A couple of days after Clint and my marathon sex session I still felt like I was recovering, so I hadn't called in any prizes. Things had just been lowkey. I'd had a day of attending council with Thor, and then a morning of lessons on Asgardian politics.
I didn't predict that there would be much notable happening at all that day, so Wanda and I took Zak and the twins out to the garden with the Vulparv. We spread out a blanket and put the babies on their tummy, watching as they'd flip themselves back over with a giggle while Zak ran around with the two little fox-like animals.
While we lay soaking up the sun with the kids, Pietro came out with a basket. He smiled when he saw us and as he made his way toward us, Zak came flying out of the shrubbery and slammed into his legs. "Uncle Piet!"
"Hey, Zakky," Pietro said, picking the little boy up and flipping him over. Zak squealed happily and wriggled in his uncle's arms. The vulparev dashed out from the undergrowth and began dancing around Pietro's feet. "Wow, look how popular I am."
"Come play," Zak said when Pietro put him back on the ground. Pietro let himself get dragged off at the whim of the three-year-old.
Wanda hummed happily and rolled onto her back. "He's good with the little ones."
"Well, he's always been empathetic," I said.
"That's true," Wanda said. "Which is funny because my brother was a real little -" she stopped and covered her mouth and I broke down into giggles.
"Your daj was gonna say a bad word about your uncle," I said to Thour, tickling her tummy. She started giggling with that infectious baby laugh and I completely melted.
"I can't get enough of it either," Wanda hummed.
After a little while, Pietro joined us, putting his basket on the grass beside the blanket and sitting down. "Greetings, mothers," he said, playfully.
"Good day to you, son," I replied. "What are you up to?"
"Auntie Loki decided it is very terrible that all my siblings have powers and I don't, so they're going to teach me magic," Pietro explained. "She sent me to pick ingredients for some potion."
"Did you get a say in this?" Wanda asked.
He shrugged. "I don't mind. Might be cool to open those portals," he said.
"And you've decided to keep her waiting?" I said, poking his side. "You must have a death wish."
Pietro chuckled and picked up Nova. "It's me, mom," he said. "I'm one of the favorites."
I laughed and sat up. "Won't be the favorite for long with that attitude."
He chuckled and bounced Riley in front of him. "You know it's really weird having a brother and sister that are younger than all my nieces and nephews."
"That won't be true forever," Wanda said. "There will be more nieces and nephews in time."
"And if it helps. They were accidents," I added.
Wanda gasped and covered Thour's ears. "Elly! You can't say that!"
Pietro almost fell back laughing. "Oh my god! I can't believe you just said that to me. I am so gonna tell them you said that when they're older."
"I wouldn't get too egotistical, kid," I teased. "You were an accident too."
"Elly!" Wanda squealed, this time jumping up and covering my mouth. "Pietro, we all love you very much and you were very much wanted."
Pietro was clutching his side in hysterics and had to put Thour back down. "Oh my god!" When he finally got himself under control he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "How come you never told me or Riley that before?"
"Because that's a terrible thing to tell your kids," Wanda said. "No one should think that about themselves."
"He's thirty-five, beautiful," I said. "I think he can tell the difference between unplanned and unwanted by now."
"I think I can handle it, Daj," Pietro assured her.
She sighed and nodded. "I suppose you're right."
Zak came running over and began tugging on Wanda's hand. "Daj, daj, fly me!"
She got up and stretched. "Okay little one, come on."
We watched as she took Zak over to another clearing and enveloped the little boy in the pink of her telekinetic energy and began flying him around the open space.
"Man, I loved doing that when I was a kid," Pietro said, wistfully. He looked back over to me and shook his head in disbelief. "Were we all unplanned?"
"No," I said. "You and Ri, Sarah, Rosie, and Becca, and these two," I explained. "Everyone else we had a lot of discussion about."
"Not Eddie?" Pietro asked.
"No," I answered. "Actually - funny story. Eddie nearly didn't happen. We were starting to think about having more kids and I'd just gotten it in my head that I'd have another and your dad Thor showed up and told us Daj and Ma were pregnant with the girls. That was a really happy surprise. Ma wasn't even supposed to be able to have kids. Then I kinda got a little jealous about it because I'd just made the plans. But everyone said there were plenty of us to love lots of kids - and so then there was Eddie."
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Pietro said. "When you guys decided to have kids, what was the decision-making process like? How did you decide you all wanted one and who would be the biological parents?"
"You sure you want to hear all this?" I asked, playing with Nova's hand.
"Yeah, I'm interested," he said. "You guys always just seemed really excited when you were adding to the family, but you never spoke about who was who's biological dad unless we asked."
"With you and Riley we weren't even going to find out, but Thor just knows that stuff," I said. "Back then he was here more than at home with us and he showed up and just was like 'oh one of those is Clint's and one is mine'. It was pretty funny."
"Sounds like dad," Pietro chuckled.
"After that, when we planned there'd be one or more of us who'd be thinking about it. Usually, they approached who they wanted to have the baby with," I explained. "Then if that person agreed, and they always did, then they'd bring it to the others. Sometimes there would be a little talk about timing and whatever, but usually, everyone was on board. We all love being parents and we also like making each other happy."
"You think that's how it normally happens in polyamorous relationships?" Pietro asked, picking up Thour again and playing with her feet.
"I couldn't say, honey," I said. "I don't know many with anywhere near as many people involved as we have. And apart from Eddie, the few I do know, I never knew them well. I knew one woman who had a husband and a boyfriend, but the boyfriend didn't live with them and she had a daughter with her husband and the boyfriend had kids with a previous marriage. And I knew a woman with a girlfriend and boyfriend. They lived together but they weren't all romantically involved together. And there were no kids. I figure some must be like us. Especially if there are multiple people that can get pregnant because there's no way you can get around not knowing who's going to carry the baby. But if it's one womb and two or more - uh - fertilizers -" Pietro snorted "- then you maybe don't need to know right? Just shake it all up like what happened with you and Riley and these two."
"Well I don't know if I needed to think of myself being created by a semen shake, but I guess that makes sense," Pietro said, pulling a face as I started laughing.
Pietro played with Thour and seemed to be seriously thinking about what I said. I wondered what was up and if he was going to offer up what was on his mind. As far as I knew he wasn't even seeing one person let alone multiple that he was thinking about having kids with.
He looked up at me again with his brow furrowed. "Mom, how did you guys end up together? I mean, you said yourself it's not exactly normal. Even for here."
"We've told you stories about how we met," I said.
"No, I know," he said. "But how did you go from meeting Ma to - well you know?"
"I'm really not sure that's a story you want to know about your parents, Piet," I said.
"No, I mean... PG13 it for me. I can handle hearing if you were all friends with benefits, but even that's not exactly the norm," Pietro said.
"Well it was different with me," I said. "They were already a committed group when I met them, but from my understanding, the group started with other smaller groups that crossed over. Your ma and Clint were in a kind of friends-with-benefits open relationship that they pulled Wanda and Sam into. Um, I think Sam was with Bucky and Steve as well. Tony and Bruce were together, but Bruce was sometimes with Nat and Clint too. Then Thor came along and went 'you know you're all in love with each other right?' That's what made it more officially a romantic relationship and not a bunch of friends ignoring their feelings."
Pietro laughed a little. "I like that. And you? I mean I know you crashed into Ma and she was like 'I like this clumsy oblivious nerd.' But then what?"
"Well, your Ma and I dated for quite a while but she told me she was in an open relationship with other people. I didn't know those other people were your parents. I figured she must have someone in every port or something," I explained. "But then she introduced me to Clint. And Clint took me to sign an NDA and told me the deal. Then I had to see if I fit in the group."
"What would have happened if you didn't?" He asked.
I shrugged. "All in or none in."
"Jeez," Pietro cursed. "Rough. Good thing they all liked you."
I poked his side and he wiggled away from me. "Good for you."
He sighed and lifted Thour over his head.
"What's up, kiddo," I asked. "Why the gloomy face and all the questions?"
"So I've been seeing this guy," he said.
"Ooh... a guy?" I asked.
"Yes, mom," he snarked. "A guy. And I mean, it's still kind of casual and I'm not sure where it will go - which is why I haven't mentioned him before - but I do really like him. But he said he wants to bring someone else into the relationship. He doesn't even have anyone in mind. Just he was thinking he'd like a woman in the mix. And - I'm obviously not opposed to that. I grew up with all of you. But this seems like a weird way to do it to me. I mean in my head I figured it would just be about people falling in love with more than one person - not deciding the person they're with isn't enough for them. I mean if he found someone he was into and wanted me to meet them, I'd be fine with that. Do you know if Ma went looking for you to complete the group?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so, but definitely - hmm..." I paused and thought for a moment. "So your ma and I were definitely falling for each other, but she did come to some - not even all of them, just some of the others and said there was this woman she was seeing that she thought they'd all like and could introduce her and maybe she could join too."
"But see ma at least had fallen for you and was hoping the rest of the group would like you too," he said. "She didn't go head-hunting to get to double digits."
"No, that's true," I said and rubbed his leg. "Look, Piet. I don't think there's a wrong way to do these things as a whole, but I do think there's a wrong way for an individual. I mean look at Rosie. She was raised by ten people in a romantic relationship with each other and could you even imagine her as polyamorous?"
"Nope," Pietro agreed. "She's the most monogamous person ever."
"So, if this feels wrong to you, and he's making you feel like you're not enough, then you need to talk to him about it. If he doesn't get it, he's not your person," I said. I paused and let out a breath. "I've had a lot of issues I've had to come to terms with over my life. Feeling worthy of all these people's love is a big one. I often thought I wasn't special to any of them - which had nothing to do with them, and all to do with me and coming into the group late - but I never felt like I wasn't enough. You deserve to feel like you're special and you're enough, Piet. Don't forget that. I know you like to make sure everyone around you is happy and that you put yourself second to make sure that happens. But you deserve to be happy too and to be treated like the prince you are by someone who loves you. Or lots of people that love you."
Pietro took a deep breath and nodded. "Thanks, mom."
I put Nova down and hugged him. He still had Thour in his arms but he wrapped one arm around me and melted in against me just like he did when he was a little boy. I caressed the back of his hair and kissed his temple. "You're such a sweet loving man, Piet. If this guy is smart he'll see that and maybe the two of you can figure out a way to get what you both need. He's not wrong to want to do things the way he is. But if it's wrong for you, you shouldn't compromise that. Okay?"
"Okay," he said.
He stayed hugging me for a moment and then slowly pulled back and put Thour down. "I better get back to Auntie Loki before I stop being her favorite."
I laughed. "Yeah, you better."
He got up and grabbed his basket. "See you at dinner?"
"Yeah of course," I said.
He left - calling out goodbye to Wanda and Zak. I lay back down with the twins and watched my wife play with my grandson. I definitely had an unusual life that wasn't for everyone, but it was definitely perfect for me. I hoped my kids knew not to settle for anything less than that.