A Cookie Won't Hurt...
Clint cursed under his breath, as everyone started clearing up. "Steve, what about Tony?" Bruce shouted after the Captain. Clint looked back at Tony, who had, after eating about a quarter of the dog food, had been lying on his stomach placidly. However, upon hearing the alarm, he'd bounced up attentively, looking eagerly at Clint.
"This mission...could require everyone. I'm sure we can leave Tony alone for a few hours, right?" Clint offered slowly. Upon hearing Clint's words, Tony's shoulders seemed to sag, but when he heard the word 'alone' he looked up and nodded eagerly. Natasha and Clint exchanged a look- they were not convinced that Tony would behave, but Steve seemed to buy into it. Nodding his head, he looked at Tony sternly, "Please don't run off or do anything dangerous- remember, you're a dog now."
"Steve, that's a little harsh-" Bruce began, but the Captain had already run off to gear up. Sighing, Bruce called, "JARVIS, please lock the door of anywhere dangerous to Tony." As JARVIS gave the affirmative, he also left the room. Bending down, Clint gave Tony's head a pat, laughing when he shook his head free of Clint's hand. "Come on Nat, let's get moving." As they walked off, Clint was surprised to hear Nat call back, "Have fun, маленькая собака!" but was more surprised to hear Tony bark back in reply.
As soon as they were out of the room, Clint asked, "Okay, what's going on between you and Tony?"
"I don't know what you mean." Natasha replied innocently.
"You know, suddenly calling him 'Tony' instead of 'Stark', even calling him pet names in Russian."
Natasha sighed. "Well, you're not going to stop digging, so I might as well tell you. It happened last night..." As Natasha recounted the incident, Clint felt his jaw drop further and further.
"So I realised that I had failed as a spy. Also, I'm not calling Tony pet names, маленькая собака just means 'little dog' in Russian. You really need to touch up on it." Natasha informed Clint. Clint nodded numbly, then he realised what Natasha had said at the start. "Wait, what do you mean you failed as a spy?"
Natasha huffed at Clint as they finally reached the lift. "The more I thought about it, the more I realised all the signs were there. That Stark wasn't the snarky, arrogant, playboy billionaire we know him as. It's all just a mask. Since my mission was to gather more intel on Stark, I have failed as a spy." Natasha explained simply, punching the buttons of her floor and Clint's floor. As Clint took a moment to process what Natasha had just said, he realised that the more he thought about Stark, the more he seemed to understand all of his layers. Putting aside that thought for the moment, Clint stepped out on his floor to gear up for the upcoming battle.
As soon as Clint and Natasha left, Tony bounced up and down in delight. "All by myself now!" he thought gleefully. He wasn't planning to do anything dangerous- he was just happy to be free of Steve's overbearing figure and the rest of the team's watchful eye.
Racing to the Movie Room, he flopped on the couch just as JARVIS turned on the television (he always knew what to do, JARVIS was awesome like that). It was showing 'Wheel of Fortune'. After about ten episodes of that, Tony was getting bored. He started jumping up and down on the couch, trying to see how high he could go. (He always knew there was a reason for those extra springy cushions!) Then, when he got tired and bored of that too, he curled up for an impromptu nap.
30 minutes later, Tony was woken up by the distinct rumbling of his stomach. Groaning at his hunger, Tony jumped off the couch and headed for the communal kitchen. There, he jumped up onto a chair and then onto the bar. "Sir, I believe there is some dog food on the shelf." Tony's head drooped, but then again, he supposed it was for the best. And, of course, he was hungry. He couldn't see anything else on the shelf either, other than a box of cereal.
As Tony stood on his hind legs to reach the unfinished plate of dog food from that morning, he froze when he heard JARVIS add, "My sources also tell me that having one chocolate chip cookie wouldn't hurt, and there is currently one on that box of cereal, left there by Mr Barton the day before. I have checked, and it is still quite tasty and clean." His tail wagging like crazy, he gave a bark of thanks to JARVIS and reached for the cereal box, shaking it until the cookie dropped down- into his open mouth. Crunching it up, he jumped down from the bar again, and rushed back to the Movie Room.