Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, and especially not the Avengers! ;D

CHAPTER TEN

Clint walked to his room and curled up on the bed. "What have you gotten yourself into, Clint?" he asked himself, staring at the blank white ceiling.

He just sat there for a little while, contemplating why the heck he had even gotten into the SHIELD business, until a little knock came at the door. "Clint, are you ok?"

It was Natasha.

"Yeah," he answered. "Go away."

He might have let Natasha the Adult in, but Natasha the Child? Just the sight of her worried him. What if the charm Loki had cast was permanent?

What if the Real Natasha never came back?

Natasha the Child left, her tiny footsteps pattering off into the distance.

Clint flopped over onto his belly and let out a sigh.

How the heck did you even get here, Clint?

The archer clapped his hands together. "History."

Bruce tilted his head. "What kinda history?"

"U.S. history," Clint told him, surveying the class for their reaction.

Steve cheered, causing Tony to roll his eyes. Bruce and Natasha looked vaguely interested, but the two Asgardians gave Clint blank looks.

Good thing you remember some of your history, Clint.

"Basically, Earth (or Midgard) is made up of countries. They're different regions of land ruled by their own king or president or whatever. Way back when, England –" At this, Clint pulled out a large map and pointed at the country. "Was ruled by a king that some English people did not like."

"Why?" Loki questioned, curious. "He is their king, is he not? They are supposed to like him."

Clint grabbed the history textbook he had been given. Hastily flipping through it, he found a page on the Revolutionary Warand scanned the few paragraphs they had written on it. "Seriously?" he asked aloud. "This is what they're feeding kindergarteners these days? This has barely any violence!"

Thor and Tony looked disappointed.

"Well, then what does it say?" asked Loki irritably.

Clint shut the textbook. "So: the Revolutionary War, also known as the American Revolutionary War or America War of Independence kind of started with citizens leaving England to freely practice their religion, start a new life, or escape authorities. Basically. Then they rebelled against their king because he taxed too much and a whole series of events occurred that led to war."

Wow, vague much, Clint?

Clint imagined himself slapping his inner voice – which was very satisfying.

"Any questions?" he asked the kids. "Anything you want me to clarify or elaborate on…?"

Steve's skinny little hand shot up in the air. "How long did it take us to win the war?" he blurted.

The adult Avenger scratched his head. "Oh, er… A long time? The Americans did win," he added, looking at the Asgardians.

"So the rebels succeeded, then," Loki murmured, looking disturbed and slouching in his chair.

Clint remembered Loki wanting to be king or something, but the king could only be Thor, so Loki got upset and tried to take over Earth from New York. So obviously, Loki wants to be king – but maybe learning the ugly side of being king is convincing him not to be?

Gah, psychology is confusing. Stop trying to understand, Clint.

Just then, Thor stood up and slammed his hand on the table. "LUNCH!" he cried, and ran into the kitchen, closely followed by his teammates.

Clint looked at his watch. "Well, what do you know?" he asked himself, chuckling slightly. "It's exactly twelve o'clock." He frowned, scratching his head. "How did Thor know? There's no clocks or anything in this room…"

"He has an internal clock." It was Loki, who was still splayed lazily. "Tells him eating times and all that. It's rather funny though, considering that he forgot to visit his true love for, what, two or three years?"

Clint shooed the kid into the kitchen after rolling him off the plastic chair. "Don't make fun of your brother."

"But he's so stupid! And besides, he's not even my real brother."

Well, that was news.

"Go eat lunch, Loki."

The young Asgardian rolled his eyes dramatically. "Fine."

Five hours later, Pepper came home to find her kitchen a mess. Her jaw dropped - her pots and pans were scattered all over the floor, eating utensils sticking out of random holes, plates and bowls shattered, and trash literally everywhere.

"Clint!" She shouted, searching for the archer. "Clint Barton, what is going on?!"

He rolled over. "Hi."

"Don't 'hi' me, young man!" The red-head dropped her bag and stormed over. "Why is my kitchen in shambles? Why are the kids insane?"

"Um… Tried to make hotdogs. The wieners exploded, causing the kids to panic. They wrecked your kitchen. Then they had a sugar-high or something, which is weird because I didn't give them sugar, and they haven't calmed down yet."

Pepper groaned and massaged her temples. Plopping onto the couch, she tried to ignore the kids' screaming. "Well, did you at least teach them?" she demanded.

"Um… Like, one history lesson. Yay me."

Pepper buried her head in her hands. "Good enough. Tomorrow, you'd better get more done, though."

"Mhm. Yeah."

CRASH!

"Oh my gosh, is Thor okay?!"

Clint handed Thor an icepack. "Here, kid."

But Thor refused. "NO! A true warrior does not require medical assistance after merely crashing into a wall. I shall be fine, Friend Clint."

Clint sat in the wood chair next to the Asgardian. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" This had been bothering him the entire time after Loki had told him.

"I suppose, Friend Clint." Thor looked mildly curious.

The archer thought about how to phrase his question. "Thor, Loki told me that you weren't his real brother. Did he mean this as in blood-relation or are you guys just not close at all…?"

The little blond looked upset by this news. Clint looked at him expectantly.

"It is true, we are not blood-related, but I had thought we were very close when growing up on Asgard together. We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Apparently he cares about none of that." Thor had tears welling in his eyes, his bottom lip trembling.

Clint patted his shrunken teammate awkwardly on the back. "Er, I'm, um, so sorry…?"

Thor burst into tears and wrapped the archer in a bone-crushing hug.

Sorry, Thor! ;)

Ok: I just want to say that the history lesson and any reactions the kids/Clint might have had DO NOT EXPRESS MY PERSONAL OPINION. It's just how I thought they might react/teach.

Yep, just wanted to make that clear. :)

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! ^.^

Also, I posted a poll concerning which character you'd like to see more of in this story on my profile page. If there is a preferred character you have, go ahead and vote! :D

- Imaginary Parchment