Baby Banner-Stark

тетка and the Godfather

Natasha's reaction to Mathew was both boring and refreshing. They were tired of explaining themselves over and over, but they had expected...more.

Bruce had taken Tony on a date – "Late Christmas present." – the day before they planned to have dinner on their floor and announce Mattie. When they got back, they found Pepper, Clint, Steve and Nat in their living room, laughing at something. At their confused stares, Nat just shrugged her shoulders and smirked.

"Cute kid."

Tony spluttered for a moment, while Bruce shrugged and walked over to the group, carefully scooping the baby up. "Thanks. So, what's he gonna call you? We've got Pepper, Pops, and Uncle Clint, so far."

"I am his 'Tsyo-tka'." She said the Russian word slowly, so Bruce could pick up. He nodded and smiled at her then his son. Bruce couldn't believe he was almost 7 weeks old. Last New Year's, he was semi-wallowing in self-pity, like a biological clock was ticking. This year, he celebrated with both his husband and his son.

He couldn't be happier.

"Great, now all we have to do is tell Hammer-Time."

Tomorrow will be interesting, Bruce thought to himself as Tony took Mattie from him.

The next morning, Tony went down to the workshop with the baby so Bruce could tidy up the place. "JARVIS, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid with Mattie down there, please? And no baby Iron Man suits! I might have to let the Other Guy deal with him if my son comes back with any sort of damage."

"Sir would like me to inform you that he is going to teach the young master to call you 'Mother'."

Bruce laughed and continued with his task as he retorted, "Yeah, and he'll be sleeping in the spare."
Bruce actually loved to cook. He doesn't get to do it often, often on missions or working in the labs until the early morning. More recently, he and Tony were too busy with Mathew for anything elaborate. Now with Tony and Mattie out of his hair, he had plenty of time to make the team a large batch of chicken vindaloo with rice, and naan. With the extra time, he also made the largest batch of mango lassi he had made in his life.

Bruce made JARVIS shut down Tony's lab – making sure that nothing would explode on doing so – and took care of the baby while Tony was shower.  Mathew fell asleep just as Tony finished dressing, so the engineer put him in bed while Bruce double checked the food and waited for the team to slowly trickle in.

Clint and Nat were first, both in jeans and t-shirts, followed by a Steve and Thor arguing lightheartedly about the results of an arm wrestling match. Pepper and Rhodey even made it, Tony came back in and the party started.

Dinner was served and they all sat around joking and laughing. The ones who knew the scientists' secret, kept glancing down the hallway and sharing knowing smiles.

Thor's inner warrior must have picked up on the change in vibe thrumming through the room, because he set his glass down and looked at everyone. "Alright, what it is? What am I missing?"

"Yeah, what's up with all of this? You guys never host these things." The colonel asked.

Tony and Bruce shared a look and as the former opened his mouth to answer, JARVIS chimed in. "Sir, Dr. Banner, I believe your assistance is needed down the hall."

He sighed and looked at Bruce. "My turn?"

"Nah, I'll get it, you can clear the dishes." He waved his hand at the clear plates table. "Thor, give me about five minutes and you will get your answer."

Bruce walked down the hallway and opened the door to their son's room, hearing the child's pitiful cries that said he needed a changing. He took care of that, and changed his outfit into something without Tony's grease-prints on it. They had to make a good impression, after all.

All the while, he talked softly, letting his voice soothe the baby who was not fond of being cold.
"There you are, handsome, all nice and swaddled." Bruce picked him up and cradled him. "It's time for the last of our strange family to meet the new arrival."

His voice must have carried, because Bruce heard Rhodey ask "New arrival? What, y'all get a dog or something?"

Bruce, in his mind's eye could see Tony roll his eyes and open his mouth to retort, so he stepped from his hiding place around the corner and hastily said, "Not exactly."

The room turned to face him in various states of happiness and confusion. Thor smiled widely and spoke "Friends, why did you not tell me that you had a child?"

Rhodes just squeaked out a "What?" He looked at everyone. "What the hell? Tony!"

Thor came to examine the child while Rhodey ran to the kitchen to interrogate his best friend. "Hello there, young one." He spoke in a surprisingly soft voice, reaching a thumb and forefinger to hold a little hand. "What is his name?"

"His name is Mathew. We call him Mattie. Do you want to hold him?"

The Asgardian looked mildly surprised. "May I?" Upon taking him, he looked at his face then at Bruce, scrutinizing. "He looks much like you, yet also much like Tony. How is this possible?"

So, for the umpteenth time, Bruce explained about his birth. He expected Thor to be just as outraged as the others, but instead he merely said, "Tony cares for you very deeply. You are lucky to have found each other and luckier still to have been blessed with young Mathew."

Bruce smiled a watery smile and nodded quickly. "Yeah, we- I am. Very lucky indeed." Pepper saved him from any further emotional conversation by calling out the unjust monopolizing of her godson.

"What? She's the godmother?" Clint sounded very indignant about that. Here we go. "Who's the godfather?"

"Al Pacino." Tony said blandly as he came into the living room, eating another bowl of vindaloo.
The argument lasted for hours. Rhodey had the 'best friend' argument, Steve was Captain America, and Thor was an actual god. Clint stayed out of it, even though he was the only father, because it was a secret to half of the team.

Clint won.