THE LITTLEST AVENGER ▹ Avengers Fanfiction

Oh, Great.

Natasha

"What about Mama Nat?" Natasha asked, leaning in the doorway, a sly smirk on her face.

Steve heaved his most enormous sigh yet, rubbing a hand over his face.
"Oh, great."

The three of them watched as Natasha strode into the room, her arms folded as she assessed the situation.
"Huh." She smirked, raising an eyebrow at Steve. "I thought you so proudly said you could handle an art lesson with Alex." She clucked her tongue when Steve remained silent, unable to think of a way to defend himself. "Guess that's it for your 'responsible parent' record." She tried to conceal the grin creeping onto her face.

"Ha! That's what I said too." Clint interrupted, still proudly gripping his new painting from Alex.

Natasha looked at him like a parent scolding a child.
"Shush, adults are talking." She smirked before turning back to revelling in Steve's failure. "So," she continued, causing Steve to release a large sigh. "Today's been really successful, don't you think? Tony and Bucky let Alex get burned, you let Alex paint her hair... oh yeah, and Thor and Loki just let her eat pop-tarts in the kitchen."

Steve scowled.
"How did you even know about that one?" He asked incredulously.
In response, Natasha merely brought two fingers to her eyes before pointing them back at Steve in an I'm always watching manner.

There was a pause in their conversation before Nat turned to Alex, who was currently staring at a dripping red strand of her hair with narrowed eyes.
"And as for you, little miss," she began, gently picking up the giggling little girl, "I think we need to get you cleaned up." She smiled.

Clint stared, gobsmacked.
"Wait, you're not telling her off?!" He asked, like a little brother who felt hard-done-by.

Natasha scowled.
"What? Of course not!" She exclaimed, protectively holding Alex closer to her and glaring at Clint offendedly. "This was all Steve's fault." She added.

Clint frowned — something didn't add up.
"So Alex doesn't get told off for painting her hair, but I get told off for breathing?" He questioned.

Natasha nodded certainly.
"You know, someday, Clint, you'll realise that you're you and Alex is Alex. That makes a big difference." She smiled jokingly evilly before turning around to leave. "Oh yeah, and you should probably help Steve clean up the mess over there too." She added over her shoulder.

As she left, they could hear Alex's little voice babbling as usual.
"So do you think I look like you?" The sound of her voice faded away.

Clint turned away from the door and back to Steve, who was desperately trying to contain his quiet laughter and remain composed.

"Shut up." Clint flicked his friend's shoulder as he picked up a sponge to get to work on helping him clean.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Alex

Alex giggled mischievously as Natasha gently placed her in the bathtub; the little girl watched as Nat took ahold of a lavender shampoo, peering at the label before shrugging and placing it on the side of the tub.

"Do we have to wash out the red?" Alex pouted, inching further away in the bathtub as Natasha set the water pressure on.

She smiled.
"Yes, of course we do." Nat laughed, beckoning Alex forward as she spoke. "You've got lovely brown hair, you don't want this... sticky red mess." She grimaced, looking at the knotty bird's nest on the little girl's head.