The Broken Link (Adventures of the Littlevengers One Shot!)

Part 1

§ The Adventures of the Littlevengers §

§ Part 1 §

Maria walked through the house with a plastic laundry basket placed on her hip. She picked up everything from hats to toys, tossing them all in the basket. Needless to say, it took more than an hour with the enormity of the mansion. Luckily she knew that Tom had stuck the kids in front of the television with some sort of marathon. She was forced into clean up duty while he kept a 'highly necessary protective eye' on them. Even though she knew he was right, she still didn't like the chore of straightening the house up.

She walked into one of the numerous guestrooms turned playroom when she screamed out. A sharp pain came from her bare foot and, after she lifted it closer to her, she saw the small red block placed perfectly on the carpet. She let out a small whine again, trying desperately to forget her pain, and set the basket down on the floor.

"Damn little devil" she hissed out and plucked the Lego block from the floor. She tossed it into the basket. She was about to call out and tell Bruce to not leave his Legos on the floor, but figured it would be pointless. She was cleaning up the house for that very reason. Besides, she thought after she continued on, Bruce always kept his stuff together in one spot. So it must have been one of the other kids who left it there. Maria walked down the stairs to set all of their belongings into their rooms. Although the place was big, the boys had split into two rooms and the girl's one.

At their arrival, all the boys were boasting about how they would be getting their own rooms. Nat and Pepper had wanted to stay together and had been given a room by Maria's. When night fell and everyone had bathed and put on their pajamas, Tom and Maria had been called into every room, hearing over and over that no one could sleep. So the two headed to the kitchen to warm up small cups of milk, hoping it would help lull the boys to sleep. But upon their arrival, four rooms were empty and a mountain of pillows and cartoon superhero blankets occupied the last.

All five boys slept on their little hill. Clint had perched at the very top, Thor and Tony lay sideways beneath him and Steve and Bruce were cuddled up to the base. After Maria had snapped a quick picture, saying the temptation was just too much, and they had all settled for bed. The next morning, the sleeping arrangements were rearranged and Tony, Clint and Bruce shared a room while Thor and Steve shared their own.

Maria almost skipped to the next spare room, knowing she had only one quilt to fold up and place in its closet. Bobbi and Jan should have been returning from the super market very soon and they'd all be able to hopefully relax as the kids were absorbed in their movies. She placed the empty basket near the door way and grabbed the folded blanket up into her arms. She slid the mirror door open and jumped back in shock when she saw Bruce cuddled up in the far corner. All of the blankets inside had been layered over the floor and some even folded over to cover the walls. A night light was plugged into the wall and Bruce was cuddled up with a small green pillow and the sixth Harry Potter book.

"B-Bruce, kiddo, you scared me." His eyes lingered on the page in front of him before slowly dragging up to Maria.

"I'm sorry" he said in a quiet voice, avoiding eye contact.

"Bruce, what's wrong? Why aren't you watching the movie with the other kids" Maria asked, squatting down beside him. She stayed behind the small railing on the floor and had her hands on her legs, balancing her. Bruce has always been the one to wander off to the corner and be on his own but he never passed up a good movie night. When he looked back down to his book, Maria leaned forward and he retracted into the pillows.

"Stop!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking. She figured it was because he simply hadn't talked for awhile and paused.

"What's wrong?" Maria asked worriedly, still leaning into the closet.