Has anyone played the game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout on PS4? Because it's fucking addictive as heck and I've been a tad distracted from writing because of it. MY MOST HUMBLEST APOLOGIES. I hope this chapter makes up for it!
Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish
Chapter Twenty-Five: Precarious Petite Pioneer
Kari was the first to figure out how to crawl. Everyone had been present in the living quarters when it happened; the two babies were sitting in their little play-area in the centre of the room, safe-guarded with padded flooring. Aster and Kari had been squeezing, shaking, chewing all of their favourite toys, and then Kari had flapped his arm a little too enthusiastically, and the soft kangaroo toy that was pinched in his hand flew several feet in front of him.
Amelia had been the only one to notice while the others spoke amongst themselves, and had intended to get up and return the toy to her son, knowing it was his favourite toy to play with, but instead, she waited, wondering if the boy would take the initiative and retrieve the plushie himself.
Kari looked to her, a big pout on his face, and Amelia thought he might cry when it became apparent she wasn't going to get up and bring it back to him. He stared forlornly at the out-of-reach toy, which seemed awfully dramatic, until a switch appeared to click in his mind, and he shuffled forwards onto his stomach, stretching out his arm to try and reach it.
He was still a few inches shy, so he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees.
At that point, Amelia practically slammed her hand down on Loki's, which was resting affectionately on her knee, and her husband quickly followed her gaze with concern, until he saw where Amelia's attention was.
Kari crawled tentatively towards his toy and resumed sitting on his butt once he had the kangaroo plush in his grasp, continuing to admire the soft texture of its fur, oblivious to what he had just achieved.
Amelia was delightful. "Yes! Ooh, my smart little boy figured out how to crawl!" She sang as she hopped off the couch and knelt by the child, quickly picking him up and cuddling him enthusiastically.
Kari squealed happily at the attention and the high-pitched sing-song voice with which his mother spoke to him - he knew she was pleased about something, and that in turn made him joyful, even if he didn't know exactly what he had done to receive such praise.
It was a big step, one that Loki was also excited about, but he would probably show that excitement later that day in the privacy of the nursery instead of gushing to his son right in front of all the other Avengers.
"Crawling already?" Stark remarked, "It feels like they arrived in the world only yesterday."
Stark was right, it did feel like the babies had only been born the day before. It had gone by in a flash, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it duration of time that had Loki wondering how long it would be before Kari and Aster were walking and talking. Loki didn't want them to race to grow up, he enjoyed taking care of them and he knew he would miss these days once they had passed.
It was best to savour them.
Aster looked clueless as to why her brother was receiving all the cuddles and her mama hadn't come to hug her yet, so Loki knelt by the couch, several feet from his daughter, and beckoned her towards him with his arms outstretched.
Aster knew that outstretched arms meant he wanted to hold her, because she put her arms up all the time when she wanted her dada to pick her up, so Loki knew there wasn't a lack of communication there, but would Aster take the initiative and crawl to him instead of waiting for him to come to her?
The child stared at him for a moment before mimicking the gesture, stretching her arms out towards Loki as if to say 'yes, come pick me up,' but Loki shook his head, chuckling to himself.
"No, you come to me, Aster."
In a moment of improvisation, Amelia placed Kari back down and tossed his kangaroo toy towards Loki's feet, hoping the little boy would chase after it again, "Go on, Kari, show Aster how to crawl!" She gave him a pat on the butt to encourage him.
For a moment, Kari looked at Amelia with a look that could be interpreted as exasperated. A noise of displeasure left his throat. He seemed offended that his mama had chucked his favourite toy across the room when he had just spent all that effort crawling across the floor to retrieve it - and been commended for it. Thankfully, the determined little boy slowly inched across the padded floor towards where his kangaroo was positioned.
"Look, Aster! Watch what your brother's doing! What's Kari doing?" Amelia indicated her son, hoping that Aster would understand that she was meant to copy him. She and Loki had only been trying to urge Aster to crawl for a couple minutes, but Amelia was already frustrated that she couldn't communicate perfectly with her daughter. It would be a lot easier if the two tots were already speaking, but it would be a while yet before that occurred.
Kari reached his kangaroo and happily hugged it to his chest, immediately putting the toy's ear in his mouth so he could chew on it. Amelia figured the texture of the soft toy probably felt good in his mouth because he had a knack for sucking on it.
Loki tapped his finger against Kari's nose, "Good boy," he praised him and stroked the boy's head affectionately before looking back to Aster to see if she was feeling a little left out. If the tremendous pout on her face was anything to go by, she was most definitely feeling left out.
"Come to me," Loki beckoned her again, "crawling is not that hard, don't cry about it."
"Hey," Amelia interjected, "it's pretty hard for a baby who doesn't know how to crawl, Loki."
Loki shushed Amelia, smirking when she harrumphed, and continued to urge Aster towards him, picking up and shaking nearby toys to try and coax her closer.
"Hey, kid, if you crawl to your pops, I'll make you your very own Iron Man suit," Stark promised, and Loki rolled his eyes at the man's vow.
Aster's pout only grew more powerful, squinting her eyes slightly as they filled with tears, and Amelia had to put a lot of self-control into not sweeping the girl up in a loving hug. She needed to figure it out on her own, and the sooner she got it, the better.
Kari crawled back to Amelia the moment he realised he could carry his kangaroo toy in his mouth and move at the same time, which was oddly humorous - like he was a mother cat carrying its young. This time, Aster set her sights on her brother, paying attention to what he was doing.
It was most fascinating to watch the cogs turn behind the little girl's green eyes. The way she tilted her head was utterly adorable and it instantly reminded Loki of the way Amelia sometimes cocked her head sideways when she was thinking intently.
Something clicked in Aster's head and she quickly shuffled forward onto her stomach and tried to copy her brother. Instead of pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, she was prone on the padded flooring, shifting onwards like a leopard stalking its prey through tall grass. She didn't move as gracefully as Kari, but her method still got her from point A to point B, and she soon found herself in front of her father.
Her smile melted Loki as he picked her up and cuddled her as a reward. "Good job," he whispered - although she hadn't crawled properly, he knew she was a fast learner and would quickly take after her brother.
Loki was correct in his conjecture. Three days later, Aster had already gotten the hang of crawling and was just as active as Kari - the two of them were now mobile and crawling around in circles. They seemed most happy when they were chasing each other around on the soft carpet of the nursery floor, making joyful noises such as squealing and laughing.
It was an exciting and wonderful sight. Soon enough they'd be walking, running, and talking; Loki was most excited to teach them how to use magic, and to tell them stories of the battles he had fought long ago. He could picture himself dramatically recreating his memories in place of bed-time stories, revealing the valiant skirmishes he had fought in, and how he had used his magic and wit to overcome his foes. He hoped his stories would be entertaining for his children.
It was around lunch time in the Avengers Tower when Loki found himself alone in the communal living room with his two babies. Amelia was upstairs taking a shower as she hadn't yet gotten the chance that morning on account of the children being very fussy since they'd woken up, and Loki had taken it upon himself to feed them both.
They'd recently started eating baby food alongside their usual amount of breastmilk, which gave Amelia a break, but it was quite a venture getting them to eat when they were not in the mood for cooperating.
"Come on, don't be difficult," Loki mumbled as he tried to scoop a small amount of cauliflower-cheese flavoured baby food into Aster's mouth. Half of it had fallen onto her bib and the other half she was vehemently denying, turning her head away as she attempted to spit what he had managed to spoon into her mouth.
Eventually Loki sighed and offered the food to Kari instead, who was sitting in the highchair just next to his sister, patiently awaiting his turn for some delicious mushy goodness. Kari, unlike Aster, was happy to accept the mashed cauliflower-cheese, enthusiastically tilting his head forwards to gobble up what was on the spoon in a rather amusing fashion.
Loki hoped Aster would once again take after her brother's example and decide to gracefully accept the food instead of spitting it out and making a mess, but when he once again brought a small spoonful to her lips, she turned her head away again.
"You can't be telling that you don't like this. It smells fine, Kari likes it. It's cauliflower-cheese," he told her, as if she would suddenly change her mind at his declaration, but no matter how many times he tried, she just wasn't interested.
"Fine," Loki sighed, "be that way, then." He fed the rest of the small jar to Kari, who kicked his legs joyfully - he was definitely going to be a foodie when he grew up, perhaps he would even take an interest in cooking just like his mother, then there would be two expert cooks in the family. The thought of that was very pleasing to Loki.
"Right," Loki spoke when Kari had practically licked every inch of the jar clean, "you two can play for a bit while we wait for your mother." They had an outing planned, just a sweet walk through Central Park so that the babies could enjoy the colours of nature and get some nice, fresh air.
Loki picked Aster and Kari out of their highchairs and placed them on the padded flooring area one by one before taking the empty jar across the room to the kitchen for disposal. His head was turned for a total of about ten seconds, and when he looked back to his children, he noticed that Aster was not where he had placed her.
Swallowing the sudden and inadvertent lump rising in his throat, Loki quickly returned to the middle of the room, looking around the furniture with rising trepidation. She couldn't have gotten far in the time it took Loki to reach the kitchen, she was only tiny, and yet she was not hiding anywhere around the couches. She didn't appear to be anywhere in sight.
"Aster?" Loki called out to the room, expecting to hear her babble in response - she knew her name and she knew when he was trying to get her attention, but the baby did not respond and Loki felt his stomach roll over on itself.
"Kari, where's your sister?" Loki asked, raising his voice just a tad, "Where is Aster?"
Kari, who was sitting on the floor playing with his kangaroo toy, looked up at him with wide eyes and did not give him an answer.
Frantically, Loki began to search around the room, making sure to keep Kari in his peripheral at all times - one missing child was bad enough but two missing children would be grounds for Amelia to absolutely throttle him.
"Aster? Aster, do you want cuddles?" He called out, trying to sound approachable by a baby's standards. He hoped that maybe he had said the word enough times that she recognised and associated it with hugs, because he knew his little girl couldn't resist being held by him.
After a few minutes with no progress, Loki was beginning to feel his pulse quicken; his heart thumping behind his ribcage like an animal trying to escape its confinements. He hadn't felt this anxious in a long time, hadn't felt genuinely scared since perhaps the babies had been born.
It was not a good feeling. Aster was six months old, she was a tiny, helpless child and she could easily find herself in a fatal situation. He shouldn't have taken his eyes away from them for even a moment, but he foolishly underestimated just how much ground a child could cover in ten seconds.
A sudden thought brought him more dread. What if Aster had managed to crawl out the room and was now making her way down the hall - what if she made it to the stairwell and fell down the stairs?
"As-Aster?" Loki called again, this time shouting, and he almost tripped over himself as he grabbed Kari and lifted him quickly, almost jogging to the entrance of the room to glance down the hallway. He couldn't see any movement. Surely she hadn't been able to go so far?
"F.R.I.D.A.Y?" He remembered the building's A.I system was always watching, "Where is Aster?"
He held his breath, waiting for a response.
"Aster is in the living quarters," the femenine voice responded matter-of-factly, and Loki felt a small amount of relief in knowing she hadn't left the room - but where in the damn world was she hiding?
"Where in the living room?" Loki asked tightly.
"Aster is in the living quarters," F.R.I.D.A.Y replied rather unhelpfully, and Loki scoffed, placing a confused Kari back down on the play mat.
"Aster?" Loki called again, stepping lightly around the couch, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of movement other than Kari.
That's when he heard it - the quietest little giggle, and he froze. He could hear blood rushing past his ears from the strong beat of his heart, but he did his best to latch on to the sound, quickly locating the direction it had come from. The coffee table.
Loki took two strides towards the low coffee table in the centre of the couches, and it seemed to prompt the little hide-and-seek expert to flee from her hiding place. Aster squealed, crawling like a bullet from her space below the table, trying her best to get away from her father.
"Aster!" Loki snapped, not quite in a gaming mood.
The little girl flinched and stumbled in her crawling, looking up at him with enormous eyes that were regrettably full of fright from Loki's unexpected shout. In the brief few seconds before Aster burst into tears, Loki felt awful for bellowing her name so clamorously, and tried desperately to shush her. He picked her up and immediately held her to his chest even as she cried miserably, bouncing her slightly and whispering gentle apologies into her ear.
"What on earth is going on?" Amelia's voice fluttered through the room, and Loki stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a moment.
"Nothing, everything's fine." He was not going to admit to Amelia that he had lost Aster for a good few frightening minutes and had proceeded to shout his head off at her the moment he found her, explaining just why she was bawling in his arms.
"Well it doesn't look like nothing," Amelia argued, hands on hips, "why's she crying?"
"I don't know," Loki lied, "Who knows? It's just a thing babies do, right?" He knew as soon as he spoke the words that it was probably the worst lie he had ever told. Even the lies he had told his mother as a mischievous child, framing Thor for eating his after-dinner sweet treats when he had actually been the one to eat them, just so he could get another treat and so his brother would get in trouble, had been far more convincing than what had just left his mouth.
"Really." Amelia said, unpersuaded.
"I think she's annoyed that you were taking too long to shower," Loki tried instead.
"Wow," Amelia tilted her head, squinting her eyes. Blessedly, she let it go for the moment, but she looked like she would bring it up at a later time to try and get to the bottom of it - for the moment though, Loki would continue to act like he had no part in making Aster cry, and promised the little girl extra cuddles by way of apology.
Mental note, hide and seek with a six month old was not a good idea. But at least Loki knew that his daughter would grow to be explorative, and just as mischievous as him.
That mischievous little thing. SHE JUST WANTED TO PLAY HIDE AND SEEK, LOKI, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO YELL AT HER!
What should happen next? Returning to Asgard to see Uncle Thor for the first time in three months? These kiddies are gonna have grown massive from his perspective? Maybe the mighty king gets a little emotional at how quickly they're growing? LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS WANT!
