Chapter Text
"Mr. Stark, I quit!"
Tony is not even with both legs in the apartment, when the new Nanny runs to him. She looks furious, and Tony tries to resist an eye roll. He had a hard day at work and just wants to rest.
"Mrs. Jacksen, I..." he begins gently, and puts his suitcase next to the door. But she's not having any of it. Instead, she shakes her long black hair and crosses her arms in front of her chest.
"No, no matter how much money you pay me, I can't stand this any longer!", she says it again so angry and this time Tony can't help his loud exhale. That's all he needs. This Nanny wasn’t even there for more than two days.
"I'm really sorry if they have caused you any inconvenience. I promise you that they will change.“, Tony says and he is still committed to a very quiet tone. The young woman shakes her head again and turns towards the living room.
"I'm going to pack my things and leave.", she says, before she disappears from Tony’ field of view. Tony is still standing in the hallway and lays two fingers on the root of his nose and rubs it. An annoying habit that shows that he is stressed. But he doesn't need that right now.
In the living room, he hears the Nanny packing her stuff and Tony decides to look after his boys. He will not be able to stop the Nanny anyway. Just like the others before.
"Loki?", Tony calls up the stairs, and shortly afterwards, he hears the tramp that announces his son. Loki looks rushed, as he climbs carefully down the stairs, and runs towards Tony.
„Daddy!“, he calls and before Tony has a chance to react, Loki clings immediately at his leg and looks at him from his shimmering green eyes.
"Hey my big boy. Where are the other Two?“, Tony says quietly, and Loki's gaze darkened for a moment. Tony kneels now in front of his son and strokes him a few strands out of the eyes.
The five-year-old looks still so angry and sad at the same time. Tony knows exactly what that means.
"Upstairs.", Loki says finally, and then sniffles. Tony nods and stands up again. He takes Loki on his arm and kisses him on the cheek.
He had missed his boys for the day and he wishes he could come home just one time and enjoy his evening with his boys. He goes upstairs and looks in the living room, where he hears the Nanny still swearing. Tony feels already bad, he can only imagine the chaos in his living room.
Looks like his sons were apparently busy once again. Loki wriggles in his arm and Tony lets him down at the top of the stairs. Loki opens the door of his brothers. Tony hears it before he can see it. The soft sob.
He cautiously enters behind Loki in the room and yes. James is crying. His youngest son is in his bed and the tears run over his face. This sight will always break Tony's heart. Clint, his twin brother, is next to James and tries to comfort his brother somehow.
"D-daddy.", stutters Clint and Tony walks over to his twins. Loki sits also on the bed and looks like he would cry any second with James.
"Hi Baby.", Tony says, and kisses the three-year-old on the blond hair. Clint's blue eyes are not wet. James’ blue eyes are reddened however and already wet from his tears.
Although they are twins, they look different. Clint has the blue eyes of his mother and her blonde hair. James has the same eyes but Tony's dark hair. They could not be more different.
"Sweetheart, whats wrong?", Tony asks James, who has not perceived Tony, apparently. He holds Clint's hand in his, and cries quietly to himself.
"Loki, can you get me a washcloth for your brother?", asks Tony and Loki immediately jumps up to run into the opposite bathroom.
Tony lays next to James in the bed and cuddles his son. Finally, James reacts and puts his head on Tony's chest.
"D-addy.“, sobs James in between all the tears and Tony is stroking his hair.
"Yes Daddy is here, everything is good.", he whispers, and Clint sits down on Tonys legs, he still holds James’ Hand. James doesn’t seem to want to say anything else. Tony expected this. James has always been very quiet.
Loki returns and gives Tony the washcloth. Tony wipes James several times across the face and tries to free his face from all the tears and the snot.
"What happened, Loki?", asks Tony quietly, and Loki shrugs.
"We played, daddy. I played with the new car that you gave me. The red one! And I needed a place to get a proper racetrack! So, I rearranged the living room.“, explains Loki, and Tony sighs inwardly.
That means Loki jumped through the whole apartment and has broken down with his car everything that he could reach. His eldest son can never sit still and always has to have something to do. That's why there is a mess in the living room.
"And Mrs. Jacksen found that not-so-funny?“, asks Tony and Loki pouts at that. He shrugs and then shakes his head.
"No, she was mean Daddy! She said bad words and after that, she doesn’t wanted to stay in the corner!“ Loki says, and he sounds really angry.
Tony smiles at that. Actually, Loki is always aware of the responsibilities and knows exactly all the rules. Only on himself he does not realize, when he exceeds the limits.
"And what's wrong with Bucky?", Tony asks, and Loki comes in a hurry closer to the bed. He strokes his brother's hair and sighs. James has now stopped crying and closed his eyes. He calms down quickly, if Tony is there.
"I d-drew.“, James mumbles softly, and Tony kisses his son on the forehead. Of course, drawing is the only thing that James loves. Tony loves to watch his son, when he scribbles all concentrated on his piece of white paper. Even if he's not drawing very complicated things with his three years, he is gifted. Tony is sure about that.
"But?“, asks Tony, because he knows, that wasn’t the whole story.
"He painted on the wall.", whispers Loki and Tony has to resist a grin. No wonder that his guys have no education, if Tony finds it almost funny, what they are always doing.
"Bucky, you know that you can’t do that.", Tony says fondly but nevertheless, determined to his son and looks James in the eyes. He looks so sad that Tony knows immediately that he didn't cry because of that. Clint climbs gently on Tony's legs closer to James and lays down on Tony's belly.
"Nanny mean!", Clint says and now he is stroking his brother on the head. Tony just needs to smile, because it is so sweet how Clint always cares about James. Also, Clint is usually woken up a lot more like Loki. They surely have that from him, he was as a wild child as well.
"Y-yelled.“, whispers James quietly, and he sniffles. Now Tony knows what happened. For James there is nothing worse than to be yelled at. He talks so rarely to other people and if they are noisy and mean, it is to much for James.
"Okay, Bucky. She will never shout at you again, yeah?“, Tony says and sits up carefully. Clint understands immediately and slides down. James pushes further to his father.
"Angry?", he whispers, and Tony can hear the fear in his voice too clearly. He shakes his head and firmly cuddles James as well.
"I'm never really angry, you know. But we still need to clean up, okay? Loki, you can go with Clint to the living room and pick up the chaos? You know what is to be sorted in which boxes. And James, we two are looking for a bucket and water and then we will wash the wall, yeah?“ Tony says finally, and his three sons nod at the same time.
Tony stands up and goes over to the bathroom to grab a couple of things. James holds on to the hem of his sweater and follows him silently through the apartment. When James feels bad, he can rarely stay without Tony. To be honest it’s almost everday.
"Mrs. Jacksen, you can go then.", Tony says as he walks back into the living room, but to his amazement she already disappeared. He looks to Loki and Clint who actually started to clean up. Loki has the music on and Tony smiles and shakes his head as Clint dances while he throws his things into his green Box.
Clint has like Tony a passion for music. While his two brothers share this property, Clint still loves music the most. Loki, however, is rather a magician and James loves to draw.
"Guys....Mrs. Jacksen and will probably not come back.“, says Tony as he kneels in front of the living room wall and starts scrubbing at the sharpie on the wall. James sits next to him on the floor and tries to get rid of his drawings as well. Loki looks up from his toys and shrugs.
"Daddy, we didn't like her.", he says then and Clint next to him nods. Tony lets out a sigh, and throws the sponge back in the bucket. The drawings of James are still unchanged on the white wall.
"No matter what Nanny, I bring to you, you don't like them.", he says, and he can hear how exhausted he sounds. Loki ignores Tony now and sorts his magic cards in his drawer of the cabinet.
"Daddy.", says Clint and looks at Tony. Who doesn’t know what his son wants.
"What, Daddy?", he asks and James claps his hands.
"Daddy stays home!", says Clint grinning and Tony's heart breaks. He knows that his children would be happy if he would be home every day. Tony would also like to, but he has an important Job and can't just quit. From what money would they live then?
"I'll think of something.", mumbles Tony and hopes not to disappoint his sons. Clint, however, is distracted again, as he discovers his stuffed dog and presses his cheek against it. James wipes further across the wall, just like his father does. They work in silence until Clint's stomach growls loudly.
"Hungry.", he whispers and Tony stands up.
"She didn’t even feed you anything? I hate nannies! Come on, guys, I'll cook you pasta and then I'll call a painter, who paints the wall white again.“, says Tony and the boys run after him in a hurry.
What a day.