Pawprints

When Clint woke up and found Natasha and Tony gone, he didn't think much of it. After all, if Tony and Natasha wanted to go out for an early walk togethe-Wait, Natasha and Tony go out for a walk together? "Never in a million years!" Clint thought wildly and his mind flashed to the word 'kidnapping'.

"Natasha!" Clint shouted, already rushing to wake Steve up, because NATASHA and TONY were KIDNAPPED and he wanted her to answer, hoping against hope that she would... "Natas-"

"Clint, shut up! Do you want everyone to hear you?" Clint ran past just as the door opened, revealing Natasha. Stumbling to a stop, Clint clutched his heart dramatically. "Jesus, Nat, stop being sneaky!" Relieved to find Natasha safe and NOT KIDNAPPED, Clint let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding, then he remembered Tony.

"Natasha, have you seen Ton-" Clint started asking, but was interrupted by a snuffle. Looking down, Clint had to gasp when he saw Tony in Natasha's arms.
Those words sounded wrong next to each other.

Tony. In. Natasha's. Arms. No way. "Natasha, what did you do to him..." Clint gulped. Natasha frowned and slapped Clint's arm, causing him to wince. "I did nothing,идиот! Now take him and get out of here before I decide to do something worse to you than slapping your arm..." Seeing that Natasha's eyes were flicking suggestively towards her hidden knives, Clint made the decision to get out of there, and fast. Accepting Tony's still sleeping form, he power-walked out of there, feeling Natasha's eyes on him.

Once he was out of Natasha's sight, he started jogging for the lift. The sound of Clint's pounding footsteps woke Tony up. "Tony, what did Nat do to you, man? You guys are not friends, or anything!" Once Clint was in the lift, he immediately asked. Tony simply yawned at him and started struggling to get down. Walking to the common room with Tony by his side, he was greeted by the fabulous smell of bacon.

"Bacon! Tony, race you there!" Clint yelped, and before he even finished his sentence, Tony took off like a shot. Apparently he had been completely recharged by sleeping and his energy levels were back to 'FULL'. Rushing to keep up, Clint burst into the room just seconds behind Tony, startling Bruce, who was putting the bacon into plates. "Bruce, I need bacon!" Clint gasped.

Laughing to himself, Bruce nodded towards the plates. "Help yourself." Grinning his thanks, Clint reached for two plates, setting one on the floor for Tony. Tony's tail seemed to find a new gear, wagging so fast it became almost invisible. Reaching down to the bacon, Tony started wolfing a piece down...

Just then, Natasha and Steve entered the room. Steve immediately spotted Tony eating the bacon, and called, "Bruce! Stark shouldn't be eating the bacon, the dog food is in the cabinet!" Immediately, Tony glanced up and gave Bruce the 'irresistible cute look', making Bruce hesitate. "I'm sure Tony can eat the bacon, just this once...I even cooked for him." Bruce offered. Steve shook his head and took out the dog food, making Tony whine.

Removing the plate of bacon and replacing it with the dog food, Steve commanded, "Eat up, Stark!" Tony turned his head to one side, refusing to eat. Frowning heavily, Steve started explaining, "You have to eat it, it's for your own good." Tony huffed condescending at the food, seemingly deciding that 'eating is for the weak'.

Natasha, who had been remaining silent throughout this whole exchange, spoke up now. "You have to eat, Tony." Everyone in the room turned to gape at her. Clint felt like his brain was going to implode. Natasha just called Tony...Tony. "No freaking way!" Clint thought wildly. "No freaking way!" Rolling her eyes at everyone' stunned expression, Natasha ignored them all and continued addressing Tony. "There's nothing else we will give you, so unless you want to starve, you better eat."

Tony seemed to be on the verge of agreeing, but suddenly shook his head in annoyance and turned his back on the food. As Clint glanced at Steve, he saw his entire face redden, and groaned inwardly. "There's going to be fireworks..." He weighed his options: It was between staying and helping to defuse the situation, and leaving to avoid the conflict.

Luckily, it seemed that there was no need to make a decision as a voice rang out through the room. "Tony? JARVIS told me you were here and he sounded a bit strange. Did you do something wrong? I have papers for you to sign..." As Tony barked happily at the sound of Pepper's voice, the rest of the team looked at each other in horror.

"We forgot to tell Pepper..." Bruce hissed worriedly. Just then, the woman herself strode into the room. "Hi Doctor Banner, Ms Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Mr Barton. Have you se-" Pepper was cut off by Tony dashing towards her. "Oh hey there! Did Tony adopt you? He didn't tell me! But Tony never said he wanted a dog..." Pepper wondered aloud. Tony barked happily, looking back only to smirk at the team. "That little shit...he knows we have to explain to her what happened." Clint groaned.

"So, where's Tony?" Pepper asked, stroking Tony's fur. Steve cleared his throat,"Well, Ms Potts...he's right in front of you..." Pepper frowned and looked around, "Where?"

"The dog you're petting..."Steve hinted further. Pepper looked down and up again as the truth dawned. Standing back up, much to Tony's chagrin, she demanded, "Explain."

Once Steve finished explaining, Pepper took a moment to process his words, then turned business-like, "I'm sure I can concoct a story for the PR team. I'll drop by whenever I can. Please take care of Tony." Turning to go, she stopped only to pat Tony on the head one more time. Tony obviously didn't think that it was enough, and rushed in front of Pepper, standing on his hind legs and spreading his paws out, the universal sign for 'can I have a hug?' Clint and Bruce both cooed at the cuteness, and even Steve and Natasha had to crack a smile.

Pepper sighed in fondness and scooped Tony up for a final hug. Putting Tony back down, she laughed softly, "You're a lot harder to refuse in this dog form. Now go and eat your dog food." Tony barked in reply and nuzzled her one more time, before bounding back to the others. Just before she stepped into the lift, Pepper warned, "You better tell Rhodey too. Even though he's on a mission in Iraq, he won't be happy to know you kept something as important as this from him." The team nodded like bobble-heads as Pepper turned around again and stepped into the life, Tony's tail wagging the whole time.

Once Pepper's lift went down, Tony barked loudly to get the entire team's attention. Eyeing each member of the team, he slowly and deliberately started eating a piece of dog food. Clint had to stifle a laugh as Steve realised that Tony was only eating because of Pepper, and murmured, "He really is a little shit!"

Of course, Tony heard that, and gave Clint a doggy grin in reply. Today was going to be great, Clint decided.

Then, of course, the Avengers alarm had to ring.