And then we were two (Tony stark's daughter fic)

Take me out to a ballgame

It was a cycle. A long, stressful, exhausting, cycle. Surely it was someone tony had done something to piss off? It was his tower after all? This accusation would be thrown Out there, followed by someone, usually Bruce, responding with, "yes because Stark's the only one of us who makes enemies." If they were feeling especially charitable they'd move back into brainstorming from there. If not, there'd be a comment about how much better Tony was at being annoying and another fight would ensue. Addy was so sick of it she could've screamed.

She huffed, not for the first time, even within the last five minutes, and picked another acorn from the branch beside her, chucking it into the forest as hard as she could manage, nearly knocking herself from her perch in the process.

"Woah, somethin eatin you kid?" Steve asked gently as he climbed partway into the tree.

She didn't know, not really. No one knew what was going on or when the next attack would be and she was sick of the fighting and egos and this place in general. Addy scowled at him miserably and turned to stare down at the tree branch she sat upon, tracing the patterns in its rough bark with her fingers. "You know, I used to play little league in summers, mom said it was good for me..."

He hadn't been expecting that segue but nodded and climbed a little higher, as if he were slowly working his way toward a wild animal, steadily gaining ground. "Baseball?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Usually. Mom said learning to work with other people was good for you. Besides, playing sports, any sort of team thing, it looks good later, college stuff, ya know? I don't think any of you have ever played on a team..."

For a long moment Steve could only stare at her before he slowly began to nod along. "Well...maybe we should..." he whispered and hopped down, opening his arms as if he fully expected her to jump.

Naturally, she didn't. However, that is exactly how the team found themselves standing in an open field later that afternoon, staring incredulously toward their fearless leader as he marked out a ball diamond in the grass, grinning like a little boy.

"I don't really...play baseball...captain..." Banner murmured skeptically.

Tony had, little league anyway. Jarvis, the human Jarvis, had taken him to every practice and game, taught him how to catch and throw the damn thing. It hadn't lasted, he didn't care to run around after a ball when there was science and engineering to be done, but they were good memories, nonetheless. So long as he ignored the disappointment of a small boy that hadn't yet realized his father wasn't going to be there. He opened his mouth to say as much, encourage the team that it might be fun but was cut off abruptly.

"Not now, Stark," Steve snapped. "We're doing this. As so many people like to point out to me, we don't act like a team, we don't think like a team, we're barely a team. So, team building. Play ball!"

Natasha grinned, the expression almost ferrel, and picked up the bat, twirling it in her fingers like a baton, "should we pick teams?"

"No! You'll just pick Barton!" Tony replied immediately.

"Threatened, Stark?" Clint snickered. "Alright, Nat and I can be captains. You wanna pick first?"

Somehow that smirk grew wider and she nodded slowly, "yeah, I pick Stark, the bigger Stark, sorry Addy."

"Your loss, aunty Nat," she giggled.

"And my gain! Come'ere squirt!" Clint laughed and opened his arms wide, catching and tossing the girl into the air.

"Hey, careful with my kid!"

Natasha laughed and shook her head, "Banner."

"That leaves you with us, Cap." Clint laughed as he jogged toward the pitcher's mound, Addy riding piggy back as he sang teasingly. "Hey batter batter, swing batter batter."

"Miss!" Addy put in with a laugh as she jumped down and jogged off toward first base.

Tony walked forward, bat propped across his shoulders and that familiar, overconfident, grin plastered across his face, "hey babydoll, you know any stats on baseball?"

"From 2002 to 2008 an average of 439 major leaguers were placed on the disabled list per year," she shouted back with a shrug. "Besides that from 1973 to 1995 there was about 4 kids killed per year. They were all between the ages of 5 to 18."

Tony grinned proudly, "Thats my kid. You gonna pitch it or what, bird boy?"

"Alright Stark but no whining when we beat you, k?"

As it turned out Tony and Bruce were far more intrigued by the mathematics behind the game than the game itself. They repeatedly left their stations, well, mostly Tony, to discuss it all.

"Would you please focus, Stark?!" Steve snapped.

Tony grinned and ran out onto the field, sweeping his daughter into his arms and taking off around the bases, "she's stealing! She's rounding second! Third!"

Addy giggled louder and more joyfully than they'd ever heard as she was jiggled around. Even Steve, who'd been mid yell, had smile at the sight. "This really is the most ridiculous game I've ever seen."

"You know, Captain...sometimes, team bonding...it doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be real. Maybe you could stop focusing on your teams faults, and focus on their strengths...."

Steve glance away from where he was watching the field and sighed, "I see your strengths, agent Banner."

"I wasn't meaning me, Cap." He murmured. "I don't think you have a very clear image of Tony..."

Rogers turned toward the man in question, watching as he spun and laughed with his daughter. "I don't know about that, Banner."

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I am so so so sorry!! As always. Honestly I'm trying to do so much more in my rl and it's hard to make time for writing (which sucks and is bs because i love writing!!) but I'm going to do my best to finally get somewhere with this story!