Chapter 41
Since Loki wanted a few more days before returning back to life in the tower, Steve and Bucky asked Tony if they could move their room closer to Loki’s old room so they could convert it into a nursery as a surprise.
Tony had nodded, given them a credit card, and said, “Knock yourselves out; just ask Clint if you have any baby questions, that’s his realm of knowledge, not mine.”
So far, they’d painted the walls a calming blue. They tried looking up which color would be best for a baby, but since all the websites they checked gave different answers, they decided to go with the color Clint said his nursery was.
Now they were trying to figure out the crib.
Bucky had insisted he would figure it out on his own, but an hour later, he still hadn’t pieced it together.
So while Steve tried flipping through the instructions, Bucky glared at the walls of the room.
“I still think he would’ve liked green better,” Bucky grumbled, trying and failing to mask his frustration.
Steve ignored him, pointing at a piece of the crib, marked with the letter C, “I think that one connects to this one,” he grabbed another piece, and moved it around, trying to figure out where it fit in.
Finally, something clicked.
“Aha!”
Steve glanced proudly up at Bucky, who promptly rolled his eyes.
“Just tell me what to do,” he sighed.
They coaxed Loki into leaving his pocket dimension the day after they finished the nursery.
“It’s just us,” Bucky promised, “We told Tony to take everyone else somewhere to eat.”
“They won’t be coming back for another couple of hours,” Steve said, and added gently, “You’ve got to come out sometime.”
“Come on,” Bucky begged, “Please?”
“Fine,” Loki relented, standing up to leave, “but for the record, it’s only because I miss my old room.”
He handed Willow over to Steve to hold, freeing up his hands to use his seidr.
As his need for it had ended, he dispelled the pocket dimension, the materials still left in it going back to where they’d been before.
“Oh yeah,” Bucky drawled, “About that . . . “
“What did you do?”
“Nothing bad!” Bucky defended, holding his hands up, “Steve and I just thought--”
“Bucky!” Steve cut him off with a stage whisper, “It’s a surprise!”
“Right! Right,” Bucky nodded, following them down the hallway to Loki’s door.
Steve opened the door, and Loki squeezed past them both to look at the room.
Blue walls, newly painted, with little white clouds and birds painted above a brand new crib, along the wall close to the bed, stacked high with stuffed animals and baby blankets.
For a moment, he didn’t react, and Bucky was afraid that maybe he didn’t like the blue, as he’d feared, but then his expression crumbled, dissolving into tears.
“You did all this for me?”
“And Willow,” Steve grinned, “Do you like it?”
“I . . .” Loki ran his hands down the painted wall, “I don’t know what to say.”
“How about ‘Thank you?’” Bucky grinned as Steve set Willow in the crib, “Oh! And we asked Tony to move our bedroom, so now we’ll be right across the hall.”
“Just in case,” Steve finished, nodding, and added, “Or whenever you want, of course.”
Loki grinned, and gathered them both into a fierce hug.
The distant sound of a door opening and closing cut the moment short..
All three men froze.
“I thought you said the Avengers were supposed to be out to lunch?” Loki glanced at Steve, who looked just as worried as he felt.
“They are,” Bucky answered.