In this chapter; Evie is eight, Elijah and Henry are five and Alexis is 3 weeks old
Pepper had volunteered her and Tony to babysit for Clint and Natasha so they could have sometime to themselves, however Pepper had then been called to London for an urgent meeting, and Tony had been left alone looking after four children.
It wasn't as if he'd never been around them before, he was around them all the time, he'd just never been the sole adult responsible for them before.
Natasha had put Alexis to bed before they'd gone out to dinner; her being just three weeks old, pretty much all she did was sleep. It was the other three he was concerned about.
Clint had given Tony instructions that Henry was to be in bed by 8 (he had to go to bed earlier for misbehaving earlier in the day), Elijah's bedtime was 8.30, and Evie's was 9. Henry needed some Tylenol before he went to bed for his ear infection, they were not to have anything sugary to eat, they were not to watch any scary films, and Evie was not to read any of their SHIELD files. The list of rules went on and on but Tony had pretty much stopped listening.
Clint and Natasha said goodbye to their kids, promised Tony they would be back early, and turned to leave. Tony grabbed Natasha's elbow before she could and whispered to her; "which twin is which?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes, "Henry is the one on the left"
"Right, gotcha! Have a nice night!" he smiled as they left.
"Uncle Tony can I have a candy bar?" Elijah asked
"Sure, one won't hurt right?"
"Thanks Uncle Tony!" he said, already halfway to the kitchen.
"But mom and dad said no snacks" Evie informed Tony
"Shush! Stop tattling!" Henry said
"You shush!"
"No you!"
"Alright kids, it's fine. I said he could have one. Do you guys want one?"
Henry jumped to his feet and ran to the kitchen after his brother, Evie just raised her eyebrows looking at him suspiciously, it unnerved Tony how much she looked like Natasha in that moment. She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, returning a minute later with a bowl of blueberries;
"You know they're each on their fifth chocolate bar right?"
"What?!" Tony stammered, clambering to his feet, and running to the kitchen. He dragged them both back into the lounge to find Evie had switched the TV channel.
Looking at his watch a short while later, her realised it was past Henry's bedtime, but was faced with a challenge when he looked at the two boys and had forgotten which was which.
At that moment Alexis started crying, getting up from the sofa Tony addressed both boys (just to be safe); "Right Henry, bed time! See you in the morning".
He left and resettled Alexis, she was so easy in comparison to the others. Tony asked her quietly not to grow up as she gripped his finger tightly with her tiny hand.
When Tony got back to the other room both boys were still sat watching the TV. "Henry, what did I say? Bed time!"
Neither boy moved, they just sat there and stared at the TV. "Henry!"
"Do you even know which one is Henry?" Evie asked from the couch, a Russian novel in her hands. She looked more and more like Natasha every day, the only difference was her hair colour.
Tony studied the boys carefully, they both had Clint's messy blond hair and blue eyes. One was slightly taller than the other, but Tony couldn't remember which way round it was...
He made a guess and pointed to the closest one.
"I'm not Henry!"
"Yes you are!"
"No! I'm Elijah!"
"No you're not! I am!"
"No, you're Henry!"
"Liar!"
"You're a liar!"
"No you are!"
"Okay Evie, which one is Henry?" Tony asked, interrupting the boys argument
She looked up from her book, raised her eyebrow and asked; "Whats in it for me?"
"Oh, I dunno... Getting your brothers into trouble?"
"Nah" she stated, going back to her book.
"Urgh, come on Evie, help me out? Please?"
She continued to read...
"Alright $10?"
"Pay up first"
Tony rummaged in his jeans, but all he had was a $20.
"I'll accept a $20"
He passed it over and stood expectantly.
"Henry's on the right"
"Damn it Evelyn! Why'd you tell?"
"$20! Duh!"
"Not fair"
"Henry! Bed!"
"Right okay, goodnight Uncle Tony"
"Goodnight kiddo"
10 minutes later Henry reappeared; "Uncle Tony, I need my Tylenol"
"Oh, right. Yeah, 1 minute buddy..."
"Elijah, its 8.30"
"But Henry went to bed later than he should have"
"And?"
"And that's not fair"
"Elijah"
"Alright... Uncle Tony, can I ask you a question first?"
"What is it Elijah?"
"Can you please tell me what quantum physics is?"
"What? Why would you-"
"I heard Uncle Bruce talking about it"
"Oh, right well... Quantum physics is a branch of science that deals with discrete, indivisible units of energy called quanta as described by the Quantum Theory, there are five main ideas represented in Quantum Theory..."
Over an hour later, after a long discussion with Elijah about basic Quantum physics; Tony had completely lost track of time. It was only when the elevator door opened to reveal Clint and Natasha stood there, wondering why Elijah was still up and Evie was asleep on the couch. They found the ten empty candy wrappers on the kitchen counter, and discovered Henry had snuck into their bedroom to watch TV when he should have been asleep in his own room.
They thanked Tony as he left; finding it oddly funny how three young children could manipulate and fool a genius so easily.
"Hey, one more thing, you owe me $20!"