A/N This is just a little one-shot that I wrote forever ago. I really wasn't planning on uploading it because it's not all that great, but I thought, what the heck? If anyone on here has little siblings, you know where I'm coming from when you read this. Enjoy! XD
"What are you talking about?" Tony asked Rhodey as they walked downstairs, going downstairs to greet Rhodey's little cousins, who the two who be watching for the next three hours while Mrs. Rhodes and her sister and borther-in-law went to catch up over coffee. "Avy and Sammie are adorable from the pictures I've seen!"
"I admire your cluelessness, man," Rhodey said, slowing his pace, "but you don't understand. Those girls are pure evil."
"They're kids," Tony answered, glancing at him. "How can little kids be evil?"
They reached the first floor, and they entered the living room where the two little girls were sitting on the floor playing with dolls while their parents and Ms. Rhodes conversed.
"Oh, Tony," Ms. Rhodes said, standing up from the couch to introduce the teen to her family, "you've met my sister and her husband before, right?"
"Yes ma'am," Tony answered, stepping forward to shake hands with the two adults seated on the couch, noticing the striking resemblance the two women shared. "Hi, An-uh, Ms. Cook and Mr. Cook." Tony had always been used to calling adults by their first names, like he called Ms. Rhodes Roberta, but he tried to refrain from calling adults he didn't know very well by their first names as he had been informed some people thought it "disrespectful."
"Hi, Tony, nice to see you again," Ms. Cook smiled, shaking his hand before standing to give Rhodey a hug. Then she turned back to the inventor, still smiling warmly. "I don't believe you've met my daughters; Averiana, Samantha, say hello to Tony!"
"Hello to Tony," they both monotoned, then busted out laughing as though it were some huge joke. Tony glanced over at the girls' toys as the adults resumed their conversation.
"Um, why don't your dolls have arms and legs?" he asked.
"We don't want them to be happy, so we took away their legs and arms so they would be sad," Sammie answered without missing a beat. Tony's jaw dropped, and he turned to see Rhodey giving him an "I-told-you-so" look.
"That's…interesting," he said, a bit freaked-out.
"I hate happy endings in fairytales," Avy mused aloud to herself. "Rapunzel would have been much better if she had strangled herself with her hair or if Snow White stayed dead."
"Dude," Tony whispered to his friend as he gripped his arm, electric blue eyes huge, "those girls are terrifying me."
"Welcome to my world."
"We'd better get going," Ms. Rhodes announced, and her brother and sister stood from the couch.
Tony and Rhodey walked them out, and when they entered the house again Sammie was gone. Instead, only Avy was sitting on the floor with her dolls.
"Woah, wait, where'd she go?" Rhodey cried, running into the kitchen and searching for her as Tony checked upstairs. Suddenly Rhodey heard a shout and then laughter.
THUD-THUD-THUD-BAM!
The teen ran into the living room again just in time to see Tony hit the bottom of the stairs on his back, grimacing in pain.
"Are-are you okay?" Rhodey cried, running to his friend and helping him to his feet. The inventor gawked up the stairs, where soft giggling could still be heard.
"She-she pushed me!" Tony yelled, waving his arms wildly. "She laughed and pushed me down the stairs!"
Avy chose that moment to appear out of nowhere and tug on Tony's jeans, which nearly made the teen jump out of his skin.
"Where's the knife drawer in the kitchen?" she asked, sounding misleadingly innocent. Tony paled, pulling out his Pod.
"What are you doing?" Rhodey asked, not letting his eyes off of the little girl in front of him.
"Texting Pepper to call nine-one-one if she doesn't hear from us in ten minutes," Tony answered just as Rhodey's Xbox flew down the stairs and hit the history-lover in the back of the head.
IMAAIMAAIMAAIMAA
Pepper arrived at the Rhodes' house a short time later, responding to her friends' pleas of help. She stopped outside of the front door, and she could hear yelling and laughter coming from inside. Somewhat hesitantly, she grabbed the key from under the welcome mat and inserted it in the lock, turning the knob and swinging open the door.
She entered the living room and stopped dead, her eyes widening at the scene before her. One of the girls, Avy, had Tony on the floor, and she was sitting on his back while she yanked his hair and slammed his face against the floor. Sammie had Rhodey half-in and half-out of a closet, and she kept slamming the door on his arms and feet before she finally grew tired of his shouts and pushed him inside, slamming shut the door and leaning against it, trapping the teen inside.
"Pep, help!" Tony cried, catching sight of Pepper as Avy grabbed a pair of scissors from the coffee table and hovered them threateningly near his hair.
"I thought you were supposed to be good with kids," she said, glancing around the upturned room.
"Not-ow-kids, mon-ow-sters!" Tony yelled as his face was once more roughly introduced to the floor. Pepper sighed, crossing her arms.
"Hey, you! Knock it off!" the redhead yelled with such intensity, the little girls actually stopped to listen. "Get off of Tony, let Rhodey out of the closet, and get upstairs. Now!" Miraculously, the girls immediately stopped what they were doing and obeyed her. Avy got off of Tony's back and even helped him to his feet, and Sammie opened the closet door and let Rhodey out. Then they marched up the stairs, one after the other, throwing glances back down at them before disappearing upstairs.
"Who-what-how-" Tony stammered, gawking at the redhead in awe. Pepper smirked, unfolding her arms and putting her hand on her hip.
"You've got to take control," Pepper said. "And let's face it, you are both push-overs when it comes to little kids."
Tony and Rhodey leapt forward, enveloping Pepper in a huge hug.
"You are my new hero," Tony grinned.
"Hel-lo, it is the twenty-first century. Not all of use girls are just damsels in distress, y'know!"