Chapter Text
It’s naptime, also known as “three out of four pups are miraculously asleep at the same time” time, which is about the best they’ve managed in the past three months. Ruth’s still fussing, but quietly enough that Darcy’s managed to keep her from waking up the others. They’re all very heavy sleepers, fortunately. They’re all in their bassinets in the nest, except for Ruth who she’s walking around the living room with while the quieter part of Steve’s playlist plays. It helps the babies sleep, or at least it seems like it does. Considering how many times Bucky listened to it while he was pregnant, Darcy’s pretty sure it helps.
Ruth fusses. Darcy hums along with the song, moving to the rhythm of it. She still can’t dance, really, but she can manage that, and the pups like it. Bucky’s better at it, of course.
“What’s wrong, baby girl?” she croons, nuzzling Ruth. She’s grown so much in three months, Darcy can hardly believe it. “You’re all clean and fed and warm, what else do you need?”
Ruth whimpers restlessly, and Darcy nuzzles her again. She’s still unsure about parenting more often than she’s not, but she’s at least learned how to soothe a distressed pup. They’ve been pretty lucky in that most of the pups are good sleepers, but unfortunately they are not all on quite the same sleep schedule.
It’s the quietest the tower’s been in a while, even with Ruth’s fussing. Bucky’s out shopping with Thor--Darcy’d practically had to kick him out, but he’d definitely needed the break--Tony and Bruce are in the fabrication lab with Jane and Erik, she owes Ian a phone call, Rhodey and Pepper are in the penthouse, Clint’s in the gym, and Steve and Sam and Natasha are busy cleaning out yet another HYDRA hideout. She’s not sure when to expect either them or Bucky and Thor back, although it’ll probably be soon for both. This month is looking suspiciously like the one where all the Avengers are finally going to be on the same heat cycle, judging by the pheromones she’s been picking up, so that’s gonna be a whole thing. A very soon whole thing.
Oh boy, does she hope the Earth isn’t gonna be in any peril that the Hulk and Hawkeye can’t handle anytime in the next week. Like, really hope.
Ruth fusses again, and Darcy presses a kiss to the crown of her head with a low, soothing rumble.
“It’s okay, baby girl,” she says. “Do you just miss Momma? He’ll be home soon. He loves you so much, you know he couldn’t be gone for long.”
Maybe she should get J.A.R.V.I.S. to record some of the lullabies Bucky sings to the pups, come to think of it. It couldn’t hurt. The pups all love her, she knows, but Bucky is their favorite, although she suspects Carolina likes Thor better than either of them. Admittedly they’re a little young for things like that to be too obvious, but they throw up on her more than they do on Bucky, they sleep better when he’s the one who puts them down, and they definitely prefer nursing to bottle-feeding.
There’s so much to do lately, with so many pups to juggle and taser lessons and wedding plans all going on at once, not to mention the usual scientist-wrangling and occasionally checking in on Steve to make sure he’s not being too Steve about anything. It’s busier than Darcy could’ve ever imagined wanting her life to be, but it’s amazing, too. She always feels like she’s doing something that matters, these days--there always is something that matters to do these days.
It’s pretty heavy, but it’s pretty great too.
The door of the suite opens, and Darcy looks up at the scent of familiar cinnamon-sweet pheromones to find Bucky stepping in with a few shopping bags.
“Hey, Jamie,” she says, and he smiles at her and Ruth and comes over to kiss them both.
“The other three sleeping?” he asks as he sets down his bags and Ruth grabs eagerly at him.
“By some miracle,” Darcy says, letting him take Ruth. “They all tuckered themselves out.”
“Not you, though, baby doll,” Bucky croons, nuzzling Ruth, who babbles happily at him and puts her hands all over his face. “I bet you won’t sleep ‘til at least two of them wake up, will you?”
“I’d take that bet,” Darcy agrees wryly, pushing up on her toes to kiss his cheek. It’s about how things have been going, pup-rearing-wise. “Did you find a dress?”
“Not yet,” Bucky says. “It’s a little weird, there’s not much variety.”
“Gotta love the trends,” Darcy says.
“I kind of hate it, actually,” Bucky says. “I am not walking down the aisle in anything strapless. I am definitely not walking down the aisle in a mermaid cut.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something,” Darcy says, wondering what the hell a mermaid cut is. Meanwhile tux-shopping took all of an afternoon. But they’ve got well over a year and a half before Bucky actually needs the dress, so there’s plenty of time. The pups’ll be walking and talking by the time they actually tie the knot.
Honestly, Darcy would’ve banged out a civil ceremony over the weekend any time in the past few months and been done with it, but a: she’d like the pups to be old enough to at least enjoy the reception and b: Tony Stark was never hugged as a child, like, ever. She’s stopped asking what things cost, for her own sanity. She’s also made a mental note to hug all four pups at least once a day for the rest of her life.
Considering how big Tony’s insisting on their wedding being, though, she’d hate to see what he’d do for an actual Avenger’s wedding. Iron Man suits would probably be involved. Between him and Thor, Mr. “every party I have ever attended was either a royal feast or thrown by Tony Stark”, they’re gonna be drowning in wedding prep.
At least they’ll get really nice wedding gifts. That’s definitely gonna be a thing.
“I’m gonna get dinner started,” Bucky says, nuzzling Ruth one last time before returning her to Darcy. Ruth whines mournfully, so Darcy follows him to the kitchen. She probably would’ve anyway, really.
“Cool, what’s tonight?” she asks.
“No idea,” Bucky says, pulling a Yubari melon juice out of the fridge for her and a water bottle for himself. “Something low-effort, I don’t feel like pulling out all the stops.”
“Stir fry?” Darcy suggests as she glimpses a package of noodles on the shelf behind him. “That’s pretty easy, right?”
“Yeah, okay,” Bucky agrees, taking a quick drink before starting to rifle through the fridge. “Beef or chicken? Or do you just want vegetarian?”
“Beef,” Darcy says immediately, rocking Ruth gently as she starts to fuss again. Bucky could use the iron. “Will you put a couple bottles in the warmer too, the others are definitely gonna wake up hungry. You pumped before you left, right?”
“Yeah,” Bucky says, setting aside a bag of snow peas in favor of getting out the bottles. “I should do it again, though, I’m getting a little sore.”
“Want me to get chopping so you can?” Darcy suggests.
“Ruth’ll cry if you put her down now,” Bucky says, which, fair and probably true. “I’ll just--”
A little cry comes from the bedroom, and their attention immediately sharpens and shifts. Bucky’s already halfway across the kitchen before a second one joins in.
“Uh-oh, baby girl, sounds like your litter’s waking up cranky,” Darcy sighs, nuzzling Ruth and turning to follow him. Well, the food’s not in the middle of cooking, at least. This time. Then the doorbell rings, and she groans as all three pups in the nest start crying. “Jamie--”
“I’ll get the pups, you get the door,” he says. Fair enough, since her arms are already half-full. She adjusts her grip on Ruth and heads to the door, and Ruth smacks her in the face with a deceptively-powerful little baby fist, possibly because her litter-siblings crying is upsetting her but possibly just because she likes to smack people. It’s fifty-fifty.
She opens the door and finds a sheepish-looking, sweet-smelling Steve standing there flanked by Natasha and Sam, and blinks up at them in surprise. Well, up at Steve and Sam. Natasha’s a little more on her level.
“I totally thought you were all still off punching Nazis,” she says.
“Just got back,” Steve says. “Sorry if we woke the pups.”
“They were already waking up, it’s no big,” Darcy says, stepping back to let them in. “Give us a sec, though.” She leaves them in the living room and heads back into the bedroom, where Bucky’s in the nest and crooning soothingly to the pups in their tucked-in little bassinets as he changes them. “Need a hand?”
“Always,” he says wryly, then passes a fussy Carolina to her and finishes up with the even fussier Hannah and Eli before scooping them up himself. He’s much better at carrying multiple babies than she is, but she makes it work. At the rate they’re growing, though, that’s gonna be a mom thing for sure. “Was that Steve?”
“And Sam and Natasha,” Darcy confirms. “Not actually sure what they want.”
“I can make extra dinner,” Bucky says, because again, Tony Stark was never hugged as a child and their fridge is bursting.
“Sure, why not, we’ll make them entertain the pups,” Darcy says. They head back out into the living room, where any remaining quiet is destroyed and Bucky immediately dumps Hannah on Natasha, who as always looks--very briefly--both hunted by the gesture and touched by his trust. She pats Hannah’s back carefully, and Hannah sniffles wetly on her shoulder and then starts tugging at her bright red hair. Darcy has learned to love ponytails, personally.
“Wanna stay for dinner?” Bucky asks.
“Sure,” Steve says, smiling at him. “Did you find a dress?”
“Not even close,” Bucky says, giving him Eli, who he holds gingerly. Sam gives Darcy a hopeful look, and she hands over Ruth, to his obvious delight. Sam loves babies, it’s actually really fucking cute. Not as much as Thor loves babies, but they would be hard-pressed to find anybody who loved babies as much as Thor does. “Did you take out a lot of HYDRA bastards?”
“Definitely,” Steve says, still smiling. “I like your hair like this.”
“You say that every time,” Bucky says, tugging self-consciously on his braid. “I’m making stir-fry. Beef.”
“Sounds good,” Steve says, and follows him into the kitchen with Eli. Darcy sits down with Natasha and Sam and they entertain the other three with a few stray toys she forgot to pick up earlier. She can hear Bucky and Steve talking while Bucky gets to chopping, but it’s not about anything important. Sam and Natasha are both more interested in the kids, who she would agree are definitely the most interesting people in the room, precious little bundles that they are.
The bottle warmer dings, and Bucky comes back over with a bottle for Hannah and Carolina. Natasha looks very slightly panicked--she is not super-great at child-care--so Darcy and Sam handle the feeding and leave her to keep Ruth happy. Steve isn’t much better, so Bucky instructs him through the dinner-making process while Eli nurses. Eli likes bottles a lot less than the girls, who might prefer nursing but don’t really care long as they get fed in the end, but they try to take turns with nursing vs. bottle-feeding for all of them anyway.
It’s nice. Darcy really likes nights like these, where somebody comes over for dinner and they all hang out with the pups and talk about whatever and hardly ever get interrupted by alien invasions or hostage situations. It feels good, being all together like that. Even when it’s just Tony talking their ears off about a project or Bruce is being worryingly quiet or Bucky’s having a bad day--it’s still good, being like that. Darcy wishes every night were that way, sometimes, although four pups and a mate make for a pretty full house as it is.
They get the pups fed, and Bucky and Steve get dinner on the table and the rest of them all migrate over. Darcy’s gotten very good at eating while holding a baby; the pups rarely want to be put down for long. It’d be easier to deal with if there weren’t four of them, as would a lot of things, but Darcy doesn’t regret a single one of them--they’re all too perfect, too exactly right. She already can’t imagine their lives without even one of them. Anyway, tonight they’ve got company, so tonight it’s easy to pup-juggle.
“So what brings you by?” she asks after they’re all settled in and have managed to get some food in their mouths. Not that she minds the company, obviously, she’s just wondering.
“Oh, well,” Steve says, turning red. Natasha smirks, and Sam lets out a low laugh. “Well . . . I was wondering--your heat’s coming up again, right?”
“Didn’t think it was subtle,” Bucky says, raising an eyebrow at him as he bounces Eli on his knee. He and Steve both smell about as close to heat as anyone can get before officially entering pre-heat, in fact, which Darcy and her hindbrain have both been very good about so far tonight, thanks so much.
“I guess not,” Steve says. “I know it’s only your second heat after everything with HYDRA, so this might be a little much, but I was wondering if you wanted to share a nest again. Like we used to.”
“You want to?” Bucky asks, blinking slowly. Darcy’s higher thought processes short out, for all the obvious reasons. Guh. Guh.
“Of course I want to, Buck,” Steve says, looking briefly pained. “I miss you like crazy when I’m in heat.”
“Oh, so this ain’t just a con job to get an extra knot in your nest?” Bucky asks with a smirk.
“Very funny,” Steve says wryly. Bucky smiles at him, looking just . . . looking so pleased. Darcy is thoroughly wooed.
“You okay with that?” he asks her. Darcy has an extremely brief and extremely intense flashback to the last time Steve was in their nest.
“I can think of very few things I would be okay-er with,” she answers feelingly, and Bucky laughs, then smirks at Steve again.
“I guess that’d be alright, then,” he says. “Long as you don’t hog the alphas. And I’ve got first dibs on Darcy.”
“As long as I keep first dibs on Sam and Nat,” Steve says, amused. Darcy briefly pictures sharing a nest with all four of them and is immediately immensely grateful for the size of the rooms Tony has given them all. Also, a little intimidated, because sharing a nest with two really great alphas and the two best omegas she knows.
Okay, mostly intimidated by Natasha, but really that goes without saying.
“You realize Tony’s gonna complain like hell when he finds out about this,” she says.
“If he wants in next time, he can ask,” Steve replies primly. Darcy glazes over a little.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she says, clearing her throat. “Clint’s still good to babysit, right?”
“All four at once?” Sam asks.
“Yuuuup,” Darcy says. What, Clint’s an experienced dad, he can manage.
“He’s still good,” Natasha says. “As long as the Fantastic Four don’t need to go off-planet anytime soon, anyway, apparently they’re fairly short on babysitters right now too.”
“There’s always the moon,” Darcy says with a shrug.
Also, god their lives are weird. She’s really got to update her slideshow.
“The moon’s kind of out of the way,” Bucky says, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Let’s stick with Barton for now.”
“Dunno, at least the moon definitely doesn’t have HYDRA,” Darcy says.
“. . . point,” Bucky says, pursing his lips in thought. “Hm. Does Crystal know anything about pups?”
“We could ask,” Darcy says. “Clint definitely knows about pups, though, and J.A.R.V.I.S. and Tony know about security, so we’re probably okay.”
“Probably,” Bucky says, touching the little red-and-gold bracelet on Eli’s left wrist. It matches all his sisters’, a rounded chunky gold strip with hot-rod red stripes and a matching star. It just looks like a bracelet, and unless J.A.R.V.I.S. detects trouble, it won’t be any different from one. They don’t really need to wear them inside the tower, but Bucky prefers that they do and honestly Darcy kind of agrees. Sue her, she’s still a little paranoid.
Anyway, they’re cute bracelets.
“So we’re covered, then, all clear for heat-time,” she says, sneaking a glance at Steve, who smiles back at her. Guh. She’s not sure exactly what sharing a nest is gonna amount to yet, they’ve still gotta talk that part out, but if it’s anything like his heat was, well . . . anyway. “Awesome. Our place or yours?”
“I liked your place last time,” Steve says. “But we can use mine if moving the pups is too inconvenient.”
“Already moved the spare bassinets onto Clint’s floor,” Bucky says, shaking his head. “Just gotta grab their go-bags and go, when it’s time.”
“Is that what we’re calling the diaper bags now?” Sam asks in amusement.
“Same difference,” Bucky says with a shrug. “Either way we’re already ready to move them, so might as well stay here.”
“Okay,” Steve says, smiling at Bucky, who smiles back a little tentatively. Sometimes he still hesitates over little things like that. It’d be sad, but watching him do it anyway is just too good.
“Awesome,” Darcy says, a warm feeling bubbling up in her chest as she looks around the table, Carolina a comfortable little weight in her arms. The other pups are securely tucked into safe arms and Bucky and Steve are smiling at each other, and Sam and Natasha are both smiling too. It’s so good, and so much better than she ever would’ve expected from chasing down a stranger’s scent just in case.
Well, she’d clearly been right to, just like Bucky’d been right to follow her in and then come back in. She sneaks a hand under the table to grab his, even though it’s gonna delay both of them finishing their dinners, and he turns that perfect smile on her instead. He looks so pretty, braid a little disarrayed and that one ever-escaping lock of hair in his eyes, a pup in his lap and a warm satisfaction in his expression and her mating bite on his neck. It’s a little overwhelming, but definitely in a good way, and Darcy’s pretty sure she’s reflecting that same warm satisfaction right back at him. It’s just too good not to.
“Hey,” she says to him, and his smile widens, easy and perfect.
“Hey,” he says. “All good?”
“Oh, definitely,” she agrees, and leans in to kiss him.
She can’t imagine better.