HELLO! I'm actually posting a chapter before 1am, it's a miracle. This chapter is extra long as an apology for all the waiting you guys have been doing lately. So, I've surpassed 400 followers which is just amazing and there were so many wonderful reviews. Ya'll make me so happy. I saw Suicide Squad btw. I'm a hardcore Marvel fan, but Batman was my first true love so i had to go see it. I honestly though Jared Leto was a fantastic joker, but the whole plot kind of threw me as it was definitely not what i was expecting. I think I'll have to watch it again before I decide if I like it or not, haha
Anyways down to business...
*kind of important. So I got a specific question about Elli's fear of Cap, and I thought I would clarify. ( I meant to do it at the end of last chapter and totally forgot)
Demi-Fae: It's not that Elli knows Steve ordered her to be shot (although I wouldn't put it past her to somehow find out, haha), but more like an association thing. She had a pretty bad interaction with him right beforehand so her fears got blown out of proportion. Her hero kind of treated her like a monster so she is having mixed feelings right now and since she is six it's kind of hard for her to work through them at the moment. I still think she loves him deep down inside though!
And a lot of you asked for Fury and Pepper to bring some Hell down on the avengers. It'll come eventually, and in subtle ways. MWAHAHA! Elli will also be having bonding time with all the avengers in future. Someone asked for Elli to braid Thor's hair and I just think that is fantastic. Also, aunty Natasha will definitely be a thing. Don't worry :)
On one last note, I just wanted to let you all know that in the next few chapters there will be 2! new main(ish) characters from the marvel universe being introduced. IceSnowQueen, you know who one them is ;) ...even though I havent answered your PM yet (i need to work on that, sorry)
As usual I don't own the avengers and/or Marvel
***yep***
Bruce sat alone in the Stark's living room having been led by Pepper to Tony's floor earlier that day. Without saying anything, she had sat him down on the couch, presenting him with bags of pastel colored balloons. He had stared at them before looking up at the C.E.O. questioningly.
"It's pretty self explanatory, doctor," with that said, Pepper turned on her heels before walking away.
Alone, Bruce allowed his eyes to wander over his teammate's home. Having never been invited to the floor before, it was painfully obvious that child lived there. The area was tidy, but little hints of the chaos a child brings had snuck their way into the home. A few stuffed animals laid across the couch, a Black Widow action figure sat on top of a Dr. Suess book. Crayons sat forgotten on the dining table.
Not one to usually snoop, but unable to help himself, Bruce stuffed a handful of the not yet inflated rubber into his pocket before strolling around the floor in curiosity.
He inspected the framed photographs first. Most were of the Stark child at varying ages, both white haired and dark haired. She smiled brightly in each one, no matter the age. Some were group shots with people Bruce vaguely recognized (he thinks the one's name is…Rhodey?) and others he knew immediately. The dog, Deedee, was in many as well. Coulson and Fury surprised him, but it made sense considering the cold gazes the two men had been throwing at the Avengers the past few days. They seemed to be close to the Stark family.
His eyes lingered the longest on a photo of Tony and Elli. Both were fast asleep, the elder Stark's arm curled around the child while Elli's hand rested over the arc reactor. Their hair had matching tousles, curled into strange angles from sleep. It looked like it belonged in a Nyquil commercial.
Finishing a balloon off, Bruce tied the end before dropping it to the floor and making his way toward the kitchen.
There were so many papers on the fridge that it was almost impossible to see the silver finish. Some were crayon drawings, others marker, a few painted. The artwork that was obviously a small child's depicted flowers, animals, the Avengers themselves, and a few 'family' portraits. Schoolwork was also hung up in honor, all being A+'s of course—this was Stark's daughter after all. Looking at the math test, he realized it was much more difficult than he would've thought appropriate for a soon-to-be six-year-old. It dawns on him quickly that Elli must've skipped a few grades.
He drops another balloon to the floor. Reaching into his pocket only to feel that its empty, Bruce gently kicks the balloons he has dropped back towards the couch to finish off the bag. There were around fifty balloons surrounding him and still five more bags waiting to be inflated. Sighing, the doctor decided to focus on the task Pepper had given him.
The setting sun cast an orange glow over Bruce's sprawled out form, the man utterly exhausted from having spent the past few hours blowing up some 300 balloons that now dusted the floor around him. He wheezed slightly—no amount of breathing exercises could have prepared him for the decorating force that was one Pepper Potts.
He felt as though he could take a nap when the elevator dinged alerting him to someone's arrival. Thinking it was Pepper coming to fetch him, the doctor sat up only to be greeted by a small group of people.
Pepper and Coulson walked in together, followed by Fury and Tony, the latter of whom was holding his daughter. Clint was the last one to exit the elevator, looking slightly nervous but smiling slightly at Elli as she hung over her daddy's shoulder, chattering at the archer.
"Brucie!" Slightly taken back by the warm greeting, Bruce only sits there as Tony practically trots to the couch. Elli whips her head around before her jaw slightly drops before trying to wiggle from her daddy's hold. The genius keeps a firm grip on his daughter, if only to tell Dr. Clemmons tomorrow that he tried to enforce 'bed rest'. Elli stretches out in one last attempt but only escapes when Tony lowers her gently to the couch. She scoots quickly towards him, getting so close that Bruce leans back slightly before her daddy gently drags Elli back a couple inches by her hips.
"Hi!" Elli extends a hand like her daddy taught her, the grin on her face growing impossibly larger when the shy middle age man in front of her hesitantly shakes it.
"…hi?"
"I'm Elli. Daddy says you like science!"
"I do," Bruce can only raise an eyebrow at Tony but the man just laughs at his face. The Stark child hums in approval.
"Science is the best…I watch the Hulk on T.V. sometimes. Papa says Hulk is angry and that's why he hits stuff," the brown curls bounce as she leans in again, speaking now in a whisper that everyone can still hear regardless, "but I think he is actually really sweet, he just has trouble showing it."
Bruce only blinks owlishly before suddenly the girl is throwing herself around him.
"Can you tell the Hulk thank you for me?" Her nose is in his neck as she trembles slightly causing him to return the hug.
"For what?"
"For catching my daddy." Bruce knows what she is referring to, he had watched the footage of the invasion afterwards and been amazed the Hulk had been so careful with the injured man. A warm, pleased feeling spreads in the back of his mind, startling the genius as the beast within him rumbles affectionately.
Before he can process what this means, the child has pulled from his grasp and is sliding off the couch. She moves toward the kitchen, before Fury scoops the girl up, chiding her slightly for walking despite her doctor's orders. She points towards a cabinet and Fury complies, lifting her so she can see the top shelf. When he lowers her, she is grasping two white mugs, waving her daddy over.
"Oh, right. Come on jolly green," Tony practically drags the doctor off the couch.
"I made these!" Elli thrusts a mug toward Clint, the archer hesitantly taking it, almost as though he is afraid to touch the child. Tony takes the other and hands it off to Bruce.
Bruce inspects it carefully, not being able to help the little amused smile that graces his lips. The mug had a glazed coating over drawing of the Hulk on one side, the green man grinning with a toothy smile and a speech bubble having the green drawing say HULK SMASH! The other side roughly depicted himself and Tony, the two of them fist pounding in the air, a messily scrawled Science Bros! beneath them.
"She made one for everyone a couple months ago when she found out you guys were moving in." Pepper explains as she pulls plain ones down for everyone else, Jarvis already brewing coffee.
"Yeah! A housewarming gift!"
"It's amazing kid. You're a little artist." A mini archer is on the side of Clint's mug, decked out in purple, replacing the black leather he usually wears in order to have some color. The drawing had released an arrow that was shooting around the curved edge of the mug. Clint allows Pepper to christen the new mug with coffee, declining her offer of sugar and cream.
"You didn't make me one?" Bruce's eyebrows raise and Clint flinches back at the mock scandalized tone Fury makes.
"Papa! You're not moving in!" Fury pouts at his granddaughter and God, does that look weird to Clint, before poking the girl in the side gently causing her to squeal. Clint takes a deep sip after blowing on the hot liquid, trying to calm his nerves.
"Actually pumpkin, you kind of trashed Papa's apartment so he is going to be staying here for a while." Elli lights up in excitement as Clint chokes on the coffee (almost dropping the mug), spitting some of it out as he is sent into a coughing fit. Coulson laughs as he pounds on the archer's back, the pour man wheezing pitifully.
Tony laughs as well before he notices the massive balloon mountain seeping towards the kitchen, slightly confused they weren't floating.
"Bruce, did you blow all of those up?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you use the helium tank Pepper brought?" Bruce's eyes widened as he looked at the balloons and then to Pepper, a deep breath reminding him of his aching lungs. The woman has the decency to look sheepish.
"I was feeling a little passive aggressive and Bruce was kind of the only Avenger here?" She shrugs before stealing Elli from Fury's arms, declaring it was bath time despite the little girl's protests. The group of men watched her go, Bruce and Clint gaping at her back while the rest smiled.
"Watch out Clint. I doubt you're going to escape her wrath," the archer nearly deflates as Coulson walks past the man to wait for his girlfriend on her floor.
***hehe***
The next morning is Elli's birthday, Jarvis informing Bruce that there is breakfast being served upstairs as soon as the doctor's eyes flutter open. He groans before rolling out of bed and stumbling toward the elevator, too sleepy to change out of his pajama pants and t-shirt.
He blinks when the doors slide open at Tony's floor. The genius himself is flipping pancakes, the smell of bacon hitting Bruce's nose immediately. Elli sits on the island's counter, sipping out of an Iron Man sippy cup while handing her daddy blueberries to add to the pancakes.
"Morning sunshine!" Tony hands dummy a package of strawberries which the bot begins to chop up like salad. Both Starks turn to Bruce and he swears their smiles are too bright for him this early in the morning. He eyes Tony as the man begins to slice bananas, sneaking a few to the dog at his feet—once again, the genius was doing the opposite of what Bruce expected of him. The man looked so domestic.
"Happy Birthday," Bruce mumbles at Elli who beams in thanks before carefully levitating the mug with Hulk on the side over to where he had plopped down on a stool. Her golden eyes have a whitish-blue glow to them, the wisps of hair escaping her braid blowing in a non-existent breeze. He felt mildly surprised before the feeling passed, he was too tired to care at the strangeness of it all.
He took a deep breath in as the smell of the tea his nose—the rich spice of chai making him salivate slightly. Taking a long sip, he finally begins to wake up as Clint stumbles out of the elevator.
"What time is it?" The archer's hair is standing up on one end as he collapses onto the stool next to Bruce.
"7:30!" Elli tweets out happily as she finishes her orange juice. Her eyes glow again as the fridge opens, refilling her cup.
"Jesus Christ," Clint gratefully accepts his floating mug, not even blinking an eye at the glowing. He takes a deep sip before smiling at the little Stark, muttering a happy birthday to the munchkin.
The others trickle in slowly and much more gracefully than Clint and Bruce. Pepper is already dressed as well as Coulson. Fury is sporting moss green pajama pants and a black t-shirt, scooping Elli up to snuggle. Bruce is sure he has never seen the man out of his trench coat, much less showing so much emotion within 12 hours. When the food is ready, the group sets the table before sitting down.
Everyone digs in, devouring the fluffy pancakes and juicy bacon quickly. Bruce eats slowly, savoring the taste, while Clint wolfs the food down. This was so much better than the food at S.H.E.I.L.D., the man couldn't help his manners being a little shot. It isn't long before everyone was full, Clint jumping at the chance to help clean the dishes. Having hours until the party starts, Fury and Elli stay in the kitchen to bake while everyone else disperses to either finish decorating or get some work done before returning for the festivities.
The smell of the cake has Clint's mouth watering, Coulson having to stand guard while Elli and Fury go to change out of their pajamas. Pepper carries Elli back to the kitchen right before 2, which was when the other guests would start arriving. Her now dark brown hair has been tamed into two matching braids, her outfit consisting of a white dress with little cherries patterned across it. Tony had cooed and taken a ton of photos.
Natasha arrives first with the rest of the Bartons (Coulson and Clint had talked and agreed that if Tony could trust the Avengers with Elli—even if it was reluctantly, the archer could do the same). The Barton children warm up to Elli immediately and were more than willing to play games that don't require too much movement as Elli is still on her doctor's orders and her powers were subdued for the party.
Peter arrives later with his aunt and uncle, Happy following behind them, the couple looking around in awe at the superheroes gathered. It was a couple weeks beforehand that Elli's bracelet had malfunctioned on a play date, surprising the Parkers and Happy who had been acting as the little girl's 'dad.' Tony had arrived soon after, to explain and swear the family to secrecy. Of course he left some details out. They didn't know about her powers or prosthetic limbs, only her strange coloring and relation to Tony. The whole time Elli had had this smug grin on her face that made him sure she was responsible for the broken bracelet. He didn't bother to ask, knowing his daughter would feign innocence.
While Cooper had been happy to play with the girl's, Clint knew he was happy to meet a boy closer to his age. The four children play happily, the boys destroying a lego city with Elli's collection of action figures while the Stark child braided Lila's hair. Deedee curls around the girls, sniffing for leftover pizza. Giving up, the dog manages to lay across both of them, only lifting her head every once in a while to lick the children into a fit of giggles.
"She looks just like you," Laura comes up behind Tony and Bruce, a fond smile on her face as she observes her children.
"So I've been told," Tony snorts and greets the woman warmly as her husband joins them.
"Literally a carbon copy, Stark. I'm surprised no one's noticed," Clint eyes the cake again about to stick a finger in the frosting, resulting in his wife to slap him upside the head.
"People probably do notice, they just don't make the connection. Since Happy acts as her father in public, no one has any reason to try to connect her with Tony Stark," Bruce munches on some leftover pizza, pleased with the amount of delicious food he has had today.
Tony grunts in agreement, before the elevator dings. Rhodey and Dr. Clemmons step off, both looking slightly bristled, Rhodey actually shaking slightly in anger.
"Uncle Rhodey!" Elli sprints toward her godfather, tackling his legs and causing the man to stumble back a few steps. Letting out a small oof, Rhodey lets his anger roll off of him as he smiles down at his goddaughter who was currently getting scolded by her doctor. The six-year-old only grins up at the aging doctor, causing the woman to let out a sigh and walk away, mumbling something about impossible Starks.
"Happy Birthday, Princess," Rhodey lifts the girl onto his hip, careful of his bandaged knuckles, before kissing her cheek.
"Uncle Rhodey, guess what," the army man doesn't even get a chance to guess before the child is spitting out the answer, "I've got lots of new friends!"
"I can see that," his dark brown eyes trail around the room, happy for his goddaughter's excitement but still wary of some of her new 'friends', "how about you go play with your new friends while I talk to your daddy? I'm staying the next few days so we can do something special tomorrow, yeah?"
Eyes lighting up in excitement, Elli nods her head before her godfather lets her down, excited to spend the day with him tomorrow. Rhodey runs a hand over his face before meeting Tony halfway between the kitchen and the elevator.
"You, sir, are very late," the men give each other a half-hearted hug, Rhodey still somewhat tense, "What's up, platypus? What's got your feathers ruffled?"
"It can wait until after the party, it's not that important." Tony eyes his friend, looking for any cracks in his mask before nodding and announcing it was time for cake. The billionaire can't help laughing at the cheers that come from the children and Clint.
***still going? Whhhhatttt?***
Steve stood outside of Stark tower, running his fingers through his hair for what must have been the hundredth time. Everyone else on his team (except for Thor, who was on Asgard for who knows how much longer) was up on the top floor, celebrating the birthday of the little girl he had hurt. Rhodey and Dr. Clemmons had just gone inside, leaving the Captain alone with his bike.
"What're you doing here?" Steve whipped around to see a man he did not recognize stalking toward him, looking slightly less menacing with a bright pink present tucked under his arm. An older woman with greying brown hair stood behind him, her lips pursed in a stern frown. America's favorite hero had been debating whether he should go inside, unsure whether he would be welcome.
"I, uh, live here…Mr?" To be honest, Steve wasn't sure if he still lived here, but Tony had forgiven everyone else so he could only hope.
"James Rhodes, Tony's best friend and Elli's godfather, you fucking jackass," Steve blinked at the hostility, "goddamn, you should at least recognize me."
"I'm sorry? Tony doesn't- "
"So you only read the tabloids that detail Tony's sex life, huh? Didn't bother to read anything else? Couldn't care enough to read about the company, or his charity work?" Rhodey wasn't vain, nor a fan of the spotlight, but he knew his name and picture was published enough alongside Tony's that anyone with half a brain would know they were friends, "I've backed Tony up multiple times and you didn't even bother to fucking ask who was in the other set of armor?"
Captain America sputters, a blush marring his features. He had not wanted to know anything about Tony before, having taken the first things he was told about the man to be what defined him, and now it was biting him in the ass.
"Jesus Christ, you really don't know anything about Tony, do you?"
"Mr. Rogers, do you know who I am?" Dr. Clemmons had been fine with just watching, but now she was curious. How ignorant of Tony was this man?
Steve really wanted to nod his head yes, but even after staring at the woman, scraping desperately for something to come to mine, he had to shake his head.
"I'm the Stark's personal doctor, Mr. Rogers," the woman actually sent him a somewhat pitying look, "I've been on the helicarrier multiple times to treat Tony's injuries. You even reprimanded him last time for acting too informal with me."
He didn't even remember, he yelled at Tony so much, the lectures seemed to blend together. Putting his hand against his head, he groans in aggravation. How could he have been so ignorant? Why hadn't anyone said anything?
Trapped in his thoughts, Steve doesn't even see Rhodey's fist as it connects with his chin, snapping his head back. Caressing his jaw, he surprised it had actually kind of hurt. He looks back at Rhodes to see the man practically growling as he cradled his hand.
"That's for hurting Elli," the man narrowed his eyes, before sighing, "God, what a joke. I can't believe I was once inspired by you. Joined the Goddamn army because I wanted to be like Captain freaking America. Ha."
Rhodey shook his head before Clemmons started to lead him away, already fretting over his bleeding knuckles.
"Do us all a favor and don't come to the party. You've done enough damage, at least let them have this."
Steve feels his throat swell; he hadn't meant for any of this to happen. Closing his eyes, he knows now he has made the right decision. He walks into the lobby of the tower, Jarvis letting him into the dark lobby.
"Hey Jarvis?"
"Rogers." Steve can't help but flinch at the A.I.'s tone. Even the goddamn tower was mad at him. Putting the box onto the counter, he takes a deep breath.
"Can you make sure this gets to Tony? And tell him I'm sorry?"
"I don't see why you can't do this yourself, Mr. Rogers." Jarvis's tone remains clipped, but not nearly as cold as before.
"I…I just don't think I can face Tony right now." The ceiling doesn't answer for a moment and Steve is worried he is going to have to call Natasha, which would make things a lot more difficult. A wave of relief washes over him as the A.I. responds in a somewhat gentler tone.
"Very well, Mr. Rogers."
"Thanks," Steve walks out the glass doors. Securing the backpack onto his shoulders, he throws his leg over the motorcycle taking one last look at Stark Tower before driving away.
***and end****
So Steve is gonna be gone for the next chapter or two. But he will be back eventually! I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter, so yay for you guys! I have a pretty good idea of what the next chapter will be so I hope to have it published soon.
Please review guys! I love reading your thoughts!
