The Balance Between

Kids? Yeah, Let's Have Kids

"I love you as well, my dear Anthony." They shared a loving smile before Tony leaned in for a kiss. Loki then returned to her breakfast along with Tony. They ate together in silence but it was comfortable; something common for them.

~~~

Peter shuffled over to the couch and sat down between Natasha and Thor. The older spider looked to the boy when he first sat down, her signature smirky smile on her face. Peter held his hand up as some sort of wave. The redhead sensed the spider-ling's dampened disposition and kicked the back of Clint's head. The archer, of course, let out a cry of pain and turned to face Natasha, rubbing the back of his head.

"What the hell, Nat?" Clint asked. Natasha locked eye contact with her longtime best friend before looking to Peter then back to Clint. The archer blinked. Natasha rolled her eyes and tried one more time. "What?" Natasha face-palmed.

"Um, Mister Hawkeye, sir?" Peter spoke softly. Clint looked to the teen. "Do you think I can, if it's okay with you, play Mario Kart with the two of you?" The archer's mouth fell open slightly as he turned to Natasha. He pointed to Peter, an eyebrow raised. Natasha nodded.

"Yeah, of course kid." Clint stood up and grabbed another controller for the spider boy. Peter smiled slightly as he accepted the controller and turned it on.

Sam looked over at the two spiders and the archer and smiled warmly. "Hey Peter?" Said boy looked over to the man. Sam smirked. "Team up against Clint with me?" Peter's entire face lit as he nodded enthusiastically.

"Wait! I want someone on my team!" Clint whined. He turned to his redheaded best friend. "Natasha, be on my team," he begged. Natasha raised an eyebrow, peering down at him. Clint then looked to Thor. "Thor, be on my team," he begged. The god, who had otherwise not been paying attention, turned to the archer.

"I am not sure how to play, Barton," Thor confessed. Clint threw his head back and groaned.

"Tony, do you know how to plat Mario Kart?!" he yelled even though there was no wall blocking him from the dining room table. Tony looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Sam's got the kid pitted against me!" Tony laughed.

"And you think I'll be able to help you against a fifteen year old?" he remarked. 

Clint groaned again, more obnoxious than before. Loki and Tony cleaned their plates of leftover clumps of food before setting them in the sink; Wanda would do them later after dinner--it was her turn after all. The couple walked into the living room and sat down on the armchair to the right of the couch, the one closest to the dining table. Well, it really wasn't both who sat on the armchair; Tony sat down first and then Loki proceeded to sit on Tony's lap. 

"Clint, I don't play video games. I literally only bought this system for you," he continued.

Clint pressed his lips together, feeling like an idiot. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm remembering that now." Everyone in the room laughed--including Clint himself. "Does anyone else in the house know how to play video games?!" he exclaimed as he threw his head back. Natasha ran her fingers through it with a smirk.

"Clint, darling, we're all adults. We don't play video games anymore," she cooed. She leaned down closer to his ear. "But I'm sure there's someone not here that knows how," she whispered. Clint looked up at her and nodded. Sam scoffed.

"We're adults who run around in spandex," he remarked. "I think if we were to pick a group of adults to play video games, it would be us." Natasha playfully rolled her eyes.

The elevators dinged and out stepped Steve, who looked like he could go back out and run a few more laps, followed by Bucky, who could barely stand up straight. The brunette was glaring at the blonde the entire time. They might both be super soldiers but that did not mean Bucky wanted to nor felt like running as long and as hard as his counterpart did. After jogging, it was an ongoing occurrence to find the ex-assassin passed out either on the couch or curled up in an armchair (honestly, how could he do that?). Today he would not be able to do either of that.

Steve was the first to approach the group and smiled at everyone. "Good morning." He nodded in greeting and turned to head into the kitchen when his gaze fell on Loki. One of his perfectly sculpted eyebrows raised as he pointed to the goddess. Loki just smiled. "Um, I'm sorry. Weren't you a guy when we all went to sleep last night?"

At his question, Clint, Natasha, Sam, and Bucky all turned to the raven haired goddess who was still sitting on her boyfriend's lap. Their eyes widened almost simultaneously. Loki wiggled her fingers, smiling almost guiltily.

"Good morning, sister," Thor greeted, not looking away from the television (even though the game had been paused for quite some time now). Loki's smile turned more sincere. However, everyone (except Peter and Tony) looked to the thunder god for an explanation.

"Sister?" Bucky asked. Thor nodded.

"She is female, is she not?" Bucky looked to Loki and shrugged. "Then she is my sister," Thor declared with a shrug of his shoulders. He finally turned to face Bucky and narrowed his crystal blue eyes on him, a small amount of lightning crackling in them. "I was told this realm had a term for what my sister is. What was the word. . . Gender-fluid, was it?" Bucky nodded, now frightened by what the thunder god would do to him. Yes, the once deadly Winter Soldier was afraid of possibly the most Golden Retriever-esque person ever (well, besides Steve Rogers, obviously.)

Loki nodded in agreement. "That is the term, brother. However, it is a sudden change for them and, as I have been told, James and Steven are from a time where such a thing was found taboo." Thor's eyes returned to normal. "But, my brother is correct," she told everyone who didn't already know it. "I am gender-fluid."

The room was silent.

And then: "I'm glad you feel comfortable enough with us to show us this side of you, Loki," Natasha remarked. Everyone else spoke their ways of agreement.

Loki smiled warmly. She truly did feel at home here; more at home than Asgard had ever felt to her. And although her mother and brother were accepting of her, Odin's harsh reaction to her identity did leave a bitter taste in her mouth. Loki is glad that, now, she has a place where no one will hate her for how she chooses to express herself. Even if those people were once stood against her in battle.

"Thank you," she stated simply before clapping her hands together. "Now, I was promised being of attendance in the event you call a Pride Parade." Steve chuckled.

"Yeah, you missed that day last year," he admitted. Loki pouted. "You were visiting with your mother." Loki gasped, her hand finding her head and smacking the side of it.

"Oh, of course!" she exclaimed, turning to face Tony. "You had mentioned something of that sort before I left. Oh how stupid I must look." Tony laughed and kissed her temple. Loki shook her head and turned back to the Captain. "Well, needless to say I will not be visiting with my mother that day and I will be attending with you folk."

Steve smiled. "We'd love to go with you, Loki. You have until the end of June to work on your suit. Assuming you want your armor to be the color of your flag." Loki gasped.

"I have a flag?" She turned expectantly to Tony for him to continue explaining. Instead she was met with furrowed eyebrows.

"Did you not have any of this stuff on Asgard?" he asked. Loki and Thor shook their heads.

"We did not label it, as you Midgardians oh-so love to do," Loki remarked. "If you loved men, you loved men. If you loved women, you loved women. If you loved both, well, best not flirt with Fandral and with Sif at the same time." Thor chuckled, recalling the time Loki did just that. Loki shrugged. "And no one else has shown a fluctuating gender preference such as I so that especially did not call for a label let alone a flag." Loki squealed. "Oh, I would love to see this flag of mine!" Tony chuckled, absolutely loving this side of his girlfriend.

"Alright, alright, antsy pants. I can pull up a picture of your flag."