"What's that?" Thor asked. Pepper quickly pulled her shawl tightly over her shoulder.
"Nothing." Pepper replied quickly.
"I suspect 'nothing' is your tattoo." Tony smirked. The team snapped their heads to Pepper, shocked.
"What is a tattoo?" Thor asked.
"It's a permanent mark or design that you have imprinted into your skin." Bruce explained.
"Permanent?" Thor asked.
"Yeah, you can't get rid of them, so if you get one you better like it." Steve informed.
"Do all Midguardians have one?" Thor inquired.
"Not all of them, but I bet Pep isn't the only one on the team with one." Tony replied.
"Wait, what's Pepper's tattoo of?" Clint asked.
"It's a rose with lace." Natasha answered.
"How do you know that?!" Pepper asked, alarmed.
"I was undercover with you." Natasha replied simply. The team took it to mean Natasha knew nearly everything about Pepper.
"What does it symbolize?" Bruce asked, knowing Pepper wouldn't get a tattoo for no reason.
"When I was in high school I loved flowers and lace and girly things. I got it after graduation, to symbolize the time before I had to become an adult. It reminds me of a time before suits and contracts and Stark Industries." Pepper explained.
"Who else has one?" Thor asked.
"Not Steve." Tony said quickly.
"Actually, I do." Steve informed.
"Let us see." Natasha commanded. Steve raised an eyebrow, but complied. He pulled off his shirt and turned around. On his back, between his shoulder blades in beautiful script, were the words 'Peggy Carter, the Right Partner' followed by her year of birth and death.
"It's beautiful." Pepper said quietly. Steve put his shirt back on and sat down.
"Who's next?" Steve asked, breaking the silence. "Bruce?"
"I never got one. I always figured it'd stretch and get weird when I Hulked out." Bruce explained.
"What about our resident assassins? I'm sure you two have tattoos." Tony proposed.
"I have one." Clint responded, standing. Natasha glared at him, but he showed them anyway. On his hip there was a small black circle, or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection, the team saw the red hourglass in the center of the black circle. Underneath the circle, in plain black, was written, Мой паук.
"What does it mean?" Pepper asked. Natasha was glaring daggers at him.
"It means 'My Spider' in Russian and the symbol above it is the same as the mark on the back of the Black Widow." Clint informed her.
"Did you know about this?" Steve asked. Natasha nodded slowly.
"I have one, too." She told them as she pulled up her shirt. On the side of her ribcage was a bird, a hawk. It was captioned with the words Мой ястреб. "It says, My Hawk."
"Why do you two have matching tattoos?" Thor asked.
"We have matching tattoos because we can't wear rings." Clint replied.
"Rings? As in, you're married?" Bruce queried.
"For about four years now. If other intelligence agencies found out, they would use one of us to get to the other. That's why we haven't told many people. Only Fury and Coulson know, Hill suspects it, and now you guys." Natasha responded.
"Why aren't they in the same place?" Pepper asked.
"Yeah, why is Romanov's higher?" Tony wanted to know.
"Because Clint is taller." Natasha replied. Seeing the team's confusion, Clint pulled Natasha close and they saw it. The tattoos lined up with each other. This explained why they always sat the same way, with Natasha on Clint's right side. It was because the most permanent part of them, more permanent than their tattoos, was each other.