Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly…
Placing:After Hogwarts and the first Avenger movie.
Accompanying piece to "Confession Time", sequel to "Family Oddness" and "Birthday Presents"
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sSsSsSsSs
THE FAMILY DEAL
BROTHER, BROTHER
sSs
"Sir," JARIVS spoke up while Tony Stark was tinkering with his Iron Man armour.
Tony looked up from the armour's left leg he was currently working on.
"What's up, J?" He asked while wondering why the A.I. had decided to interrupt him when he had explicitly said that he didn't wanted to be interrupted for the next five hours.
"Your brother wishes to speak with you, Sir," JARVIS replied.
"Hmm," Tony said a bit distractedly. "What does Myc want this time around?"
Mycroft Holmes, oldest of Tony's half-brothers, could be quite bothersome when it came to unreasonable wishes – at least that was what Tony thought. The last time he had called him, he had wished for Tony to eradicate their baby sister's school – just to pull back from his request shortly before Tony had been done with choosing the weapon he wanted to use to do it!
Yes, sometimes, Mycroft was quite unreasonable with his requests…
"It's not your brother Mycroft who's wishing to speak with you, Sir," JARVIS corrected Tony in that moment. "It's your brother Sherlock."
That got Tony's attention.
It wasn't often that Sherlock called – and he never did it without a very dire reason…
So there was just one reaction to a call like that for Tony – even if he had wished for some time alone since the day before yesterday.
"Patch him through, J," Tony said.
"Immediately, Sir," the A.I. said before one of the lights in the ceiling flashed to indicate that he was now on line with Sherlock. Obviously, Sherlock was calling from a phone that couldn't transmit video signal as well.
Tony mentally noted to ensure that the phone Sherlock currently used would be exchanged with a StarkPhone as soon as possible, before he spoke up with somewhat false cheer in his voice. He always feared Sherlock's calls, because they normally meant that his baby brother was lying somewhere half-dead or stone out of his mind and Mycroft was preoccupied with something else, currently.
Never a pleasant situation if you were a whole ocean away and unable to do anything to actually help the pleading brother on the other side of the line…
So Tony had always added a false cheer into his voice to calm down the one brother he dreaded to hear from.
"Sherley!" He greeted Sherlock quite enthusiastically. "What can I do for my second favourite half-brother?"
The answer he got was somehow soothing.
"Anthony!" Tony could hear his mother reprimanding him from Sherlock's side of the line. Obviously, his brother was safely at home with their mother. Tony mentally exchanged his note about changing Sherlock's phone towards changing his mother's house phone. He didn't know what kind of phone his parents currently used, but it. HAD. TO. GO!
While thinking those thoughts, Tony's mouth answered the reprimand of his birth-mother automatically.
"Sorry, Mummy," he said not at all sounding sorry. "No favourites, I know, I know!"
Someone on Sherlock's side snorted in amusement at that exclamation.
Obviously, Sherlock wasn't just with their mother – the only parent Tony and his brothers shared, considering that Tony's father was Howard Stark and his brothers' father was Siger Holmes – and no, Tony definitely wasn't the product of an affair between his mother and Howard. Instead, Tony's mother had done Tony's parents a favour when she acquiesced to be a surrogate mother for her sister's child after Howard and Maria Stark had found out that Maria was barren.
Of course, considering that Tony's birth-mother had been Tony's adopted mother's sibling, the two sisters had decided that he would grow up knowing how he was conceived and also knowing that he had some siblings.
Sometimes, Tony wished that his parents had never told him the truth…
"So what can I do for one of my equally beloved brothers?" He corrected himself at his mother's reprimand while continuing to tinker with the armour leg he had been working on before.
"Hermione came home," Sherlock explained.
Tony blinked, then crawled underneath the table his armour leg was lying on to correct something on the backside of the knee of his armour.
"Ah!" he replied, understanding instantly why Sherlock called. There was just one reason why Sherlock would bother to call after their baby sister came home. "Which one do we have to take out?"
Someone huffed in the background.
Tony recognised that voice instantly.
"That was Myc?" Tony asked and part of the mechanics of the knee hit the floor after he had removed them from their previous place in the armour.
"It was, darling," his mother told him with warmth in her voice.
Tony couldn't remember when the last time had been, Mycroft had huffed like that…
The meeting with Hermione's boyfriend must have been an absolute catastrophe to gain that kind of reaction from Mycroft.
"Huh," Tony said and another part of the armour hit the floor. "That bad? If you need the cavalry you'll have to wait a bit. I'm currently taking apart my Ironman suit."
"Actually," his mother's new husband, the man Tony had started to call 'Daddy' the first time he actually met him, up from the background. "We weren't yet ready to eradicate the boy. Hermione still hangs on him a bit."
Sherlock huffed, obviously not in agreement with that statement.
Tony wasn't surprised.
When Mycroft was willing to voice his displeasure, than the boy must have been extraordinary terrible…
And obviously, when his siblings called after meeting the boy, there was something they wanted from Tony.
"So what can I do?" Tony asked while contemplating if he should stop with taking apart the armour and instead should start with putting it back together.
Sherlock huffed again.
"Mycroft promised not to send Daddy's sons after Ronald," he said with an eye-roll that even translated through the phone-line.
Someone snorted amused, but Tony didn't even bother to ask who else was in the room with Sherlock and instead concentrated on the necessary things.
"Whom do I send?" He wanted to know.
For a moment, there was silence on the other side of the phone, than a foreign voice could be heard asking: "Why are you all looking at me?"
This time, Tony actually asked the question he had in mind since he had heard the voice through the phone the first time.
"Who are you?" He wanted to know.
"Er… John Watson," the voice answered a bit embarrassed. "I guess we're something akin to step-brothers?"
Tony blinked surprised at his armour – then he recalled that Daddy had had other children before he married Tony's mother as well…
"Ah!" Tony said. "You're one of Daddy's children."
"Er… yes," John said.
Well – there was just one reason why his other brothers had been looking at John after calling Tony…
Tony, after all, knew how his siblings' brains worked.
"And the ones I have to contact are Daddy's children as well," he concluded. "So tell me, whom do I contact?"
For a second or two, there was perplexed silence on the other side of the phone, then John got over it and answered the question.
"Either William Brandt of IMF – tell him to bring his twin," he explained. "Or Clinton Barton of SHIELD – the same message."
"Well, that should be easy," Tony thought and was mentally already formulating his request to JARVIS to track down either of the names – when it actually hit him what John had just told him, leaving him dazed and a bit horrified.
"Wait, stop!" Tony exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm birdbrain's brother? Why wasn't I warned about that?"
Of course, the only answer he got from John was: "Huh? You know Clint?"
That didn't do at all!
"Of course I know birdbrain! Haven't you watch the news?!" Tony exclaimed agitated, thinking about the archer he had worked with just a few weeks ago while keeping the world save from an alien invasion. "You know, the whole 'aliens in New York debacle' that was all over the news for the last three weeks?"
For a moment, there was silence on the other side of the phone line; then John answered.
"We heard about the aliens," John said. "And we heard about you being involved – but there was no word that Clint was involved as well."
Tony frowned confused, but then, JARVIS showed him some muted clips of the news, some records of SHIELD's and some newspaper articles and Tony remembered.
"Ah, yeah. Forgot that SHIELD pushed the names of their agents and every video material of them under the rug…," Tony said before continuing with more important things. "Anyway… since birdbrain's only mopping around the tower it might be a good idea to send him over. Especially if he's with his twi… wait! Birdbrain has a twin?!"
Tony guessed that tinkering and phoning with his brother didn't do him any good. The armour in front of him had distracted him far too much if he missed until now that birdbrain was a twin!
"Er… yes," was the answer, which brought Tony to an interesting fact. If he didn't know about Clint's twin… did Fury know?
"Hey! Does the pirate know?" He asked, suddenly excited about all the possibilities that came with the pirate not knowing anything…
For a moment, there was silence on the other side of the line. Then Mycroft decided to answer that question of Tony…
"I made sure that there are absolutely no connections between any of us," he said. "I may have not met the twins, but I have protected them since Mummy remarried."
"Fabulous!" Tony said. "I always wanted to prank the pirate!"
Plans whirled through his head, distracting him from the original call – at least until Mummy spoke up again.
"Not now, darling," she said and Tony sighed, a bit put out.
"Of course not, Mummy," he acquiesced. "Don't worry. I'll pack the twins and we'll be in Britain within the next three days."
"Splendid!" Sherlock exclaimed and ended the call immediately.
Tony snorted amused.
Typically Sherlock!
He shook his head and then looked up at the ceiling.
"J," he said.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Call Clint down here," Tony said. "I'll have to tell him the news…"
"Of course, Sir," the A.I. replied.
It was then, that the true news of the day finally hit Tony, leaving him standing stunned in the middle of his work room…
He had finished his conversation with his brother Sherlock and now - quite suddenly in his opinion - he felt overwhelmed. It wasn't the fact that Hermione's boyfriend had acquired his brothers' wrath - that was something he had long since waited for - no, it was the fact that he had another brother... lived with another brother!... that left him stumped and overwhelmed.
Since the invasion of New York a few weeks ago, Tony had slowly started to learn how to share part of his living space with other people.
At the beginning, nothing of that kind had been planned. They all had eaten shawarma and then gone their own ways - just meeting again for a short time to ensure that Loki truly left earth with his brother. After that, Captain America had left on his motorcycle, the assassins had left together as well and Tony had taken Bruce home to his tower.
Sharing the tower solely with Bruce had been relaxing. The man was a genius as well and Tony loved to discuss science with him.
And then Natasha Romanoff had knocked on Tony's door, her face grim and a pale and nearly lifeless archer in tow.
"Stark," she said the moment she saw him. "You need to take in Barton. If he stays at SHIELD, they will kill him, in the end."
Barton next to her snorted, but his gaze was unfocused and his face drawn, with skin as pale as a ghost's.
"They wouldn't kill me," he slurred. "I survived worse."
Romanoff shot her partner a disbelieving look and then basically threw him at Tony.
"Look after him, Stark," she told him. "And ensure that SHIELD doesn't get their hands on him again."
With that she left, leaving Tony standing with a new tenant in his arms.
"Y'don't have t' look after me, Stark," Barton had slurred while leaning on him. "I'll jus' go home."
Somehow, it had been those words that had shaken Tony out of his surprise.
The moment, Barton had uttered those words, Tony had immediately felt like refusing Barton's request – something that he normally only did when it came to Sherlock, Sherrinford or Hermione when they were unreasonable. When it were others, even Pepper or Rhodney, Tony actually never bothered to change their minds when they had it made up.
But Barton?
There was something different with him…
Back then, Tony had guessed that it was the stubborn look on Barton's face – a look that reminded him far too much of Hermione's to feel comfortable with it – that decided Barton's fate.
Tony simply hadn't been able to stand by when the man leaning on him looked at him with the same stubborn and lost look Hermione had had ever since she was small when she wanted something but didn't dare to ask for it.
So in the end, Tony had listened to Romanoff and taken in Clint - even if said man hadn't been happy at all and had been brooding ever since.
Of course, it hadn't ended with that.
No, just two days later, Captain America stood in front of his door, his face dark with fury - an expression, Tony would have never guessed to find on the Captain's face.
"I'm staying here," the man declared icily the moment Tony opened the door.
Tony raised an eyebrow at the other man.
"Any reason why you want to stay with somebody you can't stand?" Tony asked frowning.
Steve Rogers just glared at him.
"Worshipping the ground I walk on while damning a man who was basically enslaved by Loki," Steve Rogers grounded out. "If I stay there another minute, I will forget myself and kill somebody!"
Tony blinked and quietly wondered what was actually going on in SHIELD that first Romanoff had to save her partner and then Captain America himself stormed out on them.
For a moment, Tony stared at the man in front of him, then Captain America huffed.
"Will you let me in, Stark?" He asked and Tony stepped aside without a second thought.
Two days later, the Black Widow also came to stay – and with her, he couldn't even say when she moved it. She simply was there on morning and didn't leave again…
That had been three weeks ago and since then, Fury had been after Tony's ass to return his assets - especially his marksman who hadn't left the tower since he was brought there by the Widow - to him immediately.
Until now, Tony had ignored the other man with the understanding that there would be soon a day when he would give in and force Barton to return to SHIELD.
And until a few minutes ago, Tony wouldn't have felt bad about the fact or guilty in any way or form...
It was then, that Tony was pulled out of his musings by his A.I..
"Sir," JARVIS spoke up in that second. "Director Fury is calling you."
Tony blinked and looked up from the piece of armour he had been looking at while deep in thought since his sudden realization about Clint a few minutes ago.
"Tell him I'm occupied," Tony said.
For a moment, there was silence, then JARVIS spoke up again.
"Sir," the A.I. said. "He insists on speaking with you."
Tony frowned.
Normally, he would just ignore the other man further - but this time, he couldn't risk it if it meant that Fury would come by the tower to see Tony - a tower which was used by Clint for hiding.
It was odd how priorities changed, Tony mused. Maybe just a few minutes ago he wouldn't have cared about Clint at all and challenged Fury further just because he could - yet now, Tony would prefer to kill himself to hurting Clint Barton further...
"Well," Tony mused. "Maybe I would have fought for Barton even if I hadn't known… he has Hermione's puppy dog eyes after all – even if his are blue and not brown…"
Tony decided to refuse to think about it further. He didn't even want to know how much he had been wrapped around Clint's little finger without knowing even before he had found out that the other man was his brother.
Maybe it was better that Barton had turned out his brother – Tony hated showing anybody his soft side who wasn't family…
Anyway, it wasn't time to think about maybes right now. There was a call to disregard or to answer – and Tony simply couldn't disregard the call if it meant that his brother might end up in the cross fire…
"Alright, J," Tony said unhappily. "I'll take the call."
A few seconds later, Fury spoke up from the other side of the line.
"Finally starting to see some reason, Stark?" He growled. "So you're willing to return my asset to me?"
Oddly enough, hearing Clint called Fury's anything send seething hot rage through Tony's body – and it was Clint's name he heard, even if Fury had never mentioned it.
"Clint," Tony pressed out, using his brother's first name for the first time – not even thinking about it while doing so. "Isn't your anything, Fury. He'll stay here as long as he wants and you, Director, will cease to bother either him or me or anybody else about his return if you ever want it to happen - do you understand me, Fury?"
For a second, there was silence on the other side of the line.
Then Fury cursed.
Obviously, that wasn't the response Fury had expected – but then, Fury had only ever met Tony, the billionaire and philanthropist and never Ant, family member of one of the most unusual families in the world and big brother.
"What the fuck, Stark?" He growled. "Have you played with some chemicals that addled your brain or what happened to you?!"
Tony bared his teeth at nobody.
Fury might not know it – but currently he was tethering a line he didn't even knew existed. Tony Stark might be well known and well feared for his weapons and mind in the world, but Ant Stark, née Holmes, was the true danger to anybody threatening his family…
So, there was a reason, while Tony reacted a lot more aggressive than his official persona ever would.
"Nothing happened to me, Fury," he growled back. "I've just enough of your constant meddling. Barton is under my protection - and if you don't cease to bother me, I will ensure that he will be forever out of your reach!"
Fury scoffed.
"Barton is my asset and -"
"Which will change immediately," Tony replied harshly. "You will hear from my legal apartment in that regard."
"I'm quite sure that Barton will also have a say in that, Stark," Fury replied icily.
Tony just scoffed.
If Fury thought that he could stop Tony from getting what he wanted – then he was mistaken. Tony would never sit by and watch somebody else rule over the life of one of his siblings.
Tony bared his teeth at the armour when he replied.
"Doesn't matter, Fury," he said. "You have even less to say about that."
The answer was a sigh.
"Barton is my asset, Stark," Fury said coolly. "Don't force me to use my legal apartment to get him back."
Tony frowned.
"Are you threatening me?" He asked the other man with narrowed eyes.
"And what if I am, Stark?" Fury replied icily.
"You'll regret it," Tony answered matter of factly.
The answer was a humourless barking laugh from Fury.
"Barton is my asset, Stark," he said, sounding oddly amused. "And you have no say in his placement at all! The only one who might have a say is Barton – and he will come back voluntary the moment he hears that I wish him to return. And there's nothing you can do about it, Stark!"
Tony growled.
He might have thought about stepping aside in the past after that declaration – but that was before he had found out that he was related to Barton.
Now, Tony would never let the other man go back to an agency he was treated like he had been at SHIELD.
Fortunately, Tony had another ace up his sleeve – one that Fury would think twice to cross…
"It doesn't matter," Tony countered. "I'm quite sure that Mycroft will ensure that you won't get Clint back the moment he hears how Clint's been treated by your staff."
For a moment, there was silence on the other side of the line.
Then Fury spoke up slowly and clearly.
"Mycroft?" he repeated that name with caution and a bit of dread in his voice.
Tony grinned maliciously at the ceiling.
Obviously, Fury hadn't expected that name to crop up in any conversation with Tony…
"I'm quite sure we're talking about the same Holmes, Fury," he said, feeling vicious pleasure by making feel Fury uncomfortable. "So think twice about threatening me. I might be inclined to pack my stuff, Clint and the rest of the Avengers and bring them to Britain and out of your clutches if you don't cease to hunt for Clint."
Silence – then Fury scoffed.
"You have no say in the life of my asset, Stark," he replied sharply. "And I doubt that Holmes would endanger our working relationship just because a Stark is pissed at me! We've worked together for decades now - that's nothing Holmes would endanger just like that!"
Tony laughed, harshly and coldly.
"Mycroft might be one of the biggest assholes in the whole universe," he said harshly. "But unlike you - I'm one of those he will believe without a second thought. So you have the choice: you give Barton to me, or I'll ensure that Mycroft comes and gets him."
And Tony would.
He never made any empty promises when it came to family.
"This is no joking matter, Stark!" Fury growled. "I actually don't want to know how you found out about Holmes - but I ensure you that you won't have an easy time to contact him or get him on your side, Stark!"
For a moment, Tony stared at the ceiling, fighting his mirth tempered by his anger at the blindness of the man on the other side of the line then his eyes narrowed at the implied threat of the other man.
"You will hear from my legal department, Fury - and I dare you not to accept their offer," with that he turned his attention towards JARVIS. "Hang up, J."
"As you wish, Sir," JARVIS said.
"Stark! Don't you fucking dare to -"
The line cut off and Tony turned back to his armour - just to meet a stunned archer's eyes. The man was standing in the doorway, staring at Tony as if he had grown a second head.
Tony returned the archer's stunned look evenly, not even thinking about trying to cover up his actions in any way or form.
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Just a little idea I had. Accompanying piece to "Confession Time."
Hope you liked it
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