A/N: I don't own the Avengers or Mission Impossible characters. Jeremy Renner is my ultimate bias currently, so I thought, well, why not bring them together and make them twins who can't live with each other? Categorized under Avengers because it's AU either way, and the fic is going to be in Tony's 3rd person limited narrative, anyway.

Tangle of Red: Chapter 4

Tony didn't need any other words. He shoved the sheets in his bag – he'd organize it later – and grabbed Clint's wrist to run to the parking lot. Thankfully, fourth period was the start of the lunch periods and no one bugged them as they ran out of the building. Clint was white and shaking as he buckled in, and Tony didn't bother with speed restrictions. "No." Clint suddenly said. "No, not this way."

"What? This is the way to your house."

"No. Oh, noooo." Clint moaned. "He's not home. He's not home!" Tony slammed on the brakes, causing a lot of honking, as Clint fumbled with his phone. Clint's teeth chattered. "Ethan!" He almost screamed, on the verge of tears. "There's something – someone must have taken Will – he's not home –I feel something, he's so scared and…" He paused, shaking violently. "I'm with Tony. I – I asked him to drive me – I couldn't – I don't… Okay…"

The phone was handed to Tony and Clint buried his face in his hands, his breaths ragged, moaning as if he was in pain. Tony took the phone. [Tony?]

"Ye-yeah. What's going on? I don't-"

[First, Tony, I need you to stay calm. Clint must be a wreck right now, so if you're going to start panicking, it's going to be a complete mess. Do you understand?] Calm? Right. Deep breaths. Deeeeeep breaths. It was difficult with Clint having everything short of a seizure right next to him, but he forced his breathing to slow and his brain to start working again before Ethan started to talk again. [Clint will fill you in on the details. Just… for now, tell Clint to turn the tracker on his phone on, and just drive as he asks you to. I'll pay you for all this later, just…]

"No, I… what? I don't need to get paid." Tony's mind was running, and he glanced over at Clint, whose fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were turning white. "I don't get it. What's going on?"

[Clint will tell you. I'll tell you one thing, Tony. I know Natasha taught you guys all how to shoot. Clint has two pistols in his bag. Keep it on you at all times and don't get separated.] With that Ethan had hung up.

Tony stared at the phone for a while, and then he handed it to Clint. "Ethan says, turn on the tracker. And he told me to drive as you ask me to." Clint fumbled with his phone for a moment, then his phone started to ping softly. "Clint. Directions." He'd ask about it all while he was driving. Clint pointed him in directions and then he frowned after about ten minutes. "This is… this is the way to JFK. The airport. Clint, do you think…"

Clint let out a low moan. "The airport?" His teeth chattered violently.

Tony stared and they drove in silence, Tony pushing speed limits like no other. "Clint. Will you tell me now? Also, take out the guns in your bag. So I was right when I saw a gun on your first day here, right?"

Clint smiled shakily. "Yeah. Tasha always said you'd find out first." He reached into his bag to slip the two handguns out. He pushed one under Tony's thigh. "Will's got eidetic memory." He offered softly. "Like, not those fake kinds or incomplete kinds. Actual, genuine, complete eidetic memory. His brain records everything like a computer. He remembers every detail of every scene, whether it be a smell or a sound or a sensation or a sight… He's the only one in the world." Clint's voice was shaking.

Tony nodded for him to continue. That made sense, then, why Will didn't have to take any notes.

Clint looked out the window. "It sort of came into view when we were toddlers. It's the reason our parents died. Ethan's parents were part of a government agency, and they took us in so they could protect us. Same thing with Natasha's parents. The four of them were assigned to us, but Ethan's parents were killed when we were eight and Will had a kidnapping. Ethan was 12 then. The government then assigned Ethan to Will and Natasha to me. They've been training since they were walking, so they were great then, too, but…" He trailed off. "Will's taken at least once every year. That's why Will's afraid of new people. His memory's so valuable just about every intelligence agency in the world wants him or wants to kill him. Not only that, the time he spent with Ethan's parents and Natasha's parents and being paraded through government agencies gave him a lot of information on secret things, so all these terrorists-" Clint suddenly doubled over, clutching his stomach. He let out a choked scream, and Tony reached over, alarmed. "Oh, no, nonononono." He was shaking. "Tony, drive faster."

"What happened?"

"He's stabbed, shot, I don't know! Something in his stomach." Clint's phone rang shrilly and Clint jumped. "Ethan!" He picked up, sobbing. "They shot him, they stabbed him, I don't know."

Tony reached over to grip Clint's hand. Clint clung on. [Clint, calm down. If you're all panicked like this, it'll carry over to Will and he'll be worse.] Ethan's voice was soothing, but urgent. [They won't kill him. They won't do anything to kill him. If they were going to kill him, they would have killed him back at the house. I called to let you know Jane and Benji are already at JFK. Benji shut off all flights going out and brought back a few that left in the past hour. They didn't take him, Clint. We'll get him back.]

Clint's hand in Tony's shook but he relaxed. Slightly, but all the same. At least it was at the point where Clint was playing with the safety of the gun instead of curling up into a ball. Although Tony didn't actually know if that was an improvement. "Cargo." Clint said quietly when the airport came to view. "Here, turn here." No one seemed to mind an SUV suddenly rolling into the cargo area, but an incredibly sexy tanned woman tapped their window when Tony rolled into a corner. "Jane." Clint choked.

The woman – Jane – hugged Clint tightly and then nodded at Tony. "Stay close." She advised. "Disable the safety on your gun, Tony." Tony did, didn't ask how she knew him, and told himself now that he was fully able to shoot himself in the foot or something. Clint held his handheld as if it was a part of him, so Tony's pride got in the way before he said something about it.

He was walking half a pace in front of Jane when gunshots rang. Jane let out a curse and pulled Clint and Tony to the ground and then behind a car, running to another car herself. "Cover me." Clint hissed to Tony.

"Cover you? I can't aim!"

"You don't need to. Just hold the gun over your head and just keep firing so they can't get close. Don't point it in Jane's direction, though." Clint's voice was steely, determined. It was a stark difference – haha, stark – from the shaking wreck he had been in the car. So Tony just held the gun and started to fire, trying to keep Jane's general direction in mind. The initial shock wore off gradually and he kept letting off rounds. He heard pained cries soon, and looked awed at Clint, who spared him a smile. "I don't miss." He said simply.

But soon it was obvious that nothing was going to get done, and Clint looked uneasy again. He was clutching his stomach as if he'd gotten shot, but a close look told Tony that he wasn't hurt. Was it where he'd felt the pain from Will? Clint pressed into his side, shaking, and Tony realized he was out of rounds. But suddenly the shooting had stopped and Tony heard a lot of flesh hitting other flesh. Clint's eyes widened, and he shot up. "Ethan!"

Tony grabbed Clint and yanked him back down. Something told him it wasn't the smartest idea to be standing so tall yelling with people shooting. "It's okay." Clint gripped his hand for a second, squeezed it and let go. It was strangely reassuring. "Ethan and Jane won't let us get hurt. Come with me." He held his hand out, and Tony took it without a thought.

Clint was up first, and Tony stood. Ethan spared them a glance from his manhandling and nodded quickly, and then Tony was being dragged. Clint was headed toward a certain plane. But of course he would know exactly which one. Tony took the gun hanging limply by Clint's side, and Clint reacted immediately, other hand reaching up in an obviously menacing stance. He froze when he registered it was Tony and then dropped his hand, breathing heavily. "It'll be better with me." Clint explained softly. "I'm a better shot. I don't miss."

More questions ran through Tony's head, but he realized it was obviously not the best time. He followed quietly instead, and when he got to use his name to order some airplane staff to drop the cargo door down, he felt finally useful. Clint pulled Tony up the hatch, his hand grip firm to keep Tony from slipping. Clint was much more nimble than the average guy. When they were in the cargo area, Clint ran straight to a large suitcase and it was Tony who unlocked it because Clint's hands were shaking too much. "Fuck." Tony said quietly.

Will was curled up into the suitcase, crammed next to an oxygen tank. A mask was fit over his mouth and nose, over a ball gag that was shoved into his lips. His wrists and ankles were tied tightly, and Tony could see they'd chafed the skin. Something was protruding out of his abdomen, leaking blood sluggishly. He was awake, Tony realized, but just barely.

Clint reached into the suitcase with shaky hands. The first thing he did was grip Will's hand with one hand and brush his tears away with the other. "I'm here." He said softly, just barely enough for Tony to hear. "I'm here, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay." He slid the oxygen mask from Will's mouth and unbuckled the gag. It came away with a trail of blood and saliva, and Clint wiped it away calmly. He fit the oxygen mask back over Will's lips, and then gently, slowly, pulled Will up to his lap. "You'll be okay." He repeated, moving slowly. "Don't talk, Will, but keep your eyes on me. Don't go to sleep. I know you're tired, but you know the drill. Focus on me. Don't go to sleep."

Will nodded faintly, and then managed to smile weakly at Tony, who couldn't take his gaze off the thing in Will's abdomen. Exactly fourteen seconds later, Ethan came rushing to their side. "Ambulance will be here in thirty seconds, Will. Just hang on." A switchblade worked at the ropes on the wrists first and then the ones on his ankles, and Clint made a strangled noise when it fell away to reveal bleeding wrists. "Be careful with him, Clint." Clint nodded and gingerly pulled Will up so Will's head was resting on his shoulder, and Clint was whispering things Tony couldn't hear to Will, pressing kisses every other second to his face. Ethan clapped a hand on Tony's shoulder. "You did good, Tony." He sighed. "You did good. Come with us to the hospital. I'm sure you have about a million questions."

Tony couldn't take his eyes off the twins. "Do I get answers?"

"Yes. You get answers this time." Ethan smiled tiredly as people dressed in white filed in and pulled Will into a stretcher. "I think you've deserved them, don't you?"

The rest of the ride was a blur to Tony. Ethan drove Tony's car – Tony had never let anyone else drive any of his cars, but as he'd noticed before, the twins were opening up a lot of firsts for him. The hospital that they arrived at was something even Tony had never seen before, some sort of small but incredibly high-tech hospital off in the rural area. They let Clint enter the operating room without a fuss, and Ethan and Tony sat in front of the double doors as the [In Surgery] light above the door lit up.

Ethan looked at Tony, who slumped in his chair. "Where are we?" He asked weakly, feeling the adrenaline fade away.

"We're at a hospital reserved solely for top-secret government agency workers." Ethan responded easily, smiling. He didn't seem worried about Will. "Will is going to be fine." Ethan said softly, and Tony wondered warily if he could read minds. "If he wasn't, Clint would be having a lot more problems." Ethan assured. "We're safe here. Everyone here has gone through maximum background checks and everything is monitored by the highest people. So worry more about yourself than Will. Did you hurt anything?"

"No," Tony admitted bitterly. "I'm perfectly fine. Feels wrong to come out of it so perfectly fine when Will's in an emergency room in surgery."

Ethan smiled again, but his smile was sad this time. "Welcome to our world." He said quietly.

Tony had no response for it, and he folded his arms, staring hard at the floor. "Clint said something about… eidetic memory. And that Will was highly wanted for it." Ethan nodded. "And uh… that Natasha was part of some bodyguard thing for him, too." Tony hated sounding so unintelligent, but before he could actually piece every part of this puzzle together, he was just going to have to stutter through it until he got all the pieces.

Ethan nodded. "My parents were part of the IMF, and Natasha's parents are from SHIELD."

"I'm not going to get any matches on what I actually need if I Google those, huh?" Tony laughed uneasily.

Ethan chuckled. "The Impossible Mission Force, and Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Tony's brain scrambled to keep up with the full version of the acronyms. "My parents were the ones assigned to Will and Clint first, to protect them. Will's eidetic memory came to view when he was still at the orphanage. Fortunately the American government got to him first, and assigned him bodyguards – my parents and Natasha's parents – before anyone else could get to him. But genuine, complete eidetic memory, especially for someone as intelligent as Will, makes the carrier an incredible asset for any country."

Tony nodded. That part he knew. Most people with eidetic memory were Autistic Savants, and even those eidetic memory were limited to mostly sight. But according to what Ethan and Clint were telling him, and what he himself had witnessed in class, Will's eidetic memory was complete. He could remember everything about an event, from what he had seen and what he had heard to what he smelled and felt.

Ethan was watching the red lights on top of the doors. "On top of it, Will's IQ is quite incredible, and he has no problem filing away an event in his head, and then pulling it up in about a tenth of a second when he needs it later. He's like an organic supercomputer. Actually, he was tested against one of the fastest supercomputers in terms of a complex word string search, and he was faster. He's very, very, valuable. On top of that, on a particular kidnapping, we discovered Clint's own talent. He's an incredible sharpshooter. He will never miss. With any sort of weapon. Not only that, he's a natural athlete, as you've probably noticed already. Needless to say, he and Will would make quite a golden pair for any organization to have. Especially terrorist organizations."

Tony didn't question why especially terrorist organizations. He didn't really want to know. "So you work for IMF and Natasha for… SHIELD?" A nod. "How come you actually go away to places? Isn't your job to protect Will?"

Ethan shook his head. "No. It's my primary job, but I take on missions like every other agent does. You've met Jane, right? She and Benji are on my team. We do short missions because our main effort is to keep something like today from happening, but…" Ethan sighed. "Sometimes those short times are all anyone needs to disable all the traps and alarms at our house. It didn't help that Will was sick to begin with." He reached over and gripped Tony's shoulder. "I'm going to give you an advice, Tony, and then I'm going to give you my honest opinion. My advice is that you and your friends stay clear of Will and Clint. You, especially, don't need another dangerous connection. Your money already makes you a target for likely kidnapping, and you don't need the association to Clint and Will."

Tony didn't break their gaze. "And your honest opinion?"

Ethan sighed. "I'm not supposed to be doing this, putting you kids into danger." Tony didn't point out that at 20, Ethan wasn't exactly old, either. After a long pause, Ethan spoke up. "My honest wishes are that you'd stay with Clint and Will." He spoke softly. "I have good judge of character – it sort of comes with my job – and… well, I won't say anything too brash as of yet. But all of you would be good for Will and Clint. But I want the four of you to get together. You, Thor, Steve, and Bruce, and actually talk about it. Consider what happened today. Consider that this was one of the worst planned kidnappings Will has ever had, and consider what kind of danger you may be putting yourselves through if you stick around."

Tony nodded, already knowing his answer. And if he knew his friends as well as he thought he knew them, he knew their answer, as well. Maybe if something like this happened when they'd first met, three months ago, they would have backed away. Maybe. But now, when bonds had been formed and ties had been tied, he was well aware no one was going to break it. "Can I do that later? Can I wait until Will gets out of surgery, maybe see him for a bit and then…"

"Yeah." Ethan smiled, laughing tiredly. "Yes, you do that. Will would want to see you, anyway." He looked back up at the light, and as if on cue it clicked off. The wondering if Ethan had psychic powers came back. "He'll probably be under for an hour or two, though. Let's see what the doctor has to say, and then go get some food for you and Clint."

The doctor had no bad news for them. The knife was long and had almost cut straight to the back, but it had missed the ribs and all vital organs. But that was expected, Ethan had said. They don't want Will dead, just maybe not mobile. His wrists and ankles were badly chafed, but thankfully there were no infections and they would heal quickly. They'd given him an injection to keep his blood sugar level steady, and were keeping an oxygen mask on him in case his allergic asthma kicked in due to panic, but otherwise he was fine and he was already healing.

Ethan drove again, and Tony said nothing as they pulled into the lone restaurant with a gas station. Tony filled up the gas while Ethan ducked into the diner after Tony confessed he honestly didn't care what he was eating, as long as he was eating something. Now that the adrenaline had completely gone away, he realized he was hungrier than anything.

And that he had about a billion and a half calls. Only three were from Natasha, and he guessed that Natasha had contacted Ethan after she realized Clint was gone as well. He checked the time - it was past 5, and the sun was starting to dim. It wasn't late at all, but he was exhausted. He wondered briefly how the others had gotten home, and dialed Steve first.

Steve picked up before the first dial tone could go through. [Natasha told us.] Steve said, his voice carrying a million emotions. [How are Clint and Will? And you?]

Tony didn't even care Steve had added him as an afterthought. "Okay. Clint and I are completely unharmed. Will got a knife through his stomach, but it didn't hit any vital organs and the hospital said he can be discharged in a week, but he'd just have to be careful."

[Can we go see him, too?]

"No, uh…" He looked around. He had no idea where he was. He didn't know how much Natasha had told the others, and he didn't know what he was allowed to say. "I have no idea where we are."

Steve chuckled worriedly over the phone. [She told us everything.] He said softly. [Clint's aim, Will's memory. Everything.]

Tony breathed a sigh of relief. That meant he didn't have to skirt around his best friends with lies. "I still don't know where the hell I am." He confessed, and Steve laughed. "Steve, Ethan… he wanted the four of us to talk about it." He glanced over and saw Ethan still in the diner.

[Natasha said the same thing. Thor got really offended that she'd even say something like that.] Steve laughed uneasily again. [We're all in. I don't know why. Something tells me this is incredibly dangerous and all, but I still have no idea. They're a part of us, aren't they?]

Tony laughed, relief spreading all the way through him. "Yeah. Yeah, they are. But I think we should still talk. About everything. Not just the four of us. But Clint and Will and Natasha, too. Just everyone. Maybe we should spend winter break at the house at the ski resort I have. Wait, would that like not be allowed for Clint and Will?"

"No, that's fine for Clint and Will as long as Natasha's there." A voice said behind him, and Tony jumped about a mile. Ethan looked amused. "Agents will be everywhere throughout the ski resort, but yes, that's allowed. Clint and Will have lives, too, and we respect it. In fact, restraining it would probably be worse."

Steve, having heard over the phone, laughed. [Should invite Ethan, too. We'll talk when you get back, yeah? Call Bruce and Thor, they're worried like no other, too. And keep us posted on how Will's doing.] Tony dialed Thor as he slid into the car, and was awarded with a bunch of yelling on Thor's part before Thor actually got to the part to ask if Will and Clint were okay. When he was done being yelled to deafness by Thor, he called Bruce, who was the opposite of Thor. Bruce wasn't surprised at all that Will had eidetic memory, but was more surprised by the fact that Tony hadn't picked up on it.

[I mean, he remembered everything in every lecture perfectly. It didn't set off a bell?] Tony could almost see Bruce rolling his eyes. [You were too busy trying to woo Clint.]

A panicked look at Ethan told Tony that Ethan had heard exactly what Bruce had said. "I did not. I just thought Will was a genius, that's all."

[Whatever you say, Tony. I'll see you in school tomorrow.]

Tony was greeted with heavy silence after he hung up. Ethan seemed to find the entire thing amusing, by the look on his face, but when he finally spoke up it was slightly cautious. "It's not a good idea, Tony. To date Clint." His voice was neither a warning nor an invitation. It was merely a statement, so Tony let it hang there. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to date Clint. He was attracted, of course, but just about the entire school was attracted to one of the twins. It didn't matter if they were girls or guys – it seemed like everyone in the school wanted to have the twins in their bed.

But did he like Clint enough to try a relationship with him? The last time Tony had hazarded on a relationship, it had ended up with Pepper moving to another state. Sure, Pepper had already been planning to move to Boston, but their bad breakup had ended up sending her across the country to Los Angeles, and he'd lost one of his close friends.

If he dated Clint, and then if they ended up badly, he'd lose not just Clint, but Will, and also probably Natasha. Though he would never admit it out loud, ever, he was scared. He didn't like losing close friends.

This was, of course, assuming that Clint would date him if he asked. He could probably convince Clint to try it out, and he was positive the Clint-trademark crooked grins, when directed at him, turned a little warmer and softer. He was only so sure of this fact not only because Natasha jabbed his ribs every time with a smirk Clint did it, but also because Will would get this thoughtful look on his face. And those reactions had to mean something.

Ethan said nothing else about the issue, so Tony stayed quiet, hugging the diner food so it wouldn't fall off. It felt pleasantly warm on his stomach, and he realized he was hungry more than anything else at the moment. Ethan led them to a room on the third floor, where Clint was occupying a slightly-larger-than-normal hospital bed, holding Will to him, stroking his hair and staring into space. Will was a little pale, but the only things attached to him were an IV tube and a pulse and blood pressure monitor. He had bandages on his ankles and wrists and Tony was going to hazard a guess and say that there were more around his abdomen. The monitors showed a little lower blood pressure than normal, but his pulse was strong and steady. Clint must have thought his opinion higher than the doctor's, because the oxygen mask was lying uselessly on the bed next to them.

When Tony and Ethan entered, Clint smiled, and that was the one thing Tony needed to know Will was going to be all right. There was probably something wrong with the fact that a smile could reassure more than a professional's opinion, but Tony ignored it. "I'm hungry." Clint announced, looking at the bag in Tony's hands. "What did you guys get?"

"Chicken." Ethan answered. "Come on, Tony, sit. Let's eat." Ethan pulled a bedside stand over and spread their food on it. Clint managed to dig through his food without untangling his arm from Will, and Tony didn't really register how it tasted as he wolfed it down, but did note that his taste buds weren't exactly screaming in pain. Ethan watched the two of them, eating slowly as he monitored not only their eating but Will's steady heartbeat on the monitor.

When they were done, Ethan volunteered to take the trash out, because, as Clint pointed out, if the nurses found diner food in the hospital room, they'd throw a fit. Tony had a feeling it had more to do with Ethan giving Tony room to talk about what'd happened with Clint. And he wasn't going to pass it up. "Do I get more answers?" He asked, just in case Clint wanted to put it off.

Clint looked surprised, but not annoyed. "Ethan didn't give you everything?"

"I mean… he did. But I want to ask you things, too." Clint nodded. "Did you have… training? To be able to move like a specially trained agent." Clint nodded. "Can we get it, too? Me and Steve and Thor and Bruce."

Clint looked slightly amused. "Sure, but I don't know if Bruce would like it." He looked back to Will. "You guys are going to stay?" His voice sounded hopeful, but cautious. He wanted them to stay, Tony realized, but hadn't been depending on it. "Today was one of the best cases, you know. Benji and Jane happened to be nearby so they pretty much had everything under control." His face darkened. "There are times when Will and I have gotten kidnapped for weeks. Times when we found Will on the brink of getting raped."

It was Tony's turn to be surprised. It was a bad thing to assume, of course, but he'd assumed that with all the kidnappings Will had, and with Will being quite attractive on top of it, rape had already been done. Noticing Tony's surprise, Clint snickered lightly. "Will's a virgin. No need to worry about him having been raped or something."

"Wait, virgin?" Tony was aware the conversation was not going where he had intended, but he wasn't one to leave curiosities unanswered. "But he and Ethan…"

Clint shrugged. "I think Ethan wants to wait until.. you know, Will's not a minor anymore. I think as of right now it's sort of illegal. Will has to be 18." Noticing the look on Tony's face again, Clint smiled. "Ethan's waited for a long time. Plus, I think it's more that Will's not really, you know, ready yet, more than the age thing, because Ethan doesn't give two shits about law. But we're not actually going to go into my brother's sex life, right?'

Tony laughed. "Right. Right. Wait, are… I mean, people have to have mistaken you for Will, right? Have you been…"

"Kidnapped in Will's place, yeah. Raped, no. Almost, once, but it pissed me off enough that they thought I was Will and trying to rape me that I managed to kick all of them in the balls before Ethan actually shot them all." Clint snorted. Tony couldn't help but shake his head, trying to imagine a pissed off Clint. It wasn't too difficult.

"Your aim…"

"That's natural." Clint cut him off with a crooked grin. "I shoot better than Ethan, or anyone else in IMF and SHIELD combined." He took out his pistol from under his thigh – Tony noticed the safety was back on – and swung it around his finger once. "No training is going to get you there." He smirked cockily (and god it was attractive) and then put the firearm back on the table. He looked like he was about to say more, but paused, and then smiled. "Hey." He said gently, downward.

"I smell food," answered a voice that was identical to Clint's. "I'm hungry." A blue-gray-green eye cracked open and smiled at Tony. "Hey, it's Tony." Tony felt worry flood his insides, but quelled it only because Clint was smiling and looked relaxed and kept pressing kisses all over Will's face. So he managed to smile and grip his hand. Will squeezed back and gave him a small smile. "Where's Ethan? I'm hungry. You had Maggie's again, didn't you? I want some."

"Ethan went out to take out the trash. He said he was also going to pick up some liquids for you to down when you wake up." Clint pressed another kiss to Will's temple. "And you're funny if you're serious about eating diner food. You're not going to be eating anything solid for the next two weeks."

Will made a face. "Those weird soup things they make at the cafeteria downstairs are disgusting."

"It's not my fault someone got stabbed in the gut, yeah?" Clint was smiling softly, still showering his twin with kisses until Ethan walked in through the door. "Hey, look. Ethan has those disgusting things you were just talking about."

Ethan looked pleasantly surprised. He bent down, quickly brushed his lips against Will's, and sat next to Tony. "Clint, stop marking your territory. You're either disturbing Tony or arousing him. And Will, it's good for you. So here." He handed Clint a pack of some kind of goo that was a disturbing brownish color. Ethan noticed the look on Tony's face and laughed. "Want to try it? It's actually not as bad as it looks. Some of us have to live on it when we're on missions."

"Don't believe him, Tony." Will quipped, wincing as Clint tore the top of the package for him instead. "This thing is downright vile and disgusting." He tried to squirm away from Clint but Clint held him in a vice grip and he sighed. He swallowed it but his face scrunched more with each gulp, and when he was done Ethan pressed a cup of water to him. "Ugh." He made a face, and snuggled into Clint's side.

Tony wondered for a moment if it was a normal thing for Will. He seemed perfectly fine for someone who'd gotten kidnapped, stuffed into a suitcase with an oxygen tank and had a knife buried right under his ribs. Will fell soundly asleep after bit of silence fell over them, and Clint held him tightly. He nodded once to Tony and once to Ethan and made himself comfortable, curling around his twin's body before his breath evened out.

Ethan stood and beckoned Tony out. Tony obeyed without a fuss, embedding the picture to his mind before he walked quietly with Ethan to his car. "Benji's got surveillance on them." Ethan said, once he strapped himself into the driver's seat. "Jane is also watching, and the hospital's heavily armed. They'll be fine." He glanced over at Tony as he started to drive. "Will and Clint need to be left alone. That's how Will copes, you know. Clint being overly affectionate is just to calm Will down. Physical contact calms their nerves." Tony nodded, remembering how the twins were pressed tightly to each other without a space in between.

Tony stared out into the dark night ahead of them. They were the only car on the road, but Tony realized he wasn't at all unnerved. He was in the car with a man who had beat up about ten armed men with his bare hands and came out of it completely unscratched. He was currently probably one of the safest people in the world. "You're Will's lover, aren't you? Shouldn't you be doing some of the comforting?"

Ethan laughed as if Tony was being naïve. "Tony, I'll tell you now because tonight has told me a lot of things about you." He paused. "If you do end up dating Clint, you need to always consider two things. The first thing is that no matter who Clint or Will date, their number one person will always, always be the other twin. No matter what. I can't do anything for Will right now except maybe squeeze his hand, or give him a kiss. He needs Clint, and in the same way Clint needs to be there for Will. The second thing is that…" He smiled as if he was the happiest man on earth, and Tony flinched. "The second thing is that when you fall in love with one of them, Tony, you fall in love with both of them." Ethan glanced over at Tony and smiled as if he knew something Tony didn't. "Maybe you'll find out what I mean, Tony. Maybe. But still, you really do have to think about it thoroughly."

Ethan drove Tony to his house – Tony didn't ask how Ethan knew his address. The man probably had files thick enough to be encyclopedias on not just Tony but also Thor and Bruce and Steve. Tony told Ethan he could borrow the car, but Ethan refused. Ethan waited until Tony was inside the house, and when Tony turned he saw a black car drive up to pick Ethan up. Right. Tony snorted, sleepily walking inside. Jarvis didn't ask any questions as to why Tony was home at 3:12 in the morning, and when Tony mumbled that he wasn't going to go to school tomorrow, offered to pick up his friends. "Yeah. Do that. But not Clint and Will."

He collapsed into bed and didn't wake up until well past noon the next day to another billion and a half missed calls and texts. "Hey, Jarvis." He called, and the butler was almost immediately at his door. "Can you pick my friends up in the afternoon, too? And bring them here. Never mind, have Happy do it. Can you make food for us or something? Get Poptarts for Thor."

He fell back asleep after that. He didn't wake up again until a weight stepped on his knees. "Ow!" He tried to lash out, but Natasha was tumbling off before he could. Right. Secret agent. "Don't you have better ways of waking me up?"

"I'll give you a choice. I can step on you, or I can put a bullet through your shin." Natasha smiled dangerously, and he didn't doubt she was serious. "Now go brush your teeth and wash your face. You look ugly."

Those three words were enough to send Tony running to the bathroom with Bruce laughing quietly behind him. He spent about ten minutes in the bathroom and came back to find food on the table in the middle of the room, Thor munching away at Poptarts and Natasha and Bruce fighting over the tomatoes in a salad. Steve was the only one not eating, and he was staring expectantly at Tony, so Tony came down and chose the seat next to Thor and took a Poptart. "Will's okay. Clint and he had a make out session when he woke up." Natasha smiled knowingly and snatched a tomato Bruce had been reaching for. "But he's okay." He looked at Natasha. "I can't believe it happens so often that when Will woke up, he was just all like, 'Hey, I got a hole in my abdomen but who cares? My biggest problem is that I can't eat the chicken you got from the only restaurant for about 50 miles.'"

Natasha sighed and let Bruce take the tomato they'd been battling over. "Yeah… From what Ethan told me, this is nothing. There was once when both of them got kidnapped to some obscure African country and Clint was left to die of starvation and thirst in the Saharan desert, and then they water-tortured Will for days. That really was the worst." Her voice was dark with emotion as she said it.

Even Thor stopped chomping down on his Poptarts. "Water torture?" He sounded queasy.

"Yeah. Uh… you guys don't really want to know about this." When the four stared at her, she made a face but continued. "I don't really know the theory behind it, but the liquid is like oxygenated or something so you don't really drown. It's a form of interrogation people use, because when you come out of it you will do anything to not go back in. They did it to Will at least five times over the course of three days, where he was submerged for more than 12 hours at a time. The only reason Clint survived the desert was because of the pain he had through Will." She laughed humorlessly, one of her fists clenched tightly on the table. "They sort of canceled each other out, the heat and the lack of water with the cold and too much water. We found Clint first and then found Will. Ethan shot everyone dead. They sometimes have nightmares about the entire ordeal."

Steve's voice was shaky when he spoke up. "You're making it up." He accused. "So we'd leave."

Natasha stared harshly. "No. I wish I was making it up, but I'm not. It's what happens. If we're lucky they go through one kidnapping a year. If we're unlucky, Will's swept up the moment he gets back home."

"But they don't capture you or Ethan, do they?" Bruce pointed out quietly. "Why would they target us?"

Natasha crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Because Ethan and I are agents. We're worth more trouble than the benefits they'd get. Ethan and I would break free and knock them all unconscious or dead before they can threaten Clint or Will to do something. It's happened. Five times. And then people realized how dumb it was and stopped." She sighed impatiently. "Maybe they wouldn't bother with Steve or Thor, because the two of you are big guys. But Bruce and Tony, well… No offense guys, but you guys are muscular and all but you two don't exactly look threatening. AND Tony has rich parents, which is just an added incentive." She looked around at all of them. "I care about you guys." She said slowly, as if admitting it was painful. "I don't want you getting hurt, either."

Tony snorted. "Sorry, Romanoff, but we're staying. Or at least, I'm staying."

"Me too." Bruce added quietly. "Will and Clint are our friends too."

Steve nodded, and Thor followed, looking offended that Natasha would even suggest they'd leave. Tony saw a smile forming behind her hand as she reached for the last tomato that Bruce had left.

The next day, Natasha gave each of them a small handgun. She'd told them to use it "just for defense," as if they'd shoot at each other for fun. The four of them also found themselves in self-defense classes every day after school, taught by Natasha herself and sometimes Ethan. Ethan looked both amused and unsure about their efforts, but soon Steve and Thor and Tony picked up easily on all their moves for Ethan to be satisfied enough.

After about a week of being hospitalized, Will was allowed to come to school again, just not participate in any rough physical activities. Clint helped the others in their self-defense class, and Ethan mildly noted that it was turning more into a fighting class than an actual self-defense class. But Natasha replied that the best form of defense was offense, and Ethan hummed in agreement.

So Will would watch, amused, from the sidelines, and Natasha and Clint beat everyone up. Sometimes Will would rub absentmindedly at the wound that was still healing, and Clint would pause in his assault of Tony or Thor to slide over to Will, usually leaving his opponent confused to what had just happened.

Once, Tony had managed to snap to his senses quickly enough to grab Clint before he slid out of his grasp. That had ended up in a reflex reaction from Clint and Tony found himself face-up on the mat, the air out of his lungs and Clint apologizing. "Sorry, Tony." Clint blushed, his cheeks red and his eyes clearly abashed. It was the first time Tony had seen Clint blush. "Sorry, that was just reflex."

"Yeah, Tony." Natasha was snickering. "Don't get in Clint's way when he's trying to get to Will, next time. But that's good, your reflex is getting faster." She easily blocked a hit from Steve and had him on the mat in the next second. "Reminds me of when you grabbed Will the first day." She whispered as she swept past him, reaching down to help Steve up.

Tony remembered that too, and remembered Natasha's complement back then. Things had changed so, so much since back then. Back then when they didn't know that Will and Clint pretty much made out on a regular basis, back when they didn't know about Will's eidetic memory. Tony sighed and crawled over to where Will was pressed against Clint's side, his head resting on Clint's shoulder. He didn't even care about how he looked, and rested his head on Clint's shoulder that Will wasn't using. Clint chuckled softly but didn't push him away, so Tony closed his eyes.

He felt Bruce come over and use his thigh as a pillow to stretch out, and cracked his eyes open to see Natasha doing the same thing to Will. Thor settled himself next to Clint, throwing an arm over Clint's shoulders and pulling Natasha's legs over his own. Steve mirrored the move on Tony's side. And that was how Ethan found them, an hour later, sleeping contently tangled up in one another. He didn't wake them until he took a picture and sent it to all their phones.

The chapters keep getting longer... orz... Oh, and if you don't mind a little bit of LokiHawk, I have a new one-shot called "My Little Hawk" that you can check out :D