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Wonderful news is on its way! Announcements regarding engagements, pregnancies, births, or graduations will be revealed. New friends will be made, or communities of like-minded people will draw closer to one another. Exciting new beginnings or happy endings are just around the corner.
“Steve. Darling. My love. Light of my life. We can not have a gender reveal party for our child,” Bucky explained for what felt like the thousandth time.
“Well, why not? They’re cute! Here, look at this one,” Steve said, shoving a video of a woman popping a balloon filled with pink glitter in Bucky’s face. “There’s so many things we could do! It doesn’t have to be weird.”
Bucky sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “We can’t just force awful gender stereotypes on our unborn child. It’s ridiculous.”
But when Steve looked up at Bucky with the most tragic case of puppy dog eyes the world has ever seen, there was absolutely no way Bucky could say no.
“Fine. At least promise me I can plan it so it isn’t too bad,” Bucky said.
Steve grinned, agreed, and gave Bucky a gentle kiss for his troubles.
***
“Steve! You said I could plan this! Get off pinterest. Yes, I’ll make sure you like the idea before I officially plan anything,” Bucky said.
Steve grumbled, but did as he was told and logged off his laptop.
“Do you have any ideas yet?” Steve asked, hopefully.
“Well, I don’t want to do a super basic cake cutting, but I also don’t want to have to clean up confetti after the party,” Bucky started. “So I was thinking maybe a game of paintball; the winner gets to open the envelope and read it out.”
Steve looked thoughtful for a second. “I like it. Let’s let everyone pick sides. If you think the baby is a girl, you get pink paint. If you think the baby is a boy, you get blue.”
Bucky smiled. “I knew I could get you to let me shoot our friends for the sake of our baby.”
“No, that’s why you wanted to do this?” Steve groaned, “I thought it was just a unique idea!”
“It is!” Bucky argued. “This is just a bonus. So, are you team boy or girl?”
“Aw, do I have to pick a side? I don’t wanna. We should probably be on opposite sides, though.”
Bucky nodded. “Well, I’m hoping for a little girl, so you get team blue.”
***
A few weeks later, the party was planned and all the Avengers met at a paintball range for the reveal. Bucky explained the rules; get pink paint if you think the baby is a girl, or blue if you think the baby is a boy. Line up on sides to get team markers--in this case, pink or blue face paint. The first team to reach the podium in the center of the field got to make the announcement. You were only out if you received a “kill shot,” that is, any shot not to the arms or legs.
After everything settled, the teams were uneven. On Bucky’s side, team pink, stood Bucky, Natasha, Bruce, Wanda, Vision, Thor, T’Challa, and Scott. On Steve’s side, team blue, stood Steve, Tony, Sam, Peter, Clint, and Loki. Both teams retreated to opposite sides of the field so they could start the game.
Steve and Bucky yelled out a countdown, and the game began.
Natasha was scary good at paintball. She took Clint out with a shot to the stomach within minutes of starting the game, and missed Peter’s shoulder by maybe an inch.
Unfortunately for team pink, however, Thor had terrible aim with a gun. While aiming for Sam, he missed by a good few feet and nearly got himself shot attempting to hide behind a three foot tall barrel. His encouragement was great for team spirits, though.
But team blue had Steve, and he hit Vision in the chest with a splatter of blue paint, removing him from the game.
Loki was under strict instruction to not use any of his powers whatsoever during the game, but team pink would later agree there was something uncanny about the way a paintball swerved to hit Scott seconds before Loki himself was out of the game, thanks to a well-placed shot from Bucky.
Bucky could see Sam and Steve making plans to try and rush to the center and grab the envelope. Whispering quickly to Nat, team pink created a counter attack, sending Thor and Bruce to sprint towards the center at the same time Sam and Steve starting making his way up the field. Nat and Bucky followed behind Thor and Bruce while Wanda and T’Challa protected them from behind.
Sam went right and Steve went to his left, leaving Tony and Peter in the center to draw more attention and try to hit team pink. Tony was successful, hitting T’Challa in the shoulder and leaving only Wanda to stay back.
Bruce got within five feet of the podium before being hit in the chest by Peter and having to leave the field. Wanda left her post to move forward with her team as Sam and Steve got nearer the center. Nat paused for a split second to hit Tony with pink paint right in the center of his chest, where the arc reactor used to be.
Team pink was down to Bucky, Natasha, and Thor, while team blue only had Steve, Sam, and Peter left.
Bucky lifted his paintball gun, aiming straight for Steve, because there was no way Bucky could let his husband win this thing. At the last second, Sam jumped in front of Steve, earning himself a bright pink paint splatter and leaving the game, leaving only Steve and Peter to represent team blue.
While team pink was focused on Steve, Peter sprinted forward to grab the reveal envelope about two seconds before Wanda would have reached it. He held the envelope up in triumph, grinning as he ripped it open.
Peter, as a proud member of team blue, groaned dramatically as he announced, “It’s a girl!”
Teams pink and blue alike cheered at the announcement, both sides forgetting their teams to congratulate Steve and Bucky.
Steve and Bucky stood in the middle of the field, hand in hand, to accept their congratulations. Of course, they would have been overjoyed with either outcome, but the prospect of having a little girl to spoil left both men smiling for days.