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Bruce was stirred from his peaceful slumber by the sounds of giggles and excited whispers. He slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the light that was shining in through the blinds.
He looked over and saw the faces of the four people the loved most in the world, his kids.
Rebecca and Maria stood near the edge of their bed, smiling at the two of them. Peter was at the foot, holding his baby sister.
"Happy Anniversary!"
Bruce gently smiled at them, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Oh is that what today is? I completely forgot."
"We made you breakfast!" Rebecca exclaimed.
Bruce looked up at Tony, raising an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Yeah!" Maria said. "Peter made the eggs and I got to make the toast!"
"And I poured the juice!" Rebecca interjected, "Peter said that we couldn't bring it to you in bed because you don't like to eat there."
"That's more your Pops then me." Tony told them, smiling.
"Yeah, you'll eat anywhere." Bruce said.
"Yeah, anywhere." Tony slyly winked.
"C'mon or it will get cold!" Rebecca said, gesticulating towards the door.
"Why don't we give them a minute to wake up?" Peter cleared his throat while walking towards the door, "we'll meet them in the kitchen."
Half heartily the twins agreed, following their older brother out of the room.
Tony turned towards Bruce and stretched, flashing him a grin. "Happy Anniversary Big Guy."
"Happy Anniversary." Bruce leaned forward giving Tony an long and tender kiss.
"Eighteen years." Bruce stated once they pulled apart.
"That means we can sex it up but, we can't get it drunk." Tony told him, getting up and pulling on a T-shirt.
Bruce let out a breathy laugh and also got up, grabbing a pair of socks from the drawer and slipping them on.
Tony walked over to him, placing his hands on his hips. "I love you. Really, I do."
"I know. I love you too."
Tony flashed him another smile and gave him one last peck on the cheeks before, heading off to the kitchen.
~•~
"Do you guys have any big plans for today?" Peter asked through a mouth of egg.
"Nope, can't say that we do." Bruce replied, smiling.
"You're not going out for dinner or anything?"
"Nope." Tony said.
"It's your anniversary though!" Maria interjected. "You're supposed to do something special."
"Staying home with our kids is special." Bruce pointed out.
"No it's not, it's normal and boring!"
"I wouldn't say boring." Tony told her. He bounced Sophia on his hip and continued walking around the kitchen with her.
"Yeah you guys should go out tonight. I can watch the girls." Peter said.
"Peter that's a big responsibility, especially for one guy."
"Wade can help."
"No Pete. A baby is just to much for a teen to watch, let alone a baby and twin girls."
"We can do it!" Peter said, taking another bite.
"We'll think about it." Tony told him.
~•~
Bruce peered down his microscope, jotting down observations on the note pad next to him.
He looked back up at Tony who was fiddling around with some new form of tech of Stark Industries.
"I just don't think it's a good idea." Bruce told him. "What if something happens while we're out?"
"Peter knows how to call 911 if there is an emergency." Tony pointed out to him.
"I know he does."
"Then let's go out to dinner, just the two of us."
Tony lifted up the goggles he was using to the top of his head and made his way over to Bruce.
"Sophia's only seven months....I just think it might be to soon."
"You said the same with Peter up until he was four."
"Yeah but, we were new at parenting then and plus the media was all wanted pictures of the first Stark child."
Tony pushed aside Bruce's notebook and leaned against the table. "Eighteen years is worth celebrating Brucie. I promise everything will be okay. I know how worried you get about the kids and I get why but, they will be okay for a couple of hours. Loom there upstairs by themselves right now."
"JARVIS is here to alert us if something happens. Plus, Sophia's down for a nap." Bruce sighed and put his glasses back on. He always took them off when using the microscopes. "Your right though, they'll be fine..."
"Is that a yes?" Tony asked, grinning.
"Yes."
~•~
"The emergency contact information is on the fridge and the girls should be in bed by eight. If Sophia gets fussy then, she probably just want a bottle- fill it half way with water and use two scoops-"
Bruce and Tony were both standing in front of the door dressed in suits. Bruce's was a plain black formal one, paired with a slim black tie.
Tony's on the other hand was wearing a light grey suit with an white patterned tie.
"Papa, we're fine. We can watch the kids for two hours. Go have fun." Peter told them.
"Yeah we got this doc." Wade declared.
He plopped down next to Sophia on her play mat and gave them a thumbs up.
"We owe you guys." Tony said, shuffling him and Bruce towards the door.
"Call us if you need anything." Bruce told them for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Will do!"
The two husbands stepped out, closing the door behind them.
"I thought they'd never leave." Peter let out a ugh and plopped down next to Wade. "Thanks again for helping out."
"Its nothing if it means I get to hang out with my best guy."
"Still, thanks." Peter smiled at him. "So my dad gave us some cash for pizza. How about we get the girls a cheese and us a bacon?"
"Sounds perfect." Wade pecked Peter on the lips and looked around. "Speaking of the girls, where are those little ankle biters?"
Peter paused and looked around. When he realized that it was only Wade, the baby, and himself he let out a loud groan.
"Damn it." He got up. "Can you watch Sophia?"
"Can do!" Wade said, giving him a salute.
Peter started to jog up the stair, looking for the girls. "Becky! Maria!"
"They are in your fathers lab." JARVIS said in response to his yelling.
"How on earth did they get in there?!"
"They entered the code Sir."
Peter immediately turned on his heels and made his way back downstairs, walking over to the other set of stairs that let go the lower floor.
"Their in my Dad's lab!" He called out to Wade.
He made his way down the stairs and quickly typed in the pass code, stepping into the lab. He stopped and sighed at the sight before him.
The girls had the bottle of peroxide they normally kept in the bathroom and a vial of green food coloring.
The twins each had on a ridiculously oversized lab coat, most likely belonging to his Papa and Dad. On top of Maria's head was a pair of welding goggles.
The floor around them was a mess of green bubbles.
"What on earth are you two doing?!" Peter asked, walking over to them and grabbing the bottle of peroxide.
"We wanted to do an experiment!" Maria exclaimed.
"In Dad and Pops' lab?!"
"Where else would we do it?" Rebecca asked innocently, looking up at him through thick eyelashes.
"You two aren't supposed to be here. How did you even get the code?"
"We watched Papa type it in!"
Peter looked over at the green stains covering both of the lab coats. "Did you two really have to wear those?" He said, gesturing to them.
"Safety first." Maria exclaimed.
"Go upstairs and watch TV with Wade while I clean this up...."
The two girls looked at their unfinished expert and then at their brother, trying to think of what they should do.
The desperate look in Peters eyes made the decision for them and they both sullenly went out of the lab and upstairs.
~•~
"See, wasn't this a good idea?" Tony asked Bruce, lifting up his glass and raising an eyebrow.
Tony usually didn't drink. His alcoholic tendencies were abandoned years ago when he realized how much it bothered Bruce.
Tonight was a special occasion though and special occasions always called for wine. He knew a little indulging once and while wouldn't affect his husband.
At the events that Stark Industries typically held it was expected of Tony to have some sort of drink in hand.
Bruce however typically opted for club soda or water like he was drinking that night.
"So far, so good." Bruce told him, smiling.
"We've gone out before, tonight's no different."
"We usually have a trustworthy adult watching them and Sophia has never gone without one of us for more then an hour."
Tony put down his glass and grabbed Bruce's hands in his, giving them a soft kiss. "It will all be fine, I promise. The only thing we have to worry about now is the fact that this is our eighteenth anniversary, which means we're turning into one of those old couples you see at the parks."
"Turning into? I'm pretty sure we are one of those couples."
"Well we sure don't look it." Tony told him.
"You don't look it. I however, have already started to go grey."
"I have too. I've just been getting it dyed." Tony admitted in defeat. "Is this what happens after four kids?"
"Getting old? Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you have four kids your considered old."
"Imagine if we had five though."
"Oh god no." Bruce said, shaking his head and laughing.
Tony looked at him seriously. "We could do it Brucie. We both like kids and we use to talk about having a big family."
"I'm pretty sure four is big enough."
"Come on big guy, we could do it." Tony told him, squeezing his hands in excitement. "It's not like we haven't taken care of two kids before."
"What happened to the Tony Stark who wouldn't even consider settling down?" Bruce asked, playfully.
"He's been gone for years." Tony said. "Just one more kid Bruce. I know you want to. You said it yourself, you've always wanted to adopt and all we've ever done is surgates."
"Tony, I'd love to have another kid. Really, I would. I'm ecstatic about your attitude about parenting but, two babies Tony? I know we've done it before but, that was back when we were both....healthier."
"This is about my heart, isn't it?" Tony asked, letting go of Bruce's hands and sighing. He leaned back in his chair, his smile fading.
"You know what the doctor said about stress Tone and babies can be stressful, you know that? You know that your arteries are closing up again, the angioplasty did nothing."
"The doc wants to do bypass! I'll be fine after that! By the time the adoption process is over I'll be fine!"
"No you'll be recovering! Tony, I love you but, I have to put my foot down with the whole adoption thing... At least for now."
"Bruce we both just agreed we're getting old. We can't put this off for long."
"Tony we already have four kids to worry about, we can't add another into the mix! The girls freaked out with you in the hospital for a day, how do you think they'll react to you in the hospital for a couple of weeks?!" Bruce said in a harsh whisper.
Before Tony could retort a petite blonde waitress came up to the table.
"Are you ready to order?" She asked, pulling out a small note pad.
Bruce stood up and pushed his chair in. "No, I have to be getting home to my kids."
He walked out of the restaurant without blinking an eye.
Tony sighed and ran his hands through his hair before, getting up.
He grabbed a couple of bills out of his wallet, placed them onto the table and started to make his way out.
"Mr. Stark, what about your change?!" The waitress called out.
"Keep it!" He yelled back, walking out only to find Bruce sitting on a near by bench, his face in his hands.
Tony sat down next to him and quietly rubbed his back.
"I can't loose you..." Bruce mumbled after a few moments of silence.
"You're not going to loose me..." Tony told him. "I was just excited about our anniversary, we don't need another kid."
"But you want one?"
"Yeah, I'd love one Brucie but, your right, nows not the best time. They want to do the surgery soon and I'll be out of commission for a while after that."
Bruce didn't reply, just stared forward, lost in his own thoughts.
"Bruce? You listening?"
Bruce sat up and looked at Tony, his eyes still red and puffy. "I think we should have another kid."
"No way. Your only saying that because of guilt."
"No, not entirely. I think we should....I'm thinking we file for adoption while your recovering then maybe we could have a kid by the time Sophia turns one. That's a big enough age gap between kids."
Tony wrapped an arm around Bruce and pulled him close. "How about we talk about this later and go home? We can celebrate the big eighteen with a game night."
"God, I love you." Bruce grabbed Tony and pulled him forward, connecting their lips in a slow and tender kiss.
"Ditto."
He closed his eyes and let Tony's presence comfort him, pulling him out of his previous slump.
When they pulled back Tony gave him a small smile and grabbed his hand pulling them both up. "Let's get home because, I feel like a game of Monopoly."
"No way. You always win, it's no fun playing with you."
"Fine, then we'll just let the kids decide."
"Okay... But, they're not going to choose Monopoly and you know it."
~•~
Wade stood in the kitchen, attempting to feed Sophia a bottle while Peter attempted to clean up the lab.
They both had sent the twins upstairs to get washed up before they ordered dinner.
Sophia continued to fuss and shake her head every time Wade tried to put the bottle in her mouth.
"Come on kid, work with me." He groaned, trying to bounce her like he'd seen Bruce or Tony do before....It wasn't working.
"Peter!" He heard Rebecca and Maria scream from upstairs.
Wade quickly put down the bottle and jogged upstairs and into the bathroom where he found both of the twins in only their underwear and green stained lab coats, the bathtub over flowing with bubbles beside them.
"Shit..." He muttered, trying to lean over and turn off the tub without getting the baby wet.
That proved to be unsuccessful since the floor around the tub was covered in a mix of bubbles and water.
"Papa says that's a bad word!" Maria told him.
"Well this is a bad situation, so it's okay." Wade replied. "Why would you do this?!"
"You told us to get washed up! That means a tub!" Maria told him.
"And bubbles!" Rebecca pointed out.
"Why didn't you turn them off?!" Wade asked.
"The knob was all soapy! That's why we were calling for Peter!"
Wade turned towards Maria and held out Sophia to her. "Here hold this."
"We can't hold the baby without an adult."
"Well, I'm close enough."
Maria took the baby, struggling to hold her up properly.
Wade walked back across the mess on the floor, his jeans quickly becoming soggy.
He leaned down into the mountain of bubbles in the tub and managed to turn off the faucet.
"Well we obviously can't let you two out of our sight so-"
"We're home!" Wade heard Tony's voice echo throughout the large house.
He quickly looked around and starting panicking. "Oh fuck, this is worse then that time with those carnies. Girls you go out there and distra-"
"Holy hell....." He heard Tony mutter.
Wade turned to see Tony standing in the doorway, his jaw wide open.
"What are you-" Bruce came up next him and went wide eyed at the sight of the bathroom. "What on earth are you doing holding the baby?"
Of coarse that was Bruce's first response. He quickly walked over to Maria and grabbed the baby from her.
He bounced Sophia on his hip, trying to manage to get the still crying baby to calm down.
"Wade told us to hold her!" Rebecca yelled, pointing to Wade.
"I was supervising them." Wade said, trying to console the two husbands.
"Oh really? There doesn't look like there was much supervision here!" Tony said, his voice raising.
"I can explain everything. I was downstairs trying to feed the baby when-"
"Hey Wade are you up here? I can't get that green out, maybe we can bleach it or somet-"
"What stains?!" Bruce yelled.
".......You guys are home early...." Peter said, walking around them and into the bathroom. He stopped when he felt his socks slowly becoming wet. "What happened here?"
"Peter James Stark, what stains?!" Bruce asked again.
Peter audibly gulped and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking down at the floor. "The ones in the lab...."
"In our lab?!" Tony said, furrowing his brow. "How did stains get in our lab?!"
"The girls went in there when you left..."
Tony quickly whipped towards the twins. "You two know you're not supposed to go in there."
"Shit...." Maria mumbled.
The whole room went silent as they all turned towards the petite brunette.
"What did you just say?" Tony asked, trying to stay calm.
"Shit." Maria told him innocently.
"You know that's a bad word Maria."
"It's a bad situation so, it's okay!"
"Who told you that?" Bruce asked while still trying to shush the baby.
"Wade did." She gestured towards Wade causing him to tense up.
"You taught my four year old to swear!" Bruce said, fuming with anger.
"No I didnt- Well I guess technically I did but- Fuck, I didn't do it on purpose."
"Can we say fuck now?" Rebecca asked.
"No!" Tony and Bruce exclaimed in unison.
"Wade..." Peter said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You should probably leave... Thanks for the help though." Peter told him, giving him a sheepish smile.
Wade nodded and walked out of the room, awkwardly scooting my Tony and Bruce.
"Papa, Dad, I can explain."
"Don't." Bruce said, giving him a pointed look. "I knew this was bad idea. This whole day was one giant bad idea."
He handed the baby to Tony. "You put Soph to bed and I'll start cleaning this up."
"Bruce I can clean it up..." Tony told him.
"No, you need to relax. Stress is bad for your heart, remember?"
"I thought they fixed that...." Peter said.
"Look Peter we will discuss this later." Bruce said, sighing. "Right now I need to clean this up before it ruins the floor.
He shrugged off his suit jacket and placed it on the toilet before, rolling up his sleeves and going to drain the water from the tub.
"No I want to know."
"Peter, your Dad said we will talk about it later. Go and get ready for bed." Tony told him.
"This is b.s" Peter stormed out of the room, stomping his feet all the way down the hall.
"Come on you two, let's go get cleaned up and have a talk."
The girls walked out of the room in silence, knowing that they were going to be in trouble.
"Can you toss those lab coats into the wash before the stains settle." Bruce asked Tony before he left.
"Sure big guy." Tony replied. He walked over to Bruce and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Happy Anniversary."
Bruce nodded at him and grabbed a few towels from the stand, getting on his knees to start drying the floor.
Tony sighed and walked out of the room with the baby. He made a quick stop at the nursery to place her in her crib with a binkie before, heading into the twins shared bedroom.
The room was fairly large and painted a glittering light pink color. The walls were covered in various princess themed decals and the floor was cover in plush purple carpet.
Against the left and right walls were wooden twin beds, painted a vibrant white and covered with purple comforters.
A closet was located near the entrance and a white toy chest and bookshelf were towards the back of the room, an white chair that Bruce OR Tony would usually occupy during bedtime stories.
"Alright kiddos, time to get you into some dry clothes." He clapped his hands together and walked over to the closet.
As he was looking through it for pajamas, he heard Maria's tiny voice ask. "Are we in trouble?"
Tony sighed and grabbed the pajamas and walked over to them, taking a seat on one of the beds. "No you're not in trouble. We do need to talk though."
"What about?" Rebecca asked.
Tony had the girls slip from their soaked lab coats and underwear and change into some warm and dry clothes before he began.
Once he had the girls sitting next to him, Maria on the left and Rebecca on the right, he began.
"You both know you're not supposed to go into the lab without Papa or me..."
"We wanted to do an experiment like you guys!" Rebecca declared him.
"I want to be a scientist just like you!" Maria told him, grinning.
"Your Pops is more of the scientist. I prefer engineering." Tony shook his head and looked down at both of them. "That's not the point though. The point is, is that you both did something you're not supposed to do."
"I'm sorry Daddy...."
"Yeah, really sorry Daddy."
"It's okay, mistakes happen. Just don't let it happen again. You both threw Peter and his friend for quite the loop today... Now give me a hug!"
Rebecca and Maria grinned, turning into to embrace their Dad. "We love you Daddy...."
"I love you too." Tony replied, wrapping his arms around both of them.
"What, no hugs for Papa?" Bruce asked from the doorway.
Tony unwrapped his arms and let their daughter scurry over to Bruce, who was now crouching down to their level.
Bruce hugged them for a moment, smiling before, letting go and looking at them. "No more bad words no matter what though. Got it?"
"Got it." Rebecca said.
"Loud and clear." Maria added.
"Good. Now go downstairs and have JARVIS start a movie, we'll be down in a few minutes. We just need to talk to your brother."
"Okay." Rebecca replied, pulling Maria out of the room.
"No more shenanigans!" Tony called out to them.
He got up and walked over to Bruce. "Hey..."
"Hello." Bruce said, giving one of his famous small, half smiles.
"Today didn't go as planned."
"No but, we still have time to redeem it. After we talk to Pete we can order a pizza and watch a movie with the kids."
"Sounds like a plan."
Tony wrapped Bruce into his arms and pulled him close, resting his head on Bruce's shoulder.
"You were right..."
"About what?" Bruce asked.
"We can't have another kid."
"Yeah, nows not the best time for a kid....Maybe we could get a dog?"
"Puppies are too messy." Tony replied. "Plus with the kids and work we wouldn't be have time to properly train and walk it... Maybe I could build another bot?"
"Are you suggesting a robot dog?"
"Well technically an mechanically engineered pet but, yeah...A robot dog." Tony said, smirking.
"I think the kids would love that." Bruce quickly gave him a kiss and pulled away from Tony's grasp. "First we need to talk to our son."
Bruce lead the way out of the twins room, Tony shortly behind him.
They walked downstairs to Peters room and knocked on the door, waiting for the attitude fueled "come in" before they entered.
Peters room was styled like an typical teenagers room. He choose to paint his room with dark blue walls and covered them with all of the photos he had taken throughout the years. Bruce and Tony were very proud of their sons knack for photography.
On the left side of the room was an dark brown bed, the comforter matching the color of the walls.
He had an computer desk pressed against the right wall, covered with his copious amounts of papers and his laptop. An dark oak dresser wasn't to far away, along with an small shelf for his growing book collection.
His room wasn't extremely messy but, it also wasn't
Peter sat at his computer desk, typing away on his laptop.
"Pete... We need to talk about earlier." Bruce said, walking in and taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
"It was an accident. We didn't mean for things to get so out of control." Peter said, not looking up from his laptop.
"It's not about that." Tony told him, taking a seat next to his husband. "It's about uh, that thing you were asking about..."
"Do you mean?" Peter turned around and looked at them with vacant eyes.
"Yeah." Bruce confirmed. "The procedure he had two months ago didn't work for long, his arteries are blacked off again. The doctors want to do a bypass surgery."
"I'm not a doctor, I don't know what a bypass is."
"It's when they take an arteries from somewhere else, typically a leg, and move it to the heart. It's serious operation so your Dad would be in the ICU for a couple of days and a regular room a few more after that."
"Is it safe?" Peter asked.
"If done correctly." Tony replied, nonchalantly.
"Are you planning on telling Becky and Maria?"
Tony turned to Bruce and raised his eyebrows, not knowing what to say.
"I think we'll mention that Daddy will be getting an minor surgery at the hospital and that he'll need lots of rest after."
Tony nodded in agreement and turned back to Peter. "It's going to be okay. This should be the last surgery for a very long time. Just don't mention it to the girls. Maria is still shaken up from the last one, we just got her to sleep back in her own room Tuesday."
"My lips are sealed."
"Good." Tony said, standing back up. "Are you going to come downstairs and watch a movie with us or are you going to stay up here and wallow in your own teenage against."
"I think I'll watch the movie." Peter chuckled. "Just let me say goodbye to Wade."
"Okay." Bruce replied, heaving himself up. "Pizza should be here in twenty minutes or so."
Tony and Bruce walked out of the room, leaving Peter to his own devices.
The rest of the night was filled with greasy food, excited Disney sing along from both the girls and Tony, and laughter, lots of laughter.
It was the perfect end to an rough night and on Bruce and Tonys opinions, the perfect way to celebrate eighteen years of a perfect marriage.