AN: Hey guys. Here's the newest chapter. I'm posting this at 1:30 in the morning so please if you see anything that doesn't look like it should be there let me know.
Tony knew that he was going to have to do something soon because Clint was completely obsessed. Or maybe it wasn't actually an obsession but he was definitely showing more interest than the show deserved. So it was an unhealthy fixation at the least. This had Tony concerned because he was a good friend and teammate. Also because the idea of listening to Clint binge watch one more episode of Dog Cops made him want to blast his very expensive flat screen.
Luckily for Tony, Clint was willing to turn off the show if he would agree to a video game rematch with him. Which wasn't even a bed thing really. Especially since Clint didn't know about the cheat codes he'd have Jarvis install. Frankly he couldn't wait to see how Clint reacted when Mario flew by in an Iron Man suit and blasted his car off of the road.
Tony claimed his spot on the couch and tried to purge his memory of all the dog puns he'd heard while trying to get Clint to turn off his show. He almost didn't register that Bruce had entered the room until he started talking. "What are you doing?" He asked, looking over to where Clint was kneeling in front of the television.
"Setting up for Mario Kart. Grab a seat, you can be Toad," Clint said, hooking the system up.
"I'm actually heading over to-" It was at this point that Bruce looked over to where Tony was sitting on the couch and stopped speaking. "You're glowing."
"Aww, thanks Brucie. Always nice to hear a compliment," Tony said with a smile.
"Tony, why is your chest glowing?" Bruce demanded, stalking over to the couch to stare at his chest. Which, Tony was the first to admit, should probably have made him feel more uncomfortable than it did.
"It's just the arc reactor. Nothing you haven't seen before," Tony reached out and pushed Bruce to the side slightly so he could watch what Clint was doing to his tv. It wasn't that he didn't think Clint could hook up a video game; but after a guy uses a multimillion dollar piece of equipment to, unsuccessfully, make kettle corn he loses some credibility.
"You had it removed," Bruce said.
"And now I had it put back in," Tony replied.
"You had it put back in?" Bruce asked, apparently still having adjusting to the idea. "But you don't need it anymore. Do you? I thought you got all the shrapnel out."
"No, still metal free. This beautiful baby is purely decorative," Tony hoped that that would be the end of it but Bruce just kept staring at him. This had been much easier with Clint. Clint had just asked if he'd had the arc reactor put back in and then nodded and turned on Dog Cops.
"I might not need the reactor to keep myself alive anymore," Tony began. "And I don't need it to power the suits, but I've recently come to realize that it is necessary in my life. First of all, you have the toys. Before I had the reactor removed there were literally millions of Iron Man toys either on the market or in production. All of those toys have glowing chests. I can't be responsible for shattering the realities of every child who buys a dishonest toy. That is just a level of cruelty, and potential lawsuits, that I won't be a part of.
"Second, I'm trying to build a brand. This goes along with the toys, but I am identified by the tech and the reactor is something wholly unique. Also it makes a great nightlight."
"You're not serious?" Bruce asked.
"Okay, so it's more of a flashlight, but when I get up in the night I never bump into anything,"
"That's not what I-. Please tell me you didn't just do this so you'll still stand out over all the other people who have been trying to make suits."
"It's an added bonus," Tony admitted. Bruce groaned and rubbed the side of his head with his hand while Clint laughed.
"Does Pepper know that you did this?" Bruce asked.
"Of course she knows," Tony said. After all, short of wearing a parka to bed, there was no way he could have kept it from her for long.
"And she was alright with this?" Bruce asked.
"Pepper accepts me for who I am," Bruce stared at him unbelievingly. "I also might have bought her an island."
"An island?" Bruce and Clint asked at the same time. Clearly showing that they still didn't understand how much money he actually had.
"Just a little one," Tony said. He looked over his shoulder as the sight of Fenrir trying to cut through the room caught his eye.
"Hey," Clint said, tossing a game controller at Fenrir. "Grab a seat. You can take Bruce's slot."
"Slot in what?" Fenrir asked, looking at the controller in confusion. Which, Tony thought, was a bit of a failure on Clint's part. The guy had essentially claimed a day of the week for him and Fenrir to hang out and act like teenagers; and he hadn't thought to introduce video games?
"It's a game, you'll like it." Clint said.
"I can't," Fenrir said, holding the controller back out to Clint.
"Sure you can, it's easy," Clint insisted.
"No, I can't I…" Fenrir mumbled, as he stared down at his feet.
"We're busy," Bruce said, taking a few steps over and putting a hand on Fenrir's shoulder.
"You're choosing Bruce over us? I won't lie. That hurts." Tony said.
"Both of you should stick around," Clint tried again. "Come on, Fen. There's even a rainbow bridge level. It's fun."
"I…we need to do some tests." Fenrir finally admitted.
Oh right, Tony remembered, that. And, damn, did bringing up those tests make the room go quiet fast.
Fenrir shifted back and forth uncomfortably until Bruce herded him out the door. Clint finished hooking up the game and then came over and sat next to Tony. After about five minutes of him just sitting there and making no move to actually turn anything on Tony decided to get his attention and tossed his controller onto the other man's lap.
Clint caught it but put it right down on the arm of the couch. "I forgot that Bruce was still doing that," Clint said.
"Three times a week," Tony said. Clint nodded and went back to sitting quietly on the couch. That in of itself was weird enough. Clint never just sat quietly outside of missions. Even then he would talk on the coms as much as he would be allowed. Adding to the bizarre behavior was the fact that Clint was suddenly bothered by what was going on with Fenrir and Bruce.
"Weren't you the one who thought it was hilarious that Fenrir was going to be a lab rat?" Tony asked.
"Yeah," Clint admitted. "It just doesn't seem as funny as it used to."
It was Thursday. Or as Clint had come to think of it, Movie Day. It was great. Clint honestly hadn't realized how bad everyone else's taste in movies had been until he'd started watching his favorites with Fenrir. The other Avengers were good teammates, and they had their merits, but not one of them saw K-9 for the masterpiece in filmmaking that it was. As for the movies that they had been recommending and trying to get him to watch, well, he couldn't deny how satisfied he'd felt when the kid had fallen asleep during Citizen Kane.
As for today's choice, he was thinking Wizard of Oz. It wasn't one of his top favorites, but it was fun and it had flying monkeys. He had a feeling Fenrir would enjoy it. Not to mention that he could probably use some song and dance numbers after having spent the previous afternoon playing doctor with Bruce. And wow did that sound wrong when you thought about it like that.
Luckily Fenrir came in and was able to stop Clint's train of thought before it just got weird. Clint looked over and saw Fenrir had gotten the rest of the food they were going to need for the movie. "Just put it all on the coffee table by the tacos." Clint said over his shoulder as he continued digging through movies looking for Wizard.
Where was the movie? Clint was sure that he'd seen it here recently. He got up to go look in another cabinet for it and noticed that, in addition to the chips and popcorn that they usually included while watching movies, Fenrir had decided to grab a pint of ice cream.
Of course he brought ice cream. He always wanted ice cream lately. It was his favorite food, which annoyed Clint more than he wanted to admit. No because he didn't respect the choice, which he did. But because he could have been the one to show Fenrir ice cream. Hell, he almost had been gotten him ice cream when they'd been at the carnival. He hadn't though. He'd stopped himself because he'd thought it might seem like he was making fun of the whole Frost Giant thing.
But that didn't bother Captain America. No he just goes and buys Fenrir some cheap ice cream in the park and suddenly he's the wonderful, genius person who found the greatest thing ever. Clint could have done that.
He was about to go digging through another cabinet, in hopes of finding Wizard of Oz, when he had a much better idea.
"Hey, Fen, did you know that there are Captain America movies?" Clint asked.
"Like the one with Iron Man and Sean Bean?" Fenrir asked.
"Even better." Clint said, smiling as he went to go sit by Fenrir on the couch. "The Iron Man movie was just about Tony. But Steve actually starred in his."
"I can't picture that," Fenrir said, smiling like he thought Clint was making a joke.
"Jarvis, Tony has all of Steve's old propaganda film on file right?" Clint asked.
"Indeed, sir. And he has also recently acquired the discontinued Captain America Storms the Beach." Jarvis said.
Clint couldn't stop smiling. This was going to be fun. The only question was where to start. They were all pretty ridiculous. Then again, he had been planning to show Fenrir a musical.
"Let's go with Captain America on the Front, but first why don't you pull up the recording of the stage show," Clint said.
Jarvis dimmed the lights and turned on the tv. For a moment all that they saw was a black and white view of a stage but then a dozen chorus girls came dancing in. Fenrir began shifting in his seat as he waited for something to happen. He seemed like he was about to ask Clint something but apparently forgot how to talk when Captain America, in all his show girl glory, came on stage.
One thing that Steve had begun to wonder was if Tony had actually bought Fenrir a bunch of designer track suits when he'd originally taken him shopping? Or had he just taken it upon himself to order a dozen more when Fenrir had started coming out with him in the mornings? Knowing Tony, both possibilities were pretty likely.
Not that it really mattered where Fenrir was getting his seemingly unending supply from. Although it was starting to make him wonder if maybe he shouldn't try to find something nicer than a tee shirt to go out in. He'd even gone to the store and looked at a few things, but in the end he just couldn't make himself buy something that he was just going to run and work out in.
Fenrir clearly didn't have the same hang ups as Steve, judging by the Calvin Klein jogging suit that he'd chosen for the day. Apparently he'd finally gotten tired of gray, and decided to wear blue. It was probably a good change, Steve thought, as they began making their way through Central Park. Fenrir was so pale to begin with that he needed any extra color he could get. Not to mention that it made him look a little less somber and depressing.
The color change actually seemed like it might be having an effect on Fenrir. While Steve knew that Fenrir enjoyed running, he still usually looked serious from the moment they left the Tower until they returned. Today he was actually smiling and Steve was sure that he'd even heard him humming a few times. So, while it was sad that being happy was so out of the ordinary for him, Steve was just glad that he was getting to see him smile.
They had hit about the halfway point in their run when Steve heard Fenrir humming again. It made Steve smile to think that Fenrir was finally able to relax around him. That good feeling went away the second Steve realized that he recognized the song that Fenrir had been humming. He was sure it had to be a mistake. There was no way that Fenrir could know that song.
They ran for a few more minutes with Steve waiting anxiously to hear if Fenrir would start humming again. The moment Fenrir started again Steve was positive about what he was hearing. He'd listened to that song more than enough times to know it by heart.
Who will redeem, heed the call for America. Who'll rise or fall, give his all for America. Who's here to prove that we can? The star spangled man with a-
"How do you know about that?" Steve said, jumping in front of Fenrir. Fenrir stopped quickly to avoid slamming into him and just looked at him confused. "How did you hear that song?"
"Oh, was I humming it again?" Fenrir asked. "Clint played some of your films for me the other day."
Films. Fenrir had just said films. Meaning that they hadn't stopped at just one. Oh God, Steve thought. This was bad. "How many did he show you?" Steve asked nervously.
"I think we watched all of them." Fenrir said. "They were quite interesting. How come you never finished Captain America Storms the Beach?"
He even saw that one! Steve couldn't believe this. It was too humiliating. It was bad enough that he'd ever made those movies, and God had they made a bunch of them before they actually let him fight, but the idea that people were still watching them! He needed to sit down.
Steve walked over to a bench and slumped down.
"Was I not supposed to see them?" Fenrir asked, looking concerned as he came over to join Steve.
"They're not exactly how I like to advertise myself," Steve said.
"I liked them. They were entertaining," Fenrir said, smiling at him. Steve wasn't quite sure whether or not Fenrir was being serious but decided he'd worry about it later.
"Tony likes them too. He's an especially big fan of the costume. He just loves to remind me about the tights," Steve said, noticing Fenrir look away.
"I didn't see anything wrong with your outfit," Fenrir said, still not making eye contact. Yep, he was definitely laughing at him.
"We should probably start running again if we want to get back before-" Steve stopped talking when Fenrir jumped up and rushed behind the bench. "What's wrong?"
"Did you hear that?" Fenrir asked, scanning the patch of trees that were lining the path. "I thought I heard…"
"Dogs again?" Steve asked. Admittedly, since Fenrir had realized how many people walked their dogs in the park he'd been better at keeping things under control, but he still tried to stay away from the bigger groups.
"No, I… I feel like, like I'm being watched. Do you feel that?" Fenrir asked.
"We should probably head back to the Tower," Steve said.
"Do you know what it is?" Fenrir asked.
"The way things have been going lately I'm guessing it's a photographer. Either way we should probably hurry," Steve said.
Since they took a cab the trip back to the Tower actually took longer than it usually did, but they were still home in less than twenty minutes. As they entered the lobby they found Pepper waiting for them.
"We were just about to call you two," She said, leading them both to the elevators.
"What's happened now?" Steve asked. Pepper quickly jabbed the button for the roof before she answered.
"The sky above the Tower keeps turning brown and sparking," Pepper explained.
"Meaning?" Steve asked.
"According to Thor it means-" Pepper began.
"The Bifrost is about to open," Fenrir interrupted.
"Apparently. We called Thor and he's on his way back but he says he doesn't know who's coming through," Pepper said.
"I have a guess," Steve said, glancing over at Fenrir
"Tony and Bruce are already on the roof," Pepper said, the eleveator finally reached the right floor and the quickly got off. Looking up at the sky it was obvious to Steve that something was about to happen. He looked over his shoulder to look at Fenrir. Judging by his expression he didn't seem to know if he was happy about the upcoming meeting or not. Which wasn't too surprising considering how his last reunion had gone.
"You two should go back inside," The look they both gave Steve when he spoke made it clear that neither of them was going anywhere. "At least stay back here until we're sure who's coming through."
Steve walked across the roof to where Tony and Bruce were already waiting. Tony turned to speak but before he could say anything, a beam of light hit the edge of the roof. Someone had landed.
AN: I wonder who that is? Let me know what you think and stay tuned. We have some pretty big events on the horizon.