What to Expect when You're Expecting ((Arranged marriage AU, magpiemythos))

[shieldborne]

It's not hard for Steve to dote on Loki at the best of times, but given the additional excuse of incoming babies, his skills rise to new heights. Partly it's necessity; to protect his friends from god-induced damages he needs to make sure he's between them and his spouse as often as possible, but also...

There's something right about it, funny and wholesome, to be making trips for ice cream and flowers and honey candy to please the expectant parent. Steve doesn't sleep much, anyway. He's happy to go out late at night or early in the morning for food runs.

There's some inherent stress in Loki being even more mercurial than usual, though. Steve finds himself on edge at times, but there's no doubt in his mind it will all be worth it. For children. For a family.

Comments

[magpiemythos]

"Training Thors isn't an easy task; I'll be sure to be mindful of your preferences."

It was nice to be able to settle like this. An easy sort of companionship that she might not admit aloud that she wanted but would seek out regardless.

"Maybe when Natasha finally sinks her claws into someone. She'd certainly be able to take all comers."

And she'd be very good at the sneaky part of things, entertaining to watch when one wasn't squaring off against her themselves.

"Well luckily we have time. Just means you'll have to come around more often. I think seeing you outside battles or with Thor as a 'shield' will help him start to relax some. And my being insistent might help. Not like I have much family of my own here to share this time with, and I'd like to count you among them."

[coldsong]

"Oof. That might take a while. I know I'd be a little wary of dating someone who uses the code name 'Black Widow'." Although, really, aside from that there's nothing not to like about Agent Romanoff. Beautiful, intelligent, completely ruthless and frightening. The whole package.

"Oh, I see. Now you want me to visit more often. Sneaky." It's too half-hearted even to be a pretend complaint, probably because she's just called him family. "I suppose I may as well. I have to bring you wood for the cradle, anyway."

[magpiemythos]

"To say nothing of her being utterly terrifying even without the code name." Even on her relatively good side, Natasha could cut an intimidating figure. "Who do you think would dare attempt though?"

"Is it sneaky if you saw through my clever ruse?" Loki was pleased that there wasn't an actual complaint there, leaning absently against him. "You can show me more of what's fun in this dimension. It'll be like an adventure but without the fighting and mess that sometimes end up part of them."

[coldsong]

"I understand she and Banner have some history, but they seem to be dodging one another right now. I would say Barnes, potentially, but I've seen him and Wilson interact and I'm not convinced that's not building up to something more than a mild tolerance for one another's presence." For someone who's not on observably friendly terms with the Avengers, Loki seems to have taken note of the group dynamics.

"Mmm...what kind of fun? Intellectually stimulating fun or 'I can't believe this is legal' fun? I assume we're saving 'it's a miracle we survived that' fun for after the twins are born."

[magpiemythos]

"Who knows, maybe there's a dark horse contender neither of us has even heard of. She plays things awfully close to the chest after all." Loki is not at all surprised that her twin is well aware of the group interplay. It's an important thing to watch for a trickster after all!

"I'd say the first two. Option three is definitely for after the twins are safely in their crib."