I have no excuse. Seriously, I don't, and I'm really really really sorry about how late this is. I've never taken this long to update before. So, as a result, I decided to give you guys some news (good or bad, you decide): this is the last chapter. I can't handle all of the fics that I have, plus school, plus other fic ideas that I'm working on, plus an original novel that I think I'm actually going to finish, plus original pieces and who knows what else. I can't. And I can't punish you all for that. The last update that I posted was in 2013, guys. Almost two years ago. I'm not going to make you guys sit through that again. So here it is, the last (official) chapter of this fic! But see that little word in parentheses? Yeah. If I get any ideas, I may pick this back up again. I may add bonus chapters. Who knows. If you get an idea, send it my way (via review or PM, your choice). To:
everyone who ever reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this fic - Thank you guys so much. I have no idea who stuck with me and who will actually read this chapter, but thank you to every single one of you for at least encouraging me with this. And a special thank you to the people who actually are going to read this update. Thank you!
Invisible Observer 813 - Unfortunately, I don't think a lot (if any) of those questions are answered here, but who knows... maybe they will be eventually. :)
Guest and terrik33 - Thank you both for reviewing even though it had been months since the last update. Seriously, it's people like you guys that keep writers like me writing.
CrazedFangirl13 - I don't know what to say to you. Thank you doesn't seem to quite cover everything that you did. Actually PMing me... that's certainly a way to make sure that I get the message! Thank you for the compliments, the encouragement, and everything else. Thank you for kicking me into gear on this and actually getting me to update.
I do not own The Avengers, but I hope you all enjoy this last chapter.
We Will Go On: Chapter Three
In the end, the Avengers found out about how Tony and Clint became brothers in a round-about way.
Like, they'd be fighting these creatures a few streets away from the shawarma place, these really nasty, really hideous creatures, and when Clint used an exploding arrow and Tony got hit by the debris ("Ew, Barton," Tony complained, shaking his armoured arms. "Fish guts. Or shark guts? Cow guts? I don't even know what those things are..."), Clint's first words were "Bet that didn't surprise you as much as I did when I found you in your closet."
"Closet?" Steve asked. "What closet? Is this another brother reference?"
"Course it is, Cap," Natasha responded. "You two are spilling your own guts when we get back to the tower."
And then, a few months later, Tony and Clint disappeared for the whole day, and when they asked, J.A.R.V.I.S. said that the two had stopped at a flower store to buy flowers, and that their license plate (they'd taken Tony's Mercedes-Benz, the one that Tony used when he didn't want reporters ruining an outing) was last seen by a traffic camera, entering a church's parking lot. It didn't take a lot of research to figure out that the church housed the cemetery that Maria and Howard Stark were buried at.
And then, even later: The Stark's hadn't much cared for home videos, apparently, but they had kept security cameras in most of their rooms, even back then, so it didn't take long for Tony to "accidentally" leave old ones out on the kitchen table, ones from the day Clint came, with links to the other videos from those days. He wasn't certain, but he thought Natasha had been the one to find them and show them to the others.
"You were a brat," she told Tony later. "As a teenager. You were a huge brat."
"It's kind of sad, Tony," Bruce said a few hours later, when the two were working in their lab. "That you'd do that. Not at first, when Clint first got there. I get it, acclimation and everything, I guess, but leaving Clint behind? That was just... sad..."
Steve had just looked at him that night, while Bruce was cooking dinner and Natasha and Clint were setting the table, and let his eyes say everything that Tony knew he deserved.
They had a movie night the next day, and typically Bruce and Steve would claim the chairs and Clint and Natasha would grab the couch (and not cuddle, according to both of them, but they seemed to forget that the rest of the Avengers had eyes) and Tony would settle himself on the floor with pillows and blankets and a huge bowl of popcorn, but that night Clint crept from the couch to the floor, slowly pulling himself closer to Tony in tiny increments as if "slowly" would mean Tony wouldn't notice.
Tony noticed.
He noticed, and he grabbed his brother and pulled him under the blankets, shared his popcorn, and smirked when Clint declared, "We're not snuggling," because they totally were - it may have been manly snuggling, but it was still snuggling.
He knew his brother spoke through his actions more than his words, so Tony gave Clint's wrist a squeeze, just let him know that he understood, and thanks for forgiving Tony for something he definitely shouldn't have been forgiven for.
The following day, Natasha nodded at Tony in that "I've got your back" way that she did, and Bruce offered to play chess with him even though he knew that Tony would kick his butt (Bruce may have been a genius, but he sucked at chess), and when Steve made breakfast, he made sure to shape Tony's pancakes into a Mickey Mouse face like Tony liked but rarely got ("Mickey Mouse, Tony?" was Steve's typical argument, which Tony loved to point out wasn't an actual argument).
And then they were good. It was sort of weird, going from a playful we're-keeping-this-secret-from-you-but-you-know-we're-doing-it to everyone-knows-the-secret, but Tony liked it. Suddenly, Tony and Clint were the only legally-brothers brothers, but they, the Avengers, were all brothers and sister.
Tony liked it that way. And he was sure that Clint did, too.
So I'm gonna try and keep this short because of that monster of an A/N up there (does it out-word the actual chapter? I hope not).
Basically, thanks again to everyone who encouraged me with this, thanks to the people who read the whole thing, thanks to basically everyone. You all are awesome. :)
I do hope you enjoyed this despite the too long break, and remember: if you have any ideas that you want to see in this universe, don't hesitate to send them my way! I promise I won't take as long with them as I did with this chapter.