A/N: This is more of another filler chapter, but the events of Iron Man 2 (and a little of Norton's Hulk plotline too) will start in the next one! Also, ahaha, it's been a time since I last updated this - let me know what you think!
It had taken only three weeks from the start of her online courses before Danny fell into an easy routine: Take notes on the video lectures, relearn the concepts she'd missed over the years, complete the assignments, bother the man in his workshop whenever she had questions. Danny felt overwhelmed in the beginning because the basic impressions of data structures and programming languages were way more advanced than she remembered from high school.
Tony, in contrast, had become adept at multitasking, giving her a hand even while juggling his own projects and running Stark Industries. "You know, I do have some pull at MIT," he said once, lasering something on his workbench. "The local online college thing is cute and all, but you'd really get more out of a university than what –"
"You are so not saying what I think you're saying." She turned to gawk at Tony, her brows jumping up on her forehead.
There was no doubt an Ivy League education would probably get her places – but she's also fifty shades of fucked up with a side of childhood trauma. Danny threw a look at Tony from the computer desk, pausing the coding she was in the middle of typing out.
Tony turned slightly in his stool, making a point to shrug. He raised a questioning brow in the blonde's direction. "What? I'm not wrong."
Danny scoffed, refocusing her attention to the screen. "I can get an MIT education if I wanted to," she said cheekily, stealing a glance down to her CSE notes and logging in a few more keystrokes. Not that MIT would want me, necessarily. She explained, "Some courses were opensourced online, but honestly, any university is a pipe dream with that forty thousand tuition floor, Tony. I think I'm good."
"Money's never a problem. Caltech isn't a bad runner-up either," he pressed, motioning for Dum-E to screw in a couple of bolts on his updated repulsor gauntlet.
If she didn't know any better, it almost sounded like Tony was trying to get rid of her all of the sudden. But he wouldn't do that. Right?
Danny already accepted the fact that the twenty-eight-year-old Clint that had come back into her life just last year was not the same sixteen-year-old Clint that she once knew. The twelve years of separation had definitely done their number on the Barton siblings, but they'd fallen into their old dynamic of roasting each other almost immediately. Danny had thought, too, that Clint would've told her enough to catch her up with his life, but she had been caught off-guard one day when she realized that wasn't the case.
It was somewhere in the beginning of February, when he'd taken her to the SHIELD office in Los Angeles for the organization's Index reassessment. Clint had stayed within view as the doctors ran their exams on her – full physical, stress tests, blood samplings, psych evals. It was only his presence that kept her anxiety at bay throughout it all (after The Workshop, she still hated doctors).
Danny had found Clint out in the halls after doing her x-rays, scrolling through a datapad with a firm look on his face. As she approached, she teased her brother, "Don't think too hard, your face would get stuck like that."
He ignored her, typing something out on the touch keyboard and not even acknowledging her presence. Confusion immediately filled her head.
"Um. So, the doctors said I was all good," she continued hesitantly. "You ready to leave?"
Still, her brother didn't even look in her direction.
"Clint," Danny called out, stepping closer to him. She nudged his combat boots with the toe of her sneakers, grabbing his attention.
His head jerked in surprise, a choked out "oh, shit, that went quick" escaping his lips. Clint's fingers passed over his earlobes, and Danny noticed for the first time that the devices he wore were definitely not Bluetooth comms. "Repeat that?" he said, brows raised.
"You… I don't know how I never –" Danny's brows furrowed together. Slightly surprised herself, she asked while simultaneously signing with her hands, "Since when were you deaf?"
Clint blinked at her with wide eyes. Incredulously, he questioned, "Hard of hearing, but… Since when did you know how to sign?"
The two of them spent the better part of the drive back to Tony's mansion in joyful enough moods, with Clint explaining how he'd developed the hearing loss ("Long sob story short, I was too close to one explosion too many") and Danny revealing how she'd learned ASL back before everything ("Your boyfr – hold on, you've had a boyfriend?" "Oh, please, you're hiding a family. Don't sound so surprised").
When they pulled around the ostentatious fountain in the SHIELD-issued SUV, Danny noticed Happy out front, standing at the driver's side door of his car. Clint stalled the vehicle just behind him, making eye contact with the man who stared back with a glare. Tony and Pepper exited the front door at that moment, their attention fully trained on the newcomers. The genius's face turned perplexed for a few seconds before he schooled his expression, whereas his assistant threw a smile in their direction.
"Danny, they don't all look very happy," Clint said lowly, turning to stare at his sister. "Didn't you tell them you were with me?"
She grinned sheepishly in return, letting out a nervous chuckle. "I, um… sort of haven't told anyone but Pepper about any of this. I mean – well – Tony knows some things, but I –" Danny stopped herself short, eyes flickering out of the SUV windshield as the woman in question waved them out.
"No way."
"Clint, they won't bite."
"Dunno. Stark's driver looks like he's about ready to chomp down on my leg."
"They won't bite much." The siblings exchanged glances; Clint was unamused while Danny sported an apologetic smile. He reluctantly shut off the engine with a heavy sigh.
When she stepped out of the car, the blonde immediately greeted the trio. "Glad I was able to catch you guys before you left. Where are you headed?"
"BOD meeting at headquarters," Tony answered almost cautiously, making it quite obvious that he was looking Clint up and down. "But that's not the question needing to be asked here, clearly. You know, I don't think we've –"
Pepper cut him off, asking, "Danny, how was your appointment?"
"It was –" She stopped short, turning to shoot her brother a look when he elbowed her in the side. Danny watched Clint's brows knit together for a moment, a quick I'll haunt you in your dreams if you tell her anything kind of look, before his face turned neutral. "A secret, I guess. Sorry."
"Just as well. I'm sure you can't get any safer than with the organization," Pepper said, smiling slightly. To the other Barton sibling, she greeted, "Clint, great to see you, as always. I'd ask you to stay for dinner, but we're actually –"
"Hold the phone. You're a first-name basis with this schmuck?" Tony shot out, talking about Clint like he wasn't standing right in front of him.
"Tony! That's so uncalled for, that's no way to talk to –"
Danny stared wide-eyed at Pepper and Tony, stealing confused glances at both her brother and Happy, who stood by looking just as incredulously. If the tone of shock and disgust in Tony's voice indicated anything… But there was no way he'd think –
"No, nuh-uh, time out." Tony raised his arms, mocking a T with his hands. Gesturing to Clint and Danny, he questioned, "Pep, you can't be seriously okay with this."
She shared a look with the other two before cocking her head at her boss. "I don't know, Tony, what's there not to be okay about?"
"What? Let's be real here for a second. Danny's twenty-years-old, for one, and you're the person always telling me to avoid picking up chicks outside of the seven year –"
"Hey, no no no, nope, okay, uh, gross," Danny interjected, grimacing. She jabbed a thumb toward Clint beside her, explaining quickly, "Before you go off the rails – Clint's my brother."
"Oh, ew!" Clint gasped after, the implication of their exchange finally hitting.
Pepper groaned and rolled her eyes, while Danny watched the kaleidoscope of emotions ripple over Tony's expressions. The expressions on his face went from one thing to the next literally in heartbeats' time: Shock, understanding, confusion, curiosity. Mostly curiosity.
Tony squinted at Clint for a moment, and there was a glint in his eyes that Danny recognized. "Interesting. That… that somehow makes less sense to me, but I do have questions –"
"That we don't have time for, unfortunately!" Happy cut in, raising his voice. He threw a pointed look in Tony's direction. "Unless, boss, you want to be even more late to the meeting."
"Those old farts can sit tight until I get there, Hogan, as always," Tony replied coolly, scrubbing his hands over his face. He sighed through his nose before sliding his shades over his eyes, brows furrowing. The genius poked Danny in the shoulder as he stepped by her, muttering, "You, me, and Pep are having a chat when I get back."
Danny was smart enough to not argue with that. "Drive safe," she said instead, her voice falling flat.
When Tony and Pepper returned hours later, their "chat" ended up being more of an "interrogation" than anything. Tony did indeed have questions, a lot of them, but none seemed to circle back more often than his question of, "So, are you going to go with him?"
"Like, leave here and figure out a living situation with my brother?" Danny inquired, trying to wrap her head around Tony's ask. She felt a frown tug at the corners of her mouth, and she immediately pressed her lips together in an attempt to hide it. Her gaze found Tony's for a second, searching. "I mean… it's not like I haven't thought about it. There's a lot that might need to get cleared with SHIELD, and Clint wouldn't necessarily be around because of his assignments, but – Tony, if you're asking that, did… did you want me to leave?"
Tony blinked once, mouth opening slightly before he closed it. "It would make sense, right? He's your family, and we're not – not that. I wouldn't mind some renewed quiet around here, and Pepper would –"
"Stop putting your foot in your mouth," Pepper said suddenly, "and quit throwing me under the bus. You know I'd rather keep her here than under SHIELD's supervision."
Danny beamed at that, a grin growing on her face. She turned to Tony again, brows rising up on her forehead. "I know my answer, Tony, so it's really up to you. Should I stay, or should I go?"
Tony met her eyeline, pursing his lips. In a hand-wavy, non-answer, he said, "Your room's well-lived in now, so… I think it'd be a waste to, you know, leave the place where you belong."
"Smooth, Tony, real smooth," Pepper muttered under her breath, brushing off non-existent dust from the front of her skirt. "Who wants dinner?"