AN: It's a little short. I'll try and update soon. Thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows/etc. I hope you like!
I own nothing.
Chapter Nine:
The kids had finished dinner. After talking to Pepper and Coulson, they decided to stay in the room and watch the New Year's ball drop on the hotel's flat screen TV. Thor, Loki, and Steve were all confused. None of them had seen the ball drop before. Thor and Loki, being from Asgard had never celebrated New Year's before. Steve had never really seen the ball drop either; the event having not been broadcast due to the fact that TV's weren't really around. Then, during the war, the tradition was suspended due to war time black outs. So, naturally, the rest of the kids were bouncing around the room explaining the event to the two princes and the super soldier.
"And then it goes boom! And 'esplodes'." Clint jumped off the bed and landed on Bruce, knocking him to the floor.
"Nuh uh!" Waverly argued. "It doesn't 'esplode'."
"Well it would be cooler if it did," Clint pouted.
"I bet I could make a New Year's ball that would 'esplode'." Tony then launched himself off the bed as well, tackling Steve. "It would go boom! And then red fireworks would shoot out."
Loki shook his head. "This all seems silly."
Thor nodded eagerly in agreement. "I don't get it."
"It's just a celebration marking the new year," Pepper said softly, brushing Thor's still damp hair from his face. "There's music and people cheer and celebrate."
"Yeah," Waverly hobbled over. "And then boys give kisses to pretty girls." She smiled slyly and got up on her tiptoes and leaned in towards Loki.
"Blech," Clint stuck his tongue out. "Girls have cooties." Natasha promptly punched him.
Loki blushed and edged away from Waverly. "Um, why?"
Coulson, having changed back into his suit which was much more comfortable in his opinion, strode over. "There will be no kissing. Not under my watch."
Pepper laughed. "Phil's right. No kissing. You're all too little. Now, let's put you all in jammies."
After much fussing in which pants were shoved on heads, wedgies were given, and Tony attempted to put a pink princess shirt on Loki, everyone was in their pajamas. Pepper turned on the TV and found the station showing the ball drop. Coulson distributed warm milk (hopefully that would put the kids to sleep once the ball dropped). It was only a few minutes to midnight. Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Waverly, and Tony bounced excitedly. Thor, Loki, and Steve still didn't see what the big deal was about. The kids watched as Taylor Swift performed on stage.
"She's pretty," Clint said.
"I thought girls had cooties." Natasha pointed out.
Clint blushed and refrained from further comments about girls.
The countdown had begun. Bruce and Tony jumped up and began shouting out along with the TV. "Thirty, twenty nine, twenty eight, twenty seven."
Waverly and Natasha jumped up and the four began prancing around the room. "Twenty one, twenty, nineteen."
After exchanging a glance with Loki, Thor began counting down, though he didn't really know why he was doing it. Clint and Steve joined in and after some coaxing, Pepper got Coulson to chime in as well. Finally, Loki joined in.
"Ten, nine, eight."
Loki didn't exactly join in. "Forty two, ninety eight, seventeen."
"Five, four."
"Eleven. Eight one."
"Three. Two. One."
Clint yelled, "BLAST OFF!"
Natasha, Waverly, Pepper, and Bruce yelled, "Happy New Year!"
Loki yelled out a random number. Thor didn't get why everyone was yelling.
Tony yelled, "FIRE!"
Coulson didn't join in. He couldn't remember the last time he shouted 'Happy New Year,' but it felt odd yelling. He didn't want to look foolish. He was a SHEILD agent for crying out loud.
It took Coulson a while to calm everyone down, even Pepper, but finally everyone was quieted back down. Pepper convinced the kids it was bed time. She took Waverly and Natasha and tucked them into one of the beds in her room, then helped Coulson tuck in the boys in the adjoining room. Because Coulson took up one bed on his own and there were so many little boy super heroes/villain, Pepper took Steve and Bruce (she knew they would behave) and tucked them in beside Waverly and Natasha. Finally, Pepper got into bed herself.
"Good night," she called.
Waverly, Natasha, Bruce, and Steve answered with, "Night!" and Pepper heard the muffled responses from Coulson's room.
They had only been asleep for a few hours. It was around three in the morning when a scream woke everyone up. Coulson burst into Pepper's room, gun held aloft, while Pepper switched on the lights, clutching her comforter around her.
"What's going on?"
In the bed next to her, she saw two teenage girls huddling behind their pillows. There was a teenage boy sprawled out on the floor at the foot of the bed and another was poking his head up from the other side of the bed. The forms of four other teenagers huddled behind Coulson.
"What the hell is going on?" The redheaded teenager on the bed asked.
Beside her, a brunette looked scared and confused.
It took a second for everyone's minds to process what had happened.
"For the love of Odin, my magic is wearing off." Behind Coulson, a boy who looked to be about sixteen spoke. He had long, sleek black hair and bright green eyes. There was no mistaking the boy for a teenage Loki.
"Come again?" Pepper asked.
"Whatever magic that backfired and turned us into children is wearing off… but not completely." Loki explained. "It appears as if we are what Midgardians class teenagers."
"Ugh!" Waverly fell back on the bed. "Like I really want to go through puberty again with you all around!"
The disheveled boy at the end of the girls' bed was Bruce. He sat up and rubbed his head. "Who kicked me off the bed?"
Natasha mumbled. "Sorry. I woke up with a strange guy in my bed. Can you blame me."
Steve was the fallen teenager on the other side of the bed. He got back to his feet and was horrified to find himself back in his scrawny body. "Great. I'm a wimp again."
Tony laughed. "I think I shoved guys like you into lockers."
Thor pushed his way into the room. "Loki, why aren't we changed fully back."
Loki shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know how I turned us into children. I assume, given time, we will all age back to normal."
"Great," Coulson said. "Just what I wanted. To be chaperone to a bunch of super hero teenagers and their arch enemy."
Pepper pulled out the cell phone Fury had given her. "I think this qualifies as an emergency."
