Maria Virginia Stark was born with none of the grandeur beholden to the Stark name. It had been a quiet morning in the middle of the week, completely unremarkable aside from the excess of emotions bouncing around in Tony, and he's not sure what to make of them. Strangely enough, Steve's the one that keeps him from bouncing off the walls and ceiling. The other man is calm and is absently scratching away on a small notebook, a pencil held loosely between his fingers. Tony's own fingers are fidgeting anxiously, twisting and rumpling a loose corner of a blanket, the small bundle of baby peacefully snoozing, oblivious to her father's nerves.
He'd rushed into the hospital, decked out in full Iron Man armor having flown in it all the way from a Stark Industries technology exhibition in Hong Kong.
Tony hadn't been surprised to find Steve in there already, holding Pepper's hand and quietly encouraging her. When the blonde had looked up, he'd smiled at Tony and moved aside for him to take his place. The armor quickly folded down into a suitcase form and then for a long burning moment he'd had no idea what to do.
But then Steve had shuffled him to the vacated seat and Pepper was cursing out his name and there was a force clamping down around his hand and everything seemed both distant and hyper-focused all at once. Before he'd even realized it, yet after an eternity, a baby was placed in his arms and Pepper was looking at him exhaustedly but with a tender smile.
He'd fumbled, trying to find a way to hold the mini-person without anything spontaneously combusting. Pepper had laughed at him, but helped by pushing his arms around into a position he hadn't even come close to on his own. It's still awkward and the weight of another living thing against his chest and wholly dependent on him is by far the strangest thing he's ever felt. Pepper had fallen asleep shortly afterward, drained and finally allowed to rest.
So now he's holding an infant that's some sort of combination of him and Pepper but he can't really see it in the squishy face. Tony's made a lot of things in his life. All magnificent and complex and pieces of genius. This, however, is a creation entirely different. This is him, and Pepper, and not some scraps of metal mashed together in his workshop with fire and force. He's never made anything so… real.
"Want to hold her?" he says to Steve because holding this small creature is getting to him. Steve smiles and easily takes the newborn from him (the bastard), resting her comfortably between his arm and chest. There's no discomfort in the soldier's movements, perfectly at ease holding something so fragile. Tony stretches out his stiff arms, watching as Steve murmurs something he doesn't catch near the tiny head.
His daughter shifts a bit, something that might be a smile flittering across her face, and Tony thinks he and Pepper don't need to argue over a godfather anymore.
"Speak English!" Tony says loudly after listening to a solid hour of foreign back and forth between the Hawk and the Widow.
"Learn Russian!" Natasha snaps in reply.
"I already speak English, not to mention French, Spanish, Dari, and some pretty damn good Italian."
It's a pretty laid back afternoon, and they're taking advantage of the villain-free time to kick back and relax – all of them in the same state for the first time in months. In fact, it's the first they've all been together since Maria was born.
Tony's playing with one of his devices, holograms appearing in front of him though Steve has no idea how. Bruce is writing something in a notebook, probably trying to figure out an algorithm or formula for his latest project if Steve has to guess. Natasha and Clint banter in Russian, discussing the weather and taking bets to see how long it will take for Tony to get fed up with their choice of language. Natasha wins when she predicts how long the billionaire lasts to the exact minute.
"No Russian though it seems," Clint mocks with a shit eating grin. "Ah, there are even things the supposedly great Tony Stark can't do."
Steve hears Tony mutter, "gimme a week" and figures they'll all be hearing a similar argument next Saturday. Clint and Natasha plot some more in the same tongue, following Tony's train of thought and deciding that next week they'll converse in German, the development bringing on a slight chuckle from Steve.
Pepper arrives later, Maria with her and both looking rather beat after a trip to the doctor's.
"Everything check out?" Steve asks though he already knows the answer, considering Pepper would have called Tony if something were wrong, and thereafter Tony would not have remained calm.
"Yep. Fit as a fiddle. She doesn't like stethoscopes though."
Steve will deny making grabby hands for his goddaughter, he absolutely didn't, but it's been months since he's seen the baby and Pepper looks tired and Tony's busy with his holographic hacking thing (Steve should probably worry about that).
"How has parenthood been?" Thor asks once Pepper settles beside Tony.
Maria starts thumping against his chest with small fists, a delighted smile on her face as she does so. Steve wonders if he could teach her to box when she gets older, Pepper would probably okay it. He can never know with Tony.
"Good, I think," Tony says. "Only two explosions equals 'good', right?" Considering Tony nearly blows himself up every other week – not even including exterior, planetary threats – yes, two explosions in just over six months is pretty good.
The rest of the day goes by without much fanfare. Despite it being their first get-together in a while, none of them feel the need to do anything over the top. They'd played a round of Monopoly, gone down to the gym for some sparring while Bruce and Tony went off to go science, and then followed a tournament of ping pong that was rather intense given the nature of them. And not once had anything blown up. At least not majorly. But then dinner had arrived, ordered by Tony no one knows when; an assortment of waffles with all sorts of fruit, syrups, and other sugared toppings. Suffice to say Pepper and Bruce had objected to the sugary dinner.
Arguing is nothing new to the Avengers, it's become ingrained into their interactions over the years. The only ones who don't usually argue are Bruce and Steve, the first generally taking the calm approach and finding reason, while the latter had simply learned (after many years), that some days it was better to just let the other guy think he's right. If Steve fights with anyone, it's Tony, but nowadays he's the first to apologize or to just walk away. The pubic see Tony Stark or Iron Man as their figure head, mostly due to all the press time Tony's done for the team, but it's the Captain who calls the shots, and is also the one who calls a strategic retreat. There are days when Tony's remarks or comments are too much though, and even Captain America's reduced to bickering with his own teammate.
Tonight is another night when food it the catalyst for the dispute, and all save Steve – who keeps an eye on his team and the baby left in the recliner – are in on it. Natasha, Clint, Tony, and Thor are vying for breakfast for dinner, while Bruce and Pepper are against the dessert dinner.
"C'mon, even Maria would like it," Tony pleads, which is definitely not the right tactic.
Whirling around and all but snarling, Pepper hisses, "You are not feeding our daughter this!"
As the debate heats up, no one really notices when Steve takes little Maria into the much quieter kitchen. The noise and shouting is starting to scare her, which Steve immediately zeros in on and goes to amend. She doesn't fuss, probably because he's mumbling to her reassuringly and blocking out the aggravated voices not so far away. Steve would normally break them apart, but he knows that there are times when it's good for his team to let it out. When he puts an end to arguments, there's a fifty-fifty split between resulting scenarios in which people walk away angry and ready to destroy something, or in which tension levels are brought down and things are calmed. Tonight he decides to let them realize how trivial their argument is on their own.
In the kitchen, Steve finds sugar free applesauce in the refrigerator, and pulls out two containers of it – he's hungry too. There's probably baby food somewhere, but when he thinks to ask JARVIS, the AI tells him that there actually isn't any– just as well, considering he'd already opened the applesauce cup.
He sits the baby down on the large marble island, grabbing a small spoon and handing it to the child. She sticks it in her mouth without a second to waste, but frowns when it only tastes like metal. Smiling amusedly, Steve gently pries the spoon from her chubby hand and dips it in the applesauce. He feeds it to her, spoonful by spoonful, occasionally stealing a bit himself, which results in high-pitched giggles from the young child.
The fourth time he does it, Maria reaches up and grabs the spoon still caught between his lips. Steve lets his hands fall away but holds on with his mouth, feeling the tugs from small arms.
"Steeee! Steeee!" The super-solider blinks once. Did she just–
"Steve?" he tries to say around the spoon and ends up losing it to the baby.
"Poon."
"Were you trying to say Steve?"
"Eeee!"
"Why do you know my name?" He's seen her a handful of times since she was born, and even then the encounters were brief. "Try again. Steve."
"Eeee."
"Steve"
"Steee."
"Steve."
"Poon!" she cheers and smacks his nose with the aforementioned 'poon'. Right, so perhaps names are a bit much for now.
"Let's get you back to your mom."
"Mama?"
"Yeah, Mama."
"Mamamamamam." Steve really can't help the smile that takes over his mouth.
The arguing is still in full swing when he and Maria get back, and if anything it's louder than before. He would never have thought Chipotle vs bananas could be so stimulating a discussion. He uses the term discussion loosely.
Pepper spots him from his place just outside the doorway and sends him an apologetic smile. He shakes his head in reply and points down the hall. She nods, understanding, and then turns back to Tony who's going toe to toe with Clint, both of whom seem only a spark away from all out wrestling across the floor.
As Steve walks away, he hears Thor cheering, and Pepper and Bruce sigh.
He takes them to her room, a bright, well lit place that probably has more stuffed animals in it than that build-a-bear place Natasha showed him.
Maria's starting to look like she's running out of steam, eyes blinking hard to remain awake as her head tips to his shoulder, unable to stay upright. Her crib is as he expects it to be, big and soft. And Maria apparently hates it.
The moment he sets her in it, her eyes are open along with her mouth and the wailing begins. Steve immediately has her in his arms again and reels in his momentary panic. She burrows into him, pushing her face into his shirt and he thinks he can feel either drool or tears start to wet the area.
"Shh…" She stops, gradually, instead weakly whimpering. "Everything's okay." He starts pacing, glad that screaming is no longer an issue he has to deal with, but he figures that now is around the time she normally goes to bed, which JARVIS confirms. Getting her to sleep may be a bit of a hassle.
Her small hand reaches up and latches around the metal ball chain, and young curiosity pulls it from under his t-shirt and the clink of his dog tags rings clearly in the quiet room. He lets her play with them, finding that she has some sort of baby death grip on them, and only having to push her arms down once when she makes to place the old metal in her mouth.
While still the sleepiness seems to linger around her, Maria doesn't seem to want to shut her eyes. Steve distinctly recalls Pepper saying that Maria was an easy one to put to bed, and Tony praising the fact that his kid wasn't keeping him up at all hours of the night. Maybe Maria just doesn't like him.
The couch he settles on is deep enough for him to lay flat on his back without any part of him hanging off the edge. Some sort of stuffed fish acts as a pillow for his head as he stretches out, Maria now resting on his chest, still holding tight to his tags. He drops one of his hands on her back, just in case she decides to roll off.
A song pops into his head, one he hasn't really thought of in years. He starts in a soft voice,
"When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you
"If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do"
Steve closes his eyes and feels Maria slowly still her playful hands, unhurriedly dropping off into sleep. His Ma used to sing him to sleep too, sick nights when fever made his eyes too hot to close. He doesn't remember the old Irish lullabies very well, but he does remember the calming warmth that was so strange for a winter night in the drafty apartment.
"Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
When Pepper and Tony finally note the time (in the end dinner was waffles, which was followed by a screening of Pinocchio), somewhere around midnight, they go to find Steve and check on Maria.
"Relax, Pep. If we can't leave our baby with Captain America– Steve Rogers, than I don't know what you're going to do when you go nanny hunting."
"Oh shush, you. I probably trust Steve with Maria more than I do you," she teases with a light smack to his arm. "Is it so bad for a mother to want to see her child safe and sound for the night?"
"I'd use the term mother hen, but you kind of actually are."
The lights are off once they get to Maria's room, a whispered, "Jar, lights 35%" gives them enough to walk around without using Tony's chest as a flashlight.
Maria's crib is empty, but they spot two figures on the couch. Both are fast asleep, the larger snoring softly.
"Why is Maria sleeping on Steve? She loves her crib," Pepper asks in a whisper.
The crib is state of the art, bursting with all sorts of modifications on top of being specially made by him and Bruce.
Tony huffs a laugh. "I guess she loves Steve more."
Inspired by a gif of Chris Evans holding a baby.
Song used as a lullaby here is When You Wish Upon A Star which was used in the Disney movie Pinocchio.