Clint eyed Tony as he walked out of the room to take a call. Tony had been doing that quite frequently, going out of meetings at times.
Natasha leaned into Clint and whispered. "It's not just you. He's been doing that a lot recently."
"Wonder who he's talking to," said Clint. "He seems to smile a lot while talking."
"New boyfriend?" suggested Nat.
"Or is the old one and that they got back together?" Clint gave a dramatized gasped.
"10 bucks says is a new one," said Nat immediately.
"You're onnnnn."
"Did someone say betting?" said Scott who walked in. "Count me in for double." Giving Nat a piece of 20.
Nat took the money. "On who?"
"Wait - what are we betting on again?"
"We're betting on who's Tony's new boyfriend. You see him over there talking and all smiley? Nat says he has a new boyfriend. I'm betting that he got back together with Steve," said Clint.
"Ahh...I see. Well then, I'll put my 20 bucks on Steve Rogers as well. Who could resist those blue eyes and that ass," said Scott sighing.
"Indeed our Captain does have a great arse," boomed Thor from was immediately shushed.
"You wanna join in on the bet?" asked Scott.
"Off course! I'll bet 25 Midgardian money on my brother Loki, " said Thor, rummaging his pockets for cash. "Now that he has returned and is making amends. I have noticed he is spending a lot of time with fair Tony."
Nat gave Thor an impressed look. "Astute observation, Thor. That would've been my initial guess too. But I'm thinking it's the Doctor."
"Really? Those guys?" said Scott. "But it's Captain America."
"I think it could be Steve," said Bruce who walked in. "I saw him sneaking off in the night. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know they got back together yet." He passed another 20 dollar bill to Nat.
"I don't know about that Bruce. I mean Steve hurt Tony pretty bad the last time. I'm going for the Doc. What about you Sam?" said Rhodey.
Sam shrugged. "It could really go either way. I think Steve is not really over Tony. I mean I've seen the way he looks at Tony. Steve's ma man so I gotta back him up," handing a 50 over to Nat.
"We really shouldn't be betting on our friends' love life," said T'Challa, walking into the room with Peter. Now the whole room was subtly-but-not-subtly observing Tony over the phone. The genius playboy billionaire philanthropist paid them no attention and continued smirking over his call.
"Don't you wanna find out who's Tony dating?" asked Clint.
Peter immediately handed a 10 to Nat. She flatly stared at him. "You're not old enough to bet kid."
"Oh come onnnn. I'm gonna put my bet on Doctor Strange anyway."
T'Challa shook his head. "I would not participate in this bet." The others stared at him. "But I would watch and observe how this plays out," he added with a grin.
Clint was already writing on the whiteboard - Steve, Stephen, Loki, with each of the Avengers' names who placed their bet according to candidate and their betting odds. Steve had the payout of 1:3, Stephen had 1:5 and Loki had 1:8.
Peter quickly signaled the others. "Quick! He's done with his call! He's turning around! Hide the board!"
The team quickly shoved the whiteboard into an empty smaller meeting room next to them and closed the door shut.
They saw Tony walking towards them. "What's everyone doing out here in the hallway?"
Thor immediately edged away from the room. "Nothing. It's just err...we found err...there was errr…"
"Cockroach," finished Scott lamely.
"A cockroach," Tony restated flatly. Eyebrows raised at them.
"Yea, Mr. Stark! It was a big one. Came out of nowhere. Bruce even screamed," said Peter.
"Uhh...Yea I did...scream," said Bruce
"Nat and Clint had to exterminate it," finished Rhodey. Everyone nodded together.
Tony folded his arms. "Really? That roach better be the size of Tremors for the Avengers to freak out. Anyways since everyone is out, and I suppose nobody wants to go back in. Meeting is postponed till tomorrow."
The team collectively sighed in relief as Tony walked off. "That was a close call," said Scott.
"No shit Sherlock," said Clint.
"What are we gonna now? And how will we know who got the bet right?" asked Sam.
"We spy on Tony," said Nat. "We have three possible candidates, we just need to take turns to covertly observe who is Tony Stark's new boyfriend."
"Well, all three of them will be back from that mission by tomorrow morning so we'll begin tomorrow," said Rhodey.
Author's Note: So how did you find this? I've written fics that were more a less in line with canon but now I get to be in denial that Endgame never happened. I wanted to write about the Avengers betting on Tony's lovelife and this is the end result. I'll be updating this every few days. Enjoy!