“There’s just something wrong with it,” Steve said as he tilted his head and stared at the drawing that was in his lap. The man was currently working on a charcoal and chalk drawing of a small still life he had set up in the common floor. The Captain had always had a knack and passion for art, especially drawing, whether it be with graphite, pastels, or charcoal, and now that they were starting to settle their lives down a bit, he was trying to find more time for this hobby. The problem was that he had been incredibly uninspired. Nothing sparked him as a composition that he wanted to draw, and everything just seemed so uninteresting – nothing was right, nothing was perfect. Bucky had brought up the idea of making his own still life at lunch today, and this seemed like a step in the right direction. So after lunch, Steve set up a small tray table in the corner of the room, against a white wall, and on top of it he put a stack of books, some reading glasses, and an antique miniature globe he had found in a closet. Next, he pulled out a pad of charcoal paper, a kneaded eraser, white chalk pencils, and a variety of black charcoal pencils. He had just sat down and was starting to get the contour line drawing part of it done, when he felt a little tug at his shirt. Steve looked down and saw little Tony sitting on his knees, staring up at his Daddy who was sitting on a tall stool. In the baby’s mind, his Daddy was looking very silly, since he kept holding his thumb out and closing one eye. The blonde man had left Tony on his large blanket on the floor, with a bucket of blocks and other toys, thinking that it would distract him for a while. But while it was fun to play by yourself for a little while, Tony eventually wanted his Daddy, especially since the man seemed to be very interested in something… perhaps he should be very interested too. So the brunette boy crawled over to where Steve was, and pulled on his shirt, hoping to get his attention.
“Hi sweetheart,” Steve had said as he looked down at the boy, running his free hand through the boy’s hair.
“What you doing, Daddy?” the boy mumbled from behind his pacifier as he continued to stare up at the blonde man.
“I’m drawing a pretty picture,” the Daddy explained as he swiped some strands of hair out of Tony’s eyes.
“Of the wall?” the baby asked confused, since it looked as if his Daddy was just staring at a white wall… how crazy and silly!
Steve laughed as he replied with, “No, not of the wall, love,” and then followed the statement by standing up, setting the metal tin of pencils and paper on the stool. “You want to see?” he then added, reaching his arms down for the boy who instantly nodded. The Daddy then pulled the boy up onto his hip, pointing with his free hand at the still life. “This is called a still life, I made it by taking a bunch of different things and setting it on a table,” the man continued as he lightly bounced the boy on his hip.
“Pwetty,” the boy said as he looked at it, making the blonde smile.
“Isn’t it pretty? Daddy thought it looked very nice, so he wants to draw a picture of it, so he can keep it forever and ever,” the man said as he started to sway from side to side.
“Picture?” Tony then asked confused, tilting his head as he looked up at Steve.
“Yup, Daddy is going to draw a picture,” the man clarified, not sure why the boy seemed confused.
“No, no,” Tony said shaking his head… jeez, his Daddy was awful dumb sometimes. But Steve only laughed at the action, pulling the pacifier from the boy’s lips, hoping he could understand him better this way.
“What do you mean then baby?” he asked.
“Picture with camera,” Tony said as if it was obvious, and the remark made Steve burst into laughter.
“Well aren’t you so smart,” he said as he continued to chuckle. “I guess it would make much more sense to take a picture instead of trying to draw it, but Daddy likes drawing, it makes him very happy,” Steve continued as he let the boy peek over at the start of his drawing.
“Ohs,” the boy said simply, reaching out to touch the value range that Steve had shaded in the top corner, which ended with him getting a smudge of black charcoal on his finger. “Uh oh,” he the boy said as he held his finger up, causing Steve to laugh again – he was in quite a good mood today, and he was enjoying every second of it.
“That’s okay, it washes off. Daddy will probably get very messy when doing this drawing,” the artist said as he thought about how dark the books were, meaning he would be using a lot of dark charcoal, and while he was decently experienced with the medium, he had a habit of getting it everywhere. Tony seemed to take that statement as ‘it washes off, so go ahead and put it on my nose’ since as soon as Steve had finished his statement, the baby had pressed his dust covered finger onto the blonde’s nose, leaving a charcoal mark.
“Daddy pwetty now too,” the boy said with a smile, before reaching for his pacifier again.
“Oh really?” the Daddy said with a smile as he kissed the boy’s nose, and then popped the comfort item into the boy’s mouth.
“Mmmhmm,” the baby nodded as he laid his head down on Steve’s shoulder. It was about 1pm, meaning that it was probably time for Tony to take a nap, especially since yawns were starting to pull their ways from the boy’s chest.
“I think maybe it’s naptime for Tony,” the blonde stated as he walked over to the couch and sat down. It was surprisingly quiet on the common floor today, with everyone off doing their own things.
“No,” the boy whined as Steve pulled him closer to his chest.
“Yes,” Steve said back in the same tone making the boy crack a smile. The Daddy was just opening his mouth to say something when the elevator doors opened and Bucky stepped into the room. “Hey Bucky,” the Captain said as the brunette walked over to them.
“Hey Steve, and hello Tony, how are you this afternoon?” he asked as he kneeled down to look the boy in the eyes.
“Goods,” the boy said as he yawned, pacifier falling out of his mouth and onto the floor.
“Awe, is someone a tired little baby?” Bucky said with a smile as he picked the pacifier up and put it in his pocket, not wanting to give the dirty thing back to the lad. Steve and Tony then proceeded to say ‘no’ and ‘yes’ at the exact same time, causing the brunette man’s smile to widen.
“I think he could use some quiet time,” the Daddy said as he rested his chin on top of Tony’s hair. ‘Quiet time’ had become Steve’s new go-to word for ‘nap’ that does not quite specify a nap, it simply means time in a dark room, where you close your eyes… and hopefully sleep. Bucky nodded as he looked over at Steve’s still life, liking the overall set up, thinking that it was very aesthetically pleasing, while also being simplistic and unique.
“That’s going to look great Steve. Do you want me to put him down for a nap, and you can work on it?” the man offered.
“You don’t have to do that, I can do it—” the blonde started to say before he was cut off by the brunette.
“But I want to,” Bucky said, “I want to spend some time with my nephew, besides, if I take him, you can work in peace and quiet… which I know is your preferred way of drawing,” he continued.
“Well that would be awesome,” Steve smiled, before turning to his baby, “Do you want to have some quiet time with Uncle Bucky?” he asked.
“Mmhmm,” the boy nodded, “See Daddy after?” he then clarified, displaying the separation anxiety that the team had noticed when it came to Tony and Steve.
“Of course baby doll, as soon as quiet time is over and you want to see your Daddy, we will come right back up, I promise,” the longhaired man said, while taking Tony into his arms, the boy curling up into his side.
“Kay,” Tony said as he nuzzled his face into his Uncle’s shoulder.
“You have a nice time with your Uncle, alright? Get some rest. Daddy loves you,” Steve whispered to the boy, and ended the statement with a gently kiss to the boy’s temple.
“I’ll try and get him down,” Bucky said, purposely leaving out ‘for a nap.’
“Thanks so much,” the Daddy said as he stood up and walked over to his stool and drawing supplies.
“Not a problem, so bye-bye to Daddy,” the brunette said as he started to walk towards the elevator.
“Bye-bye Daddy,” Tony said quietly.
“Bye Tony,” Steve said with a smile as he sat back down and picked up his pencil, listening to the elevator doors close.
--
So that is why Steve is working on a drawing without his pesky little boy bugging him every two seconds, and is instead able to concentrate on the still life and drawing. Of course, this concentration has turned into downright skepticism, since he cannot for the life of him figure out what is wrong with it.
“What do you mean?” Clint asked as he looked the drawing, tilting his head like Steve.
“Something is just wrong, I don’t know what, but it’s wrong. I just don’t like the way it looks,” Steve said as he set the drawing board and pencils down.
“Then draw something else,” Clint said as he sat down on the couch.
“Draw something else? Like what? I set this still life up specifically to draw and—” the blonde man rambled as the elevator doors opened and Tony ran into the room.
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” he yelled as he ran up to Steve, practically jumping onto his back.
“Tony, Tony, Tony!” the man said as he set his supplies and drawings on the floor, turning around to scoop his baby into his arms, rocking him around once the boy was safely in wrapped in his arms. “How was your nap?” he inquired, knowing that there was no way for this boy to have so much energy and excitement without a nap.
“It was good,” Bucky said as he walked in, carrying a pacifier, the boy’s blankie, and stuffed Piglet.
“Unca’ Bucky read new story!” the boy said excitedly as he wrapped his own arms around Steve’s neck.
“Oh, did he now? What was it about?” the Daddy asked as he walked away from the still life, afraid he may somehow tip it over.
“Pooh bear,” Tony said in an obvious tone of voice, making Steve shake his head since he should have figured that out on his own, given the boy’s infatuation with the Winnie the Pooh characters and stories.
“Oh silly me, I should have guessed that,” he said as he sat down on the couch next to Clint.
“So how is the drawing coming?” Bucky asked as he peeked over at it.
“Not good, I don’t like the direction it is going. I feel like I’m just uninspired for this drawing, it’s just not right, the composition isn’t perfect,” the man said with a frown.
“I think it’s looking good,” the brunette said as he tilted his head.
“There’s something off, the perspective of the books isn’t right, but I’m not in the mood to mess with it. I want to draw… but I don’t want to draw that,”
“Tony draw too?” the baby suddenly asked, looking up with soft eyes at the blonde man.
“Do you want to draw and create art too?” the Daddy asked, looking down at the boy, gaining a vigorous nod in response. “Alright baby, we can do that,” the man continued as he stood up, leaving the boy on the couch, who began swinging his legs back and forth. Steve walked over to a set of shelves they had in the common floor living area that was dedicated to toys for little Tony, and he pulled out a small bin of coloring supplies. Tony was often in a very young headspace, and because of that, mixed with his love for things like blocks, he didn’t find use for crayons and colored pencils that often – meaning they didn’t have a ton, but enough to keep the boy occupied. The Daddy made a mental note to order some more arts and crafts supplies for times like this, as he walked over to the couch. “Alright, do you remember the rules for coloring?” the Daddy asked as he sat down on the couch next to Tony, and a few feet down from Bucky.
“Ummm,” the boy hummed as he looked up at Steve.
“No coloring on the couch, or on the walls, or on your clothes, or anywhere else. Crayons and pencils go on the paper. I don’t care how much paper you use, or how much you color it, but that’s the only thing that gets color on it, right?” the Daddy reminded as he opened the bin and pulled out a stack of paper, as well as two boxes of Crayola crayons and a large box of Crayola colored pencils.
“Okay!” the boy said excitedly as he pulled out a black pencil from the box.
“What are you going to draw?” Steve asked as he peeked over the boy’s shoulder.
“Is a surprise,” the boy said as he tried to cover his lines with his arms.
“Oh, okay, Daddy won’t look then,” the blonde said with a chuckle as he took the water bottle that Bucky was handing him.
“Goods!” Tony said as he turned his body to block the drawing even more.
So, they sat there, Clint, Steve, and Bucky, all chatting about a variety of subjects, including video games, workouts, and naps, all while Tony slaved over his drawing. Occasionally pulling out a new pencil, before he hunched back over the paper. Steve participated in the conversation, but as the minutes ticked by, he started to simply watch his little boy as he leaned over his drawing, pencil in hand, tongue sticking out at an angle, looking simply adorable. As the man continued to watch the boy his head started to glide over the different lines of the boy’s body, and it was here that Steve got the overwhelming urge to draw this sight in front of him. His issue for the past few months had been that nothing interested him enough to draw it, nothing was worth it to him… but this? His little boy in front of him, slipped deep into his headspace, trying to be like his Daddy, was absolutely perfect. He quickly and quietly stood up, walking over to his art supplies, where he picked up the pad of paper and flipped to a blank sheet. Steve then grabbed his tin of pencils and erasers, walked back over to the couch, and looked down at the boy.
“Hey Tony?” the man asked quietly.
“Don’t look Daddy!” the boy said, covering his hands over the page.
“I’m not looking,” Steve said through a laugh, as Tony quickly moved the paper out of Steve’s view. “Would you be okay with Daddy drawing you?” he then asked, wanting to make sure he was okay with Steve documenting his little side in this new way.
“Mmhmm,” Tony said with a firm nod of his head, before turning back to his paper.
“Okay, thank you baby,” Steve said as he moved his head and looked around at the boy, trying to find the best angle. He then realized, in order to capture the littleness and innocence of the scene, he should do it from the boy’s level. So Steve sat down on the ground, legs out in front of him, as he picked up a hard charcoal pencil and began sketching, all while Bucky and Clint continued talking about something that Steve didn’t quite catch.
30 minutes later Steve had a pretty decent contour line drawing, which was essentially an outline of Tony, and had some small amount of shading in the shadow areas. Granted he had only spent half an hour on it, but the man still preferred it over the drawing he had spent the last few hours on. He lifted his eyes up and tilted his head, glancing back and forth at the drawing and the sight in front of him, comparing proportions and overall placement, smiling when he saw how accurate it was.
“That is adorable,” Bucky said as he looked down, happy that Steve had found some artistic inspiration.
“Thanks Buck, I want to keep working on this, I think I could have a lot of fun with it,” the blonde said as he watched Tony put the finishing touches on his own drawing.
“I guess you just needed to find your own mini muse, huh?” the brunette man said from his place on the couch as he looked at Steve’s drawing.
“I guess so,” Steve smiled as Tony crawled over to him. “Did you finish? Can Daddy see?” he asked the boy, handing his pad of paper to Bucky so then he could pull the boy into his lap.
“Uh huh!” the boy said excitedly as was situated on top of Steve’s legs, making sure to shield his drawing from the man’s eyes – waiting for the big reveal.
“So little artist, what did you make?” the Daddy prompted as he watched Tony fidget with the paper in his hands. The boy quickly turned the page over to show a roughly done, yet still polished, colored pencil drawing of the still life Steve had set up earlier and been working on. It was clear that Tony’s headspace had influenced the style, since while big Tony was not an artist, he wasn’t half bad with a pencil – but this young and cartoonish style of drawing was even better than a realistic rendition in Steve’s eyes, since it showed that his boy had put a lot of hard work into, while also showing the depth of his headspace.
“Is this Daddy’s still life?” the man asked excitedly, taking the drawing into his own hands as Tony laid his head on the blonde’s shoulder.
“Mmmhmm! Daddy said was hard, so Tony do it for you! Then Daddy no sad,” the boy explained, making the adult’s hearts melt at the adorable gesture. Tony must have picked up on how frustrated Steve was when it came to his still life drawing, and had decided to draw it himself, so then his Daddy didn’t have to – a down right charming idea.
“Oh sweetheart! I love it, it’s beautiful. Thank you so much,” the Daddy gushed as he peppered the boy’s face with kisses, before looking back at the drawing. The boy had gone pretty abstract, but he used accurate colors, and had done a damn good job in Steve’s mind… better than he had done… but perhaps that was his love for his baby bleeding into his logic and thinking – but if it was, he didn’t care.
“Welcome,” the boy said as he peeked up at the drawing pad his Uncle had in his own hands, “Daddy drawed too?” he then asked.
“Yes, your Daddy did draw, you want to see?” Bucky said handing the pad of paper back to Steve, who had traded him with the drawing, so then Bucky could take a look at the baby’s masterpiece. “This is very good,” he said to the boy after glancing at the picture, smiling at the small details he had put into it. Tony beamed in response to the compliment, shifting his shoulders upwards as a tinge of pink covered his cheeks.
“What Daddy draw?” he then asked, taking a look at the picture before letting out a gasp. “It me!” the boy said shocked, while pointing a finger at himself.
“That’s right, Daddy drew you,” Steve said with a chuckle as Tony looked deeply at the drawing, before turning to look into the blonde’s eyes.
“Because Daddy thought Tony look pretty, and wanna keep it forever and ever?” the baby brunette asked, repeating Steve’s words from earlier, causing Bucky to let out an ‘awe.’
“That’s right! What a smart little boy you are! I thought you looked very pretty and adorable, and wanted to save it forever and ever,” the Daddy said as he pressed another kiss to Tony’s temple.
“You guys are too fucking cute, I can’t handle all this love junk,” Clint said as he stood up.
“Don’t swear in front of the baby,” Bucky said as he smacked Clint with a pillow.
“I draw more?” Tony inquired, softly looking up at his Daddy.
“Of course, baby,” Steve said with a smile, “Maybe you could make something for Uncle Bucky, hmm?” he added in a soft voice which was loud enough for Bucky to hear, but soft and quiet enough for Tony to think it was a secret.
“Okay!” he said sharply, before jumping out of Steve’s lap and walking over to the shelves that were near the couch.
“Where are you going?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Gots to make stills life,” the boy mumbled as he picked up a book from the shelved and brought it over to the coffee table, setting it down on the wooden surface.
“You’ve created a monster,” Bucky said with a laugh as he saw what the boy was doing. Tony then got down on his knees by the table, and took a pacifier that was sitting by his box of crayons, and set it on top of the book, placing a bottle next to it, tilting his head to get a good look at it.
“Is good?” Tony asked Steve, clearly valuing his Daddy’s opinion.
“I think it is beautiful, just like you,” the blonde said with a smile, gaining a bright smile in response from his baby. Steve then pulled out a softer pencil and started working on the drawing of Tony, occasionally glancing up at the boy, who had his tongue stuck out in concentration. ‘Yes,’ thought Steve, ‘Now this is perfect.’