Another one! Many thanks to my extremely patient beta, Nova.

I own nothing I didn't make myself (that is to say, very little in this one. Claire?) and I hope you enjoy!

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The first time Claire Thomas heard Tony Stark utter his famous catchfrase, "A Stark never go home with the same people they came with," it was with the addendum, "and we are classy as hell". It was in defense of a woman who had ditched her not-so-nice boyfriend at a party and went home with a nicer guy, and the billionaire had not let anybody call her trashy.

Claire had been in school for engineering, watching the clip on the news, and she could never have guessed at the time that a few short years later she'd be on his arm as he entered a high-society gala, much like the one she'd mostly ignored on her tv.

Naturally, on that dazzling night, it was already decided who she would go home with instead, as it obviously wouldn't be her father. Pepper had brought Natasha, and Steve had brought a reluctant Bucky, just for show. The former Winter Soldier had been driven home by Happy entirely according to plan, after only twenty minutes at the event.

So it was that Claire sat in a glittering bar, Captain America at her side, when Bruce Wayne suddenly dropped onto the stool next to hers. He ordered straight whiskey from the bartender, casual but not rude, and then turned to smile at her, all charm in his 20.000 dollar suit. "You know, your date never brings home the same woman he brings to anywhere..."

Clarie, dressed herself in a blue and ice-looking creation by a designer she'd never heard of but who clearly was very famous, smirked in reply. She knew this game. It might not be her game, but she saw her father play it often enough. So she just dropped her head casually towards the man now behind her and asked, "Does it look like I am abandoned by the men in my life? I'd say Captain America is plenty escort for anybody, wouldn't you?"

Laughing as he accepted his drink and rose, the millionaire genius responded, as warmly as it was playful, "Traded your superheroes, have you? Well, that's a worthy hobby if I ever saw one.."

With a wink, he was gone. And Claire went back to explaining watches with Alexa or Siri built in to her boomer brother.

Pepper had gone off to be the CEO of one of the world's most influential companies, Steve off just after to do some red carpet shots, leaving Natasha and Claire sitting in a sofa next to one another, listening to a circle of gossip more than participating.

They were both slightly lost as to whom most of the talk referred, neither being the type to read trash magazines, and they had both become almost bored enough to up and leave, when one woman in a terrible yellow dress turned to Claire and asked her randomly and very bluntly if she always checked that a man was a billionaire before she commited to dating him.

Choosing to make light of the stupid comment, Claire shugged and deadpanned, "Oh, I could never date a billionaire! Can you just imagine what sort of pissing match he and Tony would get in to?!"

"You could date Stark..." another woman, dressed in deep blue and way too many crystals stated much too eagerly, clearly hungry for insights into a relationship that had confused much of mainstream media for months; to say nothing of the blogosphere and social media.

Claire's look in reaction to this suggestion was absolutely, in every way response enough for anybody, and it might have been just as well, because she had no time to give any verbal reply.

That was, before Bruce Wayne cut in, leaning attactively towards a nearby pillar and for all the world looking like he had just stepped out of his latest GQ shoot. "You know, Tony and I have had all possible pissing matches we could have by now. We even woke up by his Malibu pool once, only half dressed. Well, he was next to the pool. I was mostly in it..."

The women around them - not counting the Black Widow, naturally - looked ready to swoon or combust with the revealed gossip, but Claire laughed. "You know, Wayne, that sneaky lounging tactic isn't a very novel approach either!"

Smiling widely, the not-so-much playboy, billionaire genius came to sit at the armrest next to the engineer. "Well, at least Tony isn't here to score me on creativity this time. Though I see you've got your traditional dual superhero escort." He looked from the unmoving Natasha, to the thunderously glaring Steve behind him.

Claire merely smirked smugly in response.