AN: Hey there. Queen of long delays between chapters is back. I've been stuck on this one for a while and I hope you all think that it was worth the wait.
For Tony there was currently one question that loomed in his mind over everything else. The idea had first come to him a few days earlier and since then he hadn't been able to shake it. When he was training, tuning up his suits, even when he was destroying Clint at Mario Cart, the thought kept coming back to him. Now that he was almost finished building his newest suit there was no putting it off anymore. He needed to make a decision and it had to be the right one.
Tony pushed his chair away from the table where he had been working and wondered why being a genius always had to come with so many decisions.
"Jarvis, buddy, I need some input," Tony didn't usually like asking questions, but since he had been the one to create Jarvis it shouldn't count. "Should I change the color of the suit?
"Growing tired of the red and gold, sir?" Jarvis asked.
"Never. Red and gold are the perfect color combination. It's iconic. My suit is staying exactly the way it is. I meant for the ones that you'll be driving," Tony explained. "I'm thinking of color coding the ones that I won't be flying. Maybe blue for rescue suits, green for crowd control and, naturally, red and gold for flying into battle to destroy anyone who is stupid enough to challenge me."
"A respectable idea, sir. However, I must note that this seems much more clinical than your usual design plans," Jarvis. "Especially when you consider that the last time you considered a redesign it was to add racing stripes."
"You do know me. Pepper keeps pushing for me to be more organized down here," Tony admitted, scanning his lab and the piles of tools and spare parts that he had stacked nearby. "Obviously changing anything in here would be a disaster, so I thought this might be a nice compromise."
"Clever indeed, but I'm not sure if Miss. Potts will have the same thoughts."
Tony shrugged. His idea was perfect. Pepper would love it. Probably. Most likely… They could always talk about it more later. The important thing was that his workshop would be safe for a little longer. He went back to his computer and started scanning through different shades of blue. He was going to make the search and rescue bots the color of Pepper's eyes. What woman wouldn't love that?
He had almost chosen between either Frost or Royal Blue Metallic when his music shut off. One minute he had Metallica and the next quiet. Before he could even ask what was going on, the situation got worse. Some sort of quiet flute monstrosity began pumping through his sound system. This was wrong.
"Jarvis, what's happening with the music? Did Clint get into my sound system again?" Tony got up from his chair and went to go and change the music manually.
"Actually the change was my doing," Jarvis said. "Miss Potts has instructed me to eliminate any rock or techno music to your labs and workshops if you attempted to work for more than 18 hours straight. World saving emergencies aside."
"All of my work is related to world saving emergencies," Tony pouted.
"Not according to Miss Potts. If the music change does not deter you than I am also to instruct Dummy to block you from getting to any energy drinks or alcohol."
"You're kidding," Tony said. He looked over to Dummy who had somehow managed to get his hand on a bat. He was circling around his mini fridge and making practice swings. "You're not kidding."
"In the event that all these measures fail to motivate you I am to resort to blackout protocol," Jarvis said.
"Which is?" As soon as Tony spoke every light in the room, including screens and holograms, turned off. Leaving Tony in the dark. "I haven't been down here that long."
Jarvis ignored him and Tony managed to slam his knee into a cabinet while trying to find his way back to his desk.
"If you are interested, it is Mister Banner's morning to make breakfast for you all. If the items that he ordered last night are any indication than I believe that he is planning to make French toast."
Tony was not in the mood to think about breakfast. First he was having to stop a project before it was done, and then the AI that HE had created was teaming up with his fiancée against him. Not to mention that his leg hurt. They weren't just going to win him over with French toast.
"I believe that he also ordered in the imported bacon that you are fond of," Jarvis continued.
Then again, Tony thought, it would be petty of him to not go to breakfast. Especially if he wasn't going to be allowed to work anyway. "Is everyone else there already?" He asked.
"It is eight o'clock now, so most of them are still getting up." Jarvis said, turning the lights back on.
Tony nodded and began making his way to the door. Dummy followed behind him, waving the bat menacingly. "I'm going, I'm going." He said, as he jumped into the elevator.
As he rode the elevator up, Tony wondered if there was any chance of Clint coming down to breakfast. In the three days since Natasha had returned, Clint had hardly been seen by anyone. Darcy had insisted that she had seen Clint coming out of the kitchen at three am the night before, but otherwise he hadn't come out of Natasha's suite.
Not that Clint didn't have Tony's never ending respect for managing to score with the Black Widow. But after three days they were all starting to wonder if he was even still alive. There was always the worry that the angry sex could go too far. That or he'd tried proposing again and she'd just shot him.
Tony shook his head. He was spending way too much time thinking about Clint and Natasha having sex. If he absolutely had to think about Natasha having sex, then he would be including himself in the fantasy. And maybe Pepper. Would Pepper be into something like that? Probably not. They got along but Natasha was too intense for Pepper. No way. But maybe with someone like Dr. Foster? Of course that would mean dealing with Thor and…
"Sir," Jarvis interrupted. Tony was startled to realize that he had been at his floor for almost two minutes. He stepped out of the elevator and decided that what he really needed was coffee. He couldn't be expected to have coherent thoughts without coffee.
He walked into the kitchen and smiled at Pepper, who was already at the table with a cup of tea. How she was always able to be up at dawn without needing to inject caffeine to wake up continued to mystify him. He gave a brief nod to Loki and made a beeline for the coffee maker. He dug through the cabinets and found a Stark Industries mug and poured himself a cup as quickly as he could. About half of it ended up on the counter but that was fine. Someone always cleaned up things like that.
He took a sip of his coffee and sighed in relief. He looked back over to the table and saw Loki smirking at him. He turned around to put some cream and sugar into his coffee and took another sip. Then he turned back around. Damn it, he wasn't just having a pre-coffee hallucination. That was definitely Loki sitting at the table next to Pepper.
"So..." Tony said, eyeing Loki and trying to calculate if he could get his suit on and attack before Loki could hurt Pepper.
"Stand down, Stark. I have only come to see my son," Loki said.
"Junior isn't here," Tony said, doing a quick scan of the room to make sure that he hadn't just missed the other man.
"When I arrived your mechanical servant told me that he was still asleep. He told me that he could wake him or I could wait for him to come down for a meal. I saw no reason to wake my son up, so he told me to come and wait for him in here," Loki said, taking a sip of what looked like a cappuccino.
"Hey, Jarvis, next time an alien terrorist decides to stop in, give us a heads up. Okay," Tony said.
"Of course, sir," Jarvis replied. "Though I thought our guest may have been downgraded from his previous threat level. The Avengers did decide to allow him access to his son."
"We'd still like the update," Tony said, making sure never to take his eyes off of Loki.
"Noted, sir," Jarvis said.
"So, how long have you been waiting?" Tony asked. This was awkward. How was a person supposed to make small talk with a super villain?
"About 15 minutes," Pepper said, smiling. It was weird but Tony felt like he had seen Pepper use that smile before, but he couldn't say where. Then it hit him that that was the same smile she had given him when he'd told her he'd gotten his arc reactor put back in. That probably meant something, but he was just pleased with himself for remembering.
"Tony," Pepper said, pointing behind him. Tony turned and saw Bruce standing in the doorway.
"Guess who dropped in for some family time?" Tony said. Bruce barely even looked at Loki before he spun around and walked back the way he'd come.
"Well, that was rude," Loki said. Tony couldn't deny that he agreed. Who was going to make breakfast now?
"Jarvis, why don't you send Big Brother down here. I've got a feeling we might need him," Tony said.
"Already done," Jarvis said. "I've also sent a message to Miss Romanov advising her to keep to her rooms for the rest of the morning."
That was probably a good idea. To be fair, Clint might be dead at this point, but at least the rest of them won't have to clean up the mess that would come from the inevitable death match he would try and start with Loki. Sometimes Tony didn't know how people managed their lives without a virtual butler to think of these things for them.
Tony was relieved when he heard the telltale pounding that meant that Thor was running down the halls. He just needed to wait a little longer. Once Thor was here then he could make sure that Loki stayed put until Fenrir showed up and he and Pepper could get out of there. All they needed was for Thor to come and-
"Loki!" Thor shouted, as he bounded over to the table like a puppy.
Oh yeah, Tony reminded himself, Thor is an absolute idiot when it comes to his brother. Tony poured himself some more coffee and accepted that he wasn't going to get out of this.
"I'm so happy to see you have come back so soon," Thor said, moving like he was about to hug his brother. Loki waved his hands and a gust of wind blew Thor back a few feet.
"I'm not here for you. I only came to see my son," Loki said, taking a sip of his drink.
Thor, being Thor, decided to ignore what Loki was saying in favor of running back to the hall to get Jane. "I know that you have seen each other many times, but I have realized that the two of you have never been properly introduced. Loki," Thor pulled Jane forward to stand in front of Loki. "This is Jane Foster."
Loki sighed before responding. "And I'm Loki, I'm sure you've-" Loki never got to finish speaking.
"That was for New York," Jane said, after she'd punched him. Loki stared at her in surprise for a moment and, before he could decide what he thought of being hit by a human, Jane slapped him. "And that was for leaving Fenrir on the roof."
Thor pulled Jane away from Loki and Tony, and everyone in the room, watched to see what he would do. Loki chuckled and smiled down at Jane.
"I like her," Loki said.
Thor looked like he was about to cry, he was so happy to get his brothers approval on his girlfriend. Jane just looked annoyed, and Tony was genuinely concerned. Loki laughing was never a good thing! Loki laughing usually meant that someone was about to be magically tossed off of a building.
"Making new friends everywhere you go. Some things never change," Fandral said, sauntering in a few steps ahead of Darcy. He walked over to the table and sat down across from Loki. "I thought there was going to be breakfast."
"Bruce was supposed to cook today, but I don't think he's coming back," Tony said.
"You all do seem to have trouble arranging meals," Fandral said, spreading his legs and leaning back in his chair. This meant that most of the room was given a very clear view of Fandral since he'd apparently decided to come down to breakfast with nothing on under his robe.
"Fandral!" Pepper said, glaring at him until he straightened up and crossed his legs.
"My apologies," Fandral said.
"I know you're always eager to let the world know of your conquests, but perhaps next time you could just announce it instead of blinding the unprepared," Loki said with a glance at Darcy.
The entire room turned to look at Darcy who just shrugged and sat down at the table. "I had a chance to fool around with a freaking sex god. What was I supposed to do?"
Jane and Pepper both looked shocked while Thor and Loki looked impressed. Meanwhile Fandral looked like he was about ready to drag Darcy back to his room.
As for Tony, he was just ready for Fenrir to wake up and get his father out of there. This whole morning was too surreal. All Tony had wanted was some breakfast and the right to go back to his workshop. Now he was dealing with a bizarre family reunion and, if things didn't work out between Darcy and Fandral, another potential lawsuit. And as fun as it always was to watch Pepper terrify Fandral into good behavior, it lost some of the joy when he realized that Fandral was wearing one of his robes! Where had he even gotten that?
"I think you should ask Pepper about that. She knows more about it than me," Steve said, still looking over his shoulder at Fenrir as they came into the kitchen. Steve turned and took in the group before him and just stood there processing it all. Tony might even have laughed if his reaction had been any better.
Fenrir almost walked into Steve as he made his way into the kitchen. He was obviously still partially asleep and rubbing at his eyes with the back of his arm. Tony thought that he must have overslept and been in a rush to get to breakfast on time, since the guy usually never left his room unless he was completely put together. Today he hadn't changed out of his pajamas and his hair was sticking up and clearly still had some gel in it from the day before. But one look at Loki was more than enough to wake him up.
"Papa, you're?" Fenrir looked around the room. Glancing around at everyone crowded around the table before smiling excitedly. "You invited my father to breakfast?"
Everyone in the room froze. Even Loki had the decency to look uncomfortable. Leave it to Fenrir to think far too kindly of everyone involved in this situation. Everyone looked around waiting to see who was going to be the unlucky person to tell Fenrir the truth.
"Yeah, Fenrir, that's what we did," Steve said. "We invited him to come to breakfast."
Fenrir's smile somehow got even bigger as he rushed over to sit next to his father. Tony turned to look at Steve, who just shrugged and went to the counter to start making breakfast for everyone.
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
If there was one thing that Steve could always count on S.H.I.E.L.D. for, it was being thorough. He knew that it was important to do research and planning before a mission, it allowed for better strategy and lowered the odds of being blindsided by an attack. But even he couldn't figure out how some of the information that they had sent over to him could possibly be useful. What possible scenario could require him to know the fourth grade standardized test scores of an operative?
He all but jumped out of his chair when he heard a knock at his door; thrilled at the excuse to look away from the files that S.H.I.E.L.D had sent over. He went over to the door and wasn't surprised to see Natasha.
"I was wondering if we'd ever see you again. Is Clint still alive?" Steve asked.
Natasha smiled up at him. "More or less. Word around S.H.I.E.L.D is that you're going to be coming in for a while."
"Just for a few days," Steve said, stepping aside to make room for her to come in. "There's been some terrorist activity in Wakanda. They could have done it without me but Nick insisted."
"He wants to see how you do leading the Strike Team," Natasha said, walking over to his desk and scanning the stack of files.
"Yeah, the Strike Team," Steve said.
"Not looking forward to having your own S.H.I.E.L.D team?"
"I would have felt better if I'd been able to choose my own team. Other than that it's fine, I've known this was coming for a while," Steve said. "His timing could have been better."
"He probably thought that this was the perfect time. Seeing how things have been so quiet here lately," Natasha flashed him another smile and went back to flipping through files.
"You agreed that not telling S.H.I.E.L.D. about Loki was the right move," Steve replied.
"I do agree. But the downside of lying to a government agency is that you don't get to sulk when they interrupt your plans."
"I don't sulk," Steve insisted. Natasha just raised an eyebrow at him.
Steve still didn't think that he had been sulking, but he would admit that he was uneasy about leaving the Tower. It had been one thing to agree to let Fenrir see his dad, but Loki's appearance at breakfast had made their offer to let him come see Fenrir much more real than they had been before. He wanted to believe that there wouldn't be any problems. He wanted to believe that Loki just wanted to see his son and that would be the end of it. If he wasn't, if this was just another of Loki's tricks, then God help them all.
"They're giving you Ward," Natasha said, interrupting Steve's thoughts. "Grant Ward, he's on your team. Clint's worked with him a few times. Great sense of humor."
"I already read agent Hill's assessment on Ward, so I know you're lying," Steve said, taking Ward's file away from her.
"I was hoping that you hadn't gotten to his yet. I had an entire list of jokes I was going to tell you to tell him," Natasha said.
"As funny as that might have been, I doubt that there'll be much down time on this. I should be gone for four days at the most."
"Four days is plenty of time to get to know your new team. And if the World Security Council get their way then you'll be doing a lot more of these missions for S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Fair enough," Steve pulled out a chair and went to sit in front of Natasha before he spoke again. "So other than Ward, who can you tell me more about?"
For the next hour Steve tried to stay focused while Natasha gave him all the important information on the agents who had been chosen for Strike. Thankfully her information was a lot more useful than what S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent over, but it was still massive amounts of information on people he hadn't met yet. He knew that this was important, and Nick had been talking about making the Strike team a consistent group for him to work with, but this idea had been talked about before. He still ended up working with different people every time that he was asked to do a mission outside of the Avengers.
It wasn't that he didn't want to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. He believed in the work that they did and he felt like it was his duty to step up when they asked for him. After all he was still a soldier. Not to mention that, since Peggy had been one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D, he felt a strong connection to the department. Still, the longer he lived in the twenty-first century, the more he was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't…
"Hold on," Steve said, zeroing back into what Natasha was saying. "Why would I need to know anything about the people in statistics? I won't be seeing any of them on this mission."
"Maybe not, Alissa has an office right down the hall from Nick's. You have to report to him at the end of your mission anyway. Stopping by her office would easy. I know that she'd appreciate the chance to meet you," Natasha said.
"No," Steve said, flatly.
"It wouldn't kill you to-"
"We've talked about this before. I can find my own dates. I don't need you setting me up," Steve said, standing up and going over to his desk. He began piling up all of his files and shoving them into a box.
"Clearly you can't. What did you manage, two dates this year?" Natasha asked, as Steve pulled a file out of her hand. "Just because it beats last year's record, doesn't make it a good score."
"In case you forgot we've been a little preoccupied lately," Steve said, slamming the lid onto the box and shoving it under his desk. He was done with research. He'd meet the Strike team when he went in for the mission. He'd learn about them better that way.
"That excuse only covers the past few months," Natasha said. "And now that things have evened out with Fenrir there is no reason for you not to get out of the Tower every once in a while."
"I leave the Tower," Steve insisted.
"Missions don't count," Natasha replied. "From what Clint's been telling me, even our pale little shut in has been going out more than you."
"Natasha, I get out. I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."
"If you're sure," Natasha said, getting up out of her chair and headed for the door. As he was holding the door to let her leave she spun around and smiled at him. "But just in case you change your mind, I already gave Alissa's number to Jarvis."
Steve rolled his eyes and closed the door behind Natasha. He started to walk away but then turned back and locked the door. He needed to get some sleep before he was picked up in the morning and he didn't need for anyone coming in and waking him up at three in the morning. As he went to get ready for bed he made a note to himself not to linger in the hallways around Nick's office. The last thing he needed was a date with someone that Natasha recommended.
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
"You know we set up the medical area for Fenrir, but anyone can use it," Bruce said.
"Yeah, I know, what's your point?" Clint said, snapping open a bottle of water and downing half of it before he stopped to take a breath.
"My point is that you look like you've spent the entire time you've been gone wrestling with one of Tony's suits" Bruce said, eyeing Clint's bruises with concern. Clint just rolled his eyes at him and began drinking the rest of his water.
Clint knew that he wasn't looking great, and sure his back did still hurt a little, but he was feeling good. Honestly he was feeling better than he had since before Natasha had gone on her mission. Bruce was still looking at him like he was crazy, but Bruce worried too much. Right now he was feeling so, so good.
"You sure you don't at least want some pain pills?" Bruce asked again. Clint might have pretended a severe injury for a little while, just for the hell of it, but Bruce was finally starting to shed his 'worried dad' face.
"Nope," He replied with a smile.
"Well, at least you had fun," Bruce said, finally smiling.
"I really did," Clint replied with a laugh.
"Well you can't blame us for being worried when you disappear into Natasha's rooms for days at a time. If you'd stayed in there much longer we might have had to send someone in after you."
"Lucky you didn't. I think it's probably best for our team dynamics that none of you ever know the specifics of what goes on between me and her," Clint and Bruce just stared at each other for a minute after that. Clint did his best to keep a straight face while Bruce tried to figure out how serious he was. Clint always liked to keep his teammates guessing when it came to his personal life. Just like in the circus, it was the secrets that would keep an act alive and leave people coming back for more.
"You're a unique guy, Clint," Bruce finally said. Clint just smiled back and wondered what Bruce would think if he could see the whip marks that Natasha had left on his back. Then again, it was probably for the best that he had thrown on a long sleeved t-shirt before he'd left the bedroom. No need to reveal all of his secrets at once.
"So, I'm guessing Jarvis already told you about, you know who, being here," Bruce said, trying to lean casually against a counter, only to come up an inch short and hitting the marble counter top with a loud smack.
"If you're talking about Voldemort, I already finished the books, so you don't need to worry about giving me spoilers," Clint said, as he aimed and tossed his water bottle across the room and into a recycling bin.
"I meant-" Bruce began.
"I know who you meant," Clint said, tensely. "And yeah, Jarvis told me he's been stopping by.
"And how are you handling it?" Bruce asked.
"Well I'm thrilled to have an intergalactic terrorist stopping by unannounced. I've decided to just forget the entire attempted enslavement of the human race and just embrace the situation," Clint said, trying for his best braindead smile. Bruce just stared at him in response.
"Fine," Clint continued. "I think that the whole situation is fucked up. But if you're all worried that I'm going to do something crazy then you can relax. Even I can accept that getting Loki to willingly stand down is worth some restraint on my part. So I'll get used to it."
"I'm glad to hear it," Bruce said. The two of them stood awkwardly for a minute before Bruce spoke again. "So, are you in the mood for tacos? Because I always feel ridiculous ordering in food for just myself, but I-"
"Bruce, you had me at tacos," Clint said, pulling out his phone and hitting his speed dial for Taco Time. "Think we should ask anyone else if they want some?"
"Tony, took just about everyone out for sushi earlier," Bruce said. "It think Fenrir might have stayed back though. We can ask Ja-. Oh, Fenrir, we were just talking about you. Do you like tacos?"
Clint turned and saw that at some point Fenrir had come into the room. He lifted a hand in greeting as he listened to the ring on his phone.
"Fenrir, are you all right?" Bruce asked, walking over to Fenrir who, Clint realized, hadn't moved at all. Fenrir just stood frozen in place. What was wrong with him? Why did he look like he was about to cry? Clint was about to ask Fenrir what was going on when the host of Taco Time picked up the phone. Clint turned his back to Bruce and Fenrir and quickly placed his order and then turned back around. He saw that Bruce was resting his hand on the side of Fenrir's arm.
Why was Fenrir looking at him like that? Was it the bruises? Were they what was making him so tense? Clint wondered. It wasn't like Fenrir had never seen one of them get hurt before. When you live in a building full of superheroes you are going to see people come back with worse than just a black eye from time to time. Still something was obviously making the guy upset.
"Something wrong?" Clint asked. The question made Fenrir jump, and he quickly pushed Bruce's hand away.
"I'm fine. I didn't know anyone else had stayed behind, so I was surprised to see you both here. I should get back to my room," Fenrir said in a rush, before spinning around and practically running out of the room.
"That was weird," Clint said. "Fenrir usually loves tacos."
"Do you think we should go check on him?" Bruce asked.
"No," Clint said. "If he wants to be alone for a while just leave him alone. I ordered him some beef enchiladas, we can have Thor bring them to him later."
"I guess you're right," Bruce said.
Clint wasn't sure what was going on with Fenrir but he had a feeling that the two of them chasing him down wasn't going to help. Besides, if it really was all of Clint's bruises that were making Fenrir uncomfortable, then it was better if Clint waited until they'd faded a little. If that wasn't the problem, then Fenrir would tell them when he was ready. And if he didn't then he didn't. Not everyone needed or wanted to talk about everything. With everything that they guy had been through it was impressive that he wasn't way more warped than he was. If he needed to act a little skittish sometimes than he had more of a right to than most. Everything would be fine.
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
Everything was not fine! In the days since Clint had bumped into Fenrir while he'd been talking to Clint he'd seen him plenty. The problem was that every time the other man saw him he made sure to leave the room as soon as possible. The day before Fenrir had ended a conversation with Pepper mid-sentence in his hurry to get away from Clint.
Clint had tried to excuse it, to write it off by saying that it was his bruises or something that was making Fenrir uncomfortable. Not anymore though. Now it was different. It was Wednesday. The tv was set, the food was ready, the movie had been chosen, but Fenrir wasn't there. Fenrir was officially blowing off Movie Day. Fenrir was avoiding him.
This was not going to work. Clint began pacing around the room. Circling the coffee table where pizza and chips were going uneaten. This was not going to work! There were a lot of things that he had to put up with in his life that he didn't like. He had to deal with the fact that Natasha had to sometimes go on missions for months at a time. He could deal with that because he knew that she was deadly and that S.H.I.E.L.D. needed her. He had to deal with living in a building owned by a man who was on the constant verge of becoming a super villain. He could deal with that because, at this point, Tony hadn't gone insane and decided to take over the world yet. Also because he liked Tony. He had to deal with the fact that Loki was going to be making drop in to the Tower, and he was expected to deal with that because it meant that Loki was no longer a threat to humanity and Fenrir would get a dad. But the deal didn't work if Loki was going to be poisoning Fenrir against all of them!
Clint was getting more and more angry as he circled the room. Leave it to Loki to come in and screw things up just when things in the Tower were finally starting to calm down again. Everyone was fine with Fenrir being here. Fenrir got along with everyone and was actually starting to relax. They had all found a good balance; and then Loki shows up and suddenly Fenrir can't stand to be in the same room as Clint. That wasn't just a coincidence.
Finally, Clint couldn't take it anymore. "Jarvis," Clint asked the ceiling. "Where is Fenrir now?"
"Mister Lokison is currently in the library. Would you like me to let him know you are looking for him?" Jarvis asked.
"Nope, I think I'll go find him myself," Clint said, storming out of the room and heading down the hall. This was ending now. He was going to find out what it was that Loki had been saying to Fenrir and make this stop.
When he got to the library Fenrir wasn't exactly hard to find. He was sitting curled up in one of those giant backed chairs that only movie millionaires, and Tony, actually owned. He caught up reading, of all things, a Captain America comic, and didn't realize that Clint was in the room until he was standing practically in front of him. As soon as he noticed that it was Clint he straightened up and moved forward like he was about to bolt but, unlike before, this time Clint was ready for him.
As Fenrir began to jump out of his seat Clint surged forward and shoved him back down. Fenrir looked up at him and realized that he was trapped. "What is going on? What did your dad say to you?" Clint demanded.
"What?" Fenrir stammered, looking around like he thought someone else was going to show up and give him an excuse to leave. "I don't know what you're asking."
"Don't play stupid, Fenrir. I want to know what it is that Loki has been telling you," Clint said again.
"He… He has been telling me many things," Fenrir stammered.
"About all of us?" Clint asked.
"I don't understand. Why…? Why are you so angry with me?" Fenrir asked.
Clint didn't like the way that Fenrir was looking at him. It reminded him way too much of the way Fenrir had looked at him back when he'd thought Clint was going to find any excuse to hurt him. Clint took a step away from Fenrir's chair to give the other man some breathing room.
"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad about what's happening with Loki," Clint said.
"But, no. I told him… he promised me that he was going to stay away from you. He said that he wasn't going to bother you. He swore to me," Fenrir looked up at Clint like he was about to cry. "What has he done?"
Suddenly Clint wasn't so sure about anything. Loki was telling Fenrir lies about him and the Avengers; wasn't he?
"Fenrir, why have you been avoiding me?" Clint asked. He tried to keep his voice calm, but it wasn't easy.
Fenrir's eyes dropped down to the floor and he took his time before answering. "You know why."
He'd thought he'd known why. But now Clint wasn't so sure. "Explain it anyway." Clint said.
Fenrir looked up at him for a moment and then dropped his eyes back down to the floor. "I'm sorry. You've been kind to me, and I know what it has cost you to be so. But he is my father. He's back and I have a chance to truly have him back in my life," Fenrir stopped for a second to look back up at Clint before continuing to tell his story to the floor.
"I cannot give up this chance. I knew that it would make you mad to see me stand by him. I understand your feelings, I truly do, and I don't hold your decisions against you. But if sacrificing your favor is the price I have to pay to have my father back, then I am prepared to pay it."
As Fenrir finished his speech he looked back up and seemed to brace himself. Clint felt sick when he realized that Fenrir was expecting him to hit him. He took another step backwards away from Fenrir's chair and took a breath. This was not how he'd seen this going. Did Fenrir really think he was this bad?
"Fen, I don't know if this is coming from your dad or you or what but," Clint struggled to figure out what to say. "You know that you don't need to choose. Right?"
Fenrir was looking around the room again, seeming more confused than ever. "I…I don't understand."
"You were right about one thing. I don't want your dad anywhere near me. Ever," He added quickly. "But you being Loki's son isn't exactly a new thing. I've known that for a while. So him being here sucks but, you and me, none of that has to change."
"You… Do you really mean that?" Fenrir asked, slowly.
"Yeah,"
"Does this?" Fenrir began, looking up at Clint hopefully. "Does this mean that you don't hate me anymore?"
Now Clint was feeling really confused. He and Fenrir had been hanging out for weeks. They'd watched hours of films together. They'd pranked Tony together. This couldn't be right. Fenrir couldn't have thought that Clint hated him through all of that.
"I know that you don't like me," Fenrir said, apparently misinterpreting Clint's confusion. "That you changed your behavior to me out of pity- and because of your own goodness. But you have been so nice to me for such a long period of time that I was beginning to think that maybe. That maybe your feeling toward me had softened."
"Fenrir," Clint said, wondering how he had managed to screw this situation up so badly. "We're friends."
"We…We're not," Fenrir said, shifting around in his chair. "You told the Captain. You were adamant that we were not."
Told the Captain? What was Fenrir talking- oh, fuck. Clint realized what Fenrir was talking about. It was the day that Steve had tried to talk Clint out of sleeping with Fenrir. He had said that he and Fenrir were not friends. Fenrir hadn't been in the room but apparently he'd still heard. Damn wolf ears; he would have heard everything.
"I don't begrudge you the decision," Fenrir started again. Clint quickly interrupted him before he could try and justify Clint being an asshole anymore.
"Fen," He said, making sure to say each work clearly. "You are my friend."
Fenrir just stared at him. He was completely stunned. "But, I don't understand," He said, looking at Clint. His face shifting back and forth between hopeful and confused. "With my father. How can you-"
"As it turns out, I like you more than I hate your dad," Clint said. Fenrir smiled at him. Clint realized that this was possibly the biggest smile he had ever seen on Fenrir. Fenrir shifted around in his chair for a bit before he jumped out of his chair and almost knocked Clint over in a tackle hug.
Clint had never been much of a hugger. It had never been something that his family had done, nor had it been something that had been encouraged in the circus, or at S.H.I.E.L.D. He had his own ways of showing affection and friendship. But Fenrir clearly needed this and, given how badly Clint had apparently handled their friendship so far, it didn't really bother Clint to hug someone. It wasn't like Fenrir hadn't earned it. So he dealt with a little bit of discomfort and gave Fenrir a hug back.
AN: Awww. Friendship!
Thanks so much for those of you who have stuck with this since the beginning. Especially considering my somewhat erratic posting schedule. I promise that I am still working on it and hope that you are all enjoying reading it.
As always I live for comments and would love to hear what you all think of what you are reading. Or what you are hoping/ fearing to see next.
See you next chapter