And the story shall continue.

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Tony and Clint are bros in this AU

"I think that's adorable," Tony remarked with an ironic eyebrow raise at the screen where Clint's face was being displayed. After the Manhattan debacle with Loki had blown over Tony had given Clint a Stark Phone and told him to 'keep in touch'.

Clint rolled his eyes and said, "Well, it doesn't matter how adorable you think it is: they didn't show."

"I agree completely with their pass on meeting with SHIELD but I will take it as a personal insult that they didn't come here to regal me with their 'magic'," Tony said flippantly. He pressed a hand over his heart in a dramatic expression of hurt. After he saw Clint wasn't buying it at all he turned his back to the screen to start fidgeting with the holographic blue prints to the latest Ironman model.

"I'm just not sure I agree with taking them on as agents for SHIELD," Clint said, ignoring the jab at the agency he worked for. "What do they bring to the table? I mean really?"

"Let's find out," Tony said. He pulled up a screen into the area in front of him and angled it so Clint could see as well. After playing with the settings and making the screen enlarge he pulled up a video of the highlights from the Horsemen's first and second shows.

Five minutes into the montage of the four magicians performing amazing stunts Tony said, "That is damned impressive," pointing to the paused screen of the youngest man throwing what appeared to be little playing cards across theaters to slice through various pencils held up in the audience. Tony figured the cards must have been treated with some sort of shellac to harden them up a little more.

"Oh c'mon Tony, you must have figured out all of those stunts before they were even finished. There's no real talent here!" Clint insisted as he watched the girl with the red hair jump into the bubble and float over the audience – held up by wires, Clint supposed.

"While I would usually agree full heartedly with your assumption of my general awesomeness in the brain department," Tony began while wagging a finger in the general direction of the screen Clint was on, "some of these tricks I'm still working out."

"You're not seriously saying you don't know how something as simple as fake magic works, are you Tony Stark?" Clint asked half teasing half incredulously.

Tony whipped around in his swivel chair and said petulantly, "I'll figure it out soon enough! Don't you worry, simpleton, I could do these tricks just as easily as they can and probably with more charm, too."

"Yeah, ok, Tony," Clint said, "I'll leave you to figure those out: some people have real jobs they have to do."

Tony just waved dismissively and clicked on more videos.

Twenty minutes later he was watching tutorials on how to dress up pet bunnies and that is how Pepper found him an hour later: watching cat videos.

"Such is the nature of YouTube!" Tony tried defending himself but Pepper just rolled her eyes.

Henley and the Crew!

"I don't even know what that means," Merritt replied as Henley and Jack stood side by side in the living room looking down at Merritt on his usual place sprawled out across the couch.

"You mean you've never – I can't – I can't," Jack stuttered.

Merritt looked to Henley who looked equally shocked and asked sarcastically, "Did I break him?"

"You didn't break him, you broke the world! How can you live your entire life and never see Mean Girls?!" Henley exclaimed.

"If it makes you feel any better I have also never seen that other really popular chick flick movie that recently came out…what was it called?" Merritt said.

"Don't say it," Henley cried, covering her ears, "Don't say it, don't say it!"

"Pitch Perfect! That's the one!" Merritt said triumphantly, oblivious to Henley and Jack's distress.

Jack looked just about ready to faint and Henley looked like she was seconds from beating Merritt up. "A movie night is obviously and desperately in need," Henley said with finality. Jack nodded his agreement as Henley ran to grab the keys to the car they had been given and raced out the door to get to the nearest Blockbuster saying, "I'll be right back!"

"Get popcorn!" Jack yelled after her.

"And those little chocolate covered pretzels!" Merritt added, "White chocolate!" he tacked on as an afterthought.

Jack sighed dramatically as he deposited himself onto the recliner to gaze at Merritt quizzically. "How did you manage never seeing those movies?" He asked finally.

"I have a better question, kid, where did you see those movies?" Merritt asked. For a kid living on the street it was hard to imagine Jack snuggling up for a Friday movie night watching chick flicks.

Merritt realized his mistake in alluding to Jack's past a second too late and couldn't take it back as he watched Jack's face.

But the kid's expression didn't change. Either he was a better liar than Merritt had realized or he really hadn't minded the question at all. Either way Merritt hadn't imagined the next words to come out of Jack's mouth at all.

"Ah, well," he said as he seemed to blush a little, "well I happened to be with this girl and the electricity cut out for a like a split second, I swear, and the girl got so freaked. She wouldn't let me leave and so we ended up having a chick flick marathon."

"Seriously?" Merritt asked incredulously. He could see something a little off in the way Jack shifted at the end of the story and knew there was more to it than that but had already made the decision he wouldn't press any details from the kid he wasn't already willing to give.

"I am not even kidding you," Jack said as he shook his head with a small grin.

…

"Alright, movie time," Henley smiled as she walked into the cabin holding three movies and a grocery bag of snacks. "Jack, can you go grab some pillows and blankets? I have extras in my room."

"Got it," he said as he bounded up the stairs only to stop halfway and say, "Should I tell Daniel?"

Merritt and Henley shared a look and Henley said, "You don't have to say anything, just get the stuff and I'll ask Daniel if he wants to come down."

"I'll put in the movies," Merritt volunteered.

…

Halfway through the second movie with Jack and Henley leaning against each other on the floor and Merritt still on the couch Henley saw Daniel pad quietly and softly into the room and sit on the recliner without saying a word. While this wasn't much, it was a step in the right direction.

Alright guys, here's another chapter! I hope you guys like it!

I'd like to take this moment to thank the people who favorite and reviewed this story!

Ciao