Tony P.O.V
Around 7am I feel a soft poking in my cheek. I moan and squint an eye open. Callie is laying beside me, her stormy grey eyes staring back at me quizzically, and when she sees me wake she grins.
"Daddy wake?" She whispers, her voice raspy.
"Is it morning already?" I ask, opening my eyes fully and realizing I fell asleep in her bed, I must have passed out while putting her down last night.
She nods eagerly while grabbing my hand, slides out of the bed, and hangs for a moment before plopping on to her bottom on the carpet. I sit up groggily rubbing the sleep from my eyes and reach out for my crutch, pulling myself to standing. I've got to see if Bruce will take this damn cast off me today.
"Dada come," she whines and pulls at my hand.
"I'm up, just slow down. I have to piss first." She groans and stomps a foot impatiently, "why don't you go see if Uncle is awake." I often use the word 'uncle' non-specifically, this way she can go find whoever she fancies.
She lets go of my hand and ponders for a minute before racing off and leaving me to my business, which now takes much longer with having to balance on a crutch and take a pee one handed.
I hear Callie's muffled conversation with Thor travelling in from the hallway, "where's Daddy?" He asks happily.
"Taking a piss." She gives each word dramatized enunciation so it sounds like 3 little sentences.
He attempts to correct her but the laughter bubbling through nullifies any illusion of parenting. I find myself laughing with him until the sound drifts away out of earshot.
I finish up, shake off and cram myself back into my boxers and sweats one handed, then I hobble out, following the sound of chatter to the kitchen.
Steve is eating Cheerios at the table and Thor has Callie on his shoulders while he cooks oatmeal. She has her hands wrapped around his jaw, her cheek resting on his head. I grab myself a coffee from the freshly brewed pot and limp over to the table.
"Morning Steven," I say rubbing my palm into his bed head, as I sit down beside him.
"Just Steve." He mumbles, rolling his eyes at me.
Natasha walks in wearing a navy bathrobe followed closely by Bruce. Callie starts squirming on Thor's back, reaching down for her Auntie.
"Hi baby girl," Nat says, standing on tiptoe to retrieve Callie. Steve looks up, watching the interaction closely, his spoon frozen mid bite. He's chewing on his bottom lip, his eyes stuck on Nat like a hawk, I tilt my head in confusion, this is unusual behaviour for him.
Callie is stroking Natasha's bathrobe, "cozy," she says tugging on it and then gazing between the folds of fabric, "Auntie, naked?" She asks, pulling at the robe, causing the woman's decency to be momentarily at risk, but she quickly tightens the fabric again.
"Sometimes grownups don't wear jammies to bed," she tells Callie.
Suddenly there's a cacophony of noise and I turn to see Steve has dropped his spoon into his bowl, causing the milk to slosh over.
"Damn," he grumbles, going to stand and then promptly sits back down, his face flushing.
"What's up bud?" I ask, amusedly, putting implicative emphasis on the word 'up'.
"W-what? N-nothing is up," he stutters, looking down at his bowl and then glancing back up at the redhead holding the toddler.
"Quit gawking at Nat, Stevie." I whisper, smirking at him.
"I'm not. It's not like that, I didn't mean to, I didn't know. Uh, I have to pee." He says in a rush, putting his spoon down and doing something under the table before abruptly standing and rushing into the bathroom.
"What's up with him?" I say to Banner who sits down across from me.
"Something weird happened last night." He whispers, "I'll tell you later."
"Ooo, juicy gossip!" I rub my hands together gleefully.
"Sort of." He laughs, raising an eyebrow making me even more curious.
"So can I get this fucking cast off today? It's impossible to take a piss without almost zipping my dick into my pants."
Bruce cringes, "just wear boxers dude."
"I usually do.... at least I have been since I got my junk stuck in there a few weeks ago, I almost had to call you for help but I used some lube, it was fine."
"Jesus," my friend laughs, "okay I'll check your leg today."
We're all sitting down eating before Steve comes back, his Cheerios are all soggy by the time he joins us and he ends up tossing them and having oatmeal instead.
"You good Stevie?" I ask, grinning at him. "You either took a massive dump or you were...."
"I'm fine," he cuts me off, "what's with the Stevie? Steven was bad enough."
"Well you're cute when you're embarrassed, and I wasn't getting the right reaction out of Steven, so I've moved on to Stevie," I shrug, winking at him over my bowl.
"Shut up, I am not cute," he chuckles.
"Oh, honey, you're the cutest embarrassed," Nat says and Steve's face lights up like a torch.
"See? Adorable!" I laugh and everyone nods in agreement.
Callie hops down from her seat and runs the length of the table, climbing onto Steve's lap and grabs his face in her hands turning it back and forth. "Cute like me?" She says, squishing her freckly nose against his.
"No, nothings cuter than you." He whispers, nuzzling her face making her giggle.
"Steve, I'm getting my cast off today, can you watch the munchkin?"
"Yes, always." He says, tickling her sides, his mood improved with the change of subject. "Can I take her to the park?"
"Oh, um, I guess..." I shrug, "she's never been to the park before."
"I'll join you!" Thor booms, "we can get more coffee on the way."
"Okay sounds fun." Steve smiles happily. "Ok, let's go get dressed." He picks up Callie and takes her to get ready.
After I'm sure he's out of ear shot I turn to Bruce, "okay what happened last night?"
He looks around to Nat who crooks her eyebrow at him accusingly, "you are terrible about keeping things to yourself."
"I know; sorry." He sighs, and after a moment of silence he can't take it anymore, "okay so, last night Nat and I went for dinner, and before we went Steve was acting all sad and lonely, so she invited him to come play cards when we got back." He explains.
"Ah yes, he did seem lonely last night." Thor muses a hand on his chin.
And then Nat chimes in, "we had a lot to drink, and when we got home I sent Bruce to get some more wine and I laid down on the bed; you know, ready for when he got back." She blushes.
"And Cap thought cards were still on, so he comes in and finds Nat like, totally naked!" Bruce yells and Nat claps a hand over his mouth.
"Yes, so anyway, he had a huge hard on. Hence why he might've been acting weird this morning," she finishes.
"Shit!" I cover my mouth, dragging out the word.
"Ooooh, now I wish I was Steven," Thor is grinning from ear to ear like a little kid, I bark out a laugh, tossing a balled up napkin at his face.
Before any more can be said Steve comes into the room dressed now in jeans and a black T-shirt, Callie is in his arms, "ready Uncle number two?" He says smiling cheekily.
"Yes! To the park!" Thor stands, slamming his coffee mug down on the tile floor, shattering it. "And more coffee!" He laughs and Callie giggles at him, twisting her hands into the collar of Steve's shirt.
"Seriously? Again?" I say, gesturing at the shattered mug.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, I forgot." He snickers, "here give me the baby." He snatches Callie from Cap's arms making him scowl. "Callie can clean it up, we've been practicing. Show them little Stark."
The little girl's eyes change to an unearthly, glowing blue and her face scrunches up with concentration, the shattered glass rises and floats over to the waste basket.
"Damn baby, good job!" I say, and her smile is brilliant with pride.
"Isn't it fantastic?" Thor beams at her.
"Wow yeah, so you broke that on purpose then?" Nat laughs, poking Thor's ribs.
"Oh, yes, most definitely." He nods with a closed mouth smile.
"Okay, my baby now." Steve swoops her out of Thor's arms, kissing her head protectively. "Let's go." He says, slipping Callie's shoes on one handed.
"Wait, Daddy has to say goodbye." I say hobbling over and kiss the top of her head, "have fun at the park baby." Then I grab Steve's head which has spent the last few seconds gazing over at Natasha, I pull his ear close and whisper, "stop gawking." And just because I know it will embarrass him even more, I peck his temple and then shove his head away.
His cheeks are burning red but he says nothing and just leaves, Thor trailing behind.
"Ah, that was fun. Okay, take this shit off my leg!"