Hope you all enjoy. Just a fluff piece.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers.
It's not easy to go unrecognized when your face is plastered all over the news as a superhero but Tony knows places. So do Natasha and Clint for that matter. But it's Tony's pick they ultimately go to, in the short space between saving the world and getting Loki back to Asgard.
The music is flooding around them but it isn't pounding, not disturbing. The place is crowded but no one here cares about faces and for the moment, that suits their purpose well enough.
Tony currently has his arms wrapped around Barton, his face pressed into the archer's sturdy back, in the space between the archer's shoulder blades. They are swaying to the music because neither of them feel like doing anything more at the moment and the current music doesn't exactly give a lot of options anyway but Tony is enjoying it .Enjoying the comfortable way he fits in with this person he's barely known, enjoying the fact that Clint is comfortable enough with him to allow this, enjoys the way Clint casually wraps his arms around himself so that he can slot his fingers between Tony's and it's so comfortable, so normal, like they've done this a thousand times before. It makes Tony feel like they've grown up next to each other, hung out on the other's couches after school, made trouble together in college, been friends all their lives.
A little way in front of them, Steve and Natasha are dancing. It's old school and lovely and though Natasha is a far cry from Peggy Carter, they still share one thing in common. They are both, strong, powerful women. And Steve Rogers, well Steve Rogers knows this. It wasn't the dance he'd been looking forward to, but it didn't have to be. It was the here and the now, written in the intent of the past and delivered in the way that was needed at this time.
Natasha, Tony knew (well rather he knew, only because Clint knew), treasured the opportunity to give Steve something so precious because rarely was she ever handed something like that in her life. Assassins and spies do not give loving, tender, bright gifts.
Off to the side of them Thor had finally succeeded in coaxing Bruce to dance with him. It was awkward because Thor did not know how to dance like a midgardian and Bruce was just awkward with so many people but he was relaxed in a way he wouldn't have been if it had been someone else.
Tony thinks it might have something to do with the fact that he couldn't hurt Thor. Bruce hates hurting people. Eventually it devolves into Bruce teaching Thor how to move less awkwardly and Clint sort of manly giggles at the sight. But it's a refreshing and happy sight. And though they are awkward, Bruce and Thor are still comfortable with each other.
The music changes and Steve and Natasha break apart and Tony releases Clint. Natasha takes his place whilst Clint tugs Bruce away and Steve and Thor are left to grin awkwardly at each other.
Tony slips his arms around Natasha and she reaches up and curls a hand behind his neck and they sway together. Halfway through the dance it hits Tony that Natasha has her back to him and he almost goes breathless with the realization. She knows when he's realized, of course she does and she laughs, shoulders shaking but she doesn't move, just tightens her grip on Tony's neck, grips one of the arms he has wrapped around her waist and enjoys the moment.
Tony glances around after he catches his breath and sees Bruce and Clint half-leaning against the bar, with Clint's arm wrapped around Bruce's shoulders and Bruce's arm around his waist. They are just shifting from side to side as they chat, observing the other dancers and Tony grins to see that Bruce isn't as tense as he had been when they now came.
Natasha nudges him to look at Steve and Thor neither of whom exactly knows how to dance like this century or alternatively like this planet but apparently have decided to go be awkward together and they're hilarious but also sort of adorable. Tony snorts with laughter.
"And sober even," he murmurs to Natasha.
Her shoulder's shake with laughter he can't hear over the music but she is in bright spirits and Tony is pleased.
When the next song come around she abandons him for Clint. The two master assassins meet on the dance floor and Tony feels his jaw drop a little as he watches them move. They move with the ease of people who have moved in sync many times before. They are graceful and powerful and full of wild abandon and controlled movements.
Steve taps on Tony's shoulder and Tony twists and grins sardonically at him but there is no hint of bitter in it and Steve obviously knows.
"Super muscles have got to be good for something right?" he says to Rogers who grins and then laughs.
"Sure," he said, "Not like I've found any use for them before right?" He quirks an eyebrow at Tony, eyes glittering with laughter.
"First time for everything," Tony agrees.
Steve slides his arms around Tony and Tony wraps his arms around Steve's neck, grumbling about his height. Steve stifles laughter and they begin to move. Turns out super muscles are good for dancing if the owner in question can loosen up a little which Steve suddenly able to do. Halfway through Tony realizes it's because Steve is watching Clint and Natasha and copying them.
"Cheater," he says.
"Mimicking is a perfectly ordinary way to learn things," Steve answers him without a hint of remorse.
Coming to the end of the dance Tony realizes that he has abandoned Bruce and Thor to each other again. They don't seem to mind actually but Tony wouldn't mind some time with his science bro so when the song ends he cheerfully leaves Steve and snatches Bruce away.
Bruce gives him a look as Tony drags him away but it has enough fondness in it that Tony knows he is welcome. Tony tugs Bruce towards him and the other scientist snorts and wraps his arms around Tony in return. Tony discovers a minute later that Bruce can really move. He is loose and relaxed from the time spent unwinding with their other teammates and is really enjoying himself.
Tony is surprised by the amount of muscle on Bruce's frame. Well no, he isn't but he still is. He forgets about his surprise soon enough and enjoys the fact that Bruce is comfortable here with him and the others. Comfortable enough, happy enough to forget his own problems for a little while.
"Look," Bruce tells him and they spin so that can both get a good view of Natasha and Thor, who are dancing in a style that is more at home on a ballroom, all flowing movement and twirls. But at the same time it is alien and ancient. They stop at different points than Tony would have expected, the twirls are too long or too short, the dips too deep and sweep too wide. It is stretched and compressed, elongated into sharp points and pressed into flat lines and it makes his mind want to bend a little with the strangeness of it. But it's still beautiful, achingly so. It's gorgeous and graceful and smooth. It is not a dance made for humans, Tony thinks. It is a dance meant for persons much stronger and faster than they are. But Natasha makes it look easy for all that she is human and is moving per Thor's hurried instructions. She is clearly enjoying herself, reveling in the challenge and the beauty of what they are making. And so is Thor, now that he is free of the confining, alien dance moves of midgardians.
Clint and Steve have also twisted so they can dance and watch the other two at the same time. They look normal, Tony notes, wrapped close to each other, dancing to the music, like they've done it a million times before. Like they've known the other person for years and years, like they fit together in a well-worn groove. Tony wonders where he found people like this.
The music changes to something more upbeat and peppy and Bruce pushes away from him and Tony calmly walks to the last teammate that he hasn't danced with.
"I don't do ballroom," he informed Thor who gives him a teasing, unimpressed glance and replies:
"I noticed."
The first thing Tony notices is that Thor is strong. He knew that, he did. It was something entirely different however to feel it exerted on him when he wasn't wearing the suit. There was so much controlled power in his grip and Tony could feel how careful he was not to accidentally hurt him. But at the same time Tony could sense that he was relaxed. It wasn't an effort to be careful with him, it was almost instinctive. And that instinctiveness, Tony recognized, was only attached to a certain set of people.
Tony himself is unaware of the easy looseness that is only present when he is with his teammates, is entirely unaware of how much they appreciate that he feels that comfortable with them. He doesn't know, just how vulnerable he allows himself to be when he is with them, doesn't know how they take care not to hurt him, to treat with care the gift that he gives them. He is unaware that they also appreciate the comfortable way that they all fit together almost as much as he does.
He goes home to Pepper later that night and she sits up in the bed as he comes in stripping his sweat soaked clothes off.
"Did you have fun?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said and she can tell by the bemused tone of voice that he really did have fun. Happy, healthy fun. Not the kind of fun Tony had been used to indulging in.
He steps into the shower and comes back out ten minutes later clad in pajama pants and soft t-shirt.
"I really did," he said crawling in next to her. And Pepper smiles at the happy, look on his face and the lack of tension in his shoulders.
Tony, she knew had always valued friendships deeply, since he was so terrible at making them and even worse at keeping them. But he had found something here and he was happy. She watched him drift off to sleep, dreaming of friends and kissed his forehead gently. She settled back into the bed and went to sleep content and happy.
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