25 Days of Frostiron

Even though Loki wanted to keep it a secret from the team, it didn't stop Tony from being an overprotective father-to-be and treating Loki like she was fragile. After the first couple of times (granted this all took place in the span of a day), Peter was the first to notice and brought it up in front of everyone. Which started the conversation of "Does Dad know?" "Yes." "Know what?" "Nothing, Steve." "So the surprise is off the table? How come?" "Because it is, Pete, or else it would no longer be a surprise." "What's the surprise?" "Nothing Natasha!" At the end of the conversation, Loki shot Tony a sharp glare and left the room. Tony tried to be more careful after that.

She changed into looser fitting tops--including some of Thor's sweatshirts--and baggy pants. No one paid much attention to the change in her apparel except those who already knew about the baby. And even then no one commented about it. Thor was more than willing to lend her sweatshirt after sweatshirt--he never liked them anyway. Peter showed her to pull the sleeves over her hands and whack people with them. She quite enjoyed doing it to Tony; especially when he was being too overprotective. Speaking of, Tony started to whisper to the baby at night and press soft kisses to her stomach when they were alone.

And though she loved the idea of starting a family with Tony, sometimes Loki's dysphoria got the better of her. She was female--no denying it and she wasn't going to change it anytime soon--but she could also be male at times. Hell, she was born male and was forced to stay male for so long--she's started thinking with male pronouns most of the time. Sometimes its hard to see her female-self in the mirror. But when she was feeling particularly bad about herself, Tony would swoop in and press reassuring kisses to her cheeks and remind her how much he loves her.

The first time she did it today, Tony swooped in and gave her a few kisses before calling everyone into the front-room to have a family game 'night'. Peter pulled Apple to Apples out of the closet and brought it with him. Everyone crowded around the coffee table with everyone sitting on pillows or just their ass on the floor. Loki curled into Tony's side, her eyes shut.

"I'll sit out this round," she admitted. Steve raised an eyebrow and glanced from Loki to Tony. He simply shook his head and continued shuffling the cards. "I'm not sure how to play this game." It was wonderful being the goddess of lies when it came to these certain situations. Steve nodded.

When Tony was done shuffling and handing out the cards, Peter was then handed the stack of green cards so he could be the judge for the first round. He pouted but nonetheless pulled one of them from the fancy holder they came in and flipped it over so everyone could see it. The card he pulled was 'gross'.

Loki watched as everyone glanced down at their cards before slowly, one by one, they placed down their red cards. Peter shuffled them before flipping them over once everyone placed one in the pile. The answers ranged from hairballs to cockroaches. One card said spiders and Peter's eyes nearly about bulged out of his head.

"WHO?!" he shrieked. "WHO PLACED DOWN SPIDERS?!" He glanced around at everyone, automatically ruling out Tony and perhaps Thor--maybe Steve as well. Sam and Bucky looked to one another before they started laughing. Peter glared at them. "Which one of you was it?" They held their hands up and acted innocent. His eyes narrowed. "I'm blaming this one on you, James Buchanan Barnes." Bucky's eyes widened.

"Hey! What did I ever do to you?"

Steve nudged Bucky playfully. "C'mon, Buck, you know what you've done to him." Bucky scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Did you place the card down?"

"Are you asking me if I would disrespect Stark's son while living in Stark's house?" Steve stared at him for a moment before nodding. Bucky scoffed again and shook his head. "Well," he crossed his arms over his chest, "it wasn't me."

Sam smirked which earned everyone's attention. Peter turned his narrowed eyes on Sam. Tony glared at him as well.

"Was it you?" Bruce asked before World War Three got started in the living room. He shrugged.

"Perhaps," he stated simply. Peter scoffed and turned the card over. "I'm not saying you're gross. Have you ever seen a spider when trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Those things are gross!"

"They just want to be your friend!" Peter fired back. "They're not hurting you!" Sam rolled his eyes. "How dare you insult my spider-friends. I will make sure they eat you in your sleep." His eyes widened slightly.

"You can do that?"

Peter shrugged. "Who said I couldn't?" After sliding 'A Mummy' forward and Wanda claiming her victory, Sam swore to himself he would never insult (backhandedly or directly) Peter ever again.

The green cards were then handed to Natasha who flipped over 'Beautiful'. The cards were a fairy, a mermaid, a princess, a queen, a sunset, a sunrise, actresses, and black holes. She raised an eyebrow as she flipped over the last one but shrugged. It took her a few moments longer than it did Peter to choose but she eventually chose a queen while looking directly at Wanda causing her to blush. Smirking, Natasha kissed her cheek as Tony slid the green card his way. Loki gasped, her cheeks turning a bright red as well. Laughing softy to himself, Tony kissed her nose.

"Love you," he remarked. She swallowed thickly and stumbled out a reply. Tony smiled warmly and wrapped his arm around her. Eyes slightly wider than usual, Loki curled back into his side, fiddling with a strand of her hair.

Thor pulled Lazy as he set down his red cards. The red cards following it were artists, Barney, cats, dolphins, giraffes, kittens, pineapples, and rust. Everyone--including Loki--started laughing at the wide range of answers Thor received. It took him a while to narrow done an answer; it was between cats and kittens for the longest time. He eventually went cats with the explanation of kittens don't know much else than to be lazy; cats are older and know what they should be doing. Bruce graciously accepted the win as the green cards were handed to Sam.

It made its way around the table a few times before the game was neck and neck with Natasha and Tony. Unfortunately for Tony, he was the judge for the round. He prayed to whatever god would listen to him (mainly just to Loki if she received prayers--and by the twitch of her nose and the confused stare she was giving him, it was a yes) he didn't pull Natasha's card as the winning card for the round.

He 'strategically' picked a random card from the middle: Exciting. This card took everyone a while to figure out what to place down. Tony thought that meant he had it in the bag. Loki giggled softly, fluttering her eyelashes at him. He kissed her nose and started whispering to her as everyone concentrated.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, nudging her nose with his. She rolled her eyes and shrugged. He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a good or bad thing?"

"Good mostly. I don't feel like a freak," she remarked. He smiled warmly and gave her a proper kiss, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

"You will never be a freak in my eyes, darling. I promise." They shared a smile before exchanging another kiss.

By the time Loki and Tony broke out of their own reality, everyone had already placed their cards down. Tony flipped them over and read them to himself. Some were pretty exciting--roller-coasters, San Francisco, scavenger hunt--others not so much. He scanned the rest before stopping at 'having a baby'. Loki, who had been reading them over his shoulder, stopped on it as well. She sucked in a breath and forced a smile.

With a forced smile of his own, Tony slid the 'having a baby' card forward. Bruce grabbed the green card with a smile; this now bringing the two-way tie to a three-way tie. Everyone started 'oohing' and 'awing'. Tony and Loki rolled their eyes.

"Is there something you'd like to tell us?" Natasha asked. They exchanged a quick look before Loki shook her head.

"Nope. Nothing of the sort."

Tony nodded. "Honestly, Natasha, it's like you're expecting us to say we're expecting. Is there something you're not telling us?" She rolled her eyes but remained quiet. "That's what I thought."