Chapter Text
Charles is exhausted by the time Morgan finally falls asleep, her little arms clutched around the teddy bear Steve won for her at the park. It’s a scene right out of every would-be parent’s fantasy; those cherubic cheeks and downy hair, her entire body wrapped around a stuffed toy nearly matching her in size. The look on Steve’s face is as sappy as his own, and the two of them just stand there for long moments, holding hands and watching her breathe, enjoying the first moment of stillness since Tony and Pepper dropped her off in the afternoon.
It comes out between one moment and the next, before Charles even realizes what he’s saying. “I want one.”
Steve smiles, his eyes going a little soft and crinkly even as he teases, “well you should have said so, while we were getting hers. Could have easily shot another ten ducks in a row to win you your own bear.”
“You know very well I wasn’t talking about the bear.”
“Oh you mean Morgan?” Steve says with a grin, and Charles huffs at what he knows is coming next. “Well…I am her godfather. We could just keep her; tell Tony and Pepper she wants to stay here and go on rides and eat cotton candy everyday with Uncle Steve and Uncle Charles.”
He stifles a laugh, and tugs Steve out the spare bedroom – Morgan’s room now, as half of her things have seemed to migrate from the Starks’ place in Manhattan to their Brooklyn brownstone over the past couple of years. With a last, fond look he pulls the door closed behind him, and takes the proffered hand that gently guides them to their own bedroom down the hall.
It’s quiet as they get ready for bed, stripping out of clothes sticky with soda stains and sweat, the expected outcome of a day spent at Coney Island. Charles sneaks a peak as Steve pulls the t-shirt over his head, tossing it into the laundry bin before unbuttoning his jeans. Years they’ve been together now and it still never gets old; seeing that expanse of muscle revealed makes him giddy every time. Of course Steve catches him looking – he does every time, since he’s also watching Charles as he strips – and laughs.
“Like what you see, Professor?”
Charles shrugs. “Not bad, for an art dealer.”
Steve’s laughter follows him into the ensuite, where he relieves himself and then sets to brushing his teeth. Once he’s done they switch places, though Charles steals a quick kiss before he climbs into bed. A few minutes later Steve slides under the covers to join him, wrapping an arm around Charles and tucking him against his chest.
“So do you really mean it? You want to have kids? A kid?”
He thinks about it – really thinks about it, imagining what life would be like for them with children in the mix. Birthday parties and trips to the zoo, and family dinners he didn’t remember having with his own parents. Of course it wouldn’t all be fun and games; raising a child is hard work, if you mean to do the best damn job you can, but Charles can’t think of anyone in the world he’d rather do it with, than Steven Grant Rogers.
“I do. As many as we can. You know we’ve got that big house in Westchester just sitting empty…we could fill it with a dozen kids and have room for more.”
Steve laughs, and presses a kiss to his forehead. “How ‘bout we start with one instead of a dozen? Maybe ease ourselves into it a little. Not bite off more than we can chew.”
Charles scoffs. “You say that now, Rogers, but I know you. We’ll be bringing home enough for a baseball team, once you set your mind to it.”
“I’d make a great Coach—”
“You’d teach them all to cheat!”
“No not at sports,” Steve denies, poking Charles in the side and making him laugh. “Just at board games I promise. So they’ll have a chance at beating you.”
They both laugh loudly at that, and then have to quickly rein themselves in, so as not to wake the four year old Princess slumbering next door. It would not do for Morgan to get a second wind after ingesting so much sugar, as she’d likely keep all three of them up until her parents come for her in the morning.
“Tony probably knows someone who could help us,” Steve says, after a few minutes of quiet. “I suppose we’ll need to find an adoption agency, and a lawyer or two—”
“It’s really too bad that we can’t have a baby ourselves,” Charles teases, “and have to miss out on all the fun of trying to make one.”
For a few moments, Steve doesn’t respond, but then he quips, “Well just because we can’t make one ourselves doesn’t mean we can’t try.”
“That is not how biology works, darling.”
“Think of it as putting positive energy into the universe,” he says, promptly rolling over on top of Charles and pinning him to the bed. The smirk softens as he bends to kiss Charles’ lips, gentle and teasing as he adds, “Any way it happens, I want you to be the father of my baseball team, Xavier. Say yes.”
“Yes,” Charles breathes, smiling into Steve’s next kiss. “A thousand times yes.”