November

'You should stop meeting with Pep or I might start to get jealous,' Tony murmurs around the spoonful of cereal he's just put into his mouth. It's two p.m. and Clint is back from lunch with Pepper.

'If you want to eat pizza for Thanksgiving, I guess I could hover over you as you finish that thingy for R&D – or have you finished? Because it's been taking you so much time –'

'Mean!' Tony cuts in, pointing his spoon at Clint. 'It's not a thingy, it's a brilliant filtration system that'll revolutionize space travel –'

'I wasn't aware there still was much space travel going on –'

'Just shut up,' Tony scowls and Clint congratulated himself. Tony's been too focused on his work for the past few days to respond at anyone's jabs or laugh at the bad jokes. This is much better. 'Don't glee, I know you're doing this on purpose, yes, I finished that work what means now I can concentrate on flight control in vacuum and you're not gonna like that one either and I don't care.'

Clint sighs and finishes making quick sandwiches for himself and Tony. Cereal is not a proper breakfast in Clint's book, not to mention a proper brunch or lunch or whatever that meal should be called if you are Tony Stark.

'Is it Thanksgiving soon?' Tony asks when he's half done with the sandwich, as if it took him five minutes to register Clint's words.

'It's in ten days. So we make plans. Because it actually requires a plan to prepare a dinner for all of us and all of our sweethearts. We make quite a crowd that could eat anyone but Tony Stark into bankruptcy.'

'Thank heaven I am me,' Tony declared and eats the remaining sandwich in two bites. 'So, you're like making a list of who does what? Because I understand calling my chefs wouldn't require a self-imposed secret operation.'

'Every couple brings something. Don't worry, I've got us covered –'

'No,' Tony interrupts. 'No, no, no, you can't do all the work, it's America, we have equal rights and equal duties and stuff like that, I am sure you could win a court case if I was a neglectful partner, I'll make something. I'll make pie, a special magical pie that I will not tell you anything more about. We good?'

'A pie?' Clint repeats unsurely. 'How do you know how to make a pie? I mean, I know you never cook for yourself. How come no one has uncovered this secret yet?'

'Thanksgiving's a holiday for families,' Tony replies, looking down. Clint knows that Tony will share whatever is going on in his head, it's a progress compared to a few months ago when he would keep silent and just toss fake smiles around. 'Everyone always spends it with family. So. There has never been anyone around to see.'

'Oh fuck them all,' Clint declares, getting up and ruffling Tony's hair. Then he takes the two plates and puts them into the dishwasher despite Tony's stare saying I have robots to do that for me. 'Really mean pie?'

'Really mean pie,' Tony confirms. 'It's just science – and well, I've got sophisticated needs unless it's burgers and fries, so I perfected the recipe after a few dozen tries. Legitimate research, don't look at me like that, I had someone take the thirty four attempts and donate them to someplace, they were perfectly edible juts not good enough to satisfy me. You know how I roll.'

'Sure I do,' Clint replies walking towards the exit.

Tony looks at his with those big needy eyes.

'Stay with me?' he asks innocently. Clint knows him too well to just agree.

'Don't be ridiculous,' he replies and Tony looks hurt for a moment. 'If you're going to be jealous of Pepper of all people, when you know I'm not into women and when she has you four week old baby inside her, I might reconsider thinking about you as a rational person.'

It's just sad to see that Tony would expect something like that from two of the people closest to him; Clint knows that it's not fear or anger or jealousy. Tony just expects it, even after all these months.

'And she's you ex,' Clint adds because honestly, hitting your partner's ex is one of the most awful things you can do.

'We've never really been together,' Tony says quietly and Clint blinks in confusion. 'Sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I thought you knew – friends with benefits raised to a completely new level, also, good tactics, whenever we had a press conference or an interview everyone kept asking about our relationship and we could tell them all the made up stories instead of answering mean questions and then having to deal with PR and stock issues. That's 21st century marketing.'

'You sweet bastard,' Clint drawls, cocking his head and staring at Tony's figure crouched on the chair. 'I'll spend all the time with you if you stop thinking ridiculous things. I am not going to cheat on you like that and if anything happens, you'll be the first to know. No fucking lies. Got it?'

'Yeah, got it,' Tony replies easily. Clint is not so sure but he lets it go. 'We can cuddle by the fireplace? It's cold. Even in here,' he adds, shrugging a bit.

'I can't believe you actually said cuddle when I've been trying to make you do that for months,' Clint laughs, but then goes back to seriousness, 'You're not making sacrifices for me, you dumb brat. No fireplaces. You don't want that. I'll go down to the shop with you, play holo-basketball and annoy you with questions. You'll work. JARVIS will make the place tropic-like hot and Dummy will make us rum cocktails.'

'Make it rum and coconut and I am set,' Tony replies with this wide radiant grin, jumps out of his chair, takes Clint's hand and leads him to the elevator.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who gives me feedback and support, you are amazing! :)