AU Avengers/Common Law: In which Detective Wesley Mitchell was Agent Todd Wesley of S.H.I.E.L.D.; he was the mastermind behind the design and development of the ship that S.H.I.E.L.D. called home during the siege Loki started. He was the genius that designed the lab that Dr. Banner and Tony Stark used as a workspace to find the Tesseract. S.H.I.E.L.D. noted that Agent Wesley had a genius that rivaled even that of Dr. Banner and Tony stark. But Agent Wesley resigned when he found out that his husband, Travis Marks, had almost been on the wrong end of Agent Barton's bow. Tired of lying to his husband, he decided to truly take on the life of his alias — Wesley Mitchell — and became a Detective. But now S.H.I.E.L.D. would like their designer back and he is being called in.


The coffee shop was tiny that was what Wes liked about it; he didn't have to worry about there being too many distractions to honestly enjoy himself. The scent of coffee was heavy in the air and as most small places like this there was a warmth that lent itself to a 'homey' atmosphere. Of course, it would have been better if everything was properly sterilized, but that was why he never drank out of any of the dishes here. If he was going to have anything it would be out of a paper cup; hence why he could currently enjoy his latte. It was the same latte he had every morning down to the extra shot of espresso. Hell, this was the latte that Travis liked to mock because apparently having a latte made him extra gay because being married to a man was apparently not gay enough.

How you convinced Alex to marry you? She should have known the first time she heard you order that drink.

Travis always said that; Wes smiled at the memory when he sipped at his latte and straightened his paper to focus on the article at the top of the page. All the stories were mildly stimulating, but now he was reading the article about their last case. Of course, the journalist had to throw in the useless bit of information that Detective Mitchell and Detective Marks were handsome men. What did being handsome have to do with catching a murderer? At least the picture of them was nice, standing so close together and smiling.

It was hard to see that they had to go to couples counseling to get through 'their problems.' Wes sighed as he reached over to take hold of his cup only to find that it was gone, folding the newspaper again to find himself face to face with none other than Natasha Romanoff. She was as beautiful as he remembered because despite his marital status Wesley was not as gay as his husband would like to think. Legs shifting beneath the table he crossed them again and just placed the paper down on the table top as Natasha pushed his drink back toward him.

"Agent Wesley, we need you to come in."

"They would send you, Natasha. The answer is no."

"Don't make me persuade you," she said with a coy little smile on her lips trying her hardest to look innocent; it didn't work.

"You couldn't even if you tried," Wes said plainly as he brought his latte to his lips and sipped at it gently.

"This life can't be what you wanted."

"I didn't want to lie to him anymore."

Natasha shook her head at him, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest that coy expression from a moment ago had turned into one of general annoyance. Oh, he knew that look she had given it to him often while he was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and she was not happy with him. Not that he cared because the last thing he wanted to do was go back to that place as intellectually stimulating as it may have been. Did he miss those days of puzzles and equations? Only when he and Travis were fighting and today was not one of those days.

"He would have never been hurt, Wes."

"Tell that to Barton next time. The answer is still no."

"It was protocol," Natasha said defensively; leave it to her to get all wound up about Clint. "He shouldn't have followed you to work."

"And I shouldn't lie to the man I love," Wesley said as he raised his cup in a toast for Natasha and took another sip.

"This is ridiculous, Todd. You shouldn't be living this mundane life with a mundane man."

"First, we can't all be master assassins. Second, Travis is more of a hero than you have ever been and he does not have a stain on his record. You can't even pretend to say the same."

That statement warranted Wesley a glare from the master assassin and she kicked her foot out beneath the table to nearly push the Detective onto his back. But his old training kicked in and he managed to hook his foot on her ankle forcing her to him so that they both knocked into the table. The sugar shaker rattled on the edge of the table before it teetered over the edge causing both of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to reach for it. Natasha wrapped her hand around the top and Wes had his around the base while they glared at each other.

"You are an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. you don't get to pick and choose when you do your job," she said under her breath.

"I resigned."

"You don't just leave."

"Is that a threat?"

"No," Natasha said as she raised her brow and sat up straight, shaker stolen from Wes' hand she placed it on the table again. "It's a friendly reminder."

"Oh is it? Fantastic. Well, you can tell Director Fury that I decline the offer until I have been giving the clearance to tell Travis," he said plainly as he leaned back in his chair.

"How is Alex by the way? I hear she is not so happy with you."

"Yes, well…that's what happens when something has a mind of its own."

"You'll come back, they always do."

"Unless you take care of them, right?"

There was that coy smile on her lips again; the very one that made him want to tear her face off as much as make out with it. Damn her.

"I'll see you soon, Agent Wesley. You'll get bored and want to play with all your favorite toys again, I am sure."

"I play with my favorite toy every night," he said over the plastic top of his cup, eyes going wide as he realized that was something Travis would say. Wow, he really was rubbing off on him.

"Really cute."

Did she just leer at him? It would seem she had, but Wes couldn't bring himself to care as she stood up from her seat and pulled her leather jacket tighter around herself. Something about Natasha always demanded attention and it had little to do with how she looked – even if she was gorgeous. It was the way that she moved, it was so fluid that it seemed like she didn't have bones – no it made her seem like she wasn't real. Perhaps that's what made her the spy that she was, she could remain unseen though it was hard to not look at her. Wes shook his head to snap out of it as Natasha was staring at him with an incredulous expression on her face.

Wes looked down at the paper once more as pulled it up to continue reading the article, bringing his cup to his lips.

"The answer is still no."

"We'll see. You have yet to see my ways of persuasion."