It's a rough time right now for everyone in the world. I've been told by a few people that updates to this fic bring them a lot of joy, so I do hope this chapter can give some of you a quick reprieve from the unwanted chaos in the world right now.

Remember: stay home, stay safe, save lives.

My preferred method of staying sane right now is wrapping myself in a blanket burrito and playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons for hours on end :D


Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish

Chapter Ten: Home Sweet Home

"Nat's gonna be happy that we're having at least one girl, Tony too - he thinks girls are cuter than boys, oh and I'm pretty sure Steve will be happy we're having a boy. I did ask Clint and Bruce what they were hoping we would have, and they both said they had no preference. Do you know what your brother was hoping for?"

Loki gave Amelia a strange look as they walked alongside each other on their route towards the communal living quarters; she seemed strung up on how everybody else would feel about the genders of their twins and it did nothing but confuse Loki. What did it matter what the others wanted? The twins were their children, not the Avenger's children.

He elected not to answer her question, "Why do humans care so much about knowing the gender of their offspring before they are born?"

Amelia returned an odd gaze, "Well, it's just… normal? People like to know what gender their child is going to be because it helps them prepare better. There are some people who prefer not to know till the day their child is born, though."

"How would one prepare differently?"

"Well, just…" Amelia shrugged her shoulders, "raising girls and raising boys are two pretty different experiences."

"In what way?" Loki persisted, earning himself another peculiar look from his wife.

"I don't know… girls are more nurturing and quiet, sensible… boys can be loud and aggressive." Amelia did not appear to be so confident in her remark.

"I've known some women to be loud and aggressive, and on the contrary, men who are gentle and quiet," Loki pointed out, and Amelia let out a sigh.

"Okay, fine, I'm just repeating what I've been told. Maybe I'm totally wrong, I'm just saying what I know."

"I think our children's personalities, actions and beliefs will depend on how we raise them. Their gender is irrelevant. Perhaps you equate aggression and loudness with boys, and quietness and nurturing with girls because Midgardians raise them to be that way."

Amelia processed his supposition and raised her eyebrows in agreement, her lack of response indicated that she thought Loki was one-hundred percent correct. He smiled almost smugly.

"And for that reason," Loki continued, "we will raise our son as the quiet nurturing one, while our daughter can be loud and aggressive, just so we can confuse any Midgardians we meet."

Amelia didn't seem on board with the idea. "I don't think we should-"

"Relax, darling. I was only joking." Amusement was peppered over his face.

They turned into the shared living quarters where everybody - except Thor - was gathered in anticipation to find out the news; Tony perked up when they walked in and dropped his phone to the table, giving them his full attention.

"Well? Out with it. Are we having two little girls like I predicted?"

"Nope!" Amelia exclaimed, putting emphasis on the 'p', and gave Tony a moment to silently sulk before revealing, "but we are having one girl! And a boy!"

"Wa-hey!" Tony gave a victorious shout, "That's fantastic! Can't wait to meet 'em, bubbles!"

"We can only hope they'll be well behaved angels instead of little brats," Clint remarked, a sarcastic but humorous smile on his face, "though, given that they've got Loki's blood running through their veins, I wouldn't bet on it."

"Hmm," Loki hummed, his face not betraying his feelings over Clint's blatant jab, "I'll have so much fun teaching them to collect spiders and place them under your pillow."

Natasha's slow clapping interrupted before Clint and Loki could begin a match of wits, and she smiled at Amelia, "So happy to hear the news. I would love to teach them how to fight when they're old enough to learn."

Amelia's mouth fell open in surprise, "How to fight? Oh! Well, I'm not sure they would-"

"Good idea Nat!" Steve declared, "Maybe I could assist? Teach them how to lift weights, hit a punching bag, gotta build them muscles up!"

"They might not want to train to fight, maybe they'll be more interested in learning the sciences, in which case," Bruce placed a hand on his chest, "I would gladly be their teacher."

Tony spread his arms wide, "Hey, why not both? Brains and brawn."

"Maybe they won't wanna fight or become scientists," Amelia pointed out, one finger raised, "maybe they'll wanna become artists, or- or film stars, or maybe poets or songwriters, heck, perhaps they'll be medical doctors or firefighters or police officers- who knows, they might even decide they wanna arrange flowers for a living!" Amelia paused and cleared her throat, growing a little sheepish when everyone turned to stare at her, "Sorry. I'm just saying, if they don't want to be fighters or scientists, then that's okay."

Loki peered down at his wife, smiling slightly at her outburst. The Avenger's overexcitable interjections had been getting on his nerves too, but Amelia made a fine point. Their children would choose their own paths in life, though naturally Loki hoped they would at least dabble in the art of magic, for it was something he would love to teach his children, as his mother had taught him.

"You're right," Tony nodded, reclining back in his seat, "we'll just have to wait and see."

A commotion drew everybody's attention to the entrance of the room, heavy footsteps sounding fast as someone speedily approached.

"I'm here!" Thor's voice sounded before he appeared around the corner, almost slipping slightly on the floor as he came to a sudden stop, looking as if he had run all the way from Norway. He deflated when he saw that Amelia and Loki were already present, "Ah, I'm late. So very sorry - had to deal with… King stuff, you know-" he waved his hand in a vague gesture through the air, before smiling brilliantly at Amelia.

"Well? How are the babies?" He seemed quite thrilled to find out how the pregnancy had been progressing.

Before Amelia could joyfully respond, another voice permeated the air.

"Wait- Thor!"

The fleeting confusion was brushed aside when Amelia pinpointed who the voice belonged to moments before the Asgardian woman rushed into the room, chasing after Thor. It was Inga, of course, looking bright and beautiful in a pretty Asgardian gown, huffing and puffing from her attempt to keep up.

"Oh! Sorry Inga, I was too excited," Thor smiled abashedly, one hand scratching at the back of his neck while the other was offered out for Inga to take. Inga breathed a sigh and smiled, taking her king's hand delicately, before stepping up to his side.

"I'll forgive you this once," Inga teased, before giving Amelia her attention, "I wanted to come by and check on your progress! Well, it looks like they're definitely growing," she eyed Amelia's stomach, her tone playful.

Amelia blushed, patting her belly, "It's good to see you both, I missed you!" Seeing as Thor spent most of his time in New Asgard, working on the expansion of his kingdom and creating alliances with the neighbouring populace, Amelia only got to see him during his occasional visits and when he made a rest stop after aiding the rest of the Avengers with the infrequent mission that demanded his help.

Loki spoke up. "You'll be pleased to hear that Asgard will soon be the home to a new prince and princess."

Thor's eyes lit up like twinkling lights on a Christmas tree, "Yes! Absolutely wonderful! Glorious, I will take great pleasure in relaying this news to all of Asgard." He gathered Amelia up in a warm hug, far more gentle than he would usually go about hugging people, all the while Inga seemed flush with contentment.

"We can hardly wait till they are born! Has a due date been surmised?" Inga inquired.

"February 7th, the doctor believes," Amelia joyfully confirmed, "it seems like it's both so near and so far." It was no doubt one of those things that would come so incredibly fast, but then stretch out the last few weeks to an unbearably long waiting period.

"We will have a feast - a sublime banquet and celebration in the weeks leading up to their birth, and another one soon after, of course! It will require a lot of planning, there will be festivity, food, music, dancing-"

Amelia interrupted Thor's fast-paced, excitable plans, "Um, Thor! I don't think… well, the food for certain, yes, but I can't imagine I will be in a, um, partying mood? Around my due date?" She hated to put a damper on his enthusiasm for the honouring of his future niece and nephew, but she had to be realistic as well.

Thor's cheeks grew red and he cleared his throat, "Oh, right. Yes, I didn't think about that. My apologies," he looked desperately thoughtful for a moment, as if trying to cook up another idea that would be more appropriate, but he seemed to be struggling.

"A gift-giving gala, perhaps?" Loki suggested, and Amelia cocked an eyebrow at her husband's usage of alliteration. Before she could ask what exactly was involved with the gift-giving gala - which may have sounded self-explanatory, but Amelia knew better than to make assumptions about Asgardian traditions - Thor once again brightened.

"An excellent idea, brother!" Without warning, Thor enclosed Loki in a suffocating hug, catching him off guard. Loki grunted and tensed, trying subtly to break out of the hold while a very indignant expression befell his features, to no avail.

Amelia couldn't help but laugh at Loki's vexed glare. A little part of her knew that Thor was probably trying to rile Loki up on purpose, with playful intent, but it was also rather heartwarming, because there was a genuineness in the hug reserved only for the two siblings. Thor was clearly very happy that he would soon be the uncle to two children, and was proud of his brother, who would soon be a loving, caring father.

This was her family. Everybody in the Avengers tower was family. And they were all excited for her.

Amelia remained a happy ball of joy throughout the day, contented by Thor's visit, and continued to feel the flood of joy even after he returned to New Asgard through the Bifrost; she made her way with Loki to their room, chatting animatedly about how she had enjoyed everyone being together and sharing in their elation about the pregnancy.

Upon reaching their room, Amelia paused. "So, what is this gift-giving gala?"

Loki smiled knowingly, holding the door open and letting his wife in first, "It is a far more tame sort of celebration. There is music and a feast, but it is slower-paced and less rowdy, but more importantly, the attendees present gifts to the subject of the event. Which, in this case, would be you and the children," he paused, giving a slight shrug, "and me. But mostly you."

"What? People are gonna be giving me gifts?" Amelia pouted, "I'm so bad at accepting gifts from people I know, much less people I don't know…"

"Ugh. You're never happy with anything," Loki groused, though there was a playful smile on his face, "you only feel like that because you think you don't deserve gifts. Well, you're wrong. You deserve everything."

It was such a sweet offhand remark that Amelia looked wide-eyed at her husband, her cheeks involuntarily turning pink with the rush of grateful adoration she felt. "Loki…" she murmured quietly, looking shyly to the ground as she toed her shoes off and sat down on the bed.

Loki shed his shoes and jacket and climbed onto the bed, slotting himself behind her so that he could hold her close to his chest, "Think of it this way, after nine months of carrying our growing children in your belly, I'm sure you'll be tired, maybe even exhausted. After all that work of delivering our children, don't you think you'll be deserving of them then?"

Amelia leaned back against him, smiling subtly, "Mmm… maybe. I guess so…"

"Good." Loki nuzzled his nose against her hair, "I'm going to shower. Do you want to get ready for bed?"

"Mmmhmm."

Just over ten minutes later, Loki left the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, to find Amelia fiddling with the blankets and pillows upon the bed, rearranging them in ways she never had. She'd grabbed the cushions from the couch and added them to the organised mess of comfort items she had created.

"What are you doing? Nesting? Are you a bird?" Loki inquired, one eyebrow tilted.

Amelia rolled her eyes and snorted, "I just wanted everything to be more… comfortable."

Loki took another look at the bed, where all the blankets and pillows had been positioned in a way that sort of surrounded Amelia and boxed her in, lending all their comfort to her and not so much to him. "I think you forgot about me. Where do I fit into this?"

Amelia scratched her neck sheepishly, "Good question… I'm in a pillow-fort kind of mood."

"Pillow fort?"

"Oh shut up. You've built a pillow fort before."

"No, I don't think I have," Loki remarked, and was met with Amelia's jaw hanging open.

"We need to build a goddamn pillow fort."

Whatever this pillow fort was, it would have to wait for another time, because all Loki wanted to do was spoon his wife and rub his hand in circles over her growing belly; the doctor - despite being something of a fool, and he'd expressed as much to Banner earlier - had said that Amelia would very soon start to feel the occasional flutters of their children moving within her, and it was something Loki did not want to miss in the slightest.

"You know," Amelia began later that evening when they were lying beside each other and basking in warmth, "we should probably go shopping for supplies. Things for the babies… clothes, toys, cribs… we need to be prepared. I wonder if there's a spare room on this floor that we can transform into a nursery. Do you think Tony will let us?"

"Are you joking?" Loki mumbled sleepily against her shoulder, "Of course he would. Have you seen the way he acts like an excitable fool whenever you start talking about the children? He'd build them their own palace if you wished for it."


Thank you all for your continued support. The last couple times I've posted, I've had comments asking for a little preview about what the next chapter will be about, so I'll let you all know that the next chapter will be about Amelia and Loki shopping for and creating a nursery for their babies! It should be fluffy and funny, and I hope you all enjoy it.

Please remember to leave me a comment, it helps me to stay sane in these trying times ;)

P.S: We've made it to chapter 10 relatively quickly! I'm kinda proud of myself. Here's to another 10 chapters within the next few months! I couldn't have done it without all the wonderful comments you guys give me!