A/N This under went a few dozen revisions, hope you like the flow (and sorry if its a bit choppy!)

Bagel Thursday

PeechTao

Chapter 10

It was Bruce's idea not to wait before getting Stark up-to-date on the news. It was impossible to gauge what Steve's reaction was going to be, so to prevent the risk of Tony finding out in a second-handed way, Clint changed and followed Bruce down to the private lab. There was music playing, creating an image similar to the one the night before. This time it was not Vivaldi. Tony had his typical playlist, a mixture of Black Sabbath and whatever similar renditions he could find through Pandora. He waved a hand over his head from beneath his work bench indicating he heard them enter.

"Hope that's Jolly Green, cause I have solved his outrageously difficult plasma puzzle, and you know something, I think you did it on purpose too." Tony came out from under his desk and reconnected some stray wires. His digital space rendering technology lit up with an image of Stark Tower. "Glitch is fixed. Oh, hey birdman."

Clint smiled at him.

"Now why would you think I did it on purpose?" Banner asked innocently amused.

"Uh, because you are working on a super-secret project behind a very sophisticated multi-algorithmic file inscription and if you'd given me at least another hour I would have figured it out myself."

Banner indicated the desk. "Did you fry your desk server figuring that out?"

"No, but I think you fried it when you installed a literal firewall that caused the overheat on my system when I tried to pass the first barrier. Very clever." Tony dropped his tools on the tabletop and looked poignantly at Bruce. "You diabolical little man."

Bruce shrugged. "Kept you out for a while. I have to say it was a success."

"We're discussing it now, so that means you are not only acknowledging this secret project, but looking for assistance. What is it? Something tantalizing isn't it? Is gamma radiation involved?"

Bruce motioned to Clint. "Actually, it's not my project. It's Clint's."

Now Tony's curiosity went from piqued to bursting. "Weapons tech? Spy stuff? Seeing through walls? Oh wait, i made that one already... Oh, a grappling gun so you can be Robin on the weekends. Sorry, doctor but that's going to make you Batman. You share names after all."

"Tony, this is something you're probably going to want to sit down to hear." Clint said.

Curiosity overflowing now, Tony couldn't sit. He pulled over his bag of dehydrated blueberries and began to eat a few. They helped keep him quiet when he was excited.

Clint started again on the story he was getting sickeningly used to repeating. Tony was stoic, but subtle hints over time gave him a clue how the billionaire was handling the information. When Clint started the story on the battlefield, Tony was attentive and chewing incessantly. When he mentioned the arrows, the chewing slowed, a little at first. Then came the final blow and Tony wasn't eating at all.

"It wasn't your fault, Tony. Not yours, not the Captain's. No ones. We had to get out, and I found the only way we could. The damage was considerable but it's ok because Bruce has been working to fix it. We have a fix, temporary for now but it's something to work with. Right Bruce?"

"It's a start. It's what's hiding behind all those firewalls. The first night you caught me modifying your bio-engineering body scanner. I was splicing it with that new neural technology to create a rendering of Clint's acoustic system. From there came the second project. Creating the earpiece. I spent the plane ride modyfying the algorithms to keep you out."

Clint pulled his aid off and handed it to Tony. True to form, Stark wasn't someone who liked having things handed to him. Clint placed it on the table in front of him. "It sounds a little metallic, grainy. It's only a prototype."

Tony didn't say anything. In fact, after he finished chewing, he put his blueberries down next to the implant and stood very still absorbing everything he was told. He began to say something, but his face was turned away so Clint had to stop him.

"Tony, without that on, I don't know what you're saying."

Tony turned back to him, his face was mortified now.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I can read lips. Bruce and I had this code worked out to help me follow conversation, but I still can't read through the back of your head unless you invent me something to do that."

Tony opened his mouth but as far as Clint could tell no sound came out of it. His eyes went down to the implant and he turned it over in his hands.

"Computer processor would help the clarity." He said with his head focused down. Then he seemed to remember that Clint couldn't hear him. He looked up. "I. Can. Help. Ad-just. The. Basic.-"

"Tony, I'm death, not dumb, just talk normal for crying out loud." Clint told him smiling.

"I mean- I can adjust this. It's . . . I can work to make it rather, you know. I can, this- Clint, you're deaf! Deaf! You are a spy, and you are deaf. You didn't do this, if I hadn't designed that stupid-" He stopped, letting his fist hit off the top of the counter. "Metallic. I'll fix that. I'm going to fix this."

"Tony?"

Stark looked at him. Time together made it obvious to see Stark was hiding his emotions. The guise that hid his deepest seated feelings now came up like his iron mask.

"Stop that."Clint warned him.

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything. You asked for help, I'm helping. I'm a helper. That's what helpers do."

"Tony, no you're not. I know this thing you're doing. You've got to get it out of your head. I'm fine. We're alive. We could have all just died out there, but we didn't. So stop sitting there and telling me you're ok with this. Because it's not your fault no matter how much you are trying to say it is."

Bruce backed away a little from the two of them. Unless Tony was planning on coming over the table at him, Bruce didn't expect a blow up like the one between Natasha and Clint. He knew this was going to be a hard break, but he didn't want to interrupt or sell the moment short by them remembering he was standing there too.

"You wanted me to handle it, I'm handling it!" Tony shot back. "What am I supposed to say? Good? I'm happy? Way to go, Clint, you did a great job digging me out of the desert. Real happy you decided to be maimed the rest of your life."

"Tony!"

Tony held his hand up, "Wait, weren't we recently stuck in Bolivia and you and me were in a jam? Did you cut your foot off and not tell me that either?"

"That's not fair Tony," Clint growled back.

"No, what's not fair is having a friend not tell you when he gets screwed up! You read my SHIELD file; remember that little thing about not playing well with others? Yeah maybe it's because I'm sick of them stabbing me in the back!"

"I did NOT stab you in the back. This was my problem, I wanted to handle it."

"Oh you handled it real well apparently. What are you going to do the next time SHIELD calls? Take a sick day? Not answer? What's going to happen when we're on our next mission and I need help but I can't reach you? Why couldn't you have just waited?"

"Waited for what?! For you to figure something out?"

"Yeah-"

"No, as I remember you were baking in that suit of yours and unconscious. Kinda hard to solve problems from lala land, Stark."

Tony lowered his voice some. He was mad. More than mad he was hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. Clint and Tony were close. Very few men in Tony's life could ever have the opportunity of being considered one of Stark's friends. In fact, he had exactly three. James Rhodes, Clint Barton, and Bruce Banner. Steve was a leader type, close but not a friend. Happy was a great employee, but Stark was not about to pour his heart out for the guy. When Tony's friends kept secrets, when they were hurting and he didn't know, that was a problem.

Tony looked away from Clint. It was hard to stare in his eyes now that both of them were mad. "Look, I know you probably don't get that I feel responsible, and frankly I don't get it either. I shouldn't care. We're nothing to each other accept some part of that one-eyed jackal's ego-trip." He shot a glance at Clint to see how that bomb would drop, but what he saw instead was Clint with his hands folded over his chest with a stubborn look. Clint motioned to one ear, shrugged his shoulders, and folded his arms again. This was going to be harder than Tony thought.

"Without looking at you, I know what you're saying. You're blaming yourself, which I told you not to do, then you're justifying the fact that you shouldn't care by saying we're nothing to each other. But guess what, Stark? You aren't getting rid of me."

"What is this supposed to be a soap opera?" Tony said. "Don't think so high of yourself."

Suddenly Clint smiled. A large, disturbing, psycho-style smile. "I love you too, Tony."

Tony stepped back a little, worried about what he was going to do. "I did not say—"

Clint walked around the table, holding his arms out. "I can't hear you, say it again. I know deep in that suit you have a heart. I think you're my tin man."

Tony backed away, skirting around the table to keep it between them. "I did NOT say that. Stop, I'm trying to scream at you, you idiot!"

"Awe, come on, give the disabled kid some love."

"Clint I swear I don't do touching."

"I'll be gentle."

Bruce watched the table antic for a little while, dutifully remaining in his forgotten shop corner while Tony and Clint made up. Clint had that way about him. The strange gravitation and way he had to diffuse dangerous situations by talking his way out of them. Tony was upset, rightly so, and he'd probably hang on to that for a while. That's what Bruce was for. At least he had someone to complain to.

To keep Clint off of him, Tony yanked open a drawer. He grabbed a discarded hand repulsor and pulled it on as he ran around the table. He was distracted, so Clint ran the opposite way and grabbed him in an arm bar. Tony elbowed him in the ribs. Clint grabbed his other arm, and the two of them went crashing to the floor. Given their new escalation, Bruce figured it was time to step in. He went over to the grappling pair and tapped Clint twice on the shoulder. Tony was curling out of his grip anyway. Soon he'd get himself free. Clint let go, Tony pulled away, and Clint went for his knees instead. Tony's repulsor went off and the light above them exploded.

The elevator door opened and Steve Rogers entered the lab like a man about to storm Normandy. He saw Clint and Tony fighting, Banner trying to break them up, then the shattered light in the ceiling. His normal conclusion would be that Stark wasn't taking the news well.

"Hey, break it up you two!" Steve shouted. Behind him Natasha rushed forward to help. Between the three of them Clint and Stark were pulled apart and sent to separate corners. Steve stood between them as a referee. "Look, I get that you probably didn't like hearing about this any more than I did, but don't beat the crap out of Clint for it!"

"He started it!" Tony replied.

"And Clint, why didn't you tell us? I think it's obvious how Tony feels about this, but weren't you the one who left on a mission yesterday? I got the SHIELD report on that and one screw up could have killed you and agent Morrissey!"

Clint shrugged. "No one's going to let that one go, huh?"

"No, because it was a stupid move." Natasha added, but then realized Clint couldn't hear her. She folded her arms and stewed to herself.

"Steve they weren't really fighting, actually they were making up." Bruce said.

"We just were, you know, fighting to make up." Tony replied.

"I don't care if you two were dancing; stop it so we can talk." Steve said.

Clint waved his hands, directing all attention his way. "Um, can I point out how frustrating it is to have all of you in the same room and no idea what's going on?" Clint went over to the workbench and hooked on Bruce's prototype. "Honestly I don't know how I survived the last couple days with this."

Behind him the others exchanged a shared amount of mixed emotions.

"Alright, now let's talk, I guess."

Steve went first. "I think the fact you kept this from us is one of the stupidest things you've ever done. And Bruce, I'd think you would have had more sense to help him do this!"

Bruce's mouth dropped open. "Wait—What? Hey, I'm not part of this."

"Technically you are." Tony said. "And, hey I thought we were tight or something and you give me a multilayer algorithm for nothing? That took serious dedication to fix, is the plasma array already operational?"

Bruce made to respond, but he looked down at his shoes and folded his arms. "Uh, well, yeah. Yeah it is."

"So I just wasted my time on a puzzle?"

"Stark, cool it, can we please stick to the issue at hand and what we need to do about it?" Steve cut him off. "Look, the fact is Clint is deaf. That's going to take some adjusting with the team. Does Director Fury know?"

Clint and Natasha both started forward. They shouted "No!" simultaneously, surprising the others.

Steve threw up his hands. "What, are we just going to do? Sweep this under the rug? Clint you are an agent, it's our duty to report—"

"No, you can't!" Clint cried.

"If you do, that'd be it." Natasha added.

"Agents don't get sick leave and an island in Tahiti, we get scrubbed out. Do you even know what that means?"

"Steve, they'd kill him. If we're lucky Fury doesn't know already and we still have a few days to figure this out. The minute SHIELD gets wind Clint's dead."

Clint gave Natasha a sour look. "Yeah, but maybe not right away. I think I could live a while before they caught up to me."

She returned the look. "Clint, SHIELD found Bruce Banner in the middle of Calcutta. You'd be easy."

Steve held his hands out to stop them. "OK! I get it. No SHIELD for now, but Natasha's right. We're going to have to do something about this."

Tony took the floor. He walked over to Clint and stole the cochlear device off the side of Clint's head and headed to his work station. "Solution is being worked on. Now everyone get out. This is getting fixed. Give me a few hours to fabricate, JARVIS, we're in creation mode. Get Bruce's inscription files up and running, Bruce you helping me now?"

"What's he saying?" Clint asked.

"No, you're helping me. Let's get cracking. JARVIS, I'll put in my security codes, allow for merging with Tony's desk." Bruce patted Clint's arm. "Clint?"

Barton watched for Bruce's signal and focused on his face.

"I'm going to need the transmitter for a while. Can you and Natasha manage for a bit?"

Why not? Clint had already managed this long alone. He indicated that he could and Bruce headed to his own desk system to bring up the encrypted files. Clint motioned to Steve and Natasha and headed for the elevator but stopped before he reached it. "Oh, hey, Bagel Thursday. Do you guy want something?"

Bruce signed that he'd send Clint a text. Steve and Natasha noticed the exchange in complete confusion, but didn't ask about the meaning.

Bruce watched them get into the elevator, leaving Tony and he alone to work. Bruce expected the news to hit the team a lot harder than what he'd witnessed... Natasha had taken everything in stride, even Clint lying to her. If Bruce was a gaming man, he surely would have lost that bet. Tony was Clint's best friend outside of his partnership with Natasha. Tony was reserved, when he wanted to be, but emotion over those closest to him was always on display. Bruce remembered him returning to the Tower after Happy was caught in the explosion. That was so altered compared to now. At first he thought Tony was just taking things in stride. He saw a problem and his mind was working at a solution. Bruce admired the fact that Tony kept it together so well, and when the elevator doors closed he turned to say just so much to him.

"Tony!" Bruce exclaimed. He rushed over, expecting to have to pick Tony off the ground after he fainted. But Tony remained swaying on his feet, pale and silent.

"I said something to him when his back was turned. He didn't hear me. It wasn't like I was whispering or something. I wasn't mumbling. I tend to mumble. And talk fast. It drives Pepper crazy but I don't notice it. I just do it. Bruce, he's never going to hear me is he?"

Bruce meant to say something, but the words caught in his throat. He settled for a short shake of his head.

"I just can't believe it. This isn't right, and it isn't fair. I got rid of my tech to keep it from hurting people and now my best friend is deaf because of it. I've got to fix this. Bruce it's my fault, if I hadn't made that thing years ago, then this would have never happened. "

"Tony, it's not your fault. Clint doesn't think that and neither does anyone else. You didn't weaponise it like those men did, you didn't set it off, and you didn't make the decision that Clint did to deafen himself to save everyone. Men made those decisions, but not you."

"I've got to fix it."

"Then let's fix it."

:(:):

When Clint reached the main level he intended to head to his room for a wad of cash and a jacket. He passed by the living room, never noticing, never hearing Natasha and Steve attempt to call him over into the kitchen. Clint grabbed his few things from his room, put his cash in his wallet, and went back to the living room to find the others. His eyebrows raised at seeing Natasha and Steve already waiting.

"Oh, hey. Ready to go?"

Whatever Steve was expecting to say was not forthcoming. He straightened, and looked at Natasha.

Natasha said nothing.

Steve too waited, but found his voice before the moment became increasingly awkward. "Clint, I'm so sorry-"

Clint held up his hand. "It's ok. Well, not really, but it's going to be. Tony and Bruce are down their busting their butts and all I have to do is go out and get some bagels."

Again Steve wanted to say something, but didn't. Instead he sort of looked around him, found a pen and paper by the kitchen counter and was half way to retrieving them before Clint stopped him.

"Steve, no, I can read your lips. Just look at me and make sure you get my attention. You don't have to write everything down. Are you coming out with us?"

Steve looked at him, or glared at him. His gaze was intense, close, and a little uncomfortable as well. "Yes, I am coming out with you."

Under the scrutiny Clint had only a single recourse, and that was to laugh. "I think we need to work on this whole lip-reading thing with you. I can't tell if you want to kill me or are trying to focus really, really hard. Oh, before we go I need to show you a couple little things so pay attention."

Clint had them lift their hands and hold them out in front of them. "So Banner and I made up our own private sign language or signals. Natasha, if you're talking and I don't know it, tap here," he indicated his right hand and displayed it on theirs. "Just lightly, don't freak me out. Tony is the left hand. Steve, we ran out of hands for you, so you are a tap to the foot. If someone says a joke that I'm supposed to laugh at, tug here. If I'm talking too loud, squeeze here. You don't need to pinch my elbow off, just a light squeeze. Now really important is this: if you are trying to talk to me you need to get my attention first, wave your hand like this. My eyes are better than any of you and unless you're standing right behind me I'll know. Ok, put your arms down. Until I get an earpiece that works, don't call me on my phone. Text me first. My phone is on vibrate so I'll know. If I'm in a packed room and I can't follow conversation, then text me the gist of it so I can figure out what's going on. If you want to tell me something, but want to text it instead, either just do that or sign your hand like this. Oh, and try not to let me get hit by a car. I tried that and it wasn't fun."

Steve and Natasha took the debriefing like champs and prepared as if they were going into the thick of battle. In fact, the way they walked away from that downtown jaunt would leave one to wonder if they had just rolled off a battlefield. What was about to come one may ask? Nothing short of Steve and Natasha tripping over themselves to be the perfect guardian signaler of their damaged colleague. Natasha was his partner; Steve was his commanding officer in all appearances. The combination was a toxic one.

Happy had a new id badge for Clint, Steve tapped, Natasha pinched, Clint eventually figured it out. Walking out the door someone waved hello. Another mismatch of signals and Clint nearly stumbled into a pole. Steve reached out to grab him and Natasha pulled the opposite way. Clint hit the pole. A sudden curb appeared and Steve picked Clint up and set him down as if the agent was blind, not deaf. New York was definitely much more of a challenge, but surviving the sympathy of his friends may just prove the end of him.

awe, aren't they cute:)

-please review!