The Rules of Living with the Avengers

24. Do not introduce the Avengers to fandoms

I look up as Tony and Bruce come into the kitchen, both looking tired. They jump as they see me then Bruce smiles. "You been having a rough time sleeping, Ellie?" He asks as he turns on the coffee machine and pours an orange juice.

"What time is it?" I frown.

"Um, 5am," Bruce tells me.

Woah. This must be a new record. "I've been up all night? Wow! I've been occupied," I gesture to my laptop. Tony comes round to look at the screen.

"Fan..fiction?" He asks, brow furrowed. "What's that?"

"You don't know?"

"No...should I?"

"Coulson writes it," I say with a grin. "This is one of his actually. It's about Steve and Bucky. Together. The ship name is Stucky and it's almost canon. Even though I'm dating him...it's like my BROTP not my OTP. My OTP is Clintasha but I ship you and Nat, Bruce."

They both stare at me. "Um..."

"Not got PHDs in fandoms?" I laugh.

"You have a cannon? Or a ship? And what does OTP stand for? Is it a new organisation? Does SHIELD know?" Tony asks.

"Is it an organisation of pirates?" Bruce says whilst making Tony coffee.

"I take that back. You two are my BROTP. You're totally cute when you're clueless together." I shut my laptop down and yawn. "Right I'd better get to bed. Don't expect me up until we order pizza tonight."

General POV (don't worry, it's only temporary. Ellie will be back soon)

Natasha entered the living room, tired after a mission and hoping for some peace, when she saw the chaos everywhere. Tony was typing away on his StarkPad, Bruce was scrolling on his laptop frantically, Thor was watching a YouTube video on the TV and Steve looked like he was trying to work Tony's phone. "What's going on?" She asked and they all looked up.

"Natasha!" Thor boomed. "Welcome home! How was your mission? Was it successful?"

"Yeah. Some douche tried to touch my ass and Clint broke his nose. And I got the bad guy. All's well," she shrugged.

"Good job you're home," Tony said and she started to wonder why they were being so nice to her. "We need a new pair of eyes."

"I'm no good at those science projects," she said.

"No...this is far more complex." Bruce said.

"Fandoms," Tony interrupted. "What do you know about fandoms?"

Ellie POV 🙋

Today was amazing. I slept for twelve hours then I watched the pilot episode of Sherlock whilst live tweeted my watching and then went downstairs. Now I go into the kitchen, humming the theme time.

"Hey, guys, I smelt pizza," I say and go into the fridge. Then turn back to them. "What's up? Why have you all got electronics? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Group, present our findings!" Tony orders.

"Fandom. A group of people who follow the same thing. Either a TV show, a book, a movie or a celebrity. For example, Whovians and Hiddlestoners," Bruce says.

I stare at them.

"Canon," Steve continues for him. "A pairing or event that is actually in that fandom. For example, the romance between Thor and Jane, AKA Thane, is canon. Also fanfictions are stories fans write about the people in their fandoms, often expressing their OTPs."

Oh my innocent Steve. I hope he hasn't found any smut fics.

"Shipping," Natasha growls. Uh oh. "When you want two characters to get together. Like Clintasha. Or Romanogers. Or Black Frost. Or Winter Widow. Or Iron Widow."

"I like the last one," Tony says. She glares at him and he looks quite scared.

"OTP," Thor says. "One True Pairing. Although many people have a few OTPs depending on different pairings and fandoms."

"BROTP," Steve says. "I like that one. It's like a...bromance?" He frowns. I nod and he grins. "Like me and Bucky."

"And Tony and Bruce."

"And me and Clint." We all look at Natasha and she sighs. "He's a friend. Not a potential mate."

"Potential mate?" I laugh. "You're starting to sound like Loki."

"Where is Loki anyway?" Natasha asks.

Thor beams. "My brother was summoned to Asgard by my mother to make amends with my father because Loki tried to kill our father."

"How can you speak so lightly of that?" I ask. If I tried to kill someone, Pepper would go crazy. Of course I'm not going to. Probably.

"Loki killed 80 people in two days," Natasha says with a slight smirk. Thor grins back.

"He's adopted."

The Avengers laugh a bit. What just happened? I will find out about this inside joke. But I have to watch Supernatural. "I have to go! Toodle pip!"

Steve waves at me. "Bye, my darling."

As I close the door, I hear Bruce saying, "son, you've got a condition," and the old people with weird jokes nearly wet themselves laughing.