A/N: HAVE SOME FLUFF!
[Chapter 17- "Secret Mission"]
"Alright, Loki," Tony squatted down to his level. Steve and Bruce bustled around in the background. Natasha was in the kitchen, and Thor was flying supplies up to the balcony from the ground floor. "I've got a super special secret mission for you!"
"Really?" The seven year old held Harry and Merlin close to his chest. The real kitten squirmed a little but settled down after a moment. "What is it?"
"I need you to do everything you can to keep Clint out of the common area, okay?"
"Even magic?" Loki eyed him warily.
"If it comes to that..." Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, go ahead. Knock yourself out. Just keep him away, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Alright, go, now, before he tries to come up here!"
Loki nodded and darted away.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Natasha asked.
"Jewlery cuff-links!" The man startled, hand over the arc reactor. "Don't do that! Hasn't anyone ever told you that before?!"
"Of course," she allowed a smirk for a moment. "But the question still stands. Are you sure Loki can keep Clint away?"
"Have you ever seen the kid when he's serious about something?" He shook his head. "It's pretty impossible to distract him or pull him away."
"Alright, if you're sure," she shrugged and slipped back into the kitchen.
"Jewelry cuff-links?"
-{[(•)]}-
"Clint!" Loki moaned, trudging up to the light haired man. "No one will play with me!"
The archer wiped his face with the towel around his shoulders.
"Sorry, kid. Just finished a workout. Was gonna hit the showers and grab a snack," Clint explained. Loki stared at him for a moment before simply slumping to the ground. The boy stared at the ground for a few moments until little drops of water hit the metallic floor. "Whoa! Hey, what's with the waterworks?"
Loki sniffled and let Merlin loose in the circle of his legs.
"Seriously, Loki, what's up?" Clint asked. "Do I need to get Tony?"
"Everyone's always too busy to play with me," Loki mumbled. Harry was squished against his chest, looking pitiful and limp. "I-I thought..."
"Thought what?"
"That'id be different here," the tiny child looked up with wide eyes, shining and moist, and a trembling lower lip.
(Somewhere in the common area, Tony was snickering and nudging Steve, commenting how the boy could really lay it on thick.)
"Oh... Loki," Clint muttered. He glanced around, but he was still the only one there. How did he deal with this situation?
"I guess... I can play with you?"
"Really?" Loki questioned, softly. He had to fight to keep the excitement off his face. He did it!
"Yeah, sure," the archer turned away for a second.
"Thank you," the boy breathed, trying to seem as grateful as possible.
"There's... There's no need to thank me kid," Clint gulped. "People, um, are supposed to play with you." He was gonna kill Tony.
"What do you wanna play?" Loki asked.
"Ah, I don't really know any games. I didn't really..." The man sighed. "Um, maybe we could play a board game?"
All the board games were stored in the common room.
"I don't really like those..." Loki shook his head.
"What? I see you playing them all the time!"
"Tony would be really sad if he bought them and I didn't like them," Loki shrugged. Clint laughed slightly.
"Alright, how about... Hide and Seek?" He suggested. He rubbed the towel over himself some more; he was going to stink later, but he couldn't just abandon Loki!
"Cool! But... I, um..." Loki mumbled.
"What?" Clint sighed.
"Don't... Don't leave the gym?" The boy wiped at his eyes. "Thor's friends used to... to hide... and I could never find them. Because they... left."
"Aw," the man frowned. "'Course I'll stay in the gym."
("The kid's a genius!")
"Alright! I guess, I'll count?" Loki questioned, tilting his head innocently to the side. Clint shrugged. The seven year old covered his eyes with both hands and began to count down from twenty.
The light haired man smirked and slipped to the wall. He made quick work on the equipment, then flipped to one of the rafters. Just as Loki reached one, he laid down flat.
"Okay! I'm coming!" Loki toddled upright excitedly. He scuttled across the room, looking behind racks and around equipment. He made his way along the wall to the lockers and looked inside. Then, he checked under the sparing ring. He even checked inside the practice droids.
He stalled as long as he could, searching for almost ten minutes, before he started to get a little frustrated. Had Clint left even though he said he couldn't?
"Clint?" He called softly. He tried looking in the bathrooms and showers, but the archer wasn't there either. Were there any other rooms that could be considered part of the gym?
"I can't..." The boy sniffled. "Where'd you go?"
Up in the rafters, Clint started to feel a little guilty. Loki couldn't get up there, no matter how much he tried; he was just too little. Plus, what little kid would think to look in the ceiling?
"Up here," he sighed and leaned over, waving so Loki would notice him. "I didn't really think about it. Sorry."
The child stared up at him with awe.
"How'd you get up there?" He called.
"Like this!" Clint grinned. He flipped back down to the equipment, landing lightly on his toes and rolling back to his heels. He safely climbed back down, and Loki ran up to him happily.
"Can you take me up there?!"
"I do not think Sir would be pleased with that," JARVIS advised, sounding amused.
"Aw," Loki pouted. His face sprung back into a blinding smile. "It's my turn to hide!"
"Okay," Clint smirked. He closed his eyes and began to count.
Loki turned into a baby mouse and darted towards the lockers. He curled up just underneath the locking mechanism, so he was practically invisible.
"Here I come!" The man cried. He slunk around the room, dramatically peeking around things. His sharp eyesight picked up as many details as they could. "Huh. Little bugger's better than I thought."
He drifted towards the lockers and casually opened each one. At first, he didn't notice anything, but eventually his eyes caught on the tiny swishing tail sticking out of the lock.
"Oh my gosh!" He laughed loudly, startling the little mouse. "How'd you fit in there?!" Loki turned around and peeked out, pouting.
He leapt to the ground and transformed back into a seven year old boy.
"Secret," he muttered. Clint's entire body shook with laughter.
-[]-
"Hey, guys," Tony smiled, entering the room. "Loki, Natasha was to talk to you real quick, okay?"
The seven year old knew it wasn't the appropriate response of a child to just do as they're told.
"But, Clint and I-"
"Can finish later," Tony cut him off with a chuckle. "I need to talk to Katniss about his bow."
"What did you do to her?!" Clint pointed aggressively. The genius winced.
"Let's just say that 'she' can probably be classified as a 'he'?"
"STARK!"
-[]-
"C'mon, Loki," Natasha smiled. "We have to finished icing Clint's cake and figure out what you're going to give him." She held her hand out, which he took, and led him into the kitchen.
"I do not understand," his head tilted like a confused kitten. "Why are we making a cake for Clint and giving him gifts?"
"Oh!" The redhead made an amused noise as she finished fixing him with an apron. "Today's Clint's birthday."
"Birthday?"
"You know, the day he was born?"
"We do not celebrate such days on Asgard," Thor leaned in for a moment before swinging back out.
"Which is odd because we celebrate literally every other thing," Loki rolled his eyes.
"I bet you're trouble as a teenager," the assassin laughed gently and guided him to the cake. She handed him a piping bag and showed him how to decorate.
Loki did the purple trim around the edges of the cake and the quilt-like pattern across the sides. Then, he helped put the edible arrow charms where the lines intersected and the candles around the horrifically colored "Happy Birthday, Clint!"
Natasha showed him the edible figures she had made of the Avengers, and they put them on the cake together.
"Do you always celebrate 'birthdays' in this way?" Loki asked.
"Everyone likes different things," Steve answered, helping them move the cake to the table in the main room. It had to be big enough to feed Steve, Thor, and everyone else. So it took up most of the space.
Gifts seemed to appear around the edges of the cake, and Loki realized he didn't have one to give.
Thinking of a spell he had practiced earlier in the week, he began to craft a glass figure in the palm of his hand. He was finishing the last details when Tony's frantic voice came over the intercom.
"Clint's on his way up!"
The brunette leapt out of the elevator, moments later, and everyone scrambled to hide. Except Loki, who has to be pulling into hiding by a highly amused Bruce.
"Natasha!" Clint threw his hands in the air as he marched into the room. "You won't believe what Tony did to my bo-"
"SURPRISE!" The Avengers jumped out with wide smiles.
"Su'prise!" Loki cried a second later, falling off the couch.
"Oh... Oh!" Clint beamed. He clapped excitedly and darted forward. "Aw, you even got me a cheesy cake."
"I can assure you, there is no cheese in the cake," Loki mumbled awkwardly.
"No, cheesy means silly," Steve explained quietly, as Clint began to chatter with everyone.
"There was a moment there, I thought you guys had forgotten!" The archer cackled. "Loki came in crying and Tony screwed with my bow and I... Just, wow."
"We sent Loki in to keep you away. Seems like someone might be a better liar than we thought," Bruce chuckled softly.
"And your bow's fine, Legolas," Tony waved casually. "Any unwanted... parts are easily removable."
"Thanks," Clint gave a lopsided grin. "Now. Cake!"
JARVIS dimmed the lights and began recording while Steve lit the candles. (He was the only one they trusted with fire.) Then, everyone sang 'Happy Birthday', Loki cutely trying to sing along and Tony purposefully singing horribly off-key. Clint blew out about half the candles in one big whoosh, and he had to move around the table to the opposite side to blow out the other half.
It took almost ten minutes to get everyone a cake slice, and then everyone settled down to watch a movie. Clint wanted to finally watch Brave, and so they did.
When the movie was over, everyone moved back to the table for more cake and to watch Clint open gifts.
"Here, open this one first," Tony shoved a package in the archer's face and ignored Natasha's glare.
Clint opened it, happily finding chocolate, a fuzzy scarf, a candle, and an amazing rose figurine. The gift was from the other assassin in the room, giving him things to enjoy with the four senses he still had.
He then opened Tony's gift, which was reactor-powered hearing aides.
Steve had given him a giant coupon book for every restaurant in New York.
Thor gave him new fingerless gloves and Asgardian hand lotion.
From Bruce, he received specialized prank supplies, including stink bombs, smoke bombs, slime bombs, and flash bombs.
When he reached Loki's gift, he was almost crying with happiness. His teammates were so thoughtful. They may not alway show it, but they paid attention and cared about him.
His hand stuttered to a stop, just before it reached the crystal figure. It was Hawkeye, standing confident and tall, with his bow in hand, quiver across his back, and sunglasses tipped teasingly.
The archer's eyes ran over each detail like water, noticing the amazing craftsmanship and dedication to his image. His calloused fingers drifted across the glass, light as a feather.
"Who's this from?" He asked. His voice sounded stronger than he thought it would.
"Me," Loki answered, quietly. Clint gave him a grin and gestured him closer.
"Thanks, kiddo." The man pulled the dark haired boy in for a hug.
"I-It was no problem," Loki stuttered, still a little unused to a lot of friendly contact, especially from Clint.
"Alright, it's getting a little sappy in here," Tony grouched. He gestured dramatically. "It's time for the big surprise!"
"There's more?!" Everyone questioned.
"Yup. We're having..."
JARVIS played a recording of a drumroll over the speakers.
"...a sleepover!"
Tony opened the pantry with a flourish, revealing adult-sized, Avengers themed sleeping bags with matching pillows. JARVIS opened the elevator and DUMMY rolled out with pajamas for everyone.
"Really?" Bruce sighed, already cleaning his glasses in distress.
"Come on! It'll be great! We'll watch movies and eat cake until the early hours of the morning, when we'll all collapse into an eternal sugar coma!" Tony pumped his fists enthusiastically.
"If I can have more of this delicious cake, then I am, as you say, 'out'."
"You mean 'in', Thor."
"Yes, I am 'in'."
There was a short silence.
"I've always wanted a sleepover," Clint admitted, sounding small.
Suddenly, everyone agreed.
A/N: Awww, they all had sucky childhoods so now they make up for it as a family!
QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SLEEPOVER MEMORY? At one of my first sleepovers, my mom taught all the girls some common pranks, including but not limited to freezing the bra of the first person to fall asleep.