The One where Clint Finds Out

September 3, 2014

"Ever plan on telling him? It's been almost two months now," Pepper spoke before sipping her coffee in the little shop.

"How do I know he even wanted me to find out? He's been divorced less than a year," Phil spoke.

He drank his coffee, too. It was nice to get away from everyone sometimes.

"Besides, how long did you spend pining away for Tony?" Phil pointed out.

"True," Pepper agreed, but he didn't like that look. She was plotting something.

"Pepper, this isn't a good time," Natasha spoke into the phone as Clint kissed his way up one arm.

"I know I shouldn't be doing this but Phil does have feelings after all. He just doesn't want to ruin anything," Pepper spoke. Natasha was skilled at hiding her feelings so Clint wouldn't be able to read what she was thinking. He wore his resting look. Natasha had wondered whether Phil had changed his mind. His behavior did seem a bit preoccupied.

"Oh, I'll come right over," Natasha spoke and Clint pulled away.

"What is it?" he asked. Natasha didn't even need to think about her answer.

"Girl stuff," she spoke. It worked like a charm every time.

Phil was reading when there was a knock at the door. He was surprised to see Natasha.

"You don't like coming to my place," he pointed out.

"But he's not here right now," Natasha spoke, walking in. "Why do you stay?"

"It's nice and quiet," Phil answered and she walked across to the open window.

"There's a naked man in the building across from us, interesting," Natasha stated.

"It has other perks," Phil agreed.

"I wish you had told me," Natasha spoke and he knew she didn't mean the naked guy.

"Doesn't matter now," he said with a shrug.

"It does to me. The problem is Clint. If I dump him, you'll be the rebound relationship which never works. If he finds out, then he won't want to dump me because he's too nice," Natasha spoke and he nodded.

"Is there a third option there?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, leaned over and kissed him. He pulled away from instinct. She was a friend. However, he would be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it. There was a moment of indecision and then, he kissed her.

"Threesome? Really?" Clint asked as they approached the hotel room.

"Might be fun," Natasha spoke, "if it's someone we already know."

"Except I don't want to do most of the people we know," he reminded her.

She smirked. Natasha was always scariest when she smirked. It was that moment when she knew she had you. After Natasha inserted the keycard and pulled open the door, Clint followed Natasha inside to see Phil sitting on the couch.

Phil? Did that mean he knew? Did he feel the same way? Were they just too chicken shit to tell the other one?

Clint felt Natasha's blue eyes on him. She was waiting for his next move and for once in his life; he wasn't sure what that should be. With a roll of those same eyes, she moved to the couch and put her arm around Phil. They'd always been close but this was different. Tonight, it was all going to change.

She began kissing Phil and Clint sat beside them, watching. Part of him was jealous and part of him was turned on. He went to go for her earlobe but she broke from the kiss then and he got her cheek instead. Natasha threw off her heels and changed her position so that she was in Clint's lap with her legs across Phil's lap. It was his turn. He leaned towards Phil who met him halfway. It wasn't quite how he had imagined it. Phil was timid yet inviting; such a contrast to his professional self. He was letting Clint and Natasha lead. Clint started to relax.

"They're really close friends," Steve commented about Phil, Natasha and Clint on the couch, entwined with each other.

"Yes, friends," Tony spoke.

"It's nice. They seem happy," Bruce commented. "Now, if we could just hide Steve's guitar."

"I'm getting better," Steve complained.

"Not the singing part," Bruce pointed out.

Phil was reading the latest Avengers comic on the couch. It was amusing how wrong they were about things, like Phil's hair was a lot lighter than real life. Well, there had been the blond phase to look like Steve but that was the 80s. Everyone had bad hair then. On one hand, he was extremely pleased to be included in the comics but on the other hand, it seemed like a security breach. His best guess was Tony. Natasha was taking a shower and Clint was writing something on his laptop.

"Why won't it print?" he asked.

"It doesn't usually print here. I think Loki did something," Phil explained. Clint glared at the screen. "You want me to look at it? Or Tasha? Tasha's the best at that sort of thing."

"No, no, that's fine. I'll print it later," Clint insisted. Phil assumed he was trying to print out photos of Ben so the reaction was strange. He laid the comic on the coffee table and went over to him.

"No!" Clint yelled as Phil saw that it was a Word document with two columns. One with his name and the other had Natasha on it. Clint went to shut the laptop but Phil spun the machine before he could do it.

"Tasha! Tasha, come out here!" Phil called out. True to form, Tasha was in a bathrobe and armed with a gun in five seconds.

"What is it?" she asked.

"No, you have to read what Barton wrote," he said and noticed how Clint cringed at the surname usage.

"This is us. This is a pro and con list for Phil and I," she said with a glare at Clint.

"I can explain." Clint spoke, "I'm tired of having to share everything. It's bad enough I have to share my son. I'm tired of sharing you, too."

"So, you wrote up a list like you were debating vacation plans? We're people," Phil complained.

"I know that," Clint argued.

"No, you don't," Phil spoke. The situation was almost as unbelievable as what he was about to do next. "I think you should leave."

"If this Voldemort fellow has come back, how is an eleven year old supposed to defeat him?" Steve asked, looking up from his paperback at Pepper. "I mean, it's not like he's an Asgardian or something? It's regular fictional magic?"

"Right, it- um, it actually takes seven books for him to defeat Voldemort and he's nearly 18 by then," Pepper told him. His mouth gaped open.

"There are more of these. Are they short like this one?" he asked.

"Well, no, they get longer and longer," Pepper explained. He set the book down and leaned back on the couch in their common floor.

"I'm not sure if I want to pursue this. There was a book I really liked about a little woodland creature on an adventure by an English writer. Babbit or bobbit or-"

"Hobbit," she corrected and almost looked like she was smirking. "I think Tolkien may have written a few more after that."

"Oh good," he said but wondered why she was smiling like that.

Natasha hated the waiting. Any minute now, the terrorists would make their move. Naturally, they had picked what must have been one of the most rundown parts of Prague. She was poised on a rickety roof. Phil was on a similar roof three buildings down while Clint was on an old water tower and Steve was around somewhere along with extra soldiers. Then, the shooting started.

She wasn't sure which side started it. The sound of how the gun fired should have been a giveaway but they were also hitting the ruined buildings and they were giving way. The noise was tremendous and she started running before the roof collapsed under her feet. Her balance was thrown off by the decreasing weight. She hesitated for a second to adjust and it became too late.

After recovering from the shock of the fall, she checked for major injuries. Finding none, she tried to crawl to her feet. Her face was bleeding and her wrist was sprained. However, she could still shoot her gun and defend herself. Natasha started crawling out of the wreckage. Then, there was a blue gloved hand helping her out.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No, where's Barton and Coulson?" she questioned.

"Coulson's roof collapsed, too. He went after him. Come on, the terrorists are getting away," Steve spoke and they started to run. Natasha almost looked behind. She knew Clint would get him. She just didn't know whether he'd be as lucky as she was.

Phil had to be okay. She couldn't lose him a second time. Natasha steeled herself and refocused on the mission at hand. She couldn't appear weak. All this time and that training had stuck with her, refusing to leave. She couldn't appear weak.

"Again? This is your fifth tardy this week," Maria Hill complained. Peter smiled and shrugged his shoulders. She noticed that he was avoiding looking at her face.

"I can't help it if villains always seem to attack me before school," he said. She resisted the urge to sigh.

"Next time, just call us and get to class," she said.

"But-"

"No, you have detention all next week," she spoke.

"Is that detention or 'detention'?" he asked, using air quotes.

"Detention, now leave," she spat. Almost as soon as Peter left, then their substitute science teacher came in. Bruce's shirt was a bit singed.

"I may have had a little accident in the classroom," Bruce spoke which was followed by the fire alarm. She wished she had alcohol.

"Go!" she commanded and shook her head. "I don't know how Coulson does it. He better be back soon."