Bruised (Irondad)

16

They repeat this for three days; breakfast, rink, bed, except on the third day there's more to do.

After training, Pepper and Tony head up to the Avengers floor with the twins. It didn't take as much persuasion as they initially expected, they've been gaining a little confidence around the rest of the team recently, not speaking to them, but they've spoken to each other and occasionally Tony and Pepper whilst in the same room.

It's not perfect, but it's progress.

As is this.

They step out of the elevator as a group, the twins between the adults. As usual, everybody momentarily stops what they're doing, staring at the four in the doorway before pretending they hadn't even noticed they were there. It's a pathetic attempt at bringing normality to the five year olds and they know it.

In her hands, Gianna clutches a stack of envelopes, each one carefully folded and signed by Pepper. 

"You've got mail", Tony announces dramatically, instantly filling the space as he so often does.

Everybody pauses their activities again, this time not making an effort to hide their stares.

Clint raises an eyebrow from his position on the couch, "Already using your kids as postmen, Stark?".

"Careful", the man in question bites back, "The twins are only inviting people they like". Despite his general facade of cool throughout this whole situation,

Gianna rocks a little on her toes, a small frown on her face. It's pretty clear to anyone paying attention that she's uncomfortable. Pepper looks down and gives her a gentle push in the direction of the avengers, "Go on honey".

She takes a few hesitant steps towards Steve and holds out one of the envelopes with a nervous smile. He takes it with a quiet "thank you" and watches as she hands them to the rest of the adults in the room, each one receiving dubious glances.

They all exchange wary looks, a silent agreement not to open the letters until the dysfunctional family leave the room so as not to add to the already awkward atmosphere.

Tony places a hand on both of the twin's shoulders when Gianna has successfully delivered an envelope to everyone in the room, pushing them protectively towards the elevator.

Before the doors have a chance to ding shut and whisk them away, he shouts out a simple "Rsvp!", and then they're gone.

In typical Tony Stark fashion, the impact is made and then he's made his exit.

And that's the story of how the Avengers ended up gathered on a bench at the back of Queens Ice Rink on a Sunday morning.

It's early. Much too early, a fact which Clint isn't allowing anyone to ignore. They're tired and grumpy, but curious.

The room is buzzing with pre-competition nerves and excitement. Some children cry into their parent's chest, protesting against make-up or uncomfortable costumes. Dads braid their daughter's hair and moms tie laces on figure skates. It's a mess of pushy parents and anxious children, bobby pins and hair pieces flying all over the place.

Coaches are gathered around the rink, going through last minute preparations with their team, eyeing up the judges and making judgements on what they think they're looking for. Some have clear favourite kids that they're giving the majority of their attention to, others are just standing with their head in their hands, leaning their body weight against the side of the rink as though contemplating every single one of their life choices so far.

It's a mess, it's confusing and it's frightening.

Nat focuses her attention on the twins.

They're gathered with their team at the bottom of the circle of bleachers, chatting with the other kids and giggling periodically. Once again, they seem like the normal children that she's certain that they aren't. You don't come across many five year olds with Russian as a second language, or that are fully trained in hand-to-hand combat. Natasha is willing to bet that there's more strange things that they don't know about yet, but she's determined to get to the bottom of it.