Prompt: 27. Parents
Word Count: 432
Rating: G
Summary: Tommy and the Cap don't see eye to eye. Kate gets her snark on.
Author's Notes: This was originally supposed to be conversation between Tommy and Captain America. It was going to be hear-warming and full of glowy parental feelings. Then Tommy blew a raspberry at that whole idea, and went on his own IC tangent. At that point, I said screw it, and Kate got dragged into the mix too because she is sharp-witted!love. That is all.

An Argument

"Please?"

The man known as Captain America looked over at his young charge with exasperation. Heroes like himself rarely had the time to do mundane things like weed the garden, or write a novel, and he had been reading the morning paper for the first time in months when Tommy had interrupted him about this petty little matter.

"No."

"But-!"

"No, Tommy. I said NO."

The Cap said this with a sense of finality and turned back to his morning paper.

Tommy looked down for a moment. When his face turned back up, it sported huge limpid pools of dewy tears, which gazed out from beneath locks of scruffy silver hair. The boy's bottom lip that was quivering just so, and he whimpered ever so slightly, wringing his hands in a timid, distressed sort of way.

"Pwease?"

The effect was so terrifyingly adorable that it could drop a WWF wrestler at 100 paces.

The Cap simply gave Tommy a glance, then turned back to his paper and flipped to the next page.

"Cassie won't appreciate the fact that you're using her contact solution to make fake tears. Anyway, your mo-Wan-The Scarlet Witch was much better at that look than you are because of time, experience, and the fact that she is a petite woman. I've developed an immunity."

A pause.

"And the answer is still no, in case you were wondering."

Tommy wiped his eyes clear of liquid and scowled at his 'adult supervisor'. He stamped his foot and crossed his arms and was about to say something rather rude when he was cut off.

"No, I'm not being unfair, nor am I being a tyrant. I'm your supervisor and temporary guardian, and contrary to popular belief, I know what I'm doing."

Captain America looked at Tommy sideways for a moment.

"And throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the kitchen isn't going to make you look any more mature. What might help, though, is if you do the dishes. I'm sure your teammates would appreciate it."

Tommy blinked.

Then he stared.

Then he blinked a little bit more.

Finally, he threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Fine, DAD!"

With that, he stomped away at 'normal speed' in order to let the rest of the house register his teenage rage against the world.

Hidden behind his paper, Captain America smiled. Tommy could be such a drama queen sometimes.

A feminine voice drawled, "Does that mean that we have to call Mr. Stark "Momma" now?"

Kate smirked, then sashayed by as 'Dad' choked quietly on his coffee.