"I'm not good with hair." Natasha said, shaking her head sadly at Calico.

Calico grabbed a lock of her shortened ginger hair and twirled it between her fingers.

"But my hair's never been short before, and all I want is for you to make it neater..." she pouted up at the older woman. Natasha sighed and avoided Calico's gaze.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you. All I can really do is make you bald with what your giving me." she responded, quickly walking away before Calico could argue any further.

She groaned, gripping the scissors tighter and looking for somebody else with well groomed hair to help her.

Thor was eating, and Calico knew better than to disturb him while he was eating by now.

Tony's hair nearly always looked like he had just had sex (Calico wasn't going to think too much about that subject).
Clint and Bruce were missing, and even if she knew where they were she wouldn't ask. Their hair wasn't neat either.

The only person left was Steve.

"Oi, Captain~!" Calico chirped, launching herself at him when she found him sitting with Tony.

The blond caught her (thankfully) and set her down quickly, a blush gracing his fair skin.

"Babe, you should invest in a comb."

"Hi, Calico."

"Hey, can you cut my hair, Steve?" Calico asked, holding out her scissors and giving him her best puppy eyes. The super soldier didn't even hesitate, grabbing them from her and settling her in a chair.

He snipped away, gaining teases from Tony ("Man, Spanks... were you a hairdresser back in your day?"). Calico vaguely wondered if she even had any hair left a few minutes in. The cutting stopped, and Tony looked at her with a shocked expression.

"Wow, it's not that bad. It actually reminds me a little of something from your decade, Rogers." Tony stated. Steve smiled sheepishly.

"Well, it's the only haircut she could have had without being bald... I think it looks better on you, though!" Steve complimented, brushing stray hair off of his front.

"Why were you so anxious to fix your hair?" Tony asked, scratching the top of Calico's head. She held his hand in place and looked up at each man.

"I wanted to ensure Pepper wouldn't murder you. My hair never looked so messy or short, and I know she would automatically look at you." she said, giggling. Tony gasped.

"Hell, I forgot about her. I love you, babe!" he said, kissing the top of his lover's head. Calico smiled.

After a moment of careful observation, Tony decided that he would never understand why looking out the windows of the Helicarrier fascinated Calico so much.

"Calico, this is so boring! Let's go bother Spangles, or Legolas. Spangles would be more fun..." he said, poking her leg with his foot. She stopped to swat away his feet, but went right back to the window. Tony pouted, crossing his arms and sighing.

Still, he couldn't deny that it was cute to watch her smile when they passed over a city. If she had a tail, it would be wagging.

Bruce entered the room as well, looking at Tony to make sure it wasn't a private moment. When Tony used non-verbal signals to assure him it wasn't, he pulled up a chair next to Calico, looking out of the window also.
He looked more confused than he did amused. Maybe he was trying to figure out what was so entertaining about the windows as well.

"Hey Bruce?" Calico called. He turned around to face her, a dark eyebrow raised curiously. Calico paused, staring out of the window again. Tony rolled his chocolate eyes and nudged his lover impatiently.

"Are you going to ask the question?" he groaned. Calico jerked her head back to Bruce.

"Oh, right. Where did you get a new change of clothes? After you went Hulk, I mean. I didn't see you leave or anything." she said, pulling at the blue button down on her friend.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to laugh. Tony grinned, shaking his head and resting it in the crook of her neck.

"Of course that's the question you ask. Not how I managed to finally make nice-nice with everyone, not how he survived that fall earlier, and not where we put Loki. No, you ask where he got his clothes." he mumbled against her smooth skin. Bruce chuckled.

"Don't say it like that." Calico said sheepishly, looking back out the window with a rosy hue on her cheeks.

"S.H.I.E.L.D brought them right after I changed back." Bruce said, rising from his seat and shaking his head with a fading grin.

"Oh."

"I'll see you guys. I don't understand how you sat here for so long, Calico. It's boring." Bruce said. Tony moved his head and smirked. Calico made a noise as if she had something in her throat.

"Don't even say it!"

Pepper darted out of the door and stood in the driveway the moment she saw a car creep up to the house, already knowing it was Tony and Calico. It had to be Tony and Calico!

She gnawed on her fingernails, wishing they would hurry out of the vehicle so that she could see how bad the damage was.

Her face relaxed only slightly when Tony stepped out, relatively unscathed (he appeared more tired than anything else, but she couldn't really tell; it was dark outside). But where was her little Kitten?

Tony reached into the car and emerged again with Calico over his shoulder. The car pulled away as the two hiked toward the door.

Tony smiled at Pepper as if her precious baby cousin wasn't just slung over his shoulder, unconscious.
Pepper hadn't even seen the top half of her body yet, which somehow led her panicked mind to believe it wasn't there anymore.

"Hey, Pep!"

"Don't you 'Hey Pep' me! What's wrong with Cal-Cal? Is she dead?"

"She's asleep..." Tony snickered at Pepper and walked past her, into the house and toward the living room.

Pepper tried to catch a glimpse of the other woman, but she was wearing a hooded jacket, so her head was covered.

Tony gently laid Calico on the couch, with her hood still pulled over her head and partially hiding her face. Pepper reached over to slide it back, but was stopped abruptly by Tony. He cleared his throat, avoiding looking directly into Pepper's accusing green eyes.

"Now, before we uncover her, I want to make sure that Calico was telling the truth when she said her hair had never been cut." he said, scratching his chin with his index finger. Pepper's eye twitched.

"What did you do to her?"

"Her hair is gone. Loki cut it. I mean, it was messy at first, but Natasha evened it out. It sort of looks like Captain's..."

"When did she ever get close enough to that monster for him to touch her?" Pepper hissed, balling up a fist and shaking it dangerously close to his face.

Tony laughed nervously, placing his hand over top of her's and moving it away from his face.

"I figured you'd be mad about her hair. It looks better now, if you ask me, and I'm not crazy about short haired chicks."

"It's not her hair I'm mad about, I told you to watch her! And then she went and got her hair mowed by a villain!"

Calico peeked at them through a single semi-opened eye, smirking at how easily Pepper terrified Tony. Her hands reached for either side of the hood and she slowly pulled it back, causing her elder to gasp.

"Oh god... It is cute. You look like a little boy from the thirties!"

"Little boy?"

"Oh, yes! I need to get you some suspenders and high-waisted trousers with a bowler hat! I could just eat you up with a spoon!" Pepper cooed, placing the hand she was about to hit Tony with over her chest instead. Tony released his breath and ran a hand through his own hair, while Pepper went to pinch Calico's cheeks.

It was when she did this that Tony knew he was off the hook.

"Well, I'm off to bed. Calico, you know where I sleep. Night, Potts!" he said with a grin, ignoring Calico's small squeaks of distress.

Sorry! I had another stupid reason for not uploading.

Thanks for the reviews! If you have any suggestions or requests, you can PM me or something. ^^