Who knew Clint can be a Houdini?
"Woki, wake up!"
The small voice pulls Loki from a world of dreamless sleep. Emerald eyes blink open as the mortal world fills his senses with their abundant noise. Groaning, the deity of mischief turns his head to see who dared to wake him from his sleep. Mesh of red hair, green eyes, and a pout expression. Oh, he knew this little brave child. Natasha. How did she find his room?
"Natasha? What are you doing?" A tired tone fills his whisper.
The child's face pulls into more of a pout. "Me hungry."
Loki chuckles as one of his hands sneaks up to the child and ticks her side. This caused the redhead to fall into a fit of giggles, her tiny hands swatting at his large one. Natasha tried to tickle Loki, but the blanket was thick. So, Loki didn't feel her attempts. But, their little tickle fest gets interrupted by a voice.
"Natasha, where's you run off too?"
It's Pepper. The god sighs and stops tickling, wondering what Pepper wanted with the little widow.
"In here." Loki had called from his room.
The woman comes and leans into the door frame. "Really, Natasha?" Pepper raised a brow at the child. "Loki needs some sleep."
"No," Natasha whined, clutching Loki's shirt through the blanket.
Loki sighed and patted the girl's head. "Ok, ok. I'm up, I'm up." The trickster swung his legs over his bed and got up, holding the little redhead in his arms.
"You should go back to sleep." Pepper kept her brow raised. Though, she suspects that Loki wouldn't be going back to sleep. Not because of the episode he had, but for the children.
Loki snorted amused with the woman. "Doubt I'll be able to. Not with six separate alarm clocks with legs." His tone is teasing, hand drifting to tickle Natasha's sides again. Said child giggles and swats at his hands.
"Let's get these kids some dinner." The deity walked passed, Pepper.
The CEO turned her head and spotted Natasha's triumphant smile. The woman shook her head. Even though she lost this little game of hide-and-seek, it seems she had a bigger goal in mind. Poor Loki, he seems to be the favorite for the kids.
"Agreed." Pepper murmurs to herself, a smile on her face.
Tony has just finished making the last phone call and had picked up a crying Peter. The baby calmed down once in Tony's arms. Sitting on the sofa in the penthouse with a toddler in his lap and a drink of scotch, Tony looks at the mess on the floor. Blankets and pillows are strewn about, all but one is occupied with a child. Natasha had run off and Tony was about to go after her. But, Pepper had gotten up and headed after her. So, the billionaire sips at his drink watching four kids annoy each other. Hearing the sound of heels clicking, Tony looks up and blinks.
"Well, wasn't expecting you to be up." Tony downed the rest of his drink. He'd thought Loki would still be sleeping after what happened earlier in the day.
"Six alarms clocks with legs, sleeping isn't going to be easy." Loki chuckles as he sets Natasha down.
Loki looked at the kids and raised a brow. Steve had gotten up and was next to Loki's side the moment he saw Loki in the room. But since Loki wasn't wearing his Asgardian jacket-coat thing, the super-soldier didn't have anything to hold onto. This made Steve pout a little. Bruce is still wrapped in his blanket, the child is trying hard not to doze off. Thor had gone back to coloring, once knowing that it's Loki. the thunderer seemed to be very interested in his drawing. But it seemed one kid is missing.
"Well, I have four right here plus Peter. And you have our little widow. So, everyone's here." Tony said bouncing Peter, who's starting to become fussy.
Loki blinked. All the kids are here? From what he sees...one has learned invisibility or has wandered off. "Uh...Yeah, you may want to recount, Stark."
Tony raised a brow but did a quick headcount. "Where did—Where's Clint?" Tony asks as he looked behind himself, wondering if the other assassin is hiding behind him. Nope, not there.
"He wandered off. I told him to stay, but he didn't listen." Steve piped up from behind Loki's leg. The kid must think he'll get into trouble is he told.
"That assassin," Tony grumbled under his breath. Why did one of them have to make things complicated? It hasn't even been 24 hours and Tony already feels like a tired dad.
"Jarvis, start scanning the place for Clint," Pepper told the A.I. who responded to her request quickly. She then looked at the two men. "I'll stay here with the kids and Peter. You two go looking."
The two didn't argue, they wanted to get something to eat soon and the sooner Clint is found, the better. Their stomachs sounded their hunger. So, with tired sighs, the inventor and Norse god set off to find the Houdini assassin.
"Clint where are you?" Loki called out. It's been about an hour since he and Tony started searching. And Jarvis hasn't completed scanning every room, floor, vent, and space the kid could have hidden. So, as some mortals say, he's SOL'd. "Where could he be?"
After running into Tony, the two relayed that they have not found Clint on the floors they've looked. So, the two had divided on what floors they'll take. Loki took the upper floors and Tony the lower. Loki would admit, Clint is very good at sneaking off and eluding them. He wasn't a master assassin for nothing. But the God's stomach rumbled, voicing its hunger. Where could the toddler archer be? Where did little Hawkeye go? Loki sighed and leaned against a wall, palming his demanding stomach. This boy's stealth must be higher than his own. He could be crawling in the vents or up high and Loki wouldn't even know. Wait. high?
"That's it!" Loki exclaimed as he shot off the wall. He had a feeling he knew where Clint might be.
And his hunch was right. Loki found Clint up in a little 'bird's nest' as the boy had called it. Loki had forgotten that as an adult Clint liked to be high up. This gave him some advantages like, seeing the terrain better and having a quick escape if needed. He almost liked to prank the other Avengers from his high perch. Clint had come down when Loki had asked him too, so he didn't have to fight the child about that.
"If you want to be high up, you could have just said something," Loki says as he holds Clint. The archer seems very content about laying his head on his shoulder. "I'm sure Tony and Pepper would have helped."
"I wanted to pick the place," Clint mumbled. A hint of tiredness in his voice.
"I get it, I get it," Loki mutters, patting the sleepy boy's back. "Jarvis, tell Tony and Pepper I have Clint and heading back."
"Of course, Mr. Loki." The A.I. responded.
"Hungry." Clint whines and Loki turned to rub the kid's back.
Clint isn't the only hungry one.
Loki returned to the penthouse and found Pepper and Tony sitting on the sofa. Peter happily sucking on a pippy cup full of milk next to Tony. Natasha is sitting in Pepper's lap and the rest of the kids are sitting or laying on blankets. Clint let's out a yawn and nuzzles into Loki's shoulder. Tony looks up and smiles at the two.
"Well, there's our last kid. Houdini much?" Tony joked as Loki set the tired archer down, who was rubbing his tired eyes. The kid wanted to sleep, but he's hungry too. Stomach growling loudly.
"He wanted to up off the ground." Loki gave a sympathetic smile. "And he's hungry."
"So, what's for dinner?" Clint said as he leaned on Loki's bare leg, tiredness in his voice.
"Pizza. I called it in." Pepper answered. She looked at the almost sleeping Natasha in her lap. At least two of the kids will sleep well tonight.
"Thank you." Loki sighed as he sits in an armchair. Thor coming up and climbing in. Loki didn't seem to care that the thunderer sat squarely on his lap.
When the pizza finally arrived, the kids voicing their complaints about being hungry. And Loki couldn't blame them, they were small after all and burned through food. Loki, himself wanted to complain as well. He couldn't stand the sound of his rumbling stomach. Pepper seemed to be a bit annoyed and she's usually calm and collected. Tony was about ready to find something to munch on.
"Finally, some food." Tony groaned as he took a bite of his slice.
"We know, you're always hungry." Pepper rolled her eyes.
Loki chuckled through the piece of pizza in his mouth. Sometimes Stark calls him a diva. But, the inventor can be dramatic as well. Much to Peppers annoyance. And sometimes Loki's. The trickster chewed and swallowed the pizza in his mouth, and turned his head to the window. He's missing Asgard—no—he's missing his mother. He has not seen her in a long time and he's missing her never much.
"Loki you ok?" Pepper's voice pulls Loki from his thoughts and he looks at her.
"Yeah, just...today's been tiring," Loki says, a yawn pulling from his lips. "And stressful."
Pepper nodded at Loki. "Eat up and then you can go to bed. We can watch the kids and put them to bed."
"Okay." Loki nodded as his eyes began to droop. He finished his slices of pizza and put the dirty plate in the sink.
"Where are you going?" Thor asked his brother. The thunderer tilted his head as his brother turned to him.
"I'm going to bed, Thor." Loki's tired voice is very noticeable. "I've very tired. Now, be good and listen to Pepper and Tony, okay?"
Thor nodded and watched his brother head to his room. The thunderer grabbed his cup of water and polished it off. He went back to his drawing. Some hours later, it was time for everyone to go to bed.
Loki did not know what time it was when he awoke next. Or, more correctly, who woke him up. Blinking Loki groaned and rubbed his eyes. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark, the trickster saw that it's Natasha. The little Russian is holding her blanket and Loki can tell she's a bit scared. "Something wrong, dear?"
"Bad dream," Natasha whispered, holding her blanket closer to her small frame.
"Oh come here, dear." Loki smiled as he picked the girl up. "you can sleep with me tonight." Loki placed the girl on his bed and watch her get comfortable. Loki yawned and lay back down. Soon, the two had fallen back to sleep.