With that done she resumed her post by the sink mixing her batter, a few more seconds of silence permeated the room until the opening chords of One Prairie Outpost by Carbon Leaf sounded. "Which one is that?" she asked, "I have so many playlists I forget why I create them sometimes – that's why they're all titled," she spoke to the room at large.
"The Morning After Prom," responded Bruce, "Was it a good night?" he queried tentatively.
Carter paused in her actions as she seemed to ponder Bruce's question when Clint decided he'd gotten over the awkward feelings in the room and interjected, "Keep in mind if it was a good night," he placed air quotes around the last two words, "Your parents and relevant parental figures might not want to hear the details."
"Relevant parental figures?" quoted Carter looking at Clint with fond frustration.
"I figure at least one of us is a godparent or something so yeah, I stand by my choice of words," quipped the archer, "And you're avoiding the question so I'm going to assume…" he let his words trail off as he waggled his eyebrows.
Phil and Carter both snorted at him, while the rest of the team actually decided to take seats in the kitchen with the intention of being in a better position to listen to Carter. Everyone that is except Steve took a seat somewhere, the super-soldier went to the fridge and took out various juices for his teammates. Once those were on the table he went to the coffeemaker to begin measuring the grounds, and Steve hated making coffee - but he needed to occupy his hands as he waited for Carter's answer to Clint's question. Even though he may have only had his daughter in his life for less than 48 hours he did not like to idea of her sleeping with anyone, let alone hearing about it happening on prom night of all times!
"It's always about sex with you isn't it?" Carter remarked, trying to stall answering Clint as her Pops tried to flit about keeping busy. At her response Sam mimed placing earplugs on Tony's head as the man in question absently batted the Falcon away from his head, "I am not a delicate flower with virginal ears," Tony reprimanded him.
"That's for sure," agreed Pepper who appeared by Carter's side and was pulling fruit from the fridge for the pancake batter.
"Y'all are so ridiculous," murmured Carter, in a louder voice she said, "No, it was not that kind of 'good night,' neither prom was like that. It was fun, and senior year was definitely the time that I learned who my real friends were – especially on that night. Some people just ditched me and others really stepped up to the plate. Prom, both of them, were memorable for me."
"Both?" queried Pepper who was now attentively watching butter melt on the griddle.
"I went in my junior and senior year – junior year was to help out a friend whose girlfriend had just dumped him," replied Carter who began to measure out ladles of batter and dropped them on the griddle that hissed in reply, "And no, Clint we didn't date afterward either."
"Not your team?" asked the archer bluntly.
Tony and Nat both fixed him with deadly glares while Steve's eyes found his daughter's face. Her eyes were slightly widen as if surprised and while she appeared uneasy Carter answered his question, "Not exactly. Well, I'm not exactly like that." She fumbled for words and took the chance to load up a plate of pancakes for the table. As she placed the plate in front of Tony and the rest of the Avengers Steve snagged a seat near his husband while Bruce paused the music playing. "This shouldn't be so hard, I mean it's not like it was difficult the first time," muttered Carter more to herself than anyone else but her fathers caught every word, "I identify as asexual, and I swear to goodness if any of you says 'Like a plant?' I will throw something. It means that I don't feel sexual attraction, it has nothing to do with my emotions or ability to love other people – or even my aesthetic attraction to them I just don't want to sex up every pretty person I see, okay?" Her words rushed out in a jumble but thankfully the team could understand where she was coming from and for the first time that morning Thor spoke, "Well said young Stark! Love is what matters – and it is expressed in many ways."
Carter inclined her head towards the god but kept one eye on her dads. Surprisingly, Clint was the one to save her, "So you don't have to worry about protecting her virtue and all that jazz mate," he nudged Steve, "Cheer up that'll add like seven years to your life." At Carter's laugh the rest of the table chuckled and Steve just shook his head at his teammate with a smile on his face, "I highly doubt that'll stop him worrying about anything," remarked Tony who had bitten into a pancake already, "These are super good by the way child of mine."
Carter blushed and smiled at her Dad's praise. He pushed a plate of fruit and pancakes toward her and at that everyone else started eating. "You're right, Pops worries a lot (about ridiculous things mind you) and no, telling you both about me did not help him worry less. Unfortunately."
"Isn't that my prerogative as a father?" said Steve brandishing a bit of pancake on his fork as he made his point. Carter inclined her head to acknowledge his point, "But you two combined should honestly considering writing films with M. Night Shyamalan because you come up with the craziest fears and scenarios."
Bucky who hadn't spoken much since being dismissed by Carter that morning decided to wade back into the conversation, "You a Shyamalan fan?"
"Not really but you could say I've got an eclectic taste in movies. I've seen everything from Disney to Woody Allen – when I was growing up each of you would trade off on picking a movie on Friday nights," she responded.
"Favourite movie?" he asked.
It was as if Carter didn't have to think, "Kelly's Heroes."
He paused in his chewing to fix her with a surprised look, it was known among the team that since Bucky had seen that same movie three weeks ago that he could quote it word for word. There was no doubt in anyone's mind about whose choice that movie night had been.
Carter ducked her head after speaking and ever so carefully shrunk in on herself, away from Steve. She could feel the tension radiating from her Pops even though he was trying to keep it at bay. Instead of letting her shrink away, the action alone made Steve's heart feel as if it had been stabbed with an ice pick, he spoke, "Well, at least it isn't something horrible like Gosford Park."
"True," replied Carter quietly, still not looking at anyone in particular having decided at that moment that her plate was supremely interesting, "The Brits really let me down with that movie."
"Sweetheart, they let everyone down with that film," interjected Tony, too focused on easing the tension between his spouse and daughter to notice the bright wonder in her eyes at his use of the term of endearment.
As breakfast came to a close and everyone's plates were cleared, compliments were passed to Carter, and Phil took Sam and Thor to clean up the kitchen. Well, Thor was there for moral support, he was more likely to break something than help clean it.