Of Moving House and Brief Reunions
“... you’re not serious.”
“I’m always serious.”
“Lemme get this straight, you want us, as in the group of highly unstable, overpowered people, to become roommates? In Stark Tower?”
Nick smiled at Clint, “Avengers Tower,” he corrected, “Stark’s already signed the deal. Residential and professional use of the tower and access to his databanks and resources, in return for a full contract for all tech, access to our databanks and the official Avenger’s title. Apparently he didn’t appreciate being labeled a consultant.”
Clint sat down heavily.
“You’re serious about this.”
Nick laughed, sitting beside him, “I already answered that, yes.”
“What did Tasha say?”
“She agreed. On a few conditions of course.”
“Conditions. Shit. I’ve… I need some time. To think about it. I’ll need to talk to Lore as well. Where’s Ava going? Out of interest.”
“Ava and Elena have agreed to move in full time as well. Elena needs… you know how badly it destroyed her with the invasion. The idea she could’ve hurt Ava… she’s struggling.
The Tower’s the safest place for Ava to be for the time being - she needs care, and Elena can’t provide that at the moment. As for Laura, well, during the negotiations, I managed to pull a side-contract for families and relatives. It’s how Ava has permission to live here full-time, despite not being a SHIELD operative. That invitation could extend to your family… if you wish.”
Clint let that sink in a moment, before slowly saying, “Well, we were planning to move anyway… Cooper got accepted to that STEM school a while back. It would be good for him to acclimatise to the city beforehand. And I’m sure Laura could help look after Ava as well, just until Lena gets back on her feet. I’ll have to speak to her though.”
Nick smiled at the man’s tone. Clint knew that Nick knew that Clint was already decided. The move to New York had been decided months ago, although the timescale would be pulled up by a few months. There was no competition. They’d keep the farmhouse, of course - you never knew when you’d need a safehouse - but there were too many benefits to deny. He’d read over the contract, sort out some fine print and some clauses, and then move as soon as possible. His family needed to be together right now, and if Ava, Elena and Nat had already agreed to move in, it was a no-brainer. And then of course there was the obvious benefits.
“Nick… what’s the Loki situation looking like?”
The kind of smile that belonged on a cat spread across the man’s face.
“Hill’s making a press statement regarding the attack - as far as the public are concerned the ‘vengeful god’ has been returned to his home planet by Thor, and we need to make sure the tide turns our way. Thankfully most of the footage is blurry enough that Loki is unrecognisable aside from the fancy-dress, and those who saw him in person were generally too terrified to notice details. As far as the public are concerned, our Loki is an embassy from Asgard, sent to unite our nations after the attack, and the real culprit has been apprehended.”
“And what about those who know differently?”
“The World Security Council has been informed of the circumstances. With a little… pressure from Stark, they’ve agreed to forgo a trial, declaring him an asylum seeker from Asgard. He’ll have a probation period, where he’s confined to the tower, as well as considerable amounts of therapy and psychoanalysis, but they’ve agreed that having such a powerful individual on our side would be far more beneficial than making him an enemy. I… may have also slightly exaggerated Asgard’s reaction to having their Prince on trial.”
Clint stared, “Sir, did you threaten the World Security Council with intergalactic war?”
Nick stared back at him, “I have no idea what you are talking about Agent Barton.”
They sat in silence a moment before Clint sighed, standing, “I guess I better call Lore than, tell her the situation. I’ll see you later, boss.”
“Goodbye Clint.”
Clint left the room, rubbing his eyes. Nick scared him sometimes.
Who else would reintroduce the man who led an alien invasion on a city back into the public with a different set of clothes, and then gaslight anyone who got suspicious?
Actually, thinking about it, he could name several people who would do that.
He loved his job.
—-------------------------------------------------
Two weeks later
“- and then I wacked him really hard on the head with a frying pan, to make a point, and then had Shawarma with the Avengers.”
Cooper rolled over on the bed to stare at the ceiling.
“Why does the cool stuff always happen to you?”
Ava scoffed, “Coop, you’re literally living in Stark Towers! No, no, the Avengers Tower!
Do you know how many people would kill to be you? You eat dinner with Black Widow! Iron Man is teaching you physics. Dr Banner is teaching you biology. That man had a poster on my old classroom wall!”
Cooper grinned, “okay, okay, my life is pretty cool. It’s still kinda crazy to me. I mean, it’s one thing knowing a bunch of secret agents, but another thing when your dad and aunt are suddenly on TV every so often. How weird is parent’s evening gonna be? ‘Oh hi Mrs Green, this is my dad, freaking Hawkeye!’”
Ava giggled, “Can you imagine getting detention and Aunt Nat comes to pick us up? It would be so badass.”
“Or getting Tony Stark to help us with our homework. How did you get him to like you so much anyway?”
Ava shrugged, “I scandalised Steve. Tony now considers me his adoptive daughter.”
Cooper laughed out loud, “Oh my god! We can call freaking superheroes by their first names! This is so cool.”
“You’ve said that twenty times already. And you moved in an hour ago.”
“Just because you’ve been here two weeks already doesn’t make you cooler than me.”
“No, I’m cooler than you because I have magical powers.” Ava sniffed the air, “And my magical powers are currently telling me that someone is cooking lunch.”
The pair shared a look, and then leapt off the bed, racing down the corridor. Theoretically Ava could’ve cheated, by either teleporting or increasing her speed, but it was way funner to race properly, sliding across hard-wood floors.
They had almost reached the kitchen, Ava stretching her fingertips out when she slammed to a stop.
“Going somewhere?”
She froze, watching the figure leaning casually in the doorframe, wearing an all-too familiar hoody and black jeans combo.
“Loki?” she whispered, barely aware of Cooper standing stock still behind her.
“Hi Vennen, (darling)” he whispered back, face full of love and yet cautious in way he’d never been before.
“Loki!” she sobbed, hurtling into his arms at full speed.
He quickly wrapped around her, sinking to the ground so she could curl up on his lap. They rocked back and forth a moment, both of them crying, Loki whispering apologies in her hair, telling her how much he loved her in between.
“I’m so sorry, Elsken, I’m sorry, I love you, I’m sorry.”
“I love you too,” she sniffled back, “Don’t be sorry. Please don’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault.”
He chuckled damply, “I’ve had an awful lot of people tell me that recently.”
“Well they should. I missed you. I missed you so much.”
She pulled back to look him in the eyes, the water filled forest pools, the colour she’d known and loved for as long as she could remember.
“I missed you too. More than you could ever know. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re here now. That’s all I care about.”
She was suddenly frozen in fear. “You… you are here, right? You’re gonna stay.”
He smiled through the tears, “Yes, I’m here to stay. For good this time. I’ve… I’ve spoken to a lot of people in the last two weeks. Including my brother. I’m not going to return to Asgard. He will return alone with the Tesseract, and I will stay here. With you.”
“And… and you’re all better now? They fixed your head?”
“Not… not quite. I’m me again, but, like you, I’m still hurting. It’s going to take time to fix me. But I’m not going anywhere.” he looked over her shoulder, reaching a hand out, “Are you going to stand there all day?”
With a squeak, Cooper threw himself into the embrace, the three of us tussling in a pile, in the way she’d missed for so long.
“I’m pretty sure I said go get the kids for lunch, not throw them round a corridor.”
Ava turned to Natasha with shining eyes, “Loki’s back!” she exclaimed, “Aunt Nat, he’s back, and he’s staying! He’s back!”
Natasha smiled widely, “I know Маленький паук (little spider), I was the one to send him for lunch. Speaking of lunch, you guys wanna catch up over grilled cheese’s?”
“Yeah!”
“Yes please!”
Taking a hand each, Ava and Cooper dragged Loki towards the kitchen, where most of the team were already sat. They all looked very serious, in the way Elena did after long meetings, and so Ava assumed they’d all been having a Very Important Conversation. But for now at least, they seemed content to just eat, Ava and Cooper grabbing sandwiches and soup on the way by.
Life had been hard for a long time, and sometimes, Ava wasn’t sure it ever hadn’t been.
But maybe that was how things went - you had highs, you had lows.
You had a year of pain, and you had curling around your two favourite people in the world with warm food, surrounded by people you’d barely known two weeks before and now you couldn’t imagine living without.
Life had been hard for a long time, but Ava couldn’t help but think that maybe her hard time was coming to an end.
But no matter what tomorrow brought, she wouldn’t face it alone.