#read insert

* You’ve trailed back to camp one night after going the Saloon. A fight sprung out and you’ve caught yourself a nice black eye and some bloody knuckles.

* Micah’s sat at the campfire, as always, and neither of you pay any attention to each other as you take a seat by the fire and begin patching yourself up.

* Micah finally perks up, asking you what happened. After you tell him the story, he lets out that usual laugh.

* “Such a delicate thing, ain’t you?”

* You throw him a funny glance as you disagree with him, making him shake his head as he lets out another laugh.

* “You know you are. So delicate, so pretty. Guess you’ve gotta put on that tough act so people don’t walk all over you.”

* Delicate? PRETTY?!?!?!

* “What the hell are you talking about, Micah?” you snap.

* He lets out a chuckle as he watches you lift up a pocket mirror and hold the rag to your black eye, trying to place some ointment on it to stop the swelling.

* “Come here,” Micah says as he stands up, walking over and settling right beside you. He puts his hand out but you swat it away, making him chuckle again.

* “What do you think you’re doing, Micah?”

* “Tryna help.”

* “I don’t need your help.”

* “Yes, you do,” Micah tells you as you let out a hiss, accidentally getting more ointment in your eye.

* “Here,” Micah says as he practically tears the rag from you

* You’re about to start protesting again but he’s already began dabbing the ointment on your bruise.

* You stiffen up, still unsure on how to react. Do you push him away? Throw some of the ointment into his eyes then kick him into the fire?

* Instead, you just sit there, letting Micah care for you.

* Your mind is suddenly foggy, unsure on how to feel about Micah now he’s personally helped care for you. Just like Micah, you question how you view him until eventually realising that you may have just a little crush on him.

* You also catch yourself staring at him often. Well, he catches you. Micah will give you a nod whenever you do it, almost as if he’s saying “I know what youre doing.”

* One day, Bill finds himself in an argument with Micah and things look like they’re about to turn physical.

* You don’t even realise what you’ve done until you’ve already done it.

* You’d stormed over and stood between them, pointing a finger at Bil as you say “Bill, walk away before I drag you away. Alright?”

* Bill had thrown you a puzzled look, unsure why youre defending someone you hate, but walked off.

* The whole camp was staring at you, and thats when it sunk in. You just defended... Micah?

* “Darlin’, you didn’t have-“

* “Shut up.” You cut Micah off, frowning at him before storming off.

* You spend the next few days alone, questioning over and over why you’d done it.

* On another quiet night, when most of the gang is asleep, you go for a walk and eventually settle on the cliff of Horseshoe Overlook, looking out at the landscape as you attempt to clear you head yet again.

* Micah appeared, grinning from ear to ear. “I still need to thank you for what you did the other day,” he tells you.

* “No you don’t. Leave me alone,” you tell him, though your voice remains calm as you keep your eyes fixed on the scenery.

* “Awh, don’t be like that,” Micah pouts. “C’mon, sweetheart. Just let me thank you.”

* “I told you to leave me alone, and I ain’t your sweetheart,” you tell him, your voice turning a little firmer.

* “You want me to go sit on the other side of camp so you can stare at me instead?” Micah asks with a laugh.

* Your head snaps over to him, eyes wide as you realise what he’s just said.

* “That caught your attention, didn’t it?” Micah grins.

* “I don’t do that, though I’ve definitely caught you staring at me on the occasion,” you tell him, trying to get the upper hand.

* “You’d have to be staring at me first to notice that,” he confidently replies.

* “So, you admit it? That you do stare at me?”

* “I do, and what?”

* You frown as Micah replies. He shrugs as if it’s a totally normal thing to do.

* “Why do you do it?” you question.

* “I told you before, you’re pretty, and pretty things like you deserve to be admired,” Micah replies as he shifts his weight, his body now turned to face you.

* “Then why do you fight with me so often?”

* “Weren’t they just play fights?” Micah questions.

* “I don’t think me punching you in the jaw classes as a play fight,” you frown.

* “Look, if that’s how you want to flirt with me, then go ahead. Hell, I enjoy it,” Micah chuckles as he grins.

* You turn towards Micah, beginning to get defensive. “I don’t flirt with you, Micah! You’re delusional!”

* “If you don’t, then you won’t like it if I do this-“

* You’re about to ask him what the hell he’s on about, but a surprisingly soft pair of lips are placed onto yours.

* Do you push him off? Then push him off the cliff? Maybe kick him into camp and wake everybody up so they can kick him off the cliff?

* Instead, your arms wrap around his neck as you kiss him back, making him chuckle softly against your lips before his tongue slowly finds its way against yours.

* Needless to say, the camp is... confused when they see you sprawled over Micahs lap a few days later.

* Micah loves watching you snap at people, camp members or strangers. His adrenaline begins pumping as he watches you throw a stranger into the mud for making a nasty comment about you.

* Micah roots you on so much. He’s your personal cheerleader, until he joins in the fight.

* There’s nothing he loves more than seeing your furious expression turn to mush as you look at him after arguing with someone. He loves knowing that he has you on his side.

Things in the compound had settled in completely and now the tower had reverted to being for Stark Industry-related business. The compound was much bigger, with more staff which meant a few changes. First was; there were more on-site facilities available to the staff because there was a lot more staff. More staff meant the Avengers had a little more time at home. They were all team leaders now delegating to their seconds for things like training recruits and sending their teams on missions. It was only the really big things that would have an actual card-carrying Avenger going along and thankfully none of those had popped up in months.

The medbay was much larger and there were specialists for more things. So now it was just a place people could go for all their medical needs. Whether that be the emergency patch-ups and physicals they used to provide or something like gynecology or obstetrics.

There was also now a childcare center on-site. It was in the office building and allowed staff to come in and breastfeed if needed. It was very handy for you and Clint because Doreen hadn’t been able to move out with you permanently due to college and while she’d come and lived with you for the transition, you were now nanny free and the childcare center picked up where Doreen left off.

There weren’t many kids in it yet, though you thought that was going to change. Wanda and Kari had applied to adopt in Sokovia and there were new recruits, office workers, lawyers, and medical staff. Some already had kids and some were thinking about it. Right now though there was Nattie, a pair of three-year-old twins who were the kids of someone in the psych department, and three kids who were all two but at staggered ends of the age whose parents were all agents. A four-year-old would be joining the group in a couple of weeks though because today was the day that Steve and Bucky brought their foster-to-adopt kids home.

They’d been keeping things a little close to their chests. Clint had hypothesized it was because they were worried something would happen and they wouldn’t get to bring them home. In the same way, people didn’t say they were pregnant until 12 weeks in case they ended up losing it.

You did know there were three of them. That they were all half-siblings and the age gaps were large. The oldest was fourteen, then eight, and the youngest was four. Aside from that, no one knew everything, so on the day they were bringing them home everyone was somehow just randomly busy in the front yard in the hopes of catching sight of them.

It was funny how many people’s front gardens suddenly needed tending. Even Pepper was inexplicably tending the Goji berry bush in the front garden of Tony’s house.

You, Clint, and Nattie were playing with various outdoor toys. She’d been chasing a ball around for about 20 minutes and you were just setting up her play table with paints and paper so she could finger paint. She ran over to you with Clint in hot pursuit and slammed into your leg. “Wassat?” she said, banging her hands on the paper.

“Did she just say ‘what’s that’?” Clint asked as he pulled up behind her.

You blinked down at your eleven-month-old in surprise. She’d been saying things that vaguely resembled ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ for a while but even though she’d use them to get your attention, they were never quite right and she’d mix them up or use them on other people too. This was the first thing that actually sounded like words that meant something other than ‘Hey look at me’.

“It’s paper,” you said crouching down with her.

Nattie picked up the tube of red paint. “Wassat?”

There was a tug at your heart as Clint’s face broke out in a large smile. He looked so completely happy at that moment that you didn’t think there was a thing in the world that would ruin that mood right now. “That’s the red paint,” he said and looked up at you excitedly. “She’s talking.”

“She’s our smart little bean,” you said, running your fingers through Clint’s hair.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to your forehead. Nattie pushed in close like she was trying to get in on the kiss too, and Clint started laughing and kissed her forehead too. “You’re a pretty clever kid, Nattie,” he said.

“Bwee?” Nattie said, looking up at him. Her attention was soon grabbed by the dark blue minivan that was traveling down the road. “Wassat?”

“That’s a minivan. Your uncle Bucky and Steve are both huge nerds,” Clint said, picking her up and carrying her to the fence line. Everyone else had moved to their fences too and were watching closely as Steve and Bucky pulled up the car.

“Man, those kids are gonna feel super weird with all of us watching them,” you said.

“Yeah,” he agreed and waved at everyone to get back. They seemed to get the drift quickly and by the time the kids were getting out of the car everyone had gone back to their gardening. Clint put Nattie down at the table and you squirted some different colors of paint onto a plate. She immediately slammed her hands into the paint and started to rub it over the paper as she babbled to herself. Natasha appeared at the front gate and let herself in.

“Two boys and a girl. The girl is the middle one,” Natasha said, crouching down at the table with Nattie. “This is a lovely painting, Natyusha.”

“How’d everyone look?” Clint asked as Nattie babbled and rubbed her hands quickly back and forward in the paint, so the colors smeared all over the paper.

“The oldest looked quite wary but also like he was trying very hard to be on his best behavior. Middle looked scared but very excited. Steve was holding the youngest and he was hiding his face in Steve’s chest. Steve looked like he was trying to be on his best behavior and nervous as hell. Bucky looked scared and a little excited.” Natasha explained as she ran her fingers through the paint too.

“Kind of exciting isn’t it?” you asked.

“So exciting,” Natasha agreed as she painted a butterfly with her finger.

“Wassat?” Nattie asked, putting her painted hand right on the butterfly.

Natasha looked from Nattie to you and back to Nattie again. “It was a butterfly, Natyusha,” she looked back up at you again. “She talks now?”

“Just now!” Clint said excitedly. “She literally said that just before the car rolled up.”

“Oh my goodness, what a clever little thing you are,” Natasha said, putting a dot of paint on Nattie’s nose. Nattie started giggling and clapping her hands.

“I don’t know, but I think this picture is done. Shall we use fresh paper?” you asked as you pulled the sheet away, revealing another under it.

Natasha and Nattie went back to finger painting together, this time Nattie got a lot more paint all over herself. As the paper got closer to being filled Bucky, Steve, and the three kids approached the house.

“Hi there,” Steve said in an overly friendly tone as you and Clint went over to the gate to meet them. “The kids wanted to take a look around so we’re just taking a walk.” He then introduced you and Clint to the kids. The oldest was Emilio, then Isabella, and the youngest was Cruz. “What’s going on here?”

“We’re just doing some finger painting,” Clint said. Cruz picked his head up from where he was still hiding, clinging to Steve.

“You want to do some painting too, buddy?” Steve asked, rubbing the little boy’s back in soothing circles.

“Dey’s so messy,” he said in a fearful voice.

“That’s okay,” Bucky said gently. “You’re allowed to get messy if you like.”

“That’s right, Cruz,” Emilio assured him. “See even the grown-ups are messy.”

Cruz looked around at his siblings like he was trying to work out if it was some kind of trap. When he seemed satisfied he nodded his head and Steve carried him in and put him down. The little boy tentatively approached the table. Isabella came and took his hand, leading him to it. Natasha took the top piece of paper away revealing another fresh sheet under it and topped up the paints and Nattie straight away began to finger paint as she babbled baby talk in Cruz’s direction.

It took a little while but eventually, Cruz dipped his hands in the paint and began to paint too, though Steve ended up sitting on the ground next to him and wiping his hands with baby wipes every ten seconds to stop the little boy from panicking.

The whole time Nattie just babbled away like she was having a fantastic conversation with them. It seemed to make Isabella relax and soon she was talking to your daughter like they were having a proper conversation, saying ‘Oh, that’s very interesting’ and ‘I didn’t know that’ and other similar things.

Clint circled his arm around your waist as he watched them and leaned in and kissed your cheek. “This is making me really want another one,” he whispered. “You sure you don’t wanna try yet?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” you scolded, nudging him. “I want to fit into my dress. But I’ll tell you what.” He looked at you with hopeful, expectant eyes and you leaned in close to him. “I’ll get my IUD out before the wedding and we can start trying on the honeymoon.”

“Yes!” Clint cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

You laughed and nudged him and he stumbled a little away from you.

“Hey, Clint,” Bucky said, approaching you both with Emilio. “Wanna go in and play some Mario Kart while the little ones are painting?”

“Yeah, sure,” Clint said, giving your ass a tap before heading towards the house. “Follow me.”

Bucky and Emilio caught up beside him, and Bucky clapped Clint on the shoulder. “I was telling Emilio that you spent a lot of time in the Foster system.”

“Oh yeah,” Clint said, looking back at the boy. “I can’t say it’s a great story but I can tell you it if you want.”

They disappeared inside and you looked down at Steve. “You want to stay for lunch?”

He smiled up at you sheepishly as he wiped Cruz’s hands again. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course not,” you said. “I’ll go get it started. You okay with Nattie, Nat?”

“Of course,” she replied.

You ruffled Steve’s hair as you passed him on your way inside and went to prepare lunch for the new members of the extended Avengers family.