25 Unicorn Street, Saturday

[so_hawkward]

For once, Barney had shown a tiny bit of consideration and given Clint a heads up that he was coming to visit this weekend. Clint wasn't exactly nervous about seeing his brother, but he wasn't quite sure how Barney was going to act around Lexi. He was trying to have faith that it would all be all right, but he might have also been cleaning the kitchen a little more than normal to try to look like he had everything together.

Comments

[throughaphase]

"You know, I don't think this place is this clean even when we have a baby crawling all over the floor," Kitty noted as she went to toss away the empty jar of food for said baby.

[so_hawkward]

"I know, I feel like a crazy person," Clint said. "I just don't want Barney to have anything to complain about. I don't have the excuse that I didn't know he was coming this time."

[throughaphase]

He was adorable.

"It'll be fine," she assured him. "If he complains, point out that his ten-month-old niece is mobile and we are busy."

[so_tricky]

It wasn't that Barney didn't like kids. He just wasn't used to them, aside from the ones that lived in the building back in Bed-Stuy. Babies were uncharted territory, so he knocked quietly on the front door. Kids like, took naps, right?

[throughaphase]

"Quick, clean really fast," Kitty teased, going to get the door and opening it for him like a normal human being who totally didn't usually skip doors.

"Hey, Barney," she greeted him, letting him in.

[so_tricky]

"Kitty, hey, it's good to see you," Barney said. "I figured Clint would have told me if you'd wised up and fled, but it's nice to have confirmation. Is he hiding, or taking care of the baby?"

[throughaphase]

"Kitchen. And Lexi's in her high chair," she told him, gesturing towards there. "She's still too little to flee."

[so_tricky]

"That's the good time, right? Before she gets too mobile?" Barney said, heading into the kitchen.

Clint had just finished wiping things up, and was getting Lexi out of her chair when he saw Barney. "Hey, you made it. Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"No more than getting anywhere else by a portal," Barney said, but he couldn't stop staring at Lexi. "Wow, she really is little."

[throughaphase]

"For now. I swear every time I blink she's a month older," Kitty said, frowning.

Seriously, she was almost a year wtf. She was going to be walking and talking soon.

[so_hawkward]

"Hey, do you want to meet Uncle Barney?" Clint asked, getting Lexi out of the high chair.

Lexi, for her part, seemed excited about a new person, and didn't notice at all how Clint looked at Kitty for permission.

[throughaphase]

Aww, Clint.

"That's a yes from Lexi, I think," Kitty said, smiling. "She might not even cry. If she does, don't take it personally, she's a baby."

[so_tricky]

Somehow, this was the first moment that the whole "uncle" thing really hit Barney, and the next thing he knew he had an armful of wiggly child cooing at him and... yeah, okay, maybe this trip had been a good idea after all.

"Hey Lexi. You got a lot of your mother in you, because your dad wasn't nearly this cute when he was little."

[throughaphase]

"The first part's true, but I'm pretty sure the second part is brother bias," Kitty said, getting out her phone.

Of course there were going to be pictures. That was all Kitty did anymore.