Steve couldn't help but smile at the sight of his husband sitting on the floor with their five year old children in his lap, playing videogames. Jame's hair had darkened since he was a baby but he still looked like Steve. Ana, with her wavy, ebony hair and dark eyes, was a little girl clone of Tony. Steve cleared his throat. The kids looked around and then ran to grab onto his legs. He scooped them up into his arms. Tony paused the game and stood. "Hey, handsome. What's up?"
"Been on the phone with Fury."
Tony closed his eyes.
"Don't worry, nothing important. I thought you were looking at schools."
"Well I was. But then James had me at Nerf-gun-point, insisting we play Mario and I couldn't say no."
Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Nerf gun?"
"Uncle Clint gave it to me. He says Papa is good for target practice cause of his reactor." James pointed at the triangle of light glowing through his father's shirt.
"Let's make it a rule that if Uncle Clint or Aunt Natasha ever give you anything, you show it to me or Papa before pointing it at anyone, okay?"
The five year olds gave each other a very serious look before agreeing.
"Good." Steve kissed each of his kids on the head before putting them down. "Tony, schools."
"You know, has it occurred to you that next month is your one-hundredth birthday?"
Steve blinked dumbly at his husband. "If you're trying to distract me, it's working."
Tony shrugged. "Just making an observation."
Ana crossed her arms and frowned up at her fathers. "Daddy can't be a hundred. A hundred is old."
James crossed his arms and nodded in agreement with his sister's logic.
Tony knelt down. "Alright kiddoes, what year is it?"
The twins answered as one. "Twenty-twenty."
"And what's Daddy's birthday?"
Ana scrunched up her forehead, clearly not seeing the point of the exercise. "July fourth."
"Right. He was born July fourth, nineteen-twenty. Now what's two thousand and twenty minus one thousand nine hundred and twenty?"
"A hundred." James sounded bored.
"So if Daddy was born a hundred years ago, how old is he on his birthday this year?"
The twins looked at each other. "A hundred."
Ana looked up at Steve. "Why aren't you old?"
"That's a long story, Princess." Steve lowered himself to his knees. "One of these days I'll tell you the whole thing but for now how about we just say I got paused."
Ana glanced at her brother. "Like a game?"
"Yeah. Like a game. And I was paused for a long time. So that's why I'm not old."
James shrugged. "Okay."
"Now you two go play while your Papa and I work on finding you a school."
The twins grinned, "Okay," and ran to snatch up the controllers of the decades-old Nintendo Tony had rebuilt with them the year before.
Steve and Tony settled in on the couch to sift through schools. Within a few hours, they'd narrowed it down to five. By the end of the week, after visiting every school on their list, it was down to one. Come fall, the twins would be enrolled in the Calhoun School. But first, there was the matter of Steve's birthday.
"C'mon Captain." Natasha poked him in the ribs. "Tony's right, this is a big deal. It's not every day a guy hits the triple digits." Without moving to look, she pulled the Nerf gun from her hip and sent a foam dart bouncing harmlessly off James's shoulder where he was peeking around the doorframe.
The little boy stepped into the open, pouting, lifted his own Nerf gun and bounced a dart off her hip. She let the corner of her mouth twitch up into a smile. "Good shot, squirt."
James grinned. Steve scrubbed a hand through his hair. "That is never going to not make me nervous…But really, I don't want a big party or anything."
"And you actually get your way this time." Tony strode into the room with his daughter on his hip. "We have a press conference on the fourth."
"We?" Steve had no idea where this was coming from.
"Yes, we. If you feel like blaming someone, Pepper is a good candidate." Tony set Ana on her feet. "Actually, Natasha, can I borrow you for a minute? I'm doing a thing with stuff, and you're good at stuff."
Natasha crossed her arms. "Why not ask Steve?"
"His hands are too big. I'd have one of the kids help but Steve might kill me."
Steve narrowed his eyes. "Does this have to do with the reactor?"
"No, no, circuit boards and stuff mostly. Technical stuff. Natasha, with me, please, thank you." Tony left the room, Natasha following with a shrug.
"Jarvis?" Steve scooped the twins into his arms. "What's Tony doing?"
"Working on one of his suits, sir."
"The new one," Ana chipped in. "I was with him."
James reached across his father's chest to shove his sister's shoulder. "We're not supposed to be in Papa's workshop."
"Papa was there so it's okay." Ana stuck her tongue out.
"Okay, okay." Steve held each of his children at arm's length, so they couldn't reach each other. "Ana, what were you doing in Papa's workshop?"
"Playing checkers with Dummy."
"And Papa knew you were there?"
She nodded.
"Okay, nothing wrong with that. But James, you're not wrong. Neither of you are allowed in Papa's workshop without him or me with you. Everybody clear?"
The twins nodded. "Yessir."
"Good."
James glanced at the floor. "Can we have lunch again?"
"Yeah." Steve chuckled. "We can do that."
