If being confined to the tower for four days had been torture, being confined to her bed was definitely hell. There was only so much daytime television and reruns she could watch before the glock sitting by her bed started to look very friendly. Clint had been an absolute saint, staying with her for hours and talking, or playing board games, but one more game of Candyland, Guess Who or Cluedo might just send her mad and force her to do something dramatic. She briefly envisioned setting the Candyland board on fire, a tiny smile crossing her face.

"Morning."

Her green eyes flicked away from the matches on her dresser to Clint, who stood in the doorway. If she was being honest, he looked like crap. If she was being nice, he looked a little tired. And sore, and bruised, and stiff. He really did look like crap. "Good morning."

"Any plans for today? We could pla-"

"If you suggest we play Cluedo again, I will eviscerate you." She gave him the most cheerful grin she could and was pleased to see him return it.

"Not my fault Stark hasn't got any decent games, Tash."

"But he does have decent ideas!" The man himself appeared, pushing past Clint and entering the room with a bag in hand. His face had been painted white, dark circles around his eyes and dark lines imitating a skull's mouth around his lips. Natasha and Clint both stared at him in disbelief and prepared themselves for a few minutes of Stark-related hyperactivity and insanity.

"Happy Halloween!" He plunged his hand into the bag and pulled out a green felt hat, placing it atop Clint's head where it perched precariously, a feather dangling into his eye. Natasha silently applauded him on his ability to keep a straight face and to not have broken several of Tony's toes yet.

"Tony-"

"You're Robin Hood, Legolas, get your bow. You don't need a costume, Natasha, you're already a mummy."

He grinned at her, his hand searching through the bag once more. Her eyes narrowed, looking over her bandaged arms and middle. They'd shaved a large patch of her hair off for the surgery, leaving her with only half a head of red curls. The other half was also tightly bandaged, with only a stitch or two visible. She frowned, confused, as Tony pulled out a handful of movies on DVD. "Uh, Tony-"

"You can't leave your bed. We bring Halloween up here to you. There's a party tonight, by the way, I'm going to see if Bruce can get you downstairs for it."

"I'm a physicist, Tony, not a medical doctor. I can't-"

Tony shushed Bruce as he appeared, handing him a hat with antlers on it. Bruce surveyed the hat and looked over to Tasha and Clint, quirking an eyebrow with the unspoken question of what the hell is Stark doing this time? Clint just shook his head with an apologetic shrug, trying to hide his grin. For all his antics, Tony had actually had a fairly decent idea. Bruce frowned, and put the hat on with a shrug. He was pretty sure Pepper had forbidden Tony from being up here while Natasha was healing, but Pepper was at a business meeting. And, he thought rather dubiously, what Pepper didn't know about wouldn't anger her.

Tony took his pile of movies to the television, calling for JARVIS to "get Steve up here, pronto." Clint took a spot beside Natasha on the bed, settling in and stealing one of her many pillows. They both looked up as Tony swore at the TV, whacking it with the back of one hand. The room filled with laughter as the man then clutched at his knuckles, giving the television a mean glare. The glare turned to the two spies and the physicist, who had taken a seat on the floor and was still laughing even after the others had stopped.

Muttering a couple of choice words, Tony crawled over and flopped down beside Bruce, handing him the remote. As Steve arrived, Nightmare Before Christmas began to play on the screen.

"Captain! Pull up a chair, we're having a Tim Burton marathon, well not really just Tim Burton, but mostly it's Burton and also that other guy who wrote the books about-"

Bruce shut Tony up by clapping a hand over his mouth, holding up a couple of the movies. Steve stared at their strange hats and the inventor's made-up face. Clint threw his at Steve's face and told him to sit down and shut up, rolling his eyes and pulling Natasha close. With a shrug, he sat beside Tony and they remained quiet for quite a while, watching the movies in relative silence.

Steve was quick to regret his decision of sitting beside Tony. For one thing, he fell asleep partway through the second movie - something called Sleepy Hollow - and his head dropped onto Steve's shoulder, leaving a smear of black and white facepaint. Around the third movie, a weird one about people with buttons for eyes, Clint and the now-conscious Tony began a popcorn fight which rose to physical violence as they lunged at each other, the bowl being knocked aside and showering him in popcorn in the process. Steve suffered in silence, allowing Tasha to photograph him with the bowl on his head. He was glad to see a smile back on her face.

The movies lay forgotten as Bruce separated the men. Clint had gotten Tony in a headlock and was being pushed by the inventor's hands, his feet rather painfully being kicked at. They were all glad to see Natasha actually laughing properly, looking better than she had in days, so Bruce allowed the fight to continue for another couple of minutes before separating them once more. Tony flounced off to the corner and sat down with his arms folded, but even the makeup couldn't hide the smile on his face. Tasha smiled and asked him, her tone matching the mischievous grin on her face, if he thought he could paint Steve's face as well as his own.

A moment of silence passed before Bruce and Clint were pinning a struggling Steve down. Tony produced a paintbrush and approached with a wicked grin, enjoying this far too much.

Steve's rather loud protests were ignored, outside of Tony barking at him to "keep still, Rogers, this is hard enough to do without you trying to run away!"

"I can't exactly run away with Clint sitting on my feet."

Clint grinned, waving up at Natasha as she started to snap pictures on his iPhone. She flinched for just a half second, one hand reaching up to touch her sore ribs, but it wasn't enough to stop her from laughing. When Pepper walked in five minutes later, this was how she found them; her boyfriend straddling Steve and painting his face, with Bruce holding Steve's arms tightly above his head, and the archer sprawled across Steve's legs. She froze in the doorway, staring at them with an incredulous look on her face. Bruce looked up guiltily as Clint struggled to sit up, laughing too hard to do so.

"Pepper, I swear, this isn't what it looks like...what does it look like?"

She ignored Tony's question, crossing her arms. "Everybody out. Natasha is supposed to be resting, not laughing at you idiots!"

"But-"

"Out!"

The four men filed out past her, trying to look solemn. Tony opened his mouth to ask if he could stop and get his DVDs, but promptly closed it at the look on her face. Pepper glared at their retreating backs before turning back to Natasha with a grin.

"That got rid of them. Want to watch the Princess Diaries or rest for a while?"

She chose the Princess Diaries, but within minutes Natasha was asleep, a tired smile still on her face.