After the pancake fight, Clint needed to restock his stash of ingredients and Tony just generally needed to restock the kitchen. Apparently, this was a usual thing considering they actually had a “team” that would go to the store. Bruce had elected to drive the grocery team to the store the first time, and eventually became the designated driver. Clint never trusted anyone to handle the pancake ingredients and Tony felt he had to go because after all, he was paying for all this. Steve went as sort of a buffer between everyone and because he generally liked grocery shopping.

But this was Antoinette’s first time with the team. “So how does this usually work?” she asked.

“We break up into partners, usually,” Bruce said. “But sometimes, we divide and conquer.”

“What are we doing today?”

Tony and Steve looked at the group, noting the odd number. “Well, I think divide and conquer would be best.” Tony said. “But since you’re new to this store, you can hang out with me.”

Antoinette smiled and nodded. “Okay. Great.” she followed the group out to the garage. “What are we driving?”

Tony counted the people he was with and sighed. “Shit.” he mumbled. “We’re going to have to take the van.”

Bruce groaned and stalked off. “I hate driving the van.” he muttered under his breath. “Damn thing has terrible power steering.”

Antoinette looked at the rest of the crew. “Am I making a problem by coming? I could always stay behind.”

“Oh, no!” Clint said from the back of the pack. “It’s no trouble. We’d be honored to have you around.”

Steve stared at Clint from the corner of his eye. Honored? he thought. He sighed. “Yeah, of course.” he said aloud. “It’s no trouble.”

A loud roaring sound interrupted the conversation. A large, grey Astro Van crept around the corner, rumbling as it went. As it got closer, Antoinette noticed the line of rust near the bottom and the black-tinted windows. A grumpy Bruce sat in the driver’s seat as the engine clunked and clattered.

“That?” she asked in disbelief. She turned to Tony and gave him an accusing look. “Couldn’t you afford anything better?”

“Of course,” Tony said. “I just chose not to. Nobody expects a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist to drive around a great big piece of crap.”

“Obviously.” Clint mumbled. “At least it’s spacious. Can’t we just take one of your Hummer limos? Those are spacious, too.”

“Take a limo to the grocery store?” Steve asked.

“Not a limo, silly.” Clint responded. “A Hummer limo. There’s a difference.”

“Which one is the Hummer limo?”

“The Captain America themed one.”

“Oh,” Steve said with blush forming. “That one.”

Bruce honked the horn twice and gave an annoyed look as if to say ‘Get in losers! We need to go shopping!’

Tony rolled his eyes and opened the sliding side door. “Ladies first.” he said like a proper gentleman.

Antoinette smiled and climbed in the back. As she sat down, she saw Clint enter after and sit down next to her with a smile. “You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?”

“Yes, I do.” Tony said. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t sit there.”

“Oh, Tony.” Steve said from behind him. “It’s not a big deal. I’m sure Clint will keep his hands to himself.”

“Can’t make any promises.” Clint said with a grin. Antoinette shoved him to the side and tried not to giggle. Tony only sighed and sat in the passenger seat.

“Steve,” Tony said with an irritated tone. “Watch them.”
----

The drive to the store was less than eventful, except the one incident when some obsessed fan girl begged Bruce to Hulk out for her. Thankfully, he refused and signed her cleavage instead. Tony swore he would never let him live it down.

The five of them filed out of the van and marched into the store. Clint seemed to disappear instantly towards the cooking aisle. Steve offered to scour the produce section for good, healthy fruits and veggies. Bruce volunteered to pick up enough bread and milk for a small army.

“Hey, Bruce.” Tony said. “Could you also pick Thor up some more PopTarts? He’s starting to run a little low.

“Will do.” he said.

“Don’t get distracted by breasts, now.” Tony remarked as the good doctor wandered away, shaking his head.

Tony and Antoinette made their way towards the can-goods and ethical foods aisle. The walk
was silent until Tony finally spoke.

“Do you like shawarma? We have shawarma night every other Wednesday.”

Antoinette paused and looked at a packet of taco seasoning. “I’ve never actually had shawarma before. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve even heard that word before today.”

“And Chinese food? Anything you do or don’t like?”

“Oh, I like Chinese.” she said. “Cream cheese wontons are by far my favorite things ever invented. I could live off them.”

Tony nodded. “Okay. Dually noted. We’ll pick up plenty of cream cheese wontons for you.”

The two of them, with plenty of ethnic foods in their basket, wandered over to the junk foods. Tony was chattering about different kinds of licorice, when a voice called from down the aisle.

“Toni?!”

Father and daughter turned, looking nearly exactly the same as they did so. Antoinette’s eyes lit up as she ran to the group of girls standing near the Lay’s potato chips. She laughed and hugged all of them in turn while Tony stood there, flabbergasted.

Antoinette turned to her father, still smiling. He walked to her cautiously, as if these girls were rabid. “Tony?” he asked. “I thought I was Tony. When did you become Tony?”

“I’ve always been Toni.” she said. “That’s why my mother named me Antoinette. It…it was kind of a tribute…to you.”

“Yeah,” one of the girls said. “She’s my Toni.”

“But don’t worry.” Antoinette said. “It’s spelt with an ‘i,’ not a ‘y.’”

Clint, Steve, and Bruce walked down the aisle and stood near Tony. “Who are these people?” Steve asked.

Toni looked at the guys and smiled. “These are my friends.” she gestured to each of the girls. “This is Brooke,” she gestured to a girl with black and red hair and facial piercings. “This is CJ,” she pointed to a girl with medium-length brown hair and Ray Bands. “And this is Pamplemousse.” she gestured to the shortest, and obviously youngest, girl with long brown hair and a Despicable Me shirt.

“PEOPLE!” Pamplemousse shouted with a smile. She ran up to Bruce and hugged him tightly.

Bruce looked over at Tony, who gave him a snide look in return. “Don’t you even dare.”

“Say what?” Tony said smugly. “I don’t need to say anything. She doesn’t have cleavage.”

“What’s cleavage?” Pamplemousse asked into Bruce’s chest. She looked up at him with large, puppy dog eyes. “Is it catchy? I don’t wanna catch cleavage.”

“Pamplemousse,” CJ said. “It’s time to let go of the nice man. I don’t think he appreciates it.”

“Oh.” she said quietly. “Sorry.”

Brooke walked up to Clint, looked him over, and finally spoke. “You’re hot. Dibs.”

“What? No dibs. You can’t call dibs! He’s not up for dibs!” Toni said quickly.

“Why not?”

“I like Dibs! They taste delicious!” Pamplemousse interjected.

The whole group fell silent for a minute or two until Tony finally spoke. “We should think about paying and getting back home.”

“Can we bring them with us?” Toni asked her dad.

Steve shrugged. “I don’t see a problem with it.” he said. “Tony?”

He sighed. “Yeah, sure. I don’t have any issues with it.”

Pamplemousse squealed and hugged Toni with a large smile. “Yay!! Thank you thank you
thank you thank you!!!!” and with that, she ran off towards the check outs with Brooke and CJ close behind.

Tony looked at his daughter. “You really hang out with those kind of people?”

She shook her head. “No.” she said almost somberly. “Just those three. I’m not allowed any other friends.”