When they arrived at the house, Coulson was already there.
"Why is Coulson standing in the yard yelling at the roof?" Bruce asked as he got out.
"Has working with us teens finally made him lose his marbles?" Tony walked over to Coulson as he spoke.
"No, Stark, I haven't lost my marbles." Coulson turned to look at the 4 kids in his yard. "I take it you're all here to meet Barton?"
Tony looked affronted. "What? No! Why would you say that?" Tony slung his arm around Steves shoulders. "We can't just be here to spend time with our buddy Captain?"
"Not under these circumstances. No."
"Fine. We wanna meet him." Tony said, removing his arm.
"Actually, you want to butt into the kids life. I want to meet him and Bruce just felt like coming along." Natasha stated. Tony pouted at her. "In any case, why are you out in the yard yelling at the roof?"
"The very same reason you're here." He turned back to the roof. "Hey, Barton! There are some people here to meet you!"
The three who weren't used to this went slack jawed. Well, slack jawed (Tony), wide eyed (Bruce) and eyebrow raised (Natasha). Steve could tell one thought was in their heads: Why's he on the roof?
All of a sudden a head popped up over the edge. "Why?" Nobody missed the fact that normally people would ask 'who', not why. Nobody said anything. While, no one but Tony.
"Don't you mean who?" Tony shouted back. Steve elbowed him.
"No. I mean why." Clint replied.
"Uh..Clint? Why don't you come down here?" Clint stared at Steve. "You know, so we aren't disturbing the neighbors with our yelling." Clint nodded and stood up.
Everyone watched in silence as the boy on the roof walked over to the gutter then proceeded to jump off the edge of the roof. Before anyone could act though, Clint grabbed the edge of the roof, spun around and swung his feet a bit before landing on the railing around the porch. That was a move even Natasha was impressed by. He then stepped on to the porch and stood by the door.
Coulson and Steve, who were more or less used to it, walked over to him. The others promptly followed.
AVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERS
Tony was the first to speak. As always.
"I am, brace yourself," Tony held his hands up in a halting motion. "Tony Stark." Tony smiled, expecting a shocked face or a squeal of joy.
He didn't get it.
Instead the kid just stared at him blankly. Tony clarified. "You know? Child prodigy?" Nothing. "Future owner of Stark Industries?" Nada. "Son of.." Tony hesitated. He hated using the dad card, even if it always worked. "Howard Stark?" Zylch. Tony stared back. "Seriously? You don't even know who my dad is? What, did you live under a rock?"
"No. I just don't pay attention to useless things." The kid- what was his name? Clark?- gave Tony a bored look now. Tony didn't like this kid.
He turned at the sound of muffled laughter and glared at his friends. Steve had turned his head, but the smile was obvious. Bruce had his hand covering her mouth. Natasha wasn't even hiding her smirk.
"What is so funny?" Tony demanded. Natasha sauntered up to him and- Cliff? was that it?- and gained his attention. Tony figured the kid would do what any able minded boy would do: flirt, try and gain the hot red heads attention.
Again, he didn't get it.
"We aren't laughing at anything." She said to Tony. She turned to the new kid. "I'm Natasha. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand and the kid stared at it a moment before raising his own and shaking hers.
"Clint." Tony noticed that this kid was actually staring at Natasha's face. Not her body. This boy had will power.
Bruce came up next. He didn't hold out his hand. "Name's Bruce. And we're sorry about Tonys behaviour. He likes to believe he's famous."
"I AM famous!" Tony huffed, throwing his arms up.
"No, your family is." Steve said. He walked over to Clint. "You don't have to talk to Tony. You can just hang out with me, Bruce and Natasha."
"Hey!"
"We'd probably get along better with you anyway." Natasha said. The kid smirked.
"What? You think this is funny, what was your name? Clark?" Tony asked. The kid shrugged.
"I can deny what's funny...uh...Tommy right?" Tony's jaw dropped. Everyone else laughed.
"I like this kid! He's one of the few people who dishes as well as you do." Bruce choked out between laughs. Tony grinded his teeth together.
"You'll fit in just great, Barton." Natasha said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Coulson walked. "What's say we go inside now? You kids have homework and a sleep over right?"
AVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERS
Steve was happy. His friends, other than Tony, were getting along great with Clint. He was surprised that Clint spoke up with them right away, even shaking Natashas hand, but maybe Clint just needed time to get used to his surroundings before he could open up. And Steve likes to think he had something to do with it, too.
Once inside Clint went straight to his perch. He hopped up on the desk and then pulled himself ontop of the bookcase. The others watched, but Steve just set to placing his homework on the coffee table and Coulson just left for the kitchen.
"Does he always sit there?" Tony asked, actually waiting for Clint to put in his extremely loud headphones. Steve noticed he was listening to 'Bows and Arrows' by Kicking Daisies.
"Yeah. He's got a thing for high places." Steve shrugged. "Says he sees better from a distance."
"I noticed his eyes are a really piercing blue. They kind of seem like they see everything in you while looking through you." Bruce said glancing between Steve and Clint.
"Yeah. They kinda remind me of a hawk's eyes." Natasha said, openly looking at Clint. Steve couldn't stop thinking that the two of them would be great friends.
"He's also got the best aim I've ever seen." Steve said. He was now sitting on the couch, Tony on one side and Bruce on the other while Natasha took the arm chair off to the side.
"Really? You mean he can hit the bullseye on those dart board things?" Bruce asked. Steve smiled.
"Not only can he hit it, he hits it everytime." Steve turned to Clint, who was watching them. "Right?"
"I doubt he can hear you Steve. I can hear his music from here." Tony said, giving Steves shoulder a sympathetic pat.
"He's right though." Clint piped up. Tony turned to him.
"How did you know what he said? How can you hear us?" Then, noticing something, Tony held his hands up. "And why are you staring at my mouth? I got a girlfriend man."
Clint rolled his eyes and muttered something along the lines of 'spoiled dumbass'. "To answer all of your questions, I'm reading lips."
"Oh. You can read lips? Where'd you learn that trick?" Tony asked. Steve was worried. Why is Tony curious all of a sudden?
"Why do you wanna know?" Clint asked. At least him and Steve were on the same page here.
"Well, Cliff, I happen to be a curious person. Am I not allowed to inquire about people who will be apparently hanging around me a lot?" Tony asked indignantly. Steve rolled his eyes.
"Last I checked, Tim, you didn't seem to like me." Clint replied, sounding as monotone as ever. Steve, Natasha, and Bruce laughed at Tony as he looked upset. Someone was giving him a taste of his medicine, in just as big a dose as he gives.
"So?" Tony asked, regaining his composure. "It doesn't affect my reason."
"You don't need to know anything about me. Not to hang around me." Clint shot back. Tony gaped like a fish. Steve laughed. Tony glared at him, then sat back with his arms crossed.
"Fine. Just for that, forget getting help from me on your homework." Tony sat forward again, looking smug. "Which you're going to need, seeing as you're starting school late."
"I'll help him with homework." Bruce said.
"So will I." Natasha spoke up next.
"I've already been telling him all about school. He even looks over my homework with me sometimes. He's pretty good at a lot of the subjects already." Steve was enjoying what had quickly turned into a round of 'Spite the Stark'.
"Whatever! Can we just get started?" Tony changed the subject, feeling slight deflated in the ego department.
The others agreed and they went to work. Clint watched from atop the bookcase, his music blaring song after song in his ears.
