The kid avengers

Rain

It was now well in to a dreary November; rain pounded the windows and showed no signs of letting up anytime soon. The kids were all bored; they'd been cooped up for days now and when they were bored, they misbehaved.

Recently;

- Tony had purposely knocked over several tubs of Natasha's paints, she'd lashed out; jumping on his back and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Paint had ended up everywhere, and Bruce had thoroughly enjoyed rolling in the green paint. Three sets of clothes had to be thrown away, they'd needed to call in a cleaning company to get the paint off the floor, and it took Pepper forever to get all the paint out of Natasha's hair.

- Thor had too much energy to sit still and fidgeted relentlessly, they'd been trying to watch The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie when Thor had inadvertently knocked Steve's book out of his hands and onto the floor, losing his page. He'd tried to find it again but clumsily ripped several pages out of the book. Not one for violence or confrontation Steve said very little, but was obviously upset, so Tony stepped in. He shouted loudly, Thor shouted louder; and they ended up in a pile of tangled limbs on the floor as they wrestled.

- Steve, Thor, Tony, Clint and Natasha had decided to play catch while the adults were busy doing various bits of tidying around the floor. It rapidly descended into mayhem when Clint accused Tony of not sharing properly; a huge argument broke out between them, only stopping when there was a large crash. Thor had thrown the ball in their direction to try and distract them from the yelling; only to have broken a window instead.

- Clint had fallen from climbing on the work surfaces when Thor had made him jump, Tony had gotten stuck while trying to follow Natasha thorough the air vents, and Steve had had an asthma attack while trying to round up the other five.

- Another attempt at hide and seek hadn't gone well; even with Phil's heavy emphasis on the fact they couldn't leave the floor of the tower. It took almost four hours for the three adults to find the six kids; Phil had been close to giving in and ringing Fury!

- Natasha had 'accidentally' rung Japan on Phil's phone running up a massive bill.

- Bruce had lost Maria's car keys.

- Tony had broken Pepper's laptop.

- In an attempt to occupy them for a while Pepper has suggested they all do some baking, but when Thor ate his batter instead of putting it in the oven; he wasn't very well.

- Bruce had stolen some of Natasha's markers and redecorated the walls.

-Thor continually stole packs of poptarts from the kitchen and hoarded them in his room.

And then one evening, there was a disagreement at dinner which resulted in Tony wearing Clint's mash potato, and the retaliation the next day left Natasha wearing Tony's spaghetti (Tony's aim wasn't as accurate as Clint's). Later that night Tony woke up covered in whipped cream and the next morning one of each pair of Natasha's shoes were gone. It turned into an outright prank war between Tony and the mini assassins. Tony's shoes were filed with jello, and Clint found himself soaked through when Tony balanced a bucket of water over the door. Tony somehow managed to superglue Clint's and Natasha's hands together, they respond by locking Tony in his room for several hours. Tony constructed a stink bomb, but later found all his clothes missing. Tony freaked Natasha out by chasing her round the tower with a spider but was later reduced to screaming like a girl when Clint jumped out at him while he was in the bathroom.
It all ended when Tony stole Natasha's locket while she'd been in the bath; he'd hidden it but subsequently forgotten where it was. The prank war was all fun and games, but Tony knew this would truly upset her and panicked.

He admitted what he'd done to Pepper who quickly rounded everyone up to help them look. Several hours later, and way past the kids bed times, they were still unsuccessful. Natasha sat sadly on the couch. Pepper started to make her way over, but was beaten by Tony. She watched on, surprised, as Tony wrapped his arms round Natasha, hugged her tightly, and kissed her forehead. The young girl's arms wrapped back round Tony as he whispered an apology and a promise in her ear.

Clint appeared besides Pepper, smiling brightly up at her and announced "I think I know where it is"

Pepper followed Clint until he stopped and pointed at Bruce, something shining from his clutched fist.

"Well of course, he would be the one to find it!" Maria laughed from Pepper's side as she tried to pry it free from the toddler's stubborn hand.

"Let Tony give it to her?" Clint asked Pepper before she left to return to the lounge. "It'd be good for him"

"I think that's a great idea Clint" she smiled at him. "Do you reckon you can give it to him?"

"Sure I can"

Pepper watched as Natasha squealed in delight and kissed Tony on the cheek, Tony reddened in the face as Natasha ran towards Pepper to get the necklace fastened firmly around her neck.
She smiled as she watched Clint and Natasha bound to their bed room hand in and hand as Tony scooped Bruce up and followed them.

"There's hope for them yet" Maria said; her gaze following Pepper's down the hallway.