Who Needs Powers?

Chapter 5: Disaster at the Skating Rink

When the start of the circus season hit, the whole family (plus a few X-Men, particularly Kurt, who still loved the circus) made the trip to drop Barney off — and to let Miranda and Paul fawn over James, too.

And, as was becoming tradition, all of them — the circus family and the X-Men — went out to eat someplace that wasn't fried so Barney had "one last look at good food," to Clint's total amusement.

"Of course," Miranda said, holding Paul's hand under the table, "you'll have to come later in the season. Barney will be doing a solo act a little after his birthday." She grinned quietly. "Or somewhere around there. I don't think I'd pop back from giving birth quite fast enough to do all those shows."

"That's a shame; I'd like to see you do that with one on your hip," K said without missing a beat.

"That's what I said," Paul said just as quickly.

Miranda shoved Paul in the shoulder. "Oh, then you get to carry this baby. Thanks for volunteering."

"Not built that way, sweetheart," Paul said, getting Miranda to laugh again, even as Katie made her way over to them.

"So... you got a baby in you right now?" Katie asked.

"Sure do," Miranda said, waving Katie over.

"I dunno," Katie said, peering closer. "When James was in his mommy's tummy, I could tell."

"Our baby is still too small for you to see," Miranda laughed.

"Oh." Katie scrunched up her face. "Okay."

Paul smirked as he helped Miranda to her feet and then smiled at K. "We'll let you know when it happens, alright?" he said. "You're all part of the family too."

"We'll be waiting to hear,' K agreed. "And ready to see the solo act, too."

"It'll be amazing," Barney promised, puffing out his chest a little bit.

"Well, duh. You'll be running it," Clint said as if it was patently obvious this was the only possible outcome. He paused and then rushed over to hug Barney hard. "Knock 'em dead, okay?"

"Totally," Barney agreed, hugging Clint back just as tightly before they parted ways — with Barney headed back to the tent and the rest of the group switching gears to catch up with the other X-Men.

Clint darted over to K. Even if he was getting a little too old to totally grab onto her, it was still nice to be close to her when he had to split with his brother, even if they had a whole thing worked out. "So, since James is here, I think the Avengers want us to stay with them this summer," he said, trying to think ahead and not think back on Barney. "I think Thor needs more Arrow time."

"Of course they do," she said, shaking her head. "And I think Thor needs to get his own dog."

"You should tell him that. Or get him one for his birthday." He paused and then grinned. "Or a random Thursday. I learned about how that's his day. We're doing mythology in lit with Storm, and the Norse gods are fun."

"Of course they are," she laughed. "What did you expect? Or are you holding out to hear from Loki to really decide where you stand?"

"Hey, I'm supposed to be learning, right?"

"And ... I just want to know if you're going to actively start hoping for trouble," K said.

"Nah," Clint said with a shrug. "At least let me hit thirteen so I can do it professionally. Everything else is just practice."

"Okay. Yeah. I'll go along with that. Maybe I'll teach you some Swedish or Old Norse so you can tell him where to stick it in a more familiar language."