A/N: As usual please read and review. Thanks to everyone who had already review, favourite and followed this story, you guys are the best. So just keep reading I guess and enjoy it.
"Ok I'll admit it," Natasha spoke with her eyes closed. "This is relaxing."
Both Pepper and Natasha lay side by side in a brightly lit room wearing white dressing gowns and towels around their hair keeping it in place. Women in white outfits worked on their nails. It was the first time in years Natasha had felt she could actually relax. Looking over at Pepper, she saw the other woman was just as content as she was.
"I know," Pepper agreed. "This is where I come when I need a break from all of it. Working for Tony is a lot more stressful than you think."
"On no I can imagine it's stressful," Natasha had no doubts about that. "Remember I did it once."
After a moment Pepper spoke. "What do you think the others are doing?"
"They're probably just sitting around, bored silly," Natasha replied with a smirk beginning to form at the corners of her mouth.
"How fascinating" Thor remarked with his face pressed against the glass of the Apple Store they were walking past. One of the shop assistants spotted him and jumped about a foot in the air. He pointed at an iPhone that was sitting on display in the window "I recognise this piece of technology."
"That's an iPhone," Clint sighed. "You've probably seen Jane using one."
"It closely resembles an archaic form of technology that was used on Asgard many years ago," Thor stated as he continued to stare at it. "But why do you call it an iPhone, is there an eye attached to it. That really would be a strange thing to place on a phone."
"All handheld electronic Apple devices have an I on the front of their name, iPhone, iPad and iPod," Clint explained in annoyance as he walked to Thor's side. "I don't know why they do that, ask Tony when we get back to the Tower he probably knows."
Steve came over to stand on Clint's other side and also stared at the device in wonder. "So you're telling me that's a phone? That's remarkable, it's small enough to fit in my pocket, now that's useful," Steve remarked as he looked over the device.
"Yes it's very fascinating," Clint said in a flat voice as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"If you don't mind Agent Barton I'd like to have a closer look at the phone, Tony keeps telling me I need to get acquainted with modern technology," Steve was at least decent enough to ask permission unlike Thor who had barrelled into the store and had already begun messing around with an iPad mini, which looked like a small piece of plastic in his large hands.
"You know what, go right ahead," Clint gave up and gestured towards the door of the Apple Store. "Have fun and knock yourself out. Just be careful not to break anything."
"Break anything?" Steve repeated as the two men walked side by side into the store and towards the iPhone on display. "Why would I break anything?"
"Not on purpose I know that, I'm just telling you to be careful," Clint winced as the Captain picked up the iPhone is one hand and held it up to his face, turning it on strange angles so he could inspect it properly. "Those things break really easily, if that thing hits the ground it will shatter."
Steve stopped where he stood and slowly placed the iPhone back onto the stand. "You mean to tell me that if I drop that phone it will instantly break?" Steve looked at him seriously, causing Clint to become confused and hesitate with his answer.
"Uh...yes," Clint replied.
"Well that's ridiculous," Steve scoffed. "You make a small portable phone with many capabilities, but if you drop it then that's it the phone is gone. What if someone is clumsy, or they do a lot of running and the phone falls out of their pocket. I thought future technology was supposed to be sophisticated, not pointless."
"Uhh," Clint started, but the Captain had not finished.
"The future has got some wonderful things in it, I mean the medical care is beyond spectacular but Howard Stark promised us hover cars by the 1960s. Innocent people are being killed regularly and all today's media does is shrug and brush it off as a normal occurrence. I don't know how something can be both miraculous and disappointing at the same time."
"You done?" Clint inquired after the Captain had fallen silent.
"Sorry about that," he apologised as he motioned to the Apple store he was standing in. "It's just, not what I was expecting you know."
"Don't worry about it Cap," Clint sympathised as he clapped him on the back. "The future is disappointing for everyone, believe me."
Meanwhile over by the Mac computers Thor was causing problems. In the time it had taken for Clint and the Captain to have their conversation, Thor had taken apart a computer and after inspecting how it worked, began trying to educate the Apple Geniuses on how they could make the computer operate better. However the staff of the Apple store were doing nothing but freak out. Obviously a demigod damaging their stock wasn't a situation they knew how to handle.
Once Clint saw this, he groaned. "I should be getting paid for this," he muttered to himself. He approached Thor swiftly and took one look at the hard drive in his right hand and the computer monitor in the other hand, before glaring at him. "What are you doing Thor?" He demanded.
"I'm demonstrating to these people how they could make this item smaller while still retaining all of its capabilities," Thor explained like it was no big deal, and handed the monitor to Clint, who took it whilst stone faced. Thor then held up an iPod touch he had nearby. "I was also suggesting ways they could make these screens more durable. The material they're using for them now are very delicate, a design fault I'm sure, no individual would create something as easily damaged as these. Even with your primitive technology."
"It's not a design fault Thor, they really are made like that on purpose," Clint was sure that the lady on the phone wearing an Apple Genius name-tag was calling the mall police. "Speaking of damaging things, you've upset the staff by ripping apart a perfectly good MacBook Pro. Now can we please leave before we get arrested for being public nuisances."
"I did not destroy it Agent Barton, I merely dismantled it. I will return it back to what it was," Thor promised. He looked to the staff and nodded at them apologetically. "I really am sorry if I upset anyone."
Slowly the lady put the phone back down as Thor began piecing the computer back together. Within a minute it looked like it had just rolled out of the construction factory, he handed it back to an open-mouthed store attendant who silently placed it back on display.
"Ok then how about we move onto another store now," Clint began to move them away and out of the store before any more damage could be done.
"They really should be regulating the internet for free," Steve shook his head as they moved away. "I can't believe people have to pay for something that is technically classified as a necessity. It's like paying to hear The President talk."
"Just forget it, it's not important," Clint told him. "We're just here to buy clothes."
"Very well," Thor was happy just to wander around and look at everything. "Which market stall shall we pay a visit to next?"
"Wherever you want to go, Tony wasn't really specific about what he wanted us to do, he just told me to take you guys out and have fun," Clint dodged a woman with a pram that nearly barrelled into him while talking on the phone. "Just be warned that it can get a bit chaotic sometimes."
"How many stores are there in this one building?" Steve asked.
"Lots," Clint replied. "That's another thing about the future Cap, they always try to fit as much as they can into the smallest space possible. Which is great, unless you have claustrophobia, then I would recommend moving away from the cities."
They walked for another minute or so until Steve came to a halt in front of a shop. "What about this once?" He asked as he looked at the clothes shop.
"Sure why not," Clint shrugged.
Steve selected some clothes and bought them, courtesy of Tony's credit card, Thor had gotten some looks but didn't purchase anything. However once they exited the shop they saw that the store next to them was in fact a comic book store, and inside said comic book store were five teenage girls whose eyes snapped immediately to Steve.
Clint saw a couple of them mouth 'Captain America' as they stared out the window while clutching comic books like precious objects. As he saw the girls move to the door Clint sighed. "Oh dear."
They came outside and thankfully the worst did not come to pass, they didn't ask for anything really extreme from any of them. For fan girls they were pretty decent, a couple of them were too shy to approach. Most of them wanted pictures and autographs from the Captain, although one of them was looking at Thor like he really was a god.
As they moved away from the fan girls Clint sighed in relief. "So where to next boys," he turned, but there was no one there. He looked left to right quickly and then used his superior sight to scan his surroundings. Nothing, they must've turned a corner.
He had done it.
Clint Barton had lost Captain America and Thor in a shopping centre.
Somehow while walking they had both wandered off without Clint noticing. Of course the simple solution would be for Clint to go to the management office and check the security cameras. However when Clint realised they were gone, he panicked and didn't want to get in trouble off Fury or Natasha.
So instead he ran around the shopping centre looking for them in every store he passed.
After half an hour he was ready to fire and arrow at something, anything. Until he heard a scream coming from nearby and groaned in annoyance.
"Can't I catch one break?" he asked no one in particular before rushing off.
He ran past a corner and was almost knocked to the side by a man running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Chasing after the man was Captain America and Thor. With a closer look back at the man Clint realised that he was actually a thief due to the fact that he was running with a woman's handbag.
"Why did you not bring your mighty shield?" Thor yelled at Steve as they ran past the stunned archer.
"Why didn't you bring your hammer?" Steve shouted back.
Back at the spa Natasha sat in a chair with her hair dipped back into water, it was being washed by a very hot spa stylist that had been giving Natasha a look ever since she had walked into the room. Of course Natasha didn't particularly care about him, but there was definitely no harm in looking. Natasha kept an eye on him as he stroked his fingers through her hair.
Life was good.
If Clint Barton knew that his role as an Avenger involved chasing Thor and Captain America through a shopping centre while they tried to stop a thief, he would've had seconds thoughts about joining the Avengers. He'd only joined the superhero team on the spot because of three reasons. 1. He wanted revenge on the bastard Loki who took over his brain and made him betray SHIELD. 2. He wanted to help people and save New York, and 3. He could never say no to Natasha Romanoff.
Ever since he first made the decision not to pull the trigger Clint had known he'd made the right choice. Natasha however, was one of the most manipulative people he knew. Also one of the best fighters. So as he chased after the Norse God of Thunder and a soldier from WWII, he couldn't help thinking how much he really wanted Natasha to be there so she could kick everyone's butt.
It was Steve that caught up to the thief first.
He managed to throw himself at him and knock him flat to the ground. Thor then pulled the man out from underneath the Super Soldier and plucked the handbag out of the man's hand. Then he head butted him and dropped the man out of his grip. He fell to the ground unconscious and Thor handed the handbag back to the stunned woman it had belonged to, who had finally managed to catch up with them.
"Whatever happened to not drawing attention to ourselves?" Clint asked as the crowd around them grew bigger and the mall cops arrived and dragged the unconscious thief off.
Just at that moment the same girls that had ambushed Steve outside the comic book store, rushed forward in an excited swarm and gathered around them screaming and making a big deal out of it. They weren't so calm anymore.
"Great now the fangirls are here," Clint said bitterly, throwing his hands in the air.
After about 20 minutes Clint finally managed to escape the shopping centre with Steve and Thor. They had managed to get out before the press arrived which was the only bit of luck Clint had received all day. Steve looked stunned and flustered. Thor looked confident and obviously felt pleased with himself.
By the time they got back to the Tower, Pepper and Natasha, who had already returned from their trip to the spa, were talking to each other in the lounge room when Clint walked out of the elevator. He walked over without saying a word and collapsed next to Natasha.
Following him were Steve and Thor, both of them carrying shopping bags and talking to each other about the events of the day. The two women in the room stopped talking and looked at each other before smirking and turning to the boys.
Oh shit I am in for it Clint thought.
"So how did the shopping trip go?" Natasha asked them with a sideways glance at the archer.
"It was different," Steve replied.
"I believed it was most interesting," Thor said. "It was the most abundant and varied market place I ever saw. Myself and the Captain battled against a thief," he added after a moment of thinking.
"You did what?" Pepper asked.
"There was this guy who stole a woman's purse. So we chased him down and stopped him," Steve answered. "No big deal."
"If only I had been carrying Mjolnir, then I could've struck the thief with a mighty blow," Thor said. "But Stark told me I would not require it."
"Yeah we all know Tony's an idiot," Natasha waved him off then turned to Clint. "Where were you when all this went down?"
"Um…" Clint moved slightly further away from the master assassin.
"It was our fault Agent Romanoff, we wandered off," Steve quickly came to Clint's rescue.
Natasha didn't remove her eyes from Clint. "How long did it take you to find them?"
He muttered the answer and he saw her reach for the knife she always carried, strapped to her leg. "Half an hour," Clint spoke quickly to stop her from drawing the knife. Unfortunately it didn't work.
She jumped up so fast it was a red and black blur. Clint scrambled over the top of the couch and hid behind it fearfully. She got up on top of the couch and bent down close to his face. "You're telling me you, a master assassin, lost Captain America and a Demigod in a shopping centre and it took you half an hour to find them?" she demanded softly with her knife pressed against his throat.
"Natasha please don't. Imagine what Fury would say if you killed me. You might have to spend more time on leave," he tried to convince her.
She tilted her head and gave him that look that she gave him whenever she thought he was being an idiot. She removed the knife from his neck and slid off the top of the couch so she was sitting in the exact same spot she was before she attacked him. "Just making sure you were being honest."
Clint stood up and moved back to the couch, but sat on the opposite one from Natasha next to Steve who patted him on the shoulder sympathetically.
Pepper looked from assassin to assassin before managing to talk. "So Steve, what did you buy?" she asked, her voice strangely high pitched.
"Clothes," he replied.
There was an awkward silence. Pepper looked at her magazine, Thor and Steve both sat there and Natasha and Clint just stared at each other. Clint didn't want to look her in the eye but he did. She smirked at him and he returned her smirk with a sly grin. This meant that all was forgiven.
It had been hard to gain the trust of the Black Widow. Saving her life didn't help this at all, in fact it made her even less trusting of him. Eventually though he had got there in the end, and he was glad. He considered Natasha a friend, but there was no denying it. She was beautiful, intelligent and so many other things.
Ever since meeting the Black Widow he had been compromised. She had taken his heart thrown it around like it was a toy, and what was worse was that she had absolutely no idea. No idea of what he would do for her, no idea of how he felt about her.
Clint had never gotten his hopes up, not once. He knew there was no chance. His emotions towards Natasha were difficult to explain. It wasn't quite love, not really, but it was more than just a simple friendship and partnership. It never really concerned Clint, defining the nature of his emotion was not the most important thing.
Natasha was one of the five reasons Clint ever got up in the morning, romance of not, she would always be important to him.