Tony Stark was whining, they didn't need to hear him, to know it. He had his best puppy eyes look pointed at director Fury while his lips were forming out words faster than the other avengers could read, not that they wanted to. They were close to the point of joining him in his pointless attempt to convince the director to let them off the hook, they were literally dead on their feet and not in the mood for a post-battle meeting. Even their captain who loved giving speeches and talking about battle plans and strategies looked like he couldn't wait to leave SHIELD’s headquarters and head to the Avengers tower and that was a very rare thing indeed.
“I don't know why he's even trying, Fury can out stubborn even him.” Clint groaned, his sharp eyes glaring at the director through the glass wall.
“Tony insisted to try and change his mind.” Bruce quietly added, obviously exhausted from the transformation.
“I would have gone myself as the captain…but we all know I can't outtalk Tony.”
Natasha snorted, sounding the least tired of all of the avengers, yet appearing to be in a desperate need for a shower,
“Unless he shoots him for talking too much.”
“I don't seem to understand, friends, what is the man of iron trying to accomplish?” the god of thunder finally joined the conversation.
“He's trying to save us from a boring meeting big guy, keep your voice down, I can't hear anything.” the archer replied only to get cuffed by Natasha,
“No one can hear anything, that's why they're in Fury’s office.”
They all chuckled when they saw Fury’s narrowed eye, the tension in his shoulders and the way he clenched his jaw in more than a clear sign of anger.
One long minute later, Tony walked out of the office, a subtle smirk on his face before he announced with a proud glint in his eyes,
“We're free to go. Let's go before he changes his mind. Pizza for lunch?” and started walking away as if he had said nothing important. The avengers gaped at him, before Bruce asked,
“Did he…”
“It looks like it.”
“Wow.” Clint and Natasha were actually impressed and that wasn't an easy thing to achieve.
“Friends, shouldn't we be following the men of iron? I'm in need of a big meal…” Thor voice snapped them out of their haze and they immediately rushed to catch up with the genius.
Two days later, during a training session in the tower's extremely equipped gym, Clint hit his target with the usual flawless accuracy, then he ran his hand through his hair and said,
“I don't understand and I've been thinking…”
“You've been thinking?” came the captain's amused voice.
“I have you know that I'm a spy as well, I just don't flaunt my intelligence just like that, I keep it hidden.” he replied.
Natasha made a flip, landed on the floor with a soft thud and chuckled,
“Tell us what you thought about Clint.”
“I think Tony must have something on Fury.” seeing their unimpressed faces he quickly added,
“Think about it, Fury is one hell of a bastard…” completely ignoring the ‘language’ reprimand coming from the captain and continued,
“he never backs down, it's nearly impossible to change his mind, and I know, I've tried.” when be got no reaction, he groaned and waved his hands in front of their faces,
“Come on Tasha, back me up.”
“He's got a point, Fury is not someone who can be easily swayed, in fact it's almost impossible, so…you might be onto something.”
“If Fury is that tough then…it must be something big.” Steve added and despite his usual attitude of not caring about things like that, he sounded interested.
“Hey JARVIS!”
“Yes, agent Barton?”
“What does Tony have on Fury?”
“I'm afraid that sir hasn't got anything on the director at least nothing digital that I can access, either way agent Barton I have no authority to give away sir’s personal information.”
“Ahh, you're no fun JARVIS.”
“Rest assure agent, sir says the same thing when I point out a mistake.”
“Permission to investigate Fury, captain?”
Steve let out an exasperated sigh and replied,
“You will try that with or without my permission right?”
“Yes, he will.” added Natasha.
“Fine, just don't get yourself in trouble. I got nothing on Fury, he'll eat you alive if he catches you.” but Clint was already lost in thoughts, so the other agent replied,
“I'll make sure he doesn't get caught.”
“Thanks, Nat.”
When they saw Tony entering the room, a bandage on his arm, few cuts on his face and the grumpiest expression they had ever seen in him, they were caught off guard.
Steve was the first who said something,
“Tony… I thought you said you weren't coming for this.”
“Fury made me do it.” he scowled and took a seat next to between Natasha and Bruce.
Each one of the avengers except for Thor, he wasn't there since he was too busy to come for some new strategic test run or something, looked at him, surprise evident on their faces.
“Fury made you do it? You're the only one who is more stubborn than him, how did he manage that?”
“He caught me off guard, Legolas, I was tired, sleep-deprived and…” everyone could practically hear the captain's disapproval in his subtle clearing of his throat but as always Tony ignored it.
“Anyways, I'm here and I can't wait for this to be over. What's going on by the way?”
“Apparently some test run for a new strategy or technique, new tech perhaps, Fury didn't say a lot.” came Bruce’s calm reply.
“Well, if I fall asleep during this, don't wake me up.” he said, causing everyone to roll their eyes in fondness.
Later that day, they left Tony in the living room after he had actually fallen asleep to go to the kitchen and talk. Well, it was all because of Clint.
“So, Fury has something on Tony.”
“Doesn't he have something on everyone?” asked Steve.
The archer let out a tired sigh, doing his best to appear annoyed before he answered,
“Of course he does, but when it comes to Tony we know most of the stuff, right Tasha?” now, their gazes were pointed at her.
“Yes, I collected most of that, but there are things only Fury knows, he's actually great at keeping secrets and twisting the truth.” she smirked at them and added,
“in fact if each of us ask him how he lost his eye, you can bet that he'll tell us different stories.”
“So, we got nothing?”
“Yes, Clint. Nothing.”
“Ah, man…” he probably wanted to say something, but Tony appeared out of nowhere, rubbing his eyes and mumbling about coffee.
Their mystery remained unsolved, until one day, during a boring meeting after a particularly hard battle.
Director Fury was going on and on about the battle, no one was spared from his tongue lashing and by the looks on everyone's faces, they couldn't wait for the whole thing to be over.
He was in the middle of berating Tony when said genius closed his eyes and whined like a five year old,
“Oh, come onnnn uncle Nick, I got it.” and the moment the last word passed through his lips, his face flushed.
Which wasn't unusual and shocking, his choice of words was what made the rest of the avengers stare at him as if he had grown a second head.
“Uncle Nick?” Bruce was the first one who said it out loud.
“Why are you calling son of fury your uncle, man of iron? Are you related?” only Thor found the whole situation funny, the others were frozen on the spot.
“Of course not point break. Do we look like we're related?” his voice a bit strained.
“Then why?” Clint was the one who asked this time.
“Because… because he used to read me bedtime stories when I was a kid… and the uncle thing stuck with me.” and he actually sounded like he was sorry for sharing that with them.
“What?” came from all of them at the same time.
They looked at the director who was glaring at Tony, his face slightly pale, but they could feel the tension in the air, something was about to happen.
“It's true, but did you know that our favorite genius, was a huge Captain America fan? He even slept with a plush bear who looked like the captain. I saw it.”
“What?” echoed in the room, while Tony hid his face in his hands.
The truth was revealed.