Gender Reveal
Steve’s POV:
Friday comes with still no updates from Coulson about Bucky’s location, in the last 3 days they claim to be getting even closer on his location. So as a means of distraction Pepper had Natasha and I help set up the decorations for Clint and Bobbi’s gender reveal party on the roof. Clint requested the color purple rather than pink because he refuses for his little girl to be so basic. It was Tony’s idea to have us where the color that we are betting the baby to be, secretly we all think he is super excited about being an uncle.
Natasha clears her throat as she comes out of the bathroom after straightening her hair and pulling it up into a basic updo. Her dress of course is purple, in hopes that Clint will name a baby girl after the person who has saved his life more than once. The dress she put on is so different than what she usually wears and actually makes her look inviting and sort of motherly. She slips on the matching wedges before shaking her head at me, “Why Blue Steven?”
I look down forgetting that I had pulled on a blue button down shirt rather than the purple that she laid out for me. I smile a bit, “Call it a gut feeling Nat.” She moves to me giving me a kiss, “Well don’t be upset if you are wrong about my goddaughter.” I chuckle and lead her to the elevator that will take us to the roof. “You look amazing today, I think you might be more adaptable to domestic life than you think Nat.”
She smiles and rolls her eyes, “Don’t get any idea’s grandpa.” She remarks elbowing my gut as I laugh. When the door opens we are greeted by Tony who has decked out completely in blue for the day.
“Steve! You have a good feeling about a boy too?” I chuckle and nod as we make our way out to help with the finishing touches.
Clint’s POV:
I button up my favorite purple dress shirt before helping Bobbi zip up the back of her blue dress that happens to hug the curve of her growing tummy. She turns and smiles once I am finished and fixes the top button of my shirt. “Are you excited Clint?”
“Yeah, then we can start looking at names, and a nursery…” I chuckle and kiss her rubbing her belly. “Ready to head up to the common floor and see if Janet and Hank are ready?”
We decided that we will head up with one of my surprisingly close friends Janet and her husband. We knew it would be a little difficult for them, although she has been happy to hang out, talk baby details while we plan out our newest pranks. Bobbi slips on her favorite sandals before we head to the elevator stopping on the common floor.
As soon as the doors open I see a quick flash of Purple that jumps into the elevator followed by a slower bit of blue that steps in beside my girlfriend. Janet finally stops and I can recognize her in her favorite purple sundress. “Clint! Are you excited?!” She asks excitedly as Hank chuckles and strikes up a conversation with Bobbi.
When we finally reach the roof we realize everyone is already here, including our favorite SHIELD adviser Coulson. Coulson points out his tie which is blue with purple stripes, “Pietro and I decided that we will pull for hopeful twins.”
Pietro runs up wearing blue pants and a purple shirt with a smile, “Oh yes, bet you wouldn’t see that coming.” He jokes in his thick accent as Coulson simply smiles.
I shake my head as Wanda comes up beside her brother wearing her favorite red outfit. “I refuse to conform to your ways, maybe the child whatever it may be will decide to like the color red like the favorite relative.”
“Favorite Relative? Good thing I too like red,” Thor jokes walking up in his mortal clothes. “I did not understand the concept so I did not partake friend Clint.”
I smile and nod, “Of course, when do you and Sif find out the gender of yours?”
Thor looks puzzled, “In Asgard there are spells to determine it although we usually wait until the birth.”
I smile and nod making my way to the table with food as Thor walks off to find Sif who has yet to start showing. I grab a piece of cut fruit and turn to face our friends all talking in different groups before spotting someone taking photos. I turn to Bruce who was the closest to me, “Who is the kid with the camera?”
He looks where I am pointing, “His name is Peter Parker, he is from the Daily Bugle. Don’t worry he passed through SHIELD’s background check.”
“He looks so young, yet so tired.” Betty speaks up from beside Bruce and I smile. I excuse myself and make my way to the kid.
“Hey, Peter right?” I ask and he looks up from his camera.
“Yeah, you are Barton right? Father to be?” He asks with a smile.
“Yeah that’s me, just wanted to see and make sure you are getting good angles of everyone. You don’t want to be on the bad side of the Avengers.” I joke and he nods. “Make sure you get some food too Pete, enjoy yourself. You look like you could use a break.”
He smiles, “Thanks, I am a big fan by the way. Hawkeye is pretty underappreciated.”
I hear Pepper calling for me and I laugh, “Don’t I know it kid, take it easy.”
Pepper smiles as Bobbi and I approach her, we both notice she avoids wearing the colors as a way to keep it a secret. “Well everything is ready when you are, just let me know when you want to do the big reveal.”
Bobbi looks at me, “Maybe we should go ahead, you never know when someone might get called out for a mission. We are all here now.” I nod and Pepper smiles.
“Go grab the bow over there Clint, all you have to do is shoot at that target which will let out a colored dust and that will be the gender.” Pepper explains.
I smile and go grab my bow as Pepper calls for everyone to come gather around before standing beside Tony. Natasha and Steve stand closest to Bobbi as I ready my bow to take aim. I let the arrow fly as time to seem to slow, the arrow getting slower the closer it gets before embedding itself into the target. I take a deep breath and look over at Bobbi who is covering her mouth but smiling her eyes watering.
I turn back as a colorful dust explodes out and it was a color I wasn’t expecting. Blue, bright blue covers the ground, the crowd and myself as I let out a deep breath. Time returns to speed as Bobbi runs to me hugging me closely. “It’s a boy, a beautiful boy.” She whispers over and over as the crowd cheers. Uncle Tony being the loudest as Confetti cannons fire blue as I laugh.
Everything calms back down and I let Bobbi go, Natasha being the first to make her way over to us. She kneels in front of Bobbi placing a hand on either side of her stomach. “You traitor.” She states as Bobbi laughs and Steve offers his hand to help her up. She smiles a bit and hugs Bobbi as Steve shakes my hand, “Congrats Clint.”
After that everyone slowly comes up and makes their congratulatory remarks. After a while Coulson’s phone lets out a loud alert causing the party to go silent. He checks it quickly glancing around locking eyes with the photographer for a second. He might be wondering if he can comment something in front of him. Coulson then turns to face Steve and Natasha, “Rogers, Romanoff suit up we leave in 5.” They both nod and make their way down Coulson coming to us. “No worries you two, Congrats again. Remember Phil is always a good choice.”
Natasha’s POV:
Steve and I rush to get ready changing into basic attire and grabbing our weapons. We both decided it to be best to leave our uniforms at home not wanting to pull to much attention to ourselves in public. We have both been eager for this call to come, but honestly we were not expecting it to come in the middle of a baby shower.
Coulson was waiting in the garage beside his own SHIELD issued SUV, “Climb in, I will debrief on the way.”
We both nod Steve taking the front seat and I slide into the back positioning myself between their seats. Coulson pulls out of the garage as he starts to go into full detail on the winter soldier and his whereabouts. He seems to be living in the middle of Indianapolis, although he is keeping quiet so he might actually not put up a fight. Coulson quickly gets us on the first quinjet out to drop us off in the middle of Indiana.
Once we take our seats, a rookie pilot and his veteran copilot preparing for take off, Steve takes my hand. I am hoping for a short trip, Steve and I only packed for a few days at the most. I know he is praying for it to be easy for him to come home with Bucky, although we both know we are never quite that lucky.
When the wheels touch down we both jump up and prepare to get out to meet the car Coulson prepared for us. We both settle into the typical SHIELD SUV that was left for us and I turn on the radio to ease the tension. Steve has gotten a bit better with modern music, although he leans more towards country and occasionally rock or jazz rather than the obnoxious pop music. He follows the GPS that leads to an average apartment building away from the bustling city.
I open the glove compartment and grab the keys and a note, “We are in apartment 2B and he is in apartment 6A. Let’s get settled in and see if we can set up cameras to monitor him before we confront him.”
Steve gives me and nod and carries our bags in and into the bare apartment as I busy myself with the various tech and equipment we plan to use. My phone dings and Steve checks it for me, “Clint wishes us luck, although he is upset he doesn’t have clearance to know what we are up too.”
I shake my head, “He is gonna worry himself grey before he is 45.”
Steve smiles, “especially with a baby coming, is he planning on keeping up with SHIELD and the Avengers?”
I shrug moving to sit beside him on the couch. “Clint and I haven’t had the time to sit down and just talk since all of the changes that started happening.”
Steve nods, “You should take him out, like you did when we first became a team. You both earned it.”
“I will, but first we have to get you your best friend back Mr. Rogers.” I smile and pat his thigh as I get up. “Come on let’s go put the stuff up, and meet the neighbors.”
“Of course Mrs. Rogers,” He remarks remembering our cover and I smile. Maybe it won’t be so bad to hear that everyday… if he ever decides to ask that is.