It was rare since coming to Asgard that all of us just had the day off together. Thor was always needed for something and on the few occasions where he allowed himself a day to recharge either Sam or Steve took his place on the throne. On top of that with the kids and classes and our hobbies, our days were usually spent in pairs or small groups rather than all ten of us together.
Today we had all decided to take the day together. We were going to try the twins on solids for the first time and everyone want to be there to see it. The babies however seemed to be in no rush to try lunch. They had fallen asleep on Bruce in the midmorning and hadn't stirred for hours.
The rest of us seemed to be taking our lead from them. Bruce was stretched out on the deepest couch with his head in my lap. The babies were stretched out on their tummies and the vulparev curled into their sides. I was curled up against Sam as I languidly played with Bruce's hair, and Wanda was curled up on Sam's other side with her head on his shoulder. Clint was sitting on a sofa chair braiding Natasha's hair as she sat cross-legged on the ground in front of him studying a book written in runes. Every once in a while she'd show it to Clint and he'd tell her what it said. Bucky and Steve were squeezed into the other sofa chair. Bucky had fallen asleep tucked into Steve's side as Steve read Return of the King. Tony was sitting with his legs over Thor's lap tapping away on the tablet as Thor watched over his shoulder.
It was the kind of contented laziness that they had never allowed themselves back when I met them, and yet they all seemed perfectly at home with it - though I wasn't sure how much longer Tony was going to last.
Our peace-and-quiet was interrupted by Edwin, Rory, and Lyra bursting in, followed by the guard who looked around apologetically. Bucky startled awake and Steve caught his arm as he swung it out wildly and nearly hit Steve in the face. "I'm sorry, your majesty," the guard said.
"It's fine," Thor said. "My family is always welcome."
He bowed and backed out of the room and Thor laughed and shook his head. "However, I would have thought you'd have learned to knock, son."
"Gross, dad," Eddie said. "We need to talk to you. And mom, and daj. In private."
"I'm gonna lose my snuggle bunnies?" Sam pouted.
"Oh my god, dad," Eddie said, smothering a laugh.
Bruce lifted his head to let me out and as soon as I was free he let it fall back down on Sam's thigh.
"What's going on?" Natasha asked, looking at Edwin suspiciously.
"None of your business," Edwin snarked.
"You're not too big to take over my knee, kid," Natasha warned.
"See that's weird," Eddie teased. "Because I'm pretty sure you've never spanked any of us."
"Well, not the kids," Clint said.
"Dad!" Eddie yelped, covering his ears. "What the fuck?"
"And that, son, is your punishment for snarking at your ma," Clint laughed.
Edwin groaned and rolled his eyes, grabbing Thor by the hand and dragging him into our bedroom as Rory, Lyra, Wanda, and I followed.
"Did you see the healers?" I asked.
"You're going to be here for six months!" Wanda squeaked.
"Wanda, you need to let the rest of us catch up," I giggled, taking her hand.
"I love how affectionate you all are," Lyra said. "My parents can barely even occupy the same room."
"Mine are happily married, but so English you'd never be able to tell," Rory added.
"Yeah, we saw the healers," Edwin said. "They said everything seems normal and healthy."
"I could have told you that, son," Thor said. "With my blessing, you will have no complications."
"I know, dad, but it's good to have a healer confirm it," Edwin said.
"They also gave me something for my morning sickness. It works so well," Lyra said.
"It's good for hangovers too," I said. "So what did they say?"
"They said they have provided care for all of you during pregnancy at different stages, and that with the blessing from dad we will have no worries about having a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. But they did say after what happened with the twins they have some concerns about delivery. That maybe Midgardians are more fragile than they are prepared for," Edwin explained.
"That's what I was worried about too," I said. "I mean, I don't think what happened with me was something that wouldn't have happened on Earth. Aside from Riley and Pietro who I had a planned C-Section with, I had delivery complications every time. You went into distress while I was in labor with you."
"Yeah, we were just a little worried about that too. So," Eddie said. "We did a video conference with an OBGyn in New York. They said that if we are happy with the care here for the first six months they can do video checkups with us once a month and then take over fully. We'll go back and have the baby on Earth."
"That sounds like a really smart idea," I said.
"And that way mom and dad can come and meet the babies," Lyra said. "It would be harder for them to do that here."
Thor nodded. "We of course would always welcome your family if they decided to visit. However, I do know that it feels harder given it's another planet."
"You'll come down to Earth though, right?" Eddie said. "When they're born."
"Of course, honey," Wanda said, hugging him. "You couldn't keep us away."
"Do you know if you'll be moving here for good?" I asked, maybe a little too hopefully.
"It's been two weeks, mom," Edwin said. "Give them a chance to decide if they like it that much."
"I want to say that regardless of everything else we will eventually move here," Rory said, putting his arm around Edwin's waist. "We love Eddie, and we get the whole aging thing is an issue. I don't know... I like the idea of bonding so we don't end up leaving him, but there's a lot of things to consider. It's not like anything we've done has gone according to any life plans. I mean we met..."
"Rory!" Lyra yelped and punched him in the arm.
He laughed. "Oh yes. Of course."
I looked at Wanda. 'What was it... no don't tell me. Wait... yes... tell... no, don't...' I sent.
"Mom, stop trying to get Daj to tell you how we met," Edwin scolded. "Some things are better not known."
"That just makes me want to know more," Thor laughed.
"Anyway..." Edwin said. "So that's that. We'll be here for six months like we said the whole time."
"I'm so excited," Wanda said. "I'm so happy for you all. You're going to be parents. You'll love it when they start kicking."
"We're really excited," Lyra said, taking Rory's hand. "It's great seeing you all doing the polyamorous parents thing so well. It really helps."
I smiled and Wanda squeezed my hand. It was nice to be validated like that. It didn't happen a lot, especially from people from Earth. Things had changed a lot since we first came out, but polyamory was still uncommon, and especially in numbers over three.
"You should tell the rest of your parents," Wanda said. "I know it's early but your dad has blessed you. It's going to be safe and they're just going to ask us over and over and over what you wanted. I know I can keep a secret but your dad..."
"Hey!" Thor argued. "I can keep a secret."
Edwin looked at Rory and Lyra. "Give us a minute to talk about it, okay?"
"Sounds good," I agreed. "Take your time. We're going to try giving your sister and brother solids when they wake up."
"Oh, that's so exciting!" Lyra said. "Can we stay for that too?"
"Of course," I said. "But talk first."
We headed back out to the others. The babies had woken in the time we were gone and Bucky and Steve were changing them. "Nice timing," Natasha said. "What did they want?"
"Nothing," I said. "Normal stuff. Is someone making the porridge?"
"We asked for it to be sent in," Sam said as he and Bruce moved the highchairs over and the vulparev scampered around between their feet.
"It's funny how excited we are about this. Like we haven't done it eight times before," I said.
"No, we haven't," Steve said. "Thour and Nova have never had solid food. We've given other babies of ours solid food. But this is the first time for them."
"You old sap," Tony teased. "So sentimental."
"Yes, Steve is an old cornball," Natasha said. "What did they want?"
"Nothing, my love," Thor said. "There's nothing to worry about."
There was a knock at the door and a handmaid came in holding a tray with two small bowls of smooth porridge and two small sippy cups of water. "Your majesties," she said, bowing and putting it on the table.
"Thank you," Thor replied. "You are free to leave us."
"Ready for lunch?" Bucky asked, picking up Nova. "You wanna try porridge? It's so good."
Steve and Bucky put the babies into their chairs and put on their bibs.
"Who's getting to do this?" Clint asked.
"Should have drawn straws," Sam said.
"I'll tell you what," I suggested. "I always feed them, so how about I think of a number between one and a hundred and the two closest can go first."
"Well I guess Wanda's going first," Tony snarked.
I broke down into giggles and it wasn't long until Clint, Wanda, and Bruce were all giggling too.
"FRIDAY, randomly generate two of our names, please," Tony said, shaking his head.
"Sam and Natasha," FRIDAY replied.
"Thank you, dear," Tony said as Natasha and Sam took up positions near the babies in their chairs.
As they both scooped porridge onto small spoons, Edwin, Rory, and Lyra came back in. "Oh, it's happening!" Lyra said, coming over. "Are you two going to have some yummy baby food?"
Nova started babbling and banged his hands on the tray. "Oh my, little one," Natasha said. "You're so excited. Here you go."
She held the spoon to his lips and when Nova opened his mouth she pushed it in. He looked shocked for a moment and spat some out. But a moment later he started opening and closing his mouth like a fish and reaching for the spoon. "Oh, you liked that, huh?" Lyra said. "Was it so yummy?"
"Did you want to try?" Natasha asked, offering her the spoon.
"Thank you," she said. "I'd love to."
Both Sam and Lyra offered food to the twins. Nova excitedly took another spoon while Thour seemed to be fighting opening her mouth to try any.
"So, what's the big secret?" Natasha asked.
"So smooth, ma," Eddie said. "Did you think we'd just accidentally tell you?"
"Is it weird that your kids aren't scared of you, Nat?" Tony teased.
"They might not be, but you are. So zip it," Natasha warned.
"I'm sure they'll tell us if it's important," Bruce reasoned. "You need to just accept that you can't be in on every secret."
"Yeah, ma. We'll tell you when we're ready," Edwin teased. "Which is now. Lyra is pregnant. We're gonna have a baby."
There was a moment where everyone froze and looked at them trying to figure out if they were kidding or not. When it sunk in what they were saying, Bucky broke first getting up and hugging Edwin. "Congratulations, kiddo."
Everyone else broke too, hugging and shaking hands and offering their congratulations to the trio. I joined in too. Despite already knowing the news, seeing everyone so happy to be grandparents again - even as our own infant children tried their first solid food - was exciting. We were an odd family, but I was happy every day to be part of it.