It was Friday and the Avengers were playing Truth or Dare, Tony had suggested it to 'build team bonding' but soon everyone realized it was really an excuse for him to embarrass the rest of the group using the worst questions or dares he could think up. Until now no one had been able to strike back at Tony. Until now.
"You're daring me to let you do WHAT?" He asked Steve.
"I dare you to let me wear one of your Iron Man suits for a while and fly around with it." Steve repeated. Tony looked like he might have a heart attack.
"Those suits..." he said," those suits are like children to me. I can't just lend them out to others."
"It's a fair dare," argued Steve. "And, I'll let you wear my spangly suit if you want."
"Fine!" Tony snapped. "But only for ten minutes."
A bit later the team was gathered on the roof of Avengers tower watching Tony give Steve last minutes instructions. "This button for thrusters and this one for-."
"I got it," Steve interrupted, powering up and shooting up into the sky.
"NOT A SCRATCH, RODGERS!" Tony shouted after him.
Everyone, minus Tony who kept pacing around and looking at his watch, watched Steve zooming around, getting the hang of the flying suit.
"It's been ten minutes," Said Tony tensely, speaking directly into the helmet Steve wore, with the aid of JARVIS.
"That was great!" Exclaimed Steve when he landed on the roof again. "See, not a scratch."
"Alright, Major America," quipped Tony, intentionally butchering Steve's hero name, "let's get on with the game."
Once they were all seated again Tony asked Clint, "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth."
Tony looked thrilled. "What exactly," he paused, presumably for dramatic effect,"happened in Budapest?"
Silence fell.
Both Clint and Natasha turned red and Clint muttered something about not being able to disclose mission details for "international security reasons." "Only the top people are allowed to know about Budapest," he added.
"What, you're saying, my clearance isn't high enough, Legolas?" asked Tony.
"You don't even work for S.H.I.E.L.D, of course it's not!"
"I sort of do, I'm one of the chief scientific consultants and, judging the salary they pay me, my clearance must be pretty high."
"What level is yours then?"
"I can't say." Tony used the classic cop-out, "It's classified-."
"He's really not going to answer the question, Stark," Natasha broke in. "Give him a dare instead. And my clearance is at least three levels above yours, civilian," she added.
Tony ignored the last part. "Alright. Clint, I dare you to called Fury and tell him you need a week off because you're getting married to Widow. And you can't tell him it's a joke until Monday.
Clint dialed. He haven't protested; the other option was talking about Budapest. He'd hoped Director Fury wouldn't be there but he picked up on the first ring.
"Hi...I'm calling to tell you I won't be in this week because Agent Romanoff and I are getting married.
"Why?" Asked Fury's voice at the other end of the line, in a state of utter confusion.
"Because, er, we love each other," responded Clint, while ignoring all the others as they tried not to laugh. "And we're going on our honeymoon to, um-."
"Budapest," stage-whispered Tony.
"Russia, to see the buildings with the pointed tops...No, it will not affect out performance at S.H.I.E.L.D...I understand." He hung up. "Happy?" He snapped.
Applause issued forth from the rest of the Avengers.
"The buildings with the pointed tops?" Demanded Natasha, "They're called onion domes, and," she continued, "we're both wanted under several different identities there."
"Where would you rather me have said?" Said Clint, who thought it had been pretty good for a place come up with on the fly.
"New Jersey?" Suggested Steve, earning a laugh from Natasha. This exchange was lost on the rest of the Avengers.
"I pick Steve," said Clint, glad to be off the hook at last.
"Truth," he was one of those people who always picked truth.
"Tell us the worst, most unethical thing you've ever done."
"Well," answered Steve, with the air of a person confessing first degree murder, "One time I egged this bully's car with my friend Bucky. Actually I didn't do the egging, I was only the look out. Bucky only got to throw a couple eggs because another car drove down the street and I panicked so we ran away."
"That's the worst thing you've ever down?" Asked an unimpressed Tony.
"Well, yeah."
There was a moment of silence as the other Avengers about all the other shady things they had done. For missions and to protect justice but still.
"Never even for an assignment?" Clint pressed.
"He did steal a car," Natasha informed the group.
"Borrowed it. I reimbursed the owner eventually. Anyway, Thor, Truth or Dare?
"I choose the Truth!"
"If Loki was at your mercy would you kill him?"
"He deserved it after what he did to my tower, the little punk," "interjected Tony who still harbored deep seated resentment for the Trickster mostly stemming from the damages done to his tower.
"I would not," said Thor plainly. "In defense of others maybe but if he were here now helpless before me? I could not kill him in cold blood."
"Good question, Steve, your turn, Thor." Said Tony finally.
"Friend Bruce, do you choose the Truth or the Dare?"
"Truth."
"When was the last time you weren't angry?"
"Oh," Bruce answered instantly, "Right after we nabbed your crazy brother."
"Actually he's adopted," said Thor.
"I felt was feeling too great about that to be angry." He continued, "Especially because I'd gotten to smash him into the ground repeatedly. I don't retain all the Other Guy's memories but that one, I'll never forget. It was awesome."
Turning to Natasha. Bruce said, "alright, Truth or-."
"Dare." She felt pretty sure Bruce wouldn't make her do anything too crazy, he wasn't really that kind of guy.
"Kiss Clint. Passionately."
Or maybe he was.
"C'mon, seriously? We're not twelve, I could throw things at him and see how many times I can hit him instead."
"Nope. A dare's a dare."
"Did you put him up to this?" She half questions, half accuses Tony.
"Actually, my brilliant mind is not behind this. But it is a fantastic dare and I'm thrilled to watch it." All the others looked as if they couldn't either, except Steve, who looked uncomfortable. "She's shouldn't have to," he said, probably trying to help.
"Ah, but she agreed to any dare she was given when the game began," said Bruce with the air of one who has their opponent completely over a barrel.
" And she really does want to, she just doesn't know how to express her feelings." put in Tony.
Natasha considers throwing knives at both of them, not lethally, just to make them shut up.
"Whatever," she snaps, turning to Clint, "let's get this over with." She's actually nervous. Ridiculous. She's had to kiss people before, like Steve in that mall, but that time there hadn't been such an avid audience.
"Wait!" says Bruce, "Go stand in the middle of the circle so everyone can see you." The Avengers were sitting in a rough circle.
They do so and then commence with the dare. It's horribly awkward at first, they both tilt their head the same way, resulting in their noses colliding but they eventually fit their mouths together, reluctantly. Clint fulfills Bruce's command for passion by dipping Nat back into of of those dramatic poses you see in old movies, The entire spectacle only lasts a few seconds; they pull away. She swipes her hand with he mouth but it's more of a perfunctory gesture than anything. They return to their seats neither face revealing anything. Tony looks to be nearly falling off his chair with elation.
The game continued from there, the highlights such as: Tony being dared to wear a cheesy Captain America costume around Times Square, which he did with much reluctance the following day, and Steve finally choosing Dare and regretting it when he had to sing 'I Am Sixteen Going On Seventeen."
It closed with an epic Thor vs. Clint Mario Cart battle with a clear victory to the Thunder God.
"I could have won it," he told Natasha afterwards. The rest of the Avengers had gone to bed, except Tony who was probably going over ever inch of the Iron Man suit to make sure that Steve had indeed, not scratched it. "Only he had an unfair advantage because we were playing the Rainbow Road and that's an Asgardian thing."
"You shouldn't have let him pick that course then," she answers, not buying it. Changing the topic she says, "This game was pretty awesome, you have to admit."
"Yeah, I got so much potential black mail material and I guess it really did build team bonding; I know lots of personal stuff about the rest of the team now." Not to mention kissing you was fun, he thinks.
"Guess I'll go to bed now," Natasha pushes herself off the couch and walks out of the room. Pausing in the door way, "By the way, you're an atrocious kisser, Barton."
Clint can't tell if she's serious; he hopes not. "You too, Romanov, he returns."
So ended the first- but most definitely not the last game of Avengers Truth or Dare.