Seeing the Stars
Dinner was from one of Tony's favourite take-out places, so he figured that the night would go pretty well from there on. Tony should have known that with his recent luck, things couldn't stay nice too long. He was busy contemplating how his night really wasn't going too badly while sitting in Steve's arms when it all started going down hill. The Avengers were seated around the communal living room, all (with the exception of Tony) filling out reports on the battle the day before. Steve was completing the paper work with one hand, while the other was wrapped around Tony's stomach. Clint approached the pair, taking the spot next to them on the couch and smiling at Tony.
"You're just so sleepy today, aren't you squirt." Tony huffed and tried to ignore the archer, who reached out and tickled his chest. Tony wriggled in Steve's arms, trying to avoid both getting tickled more and letting out a childish giggle.
"No Cwint!!!" This only encouraged the man. Clint snatched Tony from Steve's arms, and proceeded to tickle him all over. "Noooo! Cwint! Gonna'-" He was cut off by a sudden wash of dread, and an itchy hot feeling spreading through his diaper area. He'd just peed himself. While conscious. And, he hadn't even known he'd had to pee before hand. Tony bit his lip, and tried to ignore the urge to start sobbing. It would only make him seem more infantile, and that was a thought he couldn't handle at the moment. Clint must've noticed, because he stopped tickling Tony, but (thank god!), he didn't make any comments on it. He simply stood, grabbing the soother from where it'd been abandoned on the arm of the couch earlier, even though he figured he wouldn't need it.
"I think the kid needs a change. I can deal with it." Tony winced at the words as he was carried out of the room. Tony pressed his face into the archers shirt, choosing to focus on the subtle scent of bow wax and burnt coffee*, rather than accepting what Clint had said. "How did I get stuck with this job?" Clint muttered with no real bite in his voice as he walked into the washroom. Clint sat Tony on the ground, and he momentarily considered running, before remembering how well that went last time. Meanwhile, the archer had already gathered all the necessary supplies, and he patted the changing mat he'd laid out. "Lie down Tony." Despite how young he knew it made him look, Tony stuck out his bottom lip, and shook his head. Clint sighed and reached out to clasp Tony's tiny hands, and gently tug them till the little boy was closer to the mat. Tony struggled as he was gently but firmly lowered onto the mat, but he wasn't really trying seeing as he knew he was no match for the man lowering him. Clint recognized that this wasn't going to be easy, and decided maybe the soother would be needed after all. He tried to put it in Tony's mouth, but unlike last time Tony was more conscious and fought back squirming and throwing his head side to side. "Please babe." Clint's tone was soft, but desperate, "Why don't you just relax, and it can go by super quickly. Remember last time, how much the soother helped you calm down?" Tony continued squirming as he considered that. Then finally, he went limp and allowed the pacifier to pass through his lips. The archer, feeling deeply relieved, stroked Tony's hair, and murmured a few sweet nothings about what a good boy he was before he undid the buttons on the bottom of the onsie, and made quick work of changing Tony's diaper. For Tony, the change was still horribly uncomfortable (he especially couldn't stand the feeling of the cold wipes), but he couldn't deny that the soother was calming, and as long as he focused on rhythmically sucking on it, he didn't really have full awareness of the diaper change. Still, it surprised him as much as it did Clint when the archer went to tug the soother from Tony's lips and Tony let out a frustrated whine and clamped his lips around it. "You want to keep it bub?" Clint raised his eyebrows in mild amusement. Tony's cheeks went pink as he let out a muffled yes please from behind the soother. Clint carried Tony back into the living room, where Tony expected he'd be returned to Steve, but instead, he was placed directly in that stupid playpen, which was now lined with blankets. Clint smiled when he realized the blanket he was swaddling a very betrayed looking Tony in had Hawkeye spelled out on it in ASL. "Is everything JARVIS got him Avengers themed?" Clint laughed. Steve shrugged,
"I'm beginning to think so." He looked to Tony, who he could see through the mesh was pouting dejectedly. This time he spoke quietly, "I think it's time we all went to our own floors, and let JARVIS keep an eye on him. I doubt he'll sleep otherwise." Tony wanted to tell Steve that he'd heard him, but he couldn't form entire sentences at the moment, especially with the soother taking up half his mouth. Instead he just gave a pitiful call for his teammates, thinking maybe one of them would have a heart and let him out.
"Na'!" she was the final name he tried, knowing she'd be tough to break. All the others had made their way out of the room by that point.
"Sorry Tones. You gotta' go to sleep now." She leaned over the edge of the netting to plant a kiss on his forehead, to which he just huffed. He watched her longingly as she made her way to the elevator. Then, the lights went dim, and he was alone.
"Ms. Romanov, I'm very sorry to bother you," It was the early hours of the morning when Natasha was woken by an apologetic sounding JARVIS, "but young master appears to be in distress, and has requested your presence." Natasha groaned as she sat up to go see Tony.
"Tell Clint to come too." Natasha was pretty good with kids, but seeing as Clint was a father, he was even better."
When she reached the communal floor, she heard a soft whimper emanating from the corner of the room where the Playpen-turned-crib was, and even in the dim light, she could see that Tony's face was red and tear-streaked.
"Oh baby." She murmured as she made her way over to him. He seemed to be in such a deep toddler state of mind, he didn't even hesitate to reach his hands up and whine desperately. She scooped him up in her arms, while at the same time collecting a blanket which'd been tossed, and the ironman teddy. The spy gently placed the the toy in Tony's arms, then swaddled him teddy and all in the blanket. Unlike any other time she'd held him, he made no attempts at squirming away, but rather settled instantly, a dead weight in her arms. She exhaled a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in when his eyes began to flutter closed, but then, Clint entered the room, and his eyes popped right back open again, pacifier bobbing quicker in his mouth.
"How's the kid?" She rolled her eyes,
"He was starting to fall asleep 'til you walked in." Tony was still staring at Clint with glassy wide eyes.
"Judging by the looks of it, he would've woken up again whether I walked in or not. Besides, you're the one who told me to come, remember?" The archer focused his attention on the baby, "Nightmare?" Natasha nodded. "I know how to get him to go to sleep again, but..." Clint smiled in a way Natasha found suspicious, "he's gonna' need another blanket."
A few minutes later, Tony found himself snug in two blankets and a hat, feeling very warm for the fact that he was outside on the roof of a skyscraper. Natasha was holding him tight in her arms, cradling him so that he was looking directly up at the indigo star speckled sky. Every few minutes Clints arm would venture into his eyeline, and he'd point at one star in particular,
"Look at that one bub!" His voice contained excitement, but remained soft. "That's Sirius, the most visible star from anywhere on earth." Tony blinked a few times as he tried to focus his eyes where Clint was pointing. Looking at the sky was dizzying, and every moment he was feeling more tired. After a few moments of staring at Canis Major as though in a trance, Tony surrendered to the sleep tugging at his eyes. Clint smiled knowingly at Natasha once he saw Tony's eyes were closed. "Told you. Seeing the stars always leads to a good sleep."