The kid avengers

Squabeling

Maria had Natasha pinned down between her knees, trying to hold her still while she brushed her hair.

"Natasha, please just 2 minutes..."

"Clint! Tony's hidden his in the microwave!"

"Shush! Maria, Natasha's cheating!"

"Am not! I'm on Clint's team!"

"You're not even playing!"

"Am so!"

"Am not!"

"Natasha. Tony. Please..."

"But she's cheating!"

"How can I be cheating if I'm not playing?!"

Natasha stuck her tongue out at Tony as he pulled a face at her.

"Clint, he's moved it to behind the TV!"

"Natasha stop it!"

Just then Thor ran past, Clint chasing shouting "That's mine! Give it back! Give it back!"

Maria rubbed her temples; the headache she'd woken up with had been growing steadily all day.

She'd suggested a game of 'Treasure Hunt' (a game Pepper had invented where the kids would hid a piece of card with their name written on it, and whoever found the most would win. It was an alternative to hide-and-seek so they wouldn't be worried about losing any of the kids again) in a bid to occupy them for a while, allowing Pepper to attend an important meeting at Stark Industries, while Phil bathed Bruce (who was once again, covered in food).

Maria was really regretting the tequilas she'd had last night!

"Maria Thor stole my card!" Clint whined.

"I did not! I found it! That was the objective of the game"

"I hadn't hidden it yet! You snatched it out of my hand!"

"Found it!"

"Snatched it!"

"Thor, you can't 'find' something that's not been hidden yet"

"Shut up Natasha you're not even playing!"

"Am too!"

"Maria, Thor told Tasha to shut up, we're not allowed to say 'shut up'!"

Four outraged faces looked to Maria; waiting for someone other than them to be told off, when Pepper walked back through the door.

"Oh thank God!" Maria said, handing Natasha's hairbrush to her and sneaking off back to bed. On her way down the corridor she heard the kids complaining to Pepper about various things, including cheating and rule breaking. Maria smiled softly; glad it was no longer her concern.

She'd just got back to her room when someone knocked on the door. What now?! she thought as she forced herself to stand back up and shuffle over to the door.

She opened it to find Steve's smiling up at her. Several books clutched in his hands. "Look Maria, Phil took me to the library this morning with Bruce and I got some new books to read; one of them is about Russia, that's where Natasha is from! And I got one about space so I can talk to Thor about it... Though I think he makes some things up... And this one, see, is about birds; I'm helping Clint learn to read and I thought he'd prefer to read a book about things he liked..."

Maria smiled down at him, and hugged him tightly. "I can always count on you Steve! You want to read me some of your books for a bit?"
"Sure!" he answered enthusiastically as Maria heard more arguments from down the hall.

Pepper was sure Phil was stalling coming back into the living room. She just knew it. The kids had become more and more like actual siblings as time went on; meaning when they got on they were loving and caring and sweet, but when they didn't; they argued like cats and dogs.

At the moment Natasha had Tony pinned on the floor while he tried to pull her hair to get free, she did not take kindly to this and twisted his wrist back. Tony managed to knock Natasha off him (tho Pepper suspected this was only due to the young girls size) and ran off, Natasha scurrying after him.
Thor and Clint were fighting over a purple piece of card currently scrunched up in Thor's hand. Clint had climbed onto the older boys back and was desperately trying to climb higher to reach it.

Right Pepper thought, I've had enough of squabbling interns and argumentative lawyers all morning at SI, I'm not prepared to put up with it any longer!

On their next dash round the room Pepper grabbed Natasha and held her in one arm, using the other to pull Clint off Thor. She walked down the hall with the two miniature assassins struggling in her grasp while Thor and Tony followed her sheepishly, still in shock.

Pepper opened the door to Bruce's room to find Phil sat on the floor, still stalling, playing with Bruce's toy trucks while the toddler snoozed on the floor.

"Your turn!" she stated, depositing Clint and Natasha in the room, ushering Tony and Thor inside, and closing the door firmly behind her.

She looked at her watch; 6 o'clock, definitely not too early for a glass of wine!