Updated a day early! Thanks so much to everyone who commented, Ealasaid Una Natasha and Clint is coming and it's one of my favorite chapters I have written (Yeah, there are a few chapters that have already been written but since I'm still writing this I try to keep a few chapters ahead of what's been published so if i hit a little writers block i won't fall behind and will still have stuff to post!). Thanks to SugarMuffin08 for reviewing almost every chapter, and glad someone liked the M*A*S*H* reference.
They called Barney a little after noon, making a show of asking if he was there and then pretending to wait for him to come to the phone. When they finally handed the receiver to Clint he held it with both hands, wide eyed.
"Hello?" He said.
"Clint?" On the other end Barney sounded stunned.
"Barney, is that you? You sound weird." Clint said.
Barney laughed it off. "Just a cold. You okay?"
The boy brightened. "Yeah. Are you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm staying with some real nice people." Barney said, trying to keep his voice from sounding too deep.
Clint's eyes shown with light for the first time since his arrival. "You'll never guess who I'm staying with!" He said excitedly.
"Who?"
"Captain America!"
On his end Barney could barely contain a smile. It was a kind of bitter happiness but it was happiness just the same. "No way!" He said, playing along.
"Yeah and he bought me some toys!"
"You'll have to get me his autograph!"
"Can't you come and stay here?" Clint sounded disappointed.
"Not right now but maybe in a while."
There was a pause and then in a hushed tone Clint asked: "Is dad mad at me?"
On his end Barney felt his heart break a little bit, he'd forgotten just how small Clint could sound. "N-no." He said, going for the best cover story he could think of. "You know how he is. He's on a bender and doesn't even know we're gone. I bet he'll wake up in a few days and not know what happened."
"What about mom, is she mad?"
"Naw, she went to Aunt Kathy's like she always does when dad binges. She doesn't know we're gone either. Hasn't been home in days." It was a painful lie to tell, bringing back a world they'd both tried to forget. Barney did his best to keep his voice even and sound like this was all normal, and as matter of fact as it had been when they were children.
Clint brightened as though this was good news but he still looked down and he knew Steve and the others in the room had heard Barney. Steve's arms were folded and he looked as though he was trying not to be mad. Tony just looked like his suspicions had been confirmed.
"Well, I hope I can see you soon." Clint said.
"Me too."
Steve turned away to give the boy some privacy as he detailed the few days he'd spent in the tower to his brother, looking more animated than he had since arriving. He glanced at Tony who frowned and stared out the window. They had the phone on speaker but let Clint hold the receiver, he didn't quite understand what a speaker phone was.
Eventually he handed the phone back and Tony thanked Barney.
"No problem, just keep me up to date with him. He's my little brother and I guess it sounds like you guys are doing a good job." Barney thought for a moment. "He likes peanut butter, by the way and bananas. Can't get him to eat vegetables worth a damn but he likes fruit okay and. . . I dunno. It's been so long. . ."
"Thanks." Tony said quietly. "I can send you some pictures tonight if you want. Got a couple of cute ones I'm gonna blackmail him with later."
There was an appreciative chuckle. "That'd be nice. Listen, if you need anything, call me. I mean it"
"Yeah, okay."
Despite feeling that Barney didn't want to go Tony ended the conversation. When he looked back, Clint was smiling and telling Steve about his brother. He smiled uncomfortably himself. The lying was a necessity, they had to do it. Clint couldn't know he was supposed to be an adult, it was too hard to explain and if they could get him back to normal before any of that became necessary he'd be eternally grateful.
Clint was much better after talking to his brother and although he still seemed a little wary around Tony, he was more animated and cheerful around the others. He talked Steve into a board game and then watched cartoons by himself while the others went about their days.
Just before dinner time he showed up in the kitchen with something hidden behind his back. He looked up at Tony who had come up with the idea of pancakes for dinner and had since been tasked with making them himself. Tony looked down. "What's up?" He asked.
Clint gave him a hesitant look before removing something from behind his back. He then fixed his eyes on the floor and refused to make anymore eye contact.
Tony looked down at the thing in the boy's hands. It was a drawling. He stared for a minute, it wasn't particularly good but from the impression marks on the paper it looked as though Clint had put a lot of effort into it. The drawling was of himself and his Iron Man suit standing arm in arm. He looked from the drawling to Clint and back. "It's. . . thank you." He said, unsure of what to say.
Clint looked up, his eyebrows knitted with worry. "Do you like it?" He asked.
"Yeah." Tony looked at him in disbelief. "Yeah, it's really great. " He took it from the boy. "Thanks a lot!" He smiled widely, hoping this was then end of the morning's difficulties.
"So you're not mad at me?"
Tony looked at the picture for a moment which he decided wasn't that bad for a little kid and then at the child standing in front of him. He sighed and sunk to the floor, kneeling at eye level. "I was never mad at you. I told you that. Did you think I lied?"
Clint looked up at him and shrugged but his expression said he had.
Tony frowned. "Look Clint even if I was mad at you, I wouldn't be now. Everything is okay." But Clint didn't look relieved and Tony's frown deepened. "I'm not mad, I never was. Please believe me."
"Why not?" Came a small voice.
"Jesus, because it was one phone call and it turned out okay. It's not worth being mad about. I mean, why would I care?"
"I just thought. . . since I'm not supposed to use the phone and I dropped it."
"I know. . . look, everyone does things their not supposed to but little things like that, I'm not going to be mad about."
"So you forgive me?"
It pained Tony how adamantly Cling believed he had done wrong. "Sure." He said, defeated. "Yeah. You wanna shake on it?" He held out his hand and with only a slight hesitation Clint shook it. "That's better. Can we be friends?"
Clint shrugged. "I guess."
"Great, well friends have to help friends with cooking so why don't you go get me some eggs from the fridge?"
With a small smile Clint hurried over to the refrigerator. "How many?" He asked. holding open the door.
"Oh, about four. Don't take more than you can carry."
Cooking with Clint turned out to be great fun, the boy was plenty nervous but the longer they worked together the more he relaxed and when Tony playfully flung a bit of batter at him he laughed out loud.
Well, now things are smoothed out between Clint and Tony! Also, I hoped you liked Barney's phone call, he'll actually be in the story later! Next chapter will be Tony and Clint with a surprise visit from Pepper! Sorry this one was short and thanks for reading!