I do not own these characters, they belong to their creators, nor am I seeking to make a profit off of this. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 5
Saturday came three days later and Natasha awoke to Steve, Tony, and Thor jumping on the end of her bed. She saw up and rubbed her eyes.
"Morning guys," she said.
"ZOO!" They all chorused.
"Oh yeah..." Today was the day that they had promised they would take the boys to the Central Park Zoo. "Clint, wake up."
"Mmf," he replied, burying his face further into his pillow.
"JARVIS, what time is it?"
"Seven fifteen, Miss Romanoff."
"Come on Clint, let's get a move on. Boys, jump on Clint so he wakes up." They happily complied and Clint was sitting up a few seconds later.
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up."
Natasha got out of bed, thankful that she and Clint had slept in pajamas instead of going commando together.
"Why don't you boys go get dressed in shorts and t-shirts, and then we'll have breakfast? Tell Bruce and Loki to get dressed too, please."
The morning went by quickly, the boys all excited to go see the animals at the zoo – even Bruce was showing excitement, though it was rather subdued in comparison to the others. At breakfast Pepper was telling the boys about the animals and exhibits that they could go see. Loki and Thor had utterly confused looks on their faces when Pepper told them about bears and whales and monkeys, by which Natasha thought it was safe to bet that there were different animals on Asgard. The boys were most enthusiastic when Pepper told them about the "Children's Zoo" which was really just a petting zoo and aviary where kids could go and pet various animals and look at birds. She thought it was nice.
Truth be told, she was excited herself. She had never been to a zoo before, her own limited childhood not affording any time or opportunity to go. She just hoped that she could enjoy herself – when she had called Fury to get the OK he had told her that he would send several agents to follow them at a distance to make sure that nothing went wrong she was a little relieved, but she still couldn't help feeling paranoid.
At nine o'clock Natasha made sure that all the boys had their clothes on straight – Thor had a tendency to wear his backwards or inside out – and that their shoes were on correctly. When that was done she told everyone to run and grab a jacket (just in case) which she then rolled up and put in Clint's backpack that also carried water bottles and sandwiches for lunch. At nine fifteen they were completely ready to go.
Despite the fact that they arrived ten minutes before the park opened the parking lot was still packed. Thankfully, though, Clint was able to find a spot not too far from the entrance. They all piled out, the boys took the proffered hand of the adult nearest them and they made their way to the entrance.
The line was rather long, but went quickly once they opened and people started entering. "Good morning. Three adults, five children, all for the Total Experience." Clint said when they made it to the front. The Total Experience passes included the main park, the Children's Zoo, and a ticket for the 4-D theater.
"That'll be $119," the older man behind the counter said, smiling down at the kids. Natasha thought he looked vaguely creepy. Clint handed over the credit card that Pepper had gotten in his name that was linked to Tony's account – with the explicit command not to go crazy, "because when Tony is fixed he will kill you if you spend all of his money," Pepper had told him. The man handed over three blue wristbands, and five orange ones and the group moved into the park. They reached an empty bench a moment later and Natasha took the wristbands from Clint and sat down, "Come here guys, you need to wear these." The boys crowded around her, and she could tell that they were suppressing the urge to run around and look at everything –Tony, Thor and Steve were at the very least, while Loki and Bruce seemed more in awe. Even just in the circular area that immediately followed the entrance there were huge trees surrounding them. There was a pathway straight behind the entrance and according to Pepper, who was trying to memorize the map as quickly as possible, it led to the "Temperate Territory" where they kept the monkeys.
Once she got all the wristbands on the boys, Clint included, she addressed the group. "Alright guys, remember what we talked about. You do not go off alone, if you want to go see something you must take an adult with you. And above all, do not go with anyone that is not Clint, Pepper, or me, okay? Even if they say that we asked them to bring you to us. Tell me that you understand." They all nodded and chorused "I understand."
"Alright! Who wants to see some animals?" Clint said, bringing the mood back up after Natasha's warning.
"Yeah!" They all cried. Natasha stood up and followed the group as they headed into the first exhibit.
Natasha had always liked animals, but had never really put much thought into them. She dealt with people in her job and never really came into contact with animals.
Seeing them didn't stir a deep and hidden love for them in her heart, but she did get a kick out of seeing the boys' reactions. Thor and Loki were confused and Pepper was trying to explain that humans and monkeys are related distantly. Natasha laughed out loud when Thor proclaimed "I'm glad that I'm not related to a monkey, they're ugly!" Tony was trying to get one of the snow monkeys to come over to the edge of the enclosure, and Steve was standing off alone behind them, away from the enclosure.
"Hey buddy, come look," Clint said, beckoning him to come closer. Steve took a few steps up and huddled behind Clint, clutching his jeans and looking around at the monkeys. "Are you scared?" Steve nodded.
Natasha put her hand on Steve's head and he looked up at her. "Don't worry they can't get out, the glass keeps them in."
"Are you sure?" Steve said, Natasha nodded. He uncertainly let go of Clint's pant's leg and stepped up to the glass next to Tony. Pepper was off to the side with Bruce, listening to him read her the paragraph of information on the snow monkeys inside the enclosure.
They walked around the circular enclosure looking at all the monkeys, Steve warmed up to them and soon was right alongside Tony trying to get the monkeys to come closer. After a while they grew tired of watching the monkeys. Steve took Natasha's hand and dragged her and Tony to the next enclosure, which Natasha saw was red pandas. She had never heard of a red panda, and quickly read the paragraph about them to Steve and Tony.
"It says to look up, since they like the trees," she said, and all three looked up. Thor arrived dragging Loki by his hand with Clint right behind them and they looked up alongside Steve and Tony. Pepper and Bruce joined them a minute later; Bruce wanted to look at everything and Pepper was perfectly content with walking slowly around with him as he took everything in.
"Natasha I see one!" Steve cried, excited. He jumped up and down pointing up in a tree. Natasha picked him up so that he could see better and located the tree branch he pointed at. All five boys, Bruce had rushed over at Steve's cry, looked up to where he was pointing. A red panda was laying on a branch, sleeping.
"It's so cute!" Pepper said, picking Bruce up so he could get a better look.
"It's so weird," Loki said, and Thor agreed.
After locating the other three red pandas that were in the enclosure, they moved on down the path. They stopped at the turtles, but only lingered long enough for Loki and Thor to get a good look, as the others weren't interested. There were also birds but either the boys didn't notice or didn't care about them enough to stop.
They came up to the Children's Zoo next. There was a gate at which everyone had to show their wristbands to indicate that they had paid for entrance, and once they got in they had to stop for a second to take it all in. There were goats and llamas and sheep off to one side each in their own little enclosure, there were ponies in a small corral that it seemed like kids could ride in circles. There was also an area that had a few giant turtle shells that kids could climb in and on. Natasha had a sudden urge to get a picture of all five boys in the biggest one – whether for memories or blackmail she wasn't sure yet.
Natasha, put Steve down and asked the boys, "What do you guys want to do first?"
"Let's go pet the llamas!" Steve said.
"What's a llama?" Loki asked.
"I'll show you!" Steve took Loki's hand and started to pull him away before stopping, grabbing Clint's hand as well (he was closest) and dragging them both over to the llamas.
"Good boy," Natasha heard Pepper say. "I'll bet his mama had an easy time with him."
"Probably," Natasha agreed. She and Pepper followed Thor, Tony, and Bruce over to the goats. The three boys listened patiently – well, as patiently as Tony and Thor could – to the zookeeper's speech about petting their heads around their horns or their backs and not putting their hands in the goat's mouths. As they pet the goat Thor was telling Tony and Bruce about an animal on Asgard that looked similar but with feathers and longer horns – Natasha thought it sounded freaky but Thor went on about how they were his friend's favorite. When they got bored of the goats they continued on, making their way around the petting zoo. They split in half when Bruce wanted to stay and listen to a presentation that a woman working with a potbellied pig was giving, and Tony and Thor wanted to go see the cow. Pepper went with Tony and Thor and Clint, Steve, and Loki caught up with them.
"Llamas are weird," Loki told her. "What are these?"
"They're called pigs," Natasha said. She picked him up so that he could see over the group of kids in front of him. The petting zoo was starting to fill up as time went on. Natasha checked her phone and saw that it was eleven thirty. "We should go find a place to eat after we're done here," She said to Clint.
"Good idea, Steve was complaining about being hungry while we were looking at the alpacas. There's gotta be a picnic area or something somewhere." They stayed at the pigs for a few more minutes before Natasha heart Thor exclaim "What is that?" Natasha turned around and she and Loki looked around at Thor.
"Whoa!" Loki exclaimed, and wiggled until Natasha put him down. He ran over to his brother and they both stared at the peacock in almost exaggerated curiosity.
Clint laughed, "I guess they are freaky-ass birds, even if you've seen them before. Over there," he pointed to the peacock for. After the peacock Natasha gathered all five together and told them to go sit in and on the giant turtle shell. Eventually they all got situated – Thor standing on top, Tony and Bruce laying inside, and Loki and Steve sitting on top of the smaller one next to it – and Natasha took a picture with her phone. She decided it was for both memories and blackmail, and when she said so Clint demanded that she send it to him as well. She, Clint, and Pepper let the boys play on the spider-web-like jungle gym for a little while afterwards. There was an empty bench that they quickly claimed to sit and watch the boys.
"It's nice to get out of the tower," Clint said, stretching his arm across the back of the bench, behind Natasha's head.
"It's nice to get out for something other than work!" Pepper replied. "And I'm glad that they get a chance to stretch their legs. They've been cooped up for so long." Natasha nodded, she could tell that the boys had tons and tons of energy, running around the jungle gym like mad men – even Bruce was running around until it looked like he had started breathing too hard, and Natasha called for him to calm down a little; he looked over and yelled "okay!" and proceeded to climb to the top of the jungle gym and rest there.
Natasha watched Loki as he ran around, playing with Thor and the other boys. Her brain kept coming back to Fury's request, and while she could see why Clint disagreed, she could also see why Fury wanted it to be that way. Who's to say that if they let Loki go back to Asgard with Thor as an adult he wouldn't come back, stronger and with a bigger army? There wasn't even any guarantee that they could get him to go back with Thor, since he had escaped each time the Avengers tried to capture him. If they left him like this Natasha could make sure that he didn't become that way again – he would have the same kind of childhood as she had, filled with training and discipline. Though, she mused, he would be treated a little better than she had been. The red room [proper noun? Red Room?] hadn't been kind to her, and in the end she had defected – obviously there had been little loyalty instilled into her. And his magic and shape-shifting would be an invaluable asset to SHIELD and the United States. He had the potential of being the best spy in the world.
But at the same time, she understood Clint's perspective. Thor had told them that this whole mess had started when Loki had learned that he was adopted, and that to him his whole life had been a lie up. The exact same thing could happen, and he could do the exact same thing. Thor said that he had tried to destroy his home world – Jotunheim, he called it. What if he lost it and tried to destroy earth? Thor himself was a problem, as there was no way that he would allow SHIELD to keep Loki.
Suddenly Natasha was hit with a thought that she wouldn't think about if she could help it. I can't have kids. I never really wanted any, but I'm infertile. This could be the only chance that I have to. . . Natasha pursed her lips slightly. She can't think like that. He wouldn't be her child, she reminded herself. He would be her ward, her mission.
Clint looked over at Natasha and saw that she was deep in thought, her eyes on the boys, but not really seeing them. He wondered if she was thinking about Loki and Fury's "mission" for them, as he had been. They hadn't really sat down and talked about it together. Thankfully they still had an indefinite amount of time to come up with their answer.
Clint checked his watch and saw that it was almost noon. "Hey guys," he called, and when they looked he gestured for them to come to where they were sitting. "Are you guys hungry?" He asked, they all nodded.
"There's an area not too far with a bunch of picnic tables," Pepper said, standing up. "We just have to go through the reptile house and it's right on the other side. Tony spotted it before she could point it out.
"There's snakes there!" Tony yelled enthusiastically, pointing at the sign. He immediately took off but was quickly caught by Natasha, who grabbed his wrist. "Remember, we are staying together while we're here," she admonished. Tony kept on pulling towards the reptile house, somewhat dragging Natasha after him. Thor was no longer standing next to his brother, but was jumping around Natasha too. Steve and Bruce were standing near Clint, but he could tell that they wanted to see the snakes too, so Pepper took their hands and started with them after Natasha and Tony.
Loki, however, was nowhere to be found. Clint whirled around, panic taking hold for a moment as he realized the implications if the child trickster disappeared. It subsided when he saw Loki standing near the ponies, standing a few feet from the picket fence, staring at the creature within.
"You go ahead and bring them in, I'll catch up in a minute. I think Loki wants to pet the horses," he called to Pepper. She nodded, and followed Natasha, Tony, and Thor while she held onto Steve and Bruce's hands.
Clint walked up behind Loki and asked, "So, you like ponies then?" Loki didn't look up at Clint, and shrugged.
"Maybe," he answered, sounding confused. Clint raised an eyebrow and picked him up. Loki's eyebrows were drawn in a puzzled expression.
"I can't remember," he said, still staring at the miniature horse, one hand on Clint's shoulder, the other grabbing the fringe of his own shirt.
Clint walked closer to the pony, saying, "Well how about you pet it then? Do you want to –" he was cut off as Loki flung both arms around his neck and clutched tight, shaking his head vehemently.
"No no no no!" he dug his head into Clint's chest.
"Whoa, slow down there, buddy! We don't have to touch it if you don't want!" He backed away from the enclosure, patting Loki's back. "How about we go and join Natasha and Thor instead, okay?" Loki withdrew his head from Clint's chest, and nodded at him. As Clint turned and walked towards the reptile house, he couldn't help but notice Loki's continued stare over his shoulder at the ponies behind them, nor could he help but wonder why Loki was so scared and captivated by the sight.
They moved through the reptile house quickly due to the boys' hunger overpowering their curiosity. It was a little harder to drag Natasha away from the spiders – he remembered that she had always had an intense fascination with them, hence her codename.
Soon enough, however, they were all seated around a picnic table, eating the sandwiches that Pepper and Natasha had fixed.
"Did we bring sunscreen?" Pepper asked, pushing Steve's hair off of his forehead and seeing that his face was starting to get pink. Clint looked at all the boys and noticed that they all – save Tony and Thor, who just looked tanner – had pink faces. Loki especially looked like the heat was getting to him a little more than the others, even though it was September and not very hot at all.
"Yes, I put some in the backpack," Natasha said, grabbing the bag from next to Clint and pulling out a tube of sunscreen. She handed it to Pepper, who stood up and stepped out from the bench. She asked the Bruce and Steve, who were finished with their sandwiches, to stand up so that she could cover their arms, faces and necks with a thick layer of the stuff. She got Loki next, then Thor, and finally, and despite his arguing, she lathered Tony up as well. Then she put some on herself and handed the tube to Natasha, who put some on her face, and then she gave it to Clint. He was about to put it away but Natasha gave him a look that clearly said 'I'm not taking care of you if you get sunburnt' and he relented and put some on his face and the back of his neck. Tony, who was still standing on the bench next to Pepper, put his hand on her head to get her attention.
"What's next, Pepper?" He asked. Pepper put her arm around his waist and pulled him into her lap.
"Well, that way," she pointed, "is the Polar Circle, which has the penguins and the polar bears!"
"What's a penguin?" Thor asked after chugging down the rest of his water bottle.
At that exact moment, one of the pigeons that had been flying around looking for food pooped, and hit Thor right on his shoulder. Loki was, unsurprisingly, the first to laugh, and the rest followed. Pepper tried not to, but let loose a giggle or two and Natasha smiled. Clint laughed, but stopped when Thor's face scrunched up and he started to cry. It wasn't too loud, but Clint could tell that he was embarrassed and grossed out. Oh god, don't puke. Please don't puke, Clint thought.
Loki had also stopped laughing, and had a strange look on his face, almost like he might start crying as well. Clint, having grown up with an older brother, guessed that seeing Thor – his bigger, tougher, older brother – cry was unsettling. He remembered that whenever Barney was upset, Clint would get distressed, and until Barney had calmed down Clint couldn't either. Natasha grabbed the napkin that she hadn't used, poured some water on it, and stood to go over to Thor and wipe his shoulder off. Thor stopped crying once the bird poop was off his shoulder, but Loki still looked uneasy.
"Ugh, this stuff won't come off all the way. Come on Thor, we'll get you a new shirt from the gift shop." She lifted him off of the bench, and set him down on the ground.
"I wanna come!" Loki said, clambering out of the picnic table.
"We'll catch up with you guys, go ahead." Natasha walked away with Thor and Loki in tow.
When they were gone Clint let out the last bit of laughter that had bubbled up. "Poor kid, but that was funny as hell. Are you guys ready to go see the polar bears?" Tony, Steve, and Bruce all chorused yes, and they gathered the trash, threw it away, and headed to the Polar Circle.
"Clint," Steve tugged on his shirt. He looked down.
"What's up buddy?"
"Can I ride on your shoulders?" Steve had had a thing about being tall, Clint noticed. He personally thought it was because before he was injected with the super-soldier serum Steve was a shrimp, and after the serum he had grown a foot and didn't like being short again. Mostly it just involved him sitting on the top of the couch instead of the seats, or piggybacking on Clint or Natasha whenever he could.
"Sure buddy," Clint picked him up and put him on his shoulders, his hands securely around Steve's ankles to make sure he stayed in place. When they reached the polar bear enclosure Clint was extremely pleased to see that the bear was playing with a big rubber ball, instead of just sleeping.
"It's HUGE!" Tony cried, all but pressing his face against the glass. They all shouted with excitement when a second bear walked out from behind a wall in the middle of the enclosure.
"Their names are Gus and Ida, this says," Pepper said from a little ways off to the side, reading the plaque.
"I wonder which one's which," Bruce asked, his face nearly pressed against the glass right alongside Tony. Steve had his fingers clenched in Clint's hair, and he was fairly bouncing up and down on Clint's shoulders. Just then one of the bears lumbered into the pool. The other followed a few seconds after.
"Let's go below so we can see them swimming around," Clint said, turning and locating the stairs. Pepper took Bruce and Tony by the hands and followed. There were quite a few people below, just as there had been above, but Tony wormed his way to the front with Bruce following right behind. Steve, on Clint's shoulders, could see above everyone. They watched as the two bears swam around the tank, chasing each other.
"Woooow," Clint heart Steve say. A few minutes later Clint felt his phone go off in his pocket. He got it out and flipped it open. (1) New Text from Tasha. He opened it and read: Where are you? He quickly typed back: Polar bears, below deck, and hit send. A few minutes later Clint felt a hand on his back, and looked to the left and saw Natasha standing next to him.
"How's Thor?" He asked, craning his neck and seeing Thor and Loki pushing forward so that they were with Tony and Bruce.
"He's fine, he got a shirt that says "Central Park Zoo" with a snow leopard on it and he felt better. Little kids, their turn around time is amazing. I couldn't imagine switching emotions that fast." She glanced at the swimming polar bears. "Damn those bears are huge," she said, standing on tip toes to get a better look. She was pretty short, especially when compared to any of her teammates.
"Let's try to move closer," Clint said. He took her hand and they snaked through the crowd, Steve's hands still clenched in his hair. They got a little closer and joined Pepper and the other boys near the glass.
"They're so big," Natasha said.
"Have you never seen one before?" Clint asked, incredulous.
"Well, on TV every now and then but never in person. I've never been to a zoo before now." Clint's eyebrows went up, but he bit back his comment about having a deprived childhood; she had actually had a deprived childhood and she didn't like talking about it, not even to Clint.
"This is only my second or third time, I think," Clint said instead. "I think my parents took Barney and I once or twice before they died."
"Who's Barney?" Steve asked, and Clint looked up to see Steve's face upside down.
"Barney is my older brother."
"I always wanted a brother," Steve said, sitting back up. Clint's eyes widened [? Why what]and he looked down at Natasha. He had almost sounded like himself again there for a second.
"Well, you've got your team now. Me, Natasha, Tony, Bruce, and Thor," he said, squeezing Steve's left ankle; his right hand was still wrapped around Natasha's.
After a few more minutes the boys latched onto the nearest adult and started pulling them towards the next exhibit – even though they had no clue was it was. Once they were back upstairs Pepper pointed them towards the snow leopard exhibit.
"Like the one on my shirt?" Thor asked excitedly. Natasha nodded, and Thor pulled her and Loki, who was holding her other hand, harder so they could get there faster.
"Can I get down?" Steve asked Clint, who lifted him and set him down. He took Clint's hand and pulled him to where everyone else was.
The boys ooh'd and aah'd over the big cats for a little while. Clint could just tell that Loki was archiving the different animals into that mischievous little mind of his, and he guessed that he would probably wake up in the morning with a snow leopard curled up on his stomach. Or his head. Both had happened.
From there they moved onto the penguins and the sea lions and Thor finally got his question answered. He decided that he didn't like penguins; Loki, however, loved them.
By the time they were finished with the last exhibit it was four o'clock and the boys were starting to get tired and a little cranky. Thor and Loki bickered constantly, and finally Clint had to take Loki by one hand and Natasha Thor's so that they couldn't fight. Pepper was carrying Tony, who was tired but still talking non-stop. Steve was holding onto Natasha's other hand and rubbing his eyes every now and then. Bruce, however, hadn't exerted nearly as much energy running around as the other boys was perfectly alert and awake, still looking around trying to catch everything. Tony really wanted a whale stuffed animal but Pepper told him no, that he didn't need another toy, which meant he had a sour look on his face the whole way home. At least he didn't throw a temper tantrum, Clint thought.
When they got home it was nearly five o'clock and none of the adults felt like cooking. Pepper asked JARVIS to order three large cheese, pepperoni, and supreme pizzas, and after thirty more minutes they ate.
A few hours later all five boys were bathed, in their pajamas – Tony had given only minimal naked chase tonight – and in bed.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It would have been up an hour ago but I got distracted by vlogbrothers. Also, all of the details about the Central Park Zoo (except for layout and what it actually looks like) were taken straight from the website.
Please review, and I'll see y'all next week!