"Laynie! Carter!"
The girls, sitting at their lunch table in the far corner of the lunch room, snapped to attention upon hearing their names.
James came galloping across the cafeteria with his paper bag lunch in one hand and a seemingly random assortment of magazines in the other.
"What's up James?" Carter asked as he skidded into the seat beside her.
He slapped the stack of magazines down. There were five of them, including the front page of a newspaper. Every single one of them had Tony, Laynie and Carter's faces plastered all over them.
Laynie dropped her fork. "Oh God."
Carter groaned. "This really can't keep happening."
James sat down with them. "You two just can't go in public without being photographed by somebody. I'm seriously waiting for the paparazzi to invade the school."
Laynie ran her hands through what little hair she had. "Why are we such a big deal anyway? Tony Stark and Bruce Banner adopted us, so what?"
James and Carter gave her blank stares.
"Okay, I know it's a big deal but it's been months! You'd think it would've worn off by now."
Carter rolled her eyes. "Laynie, we were adopted by Iron Man and the Hulk, we live with the Avengers. It will never wear off!"
Laynie made a very unnatural and somehow frustrated sound, throwing her arms up. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Get Pepper to homeschool us so we don't have to leave the Tower?" Carter offered with a shrug. "And not let Tony drag us off to any social events."
James scoffed. "You can't be hermits. I won't let you. At least everybody in the school knows to leave you alone now."
"Good point." Carter said with a smile, "Now if only the media knew to leave us alone."
"Eventually Tony's just going to cut loose and punch one of them. If Happy hadn't been there last night we'd have been trampled or suffocated," Laynie grumbled.
"I guess we'll just have to get used to it now that we're the daughters of celebrities. As much as we may hate the attention..." Carter sighed.
James laughed. "You guys are crazy. There are hundreds of girls in this school that would kill to be you."
"Yeah, well, I think it's safe to say Laynie and I aren't like most girls."
James smiled. "That much is obvious."
Even after Carter left the Kings', she stayed friends with James. Laynie and him also became quick friends after she came back. Now it was rare that you didn't see the three together.
Laynie liked to tease both of them, claiming one day they would be boyfriend and girlfriend, a claim they both deny will ever happen.
"Hey James, you doing anything Saturday?" Carter asked curiously.
"No, why?"
"You should come hang out with us at the Tower. We can watch a movie or something."
James choked on the water he was drinking. "At Stark Tower?"
"Um... yes. Is there a problem with that?" She looked at him curiously.
"No, I just- it's Stark Tower." He stuttered.
Laynie laughed, "You shouldn't be nervous. Everybody's really great."
"Yeah." Carter agreed. "Please?" She pleaded with him.
"Ah, fine. Saturday?" He asked.
"Yep!" Carter grinned.
The bell rang signalling the end of lunch.
"We'll see you Saturday then." Carter said, as she stood up.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there." James sighed.
"See you, James." Laynie said over her shoulder as both girls left.
That Saturday came quickly. Both the girls and Tony sat in the living room waiting for their guests to arrive.
"What movie are you watching?" Tony asked. He'd been drilling them about James for the last five minutes. Having a friend who was a guy was fine, until you invited them to the house, apparently.
"Oh, we were thinking about having a Saw marathon, you know us," Laynie drawled in her most sarcastic tone. "Tony, we're watching The Lion King while we derp around on the Internet, maybe play a board game. We'll definitely be fine."
Tony gave Laynie a look. She was beginning to reach a point where she could out-sass even him. "Just make sure you all sit at least a foot apart on the couch."
"Now you sound like Steve," Laynie said, trying and failing to hold back a giggle. "Don't you think Carter should be allowed to sit next to her boyfriend?"
"What?"
They all turned to see Clint standing in the doorway to the living room, looking furious.
"She was kidding! He's not my boyfriend, I swear!" Carter reassured them.
"He better not be." Clint muttered before storming off.
Carter sighed in relief.
Tony was about to say something to them when the elevator doors opened.
"Tony, Mr. Parks has arrived." Pepper said, pointing over her shoulder to the scientist.
"Have fun watching your movie." Tony told them before standing up and leading Mr. Parks away to the lab.
Both girls let out a sigh of relief. Tony, of all the men in the tower, could be a bit overprotective at times.
James came up not long after Mr. Parks. Carter and Laynie eagerly dragged him around the tower, hunting down and introducing him to their family members.
Clint stood in front of him for a minute, a thoughtful hand on his chin. "Hm. How old are you, boy?"
"Sixteen, sir." He answered nervously.
Clint narrowed his eyes at him, leaning in closer and then leaning backward. He walked a circle around him, then asked, "quick, who's the coolest Avenger?"
"Um, you?"
Clint nodded and smiled at the girls. "He can stay."
James turned and gave them a look, to which they could only shake their heads and walk away.
Natasha was in her apartment, sitting on her bed. What they didn't initially notice were the guns scattered across her bed. James noticed them, though, and took a step back toward the door.
"Nice to meet you," Natasha deadpanned, cycling the slide on her glock .45.
"Nice to meet you too." James replied fearfully.
"Okay then, we'll just be going now." Carter quickly start pulling James and Laynie out of the room.
Next, they went to Steve's floor. They found him boxing, and walked in right as he punched a hole through the bag. He looked up as he picked up another to hang it. "Oh hey guys."
Carter slapped a hand to her face, "You know, maybe we should've have gone to the movie theater or something," she said to Laynie.
Laynie was trying to contain laughter too much to acknowledge her friend.
Steve quickly unwrapped his hands and offered one for James to shake. He accepted it gratefully.
"I've heard a lot about you, young man. It's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh."
James nodded slowly. "You're the most normal person here, aren't you?"
Steve laughed. "Technically that's Pepper."
Laynie grabbed James's shirt and started for the elevator. "Thanks Steve, see you at dinner."
Steve gave them a polite nod, and they spent another elevator ride in a fit of giggles.
"I swear, they aren't normally this weird," Laynie promised.
They were just walking out of the elevator when they ran into Thor.
"Oh, hello children." Thor beamed at them.
"Hey Thor." Carter smiled.
Thor smiled in return. Then his gaze landed on James. "I see you have a friend."
"Oh yeah, this is James. James, this is Thor." Carter introduced them.
"It's very nice to meet you, James." Thor grinned.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Thor, sir…" James sputtered through yet another greeting.
"Well, we're gonna go watch a movie in the living room, we'll see you later Thor." Carter smiled and led the way back to the living room.
"So, um, that's our family, excluding a couple of people of course, but that's most of them." Carter said, plopping down on the couch.
"I said they aren't normally this weird but honestly I think we're just used to it."
"It's so weird," James laughed. "In the media you see these big tough guys and they're just a bunch of softies with kids. They're actually really nice." He reconsidered that statement. "As nice as you can be while inadvertently threatening someone with a gun."
"Yeah, they're okay… but it's pretty obvious that I'm the greatest person in this family." Carter said matter-of-factly.
Laynie threw the Lion King at her friend. "Put in the disc your highness."
Carter giggled.
Popping the disc out of it's case she put it in the player before hopping on the couch.
"The Lion King, huh?" James asked, picking up the case.
"If you tell me you don't like the Lion King I may have to kick you out." Carter deadpanned.
"If you tell me you've never seen it you'll be stuck here all day watching any other Disney movies you haven't seen." Laynie added.
After a few moments of sitting under both girl's scrutinizing glares, he cleared his throat, "So, how about we watch that movie now?" He suggested awkwardly.
Carter snatched up the remote and hit the play button without a second thought.
Everything was silent for a moment, and then it began. It started out slowly, innocently, and then it exploded into something strange and out of tune.
Laynie and Carter began singing along to the Circle of Life.
James watched in silent amusement. The whole song was spent with what sadly resembled screeching from Laynie and Carter.
James burst out laughing at the end. "What was that?"
"That is how you watch a Disney movie." Carter stated simply.
Laynie backed her up with a firm nod. "It's how we do things here."
"Did... Did I hear someone else singing?"
The fridge door slammed shut in the kitchen and someone ran toward the stairs.
The three shared a look.
"Clint," they decided as one.
The girls watched the movie like James might have watched a sport. They cheered things and boo'd them sometimes, Laynie threw herself across both James and Carter and pretended to cry loudly after Mufasa's dramatic and unexpected death.
They sang along to Hakuna Matata better than the first song, thankfully, but sang along badly to the one about love.
It was right when Scar and Simba held their confrontation that the three heard angry footsteps on the stairs.
They turned around just in time to see Mr. Parks storming up the stairs with Tony trailing just behind him.
"My calculations are flawless. There is no reason for you not to fund my project." Mr. Parks exclaimed furiously.
"Your calculations are far from flawless, Arthur. Trust me." Tony scoffed.
"Hey, what's going on?" Carter called over to them.
Mr. Parks turned around with a scowl, "It's none of your business." He hissed.
"Calm down, she was just asking a question." James frowned.
"Just stay out of it!" He roared.
Laynie jumped over the back of the couch, standing casually between her friends and her father's guest.
"Can I see you out Arthur?" She asked in her best Pepper voice.
He swooped at Laynie, and James grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back into the couch. Tony locked Arthur's arm behind his back, and James got up to help.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Parks roared. "I have worked too hard and too long for you to deny my only request!"
"JARVIS! Call security, ASAP!"
Natasha appeared from nowhere and put Parks on the ground, halting the three way power struggle.
"Security's here," Natasha said with the faintest trace of a smile.
"Where did you even come from?" Carter asked Natasha in awe.
Natasha pulled Parks off the floor, arms pinned behind him and started walking toward the elevator. "I like to keep a close eye on things when we have guests." And that was the only response she gave before the doors closed with Natasha and Parks inside.
James pointed toward the elevator. "Will she be...?"
"Yes," they all three answered.
"Dad?" Laynie jumped over the side of the couch and produced a tissue from her pocket. "Your nose is bleeding."
He took the tissue. "It's seen worse."
"Did he hit you? Because you wouldn't fund him?" James asked incredulously.
"Yes. When I refused, he went ballistic," Tony answered as he dabbed at his nose.
"Somebody doesn't handle rejection well." Carter commented.
Tony scoffed, "That's an understatement."
"Why wouldn't you fund him?" Laynie asked as she turned the TV off.
"His theory is insane. There isn't a lot modern science can't do, but he's pushing the limits."
"Isn't that what science is about?" she asked.
"Well yes and no. His ideas just aren't safe. He's talking about trying to phase through things like concrete walls by loosening the molecular structure of the user's body. But they way he's doing it, it would kill you before you were done."
"And I'm guessing he disagrees with your opinion?" Carter asked.
"Yeah, he didn't appreciate it at the least."
Author's Notes:
Lartovio: Hey! Sorry it took us so long to get around to updating! Anyway, bonus points if you can guess the enemy they're facing for this arc! Also, yesterday was my birthday! Yay! And Dawns is coming super soon too! You know what we want for our birthdays? Reviews. That's all we want. Thanks for reading!
Dawn: Hi guys! So, here's two new chapters for all you lovely people. :) enjoy!