collapsed, totally hysterical, when Bruce had put his son into his arms. He was blue… blue… a monster. He had given birth to a monster again. He had collapsed in tears, convinced that Tony was going to chase them both away if he didn't kill the child. He'd immediately apologized to his husband, sorry, ashamed and appalled not to be ever able to do something good.
Tony had taken a moment before getting out of his stupor. Not due to having a bleu son, but because of Loki's hysteria. He gently had taken the baby in his arm, had sat on the edge of the bed and had put an arm around the shoulders of his favorite god. He had kissed him on the forehead and then had whispered in his ear that he could not ever have imagined having such a beautiful baby. It had silenced Loki. His red eyes were full of tears, widened by anxiety; the young Jotun had fixed him for a long time, unable to look away from the amazed smile of Tony who couldn't stop to contemplate the sleeping treasure in his arms.
"Loki, he is beautiful. The most beautiful baby in the universe."
"He is blue!"
"And it fits him like a glove. He is magnificent."
The tiny baby opened his eyes then, slowly, and held out his little fist to his father's face. Tony gave his index to the newborn who clutched it with an already prodigious strength. The billionaire laughed.
"He takes after his uncle Thor! Or his uncle Steve. I don't know. But in any case, he already has a crazy strength."
Gradually, Loki calmed down. Tony didn't blame him. He loved their child despite his defect.
Then the baby was passed in the arms of each of his aunts and uncles Avengers. When Coulson hugged him, the baby meowed happily. Then he changed. His skin turned pink like a human. A little worried, Phil gave back the baby to his mother while Clint was made fun of him.
"Thank God, this baby decided to take one of the only two viable models of this family."
Loki could only agree.
Coulson had been promoted godfather of the baby. And Steve godmother. And no protest please. The Jotun was both relieved and worried that his child had magic power. But could anything else be expected from the child of Tony Stark and Loki Laufeyson?
In the bed, Loki slept, exhausted. Their son was a very good child but he still was a baby of two weeks. He didn't sleep during the whole night, besides his dual ancestry was problematic to feed him. He didn't stomach any baby formula milk. Loki was happy to breastfeed his son, but it was still tiring for him.
Tony always reveled to see the reaction of their friends when Loki fed their child in front of them. They could not take off their eyes of his little teenager's breast, full of milk. Loki had assured Tony it would disappear when their baby would be weaned. Tony trusted him. But he would never admit he thought terribly erotic to see Loki breastfeeding their child.
Giving him a name was epic again. Once the amazement of the pregnancy passed and Thor, ecstatic to be an uncle again, calmed, everyone went off his proposal. Finally it was Clint who won the coconut with his proposal. It was as simple as elegant, acceptable both by humans than Asgardians.
So the baby was Erik Stark Lokison. Simple, dignified, perfect.
Tony cuddled one last time the bleu cheek of his son. If he was as the same bleu as Loki in his Jotun form, the baby seemed unable to emit cold as his ancestors of pure blood, which was not bad.
Loki had insisted that the baby was recognized by all his families. Odin could not help but recognize the pink baby - in Phil's arms - as Loki's heir son, as the only "human"- and third in the line of succession to the throne after Thor and Loki themselves. Thor still had no children. Some nobles had protested but if Loki and Tony were not married by the law of Asgard, they were in front of men's. The baby was perfectly legitimate.
Then, this time bleu in Steve's arms, Loki had introduced his son to his brethren, the Jotuns. Where Odin and the court of Asgard had tensed of being obliged to accept this child who would always remain for them a bastard at so many levels that it became suspect, the Jotuns had only delight at the birth of their little prince, so tiny.
Loki had struggled throughout his stay against Heldlindi who seemed fascinated by his tiny nephew and found all kind of excuses to take him in his arms. When he had started to make mounted milk, Byleist had asked to his mini elder with all the tact possible to "get the hell outta there before he made a false pregnancy".
Loki had been sorry for his younger brother.
"And try to sleep all night, huh my baby? Mom and dad need to sleep."
One more thing that put most of the people uncomfortable but which disturbed no one in their weird extended family was that Loki was "mom". It was logical, since it was he who had brought Erik. He remained a "he".
Tony anticipated the "Mommy, he…" when the baby would go to school, and the convocations of the mistress which would go with. The engineer could not help laughing in advance.
Between his husband, their children, their friends Avengers, the families of his husband, his other weird children that Loki had finally promised to Tony to introduce him to… Their family was as strange as special. And Tony had never been so happy.
He took a quick shower, and then came back to the bed where Loki was already asleep. He slipped under the light quilt. Immediately, his husband turned to hug him and put his cheek on his torso. A light hand rested on the ark and Loki let out a huge sigh of well-being.
It only took a moment for Tony to fall asleep.
He dreamed.
At least, this was the only explanation.
He was in Swiss, that famous Eve, the one that had triggered so much suffering and destruction. He recognized faces without really being able to name them. They hadn't… Finally didn't really matter.
A glass was slid in his hand. Mechanically he raised it to his lips. It wasn't alcohol. He had largely decreased his alcohol consumption when Loki had come into his life. As soon as he had learnt that the Jotun bore their child, he had completely stopped. He would not be the alcoholic father Howard had been for him.
A smile rose to his lips. His son… His husband… The apple of his eyes… the center of his life…
"So finally, you get it reset?"
The voice with a thick accent made Tony blenched. "Y… Yinsen?"
The doctor stared at him, with the smile Howard should have had for his son every time he'd managed to excel. A proud smile.
"Your arc reactor. You had it removed after the Mandarin. Why have you reset it?"
Tony stared at the doctor with amazement. What… What was that weird dream? And why was it old Yinsen who was there? The one who died to save his life?
"DADDY! Can I take a piece of pie?" A little girl of about eight years rushed into the doctor's legs.
"Of course my dear."
"Ho! Hello sir!"
"Uh… hello…" Tony greeted.
Yes… Yinsen had had a family that had died… At Gulmira… Where Iron Man had actually made his first appearance. A lump formed in his throat. What does that mean? And who was that woman all dressed in black, rigid at the other end of the room, a veil over her face?
"Come on, Stark. You would not embarrass our hostess." The doctor gently scolded with that voice so sweet and yet so… Almost tender…
The lump in Stark's throat became wider as he realized that this man who had saved his life had become for him… had given him more in two short months than his father in seventeen long years.
A tear rolled down the cheek of the engineer. All he had now, Loki… Their child… His family… His friends… Everything he was, everything he had done, every life he had saved… Everything existed because of this simple mortal, this simple human who had given his life to save his. This simple human who had seen in him a potential he had never imagined.
Yinsen stared at him without speaking with this paternal smile which had supported him for two months… Which had supported him since Afghanistan. A bit like a guardian angel whose name is summoned when everything is wrong, not to get help, but just to feel that someone is here, that someone is listening because nobody else does. Because nobody try to see beyond the obvious. It took Loki for Tony to discover and understands that he may not be so alone in the world.
But it was Yinsen who was his crutch for so long. That poor doctor, dead in the middle of nowhere and whose corpse had for only grave a collapsed cave in an Afghanistan mountain… And a marble slab lost in an anonymous cemetery alongside of equally empty graves of his wife and his children… Just because Tony could not leave them in anonymity. They were important for him.
It was a stupid tribute, but he needed it for him… for them.
A hand landed on his shoulder. Tony realized he was sobbing hot tears. "So Stark. Why are you crying?"
The engineer shook his head, unable to answer.
"Come on… Tell me more about you, Stark. You who had nothing… Do you have a family now?"
Still in tears, Tony nodded.
The doctor's smile widened, sweeter and even tenderer. As a grandfather who learns he has a first grandson. "Really? How are they? Tell me."
Unable to hold back his tears, Tony told him. The return of Loki, the months to turn around, and the weeks to realize that there was more than physical attraction, the Avengers, their strange group and yet so welded that they are a true family. Maybe even more because the blood had nothing to do with their affection, the love they had for each other. He told him about Erik, Odin, Frigga, about Byleist and Heldlindi. He told him about his children who were not his own but just Loki's and he expected to meet with impatience. He told him about his simple pleasure of just wake up with Loki in his arms, his hand on his arc reactor which protected him from any aggressive magic such as Doom's or Thanos'. To take it back wasn't a sacrifice to be sure to be able to protect his extended family. On the contrary, he had done it with joy. As Yinsen had sacrificed his life to save him. Because he knew he was planning the future.
He was inexhaustible on his beloved baby, on his husband, on their family. He cried but even through his tears, Tony laughed. He laughed of his wonderful memories of what was now his life, his family… Everything he had never hopped to have and what a little exiled prince had given him with the same afraid awe he had received it.
When he finally stopped talking, Yinsen still stared at him with the same quiet smile, calm and affectionate. "Are you happy?"
Tony nodded. His tightened throat hurt so much he did not know if he could still talk.
"Well well… It's very good…"
The doctor finished his drink.
"Daddy! We must go!"The little girl came to take her father's hand.
Before being led by the energetic little girl, Yinsen landed one last time his hand on his shoulder. "Everything's all right now."
Tears again rolled down Tony's cheek as he nodded once more.
"Goodbye Stark. Our hostess has waited long enough. She has been very polite to let us come to see you. But I needed to know. I needed to know if everything went well for you." Yinsen smiled at him one last time and then followed his daughter who ran in front of him to the wide open door of the ballroom.
Around him, Tony didn't see the shadow of the others, even if they were real, who endlessly danced. Then the woman in black and veiled bowed her head in his direction before following the doctor without a sound. Tony found just enough voice to thank her.
"Thanks Hela."
The goodness froze then bowed a little bit lower before closing the door of the room on the two souls she had released from her realm for just a moment.
Tony opened his eyes. His cheeks were wet with tears, but his smile was so wide… For the first time in years, a weight that oppressed him had finally left his chest. Yinsen died for him but he had honored his memory. He had done what he had to. And now he had the most beautiful family in the world.
Happy despite his tears, he kissed Loki, who was sleeping, on the forehead and hugged him more tightly against him. He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He felt… so good… He was… Finally himself…