4: The One With The House

All Clint knew was that he woke up early (6 am) one bright and sunny morning to Tony's grin…which was always a worrying thing. So he got dressed before letting (not that he had a choice) Tony drag him downstairs and push him into the passenger seat of his white and black Audi R8 Spyder. Barely a word was said and they were pulling up in front of an SI jet plane less than half an hour later. Like a perfect gentleman, Tony opened Clint's door before bouncing up the steps to get inside the plane; the archer still had no clue what was going on and could only shake his head utterly baffled with a hint of exasperation as he followed his unofficial partner and took a seat opposite him. Then the plane was taking off.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on or am I going to have to wait?"

"You're going to have to wait," the genius answered with a cheeky grin that only made Clint fall harder for Tony -wait, what?

"You know," Clint started, subtly shaking his head to clear his mind of his almost love confession -even if it was only in his head, it still counted… "this could be classed as 'kidnapping'."

"Would you like me to tie you up? Leave you at my mercy?" Tony replied, his voice dropping as it became soft yet husky, his eyes filling with lust as his lips stretched into the smirk that always made Clint shift in his seat,

"Kinky,"

"Later," Tony replied with a grin and Clint could only sigh in disappointment at being denied before he reciprocated the grin.

—LINE BREAK—

About five hours and a half had passed before the plane descended and landed; within that time Tony and Clint had…well, been passing the time by enjoying the luxurious opportunity of having a bed on a private plane. Tony's 'later' hadn't been that much later after all.

Outside in the fresh air, Clint noted that it was even warmer here than in New York. There was another car of Tony's waiting just a bit away from them, which they promptly got settled in. It was the billionaire's red and black Acura NSX. Clint realised faintly as they left the compound they had landed in that they were in the City of Angels and as he realised this, he shook his head; talk about spontaneity, Tony had flown them from New York to California and Clint still didn't know why.

With the car's roof down and AC/DC blasting loudly through the car, the pair sang along obnoxiously; Clint could smell the salty ocean as the sunshine hit them and the wind ruffled his hair as they sped down the interstate, every so often Tony went faster than he should and Clint only cheered him on. Soon, the archer realised they were exiting Santa Monica, clearly, the city wasn't their stop as they continued on through. He shortly noticed a new sign as they drove down the Pacific Coast Highway and a thought crossed through his mind.

"Are we going to your Malibu house?" He shouted over the music and wind, "has it been rebuilt?"

"Nope!" Tony shouted back cheerfully, "still trying to pass that through, having a hard time, though, 'cause the cliff isn't really stable. Not to say it was before, the erosion was getting pretty bad before it got blown up. It's in a pretty shit condition and Pep doesn't want me to rebuild."

"Well that's because the last time she was there, the place got bombed, she almost died and everyone ended up thinking you were dead as you went down with the house. Now with the cliff being unstable, can you really blame her for not wanting you back there?" Clint somewhat argued back, the whole Mandarin situation still upset him (and the rest of the team) because it really did seem to be the end of Tony Stark; said man wasn't sure how to respond so he shrugged and stayed silent on the matter.

—LINE BREAK—

The car came to a stop in front of electric dual-entry gates; they opened with a flourish before revealing a dramatically lit driveway that led up to a very modern looking house, it was all very fitting of Tony Stark. After taking in the sight before him, Clint turned back to Tony, who had been watching him almost as though he was searching for something in his reaction. Neither said a word as the car started again and drove up the driveway allowing the archer to take in the front of the house before it stopped in front of the door.

"Mi casa es su casa," Tony stated as he walked up to the door and opening it, "literally."

"Tony, what…what's going on?"

"Let's just go inside and have a look around, okay?" Clint said nothing as they entered; he had a bad feeling growing in his stomach and it wasn't from the burrito's he ate the night before, something was happening and he didn't know what it was but it related to the house that he was annoyed to find that he simply loved; it was hard to not love a house that looked out onto the coastline, had it's own private man-made beach right by the outdoor infinity pool, it had just over 17 acres, another pool that overlooked the ocean, Hell it even had a pizza oven and that was just on the outside! Inside it had a jacuzzi, a home theatre, a fully stocked wine cellar, a gym and even a billiards room, of course, that was only some of the features.

It was a lot to take in and Clint found himself standing on the balcony looking out at the shining ocean that was moving gently under the sun's glow. It was about two in the afternoon…or rather it would be if they were still in New York, considering the time difference, it was around 11 am and Clint had been left in suspense for too long, he was tired, the time difference annoying him and impatient as he waited for the man beside him to start explaining things.

—LINE BREAK—

"So what do you think? Love it? Like it? Hate it?"

"It's beautiful, Tony, but why are we here?" Clint replied unable to withhold the exhaustion that was so clear in his voice,

"It's yours," came Tony's blunt and uncontrollably excited answer. Clint's eyes snapped over to where the genius was grinning madly at him, his back straightening and tensing as his hands gripped the balcony barrier tightly, his knuckles whitening.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, you do need to sign some documents and the deeds and shit to put your name on the house and all, but this is your new slash second slash beach slash holiday home!"

"Why?" His voice was tight with barely controlled anger,

"Hmm? I remember you mentioning something about loving the beach and wanting one on the doorstep of your home…so voila." Tony began to realise that Clint was angry so his tone was a bit shyer as he spoke,

"Why the fuck would you buy me a house?" Tony's eyes widened at the force of Clint's rage,

"I just-"

"You don't get it! When I said I wanted a house by the beach, I didn't want you to buy me it. God, you can't just buy people houses -you can't buy people."

"I know you can't buy people, who do you think I am?" Tony shouted back, disgust clear across his face at the implications,

"I didn't mean it like that, Tony," the archer replied exasperated,

"And I was just trying to do something nice."

"Yet you are shoving your money in my face. All you've been doing is rubbing it in that you have money, well boo-freaking-whoo, I don't care that you have money. This-" he waved his arms about madly, "-is too much. It's ridiculous. You are honestly an idiot for thinking I would want a house from you." He turned on his heel and stormed out of the house, Tony followed moments later to find him angrily leaning against the door of the car after having tried to get in only to find the car locked. The genius unlocked it and they got in. Doors slamming in anger.

—LINE BREAK—

They drove back to LAX in silence; boarded the private jet without a word. Five and a half hours passed with only the sound of the plane to accompany them as they refused to look or sit near each other or rather Clint was refusing to acknowledge Tony as the genius kept glancing over to the archer that was silently stewing in his rage.

By the time they arrived at the tower, it was 8 pm in New York. Clint stormed out of the car before it had stopped moving and was gone before Tony could even call for him. The genius stayed sitting in his car, he didn't want to move and he didn't know what to do. Everything he had done, with the best of intentions, seemed to backfire.

"Clint?" He called as he turned his head to the passenger seat as he heard the door open, but it wasn't the person he had hoped for.

"Want to tell me why you've been moping in here for almost four hours?" It was Natasha, she had a gentle smile on her face as she took in the pale and sad genius' appearance,

"I bought Clint a house."

"I got that much; he stormed in and I went to see what was wrong, found him cursing up a storm when he found out how much the place cost."

"I…it was only $50 million…"

"To a billionaire, I suppose that isn't much, but Tony none of us except you and Thor have had money. We have all had moments in our life where we haven't had enough money, some of us have even been homeless. It's…it's lovely what you're doing for him, but he doesn't want your money." She murmured softly, holding his hand comfortingly, "if you want to get him something, maybe try something that's closer to you, closer to home. Something personal and with meaning."

"Thank you, Nat," he said looking away in thought as they got out of the car, it was past midnight and they were both tired so they quickly went their separate ways.

—LINE BREAK—

Tony was happy to find Clint in their bed as he quietly got into his pyjamas and snuck under the duvet. He was lulled to sleep quickly, never realising that Clint was still awake and lost in thought as he stared at the short genius, his mind swimming with thoughts.

Here's my Tumblr if you're interested, it also has the story collages: anxious- - -soul (no spaces between the dashes, this site sucks and wouldn't allow them without spaces).

Anyway,
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