Author's Note: So – this was gonna be the last chapter but a) it hit over 1800 words and it's nowhere near done and b) it's been a while since I've posted. So there will be a chapter 22. Woo hoo. (By the way – I wrote a large chunk of this on my phone while at the garage waiting for my car to be serviced so if I have missed any predictive text typos (I did notice an "army" instead of "brow" – took me a moment to figure out what the hell that was about!) I apologise profusely.
Disclaimer: Don't have anything to do with Marvel and their wonderful play-land of creations … sigh…
Knowledge
Steve sat in the large chair by his bookcase, the same chair into which he had pulled Clint the night before. When the soldier had first moved into his rooms he had rolled his eyes at the size of the furniture Tony had lavished his floor with but as he had sunk into the large cushions with Clint Steve had to say he no longer had any complaints. The two avengers had talked and talked and… kissed… until the archer had finally fallen asleep, exhausted from his SHIELD mission. Steve leant his head against the back of the chair as his gaze lingered on the archer sleeping soundly on his bed – carefully laid down there the night before – unable to keep the smile from lingering on his lips.
The smile widened as the figure on the bed stirred. Blearily Clint's eyes blinked open, darting around quickly as he found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. His expression settled as his gaze fell upon Steve, a sheepish smile taking over his lips instead.
"Morning…" he offered tiredly, stretching his rested limbs, pulling himself into a seating position. Steve returned a warm smile, leaning forward in his seat.
"Good morning," he replied. Clint rubbed at his face, swinging his legs off the bed to face Steve.
"I'm sorry," he apologised, pulling a face. "You should have woken me."
"Nonsense," the soldier clambered to his feet and made his way toward the bed, sitting down carefully next to the archer. "You spent two days up a tree – you clearly needed the sleep."
"Yeah but…" the objection was cut off by Steve's lips softly claiming his. A sheepish grin pulled on the soldier's lips as he pulled back.
"Good morning," he smiled. Clint chuckled quietly.
"You said that already," he commented, leaning in for another kiss, running his fingers into the soldier's hair. "And here was me thinking you'd come to your senses by morning."
Steve frowned slightly.
"I told you - I have," he leant forward for another kiss, hoping it would be convincing. Clint's eyebrow arched.
"You know SHIELD have got highly trained shrinks, maybe you sh..." the archer chuckled, lips breaking into a grin as Steve punched him lightly on the arm. Running a hand down Clint's arm Steve's face grew solemn.
"I am sorry. The way I've behaved the last..."
"You said all that last night!" Clint interrupted.
"I know but..." this time it was Clint's lips cutting off Steve's objections. The soldier laughed quietly as they parted, giving a single nod of agreement to cease his apologies. Indeed the night before he had explained everything to the archer, told him the full story like he had told Tony. Although Clint had widened his eyes at how long Steve had been hiding/fighting his feelings - and had outright screwed up his face when Steve mentioned believing he and Natasha had been a couple - the archer had been very understanding. He had blinked in surprise and even laughed quietly upon hearing that Tony and Bruce both already knew but again he had not been angry.
A brief silence fell as the two avengers sat on the edge of the bed, Steve's arm resting around Clint's back as Clint's fingers traced over the soldier's other arm.
"What time is it?"
Steve looked over his shoulder at the clock he was obscuring from Clint's view.
"Breakfast time," the soldier looked back to Clint. "I guess we should probably head down?"
"Yeah," Clint nodded in agreement, reluctantly pulling away from the other man, worrying his lips anxiously. "What about Tasha and Thor?"
Steve frowned slightly at the almost inaudible question.
"What about them?"
"Well they don't know about..." a hand was gestured loosely between the two. "Actually Tony and Bruce don't know anything has actually happened either so if you wanted to w..."
This time Steve's hand clamped over the archers mouth.
"They'll find out eventually - why not this morning?" he removed his hand from Clint's mouth, running his fingers through the archers hair instead. "I know I had a little freak out last night when I came to see you but I was fine when I was speaking to Bruce and Tony."
Clint smiled.
"Breakfast then?"
Steve nodded, climbing to his feet and pulling Clint to his.
"Breakfast."
x-x-x
Natasha's fingers drummed lazily on the table, her other hand wrapped around a hot mug of coffee she occasionally took a sip from. Bruce looked up from his paper.
"You think Tony's still grumbling?"
Natasha chuckled.
"Probably," she replied, rolling her eyes. Bruce glanced upward, silently wondering if and when they might have company for breakfast before returning his attention to his paper.
"Happy birthday doc!" a hearty slap on the back tore Bruce's attention away from the article he had become engrossed in. Turning round in his chair he found Clint standing behind him, with Steve standing in turn just behind the archer.
"Happy birthday Bruce," the soldier smiled.
"Thank you," the doctor returned the smile, glancing between the two. There was a brief pause - noticeable but not uncomfortable - before Steve turned toward Clint.
"Coffee?"
The archer nodded, taking a seat next to Natasha. The female turned toward him with an arched eyebrow.
"Well you two appear to have made your peace," she commented innocently although the gleam in her eyes was anything but.
"You could say that," the archer shrugged as Steve took the seat next to him on the opposite side of Natasha, laying the two mugs of coffee - courtesy of the JARVIS controlled coffee machine that knew each avengers particular tastes - down on the table before slipping a now free hand onto Clint's back, the archer turning slightly and leaning into the touch. Natasha chuckled, raising her mug in a sort of mock toast.
"Well it's about damned time," she stated flatly although her lips curled into a grin. Clint shrugged faintly as Steve dropped his head sheepishly.
"I am to blame for that," he admitted. Clint turned a warning look to the soldier, eyebrow raised pointedly. Upon receiving a smile of apology the archer turned back to the table, twisting slightly to rest his leg on the crossbar of Steve's chair, leaning more now toward the soldier. A faint frown pulled on Steve's brow as he looked past Clint to Natasha thoughtfully. "You don't seem too surprised."
Natasha smirked at the comment.
"I'm female," she shrugged absently. "Pepper knows too."
Steve's eyes widened slightly but he smiled faintly.
"Was I the last to know?" Clint grumbled although his lips curled into a smile as he took a sip of his coffee. "So where is Tony?"
Natasha scoffed.
"He was last seen sulking off to his lab bitching about you two," she replied, reaching out for a pancake from the plate in the centre of the table.
"Bitching about us?" Clint too leant over the table, grabbing a small plate and a handful of pancakes and laying it between himself and Steve.
"Apparently all of his good advice and sensitivity was wasted last night since the elevator went up to your floor but then never went anywhere," Bruce explained. Clint glanced over his shoulder at Steve.
"Ok that one's my fault," he admitted. Steve chuckled.
"Well I did tell JARVIS not to let the elevator up to my floor," he pointed out. Clint's eyebrow arched, lips curling upward.
"Good point," he conceded. "Your fault then."
Not for the first time Steve punched the archer lightly on the arm, earning yet another chuckle. Before he could offer an actual reply however another voice boomed into the room from behind the two.
"Steve has confessed his own true feelings finally!" a strong hand slapped each onto Clint's left shoulder and Steve's right as Thor stepped up behind them. "This is a joyous day."
Behind the Norse god Jane rolled her eyes and gently led Thor away from the startled pair.
"Happy birthday doctor Banner," she smiled politely at Bruce.
"Please, call me Bruce," the doctor returned the smile. Thor's expression furrowed guiltily.
"Of course, I wish you the happiest of birthdays," it was Bruce's turn for a hearty slap on the back. The doctor chuckled.
"Thanks."
Thor grinned and turned toward the nearby counter, grin widening as he found a plate of freshly heated pop-tarts, courtesy of JARVIS.
"Miss Foster, what food and beverage would you care for?" the voice that the rest of the towers occupants were more than used to startled the scientist.
"Eh... just a white coffee thanks," she replied, blinking in surprise as a mug was lowered from the coffee maker.
"There's plenty pancakes over here if you'd like," Natasha pointed out. Jane returned a grateful smile, retrieving her coffee and making her way to the table. With everyone settled again Thor returned his attention to Clint and Steve.
"So when did this joyous turn of events transpire?" he asked before stuffing more pop tarts into his mouth.
"Last night," Clint admitted. Steve arched an eyebrow sheepishly.
"You'd already figured me out too huh?"
The blonde swallowed, picking up another tart.
"Loki told me you returned Clint's feelings," he replied, the tart in his hand disappearing into his mouth. Everyone's eyes widened - Steve looked purely surprised, Clint looked surprised with the usual anger that followed Loki's name, Bruce looked as surprised as Steve, Natasha was both surprised and somewhat amused while Jane looked at her boyfriend in mild horror.
"Loki what?" Clint snapped. Thor looked over at the two guiltily before looking to Jane who simply arched an eyebrow pointedly. Clearly the couple had discussed this matter.
"I was chastising my brother for what he did to you," Thor gestured toward Clint. "After he specifically told Steve it was he who had your affection. He eventually snapped that he knew not what the problem was since Steve returned your feelings."
Clint scowled, arms crossing as Steve shifted slightly.
"Loki knew?"
"Loki knows everything," Clint grumbled, shoving some pancake into his mouth. Thor offered the pair an apologetic smile.
"I am truly sorry I said nothing earlier," he said. "I discussed the conversation with Jane and she said it was best not to tell you."
Another horrified look was turned by said female toward her boyfriend.
"We want these guys to like me Thor!" she mumbled before looking over to Steve and Clint. "I'm sorry, from an outside view I thought it best that you worked things out yourselves."
Clint's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"You're right, being outed by Loki is not fun," the archer admitted, looking back to Steve again, managing a faint smile. Steve returned the smile, squeezing his knee gently. Thor smiled in relief and returned his attention to breakfast.
"So is everything ready for this awesome party Tony promised?" Clint asked. Natasha scoffed.
"Pepper has everything under control - except Tony," the female assassin smirked. "He's your responsibility," her eyebrow arched "Whenever he decides to show up."