Here We Go

10: Birthday Prep

"Cool. Gonna go talk to Barnes. By the way, I'm coming with you," she reminded him, walking off down the hall. Clint chuckled and walked back to the counter, grabbing his rag and wiping up the last of the flour from the floor.

"So you're leaving?" asked Pietro, sounding slightly upset. Clint didn't notice.

"Yup. I'll finally be outta your hair," he joked. Pietro forced an extremely fake laugh, but Clint brushed it off.

"Good."

"Rude." The timer went off and Clint clasped his hands together excitedly. "Cake time!" He pulled the cake out of the oven (after putting oven mitts on - he's not that dumb) and placed it on the counter.

"That needs to cool and then we'll take it out of the pan, let it cool more, and decorate it," he explained to Pietro.

"I know how to make cake."

"Yeah, I figured, I just really like cooking," Clint said with a shrug. Pietro rolled his eyes and ran away in a blur, leaving Clint alone in the kitchen. He gathered up the plastic wrap and threw it away and cleaned up the last of the mess.

Vision flew into the kitchen carrying Peter. Clint stared up at him in confusion, as he thought Bruce and Wanda were taking care of the kid. Vision handed him the child and said, "They were having troubles."

"Okay then." Clint held Peter to his chest and Vision left. "Hey Jarvis, when are Steve and Tony coming back?"

"They should arrive in approximately three minutes," the AI informed him.

"Yay," Clint cheered, smiling at Peter. "When your daddies get home, I don't have to take care of you anymore and you can be all their problem, yeah Pete?" he said in a high-pitched voice, making Peter giggle. "Yeah. You won't be my problem anymore little buddy!"

He played with Peter for a few minutes before the couple finally arrived. Clint held Peter's hands and walked him over. "Look it Pete, there are your daddies! Now I don't have to deal with you anymore," he said happily, handing Peter to Steve. Tony was right behind him.

"We signed the papers and we're picking up Peter's dog tomorrow. His name will be Arnold," Tony declared.

"No it won't," Steve reminded him. "Peter gets to pick his name, remember?"

"He can't even talk yet!" Clint exclaimed.

"He has talked before," Tony said casually.

"What?!?!"

"Yeah. He called Steve mama." Tony bumped his hip against Steve's, a playful smirk on his face. Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"No he didn't. I did win the 'papa' vs 'dada' race though."

"That's because you suck," the brunet mumbled.

Natasha rounded the corner with Bucky in tow and plopped down on the couch, pulling him down next to her. "Gimme the kid," she requested, holding her arms out. Steve blinked at her and shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Rude."

"Can I hold him?" Bucky asked in a small voice. Steve looked at him for a second.

"You sure, Buck?"

"Yeah," he said confidently. Steve gave it another moments thought before carefully placing Peter in the lap of his best friend. Peter stared up at him with his little kid smile and his few teeth and Bucky stared back. He gently lifted Peter up into a standing position and they stared at each other, eye to eye. Peter giggled and leaned forward, kissing Bucky's nose and making him laugh.