The kid avengers

Lessons learnt

"Did you buy Natasha anything that isn't pink?"

"Just the Hawkeye top"

"You know she's not going to wear any of this right?" Pepper asked, going through the mountain of clothes Darcy had brought back with her

"She will if I make her" Darcy winked, to which Pepper shook her head smiling

"Oh come on, when else am I ever going to get Natasha Romanoff to wear anything pink, glittery, flowery or even remotely sparkly?" Darcy tried to defend herself

Pepper rolled her eyes, Natasha copied and it was just a little unnerving to the other four adults watching.

Steve gave out the books he'd chosen for everyone, and Thor insisted Jane read his to him at once. He was quite fond of magic and most excited to hear a story about a boy wizard. While Natasha dragged Clint off so he could read her new book to her. It was a desperate attempt to escape Darcy, who was currently trying to force her to try her dresses on.

"So, how'd it really go today?" Maria asked the others, having just washed Thor and Tony's pants because they were covered in fire extinguisher foam

"They were really good all morning, and then we were to the toy store"

"Mistake number 1" Pepper whispered to Maria

"And then Jane insisted on taking them all in at once, even when me and Phil opted have a sit down for a bit"

"Mistake number 2" Maria replied

"They weren't misbehaving as such..."

"They just found trouble?" Pepper asked, eyebrows raised

"Well I guess the nerf gun battle in the middle of the store was a little inappropriate"

"We can't afford to be banned from any more stores, we'll have to move state at this rate"

The next morning Pepper woke up to an interesting piece of mail;

"Jane, can you explain to me why Stark Industries just got a bill from Schwaez's for almost $900?"

Jane almost chocked on her toast; "W-what? $900?!"

"Ooops" Clint whispered to Natasha who elbowed him quickly to shut him up

Bruce's eyes darted quickly between Clint and Natasha; sharing a chair at one end of the table, to Thor who was sat looking guilty beside Jane

"Pepper I am so sorry. I'll pay you for it"

"It's fine" Pepper smiled, "I'll claim it back from Shield"

"Oh I still have their credit card!" Darcy smiled helpfully.

Later that day, Maria spoke with Tony about the importance of not playing with fire extinguishers.

"But Thor didn't know what one was"

"So you tell him, don't show him"

"I tried, but it had a crack in it, I thought I could fix it"

"Tony-"

"I just wanted to help" he told her sadly

"Tony, it's very nice that you wanted to help, but just tell someone next time, okay?"

"Okay Maria. I'm sorry"

"I know you are Tony, and that's the important part" she smiled at him, earning herself a grin in response.

Jane tackled Thor's clumsiness;

"Thor, it's important not to make such a mess when we're out"

"I know Lady Jane, it was not my intention to cause such havoc. I was just concerned for you"

"I know you were, but this sort of thing has happened before hasn't it?"

"You speak the truth, it was a mistake and I vow to try harder in the future"

"Thank you Thor"

He smiled her favourite smile, the one she recognised from his adult self and her heart melted a little.

"Lady Jane, would you read some more of my book to me?" he asked hopefully

She nodded, and settled back on the sofa, allowing Thor to rest his head on her lap while she stroked his hair with her free hand. It wasn't that he couldn't read, he just liked to listen to her voice, close his eyes and imagine the story in his head.

That left Pepper to deal with mini-assassins.

When she found them in their room; Clint was reading Natasha's new fairytale book to her while she drew in it.

"Natasha sweetie, what are you doing?"

"I'm fixing my book"

Pepper approached the two of them quickly; Clint was sat in the middle of the room cross-legged, leaning over Natasha who was lay oh her stomach by his side, clutching a black marker pen. Pepper soon realised what she meant by 'fixing' it; she was translating it into Russian as Clint read. Everyone had just assumed she could read English because she could speak it... But she always had Clint reading to her. Pepper quickly wondered whether she'd 'fixed' any of the other books they'd bought her over the past few months.

"Guys, I need to speak to you about what happened yesterday"

Natasha's hand froze and Clint stopped reading; "We're sorry" they said in perfect unison; sparking emerald and deep grey eyes meeting her own

"It's just, this kind of thing keeps happening doesn't it?" she said, joining them on the floor.

"It wasn't all us" Clint told her earnestly

"We didn't mean it" Natasha told her guiltily, climbing onto Pepper's lap

"I know, we just need to learn to be more careful, okay?"

"Okay Pepper" Clint smiled, hugging her tightly

"We promise" Natasha informed her, kissing her cheek

And Pepper suddenly realised why she could never tell these two off; they knew just how to pull at her heartstring.

Phil returned from his day at Shield to find Steve and Bruce watching the latest episode of the new Avengers Assemble cartoon with Darcy; the three of them laughing together and watching with great interest, they didn't even notice he'd returned. Jane was reading to Thor on the sofa, while Tony talked through his latest invention with Maria (who was pretending to follow what he was telling her). He walked in on Natasha teaching Clint and Pepper how to pronounce 'принцесса' (princess), before he decided he'd take the opportunity to take a nap while all was quiet.

20 minutes later he was woken when Bruce started bouncing on his bed, the smoke alarm was going off because Thor had burnt his pop tarts, and Pepper was running around frantically trying to coax Clint and Natasha out of the air ducts; well, it was nice while it lasted.