“Loki…” Tony grumbled, rolling over to face his sleeping husband. He had been rudely awakened by their daughter, who was currently crying. Loudly.
The inventor got his response quickly. The sleep-deprived Loki nuzzled into his pillow, murmuring.
“Mmm… five more minutes…”
Tony huffed, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Fine, I guess I’ll go take care of your daughter then.”
“Our…” Loki corrected without even opening his eyes.
“Yeah. Our. My bad.” Tony rolled his eyes, getting out of bed and standing there for a second. Damn his husband, not getting up to take care of Hrá with him. Though, he couldn’t really say much. The mage had been the one to get up the previous four nights. He had been running on almost zero hours of sleep- maybe two if he was lucky. Tony quickly got over himself, realizing that Loki needed the sleep.
“If you desperately need me, have Jarvis get me…” Loki mumbled to Tony before he reached the door.
“Gotcha. Will do. Now go back to sleep. I got this.”
The god barely managed to hum before he rolled over and was out again. Tony chuckled to himself as he left the room, shutting the door behind him as he made his way to where his daughter was supposed to be sleeping.
As he neared the doorway, he was already talking to the little one. “Alright, snowflake. What’s the matter?”
He was answered by the continued cries. Hrá was laying in her crib, practically wailing at this point. Tony sighed, moving over to her.
“Come on, tiny. What’s the problem?” He leaned down and picked her up, holding her against his chest. The wailing almost immediately died down, staying as just crying now.
“Well… that’s a start,” Tony whispered, taking the little one over to the convenient rocking chair that he had requested be put in the nursery. He sat down, gently rocking her. She quieted a bit more, her cheek nuzzled against Tony’s chest.
“Alright… let's try and get this problem solved, okay bug?”
Hrá whined, grasping at Tony’s shirt.
“Shh, shh. It’s okay.” He caressed her cheek. “You’re alright, tiny. Are you hungry? Is that what this is?”
She let out another whine. She didn’t seem to be searching for a food source, so Tony ruled out that potential.
“Jesus… how does Loki do this…?” Tony murmured to himself, staring down at his child and stopping the rocking.
The lack of movement-and affection- made the baby’s cries grow louder again.
“Oh Hrá, honey. Please don’t cry… um...”
Jarvis spoke up as Tony seemed to get more distraught.
“Sir, perhaps you should sing her a lullaby?"
The inventor looked up to the camera that was in the room to respond to the AI.
“Lullaby… uh, yeah sure. Does Loki do that for her?”
“He does. Usually, it helps."
Tony sighed. “Alright.”
He looked back down at his whimpering daughter, gently caressing her cheek again. “Let’s see if I can remember one for you, peanut.”
The genius had to wrack his brain to try and remember a lullaby. He hadn’t heard many in his life, so it took him a moment to eventually remember one. One from a Disney movie he had watched as a child- and more recently with Loki. He started to rock Hrá in the chair again, singing softly to her.
“La la lu, La la lu. Oh, my little star sweeper. I'll sweep the stardust for you.”
Hrá had hushed soon after Tony started, her cries reduced to little sniffles as looked up at him with big, brown eyes and listened to him. He smiled softly at that, continuing the song.
“La la lu, La la lu. Little soft fluffy sleeper. Here comes a pink cloud for you.”
The little one made a noise as Tony leaned down to kiss her forehead.
“La la lu, La la lu. Little wandering angel. Fold up your wings, close your eyes.”
Hrá nuzzled into Tony’s chest, eyes closing as her breathing evened out. Miraculously, she was actually falling asleep. The billionaire couldn’t contain his grin as he stood up and moved to stand at the side of her crib, quietly finishing out the song.
“La la lu, La la lu. And may love be your keeper. La la lu, La la lu, La la lu.”
The tiny being had most definitely fallen asleep in Tony’s arms now. He was proud of himself, getting her to calm down and sleep with simply his voice. By this point, he had also realized what the whole ordeal was about. Hrá had wanted attention- taking after Loki for sure.
He kissed her forehead before setting her gently on her back in her crib, a smile on his face.
“There now, little star sweeper. Dream on,” He whispered to her before turning to the door and exiting the baby’s room.
Finally, he thought. Sleep.
Tony returned to the bedroom he shared with Loki, yawning and slipping under the covers. The sudden movement of the bed caused Loki to stir and face his husband. His eyes opened slowly, and he sleepily looked to Tony.
“You get her to go back to sleep…?”
“Yeah. She just needed some cuddling and a lullaby and she was all set,” Tony said with a soft chuckle. He threw an arm over Loki, pulling him close and nuzzling his neck. “I think we’ll be good for a few hours.”
Loki hummed, his eyes closing again. “Good… you need sleep…”
“Yeah, you too. Let’s get on that, yeah? Sleep sounds so good right now.”
Loki gave a short nod, wrapping his arms around Tony. “Thanks for taking care of her…”
Tony was smiling again. He pressed a kiss to the top of Loki’s forehead. “No problem, babe. Least I could do after you did it so many times.”
“Love you…”
“Love you too, Lolo. Now, sleep. We both need it before she wakes up again.”