"You have seen this show before, right?" Natasha asked, turning her head to look at him when she caught the edge in his tone.
"Sure, I think so." But he still didn't have to be happy about Stark's perceived little jab.
"Hey," Stark said in self-defense. "I just felt like having a nice evening, one that was at least full of love, since we couldn't actually go out. So I put on this show and maybe I even invited a couple of people over."
"A couple of people?" Steve repeated skeptically, and everyone knew he was thinking that Stark's 'a couple of people' coming over generally involved getting the word out on social media sites and hiring a DJ.
"Yes," Stark answered with a role of his eyes. "A couple of people." He looked to the doorway of the room, calling out, "Come on in, ladies!"
Clint recognized the first woman who came in, but it took Clint a second to register her as Agent Maria Hill, since she was actually wearing casual, civilian clothing and her hair was falling freely down to her shoulder blades.
"Welcome to the party!" Tony said to Agent Hill before looking at Dr. Banner and saying, "See, I told you I was going to get you a girl."
"I hate you," Banner told Tony flatly. The doctor jumped as he realized how that could've been taken and turned to the agent, reassuring her, "Not you! It's just… me… and 'the other guy'… and Tony being an idiot about it all."
Agent Hill laughed and settled onto the floor beside Dr. Banner's chair. "It's alright; I understand."
"Okay," Stark said with a clap of his hands. "Well, for the record, Goldilocks isn't going to hate me at all."
"And you know that how?" Thor asked suspiciously. "I do not need you to 'get me a girl.'"
"Fine," Stark said vaguely. "Maybe I'll keep her for myself then." Pepper's incredulous "I beg your pardon!" was ignored as Tony introduced grandly. "From straight out of Nowheresville, New Mexico, Dr. Jane Foster, everybody!"
Suddenly Thor was scrambling to his feet and then whirling a laughing brunette around in his arms while wearing a grin that nearly split his face.
"Lady Jane!" Thor said breathlessly, settling the doctor back onto her feet.
He got a twinkle in his eye as he kissed her hand and Dr. Foster laughed again, her hair falling down into her face as she blushd.
Clint looked at Lucy with raised eyebrows, but his bench companion only shook her head and shrugged, just as confused as he was.
"Can I start the real show now, Goldilocks?" Stark asked, his eyes sparkling with merriment.
Thor nodded and went back to his recliner, pulling Dr. Foster directly into his lap.
"Although, wait, there is one more thing that this party needs," Stark declared, surging to his feet.
He returned a couple of minutes later with a twelve-pack of beer, handing one out to everyone.
Lucy and Clint both took one and as soon as Stark was out of hearing range, Clint grabbed the bottle out of Lucy's hands and hissed, "Heck, no, you are not getting drunk! You'll give yourself away in a heartbeat."
"Oh, please," Lucy muttered under breath with a role of her eyes, snatching back her alcohol. "This stuff is like water compared to what we have on Asgard; I will not get drunk off of it."
"You'd better not," Clint muttered, eyeing her warily.
And while no one got drunk, per se – at least not at first – it did make the evening a little more fun. Natasha gave Steve what Clint would later find out was their first kiss as a couple – seriously, Cap?! – and it was then that Tony had been inspired to bust out another twelve-pack – or five. And what had started out as Natasha kissing Steve had ended up being – of all things – ten generally sane adults playing spin the bottle. Thank you very much, Anthony Edward Stark.
Had Clint not been more than a little imbibed himself, he would've noticed that Lucy had lied; regardless of what she had thought was going to happen, the ebony-haired woman was tipsy at best.
"Who wants to start?" Tony asked excitedly as they all settled on the floor in a circle – even Steve had been dragged in, drunk or not. "Hug 'em in under five seconds, kiss 'em in ten, anything more than that an' you gotta make it a French kiss."
"I will," Jane squealed, leaning forward and spinning the bottle. It landed on Bruce, and with Thor being the only one between them, the two managed to get in a hug before they had to kiss.
Tony let out a whine of disappointment, asking, "Who now? Legolas?"
"Nah…"
"Legolas, Legolas, Legolas!" Tony chanted, getting the others to join in.
Finally Clint sighed and obligingly spun the beer bottle, and then blinked, not sure that he had seen what he thought he had just saw. But there was Tony, sitting with his finger out to stop the bottle so that it had landed on Lucy.
"No fair!" Clint complained.
"I say it goes," Pepper giggled.
"Yeah, Clint," Natasha piped up. "Pucker up, Hawk."
"It's been over ten seconds," Bruce volunteered, and Tony crowed with laughter.
Clint looked at Lucy, seeing that she was smiling at him. When she giggled, he grinned like a dope and crawled across the circle to press his lips against hers, being at once sloppy and possessive with the kiss. After all, why not? She was his, right?
He lifted a hand to fist in her hair – she really had beautiful hair – taking far longer than would've been necessary before he broke the kiss.
She whimpered in protest before whispering against his ear, "You can do better than that, can't you, Barton?"
Some vague and fuzzy part of his brain registered that he shouldn't, that he really shouldn't, but he ignored that niggling with ease as he swept her up into his arms and stood, heading for the elevator and his bed without another word to the others, Lucy's laughter surrounding him the whole way.