Now, I don't blame you if you wonder how in hell, Claire could beat someone when a whole group of superheroes failed to (except the obvious fact - he really doesn't want to hit her) so here's her explanation.
Still doesn't own anything. Is why it's posted as "fanfiction".
TapTap
Claire and Bruce were cooking together - Tony having once more disappeared into the depths of science - when Wayne got off a business call which had distracted him for the better part of an hour and joined them in the kitchen.
He watched her chop vegetable for a few minutes, a smile on his face, before he asked the question he couldn't very well avoid. "How did you do that?"
"You mean send you into the ropes in five seconds right after you beat up Captain America?" She grinned, and it only got wider as he laughed in response, and answered in the affirmative.
"You're a dirty fighter, full of tricks - much like Bucky. Steve fights clean, especially when sparring. He's used to being the biggest guy in the ring, too, and he knows how to use that to his advantage. It's not, not really, actually that helpful with you dirty cheaters, though." She gave him a wink, just to demonstrate how she didn't in any way hold that against him.
"I might be sparring with superheroes, but I'm still a small woman. I can learn how to swing, and I can knock somebody clean out if they teach me how, but I'm still just a petite person. I only get one shot - so I better make it count! And that's a much better strategy with guys who fight like you do, than Steve's simple confidence. He gives you plenty of chances to beat him, while I just go for it - because I can't afford to have a guy strike first: not in an actual fight, anyway. Plus you know, in a friendly sparring session, the heaviest fighter, the one with the most weight to put behind a blow, has a natural disadvantage - they're the ones needing to hold back."
"Using the circumstance and your limitations - as well as mine - to your advantage. Your teachers ought to be proud." Wayne smiled back at her, eyes warm, only to get a similar look right back.
"Right back at you!" And Claire winked.
"Did Wayne actually move in?" Natasha chuckled after Jarvis updated her and Pepper on what had happened overnight, during their date and up until the next afternoon.
"He stayed the night in a guestroom, ma'am," Jarvis answered, rather than Pepper.
Pepper chuckled, nodding her thanks to the AI but otherwise disregarding the reply. "Sounds much like it. Well, as long as he and Tony plays nice." She stepped away from her wardrobe and kissed her girlfriend. "Shall we check on Natalia before dinner? Unless of course you want to eat with the Avengers?"
"We could collect her and then eat," Natasha pointed out, kissing back, making Pepper laugh.
"That sounds good... but also makes me just a tad concerned," the business mogul joked, her eyes glittering.
"Nonsense. Black Widows eat their men, you know, not their young." Natasha corrected her with a tilted smirk, making Pepper blink in surprise. The former victim of the Red Room didn't normally joke about that sort of thing - maybe she indeed was putting all the blood entirely behind her, even in her subconscious. Having Natalia Maria had changed her, subtly, and all for the better.
"Right," Pepper found the lighthearted mood again, shaking off her epiphany, "my mistake. What was I thinking of - that's hamsters." They laughed together, hands still linked.
"Aren't you in the middle of cooking?" Bruce had turned up in Tony's combined garage and extra workshop, looking to double-check numbers, and the genius had suffered a sudden (and brief) bout of awareness of worldly matters.
"It's baking in the oven, Claire is supervising," Bruce assured him, pulling up the figures on the mainframe so that they could check it together.
"Can she even move one of those tins if it's needed?" Tony shook his head. "You really do cook for an army."
"I'd say that's almost literally true," Bruce shrugged, "and it's not like I mind. We've become family, and I savour it." He gave Tony a significant look. "As much as you do, I'd say." He could read the acquiescence in his science bros eyes. "Anyway, Wayne is there to assist her. He is still following her around like a particularly devoted puppy." Bruce managed to say as much without once sounding judgemental or unkind.
"We should organise some contract signings while he's in the house. I bet there's a bunch of stuff that requires both our signatures - there always is. I might even tell Pepper as much. She'd like it," Tony sighed, but he didn't sound as displeased as he probably hoped to. Bruce smiled, somewhat wistfully.
"She's growing up so fast. I know that's a ridiculous thing to say about a grown woman, but she's uniting us. And we probably don't need the extra help any more - but it'll still be a heavy day when she leaves."
Tony looked at him sharply. "She won't abandon us! She's family! Like you all are..." he muttered as an afterthought.
"Agreed. But she won't live here anymore." Bruce's voice was measured and calm, and just a little bit sad.
"All the better," Tony winked at him, immediately lifting the mood, "I get to gatecrash Wayne manor and wreck their plans!" They both chuckled, knowing full well he would - and Claire would see it coming - but then Tony spoke as if in sudden realisation. "You know, I do have a property up there. Maybe I should renovate it? I wanna be close to my grandkids!"
Bruce snorted, but he could see it too, the same thing the other two geniuses did, and Claire probably glimpsed, whatever she said. The pair made for rather a bright future, and they had the genius brains to prove it - or at least extrapolate until they could see all the wonderful details.
