Chapter 1
Clint is perched on top of the refrigerator, a simple blue bowl in his hands -that was Steve’s bowl, screw you, Barton-, eating Toni’s (secret) stash of Lucky Charms (goddammit, no one touches her cereal!).
Natasha's seated at the table, casually inspecting her knives, a mug of coffee in front of her, beside where she's lain all her weapons.
Bruce is at the toaster, staring at the machine blearily, sleep still clouding his vision. He blinks uncomprehendingly at the thing, before shaking his head roughly and turning away, grabbing a mug and pouring himself tea from the teapot on the kitchen counter.
Wait. Toni hadn't even known that they owned a teapot.
She casts Steve a bemused look before bursting into the kitchen, still desperately trying to register the chaos.
“Barton! Off my fridge! Yeah, it can take your weight and more -it’s Starktech, duh-, but off! And get your own cereal! Don’t touch my Lucky Charms!”
Steve just enters the room, grabbing the nearest frying pan and pulling the cheese and ham out of the fridge, conveniently ignoring the bird-man perched above him.
He snags the egg tray and cracks the entire tray into a large bowl, whisking it briskly before setting it aside while he fries the ham in the pan. He dumps the ham into the egg before throwing the mixture into the pan and scrambling it, adding cheese as he goes.
It’s all done remarkably fast, and before Toni can even convince Clint to get down from his perch, the smell of frying ham and egg attracts the archer, who jumps nimbly down, dropping into the nearest chair and shoveling eggs onto his plate.
Nat puts down her coffee cup, eyeing the food before shrugging and spooning some onto her plate as well, while Bruce simply rubs his eyes, stares at the bowl of scrambled eggs, ham and cheese, and continues sipping at his cup of tea.
Toni just turns to the percolator and frowns when she realises that it’s not on.
She pouts subconsciously, turning to Steve out of pure reflex, and the soldier just rolls his eyes and grabs the pot of coffee on the table that Toni somehow missed.
“Thanks, darling,” Toni coos, grinning while she inhales the caffeine in one shot.
Steve shakes his head indulgently at her actions, pulling the coffee pot out of reach when Toni makes grabby hands towards it. Steve pushes a plate of food into her hands in place of the coffee, and Toni frowns down at the solids before raising her head and pulling the most effective weapon she has against Steve -puppy eyes.
The eyes work approximately 99.9% of the time, her own stats assure her of that, but apparently this morning is one of the 0.1%. Steve looks at her for a long moment, and Toni is convinced that he’s about to cave when Steve shakes his head and pulls the coffee pot even further out of reach. “Solid food first. Then caffeine.”
Toni groans and begins eating.
Clint sees the interaction between Toni and Steve, chuckling at the familiarity, and because he's never seen Stark so comfortable around someone other Potts and Rhodes, but he guesses that's what happens when you allow Toni Stark to be the first person Captain America sees after waking up.
Clint knows that Iron Woman was the one assigned to get Steve acclimatised to the world, because who better than the futurist herself? Somewhere along the way, the two probably became really good friends, he guesses.
The archer watches as Toni scarfs down her food before pouncing on the mug of coffee in Steve's hands, the Captain rolling his eyes fondly and pushing it into her hands before the brown liquid can splash everywhere as a result of Toni's violent actions.
The genius cradles her caffeine in her palms, taking a long drink before promptly proclaiming, "I'm going down to the workshop now."
Then she disappears before anyone can even say anything.
Steve shakes his head as if he’s used to sudden disappearances, settling down at the table and piling his plate with food before pouring a glass of juice and pulling out the newspaper.
It’s scarily domestic.
Steve whiles away half the afternoon sketching mindlessly, the cityscape and the Avengers appearing under his pencil, before deciding that he really needs to talk with Toni.
She’d been just that bit too reckless during the invasion.
He gets up and takes the elevator down to the workshop, entering his override codes and waiting for JARVIS to open the doors.
Toni’s at the metal bench off to one side of the ‘shop, tweezers and screwdriver in hand, rewiring the gauntlets, tongue poking out between her lips and brow furrowed in concentration.
Steve smiles at the familiar sight, fingers itching to brush that lock of hair that always fell in her face out of the way. He coughs lightly, causing Toni to put down her tools.
“Steve,” Toni starts, clearly trying to sound disapproving at him interrupting her work, but failing as the fondness in her voice grows evident. It says something that Toni doesn’t even need to turn to know that it’s Steve.
Steve wraps his arms around her midsection, resting his chin on her head as he peers down on what she’s been doing to the suit.
“You know,” he starts. “We need to talk about you flying off -against orders- to distract the Other during the invasion. That was reckless, Tone.”
He can feel Toni tense up in his embrace, stance turning defensive even as she pulls out of the hug to glare at him. “I did what I had to do, Steve. If I hadn’t, we’d all be dead now.”
“I know, Toni,” Steve soothes. “But I’m just saying, it was dangerous, baby, you could’ve been injured.”
“I knew what I was doing.”
Toni’s anger is starting to get to him a little, and Steve can feel a slight annoyance rising up as he snaps, “You could’ve been killed, Toni!”
“Deal with it, Captain! I knew what I was doing, there was no other way! It’s a risk I’m willing to take, if it means saving the team!”
Steve’s irritation melts as abruptly as it’d surfaced, and he can almost feel Toni’s insecurity rising. She’d always seen herself as expendable, as less worthy than the others, no matter how many times Steve had reassured her she wasn’t.
“We all know I’m the least valuable on this te- mmph!”
That’s when Steve’s heart breaks just a little, and he can’t help himself as he surges forward, pulling Toni into a desperate kiss that he hopes conveys that she isn’t useless. He pulls her ever closer, arm wrapped securely around her waist while one hand carresses her cheek gently.
When Toni finally goes pliant against him, he pulls back, staring into her eyes as he puts every ounce of sincerity he has into his gaze. “Never, never say that about yourself, Toni. You’re the best, greatest person I’ve ever known, and you’re invaluable to this team -if anything, I’m the leas-”
Toni socks him in the arm in retaliation for the comment and reels him back in, mumbling a soft, “Never.” before locking their lips again.
Clint wriggles his way into the ventilation system in the Tower, the metal tubes surprisingly wide.
He starts exploring the Tower by way of the vents, dropping down a few levels to explore the lower floors just for the heck of it.
He's crawling through the vents when he hears arguing coming from the direction of the lab, and naturally, he heads that way.
"You could’ve been killed, Toni!”
Well, that was definitely Cap.
“Deal with it, Captain! I knew what I was doing, there was no other way! It’s a risk I’m willing to take, if it means saving the team! We all know I’m the least valuable on this te- mmph!”
Clint starts at the sudden stop to Toni’s sentence, and he peers through the vent grate down at the scene in the lab.
Toni’s lips are pressed up against Steve’s, the soldier’s hand caressing her cheek softly, the other looped around her waist.
Steve pulls away slowly, blue eyes staring softly into dark brown. “Never, never say that about yourself, Toni. You’re the best, greatest person I’ve ever known, and you’re invaluable to this team -if anything, I’m the leas-”
Toni punches Steve in the arm and reels him back in, mumbling a soft, “Never.” before locking their lips again.
The sight shocks him so much that the floor gives way beneath his feet. Literally. The vent grate drops out from under him and he tumbles to the ground, landing in an ungainly heap at Captain America and Iron Woman’s feet.
“Oh, hey, guys,” Clint slurs before the previous scene catches up to him and he blacks out.
When he comes to, Cap and Toni are towering above him, arms crossed with similar unamused expressions. Toni’s eyebrow is arched, full lips downturned while Cap simply stares at him, eyes narrowed and lips pressed into a thin line.
Clint tries for an innocent look. “So… You’re dating?”
Something glimmers in Toni’s eyes, and a little puddle of worry starts to pool in Clint. Oh God, this is not going to go down well.
“No,” the genius replies, and Clint can feel his tilted world righting on its axis.
He heaves a relieved sigh. “Oh good, for a moment there I tho-”
Toni yanks Steve down for another kiss before surfacing, a silvery-blue band on her ring finger flashing in the lighting of the lab. “Try married.”
Okay, forget tilted off its axis. His world is completely gone.
Clint proceeds to pass the hell out.