Toni shuffled into the kitchen after a restful night’s sleep. As she turned the corner, she saw Pamplemousse standing next to the fridge, cup of coffee in one hand and a box of PopTarts in the other.

“Toni!” she exclaimed. “Good morning!”

Antoinette mumbled a good morning in response and reached towards the fridge. She paused for a moment, realizing that something was wrong.

“Pamplemousse?” She started. “Aren’t those…?”

“WHO DARED TO EAT MY DELICIOUS POPTARTS?!”

Pamplemousse seemed to almost shrink. “Uh oh…” she said quietly.

Thor stormed into the kitchen, Mjölnir in hand. “I ask again, mortals! Who dared to eat my delicious PopTarts?!”

Pamplemousse raised her hand slowly and cautiously, dropping the empty box as she did so. “Me?”

Thor looked at the small girl, at the empty box at her feet, and then back again at Pamplemousse. “You ate them, young grapefruit?”

Pamplemousse blushed and looked at him sheepishly. “I’m sorry…?”

Thor laughed a loud, booming laughing. “It is quite alright,” He said between breaths. “It is only your first offense and you did not realize that the PopTarts were mine.”

At that moment, a grumpy looking Brooke stumbled into the kitchen. “Who the bloody fuck is yelling?!” she demanded. “And where the hell is the coffee?!”

“Good morning, Brooke!” Pamplemousse exclaimed. “Isn’t it a beautiful morning?”

Brooke only mumbled and walked zombie-like towards the coffee machine. Not long after, a sleepy Tony walked into the kitchen.

“Why is there so much yelling?” he asked, obviously exasperated.

“Good morning, Other Tony.” Pamplemousse said cheerfully. “I’m very lucky to be alive right now.”

“So I heard,” Tony mumbled. “From across the house.”

“Is that my brother I heard yelling about his despicable toaster pastries?”

Everyone in the kitchen stared at Loki, who was wearing Invader Zim footy pajamas. The only one not staring was Brooke, who was leaning over her steaming cup of coffee. “I swear,” she said from the table. “If anyone mentions PopTarts again, I will stab them.”

“That’s rule number twenty -two,” Pamplemousse interjected with a smile. “Don’t talk to Brooke before she’s had her coffee!”

Brooke held up a thumbs up in approval.

“Loki,” Tony started. “Where on earth did you get those…pjs?”

Loki looked down at the fuzzy footies, then back up at Tony. “I purchased them when the good doctor went to pick up more pants, considering he runs through them so quickly when he turns into the Hulk.”

“Why?” Tony asked in utter confusion.

“They looked quite comfortable,” the god responded. “And they are my favorite color. Green.”

“But seriously? Footy pjs?”

Loki looked at his feet. “I found them…cheerful.”

“Wait a minute!” Pamplemousse shrieked. “Where’s CJ?!”

“Probably still sleeping, small one,” Loki said as he gravitated towards the cabinets. “You must realize that we are not all early risers.”

“Toni, he’s talking funny again.”

“I do not ‘talk funny,’ as you put it. I don’t recall saying anything amusing.”

“Toni, make him stop!”

“I don’t understand why--”

“TONI!”

“I do what I want!”

The whole kitchen fell silent. Pamplemousse just stared at Loki. After a while, she finally spoke. “I like your footy jammies,” she said almost shyly.

Loki sighed and left the kitchen, nearly running into Clint as he did. “Watch where you‘re going, archer. You do not want to cross my path today.”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Frosty Paws.” Loki walked away in a huff, leaving Clint standing alone in the entry. “He’s grumpy. Who pissed in his Cheerios?”

Pamplemousse looked at Clint, almost on the verge of tears. “I didn’t mean to make him grumpy. He was scaring me with all his big words and funny talking.” She looked over at the table. “Did I really piss in his Cheerios?”

“Pamplemousse,” Brooke said. “Don’t say that word. It’s a bad word.”

“I’m sorry! I’ll never say Cheerios again! I promise!”

Brooke sighed. “It’s too early for this,” she mumbled. “I need more coffee.”

----

“Stark, I don’t like when you put on formal events like this,” Bruce said as he adjusted his bowtie. “I feel like a fanciful performing monkey in this getup.”

“Yes, but a sexy fanciful performing monkey, Bruce.” Tony replied. “The chicks will be all over you. Who knows! Maybe someone else will ask you to sign their cleavage.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Tony,” he said. “I’d do you if I could.”

Tony looked at Bruce in shock and amusement. “Really? Then lets!”

“Wait, what?”

Both scientists turned to see Steve standing in the doorway looking confused and red in the face.

“Bruce was just talking about how he’d like to see me naked, so I told him I’d be happy to oblige.”

Steve’s face got even more red. “So…you guys were going to…ya know? Fondue?”

Bruce and Tony looked at Steve with blank expressions. “Um, sure,” Tony finally said. “We were talking about possibly fondue-ing.”

Steve got even more red in the face and walked out looking flustered. “Just try to keep the volume down, Tony. We all know how much you scream when you…fondue.”

Bruce blushed and turned back to the mirror. “God, I look like a monkey,” he mumbled to himself.

“Monkey?!” Pamplemousse shouted from down the hall. Suddenly, she barged into the room looking excited. “Where’s the monkey?!”

“You look very nice, Pamplemousse,” Bruce said with a fatherly tone. “That’s a very nice dress you have on.”

Pamplemousse beamed, “Thank you!”
“Well than. Shall we?” Bruce asked, holding his arm out for Pamplemousse to take.

“Yup, yeah!” Pamplemousse replied while taking Bruce’s arm.

Bruce smiled and led them down the hallway to the ballroom where everyone else was.

Tony stood in the room by himself, wondering why everyone had left him. “Hm.” he said. “Guess I’ll be escorting myself.”

“What about escorts?” Pepper asked as she entered the room.

“They’re overpriced for their mediocre skill set,” he replied quickly. “I wouldn’t recommend them.”

Pepper smiled and went about adjusting his tie. “Toni is still getting ready. She’s going to be…fashionably late.”

Tony smirked, “Like father, like daughter.”

“Only she’s not busy drinking or banging some reporter.”

Tony chuckled. “She may as well be.” He paused and thought it over. “On second thought, no. No she shouldn’t be. You’re right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“Don’t push it, Potts.”

Pepper grinned at Tony as Loki walked into the room looking classy as ever. “The last time I wore this outfit,” Loki began. “I was trying to take over the world and stealing peoples eyes. Ah, the good old days.”

“Yeah, no. Behave yourself, Reindeer Games.”

“I don’t find that term endearing.”

“Well, you should. Now are we going to stand here all day or are we going to party? Come on, it’s Clint’s birthday. He’s probably doing some kind of fancy archery shots at the bar.”

----

“Who are these people?” Pamplemousse asked in astonishment.

“Esteemed guests,” Tony replied.

“Steamed? Like vegetables? I like steamed vegetables! Does that mean I can eat the people? I don’t want to eat the people! That’s mean!” Pamplemousse said on the verge of tears. “It’s on Brooke’s list of things not to do. Its right before ‘don’t lick unfamiliar doorknobs.’”

“Pamplemousse,” Bruce said calmly. “It’s okay. Esteemed is just a fancy word for honored. They’re important guests.”

She sniffled and looked up at the doctor. “Why do people have to use such big words?”

“So they sound smarter,” he replied.

“Well that’s dumb! If people want to sound smarter, why don’t they say what they mean? It’s so much easier!”

The orchestra on the other side of the ballroom started playing a jazzy tune that made it hard for Pamplemousse to sit still in her seat.

“Do you want to go dance?” Bruce asked.

“Can we?” she asked excitedly.

He chuckled and offered her a hand. “Of course.”

Pamplemousse literally jumped out of her seat and grabbed Bruce’s hand, both smiling immensely.

Tony smiled slightly, bringing the glass of scotch to his lips. As he sipped from his glass, Steve sat next to him. “How’s it going, Stark?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. The drinks are good, the doctor is happy, and my daughter is still nowhere in sight.”

Steve looked at Tony with slight concern. “Is that…bad?”

“I have no idea, Cap.”

Clint walked over to the bar and sat on Tony’s other side. “What’s up?”

“Have you seen my daughter?” Tony asked.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. I haven’t seen her since lunchtime.”

Steve and Tony looked at each other with concern. The orchestra changed the tune again to a slower song, and at that moment, Clint noticed Toni walking down the stairs in a lovely medium length yellow dress. He watched her as she walked down the stairs, heels clicking as she went. She met his gaze for a second and blushed as she continued down.

Clint met up with her at the base of the stairs and couldn’t help but to smile. “You look absolutely beautiful,” he said quietly.

She blushed again. “Thank you,” she replied. “Was my dad wondering where I was?”

He nodded. “No big deal, though.” The two of them stood there for a second looking at their feet. “Do…do you want to, ya know? Dance?”

“I’d love to.” And with that, Clint lead her on the dance floor.

“Look,” Steve said as he pointed to the a couple on the dance floor. “There she is. She’s dancing with Clint.”

“Oh, that lying bastard,” Tony mumbled. He gazed out at the dancers and pointed out another couple. “Steve, look. It’s those two guys from the copy room at SHEILD headquarters. They seem to be the only gay couple dancing.”

“That’s too bad,” Steve said quietly. “I kind of feel bad for them.” He looked at Tony and smiled. “Maybe we should join them? Just so they don’t feel so alienated.”

Tony looked at Steve, back at the dance floor, and then back at Steve. “You think we should?”

“Do you think we shouldn’t?”

“Oh, no,” Tony said quickly. “I’d love to dance, Cap. You just…caught me off guard.”

Steve blushed ever so slightly as he took Tony’s hand. “Shall we, then?”

Tony smiled warmly. “Of course.”

Toni looked over to see Steve and her dad join hands and start dancing together. “They’re so cute together,” she mumbled to Clint. “Are they, like, together?”

Clint shrugged. “I don’t really know. They flirt all the damn time, but I’ve never seen them make out or anything.”

“Well isn’t that kind of stuff usually private anyway?”

Clint smiled and held Toni closer to him. After a while, he broke the silence. “So are we, like, together?”

“I don’t know,” she said. She looked up at Clint and added, “Are we?”

Clint only shrugged and took her for another turn around the floor. “If you want to be,” he said. “I mean, we can make it official, if you’d like.”

She chuckled and placed her cheek on his shoulder. “What does that even mean?”

“Ya know,” he started. “If you want to post it on Facebook and all that crap.”

She simply laughed. “I don’t have a Facebook and I don’t plan on getting one.”

“Well we could parade around as boyfriend and girlfriend, if you want.”

She smiled and kissed his cheek. “I’d love to.”

Tony lead the dance with Steve, turning him round and round. “You’re a very good dancer,” he said to his blonde partner.

“Funny,” Steve said. “I don’t even know how to dance.”

“Then you must have a fantastic leading partner.”

“I do,” he said with a smile.

Tony cleared his throat and maneuvered them towards the gay couple from headquarters. “How’s it going, fellas?”

“Oh, Steve! Tony! Fantastic to see you! How long have you guys been together?”

“We’re not,” Steve said shyly. “We just decided to join you guys because you looked a little alone.”

“We don’t mind. We’ve gotten used to it. By the way, Stark, who’s the girl in the yellow dress dancing with Clint? One of your girlfriends, I assume?”

“Actually, she’s my daughter.”

“Get out of town! You have a kid? Congrats!”

Tony chuckled and nodded. “Thanks fellas. Enjoy the rest of the party.”