Chapter 3: Meet Happy Hogan

It was on one of their 'little trips into town' that Tony, Clint and Natasha met Happy Hogan for the first time.

They were without Phil that day because Fury had sent him on a longer mission again and so three took this opportunity to buy their Christmas presents that they wanted to give him. Tony had bought some parts to built a more compact and improved Taser, while Clint had bought him a Hawaii-shirt as a joke and Natasha a new book in which he could write into.

After they had done their shopping part, the crowd had somehow separated them.

Now Tony was trying to find them or his way back to HQ but to do that he first of all had to get out of the crowd, which was why he now tried to find a distinct building to get his bearing.

He turned into an alley to change streets but in the one he had chosen was a group of shady people. They were standing in a circle around someone and rotated in beating him up but their victim was at least trying not to go down without a fight. The man was in a boxing pose and had at least taken down one of these goons already before Tony had stepped into the alley.

One of the men kicked their victim in the back causing him to stumble to the ground.

"That's what you get for not losing that match as you had been told. Our boss lost a lot of money because of you." The man that had spoken raised a fist to hit the fallen man and Tony took the initiative. He cleared his throat to shift their attention to him. "Oi! What cha doing to that poor bloke?" Tony said in a perfectly imitated west Londoner accent – Tony loved it to play with accents.

The gangsters – which they definitely were – turned to him. "Go away boy, if you want to see the next day!"

A sly grin spread over his face as Tony mockingly said: "Oh? You sure about that mate?"

You could practically see the veins popping out on their foreheads and as they moved towards Tony, some of them cracked their knuckles others dragged their metal baseball bats over the ground – a way to intimidate that was definitely not working, especially since he had gotten this feeling where he knows that someone is watching him from the shadows.

The leader of that little group was standing now in front of him, staring down at him. "You asked for it kid." He raised his fist to hit him but before it could connect with Tony's face (which still had a smile on it) a small arrow pierced through the shoulder of the leader. He screamed like a butchered pig while his buddies looked around like headless chicken. Tony just grinned wider especially when he saw the boxer standing back up and directly taking on one of the guys closest to him.

Tony himself just sat back – well stood back – and watched, smug smile never leaving his face not even when some of the other thugs approached him he just sidestepped them and hit nerve spots that left them falling paralysed to the ground while the others were either taken down by an arrow in the leg or shocked by small electroshock darts.

Once the boxer had finished with the one guy and looked over to Tony who stood like a bastion of calm in a sea of unconscious bodies. The boxer gaped at him but quickly put himself together as he stepped closer to Tony. "Who…? How…?" stammered the man. Tony smiled softly at him as he held out his hand towards the man. "To answer your first question: the name's Tony, and secondly: I have my ways. Don't I guys?" Tony said seemingly to the air and then Clint and Natasha landed beside him (they had positioned themselves on the roof of one of the two old buildings that made the alley), startling the poor guy even more. "Uh… My name is Hogan, Happy Hogan. Thanks for your help." Clint exchanged a look with Tony and they both bursted out laughing while Natasha just shook her head at their antics with a smile tugging at the corner of her own lips. Meanwhile Happy Hogan looked slightly offended – he just didn't see what was so funny. Tony waved his hand as he tried to get himself back under control. "I'm… I'm sorry but was just: 'The name's Bond, James Bond' that it was just funny." The way how Tony imitated the quote made Happy smile too as he scratched his head. "Yeah, well now that you say it… But really: thanks for the help."

"No problem Hap. Couldn't just walk away when I saw that they were fighting in such an unfair way, especially not if it was because you didn't let yourself be controlled over your choices."

Happy looked surprised at that and instead of saying anything to that he asked instead: "Can I invite you to a coffee or something like that?" Tony exchanged a glance with the other two who still hadn't offered their names to Happy and finally said: "No thanks but we will walk you to a hospital where you can be checked over. You look a bit battered up and better safe than sorry. After that we have to part ways because our big brother is surely already back from his trip and searching for us."

"Oh, alright…" Just as Tony had said, they accompanied Happy to the nearest hospital but before they could walk away the boxer handed Tony a piece of paper with a mobile phone number. "Call whenever you need my help. I want to repay the favour." Tony just blinked in surprise. He was to dumbfounded to give a reply and the other two had to drag him away from the boxer. Natasha and Clint nodded in parting while Tony only weakly waved his hand in good-bye – no one outside of SHIELD had ever wanted to thank him for something (except for Edwin Jarvis, the old butler always had had kind words for Tony when he showed him his newest inventions to help the aging man).

Back in HQ Phil was really already waiting for them. "Had a nice trip into town?"

"Yeah. We met someone who needed help and he thanked us after we helped him. He was nice." Phil smiled slightly at his charge – he was happy that Tony could finally make connections to people outside from SHIELD even if they would only last for the day. "Well, you can tell me the details over a hot chocolate, what do three think?" His suggestion was made with beaming faces and together they made their way to Tony's room where they drank hot chocolate and ate cookies that Phil had bought on his way back from the mission.

On Christmas day, Phil was happily surprised to get the presents he did and had to hold back a loud laugh as he unpacked the Hawaii-shirt that Clint had bought him. He was delighted over the book Natasha gave him and the new Taser Tony had built for him was even tested that day on a few poor trainees that dared to piss off Phil on that day – to the great amusement of the others. Phil too had bought Clint, Natasha and Tony presents. Clint got a new string for his bow, Natasha a new gun and Tony got a pair of gloves that were perfect for when he used his throwing knives.

Together they had a wonderful Christmas and Tony even send Happy a message (that couldn't be traced back).

Years passed, and the group of four grew even closer over the years. Everything seemed fine, Tony had even halfway accepted never being a Stark again. Who needed a last name anyway if he had such great friends/ a great family?

But the happiness wasn't supposed to be constant…