A/N: A fair warning here, which I might not have given before and is applicable there too, this fic has not yet been edited and the characters will be a little OoC because I feel that this characteristics suit the characters in this story. If you feel uncomfortable with this version, then I am sorry.
Also, I do not own Marvel or Sherlock.
For once after a long time, John had a peaceful sleep without any interruptions from nightmares or any other calls. Maybe it was from the utter exhaustion or something but John had slept through dinner and night, a well deserved sleep anyone will say if they had met John.
The next morning, he again woke up to insistent knocking on the door and someone shaking him awake. "Just some more time please." muttered John, wanting to enjoy his peaceful sleep in a long time.
"John, it is 10 in the morning. You have slept for almost a full day. And Fury has called me to leave in an hour." Phil said, hating to wake up his brother from a peaceful sleep.
"Alright, alright. I'm up Phil. Just get out and I will be out in five." called out John sleepily as he got up and slowly dragged his feet to the bathroom. Exactly five minutes later, John came out, fully dressed and freshened up, totally ready for the day.
"So... no nightmares for once?" Phil asked. "It is a boon actually. A night without nightmares is very rare these days." John said as they moved to the kitchen. "So, you are leaving me with a pack of wolves and going to enjoy with your team?" John asked.
"Yup, unfortunately. Which reminds me... Fury contacted me yesterday to ask me to inform you that you are also going to be the team's handler along with me." Phil said and John groaned. "You are leaving me as the handler to this team!"
"Yes I am. Good luck with that. I would advise you to open you to open up soon though. Because they will really get impatient and you do know they also have trust issues, especially Tony and Natasha you know." Coulson said.
"I understand it brother but I am not ready to you know, say everything that has happened yet. It just... sometimes becomes too much to recollect." John confessed.
"I know John. But please at least tell Tony about that thing. As much as it is amusing, it is better you tell him before he calls him." Coulson said.
"Tea for you?" John asked as they entered the kitchen and Coulson just shook his head. "Oh hey Clint and Natasha... can I call you that?" John asked as he set out to make some tea.
Natasha gave him a nod acknowledgement while Cint gave him a chirpy hello. "So... Doctor Watson, hope you slept well" Natasha said. "I slept very well, thank you, the best sleep in a long while" John replied honestly.
"And as I was saying Phil, I think Tony can kind off figure it out. Maybe I will give him one clue. JARVIS, tell Tony that it is a secret." John said with a wink. "Oh! And I know that he definitely won't tell Tony and will be annoyed at the constant pestering." John said, completely ignoring the people at the table.
"Um... Oh hello there Clint, Natasha, Dr. Watson and Phil. Is that tea?" Bruce greeted as he entered the kitchen. "Hello Dr. Banner, please call me John. I was making tea for myself and I made some extra if you would like?" John asked as he poured the tea into cups.
"Oh I would love that. Thank you. Running on coffee sometimes doesn't help. And please call me Bruce." Bruce said as he accepted his cup. "Pulled up an all nighter I would believe?" John queried, taking in the tired eyes, the black circles around the eyes, something that he had noticed himself when he couldn't sleep.
"Yeah, I know I need to sleep and all but the project required my full attention." Bruce replied. "Oh not gonna pry but please head to sleep or I will gladly wrestle with even the Hulk to get you to sleep." threatened John, completely serious about the threat.
"And Bruce, don't even think that he is joking even though tone seems to be so. He will definitely do it and I am talking out of experience." Phil and Clint said in unison, which was a bit creepy.
"So... Can you tell us more about this tailor shop incident, I think Clint deliberately left out something and I am curious actually." Natasha confessed.
"The 'Tailor Shop Incident?' You didn't get any other name for it Clint?" John asked exasperatedly. Clint just shrugged and John sighed. "Well... I was walking around London and I heard a gunshot, rushed to the spot, found him bleeding, didn't have much medical supplies to stitch up the wound and so I took him to the tailor shop and patched him up." John said.
"And you did it with that injured hand which shakes all the time perfectly." Clint added, still in awe at the man. "Though I doubt that you are here only because you had lifted the hammer. And I got your clue and it did NOT help at all so please give a more informative clue." Tony deadpanned as he entered the room.
"Good morning to you too Tony and I have given you enough clues." John said with a cheeky smile, completely enjoying Tony's impatience. "As for the reason I'm here, I'm not willing to talk about it right now" John said uncomfortably.
Tony seemed to want to pry out more but everyone's look at him shut him up. "Where are Steve and Thor?" John asked. "Steve is probably out jogging while Thor went to Asgard regarding something, probably to report on your feat." Tony informed.
Coulson looked at his watch and sighed. "Regrettably I need to leave right now. I think I will be able to visit you as I am still your handler but I think John will be able to handle you much better than I did." Coulson said with a wink to John and waved before heading out.
"Great, just left me with a pack of wolves just like that." muttered John too loudly and Tony gasped and held his heart, looking a little hurt. "I am hurt John, thinking that we will pester you on everything." he said and John shook his head at Tony's antics.
"I know you have gone through a lot, especially after him but we all have also had our tough times." Clint said seriously. "I know Clint, that was totally me being annoyed at my dear brother for leaving me alone here with people I don't know much about, excluding you." John said at Clint's look.
"Ok everyone, I think we need to get back on track. What is John's time timetable here? Like all of us have specific times to do our daily chores and we all take turns but since John is here, I think he should also you know, participate in the team bonding and all." Tony mentioned.
"Good idea Tony. Hey there guys! Coulson left already?" Steve asked just returning from his jog. "Yeah. Fury was pressuring dear brother to leave this place soon and placed me as the team's handler without asking me it seems." John grumbled.
"Look at the bright side though. No annoying anonymous people to pry into our personal lives." Bruce comforted. "I guess that is true." John conceded. "Something is better than nothing. Want to spar now John?" Clint asked.
"Seriously Clint? Asking a doctor to spar with you?" Natasha asked, not able to believe what he was suggesting for a minute. "Trust me Nat, you will be surprised with what you will find." Clint said seriously as John accepted the offer.
Everyone curious, headed towards the gym to the sparing mat. "Any bets to be placed with Bruce as he is mediating this fight. State your side and let the match begin, strictly hand to hand combat, nothing more, nothing less." Clint declared as he removed his shirt for better mobility while John remained in his jumpers.
Both of them got into the sparing ring, testing out their limits and mobility range before getting into the ring. "Ready to lose John?" Clint asked with a smirk on his lips. "oh! Let's see who loses today birdy. You are soo going down." John taunted back as he waited for Clint to strike and he did strike, one solid punch to the gut, that was expertly stopped by John before giving back his own punch to the face, which was blocked and a kick to the leg, which hit the mark.
Clint fell to the ground and swiped John off his feet before he could do anything else and John quickly rolled back up, simultaneously giving Clint time to get back up on his feet. The next set of blows and kicks were kind of a blur, quickly given and equally fast blocks before John got lucky and quickly got Clint into a chokehold, causing him to accept defeat.
Everyone just sat there, blinking at the scene in front of them, Clint on the floor, held by a doctor in a chokehold, a spy defeated by a doctor. "Slacking in training Clint?" John asked with a smirk as he released the chokehold and held up his hand for him to get up.
"Well don't get this win over your head as you are so going down the next match. I was actually holding back on you." Clint said. "And I should believe you on that as this pretty boy, is the fifth continuous match you have lost with me and I don't train as much as you do. Keep up Clint." John said and Clint groaned.
"Who has won the bets here Bruce?" John asked. "I should say no one." Bruce confessed as everyone handed in their bid to John, who happily collected it. "That is some skill you have John. Are you sure you were not a spy?" Tony asked. "Being friends with two spies will do that to you. Had to know self defense." John said with a shrug, speaking half truths the whole time.
"JARVIS, you did record this right?" Natasha asked, with a mischievous look in her eyes. "I am going to regret this right?" Clint asked as he looked at Natasha. "I think very much bro. Have fun with that." John said as he headed to his room to wash up.
"Alright, this means that he has had combat training before, he is agile and quick, meaning you can literally say that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I mean, look at the way he fights! Granted that Clint isn't much good at hand to hand but he is decent to fight and defeat a civilian who had little to no training." Natasha said.
"My guess is that he is a spy or... maybe a soldier? Idk about that but seriously, he has some pretty good skills. And I noticed that you were avoiding to hit his shoulders even when it was completely undefended. Why is that?" Tony asked.
"Well... if I did so, the fight would've ended a lot sooner and you wouldn't have gotten a chance to see his full potential at fighting. And no, it is his story to share and not mine at all so do not pester me about it." Clint said firmly and went off to get cleaned up himself.
"So... that settles John's time table. He will be included in all the chores in the tower, an hour or two of training in the morning for him, and the rest, I don't know unless you guys have something for him to do?" Natasha asked.
"Maybe Thor will teach him all the Asgardian things later on some time must be allotted for it. Other than that, I don't know much about his interests, maybe sight seeing will help him pass time or books, interaction with the team will help to break trust issues I know we all have and lots of bonding." Clint decided and everyone agreed.
"I just want to know another clue for gods sake John! This is getting too much!" Tony said with a frustrated sigh. As if John had heard him all the way to his room, JARVIS said "Dr. Watson wanted me to convey that it is a secret known to very few and also said that you look cute when frustrated." JARVIS said, his voice filled with humour.
"John!" Tony let out a frustrated cry, pulling at his hair, causing everyone to laugh and Tony pouted. "Alright guys. Let me freshen up and prepare the lunch while you go do whatever you want to do till then" Steve ordered and everyone complied. "A secret known by few uh? That certainly brings it down a little." Tony later on mused as he headed towards the lab.
A/N: Yeah, I know that it is quite a late chapter and is not that much interesting but I've been busy for the past few weeks and managed to write it in the time had in between all the work I had. I promise to update the other books this week too mostly but it depends on the time I have.
Anyways, hope you all liked it! All editing will come later on so I think you might have to put up with this lame chapter for a while. All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated though.
Thank you all for reading!
Rasi10 singing off
Published on 19 October 2018