𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗬 𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦

chapter xii.

"What the hell?!" Tony shouted as a series of bangs followed by a loud crash sounded from a few hallways away. He stumbled out into the hallway to see Loki also coming out of the room next to his. "What time is it?" He asked, blinking blearily. Tony checked. 1:43 am.

They found the kids squabbling noisily in the middle of the hall. "What he bloody hell are you doing up? Do you know what time it is?" Tony asked angrily. The kids fell silent. "Wait... What're you hiding?" The kids shifted uncomfortably, exchanging looks, but they didn't move from the apparent shield they had made by standing close together. "What. Is. It." Tony growled, stifling a yawn. Very slowly, Steve stepped forwards and held something out to Tony. The billionaire took it in his hands and stared at it as an awful silence fell across the room. In his hands, was a picture of him and his Father. It was in two pieces. Moving very suddenly, Tony looked up at them all and blinked back some tears that he hadn't notice gathering. "Why did you break this?" He asked in a shaky voice. "It was an accident!" Clint immediately exclaimed. Tony nodded, looking down. "Maybe we can fix it?" Loki suggested hopefully. Tony shook his head and held up the photo which was torn in half. The children hung their heads in shame.

"Why are you even up?" Loki demanded, as Tony had been rendered incapable of being the strict one for once. "We couldn't sleep." Thor muttered sheepishly.
"Everyone in Thor's room. Three minutes." Tony commanded, raising his head at last and dragging his sleeve across his eyes quickly. The kids looked scared and immediately did as they were told, leaving Loki and Tony in the hallway. "I'm sorry about your photo." Loki said gently.
"He didn't even care about me, so don't ask me why I'm crying about it." Tony said weakly, with a small shrug. "Don't say that..." Loki trailed off.
"Why not?" Tony asked.
"He loved you."
"Liar."
"I love you."
"Good." Loki pulled Tony into his arms and Tony's arms immediately fell around Loki's waist to keep himself standing. Loki kissed Tony's head gently. "I love you too." Tony said after a moment of hesitation. "You better." Tony sadly looked at is watch.
"Three minutes up."
"I'll see you in the morning." Loki said hopefully, gently kissing him once more, before walking back to his room, shutting his door behind him.

Tony slowly made his way to Thor's room, where they were sitting solemnly, rather than causing mischief. He sat down on the end, where they all stared up at him. "We're really really sorry," Bruce began quickly. "It was an accident..." Clint immediately continued,
"I warned them." Thor told him solemnly. "But it was my idea to play by the stairs."
"Sorry, Tony." Natasha looked up at him pleadingly. Steve stood looking very sorry.
"I pushed it down the stairs." He said near tears. "It was all my fault."
"Hold on!" Tony said. "That picture was in the basement. I brought it with me and put it down there. How did you get it?"
Now it was Bruce's turn to look down on the ground. "That was my fault. It was my idea to go exploring, and to got to the basement, and I memorised the code that you put on it and let us all in, and I dropped the lanthanide iron you were working on!" He blurted out miserably.
"Well..." Tony hesitated. "It seems you all played a part in this... How about we let it go. For now. I expect Loki will have a word with you all in the morning."
The kids sighed in relief, looking at each other in disbelief. "But I expect you're all still not tired?" Tony continued. They all nodded wide awake. "Well what would you like me to do about it?" Tony asked them. They all exchanged looks. "Story?" Natasha suggested tentatively.

Tony sighed. "What kind of story do you want?"
"A war story!" Thor cried and Steve nodded excitedly.
"With brave soldiers!"
"I want a science story!"
"There has to be a hero!" Tony sighed as they shouted out more and more suggestions. Eventually he waved them all to be quiet. "All right." He started, "Here's a good one, about a group of heroes. They were all very different. There was two soldiers, two scientists who could still kick ass and two secret agents." The kids were all clinging on to his words. "And one day, a magic man declared war on them. He came through the sky, riding chariots and waving sceptres and started to destroy the city where the heroes lived. Now the six of them were brave, kind, strong and smart. So the most handsome and smart scientist told the villain that they would protect the city. And if they couldn't? They would avenge it." The kids were starting to look sleepy, leaning against each other and yawning. Tony described the fantastic battle and just as the heroes were going out to celebrate, all the children began to sleep. "So the handsome scientist really was gonna die for the others?" Clint mumbled sleepily.
"Yeah." Tony replied, clicking out the lights.
"He must have loved them a lot." Steve said, a hint of longing in his voice.
"He did." With that, Tony went back to his room and collapsed.