Chapter 59-Bad word

By: MysticFantasy

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"D**n it!"

Six Avengers and one Pepper Potts froze when they heard those words come from the young red haired boy.

The group looked over and saw four year old James sitting in the middle of the floor with a broken toy in his hands and a frustrated look on his face.

"Daddy." the boy spoke. "My toy broke."

Steve quickly kneeled in front of his son.

"I'll fix it but...Where did you learn that word?"

"What word?"

"The one you just said."

"You mean d**n?"

"Yes." Steve said with a slight flinch. "That one. Where did you learn it?"

"I hear Uncle Clint and Uncle Tony say it a lot." James answered with a proud smile on his face.

A very angry Natasha Romanoff turned her attention to the two mentioned uncles who both suddenly looked very nervous and frightened.

"James, listen to me." Steve said in a gentle but firm fatherly tone. "You can never say that word again."

"Why?"

"Because it's a very bad word." Steve said. "It hurts people's feelings when you say it."

"It does?" James asked suddenly looking like he regreted ever hearing the phrase he just shouted.

"Yes, it does." Natasha answered as she came to kneel next to her husband. "Sweetheart, promise me and daddy that you will never say that word again."

"I promise." James vowed in a tiny voice.

"And as for you two!" Natasha stood and turned in time to see the inventor and archer trying to sneak out of the room.

"Kids say the darndest things." Tony said with a light but nervous chuckle.

"Steve, can you take James to his room and further explain why he can't use words like that?" Natasha asked.

"Come on, buddy." Steve said as he gathered his son. "We all know what happens when mommy gets mad."

"Bad things." James exclaimed.

"Oh yeah."

As soon as the two Rogers men were out of hearing distance, Natasha let her wrath out on Tony and Clint.

"How did he hear you say that?!"

"You know us." Clint said. "We don't think. He must have heard us say it when we were mad about something. We probably didn't see him around because he's sneaky like you."

"Look, I think it goes without saying that everyone could try to break that bad habit." Pepper said.

"Yeah." Tony stated. "It's not just us that James could learn such foul language from. Let's face it, Red, you have a pretty big vocabulary yourself."

"A lot of it is in a language that James has yet to be taught and therefore doesn't understand."

"So...we can swear in other languages?" Clint asked.

"No!"

"Well, it's not going to be easy for us to break out of something like this." Clint pointed out. "Besides, what is there to help us actually stop?"

"How about the old fashioned swear jar?" Pepper suggested.

"What is this swearing jar?" Thor asked curiously.

"Swear jar." Bruce corrected. "Everytime one of us says a swear word then that person will put money insides a jar. The idea is to break the bad habit before you run out of money."

"I see." Thor said with a look of understanding. "Then, this should be a difficult challenge for Stark and Barton."

"Excuse me?!" Tony exclaimed. "Just what do you mean by that?!"

"Well, you are not very controlling of your language." Thor explained. "Especially when you have had a few drinks."

"I am very controlling."

"Prove it." Natasha said. "Agree to the swear jar while being on a budget."

"Budget?" Tony repeated like he didn't understand the word.

"Stark. I mean it. If I hear my son pick up anymore words from you..."

"I'll do it." Tony declared. "Frankly, I don't want to hear the end of that threat."

"Good. I'll get Jarvis to find me several five gallon jugs."

"Oh very funny."

Over the next month, the swear jar was doing its job well.

James had right away stopped saying the bad word he learned from his uncles and his parent's were extremly relieved and proud. This made James happy knowing that his parents are happy.

Tony and Clint on the other hand...

Between the two of them, they nearly filled one of the four five gallon jugs while the others together only got half of a second jar filled.

Although they didn't completely break their habit, they learned to control their language around James and only did it when they were sure that he wasn't around. Tony even had Jarvis alert them any time James was near so they could bite their tongues.

For Tony and Clint, their tongues, and wallets, were very sore.