The characters ran off with their adventures and I've been completely blocked on this one for ages, but here it is, the next chapter!
I own nothing, and many thanks to my fantastic and scary beta Nova!
TapTap
It was late, far past midnight, when Tony Stark and Virginia Potts finally shook off the clutches of the party and came to down to the secondary workshop in search of the rest of their family.
Natasha had already broken free by then, leaving her girlfriend in the hands of her business partner and going to check on their baby. Not that anybody even for a moment suspected it was needed, of course; but she liked to nevertheless.
The Black Widow was perched on one of the large metal filing cabinets shaped like bookcases, which held hundreds of different mechanic components. Sleeping against her shoulder was her working partner - and probably the reason they were up there in the first place.
Equally out for the count was the former Winter Soldier, who was asleep on the large sofa Tony kept in there. Maybe for long car-admiring sessions or something. Nobody knew and that included Tony.
Steve Rogers was present too, his boyfriend's feet sharing space in his lap with the enormous sketch pad he was obviously drawing in. The scene in the middle of the room was indeed of the eye-catching sort that will warrant any drawing you might make of it.
Claire was cradling the sleeping baby Stark in her arms, in a grip very much resembling the one the Hulk currently had on her. Tony snapped a picture immediately, never mind how many hours of footage Jarvis might have. They were adorable. No one was in the least bit worried, of course. One might or might not trust the Hulk, but Claire would never ever subject her god-daughter to any sort of danger.
"Supervising the proceedings, Captain America?" Tony almost giggled out the words. One must forgive him, there had been a lot of champagne happening upstairs. He was not very tipsy, however, he was just a silly sort of person.
Bucky moved sluggishly, apparently relaxed enough in the glorified garage to nap more deeply than one might expect. "He's not fretting, he's sketching," he defended his boyfriend.
Pepper smiled, but she mostly only had eyes for Natasha - as well as the baby, of course. Gently untangling her arms from Tony's, she stepped towards her girlfriend, who just as tenderly was doing the same to the platonic man of her life.
"It's funny..." Pepper spoke softly as she reached out to take the hand of her lover. "So many kinds of love in the room in this moment. We are so lucky..." It was the type of thing to say that's excellent communication, but most people only resort to after a bit of a drink. At any rate, Natasha nodded in silent agreement, ignoring the bustle behind them.
A few moments later, Claire came over with the baby, looking thoughtful. "Family and friends means so many kinds of loving somebody else. I've suddenly found myself with a lot of big brothers lately..." She smiled down on the baby girl. "And a little sister. I'm lucky too."
Keeping their backs turned, giving Bruce a chance to get back to himself as they could all hear he had started to transform, Pepper nodded. "Most of us are lucky to have two life partners, plus our family. I don't know though - I'm not sure more than one person can be another's first. I wish Tony had somebody for whom he was the first thought, like I do now." Natasha squeezed her waist, but both the engineers looked surprisingly incredulous.
"Doesn't he?" Claire ventured softly, apparently recieving her mentor's agreement, thought neither of the two other women could see who she meant. Bucky and Steve had gotten absorbed into an art discussion and Clint snored, ever so softly. It was Bruce who finally spoke.
"But he does, Pepper," he assured her softly. "You are correct that not all partnerships are romantic, and they don't need to be. Maybe they usually do come first... but not everyone has them. Neither Tony nor I do, for example... and I assure you Hulk is not the only one who would catch him without a thought!"
"Aww Bruce, you're my science bro!" Tony's words were pure sass, but anybody even possessing eyes to view body language with could read out the mutuality in what the other scientist had just said.
"See?" Claire winked at Pepper and Natasha, handing the baby over and glancing at the sleeping Clint. "And nobody needs to come second - I don't think Natasha could choose between at least three..."
She had a point. And as Pepper took the baby and her girlfriend pulled down her work partner from his cabinet, the two geniuses went off to the lab without even remarking on how it was almost two am. Science bros indeed. The two Russians handled the archer, and Claire found herself playfully swept up into the arms of her other supersoldier brother to go back upstairs.
There was plenty of love to go around, anyway.