I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you so much to everyone who has followed/faved/reviewed on this story! I love you guys so much for that, and I'm really glad that my first foray into the Avengers fandom is going well!
That said, I wanted to write you something adorable and fluffy for this chapter, but my muse kind of went "NO!" so I present you with this instead.
Chapter 13: In which the boys learn the consequences of misogyny around Tasha
Tony isn't really sure what gets him to agree.
He likes to think it's Pepper's puppy dog eyes and the fact that he's such an amazing cousin that he would do anything for her, even something as self degrading and humiliating as this.
But it's probably the fact that Tasha threatens to kill anyone that doesn't comply with their wishes. Despite what they say to the contrary, Tony knows that the only one who isn't scared of a pissed of Tasha is Pepper, and that's probably just because she doesn't know how to piss people off.
He blames Steve for what happened, even though the fault was more Clint's and Thor's. Still, Steve is the one that brought in the baseball, and it was the incident with the baseball that tips thing off, so, yeah... it was definitely Steve's fault.
It all starts the day after the disastrous campout that was maybe kind of fun. Pepper declares that cheat (bullshit) has gotten boring- they play it all the time- so can they please find something else to do? They all agree to bring something different when they come, and they do.
Pepper brings a large box of playdough, all different colours (though by the end of the day, most of it is just brown). Tony brings a load of scrap metal and a pile of tools that he'd ordered when he first came to this crappy little town (but had never used, because of Clintasha and Thorki and star spangled banner and people his own age!).
All-American wonder boy Steve arrives clutching two baseballs and three catcher's gloves (no one is surprised). Bruce has Jenga and a game called 'Operation,' with a man on a gurney with a big red light bulb nose.
Thor arrives with foam swords and 'Mjolnir,' the hammer that he won they day they went to the fair. Loki has a large book of magic spells that, from the cracked leather cover, seems very, very old.
And that's where the trouble starts, really. They're all huddled around the book, Loki showing them the different spells with an earnest eagerness that Tony has rarely seen on the other's face, when Thor gives an almighty scoff and turns away.
"Do you not believe in magic?" Pepper asks, sounding scandalised.
"Of course I do, Lady Pepper- I just do not see why my brother feels the need to devote himself to the womanly arts!"
"What does that mean?" asks Clint, brow furrowing. It isn't accusatory- he genuinely doesn't understand where the older boy is coming from.
"Magic is a womanly art," explains Thor, "Like cooking, or cleaning, or..." he wisely trails off when he sees the look on his beloved Tasha's face. However, not so wisely, he tries to fix it. "That is to say, Lady Tasha, some women are adept enough to... become warriors instead, but... it is not befitting of a man, to... take up a woman's mantle... and he-" Tony laughs at Thor's fumbling, the expression on Tasha's face slowly getting more murderous.
"Just stop talking, Thor," the child prodigy tells him, and for once in his life, Thor remains quiet.
After this little... mishap, they decide to try some of the games. Tasha turns out to be amazing at Jenga, and Clint is a whiz at operation, his hand the steadiest that Tony's ever seen. Steve makes some beautiful figures of the playdough, which have Pepper virtually cooing in delight. Tony and Bruce make a little scrap metal robot (it doesn't work, sadly enough, but it looks pretty cool), and Loki and Pepper (who has grown bored of watching Steve 'sculpt') snatch the foam swords and proceed to attack Thor. They only stop when the elder prince grabs Pepper by her ankles and dangles her, kicking and squealing, off the edge of the pier, threatening to drop her in unless they cease fire.
They have a quick lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and pop (the same lunch they've had the last eight weeks running, but oddly enough, no one is complaining). Afterwards, Clint and Thor mention playing catch, and suddenly everyone is involved. Forfeiting the gloves altogether, they stand in a lazy circle, everyone desperately calling 'to me! To me!'
Tony has never been particularly good at sports, and now is no exception, so when the ball he just threw lands a good two metres short, he isn't particularly surprised by Clint's yell of
"You throw like a girl, Tony!"
However, he is surprised at the ball that suddenly smashes into the side of Clint's head. Towering over him stands a fuming Tasha, an unhappy Pepper by her side.
"You guys are being mean, and we don't like it!" begins the younger of the two. Clint groans and lifts his head weakly.
"Sorry, Tasha, I just meant-"
"Save it, Barton!" Pepper stands on her tiptoes and whispers something into Tasha's ear. The older girl smirks. "Pepper's right- if being like a girl really is such an awful thing" Tony doesn't like where this is going "then I suppose you're just going to have to give it a try- you know, see what we put up with and all." And with that, the two of them stalk off. Tony pulls Clint to his feet, and the males of the group stare after the two redheads.
"What do you think they meant by that?" asks Loki, looking concerned. Bruce juts out his lower lip and turns to the others.
"They're right, you know- you are being mean."
"I didn't mean it like that," protests Clint, before sighing. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm just used to it, you know?"
"And I'm used to getting hit every other day, but that doesn't make it okay."
No one quite knows how to respond to that, but Pepper and Tasha return soon enough, sharing conspirational looks and refusing to tell the boys their plan.
The next day, as well as the never-used rods, the empty bait bucket and the picnic basket, Pepper clutches an old ice-cream container close to her chest. She refuses to tell Tony what's inside, but he can hear it rattling, and he has the feeling he isn't going to like it, whatever it is.
When they get to the lake, everyone else is already there; Bruce's skin is mottled with fresh bruises, and Pepper temporarily forgets her box in favour of feeding him and petting his head comfortingly. However, before Tony can take a look, Tasha slaps his hand away with a fierce glare. He decides it might be better to just wait for it to be revealed to him.
Once Bruce is cleaned up, Pepper and Tasha step forward with the box, proudly opening it to reveal a varied assortment of nail polishes. Tony frowns- they can't be serious?
Oh, but they are- they each have to pick two colours and then wait to get their nails painted. Afterwards, they have to sit quietly for half an hour while waiting for it to dry. It is, Tony thinks, incredibly boring and downright stupid- he can't understand why girls do it (even if his nails do look pretty cool).
He got mostly red, with a gold nail every third nail; the gold glints in the light, quite ostentatious, but in an awesome, badass way. Bruce got one hand green and one hand purple. Steve got one hand blue and the other hand alternating red and white. Loki had silver and green alternating nails. Thor got mostly red, with his thumbs silver. Clint got all black, except for purple pinkies. Pepper and Tasha did their own as well, and Pepper went for a rich cocktail blue, while Tasha went for the same as Clint, except her pinkies were red instead of purple.
They have to keep the nail polish on for three days before Pepper will take it off for them. If they say something against girls ("sexist" says Tony) then they get another day added. It seems fair enough.
Unfortunately, if Bruce had looked bad to them then, the next day he comes in with his face more purple than skin coloured, his lip split and his eye swollen, walking with a decided limp. He explains that his dad caught sight of the polish, and Tasha and Pepper look horrified at what had happened. They quickly take the polish off him, but then he sits on the grass and peels off his socks and shoes.
"He won't see my feet," the battered boy tells them with a conspiring whisper, and so they paint his toenails instead.
"Aren't you worried that... this will happen again?" asks Tony afterwards, gesturing to the bruises. Bruce hesitates, then nods. "Then why did you do it? Tasha and Pepper wouldn't have made you, they would have let you off! I don't get-"
"Because," the younger boy cuts in, "if I give up, he wins. And I can't let him win. So I just need to be sneaky." Tony knows he still looks hesitant, and Bruce sighs, eyes desperate to be understood. "Please, Tony; I can't let him win."
And on some level, Tony does understand- it's why he doesn't tell his dad about an AI that he's developing, and it's why he keeps smuggling Cadbury's chocolate in right under Howard's nose. He refuses to just lie down and let himself be walked over, and the same is true of the small boy sitting opposite him. Tony nods.
"Okay; just... if things get bad, you know where my window is." Bruce smiles, and before Tony knows what's happening the small arms are wrapped around his neck.
"Thank you," breathes Bruce in his ear, and Tony awkwardly pats him on the shoulder.
"Any time, big guy- any time."