Adult-FanFiction.org : Marvel 'Verse

Damaged Bodies, Growing Lives, Building Families	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Marvel Verse Movies > Avengers, The Views: 20994 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter, Avengers or the Marvel universe; all rights go to J. K. Rowling, Marvel and Stan Lee. I make no money for this piece of fictional writing and never will.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
Last Time
It had taken him being abducted and tortured and being impregnated without his knowledge for the track to be lain down and it had taken these several people, including the absent Pepper, Director Fury and Agent Coulson, to drag him down said track, often against his will. But he had made it down that track and he had come off the other end a stronger, happier person and it was all thanks to the guiding hands of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. He owed them so much and he’d be forever grateful, now if he’d only give birth so that he could finally hold his saving grace in his arms, everything in his life would be absolutely perfect.
Chapter Twenty – Family Dilemmas
Harry had waved goodbye to the Avengers team some hours ago. He’d taken a warm bath to help ease off his back pain, but it was still affecting him and stopping him from sleeping properly. He slipped in and out of sleep, not getting much of it at all and hardly any rest either as he wriggled around on the mattress. It was four in the morning when he finally had enough of trying to sleep and not achieving it as he got himself up and went down the stairs for a cup of tea.
As he sat drinking the tea, he had little else to do other than think and he cursed himself as stupid when he came to a startling realisation. The pains in his back had gotten progressively worse over the course of the night and he was now, almost certain, that he was in labour.
He groaned as he realised that this meant that he’d been in early labour that afternoon, when the Avengers had been visiting him. He could have gotten them to take him to the S.H.I.E.L.D hospital then, all those hours ago when they’d all been right there!
He stood up and went to the phone, ranting at himself for not thinking more of his little back spasms. He tried calling Clint, but with it being four in the morning, he wasn’t expecting anyone to pick up, though he was surprised when his call went straight to voicemail. The same happened when he called Bruce, Steve and Tony. All of their phones were switched off. He had more luck with Pepper, whose phone was actually switched on, but he rang twice and both times, the calls rang out and went to voicemail after six rings. As the pains got worse, he had even called Sean in desperation, but again, as the same with Pepper, no one answered.
“You had to go and come in the early hours of the morning!” He hissed to his belly. “I suppose it’s better than going overdue, I guess. Now if only I could get a hold of someone…anyone!”
Harry had no choice but to call the hospital when five o’clock rolled around and he still couldn’t get a hold of someone. He couldn’t even get a hold of Agent Coulson.
The ambulance came silently and Harry was helped into the back by the calm and reassuring medics as he was coached to breathe deeply and as evenly as he could through the pain in his back as they made their way to the hospital. He was going to seriously maim Clint the next time he saw him for making him do this all on his own.
He tried to get a hold of anyone he could before he arrived at the hospital, but when he was there, he had to turn it off when he was taken to an examination room. The kind, calm doctor who came to see him pressed around the base of his spine and pushed a hand under his bump, very close to his groin, but the doctor’s focus was completely on the baby, so Harry held his snarky tongue. He was sure that it was only coming out mostly due to the pain and nervous fear of doing this all alone, but he’d gone through much worse in his life, so he didn’t say a word, he just sat and endured it all silently.
“How long have you had these pains?” The doctor asked him.
“They started at around five O’clock yesterday afternoon. I didn’t realise what they were, so I brushed them off as just being a part of regular pregnancy as I went into my eighth month. I’ve been having all sorts of aches and pains this last month.”
The doctor nodded and smiled. “Well I think I’m the first to congratulate you, you’ll be having this baby in the next hour. We’ll just get the anaesthetist down to see you and then we’ll take you to theatre. This baby is ready to come out.”
“Can I have an epidural? I want to be awake for the procedure.”
“Absolutely, it’s your choice. I’ll let the anaesthetist know of your wishes.”
Harry was moved to a small room that the doctor called an anaesthetic bay that was just off of the theatre and he sat and he waited a little impatiently as he rubbed at his back. It was almost a relief when a smiling woman entered the room with a small trolley and another smiling nurse, who was holding out one of the little hospital gowns for him to change into.
Harry changed behind a privacy screen into the gown that tied on the side, but had a square cut out of the back. He knew that was for the epidural. He put his clothes, and everything else that he’d had on him, into a plastic box which the nurse took from him.
He hopped back up onto the bed with the help of the nurse, who stood in front of him and directed him to lean forward and to relax. He was cautioned that things could go seriously wrong if he jumped or moved during the procedure and Harry assured her that he wasn’t going to move in the slightest.
He felt a slight pinch from the local anaesthetic that he was being given first, but he didn’t even shift his position. He’d been tortured, a small needle was absolutely nothing compared to that.
“You’re doing so well, Harry.” The nurse praised him and he managed a grimace in her direction as another rippling contraction hit him.
A bigger needle was inserted and Harry felt it in a sort of detached way. It didn’t hurt at all thanks to the local, the pain of the contractions was much worse, but again, it all paled when compared to the torture that he’d been through.
It all happened quickly, everything below his waist just went numb with next to no warning and he suddenly couldn’t feel his legs anymore. He couldn’t move them, even as he stared at them, he couldn’t feel them.
He was helped to lie backwards, the nurse getting him comfortable and she asked him if there was anyone that they could call for him.
“I’ve been trying to call several people for the last hour, they aren’t answering. They’ll know what’s happening and where I am though, I’ve left them messages.”
The nurse nodded her head and after making sure, once again, that he was settled, he was wheeled on the bed into the sterile steel and machine filled room and he relaxed himself down as a doctor approached him and suddenly, randomly, asked him if he’d felt anything.
Harry shook his head. “No, I didn’t feel a thing.”
“Good, then your epidural has worked perfectly. Now, this might feel a little strange, you’ll feel some tugging and pulling, but no pain.”
Harry nodded his understanding as the nurses put a blue screen over his belly to separate him into two halves. He couldn’t see his lower body or any of what was going on below.
He was just lying there, not feeling anything as he waited for something, anything. He could hear the doctors talking above him, talking to the nurses, but the medical jargon went completely over his head and he let it. He didn’t want to listen as they asked for scalpels and scissors.
He did feel the tugging and pulling, he frowned as it felt like they were being incredibly rough, but then a massive pressure was released from his body and it was a little shocking, but when he heard a baby wail wetly, he became anxious, even going as far as pushing himself up on his elbows to seek out his baby.
He watched as a red skinned, bloodied blob was handed off to a nurse, who rubbed his baby vigorously with a towel as the baby continued to wail at a high pitch and he watched as the baby was placed gently into a set of scales and then another nurse picked the baby up, wrapping it into a clean blanket and then the baby was on his chest and Harry couldn’t stop the tears that were falling as he found himself looking into the face of his baby. He didn’t even care what the doctors or nurses were doing now that he had his baby. He lay back down so that he could wrap his shaky arms around his little baby and he couldn’t have stopped the tears, even if he’d wanted to as he looked into the screwed up, crying face of his precious newborn.
“Do you want me to take the baby?” A nurse asked him.
Harry shook his head. “No.”
“Are you sure? The baby might feel better when given a proper bath and gets into a diaper at least. It’ll only be for a few minutes. You can have baby back after that.”
It took Harry a moment to realise that diaper meant nappy and that his baby might actually need one soon before he took a breath and nodded, allowing the nurse to take the baby back off of him.
He was sewn up, which took at least thirty-five minutes, cleaned up and he was starting to feel parts of his legs again as he was put into a room to recover and his baby was wheeled in in a tiny glass incubator not long after. He was supposed to be getting some sleep after his operation, but he couldn’t stop staring at his baby.
He forced himself to roll over and pick his baby up. He sat up and put the baby on the bed and unwrapped the blanket. He smiled as the baby made a soft noise as he checked that the baby had eight tiny fingers and two thumbs and ten little toes.
He’d known from the moment that he’d held his baby for the first time that he had a son…because he’d smelt the Alpha on him. He had an Alpha son. Sean was right though, it was love at first sight and he would be raising his little boy right, to respect Omegas and to not treat them like dirt under their foot. How could he have ever thought that he’d be afraid of his own child?
He cuddled with his little boy and the shock was starting to wear off. He’d given birth, he had his little baby in his arms finally. He took in a deep breath and he inhaled the scent of his son deeply, feeling so much love and contentment that tears sprung into his eyes again.
He didn’t think of Clint until his baby moved and he pulled back to see gluey blue eyes half cracked open to peer at him. He smiled widely and kissed the tiny, puckered mouth as his mind turned to Clint. He couldn’t believe that he’d missed the birth of their son. If he didn’t have a damn good reason for missing this, he’d give him hell. He might give him hell even if he did have a good reason.
He asked for his personal things that he’d given to a nurse when he’d changed into the gown. He dug out his new Stark phone that Tony had given him and he switched it on. He had eleven missed calls and several voicemail messages. He sighed and called Clint, he coached himself to stay calm, it helped that he was exhausted now after his disturbed sleep and giving birth. He was going to give that man a real piece of his mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- X
Clint sighed and rubbed the sweat and soot from his face with his forearm as he rolled his aching shoulders. He joined up with the rest of the team and they were silent, exhausted, as they made their way to the waiting van.
“That went well.” Tony said cheerily in his dented, gouged and sooty suit.
Clint just looked at him and sunk into the nearest seat. His entire body was one massive ache. Of course the emergency had to have been at three in the morning.
Phil Coulson joined them and then the van set off back to S.H.I.E.L.D for their debriefing. He just wanted to crawl into his bed and sleep for the next week. He smiled as he imaged Harry being in the same bed with him for that week.
“I know what that look is.” Tony teased him.
Clint grinned wider.
“How are things going with Harry?” Steve asked.
“Really well.” Clint said with a dopey grin that he couldn’t have prevented. “We had a serious talk the other week and yesterday afternoon when I went ahead of you to speak with him. I really think we can get past what happened and have an actual relationship, he gave me a key to his house. Our dates are going well and he’s gotten a lot more comfortable with me. I touched his thigh yesterday on accident and he didn’t even notice. I did that once before and he flinched and jumped a mile away from me. He’s stopped doing that.”
“God, you are in love.” Tony groaned. “We’re being forced to endure the endless talks about him and everything he’s done since you last saw him.”
Clint shut his mouth, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Harry. He wanted to spend all of his time with Harry, but he was worried about angering him or pushing him too hard. He was grinning again when he thought of his baby growing inside of Harry.
“Just call him.” Natasha said with a smile of her own at how happy he was.
“It’s six in the morning.” Clint sighed, but he got his phone out of one of his numerous pockets and switched it on.
“He’s usually up at around six anyway, isn’t he?” Bruce asked.
Clint shook his head. “The heavier pregnant he gets the earlier he goes to bed and the longer he stays there.”
His phone lit up and Clint was dismayed to see that he had six missed calls, all from Harry. His heart missed a beat and he checked the times of the missed calls…they were all between four and five in the morning. He only had one voicemail.
‘Why the hell aren’t you answering your damn phone?!’ Harry’s, very angry, voice filled the back of the van. ‘I can’t get a hold of anyone! I swear if you don’t call me back immediately, I’ll take your damn head off!’
“Oh yeah, I can totally see how well your relationship is going.” Tony broke the silence that had filled the back of the van.
“Something must be wrong.” Clint said worriedly as he tapped a few touch screen keys and called Harry. “He doesn’t ever wake up at four in the morning, he’s been trying to call me for an hour and then he just stopped.”
Harry did not answer. Clint called him several times, each time the phone cut straight to voicemail and he was getting more and more worked up as Harry didn’t answer.
“Detour to his house!” He said through gritted teeth and Coulson immediately got the driver to do as he wanted.
“He called me too.” Bruce said guiltily. “At half four. He didn’t leave a message.”
“I think he called me too.” Steve told them as he took his own phone out of his pocket, switched it on and turned it to Tony as he thought the little phone icon in the corner meant that he’d had a call.
“Yeah, he called Steve just after Bruce and then again at five to five…I think you’re right, Legolas. He called me too. Something’s wrong.”
“He called me at ten to five.” Coulson said with a sigh.
Clint gripped at his own hair. “Something is definitely wrong if he’s calling for S.H.I.E.L.D! He was supposed to be safe now! I thought we’d gotten everyone connected to that warehouse!”
“We must have missed someone.” Tony said seriously.
They made it to Harry’s house and Clint was slightly surprised to find it spotless and the door locked. He used the key that Harry had given him just yesterday to let himself in.
“Harry?” He called out. “Harry?!”
The house was silent…clean, perfect and empty.
“There doesn’t seem to have been any struggle at all. Upstairs is just as perfect.” Natasha told him and Clint felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“I don’t think he was taken.” Coulson said calmly. “He was calling us for an hour, if anyone had broken in, he wouldn’t have had that time.”
“So where is he?” Clint demanded.
“He could be at the Tower.” Steve suggested.
“Jarvis, is Harry at the Tower?” Tony asked his watch.
“No, Sir.”
“We need to find him.”
Clint’s phone rang at that moment and he almost broke it when he saw that it was displaying Harry’s number.
“Put it on speaker.” Coulson told him just before he answered the call. He did as was suggested.
“Harry?! Are you alright? Where are you?” Clint all but screamed down the phone.
‘Hi, Clint.’ Harry said and the first thing that Clint realised was how tired Harry sounded. ‘I’m alright, I’m just incredibly tired. I’m at the hospital. I gave birth an hour ago.’
Clint felt his knees go and his ears started ringing. He couldn’t see or hear anything, he couldn’t take anything else in and he felt the phone being eased from his hand.
“What hospital are you in?”
‘Hi, Phil. I don’t know. The nearest one to my house I suppose. I did try and call S.H.I.E.L.D, but no one picked up, I had to call an ambulance. The baby really wanted out and the pain was getting much worse.’
“It’s alright, Harry. We’ll find you and we’ll be right there. At the moment, Clint seems to be in shock, but we’ll take care of him too.”
‘Thank you.’ Harry answered through a yawn that almost made the team’s eyes water in sympathy. In the background they heard a baby mewl. ‘I have to go, the baby’s hungry.’
“He really gave birth.” Tony exclaimed in slight shock.
“What, you thought he was lying?” Steve asked.
“Not exactly, I just…it sort of seemed like this day wouldn’t come. We were with him just last night and now today, he’s got a baby.”
“That’s kind of how birth works.” Natasha snarked.
“He’s not far from here.” Coulson interrupted. “Clint, do you want to go?”
That snapped Clint out of his shock and he got moving, climbing back into the van. It took a very tense, anxious twenty minutes to reach the hospital in the morning traffic and Clint was very, very agitated when they finally arrived to the hospital that Harry had been taken to.
“Where is Harry?” He demanded of the nurse behind the desk. “Harry James Potter, he came in about two hours ago in labour.”
“Harry? Yes, he came in a couple of hours ago.” The nurse said as she clicked away at the keys on her computer. “He’s an absolute darling.” She continued with a nice smile. “If everyone in labour was as wonderful as he is then I’d love my job a lot more. He breezed through the birth, bless him. Ah, here we are, room three-o-nineteen, that’s down this corridor and up the elevator to the third floor. You need to go straight ahead and then it’ll be the door on the end, on the left.”
“Thank you.” Coulson told the nurse before he followed the Avengers team, who had already taken off towards the elevator.
Clint was almost running as they reached the third floor, they had to stop and clean their hands with a sanitiser gel when a nurse all but shouted at them, what difference it would make when they were straight from a battle and utterly filthy he didn’t know, but they did as they were told before they set off again, down the corridor and he found Harry’s room and just barged right in.
“Let’s hope that actually is Harry’s room.” Tony said as he followed Clint to find that yes, it was Harry’s room and Harry was sat up in bed, a wrapped bundle in his arms and he was giving Clint a tongue lashing for bursting in on him.
“….you could have given me a damn heart attack!” Harry finished sternly. “Where have you been?”
“There was an emergency.” Clint said, standing at Harry’s bedside, his legs actually touching the bed. “I am so sorry, we turn our phones off on all missions so they don’t distract us.”
“It’s fine, if it was an emergency, it couldn’t be helped.”
“How are you?” Steve asked.
“Good, really good. The pain killers kicked in half an hour ago, but I’m really, really tired. I could hardly sleep last night, so here, Clint. Meet your son, I’m going to sleep for the next seven hours.”
Harry handed the newborn over to Clint, who held the baby awkwardly and a bit gingerly, he was straight from a battle after all and he was filthy, and he watched as Harry rolled over and dropped almost straight off to sleep. Clint noticed that his face was pale, drawn and his eyes were bruised purple with exhaustion.
He looked down at the baby in his arms and he smiled at the sleeping baby. A son…an Alpha son. Not that he cared about his baby’s born social rank, not after meeting Harry and all of his time with the enforcers.
“Stop hogging the baby.” Natasha told him as she looked over his shoulder. “He’s adorable.”
Clint couldn’t keep the grin from his face as he sat down, almost collapsed really, into the room’s only chair and he let his teammates look at his newborn son.
“I can’t believe I’m actually holding him.” Clint said barely above a whisper.
“It’s been seven months in the making.” Tony joked as he peered at the wrinkly, bald baby. “Takes after you for looks…or lack of them. Poor kid. Oof.”
Tony got a smack from all sides for that jibe and he rubbed at his stomach as the air was forcibly expelled from his lungs at the multiple hits.
“We need to call Fury and you need to call Pepper.” Steve said. “She’d want to be here.”
Tony nodded and got Jarvis to inform her of what had happened through his watch. It was almost completely silent in the hospital room as Mother and baby slept peacefully, at least until the baby shifted, once, twice and then a gummy, pink mouth opened and the wailing started and Harry was just awake.
He held his arms out silently, still groggy, demanding the baby back and Clint carefully and gently passed the baby to Harry even as Harry pressed the nurse button by the side of his bed as he cradled the baby in his arms.
A nurse came in and she already had a bottle and a fresh diaper in her hands and she smiled at Harry.
“Right on time, again. I’ll tell you, that baby will be a dream to look after.” She told Harry who smiled tiredly as he accepted the bottle, shook a few drops of milk onto his bare forearm before stroking the nipple on the baby’s cheek.
Clint watched as the baby’s mouth opened and his newborn son started searching for the bottle, which Harry offered to him. He clamped his mouth shut over the teat of the bottle and he suckled so strongly that it seemed that he’d pull the bottle right out of Harry’s hand.
His job done, Harry rested back against his pillows and his head slipped to the one side as he dozed. Clint felt awful for Harry in that moment and he swore that the next feed the baby needed, he’d do it. He would clean himself up, get this soot off of himself and he’d help Harry with their son so that Harry could get some sleep, because he really, really needed it.
“Have you got a name for him?” Bruce asked.
Harry shook his head, still dozing as he reclined against the pillows.
“Not yet.” He said quietly. “I wanted to talk it over with Clint first.”
Clint couldn’t have stopped the grin that spread out over his face when he heard that…how could he? He’d been preparing himself to accept whatever name Harry chose, even if he put down Potter on the baby’s birth certificate and not Barton, he had been willing to accept it just to be a part of Harry’s life, of their baby’s life. A name was just a name after all. But to hear that Harry wanted to talk over options with him, it made him feel so appreciated and so grateful that he placed a hand on Harry’s knee and circled his thumb on Harry’s leg.
Harry smiled when he felt it and he sighed.
“I can’t wait to go home.” He said. “I don’t like that glass case they want me to put the baby in and trying to sleep with him is more difficult than I’d been imagining. Every time I drift off, I jerk back awake because I think I’m tilting or dropping him.”
The door knocked and it was Steve who answered it. He stood aside and let Pepper and Tony’s driver, Happy, into the small hospital room.
“Harry, congratulations. I’m so sorry that I missed your calls. I was in a meeting late last night and I slept right through them.” Pepper said with an apologetic smile as she made her way to his bedside and looked at the baby feeding. “He’s gorgeous.”
Harry grinned at the compliment. “Obviously he takes after me.” Harry bent his knee to nudge at Clint’s hand.
“I thought he looked more like Clint…you know, the whole bald, wrinkly baby bird thing.” Tony said.
Harry laughed for a moment before grimacing.
“Oh, ow. Don’t make me laugh, that hurts.”
“Are your painkillers wearing off?” Clint asked him, standing up. “Should I get a nurse to give you more?”
“No, sit down. I’ll be okay. The sooner I stop relying on painkillers, the sooner I can go home. It’s not that bad, just when I move too suddenly or when someone makes me laugh. I’m fine when I go slowly and when I breathe, so I’m being weaned off the painkillers.”
“Isn’t it too soon?” Pepper asked in concern.
Harry shook his head. “No. They gave me the additional painkillers to take the edge off of the pain after I came around from the epidural…now that was amazing. I couldn’t feel anything below my hips and I couldn’t even move my own legs. They could have sawn off my leg and I wouldn’t have noticed a thing. But, of course, that wore off quickly after the birth and the pain of the caesarean kicked in and everything was one massive ache, so I had some morphine to make it all better. I still feel like I’ve been hit by a train, but it’s not as sharp or as consuming. This is bearable where before, it wasn’t.”
“You do have a high threshold for pain.” Tony agreed.
He got several glares for mentioning Harry’s torture, but Harry just smiled.
“I know. But thanks to that, I get to go home tomorrow, after I’ve proven I can support my own weight. Which I’m sure I can do. They’re only keeping me in today because I had a caesarean, if I’d been a Beta female and just given birth, I’d be released at lunch time.”
“Are you coming to the tower for a few days?” Tony asked.
Harry gave it some serious thought, before he shook his head. “No. All my stuff is at my house and I want to get him into a routine early. Besides, I’ve grown very fond of my own bed and the smell of my sheets. I need that comfort right now.”
“What about Clint?” Natasha asked him.
Harry looked to Clint and then back to Natasha. “What do you mean? What about him?”
“Will he be able to see his son?”
“I told you, I’m not going to invoke the protection act, that’s all past us now, of course he’ll see him.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Harry frowned, before it clicked. He laughed before pulling a pained face and hissing.
“Damn caesarean.” He cursed before looking back up and smiling. “I’m not doing this on my damn own. I need some decent sleep. No, Clint’s staying at mine until I can actually walk up and down the stairs unaided. You don’t get a say in that either.” He added, addressing Clint.
Clint grinned at him so widely and full of relief that Harry felt his eyes prickle. He blinked and the moment passed, but he still couldn’t believe that Clint had been worried over access to his son. He’d given him a damn key just the night before! Surely that had given the man a clue as to what he’d meant. Then perhaps not, Alphas were sort of dense when it came to such things.
“I gave you a key to my house for a reason.” Harry told him. “I wanted you to be able to come and go as you please and now that we have this one, I do really mean that. I can’t do stairs at the moment, I already know that for a certainty, so naturally you have to be there for the first week at least. Then you can choose where you want to be, mine or the tower. There’s no pressure, I gave you a key so that you could choose, but for the first week, I need you to be at mine to help with the baby.”
Harry took the almost empty bottle from his son’s mouth, wiping the milky lips with the blanket before gently putting the baby on his shoulder and rubbing his little back.
“Isn’t that painful?” Bruce asked in concern.
“A little.” Harry admitted. “But I don’t care.”
“I can’t believe he’s finally here.” Pepper said with a smile.
“I can’t.” Harry agreed. “I was only thinking yesterday that I had five more weeks of hell to survive and today, here he is.”
“You still have a bump.” Tony pointed out.
“It’s not a bump anymore, it’s a pouch. It’s empty and the swelling will go down now over the next several weeks as the caesarean cut heals.”
“How gross is that?” Tony asked curiously and Harry grinned. He passed his son over to Pepper for her to have a hold and he carefully pushed the blanket he was covered with down.
He made sure his private parts were covered as he was still naked under the little gown and he tugged that up to show the stitched up line just above his pubic region.
“It’s not that bad.” He said as he looked at it, moving the catheter tube out of the way. “The doctors did a brilliant job and it’s all nice and neat. It should heal absolutely fine and I’ve been told that there were no complications at all, so overall I’m very pleased. The worse part of it was being shaved.”
“They shaved you?” Tony said and the grin on his face made Harry roll his eyes.
“They needed to, just in case any hair went inside the caesarean cut. That would be very, very bad.”
“Is that a catheter?”
“Yeah.” Harry grimaced. “That is uncomfortable too. I’m trying not to think of it.”
Harry tucked his gown back down and pulled the blanket back up and he relaxed himself back on his pillows. Clint’s hand went back to his knee and squeezed comfortingly and Harry smiled to himself. He couldn’t believe that he’d given birth so early in the morning, just as the Avengers had been called out to their first real emergency in several months. The chances of that were astronomical, but with the Potter luck, he really should have been expecting it.
He closed his eyes and smiled to himself, he was asleep within minutes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Harry was carried into his house by Clint and he was placed so gently onto his settee that he had to kiss Clint’s cheek.
Bruce came in next carrying the sleeping baby in a carrycot and he placed it on the coffee table.
“Can I get you tea, Harry?” Steve asked.
“Coffee, please. I’m not pregnant anymore, I’m going to mainline that stuff until it comes out of my ears. I’ve missed it so much.”
“When does he need another feed?” Clint asked Harry, looking at their son.
“In another hour or so.” Harry told him, looking at the clock on his wall. “He’ll be wet before he needs another feed. You want to have a go at doing that?”
Clint nodded nervously. He’d done a feed by himself, with Harry overseeing, but he hadn’t done a change yet, even though he’d been watching Harry closely to see how he did it, he was still a little apprehensive about it.
Steve came in and he gave Harry a mug of coffee. Harry took one sip and even though it wasn’t exactly how he liked it, he still moaned happily as he gulped it down.
“Oh, this is amazing, thanks Steve.”
Steve smiled at him and sat down next to Bruce. Clint was on the floor in front of the baby, just waiting for him to wake up.
“Do you want us to give you some privacy?” Bruce asked.
“Don’t be so hasty, drink your tea first.” Harry insisted. “Clint’s staying here now, we can have privacy later, but I’m not kicking you out before you’ve even finished your drinks.”
“Tony and Pepper said they’d visit when they could, they had a meeting today, even Pepper tried to cancel it, but it was a crucial meeting, which is why Tony had to go to it too.”
“I was only coming out of the hospital.” Harry rolled his eyes. “That little bugger isn’t going to remember that Uncle Tony and Auntie Pepper weren’t here for his homecoming either, he doesn’t frankly care as long as he’s warm, dry and well fed.”
“We wanted to be here for you.” Steve said sitting forward when the baby snuffled.
Clint tucked the blanket around the baby more securely and looked to Harry to see if he’d done the right thing. Harry pretended not to notice.
“You guys have always been here for me, I don’t want to be fussed today anyway. I feel bad enough as it is with the lack of sleep and the aches. If anyone fussed me too much today, then I’d probably just get angry and snap at everyone.”
“But you’re alright?”
Harry nodded with a smile. “I’ll be just fine. Besides, Clint isn’t going anywhere, are you?”
Clint shook his head. “No.”
“See? I’ll be just fine. Clint can manage everything and together we can deal with the baby.”
“We’ll leave you to it then.” Steve said as he took the empty cups into the kitchen and he and Bruce left him and Clint alone.
“He’s beautiful, Harry.” Clint said, for the seventh time.
“I know. It’s still a little amazing to see that he’s finally here. I can see him, hold him when really he should still be inside me. I was worried about going over due, I didn’t think about going into labour early.”
“I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there with you.”
“I understand that it was an emergency, Clint. You don’t need to keep apologising for saving the city. I’ve told you that a hundred times in the last two days.”
“I know, I just can’t believe that the first real emergency we had was the same night that you went into labour.”
Harry grinned. “That’s my awful luck coming into play. I should have guessed something like that would have happened.”
The door knocked and the both of them looked quickly to the baby to see him still sleeping peacefully.
“Go and see who that is, please.” Harry told Clint as he shifted himself more upright.
Clint placed a hand on his head and stroked his hair as he went past and Harry rolled his eyes. Clint was an overgrown sap.
“Harry? It’s Sean and Joe.”
“Ooo, let them in!” Harry called back.
“I’ve been frantic, I tried to knock for you yesterday, but you didn’t…answer.” Sean said before he walked in and caught sight of the baby on the table. “You had the baby.”
“Yeah, two days ago.”
“Now I feel even worse about missing your call!” Sean said with a guilty look.
“Don’t be daft. I should have called the ambulance immediately instead of pissing about for an hour trying to call everyone. I panicked a little I suppose. Then it was four in the morning.”
“He’s gorgeous.” Sean told him with a grin. “Can I?”
“You go right ahead.” Harry said and watched as Sean, his belly still big with his baby daughter, remove the straps on the carrycot and he picked his son up carefully and gently.
“He’s a good weight.” Sean said.
“Six pound and eleven ounces.” Harry said. “He’s eating really well too.”
“You’re both alright?” Joe asked as he eased Sean into a seat with the baby.
“Yeah, absolutely fine. They only kept me in overnight because of the caesarean.”
“Was it bad?” Sean asked looking worried. “I’m really dreading it.”
“You have nothing to worry about. I opted for an epidural. I wanted to be awake because I was on my own and I felt nothing, not even a slight twinge of pain.”
“You were on your own?” Joe said looking to Clint.
“He and the other Avengers were dealing with an emergency, I couldn’t get a hold of them, which is why I called you before realising that I really needed to be calling an ambulance. I did it all on my own and I felt nothing. The contractions were worse than the epidural, but once the baby’s out, you don’t even think of anything else, you’ll be too busy gazing at this gorgeous, beautiful baby that you’ve got in your arms. You don’t see the blood or the bloating or the red flushed skin. You just see your baby.”
“I’m so worried about it.” Sean bit his lip as he cuddled the newborn.
“Don’t be. It really is nothing and you’ll have Joe there to support you.”
“Would you do it all again?” Sean asked him curiously.
Harry gave a sly look to Clint and he grinned. “Yeah, I really would.”
Sean laughed. “Already planning your second?”
Harry grinned. “Not quite. We’ll see how we get on with him first.”
“What’s his name?” Joe asked.
“We haven’t really had two minutes to discuss it yet.” Harry replied. “I’ve got a few names in mind, but I want Clint to like them too before I make anything official. At the moment he’s just baby.”
Harry happily talked with Sean and Joe for an hour. He watched as Clint changed their son for the first time. He was a little nervous and it didn’t help that their neighbours were there, but Harry distracted them both by talking to them to take their attention off of Clint and he did just fine.
Sean and Joe said their goodbyes when the baby started crying for his bottle and Harry kept drifting off to sleep.
Clint was rushing around, trying to get everything sorted as he loaded the dishwasher, made up a bottle for the baby, made Harry and himself a cup of coffee and tried to stop the baby from crying while the bottle of formula milk cooled to an acceptable temperature.
“Why does it take so long to cool this damn milk down?!” Clint snapped.
Harry blinked awake. “Uh?” He grunted questioningly.
“His milk’s too hot for him to drink and he won’t stop crying!”
Harry made another grunt and picked up the bottle, took his wand from his holster and did a quick cooling charm. He tested it and then handed it over to Clint, who tested it himself and poked the nipple into the baby’s mouth, silencing the screaming.
“Well…that was simple.” He said a little sheepishly.
Harry pushed himself up and grasped for his coffee a few times before he got a hold of it.
“He okay?” Harry asked.
“Yeah, he’s just hungry.” Clint told him.
“Are you okay?” Harry asked, forcing his eyes open to look at Clint.
He smiled and nodded. “I guess I just want everything to go well, but I’m out of my depth here.”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll do this together. Just calm down a little and sit down once in a while. The world isn’t going to end because there are a few dirty cups in the sink and our son isn’t going to shrivel before our eyes if he doesn’t get his bottle immediately when he cries for it.”
Clint nodded as he fed the baby in his arms, feeling the weight of his first and only child in his arm, looking at the soft, wrinkled face. His baby wasn’t bald as he and his team had originally thought, but he had incredibly fine, baby blond hair, which was getting steadily darker, but most of it was covered with a tiny little hat, only a few tufts poked out from under the hat to show on his forehead.
He looked to the matching scratch mitts and he snorted. He had thought it was ridiculous to keep a hat and mittens on his son, it wasn’t cold at all in the hospital or in the house, but Harry had told him that because the baby couldn’t move and just laid around all day, they got colder a lot quicker than they would as they were using their muscles and their bodies could regulate their own temperatures, but babies couldn’t.
Since being told that he always made sure that his baby had his hat and scratch mitts on, which also stopped him from clawing at his own face. Harry had shown him pictures of little babies with cuts and scabs all over their little faces where they’d moved a hand past their faces and their nails had caught the skin. No, his little son’s scratch mitts would stay on.
He winded the baby and sat down with him in his arms, Harry was asleep again, his coffee only half drunk, but he didn’t mind. Harry really needed his sleep, his face was still too pale and his eyes were bruised from exhaustion.
Clint tucked his son into his arms and kept him against his chest and he relaxed back, taking Harry’s advice to just take a moment to himself. He just sat quietly and he stared at his son as he slept, looking up every now and then to stare at the sleeping Harry.
He knew that this next month especially was going to be difficult as he and Harry juggled the baby and dealt with the new learning curve that came with being new parents. It was going to be the most difficult thing that he’d ever done, but with Harry by his side, he was sure that they’d both be able to get through it and raise their son properly, but he was just so grateful to be a part of their son’s life, to be a part of Harry’s life and to become a piece of an actual family. He would cherish both of his boys forever.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Harry felt like a zombie a few days later as he kicked Clint from his place on the settee. They hadn’t moved from the living room since they’d come home from the hospital.
“Wake up, the baby’s crying.” He groaned.
Clint just grunted.
“Clint!” He whined. “Get the baby.”
Harry groaned and grumbled theatrically as he hefted himself up when Clint didn’t move, stumbling his way to the bassinet that held their son and he scooped the baby up to his chest.
“Wat you want?” He slurred at the four day old baby.
He peered blearily at the clock, but it wasn’t time for a feed and a discreet finger into the leg hole of the baby’s nappy proved that he wasn’t wet. A hand against his son’s leg however, proved that he was a little cold.
Harry picked his way through the mess of his living room to fall back onto his settee with the crying baby and he snuggled them both under his blanket, resting his son on his chest.
The baby quietened down and Harry threw his head over the arm of the chair in gratitude, snuggling down to get some more sleep. He could honestly sleep for a month if given half the chance and it was getting to be a struggle to peel his eyes open every time his baby cried.
He was woken up by crying in his ear what seemed like only a minute later, but when he squinted at the clock, it had been over an hour…his son needed a feed. Harry groaned and rolled himself to sit up, if he remained lying down then he was not going to get up at all. He fucking sucked at this parenting thing.
The settee dipped and he forced his eyes open to see a pale and drawn looking Clint sitting next to him.
“I wanted to make his bottle before taking him off of you.” Clint told him as he held out the prepared bottle. “Maybe I should have taken him into the kitchen with me, I’m sorry. You just looked so peaceful together and he was quiet at the time.”
Harry cooled the bottle with nary a thought now, it had become the most used spell in his arsenal, next to cleaning charms because he would rather catch a ten minute nap instead of using that time to bathe.
“It’s fine. I needed to cool the bottle anyway.” He grumbled as he handed his son over to Clint to shut him up.
He rested back against the settee and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.
“We’re not coping very well with this.” Harry said right before he yawned.
“We just need to figure out how to do this better. I’ve been thinking, I’m more of a night owl, I like the night time better and I’m used to sleeping during the day, but you’re the opposite. If I look after him during the entire night, that gives you a solid several hours to sleep undisturbed and then you can wake up feeling better and then I can go to sleep. If we approach this like a clock in, clock out sort of thing, we might actually start to function properly.”
Harry frowned. “We’ll hardly see one another.” He said.
“It’s only until he starts sleeping for longer.” Clint assured him. “We can’t carry on like this, where we’re both getting up when he cries and one of us is just sat there watching, like you’re doing now. It only takes one of us to feed and change him, nothing is going to happen and it’ll make everything easier on us. It couldn’t hurt to try it.”
Harry nodded. “Okay. Yeah, we’ll try it. You’re right, we cannot carry on like this. I’m going to collapse from exhaustion…or murder you.”
Clint chuckled tiredly. “I feel the same way.”
“Right, no time like the present then, pass him here and you go upstairs to bed and stay there. I’ll wake you up at ten.”
Clint frowned then. “I don’t like taking the first sleep and leaving you with the first shift.”
“Damn it, get upstairs and go to sleep before I hit you with the coffee table.” Harry growled as he took their baby son back from Clint to wind him. “We’re trying this and we’re starting right now. Knowing that I can go to bed myself for several hours at ten is going to keep me going until you wake up. Now go, you’re wasting valuable sleep time.”
“I love you.” Clint declared seriously, kissing Harry’s mouth before kissing their son and then going upstairs…neither of them had changed clothes for a few days, it was going to be a relief to strip off and climb into an actual bed.
Harry’s lips tingled where Clint’s mouth had touched them and he was suddenly wide awake. He blinked and then he grinned wide and he looked down at their little son.
“Things are looking up, Ellis.” He said softly as he gently swayed with him, his son blinking baby blue eyes up at him.
Clint was obsessive about the scratch mitts and the hat being on at all times after Harry had shown him scare stories to show him exactly why their baby needed to be wrapped up in a hat, mitts and a blanket while in a warm house, he even pulled little booties onto his feet over the feet of his sleepsuits to keep his toes warmer.
Harry thought that Clint was adorable, but now that he had their son to himself for a while, he pulled off the booties, mitts and the hat and unwrapped the baby from his blanket, letting his son wriggle around and allowed himself to touch the baby soft skin of his baby’s hands, as well as stroke his fingers over the thick, black tufts of hair that had paled to blond after birth and then over the next day or two had gone back to black.
“I know your Daddy goes a little overboard in protecting you, but he’s only doing it because he cares.” Harry said softly as he put the baby down on the seat of the settee and allowed him to stretch out.
He grinned when his son stretched out his tiny toes, still in the feet of his sleepsuit, but now with more freedom to move. He’d bought everything he had for a ten pound baby, his son had only been six, so he had a bit of spare room to grow and move around in.
He’d grown into his skin a little so that he’d stopped looking so wrinkly, but Harry still couldn’t get over how soft his son was. It was a new favourite pastime of his to stare at his son while gently running his fingers over baby soft skin that smelt of talcum powder and the lavender baby wash they used in his daily bath.
Harry swaddled him back up, tucking him down his loose, baggy shirt and lying himself back down on the settee. His alertness had not lasted for very long and he yawned as he snuggled down to sleep until his son woke up again. He couldn’t wait to kick Clint out of the bed and climb into the warmth himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Clint really felt so much better when he was woken up, but he still didn’t want to leave the nice cosy, warm bed.
“Wake up!” Harry groaned. “I’m so tired now, it’s your turn to look after Ellison!”
Clint sat up and scrubbed his face with his hands. Harry had already climbed into the bed with him and he’d stretched out and buried himself into the warm sheets. Clint smiled at him and laid his hand over Harry’s shoulder and up his neck, into his hair and Harry all but purred as he snuggled down.
“Where is Ellison?” He asked.
Harry smiled. “In his cot in the nursery. He’s asleep at the moment and won’t wake up for another hour or so.”
Clint grinned as he sat himself back against the headboard and Harry wiggled himself closer, pressing against his burning hot thigh.
“You’re so warm.” Harry moaned happily.
“I’ll stay here and warm you up first and then when Ellison wakes up, I’ll take him downstairs.”
Harry smiled. “He’s been so good. He’s always good, but three hourly feeds and a nappy change in between is a little too much.”
“I can’t wait until he’s a little older.” Clint said as he continued stroking Harry’s hair.
“I just can’t wait until he’s sleeping through the night.” Harry said with a sleepy grin.
Clint stopped talking then, letting Harry drift off to get some sleep, but he still didn’t move. He didn’t want to move with Harry so close to him and one small hand resting on his inside thigh. He was very comfortable and he wanted to stay where he was while he could, taking a little time to bond with Harry, even if Harry himself was now fast asleep. He looked gorgeous in his sleep, less stressed and more at peace. He smiled and gave him a soft kiss before he got up, it had been close to an hour and he needed to go and attend to his baby son before his inevitable cries woke Harry back up.
He went next door into the nursery and he smiled as he saw his baby son, Ellison, sleeping on his back, arms stretched out and bent at the elbow, tiny hands curled over his head.
Even as he stood and watched his son sleeping, a tiny mouth puckered and the plump bottom lip rolled over and into a little mouth. Ellison repeated this movement again and again, before his mouth popped open and he mouthed like a beached fish for a moment before a small mewl worked its way out of his throat.
Clint picked him up, making sure to take the blanket with him. He smiled as he realised that Harry had wrapped their son in the blanket that he’d spent several days hunting for a few weeks ago after the one that Harry had had was ruined during his second abduction.
He carried the baby down to the kitchen and wrapped an arm around him tight as he filled the kettle from the tap and set it to boiling to make up a bottle for Ellison. His son had rapidly worked himself up to full on crying, but Clint found it easier to blot him out now that he’d had some decent, uninterrupted sleep.
He felt like he could take on anything as he cradled his son in the crook of his neck and made him up a bottle with his other hand. He dumped the hot bottle into the sink and ran the cold water over it for several minutes before it was the right temperature for Ellison to drink.
He carefully turned his son down into the crook of his free arm and picked up the bottle with his other hand before he rubbed the nipple on Ellison’s cheek, watching as he opened his mouth and turned his head to catch it in his toothless mouth. He suckled just as strongly as he always did, eyes closed in enjoyment as if he were drinking down the finest nectar, one little hand raised to his own jet black hair and he touched it, rubbing his own hair between his tiny fingers. The other hand was pressed to his shirt and Clint smiled as Ellison sucked and swallowed, his jerky limbs not entirely in his control, but he clenched deceptively tight at the tee shirt he’d gone to sleep in and the hand in his hair stroked, just behind his ear.
His Alpha son was strong and was developing really well. He was so proud and pleased, of Ellison and of Harry. Ellis stopped suckling and he turned his head away, so Clint put the bottle down onto the counter and hefted him back over his shoulder to wind him. This was his routine. He and Harry did the same things day after day. They fed Ellison, they changed him, they fed him, they changed him, they fed him and changed him and then they gave him a bath and fed him and then they changed him and fed him and then it was morning again and everything started all over again.
They caught a piece of toast here and there, a cup of coffee when they could, they’d managed a whole sandwich once, but he hadn’t had a proper meal since Ellison had been born. Food wasn’t high on the priority list, if they had any spare time then sleep came before anything else. He and Harry had been eating on the go, grabbing coffee to keep them going, but there were mugs of half drunk, abandoned coffee on nearly every surface of the house. That had been their existence for the last four days now.
Hopefully his plan worked and dividing Ellison’s care between the both of them on separate ‘shifts’ for the lack of a better word, would make things easier on the both of them and they might actually have time for a shower and a full meal. He just knew that they couldn’t carry on like they had been before. It hadn’t been working.
Ellison fell asleep again quickly and Clint wiped his small mouth clean of remaining milk with a burp cloth and settled him down in his bassinet. Instead of immediately going to the settee to catch an hour of sleep, he was awake and alert, he didn’t need any sleep, so he collected up the partially full mugs of coffee and the several empty plates and he lined them all up on the kitchen counter. Once he had all of them next to the sink, he tipped out the remaining coffee and he started loading them up into the dishwasher. He set off the dishwasher, set off the steriliser to clean Ellison’s bottles and once that was done, he started cleaning the kitchen. He didn’t know how to use Harry’s washing machine, but he loaded up the mass of used and soiled burp cloths and he did his best to get some of them cleaned. It was a good thing that Harry had bought a lot of them in the first place, or they would have run out and their son wasn’t even a week old yet.
He couldn’t get the vacuum out, it was nearing midnight now, plus he didn’t want to wake Harry or baby Ellis up, but he still cleared away all the rubbish and discarded spit cloths and even baby vomit stained sleepsuits. He threw those straight in the bin.
Once that was done and he’d unloaded the dishwasher, putting the cups and plates away back into the almost bare cupboards, he made up a bottle ready for Ellison’s next feed, leaving it to cool on its own and he was surprised then to find himself with nothing to do. He made himself a coffee and instant noodles and he just sat in the quiet, eating something hot for a change, even if it was just a snack, and he wasn’t the least bit tired. It was amazing.
He actually managed to finish his meal and his coffee and he washed up after himself before his son woke up for his feed. He couldn’t believe the difference and he wasn’t stressed at all as he fed Ellison his bottle, he was feeling calm and in control. He laughed softly to himself, more an amused exhale of air than anything else, the difference several hours of undisturbed sleep made.
“I suppose it wasn’t healthy for you to be picking up on all the tension and stress either.” Clint said aloud, looking at Ellison who was suckling just as strongly as always.
He watched with a soft smile as his son fed and when he’d had enough, he put the bottle down and burped him over his shoulder, burp cloth ready to catch anything that dribbled back out, but Ellison was good at feeding and rarely spit anything back up.
He sat on the sofa and rested his baby on his lap, his head being supported by his knees and tiny feet curled up by his belly and he took a hold of Ellison’s hands, just holding them. He stared at his son, just looking at him as those sleepy, baby blue eyes peered up at him before drifting off to rest on anything and everything in the room, before his son yawned with his tiny mouth and those eyes closed and stayed close. Within minutes Ellison was fast asleep, his little chest raising and falling gently, rhythmically and Clint just grinned at him.
He snapped a few pictures and forwarded them to his team members, he didn’t care that it was half one in the morning. If they were asleep, the alert wouldn’t wake them, if they were awake, then they could look at his messages or not. He did not expect his phone to start ringing though.
“Hello.” He answered quietly.
‘Hey Barton, we’d half thought you’d died or something. It’s been three days and we haven’t heard a word from you or Harry. The good Captain is ripping his hair out with worry.’ Tony’s voice came down the line, along with the sounds and soft clicks of a socket wrench being used. Of course if anyone was still awake in the dead of the night, it would be Tony.
“We’re alright, just both tired, or rather we were. We decided that splitting this into shifts would make things easier on us both, so I’m up with the baby and Harry’s catching up on some much needed sleep.”
‘How is Harry?’
“He’s doing alright, I think.”
‘He hasn’t tried to murder you yet then?’
Clint snorted. “No, sorry to disappoint you.”
‘And Ellison, how’s he been?’
“He’s perfect.” Clint said with a grin that Tony couldn’t see. “He’s so good. He only cries when he wants a feed or a change and he’s like clockwork. We struggled a bit at the beginning because we didn’t know what we were doing really and when he cried, we were both getting up to deal with him. We’ve stopped doing that now and we’re doing everything in shifts and I feel so much better, calmer and more relaxed. I hope that when he wakes up that Harry is too.”
‘So when can we come over and see him?’
“I’ll run it by Harry when he wakes up and if he agrees then you can come over tomorrow evening.”
‘Brilliant. Maybe now I can get some work done without Steve pacing around and babbling about going to see if you’re both okay. I swear that man has some serious issues.’
“He just likes caring for people.” Clint said as he combed his fingers gently through Ellison’s hair. “Sometimes he worries too much, but he lost everything he knew and everyone close to him when he crashed into the ocean. Let him cling onto us a bit, after all, he’s just worried that we’ll disappear too.”
‘You’ve gotten some wisdom in your new Fatherhood role.’
Clint snorted. “Maybe. I never thought that having a child could change me, but really, I started changing the moment I knew that Harry was pregnant and I just didn’t realise it. Now I can’t see my life without either of them.”
‘Me either.’ Tony confided. ‘Harry changed all of us and seriously, we’re as close as family. We’re not just some misfit team anymore, we’re more than that now, which makes Harry and Ellison part of our family, a part of my family and I want to see them.’
“I’ll be sure to tell Harry. He’ll let you visit, you know he will, we’ve just been too tired to do anything. We haven’t been eating or sleeping properly, an hour ago was the first hot food I’ve had in days. Harry still hasn’t eaten anything.”
‘Be sure to remedy that before Steve sees him or he’s going to be impossible to live with afterwards.’
“Harry will eat when he wakes up, now that we’re on a shift system, there’s nothing left to do. So I’ll make sure that he eats something.”
A curse and the sound of metal bouncing off of concrete and Clint rolled his eyes.
“Did you drop part of your suit on your head again? Steve will be onto you, not us.”
‘No, I got distracted and dropped my wrench. That last battle really put some dents into my suit.’
Ellison wriggled on his lap and let out a whine. Clint knew immediately what he wanted, Ellison mewled when he was hungry and whined when he was wet, both he and Harry had gotten the noises that their son made mastered.
“I’ve got to go now anyway, Ellis just woke up wet.”
‘Gross. Well, alright then, call me later and I can finally tell Steve that we can come over to see you and Harry.’
“See you later, Tony.” Clint said hurriedly as he snapped his cell shut and got Ellison onto the floor and onto his little foam changing mat. They hadn’t used the changing table upstairs once yet.
He undressed Ellison, taking his little legs out of his onesie and yanking open his bodysuit to reach his diaper. Trying to keep Ellison’s legs out of the way while changing the sodden diaper, he wiped the baby soft skin and then powdered him before getting him into a dry diaper and carefully redressing him, making obsessively sure that he didn’t pinch his son’s skin between the poppers.
Clint kissed his tiny mouth and picked him back up, watching as Ellison, who hadn’t once opened his eyes during the changing, settled himself back to sleep. Kissing his son again, Clint popped him into his bassinet and got rid of the soiled diaper and went looking for things to do. He couldn’t believe the difference just one solid block of sleep did for him. He hoped Harry felt this amazing when he woke up too. He couldn’t wait until Harry woke up again either, he already missed him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Harry grinned at the look on Tony’s face as he held Ellison on his lap.
“Are you sure that I’m doing it right?” He asked for the seventh time as he cradled the baby as gently as he dared when he was so worried about dropping him.
“You’re doing just fine, Uncle Tony.” Harry teased him as he waved a freshly baked blueberry muffin under his nose as praise for holding Ellison.
“I’ll trade you.” Tony smirked as he indicated the muffin and then the baby.
Harry laughed as he took Ellison from Tony and handed over the muffin, which went down Tony’s throat practically whole.
“Try chewing it, you pig.” Harry scolded. “You need to be an example to Ellison!”
Tony just smirked and raised a damnable eyebrow.
“You won’t get any more!” Harry threatened and turned to Thor, handing him the baby. He was now the only one who hadn’t had a hold.
“Just control your strength.” Clint told his team mate worriedly and Harry rolled his eyes.
“He’s fine.” Harry assured as he adjusted Thor’s grip for him and stood back to see his tiny, doll like son in those massive, muscular arms. “He looks so tiny next to you.”
“He is tiny!” Thor insisted as he used the tip of a finger to brush over Ellison’s cheeks.
Ellison cracked open his eyes and peered up at who was holding him, his mouth pouted as he stared at Thor, who stared back. His eyes closed again and when Thor poked a finger into Ellison’s tiny fist, he clenched around it tight. Thor’s fingers were too thick for Ellison’s hand to go all the way around and Harry stroked his son’s thick, black hair before he went into the kitchen to top up coffee mugs and to bring Tony more blueberry muffins.
He felt so much better just because he had gotten so much uninterrupted sleep and he’d even managed to get in a proper shower and overall, he felt so much more human than he had just yesterday. Though waking up to a clean house, all the dishes done, the counters cleaned and all the soiled burp cloths in the washing machine was a very welcomed surprise and he’d thanked Clint profusely for doing that for him. He’d gotten the polish and the hoover out himself before the Avengers had come around and he smiled as his house looked more like his house again and not like a hazardous dump. He’d even had time and energy to spare to bake up a batch of muffins after Clint had forced him to eat his first real meal since he’d been in the hospital.
“I hear from Tony that he’s a dream.” Harry heard Pepper say as he walked back into the living room with a smile.
“He is.” Clint agreed.
Harry nodded as he put more coffee and the plate of muffins down on the coffee table. “He’s lovely. He’s been so good. I haven’t heard him cry yet that wasn’t actually because he was hungry, wet or cold.”
“He’s adorable.” Steve said as he peered at the baby drowned in Thor’s arms.
“Yeah, you two make a good looking kid.” Natasha said with a smile.
Harry beamed with pride and he settled himself next to Clint, or rather mostly on top of him. Clint didn’t mind at all, in fact, he just pulled him in tighter and settled his arm comfortably around him, hand on Harry’s hip and he carried on talking to his friends.
Harry watched them all with a smile as Ellison was passed around from person to person, his five day old son not even waking up as he was cooed over and passed from arm to arm, being kissed, touched and talked to. Little Ellis didn’t even care enough to open his eyes as he caused such a fuss around him.
He let the conversation float over his head, he didn’t mind what they were talking about. He just snuggled in tight to Clint and he only had to move when Ellison mewled softly from Bruce’s arms, wanting his next bottle.
He made the bottle up and cooled it down with magic before he went back into the living room and sat back next to Clint, who had Ellison in his arms. He handed over the bottle and he couldn’t believe how everything had settled into place as he cuddled into Clint and watched him feed their five day old son.
“He’s good at feeding.” Steve told him as they all sat quietly and watched Ellison suckle his milk.
Harry grinned. “He takes after Clint in that.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad.” Clint insisted.
Harry pecked at his lips and then took their son from him and hefted him over his shoulder to burp him, rubbing his back firmly and in a circular motion to bring up his wind.
He smiled when Ellison burped softly into his ear and he lay his baby back down on his lap and held his tiny hands, pushing his thumbs under Ellison’s fingers to lay across his palms, grinning as his son gripped at his thumbs tightly.
“I love you both so much.” Clint whispered into his ear and Harry’s grin widened.
He turned his head and kissed Clint hard.
“I think that’s our cue to leave.” Tony said as he winked at them both.
“Thank you for coming.” Harry said as they stood up and started saying their goodbyes.
Clint went to see them out to their car as Harry took Ellison up the stairs to his nursery, laying him in his cot and tucking him in. He made sure that the baby monitors that Tony had made himself and had gifted to them were switched on and he made his way back into the living room and back onto the settee.
He heard Clint come back into the house and shut the front door and then he was back in the living room.
“Where’s Ellison?” He asked as he sat back on the settee next to him.
“He’s up in his cot, peacefully sleeping. I thought we could spend some time together alone before we’re inevitably disturbed again.”
Clint grinned and moved forward, covering Harry’s body with his own and Harry reached up to thrust his fingers through Clint’s short blond hair, pulling their lips together. Their mouths met in a furious kiss and Clint wormed an arm under Harry’s back, holding him close.
They’d gone this far before, on their dates before Harry had been abducted, but it felt different now. Knowing that Harry was doing this because he loved and cared for him, not just because of their son, who was sleeping peacefully upstairs. It made everything better and Clint moved his free hand down Harry’s side and pushed it up, under his shirt.
Harry broke their kiss to gasp and arch underneath him and Clint, deprived of Harry’s mouth, moved his lips to Harry’s neck instead, licking and nibbling over sweet, pale skin.
“Clint!” Harry sighed softly, wrapping his legs around Clint’s waist and rocking his hips up.
“Damn, we haven’t done this in so long.” Clint groaned. “I’ve missed kissing you and holding you like this.”
Harry grinned and he pushed himself up until he was sat on Clint’s lap, those massive, muscular arms wrapped around his back. Harry loved Clint’s archer arms.
Harry wrapped his own arms around Clint’s neck and he kissed Clint, nipping at his lips and accepting Clint’s tongue into his mouth.
Harry squeezed Clint’s waist with his legs as they kissed and they rocked together and Harry felt a burst of deep love for this man.
“Bedroom.” He gasped out.
“Are you sure?” Clint asked in a rough, gravelly voice that made Harry’s gut clench.
“Yes, I wouldn’t have said so otherwise.” Harry insisted. “Now take me to bed before I go up and sort myself out alone.”
Clint stood up with Harry still in his arms and those legs wrapped around his waist and he easily carried Harry up the stairs, even with Harry’s mouth sucking on his neck, shoulder and collarbone.
“Ellis won’t wake up for another two hours, will he?” Clint asked as he took one hand from under Harry’s bum to open the door of the master bedroom.
“No, we fed him just before he was put to bed and he will need a change about an hour before his next feed.” Harry replied, breathing hard as he pulled his mouth from Clint’s skin to answer him. “That’s only if he wakes up too. He might stay asleep until his next feed.”
Clint hummed and he eased Harry down onto the large bed, keeping their bodies pressed together as he kissed Harry passionately.
Harry responded eagerly to the kiss and gripped a hand tight into Clint’s hair.
“Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to.”
“Damn it, Clint. Stop acting like I’m doing this out of obligation or something, I’m not. I want to have sex and I want to have it with you, so stop trying to kill my erection. We’ve been dating for how long now? We have a newborn son together don’t we? Yes, I’m sure that I want to have sex with you, now get on with it and stop talking unless it’s to say utterly filthy, arousing things to me.”
Clint chuckled and bent to nibble at his ear and Harry let himself fall back into those tantalising, tingling feelings and away from his anger and frustration that Clint was still worried about doing this with him.
He forgot what he was thinking about when Clint moved back and in one swift, mouth wateringly sexy move, he pulled his tee shirt from his body, displaying that luscious, muscular chest and the equally muscular shoulders and arms.
Harry sat up so that he could run his hands over all of those muscles and kiss and lick at Clint’s chest and shoulders. Of course Clint had a solid six pack, he sparred with the Avengers for training.
Clint didn’t let Harry take charge for long, he was an Alpha after all and though Harry had started this, he was going to take over now that he had Harry’s express permission.
He pushed Harry back down and pulled his shirt from his body and he growled lowly in arousal as he caught sight of his Omega’s body. He didn’t care one iota that Harry still had a baby pouch or the partially healed scar.
“Are you alright to move around so much with this?” He asked as he played his fingertips over the bottom edge of the scar. Harry’s muscles jumped under the skin and Harry giggled.
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“The doctors said six weeks.” Clint said nervously.
“I’ve been taking potions to heal it faster. I haven’t been in any pain for the last three days.” Harry told him with a smile. “The Healers said I would be just fine after a week and completely healed in two.”
Clint shut up then as he pulled Harry into a kiss, laying himself back over Harry to get skin to skin contact.
He unbuttoned his jeans and pulled down the zip as he continued to kiss Harry, loving the feel of those plush lips on his own, the feel of Harry’s skin, the taste of him on his tongue, the scent of him everywhere as his pheromones picked up with his arousal.
“Clint.” Harry whispered breathily, eyes closed, panting hard as he used his foot to push down Clint’s jeans.
Clint kicked his jeans off but he had to pull back when he wanted to get Harry’s jeans off, it took him only a minute and less than three moves to get them off, leaving Harry and himself only in boxers. He quickly removed Harry’s boxers and kissed over Harry’s thighs as he did so, stroking his calves even as he slipped the boxers off of Harry’s ankles and threw them to the bedroom floor.
“Fuck, you look gorgeous.” He said as he drank in the sight of a gloriously naked Harry for the first time.
He couldn’t actually remember much of carrying a naked Harry out of the abandoned factory, he couldn’t remember much of when they’d conceived Ellison and Harry remembered even less of their son’s conception and absolutely nothing of the run through the factory having been unconscious for most of their escape, so neither of them counted that time. For all intents and purposes, this was their first time together and the both of them were very much eager for this to finally happen.
Clint knew that if they could do this and actually have sex with no bad feelings or memories, then they could finally get over what had happened and move on with their lives. This was the last hurdle that they had to face, the only thing still holding them back and Clint wanted it gone.
Harry hummed lightly as Clint removed the last fabric barrier between them, stripping off his own boxer shorts and leaving them both bare and he took a moment to just look at Harry again, completely uncovered, scars and all.
Clint swallowed the anger at all of the scars Harry had. Small, barely there lines, to a large, thick, puckered gash on his left hip that looked fresh. Harry flinched in pain when it was touched.
“Does this still hurt?” Clint asked gruffly.
Harry panted and nodded. “It will never heal properly, it’s a cursed scar. One made with a very dark, powerful curse. I got it during the war. It’s permanent and painful.”
Clint bent his head and placed the softest kiss he could manage to the scar and made a mental note to stay away from it as much as he could. The last thing he wanted to do was harm Harry or cause him pain from this.
The caesarean scar was a new one, one Clint knew had been surgical, hadn’t hurt Harry at all and was going to be fully healed very soon, but still he pressed his lips to it, smiling at the thought that Harry had this scar to give them their precious son, Ellison.
Clint kissed every scar he could find, particularly the small, round, sensitive scar on Harry’s inside thigh that made him catch his breath and moan when it was touched, either by fingers, lips or tongue. He moved off of the scars after that one and he instead moved his mouth from the sensitive scar, up to Harry’s right hip and over his belly, which made Harry squirm.
“Please, just stop teasing.” Harry begged softly.
Clint grinned and buried his face into Harry’s neck, kissing the skin that met his lips. He shifted his body to get more in line with Harry’s before he moved his mouth over Harry’s throat and up to his mouth, loving that Harry grumbled impatiently and grabbed his head, using his hair to pull him into a fierce kiss.
Harry pushed him away and rolled over, ripping open his bedside drawer and pulling out a bottle of lubricant. Clint grinned naughtily as he spied that it was half empty.
“Have you been naughty?” He asked.
Harry glared. “I have needs to be met and right now, you aren’t meeting them!”
Clint laughed and he hugged Harry tightly, kissing him again and letting him pull on his hair some more. He’d used more than half a bottle of lube when he and Harry had been dating, it had been a very sexually frustrating time.
He used his one hand to grab the bottle of lube and he pushed the cap off with his thumb. The pop it produced made Harry shiver and when he pulled back, those gorgeous green eyes had darkened with lust. It was definitely in his top ten looks that Harry had given him that he enjoyed, second only to the first time that Harry had looked at him with love clear in his eyes.
He coated his fingers, and the bed cover too, with lube and while he distracted Harry with a soft kiss, he played one finger around the entrance to Harry’s body. Despite Harry’s complaints, he was in absolutely no rush to stop teasing him. He was getting far too much pleasure from just being this close to Harry. Holding him, kissing him, licking him and loving him. Touching him skin to skin, hearing his racing heartbeat, seeing the flush of arousal covering his body, feeling Harry’s muscles tensing and bunching, his arms holding him tight, gripping his hair to pull him into a kiss and tasting those lips, his skin, as a light sheen of sweat broke out over his small, pale body.
Clint felt like he was intoxicated as he touched and kissed Harry, reducing him to soft moans and sharp gasps as he just played with Harry’s body, relaxing him and watching him through lusty eyes as Harry threw his head back and his knees fell to the side, splaying his legs open and giving Clint more access to his body so that he could play with him some more.
Harry felt like he was losing his mind and the only thing anchoring him to reality was his tight grip on Clint’s blond hair, his fingers digging in as he tugged and pulled, stealing kisses as Clint finally eased that one finger into his body like the sadistic bastard that he was.
“Please Clint. You’re teasing too much.” He tried saying, hoping to urge him on further, but Clint only laughed and carefully stroked his finger around inside of him, the utter bastard.
Harry was panting continuously for breath by the time that Clint pulled his hand back and slid two slick fingers into his body and he cried out desperately as a flush of heat encompassed his entire body, his arousal climbing to new heights, making him feel flushed, too hot and mindless.
“Fuck Clint, will you please, please just fuck me already.” He begged in a last ditch attempt to get Clint to stop teasing him. It didn’t work as Clint just chuckled deeply and spread his fingers inside of him.
“Just let me stretch you first.” Clint told him calmly.
Harry flung his head and hands back and groaned.
“You’re being a sadistic Alpha!” Harry told him.
Clint grinned and nuzzled at his neck before biting it gently, making obsessively sure that he didn’t even come close to breaking the skin, before moving his mouth to Harry’s small ear.
“I know, but I can’t help it. You look so good like this, all flushed and damp with sweat, your eyes are dark and lust blown, the way you’re tugging at my hair and digging in your nails, kicking your feet. I don’t want to stop just yet.”
Harry was breathing hard and he yanked at Clint’s hair again, pulling him back to his mouth to get another kiss, biting at Clint’s lips and gasping when Clint moved his hand fully back before pushing three fingers into him.
Letting out a grunt, Harry wiggled his hips to try and get used to the sensation of having three fingers spread out inside of his body. He gasped when they touched his prostate and his hips bucked sharply and suddenly in automatic response.
Clint chuckled in a way that was purely aroused Alpha male and Harry kept his eyes glued to Clint’s gorgeous face, those glistening muscles as Clint stroked and opened up his body in a way that Harry had never, ever experienced before.
“Please.” He begged softly, shifting his body restlessly as he tried to get some sort of real relief.
Clint bit harder at his neck, leaving a mark on his Omega that enflamed his blood to see and had his cock throbbing. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold off. Harry was just so arousing and enticing and his begging was getting more desperate and near enough continuous.
“Please. Please.” Harry begged almost on cue as he snapped his head to the side, rolling his hips up into his fingers. “Please, Clint!”
Unable to take it anymore, Clint growled and pulled his fingers free of Harry’s body and he shifted himself so that he could kiss Harry, thrusting his tongue into his mouth and swallowing those gasps and moans.
He lubed up his cock, squeezing a little tighter than usual to try and stave off the feeling of being on the cusp of orgasm before he pulled Harry into his arms, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and using his other hand to guide himself to Harry’s entrance.
“I love you.” He said seriously, kissing Harry before he pushed himself inside with one fluid thrust.
He had to hold himself still as the assault of sensations threatened to overwhelm him. Harry had stopped breathing and Clint kissed at his lips to remind him to take in a breath.
“Oh.” Harry sighed as he wriggled around before wrapping his arms and legs around him.
Clint hid his smile into Harry’s neck, kissing and nibbling at the already marked skin. He waited, using all of his self-control to keep himself still as Harry wriggled and writhed on him. His back broke out into a sweat as he continued to hold himself still, trying to distract himself by sucking another mark onto Harry’s neck.
“Please…please Clint.” Harry begged in a soft whine.
That’s all he had been waiting for. He took things very slowly, pulling out of Harry’s clenching body and waiting a moment before pushing back into him with a smooth, steady pace. Harry’s hands gripped so tightly at his shoulders that his short nails were biting into his skin.
Shifting his position, he moved one hand to hold Harry’s thigh, lifting it and urging Harry to move it up higher and Harry complied easily, his face was flushed pink and Clint knew that he wanted to see Harry like this every day for the rest of their lives.
He shifted some more until he could dig his knees into the bed without slipping and he got eye contact with Harry, kissing him furiously as he pushed back into him, pulling out quickly before pushing back in, his pace quickening as he found a rhythm, holding Harry’s thigh tightly to keep that one leg from moving lest he lose his angle.
Harry scored lines into his back and shoulders and he thrashed his head from side to side over the pillow, making his naturally messy hair spike out in absolutely every direction.
He tried to kiss Harry several times, but he had to smile when every time Harry would just gasp and moan or fling his head to the opposite side, his back and neck arching into him and away from him in mindless pleasure.
He shifted his position again, moving his knees closer to Harry to get a stronger thrust and Harry’s hands slid under his armpits and dug into the sides of his back, clawing, holding as Harry made soft little noises of pleasure into his ear.
Clint could barely hold on to his control in this new position as Harry pushed back onto him and the new, deeper angle had Harry clenching even tighter around him, gripping at him like a drowning man in the sea, one hand in his hair, tugging, all but ripping it out in mindless pleasure while the other sunk short nails into the skin of his back. Clint really didn’t care, he didn’t feel any pain as the adrenaline and endorphins overwhelmed him as he completely unwound his Omega, smirking smugly as Harry let out a wail that cut off into a gurgle while his hips jerked up and into his own on reflex as he caught Harry’s prostate yet again.
“I love you so much.” He declared passionately, his voice a deep, bass growl as his Alpha instincts rose inside him, his brain switching over to more base thoughts, but he stopped himself from going over all the way.
“I love…I don’t…need…need…love you.” Harry babbled, his eyes firmly closed, mouth open as he rubbed his head over the pillows and flexed his hips continuously to try and reach his orgasm.
Clint moved a hand to cup Harry’s face and he kissed him deeply, passionately, moving their mouths together as he moved his body, flicking his tongue into Harry’s mouth and drawing his Omega’s tongue into playing with his as he used the last of his energy in a renewed burst of pace, his legs and stomach muscles aching and burning with the exertion, but he didn’t care as Harry clamped tight around him and locked his arms around his neck, jerking his back into an arc and gurgling some more, babbling odd noises and panting harshly, his chest heaving.
“Clint!” He called out and opened his gorgeous eyes, panting hard, almost hyperventilating as he gazed up at him and Clint could only growl, trying to maintain eye contact.
He let go of Harry’s jaw and he moved his hand down, over Harry’s belly, his fingers just skimming the skin. Harry jerked and wailed and eye contact was lost as Harry squeezed his eyes closed tightly and turned his head back into the pillow.
Clint chuckled darkly as his hand grasped Harry’s cock and he let it pass through his palm easily. He wrapped his fingers around Harry tighter and stroked down, listening as Harry’s breath caught in his throat at the new sensations and the higher spike of pleasure.
“Please.” Harry whispered, his eyes cracking open to peer up at him, his red lips parted as he huffed out his breaths, his hands were fisting the bed sheets now, as Clint had reared back out of his reach to get a better angle for harder, deeper thrusts.
Harry’s soft pleas were almost his undoing as he felt the white hot coil in his belly tighten with every word that Harry whispered to him and every hot and heavy gaze directed at him. He couldn’t hold on for much longer, already he could feel his movements getting less smooth, more jerky and desperate as his own orgasm built inside him.
He wrapped Harry’s cock in his hand fully and he stroked it with short, firm pulls that had Harry grunting into his ear, babbling and pleading nonsensically and then his breath hitched, his back snapped into an arch and his head flung back as his orgasm hit him and Clint got to watch as Harry fell over the edge and completely into his pleasure. It was one of the most beautiful sights that he’d ever seen.
Once Harry flumped, completely boneless, onto the bed, Clint let himself go and he thrust harder and faster, pulling Harry’s compliant body into a tight hug and he roared…there was no other way to describe the noise that came out of his mouth, as the coil in his belly snapped and he released into Harry.
His head was filled with white noise, his body ached fiercely as he made sure to fall off to the side of his Omega, but as Harry tiredly rolled over and snuggled into him, Clint didn’t care about anything else. He just wrapped his arms tight around Harry’s tiny, sweat soaked body and he held him tightly, to his chest as he worked on calming down his breathing.
Little puffs against his skin had him looking to Harry. He had to smile when he saw that Harry was fast asleep, curled against him.
He basked in this moment, knowing that the biggest hurdle in their lives was now out of their way and had been overcome. Their relationship had gone onto a new level of intimacy and as he regained his breath and calmed his heart rate, he had never felt closer to Harry and he never wanted to go back to how they had been before. He loved this man and he wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives, even if Harry never gave his permission for them to bond together, he wouldn’t care. He would still love him and protect him for the rest of their lives. Harry accepted all of him and, with the revelation that Harry, and most likely Ellison as well, had magic, he had accepted all of Harry too. They still had to break that news to the rest of the team, but they were in no rush to do so.
Clint lay in the bed, holding Harry and just relishing this moment, this feeling of utter contentment. At least until he heard an unhappy cry from next door.
Harry stirred and murmured unhappily, but he didn’t wake up. Or at least Clint didn’t think he had until he spoke.
“Clint…baby.”
“I hear him. You go back to sleep.” He said as he slipped off of the bed and kissed Harry’s still flushed cheek.
He went next door and to the beautiful, carved wooden cot to pick up his baby son. Ellison was full out crying, not mewling or whining, but actually crying. He was wet and hungry and didn’t know what he wanted sorted out first.
Clint took him straight to the changing table and he smirked to himself. He was going to be the first person to change their baby son on the changing table.
It was no easy task as Ellison wasn’t happy at all, he was squirming around and waving his tiny arms about as he tried to urge Clint to change him quicker, to feed him quicker.
Once changed and wrapped back into his blanket, Clint got him down the stairs and into the kitchen so that he could make up a bottle. He didn’t care at all that he was still completely naked, he was too happy, too sated to give two shits about anything other than his small family.
He ran the cold water over the bottle of milk and he bounced his baby son against his shoulder, one large hand cupping the back of his head, the other cupping his bum as he bounced him lightly and swayed gently as he waited for the milk to cool down enough for Ellison to drink.
“It’s alright, darling.” He soothed quietly as he tried to calm him down while the milk cooled. “It won’t be long now.”
He turned Ellison down into the crook of his elbow and turned off the tap, testing the bottle against his bare forearm before he prodded the teat at Ellison’s lips watching with a smile as his baby boy latched on and started suckling, his awful, ear splitting cries mercifully cutting off.
“He okay?”
Clint looked up at the doorway when he heard Harry’s slurred question and he had to smirk at the sluggish looking Omega. The first thing he noticed was that Harry was also still naked, his hair was everywhere, he had bite marks littering his body and he looked so satisfied and pleased, even with his eyes half lidded with tiredness.
“He’s fine now, he just wanted his bottle and a fresh diaper.”
Harry wib wobbled his way over and tucked himself into his side, his hand lifting to stroke their son’s jet black hair as he snuggled into his side.
Clint allowed Harry to take Ellison from him once he was finished to wind him while he tipped out the remains of the milk, rinsed out the bottle and put it in the steriliser.
“Do you want a cup of coffee?” He asked.
Harry nodded with a smile as he swayed with their son, rubbing his back in firm circles.
“Please. I need something to wake me up, I feel so tired and relaxed.”
Clint smirked smugly as he made a mug of coffee for them both. He was feeling incredibly pleased with himself and he was so happy he thought that he might burst. He had Harry, he had his baby son, he finally had his own little family and he was so proud and pleased as he kissed Harry on the lips.
“What was that for?” Harry asked, startled at the sudden move, but no less pleased at it.
“Just because.” Clint answered as he wrapped his arms around Harry and Ellison, holding them close. “I love you. I love you both.”
Harry smiled and rested his head against Clint’s shoulder.
“I love you too and so does Ellison. You do, after all, feed and change him the most.” Harry added with a grin.
Clint laughed. “You go and get yourself into the living room and sitting down, I’ll get your coffee.”
Harry nodded and went into the living room with his baby son. He sat down and cradled him in his arms, keeping contact as bright blue eyes looked up at him. The contrast between his eyes and his dark hair was stunning and Harry really hoped that Ellison took Clint’s blue eyes permanently.
“Does he need a pacifier?”
Harry hummed. “Maybe, but let me stare at him some more before you jam a dummy in his mouth. You know giving him one of them sends him straight to sleep. I want to look at these gorgeous eyes of his some more.”
Clint sat next to him and smiled at his son, throwing an arm around Harry’s shoulders casually and pulling him to rest against him so that they could both look at Ellison.
“I can’t imagine my life being any different now.” Harry said quietly, long after Ellison had had a dummy pushed into his mouth and had fallen asleep in his arms. “He means everything to me now and so do you and Steve, and Tony and Pepper and Phil and everyone too. I can’t imagine a life without any of you.”
“I’m glad that you’re finally comfortable with all of us. I don’t even want to try and imagine a life without you or Ellison. I’m glad that you trusted me enough to confide in me, Harry. I really am.”
“I am too.” Harry replied simply as he yawned and snuggled with Ellison. “I’m glad that you didn’t freak out and run a mile when I told you.”
“Of course not. I love you and I love our little Ellis.”
“I feel better now that I’ve had him and I’m back on my suppressants. Calmer and more level headed. I’m just so glad that everything is normal now and that things can just stay normal. No mad men abducting and torturing me, no fearing to open my front door, no loneliness and no craving for human contact. I’m so much happier, thank you for coming to rescue me that day and though I’m never going to like how the conception of Ellison came about, I love him so much and I would never want to change a single thing about him and I’ve come to love you over these last several months too.”
“So…that can all be put behind us?”
Harry nodded and gave him a bright smile. “Yes. It’s all behind us now, Clint. I’m not going to hold a single mistake against you. I know that you never meant to hurt me, that things happened that were out of everyone’s control. I see things clearer now, I feel differently now that I’m not being consumed by fear and rage. I love you and everything that’s happened, it has been a dark blot in my past, a past that is already riddled with dark blots, what’s one more? We can put it all behind us, Clint. We can move on together, with our little boy. I mean hell, we’re practically living together, we’re sharing a bed, we have a son and I think we just proved beyond doubt that sex is not going to be a problem for us…what more is there left to prove?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing left now to hold us back.” Clint said with look at Harry and Harry moved towards him and kissed him. He kissed back before they broke apart and looked back at their sleeping son.
They sat in comfortable silence just watching Ellison sleeping. Clint was very content having Harry leaning against him as he wrapped his arm around him. He inhaled slowly and deeply and he rumbled in pleasure as he detected the scent of sex and himself on his Omega. He could see his bite marks on Harry’s neck, he wished that he’d broken the skin, that he’d bonded with his Omega. But he knew that he would never bond with Harry unless he had his express permission and a bonding bite on his own neck from Harry first.
It wasn’t how the bonding typically went, it was usually the Alpha who bit first and then the Omega followed, but Clint did not give a fuck what the usual order was in other bondings. He and Harry were different, they were individuals and neither of them cared for tradition and Clint did not care if he had to walk around with Harry’s claiming mark on show for several years before Harry allowed him to put a bonding mark on his neck in return. He just didn’t care anymore, as long as he could still be with Harry and love him, then nothing else mattered to him.
“Shall we get him back up to his cot?” Harry asked.
Clint nodded and he stood up, hauling Harry up with him. Harry held fast to their baby son and Clint got a good grip on Harry, smirking a little smugly as he got to touch and hold naked skin to his own naked skin. Clint carried Harry up the stairs and into their son’s nursery, where he settled Harry down on his feet slowly and carefully.
Harry kissed their son and then held him out so that Clint could do the same before he settled him into the huge cot, his feet to the bottom before he covered him over with his little blanket. Harry had explained why Ellison had to be put at the bottom of the cot and not in the middle or the top and now Clint was terrified that Ellison would wriggle up the cot and then wriggle back down and suffocate himself. Harry had eased those fears by explaining that their son didn’t have the necessary motor skills to move himself much, that it was a precaution just in case he did slip down the cot and slip under his blanket. Still, Clint checked on him a few times a night, tucking him back in with his blanket if it was needed, though sometimes he went in to check on Ellison and he hadn’t moved a muscle.
Clint touched his baby’s soft head before he bent his head and kissed and nibbled over Harry’s shoulders. Harry chuckled, partly in amusement, partly because it tickled as he squirmed.
“Stop that.” Harry told him, but he was grinning widely.
Clint hummed. “I was thinking of taking you back to bed.”
Harry’s grin widened as he turned and threw his arms around his neck.
“Oh? And what would we be doing in bed at just gone ten in the night?”
“I suppose we could get an early night, catch up on some more sleep.” Clint said thoughtfully before he turned a naughty smile to Harry. “Or I could lay you down on the sheets and do utterly filthy things to you until you can’t take any more.”
Harry’s returning grin made his blood pulse. “Oh, I like the second option better.” He said with such a lusty voice that Clint scooped him up and strode straight to the bedroom.
Harry laughed happily as Clint made his way to the room next door. Harry was placed gently onto the mattress and Clint crawled on top of him, their mouths meeting in a passionate kiss that took both of their breaths away.
Harry reached up to pull Clint’s head to his own for another kiss and shifted his legs to make room for Clint between them. He smiled to himself as they broke apart to breathe for a moment. He loved this man so much and he was going to recover from his pregnancy and then, once they’d gotten more used to living together and looking after Ellison, he was going to ask Clint to bond to him.
He was nervous about it, naturally. Bonding was for life, he’d be bonding himself to Clint for life, literally for better or for worse and Clint would be bonding to him for life too. It was a huge decision to make, but he wanted it. He loved Clint, he’d come to love and respect the Avengers and he had his home and his little son. This was more than he’d ever expected, he’d been prepared to spend the rest of his life alone and that had been okay…until he’d met Clint and then suddenly, it wasn’t okay, he didn’t want to be alone, he didn’t want to be cut off from everyone around him. He wanted children, he wanted a family and now, that’s exactly what he did have and he wanted to keep it.
He hoped that Clint agreed to bond with him. He’d give him as much time as he needed, he just hoped that one day, Clint agreed to make them a proper bonded pair, a real family, but right now, Harry was very, very happy as Clint kissed and nibbled his way down his neck and towards his chest.
He stopped thinking about anything as his mind went blank with his pleasure and he sunk into the moment, giving himself over completely to Clint and those talented hands and those exquisite lips and tongue.
He wasn’t able to think straight again until late the next morning, as Clint’s actions had brought him to such a climactic orgasm that he’d fallen unconscious with the release of pressure and he’d slept all throughout the night and had only woken up when he’d rolled over and the sun had almost seared out his eyeballs.
It had been a very, very good night and if he had any say in it, this routine would continue for the rest of their lives. He just had to get Clint to agree to a bonding between them. He hoped that he wasn’t too adverse to the idea and that it didn’t take too much persuasion to convince Clint to bond to him. He wanted Clint to do it because he loved him and wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives, not because he’d nagged him half to death and he was only giving in to shut him up. That would turn into his worst nightmare.
“Are you okay?” Clint asked him, kissing his mouth with not a single hint of hesitation and Harry loved that too as he kissed back for a moment.
“I’m absolutely brilliant.” He replied with a grin.
He settled down and rested himself on Clint’s body, letting himself be manoeuvred around so that they could kiss one another easier, Clint’s arm around his back to support him up.
Harry really, really wanted this to become a part of their everyday lives. He was going to do it soon. He’d ask Clint to bond with him for life and then they could be a real family, they would be able to do this for the rest of their lives and nothing, absolutely nothing, would make him happier than if Clint said yes to bonding with him. His hard, painful, war torn life would finally be complete and he’d have a real chance at being truly happy once again with Clint by his side and with their son Ellison.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
A/N: Well lovelies, this is the last true chapter of Damaged Bodies. It’s been a real journey with this fic and all I have left to do now is the follow up epilogue. I’m thinking of putting it ten years after the end of this chapter to show how they are a decade into the future, but that chapter will spell the end of this fic for good. Though I have several other Avengers/Harry Potter crossover fics to publish, but my next fic up is looking to be a Supernatural/Harry Potter crossover fic.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or commented on this fic over the years and thank you for following it from the start to the end. I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it and though I’m sad to finally reach the end, I’m also excited because I can now focus my time on new, upcoming stories. Thank you so much for all the enjoyment I’ve received out of this fic and hopefully I’ll be seeing you all soon with another Avengers/Harry Potter crossover fic, but until then, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this story and that you’ll continue to enjoy it if you revisit it in the future,
StarLight Massacre. X
- 19
- 20
- 21
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Damaged Bodies, Growing Lives, Building Families