Author's Note:
Hellooooo! Sorry, I said I would get this on yesterday and then I didn't have access to the computer! Anyway, here is the second part of Chapter 3! :D Please review, review, review! (:
Natasha sat on the bar stool reading the recipes in front or her. Gosh, she only cooked out of necessity, and now she had come up with the proposition that the Avengers make and eat a sit-down dinner together every night. What on earth had she gotten herself into?
"The party has arrived!" Tony yelled as he walked in clutching an open bottle of vodka in one hand.
"Oh my dear Lord, Stark. The vodka is supposed to be for the recipe. And now you've gone and... contaminated it."
"Aww, come on, Taaaaaaash." Tony whined into her ear, slinging his arm around her shoulders. In a split second, Tony was lying face down on the floor with his arm twisted behind his back while Natasha straddled his back. She leaned down and talked low into his ear.
"Firstly, NEVER call me 'Tash'. Secondly, never, EVER get that close to me. Got it, pumpkin?"
"Yesh." Tony slurred against the cold marble floor.
Natasha got up, letting go of Tony's arm. She stood and watched as he stumbled over himself as he tried to rise to his feet. Clint walked in and sat down on one of the bar stools next to the place Natasha stood.
"What he do this time?" He asked nonchalantly while picking up the recipes Natasha had chosen.
"Hung on me drunkenly and called me 'Tash'." She answered.
"Why doesn't that happen to me when I call you that?" He teased her.
Her neatly composed façade shattered as she blushed a light pink. "Shut up, Clint. You know why. You're...you're different."
Clint smiled. He liked hearing his name said in her voice. Even if it was telling him to "shut up". He did kind of deserve that one anyway.
Tony finally regained his balance and looked to the couple in front of him.
Tony smirked and started sloppily singing, "Clint and Natasha sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-"
He didn't even make it through the word before he was knocked out and seated in the plush chair facing the kitchen. That's what he got for provoking two master assassins.
Bruce walked in, surprisingly energetic, as he was usually tired from late hours in the lab. He glanced over at the unconscious Tony Stark in the chair across the room and then to Clint and Natasha. He didn't even ask.
"So what are we making?"
"POP TARTS?" Thor bellowed, walking into the kitchen. "AND COFFEE?" he asked hopefully.
"Um, no, Thor. I found a couple recipes online. Does-" Natasha paused, picking up the recipes she had printed off. "Vodka-Lime Chicken and roasted asparagus and broccoli sound good?"
"That sounds delicious!" everyone responded, including Steve who had walked in as she read off the menu for the night.
"Well then, we had better get started." she said with an I-guess-I-can't-get-out-of-this-now huff. She headed to the refrigerator and pantry and retrieved the ingredients they needed for the recipes. She laid it out on the counter and looked to the men surrounding her just standing there. "Well? Some help?"
Steve was the first to reply. "Um, what do you want us to do?"
"Oh, I guess that could be helpful. Wellllll-" Natasha said, scanning through the recipe. "Steve, how about you wash the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. Just rinse it with some water I guess. Uh, Bruce, cut two lemons and two limes and juice them. Keep the rinds. It says to 'install them into the cavity of the chicken'.".
"You mean we have to shove some lemon and lime rinds up the ass of a dead, beheaded, plucked chicken?" Clint asked, looking a bit disgusted.
"Yes, Clint. That's exactly what we have to do." Natasha answered with an annoyed sigh. "In fact, how about you do that?" She said with an arched eyebrow and sly smirk. He gave her the "evil eye" and stalked off to where Bruce was busily juicing the lemons and limes. "Ok, so Thor, you can chop up this cilantro. Do you, um, do you know how to do that?"
"I will try with my hardest effort!" He said with a cheery attitude. She sent him off with a cutting board, knife, and handful of fresh cilantro. She went over and pried the vodka bottle from Tony's hand, which was still clutching it even in his still unconscious state. She went over and preheated the oven and checked the recipe to see what was next.
Looking up from the papers she said, "Ok, so we need to-"
She stopped speaking from shock of what was before her. Thor had green leaves in his wavy, blonde hair and was chopping the cilantro with such intensity that it was flying into the air and the table was being chopped up with it. Bruce had the chicken by the wings and was making it do a dance on the polished white counter. Her mouth agape, she looked to Clint who was smiling, but instead of his perfect, white teeth showing up, a lemon rind filled his mouth. Steve just stood there laughing, watching the spectacle.
"What- what on earth are you all doing?" Natasha exclaimed. Seeing all of the burly superheroes around her instantly stop at the sound of her voice and freeze in what they were doing, she couldn't help but burst out in a fit of laughter herself. When she finally regained her composure, she said, "Oh what are you all doing? Get back to work!" with a slight laugh in her command. "Except you, Clint." she said, pointing to the archer. "Throw away that rind right now. There is no way that is going in my food now." she said laughing. He walked up to her and spoke with the rind still in his mouth, snaking an arm around her small waist. "Aphraid I ghot coohties?" he asked with a suave look.
She laughed and replied teasingly, "No, but you do have geeerms." while snubbing her nose at him.
"Oh, fine." he said, throwing away the rind. "You win." He winked at her.
"Ok, guys, back to business!" She turned to her team, the rest of whom seemed tickled at the spectacle of her and Clint that they had just watched. Except Steve, who wasn't looking, most likely to hide his embarrassment.
"Are those lemons and limes done?"
"Yes, sir!" Bruce replied, jokingly throwing up a mock salute. "Oh, uh, I mean- ma'am!" he caught himself.
Natasha laughed and looked to Thor, who was now covered in chopped up green leaves. "How about you, Thor? Is the cilantro chopped up?"
"Yes! I made a slight mess, but it is completed!" he replied.
"Alright, so Clint, this is where you get to shove the rinds and cilantro 'up the chicken's ass', as you put it before." she said with a devious smile. Clint made a disgusted face, but proceeded to do as he was told.
Once the chicken was filled with the rinds and cilantro, they placed it in a class baking dish and poured the lemon and lime juices over it and then added the vodka. It was then placed in the oven.
"All right, guys. So now while that's cooking, we make the asparagus and broccoli." She flipped to the next page, scanning the recipe.
"Ok, so we need to wash the veggies, cut up the broccoli into smaller chunks, and cut off the woody ends of the asparagus. Anyone volunteer to wash 'em?"
After a bit of silence, Steve offered his services.
"Great!" She picked up the vegetables and handed them to the blonde-haired man. He went to the sink and began to wash them while Natasha got out another cutting board and knife. She went over to where Steve was washing and took the broccoli that was already washed. She turned and addressed the rest of the team.
"Alright, so I'll cut up the broccoli and then… Bruce, will you take care of the asparagus once Steve is done with it?"
Bruce nodded in assent. "And Clint, would you get out the big sauté pan and the olive oil and start heating it up?"
Clint replied, "Sure." and went to find it.
Natasha set to work on the broccoli. Soon, Bruce was done with the asparagus and she had finished the broccoli. They placed them in the hot pan and stirred in a little salt and pepper. It sizzled and popped for a while and the team stayed in silence until it was suddenly broken by a yell.
"!"
Tony had woken up. He shot up out of the seat swinging his arms while screaming. Bruce tried to calm him down while saying "Woooooah, Tony" and pushing his palms towards the ground. Tony calmed down and just stared at the rest of the team that were currently staring back at him. There was complete silence except for the sizzling of the vegetables in the pan until the oven timer went off with a couple loud "BEEP"s that made the team jump. Natasha finally spoke.
"Dinner's ready."
Everyone started laughing heavily. They got plates and silverware out from the shiny, white cabinets and laid them out on the table. Bruce got the chicken out of the oven and sat the dish on the hot pad on the table. Steve scooped the vegetables out of the sizzling pan and deposited them on a large plate and then onto the table.
"Alright, guys. I believe we're done!" Natasha pronounced excitedly. Her announcement was received by some very hungry men, so they responded with a big, "YEEEAAAHHHH!"
The team sat down and had a delicious meal combined with some very good conversation and lots of laughter. Once they finished dinner Thor asked, "What is for dinner tomorrow night?"
