“Uh, guys? This building is about to collapse,”
Tony immediately panics as soon as he hears the words coming from Clint over the comm. “Christ. Clint, please tell me you’re not near that building. I swear to God,”
“I’m trying to help the last few people still in the area. I’m almost d- shit. Let me take a raincheck on that,”
“Barton,” Steve warns. “Get away from that building. That’s an order. You are not putting your life at risk!”
“Don’t worry, Cap. I think I’m near him. I’ll go find him and bring him to safety,” Tony tells him.
“I swear, that omega is the reason why I’m getting gray hairs this early,” Natasha complains.
“I told you guys before, recklessness is Clint’s job. Not mine,” Tony adds. “I’m not stupid enough to be near a building that’s literally about to fucking collapse!”
“Tony, just get to Clint. We’ll take care of the rest,” Steve orders. “Shit, uh- sorry. I didn’t mean-”
“It’s okay, Cap. I’m not mad. We’re all a little stressed right now,” Tony assures him. “And, what did we say about using that kind of language? There are children-”
“Dammit Stark,”
Tony laughs, before taking off to go find Clint.
Although, it doesn’t take long to find the building that’s collapsing. It’s not a very pretty sight. But then, Tony spots Clint running towards the building. “Clint!” Tony shouts, but the archer doesn’t reply to him, even though Tony knows Clint definitely heard him. “Dammit, Clint! Do not go into that building!”
“Please tell me Clint isn’t in that building,” Natasha begs over the comm. “Tony, please.”
“I swear to God, I’m going to take that omega and wrap him in bubble wrap,” Tony grumbles as he flies towards the collapsing building, hoping to be able to grab Clint before he gets too far. “And then he’s not going to be able to leave the tower for the rest of his life. I don’t care what any of you say.”
Tony spots Clint carrying a small dog towards the building's front door. “You’re kidding me,”
“I wasn’t going to leave him!” Clint exclaims, just as panicked. “He’s just a little guy.”
“Get your ass out of there now! You’ve probably got less than ten seconds before it officially collapses!” Tony shouts. His eyes widen as he looks up and can see more of the building collapsing. “Clint!”
The second Clint is out of the tower, Tony flies over to him and grabs him, lifting him up off the ground, flying away from the building as fast as his suit will take him. “You’re in so much fucking trouble,”
“I’m not a child,” Clint grumbles, holding onto the puppy tightly.
“No? You sure do act like one,” Tony snaps. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to save your sorry ass.”
Clint doesn’t say anything to Tony after that, afraid he’ll say something he’ll regret later if he does, and he doesn’t say anything to anyone else either once they get on the quinjet, even though he’s getting angry and worried looks from his partners. He only takes the puppy and sits on a bench away from everyone.
Natasha sighs softly as she watches Clint, not surprised about the puppy at all. She walks over to Clint, and gently places her hand on Clint’s shoulder, causing him to flinch away. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. She looks over and glares when she sees Steve and Tony in a heated discussion. She walks to the alpha’s, and angrily crosses her arms against her chest. “Did you yell at Clint?”
“Obviously I yelled at him,” Tony replies snappily, looking at Natasha. “He can’t keep doing shit like that!”
That’s when Clint decides to take his hearing aids out, not wanting to hear them talking about him as if he’s not sitting right there. Instead, he focuses his attention on the puppy in his arms.
“He went into a collapsing building for a damn dog,” Tony continues angrily. “He’s an idiot-”
“Tony,” Steve warns, glaring at the alpha. “I know you’re upset, and I get it. But, please calm down.”
Tony shakes his head angrily. “Where’s Honeybear when you need him?” He sulks off.
Steve sighs, and looks over at Natasha. “Did Clint say anything when you went over to him?”
“No, but he flinched when I touched him. He should go to medical when we get back to the tower,” Natasha informs him. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy on him being around that building while it collapsed.”
Steve nods. “Think we could all use a trip to medical when we get back,” he says. He looks over and frowns when he notices that Clint doesn’t have his hearing aids in anymore.
Clint looks up when he feels a pair of eyes on him, and sees Steve staring at him.
Steve smiles a little when Clint finally pays attention to him, and points to his own ears, silently asking Clint about his hearing aids. Clint shakes his head in response, and Steve lets out a soft sigh, and nods his head in understanding, knowing Clint won’t want to be bothered right now.
The rest of the ride back to the tower is quiet, nobody really says anything to anyone.
Clint watches as the rest of the team piles off the quinjet one by one.
“All of you are seeing medical. That includes you too, Tony,” Steve warns as he watches the team.
“I’m fine,” Tony replies tiredly, and Steve already knows that he’s heading straight down to his lab to work on another unnecessary project. He should be used to Tony’s behavior, but he’s not.
Steve turns and looks over at Clint, who’s watching him carefully. Steve sighs, and crosses his arms against his chest. Clint rolls his eyes and reluctantly puts his hearing aids back in his ears. “Thank you,” Steve says softly. He walks over to Clint. “I want you to go to medical. Don’t pout. Everybody else is going too.”
“I don’t need to see medical. There are more important things to worry about,” Clint says, nodding towards the sleeping puppy in his arms. “Need to find his owner.”
Steve rolls his eyes fondly. “That can wait, Clint. I’m surprised you aren’t currently trying to convince Tony to let you keep him. Although, I’m pretty sure his answer would be no,” he says.
“Yeah, don’t really feel like asking Tony anything right now,” Clint mumbles, before standing up, causing the puppy to wake up and whine at the sudden movement. Clint moves the puppy so he’s more comfortable in his arms. Clint looks up at Steve and sighs when he sees the look on his face. “What?”
“Whatever Tony said to you, I’m sure he didn’t mean it-”
“He didn’t say anything to me,” Clint snaps. “I’m not a child. Stop fucking acting like I am. Both of you. Christ.” He storms past Steve and walks off the quinjet, ignoring Natasha, who’d been waiting for him.
“Well,” Natasha begins, startling Steve. She snorts at his reaction. “Now we’ve got an angry omega.”
“Nothing is worse than an angry omega,” Steve groans. “God dammit, Tony.”
"We just got over you two arguing with each other, and now Clint and Tony are upset with each other,” Natasha complains. “Nothing can ever run smoothly in this pack, can it?”
Steve lets out a sigh. Great. A stressful mission, and now this. “I’ll handle it, don’t worry. Medical. Now,” Steve orders before walking off the quinjet, ignoring Natasha grumbling something under her breath that Steve doesn’t quite catch, but he’s pretty sure he caught the words ‘dumb alpha’s’. Typical Natasha.
Of course, Tony heads straight to his lab once he gets into the Tower, despite Cap’s orders about going to see medical. He’s fine, like he always is after a mission. He doesn’t need to see a doctor.
Tony drowns himself in work, fixing any repairs on his Iron Man suit from today’s battle.
It’s a bit later when he hears a ding from his phone. Tony groans, and reaches over to grab his StarkPhone, and sees that he’s gotten a notification that Clint’s posted an Instagram post.
“That damn dog,” Tony already knows, but opens the post anyway, which is a photo of Clint and the dog.
@clintbarton: Found this little guy during the mission today! Look how cute he is :) He’s got a collar on, and he’s well fed and looking healthy, so I’m guessing he has an owner! If anyone knows anything about this little guy, send me a message so we can track down the owner and return him home Xx
Tony frowns a little, surprised Clint hasn’t begged him to keep the dog. Tony goes to the comments.
can’t tell who’s cuter, you or the dog!
@clintbarton: definitely the dog :)
aw, he’s cute! you’re not going to keep him?
@clintbarton: you think my alpha is going to let me keep a dog in his billion dollar home? ha!
Tony sighs, and puts the phone down on his table. “Jarvis, where’s Clint?”
“Mr. Barton is playing fetch in the training room with the dog he has named Lucky,” Jarvis replies.
“Lucky,” Tony huffs at the name. He stands up and makes his way out of his lab, and heads straight to the training room. When Tony finally makes it to the training room, he can’t help but melt a little at the sight of Clint playing fetch with the puppy. Tony knows Clint’s always wanted a dog.
Tony leans against the doorway and softly crosses his arms against his chest as he watches the two. It's the closest he'll ever get to see the omega with a child.
“Come on, you’re supposed to bring it back,” Clint complains when Lucky doesn’t bring the ball back. “Haven’t you ever played fetch at your home? Lucky, bring it back.”
“He’s officially gone crazy,” Tony finally speaks, startling Clint. “Talking to a dog now?”
“Lots of people talk to their dogs. It’s normal,” Clint replies instantly, before letting out a sigh. “What are you-?”
“You aren’t going to try to convince me to let you keep that thing?” Tony asks, slowly making his way over towards Clint. He stops when he hears Lucky growling at him.
“Ignore him,” Clint rolls his eyes at the puppy, before looking back over at Tony. “Didn’t think you’d want me keeping a puppy running around your rather expensive home. Besides, he has an owner. I mean... look at him.” Clint looks back over at Lucky, who has finally brought the ball back to him. “Ah. Good boy.” Clint grins and grabs the tennis ball, throwing it to the other side of the training room.
“I see your point, but he seems harmless to me,” Tony says as he sits down in front of Clint, facing him. “I’m just saying… if you can’t find his owner, you have my permission to keep him. But, he’s completely your responsibility. Not anyone else's. Yours. You hear me?”
Clint looks over at Tony with slightly wide eyes, shocked to hear the alpha say this. “You’re being serious?”
“Yeah, I guess I am,” Tony confirms with a nod. “I know you’ve always wanted a dog.”
“But, I thought you were mad at me?” Clint asks. “I mean… you weren’t happy that I almost risked my life to save this dog, and now you’re going to let me keep him?”
“Yeah, we’ve gotta talk about that,” Tony says, leaning against his legs. “You disobeyed us, Clint…”
Clint rolls his eyes. “I hate when you alpha's use that term,”
“I know,” Tony says softly. “But, that’s what happened today, Clint. You deliberately disobeyed us, and risked your life. I promised Steve that I would stop being reckless during missions, and he promised me that he’d try to tone it down with the orders. I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Clint asks.
“You’re the one who needs to stop being so reckless during missions. You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days, and what do you think that will do to the pack? We need you, Clint,” Tony says.
Clint scoffs, shaking his head. “Nobody needs me,” he mumbles.
“I thought we got past this,” Tony frowns at the omega. “You’re important to the team, just as much as Natasha or Sam is. They don’t have crazy superpowers, do they? But, we need them just as much. Each and every one of you is valuable to the team, to the pack.”
Clint groans, and falls back onto his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “I'm sorry, it’s just how I feel, Tony,”
“Well, I guess we’ll have to work on that until you believe that isn’t true,” Tony says, scooting closer to Clint, gently leaning against him. “Can you at least promise you’ll be a bit more careful during missions? You’re giving Natasha grey hairs. You know how she feels about grey hairs.”
Clint looks over at Tony. “Oh, she’s blaming me for the grey hairs?”
“Well,” Tony says, laughing softly when Clint rolls his eyes. “Come on, birdbrain. I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. Yes, I'm apologizing to you. But, I'm being serious. What I said to you... it wasn’t fair for me to do that. You were only trying to do the right thing.”
Clint sighs. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll at least try to be more careful during missions,” he says.
“That’s all we can ask for,” Tony sighs in relief, before leaning closer and gently kissing Clint. “I love you, Clint.”
“How’d I know I’d find you in here?”
Tony looks over and sighs when he sees Steve standing in the doorway.
Steve looks over a Tony. “You- I’m a little surprised to see you in here though,” he raises his eyebrows. “Anyways. Everybody else has been to medical except for you two. So, get up. Both of you. Now. I don't wanna hear any complants or protests.”
Tony looks over at Clint. “You haven’t been to medical?”
“You haven't either,” Clint argues, glaring at the alpha. “You have no room to say anything.”
“Now,” Steve warns. “Or I’m banning you both from the training room and your lab. Five seconds.”
“Alright, alright. Shit,” Tony says as he pushes himself up onto his feet, and then pulls Clint up. “Bossy, ain’t he?” He looks over at Clint, and grins when Clint laughs.
Clint looks over and sees Lucky now laying on the floor, chewing on his tennis ball. Clint whistles, earning Lucky’s attention. “Come on. Come on, Lucky. Alpha’s cutting our fun short.” He pats his leg, and smiles when Lucky jumps up and runs over to him, leading the way out of the training room. Clint follows him.
Steve sighs, and looks over at Tony. “You’re letting him keep the dog, aren’t you?”
“Come on, you gotta admit. He’s kind of cute,” Tony says, before following Clint.