The trio talked for twenty more minutes before Jarvis broke into the conversation, saying, "Dinner is served at Mr. Stark's level."
"The three of us are eating here tonight," Clint answered.
"You will recall that Miss Potts demands everyone be present for meals on Thursday evening?" Jarvis reminded.
Lucy watched as Barton threw his head back against the couch, demanding, "Tell them I'm sick or something."
"Then they'll all come check on you and discover you lied," the AI pointed out.
"Jarvis?" Barton said, shoving to his feet.
"Yes, Agent Barton?"
"I hate you."
"Would you prefer I not keep you out of trouble with Miss Potts next time?"
"Shut up, you over-glorified robot," Barton groused.
"As you wish."
"What do you desire Lo-Lucy and I do?" Thor asked Barton.
The agent sighed heavily, answering, "The team is going to want to see you, Thor, and I don't trust Angel to be up here by herself."
Lucy rolled her eyes as Barton gestured to her and ordered, "Up, Snow White; it looks like I've got a date to dinner."
"Please tell me you haven't acquired Stark's penchant for nicknames," Lucy requested starting with her brother and Barton towards the elevator.
"Nicknames and mischief, only and especially for you, my old friend."
"Mischief?" Lucy repeated, situating herself so that neither man could see the smirk blooming on her face. "You don't even know the meaning of the word."
"I could still just kill you right now," Barton reminded her.
Lucy shook her head. "You don't kill people who might be, but aren't really, your girlfriend."
Barton caught the reference and smirked for the umpteenth time, saying, "You are nothing like Natasha."
"Oh," Lucy's eyes glimmered. "We'll see."
After all, if he wanted to drive her up the wall by making them out to be the very best of friends, who was she to do anything less than return the favor?
It was with this thought firmly in mind – not the fact that she was about to be in the same room with a bunch of people who each wanted to kill her – that she stepped into Tony Stark's dining room behind Thor and Barton. Apparently they were the last ones to arrive, and it took a second for anyone to notice their entrance. When Stark did take notice, the attention, per the norm, was immediately directed towards Thor.
"Point Break!" Tony was the first to speak, beckoning the demigod into the room with a wide grin. "I can't say we were expecting to see you for awhile. What brings you into town?"
"Ah, I wanted to see how reconstruction of the city was going."
"Well, it's nice to have you back," Steve said warmly, standing and offering his hand to Thor.
"Glad to return," Thor said, shaking hands and smiling warmly as he sat down at the table.
Lucy slid in beside him and Barton flopped himself down beside her. She almost jumped when she noticed Agent Romanoff staring at her from directly across the table.
Sitting beside Romanoff, across from Thor, Rogers cleared his throat when he noticed the redheaded agent's glare and asked, "Who's our guest?"
"Lucy Saint," Lucy said, speaking up before either of the boys could. "I'm an old friend of Clinton's."
"Clinton?" Stark repeated, looking at Barton with an amused arch of his eyebrows.
"I told you, Lucy Goosy," Clint said in a stage whisper, although she was close enough to notice his gritted teeth. "I don't go by my full name anymore."
"Sorry," she looked out at their audience, saying sweetly with wide eyes, "It's been absolutely forever since we've seen each other, but, my goodness, when I saw about the alien attack on the news, I just had to come make sure he was okay!"
"Of course," Miss Potts said with a friendly smile. "Where did you say you were from?"
"Waverly, Iowa. Clint and I were neighbors up until he moved when we were six. We were in the same class in school together and everything, best friends; it broke my poor little heart the day he moved!" Moving on impulse, she wrapped her arms tightly around Barton's shoulders, gushing, "But we're finally together again!"
She could practically feel herself loosing brain cells over how giddy she was pretending to be. Then she remembered Barton's "romantic tension" clause and quickly retracted her death grip on him, making herself blush.
She stammered, looking at him through her eyelashes, "Not that I mean anything important by it, because we're… you know… we're friends, but I'm just so excited to see him again!" Her hands flew up to her mouth as she added, "And in one piece! Oh, you cannot imagine the way that I felt when I saw that first news piece!" She made herself tear up and brushed at them as she said in a choked up voice, "Oh my gosh, Clint; I thought you were dead!"
Clint gave an awkward, thin-lipped smile, saying, "You know me better than that, Lucy; can't get rid of Clint Barton that easily."
"Oh, I know, but I felt so helpless!" Lucy looked right across the table at Agent Romanoff as she wiped away a few more forced tears and smiled shakily.
Giddiness shot through her when she saw that Agent Romanoff's eyes were glassy and the other woman smiled at her and went so far as to take one of Lucy's pale hands in her own. She was manipulating the manipulator! Oh yes! Lucy was definitely winning this round!
"I know how you feel, Lucy," Miss Potts offered. "I was on my flight home from Washington, D.C. when I saw the news. Knowing that Tony was out there was just horrible, especially because he's just absolutely stupid about the things that he does in situations like that!"
Lucy almost smirked. Did Miss Potts know all of what her boyfriend had done and gone through during that battle? Something told her the other woman didn't know the half of it.
"Hey, when did this become about me?" Tony protested loudly.
"It's nice to know that Clint isn't the only stupid one out there," Lucy said with a sniff and a watery laugh.
"Not by half," Pepper said with a role of her eyes.
Lucy smiled. She had manipulated a room full of superheroes, Thor was looking at her like he didn't even know who she was, and she had a feeling that Clint was more ready now than ever to tear her head off. She felt downright powerful.