Marc
"Is that Barton?" Tony asks more to himself than Pepper. She stops talking and follows Tony's gaze. "Seems-" she begins to say, turning away and resuming her previous topic of conversation. "Who's that man with him?" Tony asks, blinking at Pepper in surprise as she puts her hand on his.
"Don't do that," she smiles gently but decisively. "Don't what?" asks Tony, knowing exactly what she's referring to. "Poking your nose in other people's business," she says, in a tone used by a mother trying to stop her child from burning her hand on the stove. Tony nods in resignation and turns his attention to Pepper, who squeezes his hand in thanks.
The thing is, his brain doesn't work that way.
Since the whole New York incident, he has only seen Barton a few times, and they've only been brief moments. Barton picked Natasha up from the Avengers Tower a couple of times, or stayed the night, but then disappeared pretty quickly. A few times, he also saw Barton at Shield. However, there was never time for a conversation.
Seeing Barton here, with an unknown person, gets the cogs in his head spinning wildly. It could be a Shield Mission, he thinks, taking a closer look at Barton. He is wearing a dark t-shirt that is purple in color. He is wearing a simple jacket and plain black jeans. Tony only knows him in shield gear. He can only see the man from behind. Black hair is neatly combed back and the white and gray jacket is draped over the chair, revealing a blue-colored long-sleeved shirt.
But if it's an undercover mission, normal clothes are of course more inconspicuous. Tony watches the other table while listening to Pepper. "He's smiling," Tony suddenly states, sounding surprised. He wonders if he's ever seen Barton smile. "Crazy," Pepper says amusedly and sips her wine. "You do realize that everyone smiles from time to time?" she asks and Tony hears the slight mockery.
"I'm just saying. It's-" "How many times have you seen him? seven times? How many conversations did you have? Not enough. Maybe he's reticent.” Tony makes a noise of agreement. "Maybe I should say hello," Tony muses. "Maybe you shouldn't do it," Pepper contradicts with a touch of emphasis. "You're right. Also, this is our first date night in ages."
"Thank you," Pepper smiles softly.
"Was everything to your satisfaction?" asks the waiter. “The fish was really excellent. Please give the chef my compliments,” Pepper explains as the waiter begins to collect the dishes. "I will ma'am. Anything else?” “The cherry panna cotta sounds delicious. Tony do we share it?”. Tony nods while looking back at Barton's table. They're still on the main course and Tony doesn't know what they're doing here. They don't look around and if Tony learned anything from spy movies it's that undercover spies look around and sometimes get up to check on the situation.
"Tony," Pepper says, touching his hand again. "Yeah," says Tony, just knowing he'll be sharing dessert with her. "Very good," the waiter smiles and then disappears with the dishes. Pepper pours himself wine from the bottle left there. "It's rude to stare at people," she says reprovingly. "I'm not staring-" Tony defends himself. "I collect information".
"That doesn't make it any better," Pepper says, still in a reproachful tone. Tony pouts and takes a sip from his own glass. "I'm going to powder my nose for a minute-" Pepper begins to say, standing up. "don't do anything stupid while I'm gone". She puts a hand on his shoulder as she passes and Tony nods in agreement. He waits until Pepper disappears from his field of view.
He will only briefly say hello to a colleague. Are we colleagues? Tony wonders as he approaches. We saved the world together and according to Fury's great documents, Barton is a member of the Avengers, continues his inner monologue. So we are colleagues. "Barton-" says Tony enthusiastically. "I didn't expect you here." "Really?" Clint asks, slightly incredulous and maybe a little annoyed. "because you've looked here nineteen times in the last thirty-five minutes." Clint has crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. The laugh lines have disappeared and there is a seriousness on his face that Tony is used to from him. "Oh, did you see that?" Tony asks, only slightly taken aback. His agent name is Hawkeye, of course he saw you, an inner voice informs him. "I saw you when we came in," Clint snorts with an eye roll.
"Oh-" Tony utters again. "Well then you could have said hello." Barton gives him a look that makes him doubt everything. Far from being considered just an annoyance, Tony is sure the tealight can be used as a weapon. If he just listened to Pepper. "I assumed you and Miss Potts were on a date and eventually, I learned to give people their privacy," the last part is said in an accusatory tone, which elicits a chuckle from the other man.
Tony turns to him with a smile and immediately starts to wonder if he's seen the man at Shield before. "Hi I'm Tony-" Tony begins to introduce himself and holds out his hand. "Extremely pleased," the man smiles and takes the hand. The handshake is firm and hurts a bit. Tony doesn't show anything. "Don't tell him your name-" Barton cuts in before the man can add anything. "or he'll search for you in the Shield data and won't rest."
"Uh, so this is a Shield Mission?" Tony asks excitedly in a whisper, leaning further forward. "Who is the target? Does Shield pay for the food? Can I help? I could-" "Anthony Edward Stark," Pepper interrupts in a disapproving voice that makes Tony flinch. "Honey," Tony says innocently and turns to her. She has crossed her arms and shakes her head.
"What did I tell you?" she asks and Tony sighs. "Oh come on. It's like putting a bowl of gummy bears in front of a kid and telling them not to eat while you leave the room.” “Nice of you to compare yourself to little kids,” Barton smirks, amused, and Tony sees the amused smile.
Well, at least he doesn't seem to want to kill me anymore, he thinks. "One would think, though, that a grown man would be able to leave the gummy bears alone," Pepper says, relaxing her stance. "Wait a minute," says the man, in a Midwestern accent. "Are we the gummy bears in this association?" He looks from Barton to Tony, then to Pepper and back again. "Yes," Barton sighs.
Pepper also sighs and then turns to the two men. "I'm so sorry," she says, genuinely apologetic. "For the gummy bear association?" the man asks and Tony hates that he doesn't know his name and can't place it. "For Tony bothering you two," Pepper explains. "You don't have to apologize for my behavior," Tony replies. "Someone has to do it and you wouldn't." She takes his hand.
"Have a nice evening," she says to the two men and pulls Tony away. "You're in the middle of a mission-" Tony begins to explain. "I bet nice is something else". They sat down again at their table. "What do you mean?" Pepper asks confused. "Well, that they are on a super secret secret mission". Pepper's frown deepens even further before softening.
"Clint isn't cleared for missions yet," she informs him, and now it's Tony's turn to be confused. “What do you mean?” “What I just said. He is not cleared yet.” “How do you know that?” Tony asks, dismayed that he didn't have that information. "You know I'm friends with Natasha and Phil, right?".
The waiter comes with their dessert.
"But then what are they doing here when there's no mission?" Tony asks himself more than Pepper, taking a slice of the panna cotta. It tastes delicious. "Oh Tony," Pepper sighs like she's talking to a little kid again. But it doesn't sound reproachful or angry. It sounds gentle and amused. It's like a kid trying to make breakfast and it's not hundred procent successful, but you can't be mad because it's too adorable.
Tony looks at Barton's table.
The smile and relaxed attitude is back.
"Oh," Tony says in surprise.