Bucky woke up to a mop of wavy red hair tickling his nose. He smiled as he looked down at his little boy asleep with his head on his chest. warm with the love he had for the fourteen year old, He leaned down and pressed his lips to the boys soft red hair, thinking of how lucky he was to have his son. he was interrupted from his thoughts, when a hand covered his own that was placed on the boys back. Looking from the hand to the woman it was attached to, Bucky stared into the warm green eyes of his wife. He could never get over how much she and their son looked alike, with their thick red hair and perfectly matched facial features, to the beautiful green eyes he loved so much. Natasha moved her hand, rubbing up his arm as she smiled at the sight of her boys. She zeroed in on her sons small form, he was sprawled across Bucky, using his father as a human body pillow. As the former assassin was pondering how cute her husband and son looked, Alexei kicked out his legs in his sleep, dislodging the blanket from around them and kicking Bucky in the shin at the same time. Her husband let out a soft grunt of pain while she tried to stifle a laugh, neither wanting to wake the boy up. Natasha's efforts were of no effect when she couldn't hold back her laughter at her sons choice of pajamas. He was clothed similarly to her in one of Bucky's t-shirts that had ridden up in his sleep, but while she wore sleep shorts, her favorite boy had on briefs with the captain America shield littered over them. Bucky followed her gaze to see what she was laughing at and smirked. The captain America underwear his son was sporting had been a sort of gag gift from Steve. If the kid was wearing them then the laundry was probably backed up. As the super soldier internally groaned at the thought of doing laundry, his son stirred in his arms probably waking from his mother's not so stifled laugh. A pair of sleepy green eyes peered up at Bucky from the boy laying on his chest, and the warmth he felt earlier was back full force, love radiating through him so powerfully he was almost overwhelmed. Just when he thought he was gonna burst with affection for his absolutely adorable child, said boy let out at tiny yawn and mumbled "papa?"
Squeezing his arms around his boy in a hug he answered " good morning munchkin, what is it?"
"Morning, What Time is it?" Alexei murmured with a soft smile on his face snuggling impossibly closer to his papa.
Before he could respond. Natasha spoke up
"It's time to get up. We need to leave for your art class at the community center, in an hour."
"But I'm tired" Alexei whined, not moving to get up.
Natasha sighed, knowing the reason her baby boy was so tired, it was because he had been having nightmares. She let her mind wander back to just a few hours ago. Alexei had woken up in the middle of the night, with tear stains on his cheeks, running into his parents room and crawling in bed with them. Natasha and Bucky had woken up immediately, hugging him close, shushing his quiet cries after he had stuttered through a retelling of his dream. He had fallen back asleep about an hour later, after being cuddled in his papas arms while his mama rubbed his back and sang a soft lullaby. His parents falling asleep about 15 minutes later, after having a hushed but worried conversation about their boy.
Returning to the present, Natasha leaned forward petting a hand over her sons hair, saying "I know you're tired baby, but you'll be sad if you miss your art class."
Knowing she was right, Alexei turned his head In The direction of his mother, pouting his bottom lip out and saying "mama, will you make waffles for breakfast?"
Internally smiling at how cute her kid was, Natasha schooled her features into a look of reluctant consideration.
"Hmmm, only if papa makes bacon and eggs to go with it" she teased
Not realizing his mother was joking, Alexei looked back at his dad with pleading eyes.
"Please papa?" The boy said, unknowingly melting the mans heart with his puppy dog eyes.
Even though he knew Natasha wasn't serious about the bacon and eggs, Bucky couldn't help agreeing to his sons adorable pleas.
"Of course baby, anything for my favorite boy" Bucky said tickling his sons sides.
The resulting giggles that filled the air had both adults grinning widely, sharing a look that said 'can you believe this amazing kid is ours?'
Once the giggles had subsided, Alexei jumped up, grabbing both of his parents by the hand, leading them out of the bedroom, seeming to forget his drowsiness from moments ago.
After a delicious breakfast of waffles slathered in peanut butter, with bacon and eggs on the side. Alexei had run off to his room to get dressed and ready for his art class. His parents cleaning up the kitchen, before heading off to their room to get ready for the day as well. Once everyone was dressed and ready to go, they all made their way to the elevator and down to the garage. Once in the garage the family of 3 climbed into Bucky's large SUV, which the other avengers had dubbed the dad-mobile. Bucky rolled his eyes as he thought of the team teasing him, laughing about how the winter soldier drove a soccer mom car.
Once they had parked on the side of the street, all three Barnes' got out of the car and walked up to the community center. Stopping at the door, Natasha turned to her son, smiling as she reminded him they'd be back to pick him up in an hour. After Alexei had been swallowed in a massive group hug by his mom and dad, he skipped through the doors of the community center, excited because they were painting today
A little over an hour later Alexei was back in the car, talking excitedly about the painting he did while showing it to his parents. After listening to how much fun their son had, and gushing about how good his painting was -he was very talented, though Bucky and Natasha would have loved his painting even if it were stick people- they decided to head back to the tower. Everyone was off duty today, barring any emergency situations that called for the avengers to assemble, so they had all planned to have a movie day. Tony had even invited Peter over, claiming Alexei would enjoy having him there. While that was true, Alexei and Peter being great friends, and each enjoying having someone their own age at the tower. The other avengers suspected tony just wanted to be around Peter without admitting he missed the kid, he was a total softie for him, basically co-parenting with peters aunt may. They all let it slide though, Not wanting to make tony uncomfortable about his relationship with the kid who had basically became a son to him.
So that's how they found themselves on the avengers common floor, takeout littering the coffee tables, toy story playing on the large flat screen. Natasha and Bucky were on one end of a couch while Steve was on the other. Leaving Clint, Sam, Rhodey, and tony on the sectional. There was plenty of room for Peter and Alexei on either of the couches, but they were in the floor surrounded by blankets and snacks.
The rest of the day continued on much the same. At some point Peter had ended up cuddled up to tony on the sectional, and Alexei had fit himself on the couch next to his uncle Steve. About an hour later Though Alexei had abandoned Steve to cuddle in between his mama and papa. In no time at all he had drifted off to sleep, cuddled up to Natasha while Bucky had his arm around them both. About ten minutes had passed when Bucky felt Natasha's head fall lax on his outstretched arm. He looked down at the two most important people in his world, sleeping in his arms, trusting him to keep them safe. A small smile tugged at his lips and his whole body radiated with the warmth and love he felt for his wife and child. He thought back to this morning and all the other mornings, when he would wake up to his two favorite people snuggled close to him, wearing his t-shirts and looking adorable. He never thought he could have something like this, never dreamed he'd be deserving of the love he had been given. sometimes he thought he'd wake up back at hydra and it would all be a dream. But every time he looked into the soft green gazes of his wife and child, their warmth and love shining in their eyes, he knew he wasn't dreaming. He knew he was home.