Blue Eyes
Natasha made a small sound in the back of her throat to get Fury’s attention. He turned to her and glared with his one eye.
“What Romanoff?”
Anyone else would have been sent running by the tone of his voice but Natasha stared back.
“Tony is waiting on his floor. There is food there. We’ll deal with Steve later.”
Then she linked her arm with Wanda and dragged the girl towards the elevator. Bruce smiled to Fury and followed the girls. Fury glared at the couch and table almost as if he blamed them for something and then turned around and went into the elevator. But instead of going up to Tony’s floor the elevator went down. The door opened and Steve’s eyes widened when he saw who was inside.
“Director.”
Fury snorted.
“Don’t you director me Rogers.”
Steve slowly went in and put himself between Natasha and the wall staying as far away from Fury as possible. Wanda’s eyes had returned to green when she went into the elevator. She was a bit calmer now. The elevator stopped and opened on Tony’s floor. They all went out and headed to the kitchen. Rhodey, Sam and Clint were standing and talking next to the table while Pepper warmed the food up. When they came in Vision floated through the wall and headed towards Pepper but the redhead put a hand up.
“I’m sorry Vision but I don’t want you to put something odd in the food again.”
Wanda smiled.
“Like that thing you put in that paprikash.”
If Vision could blush he would. He floated over to Bruce and dragged him into a conversation about some science project. Wanda and Natasha sat down at the table with Fury next to them. Steve stood next to the wall. He didn’t feel welcome anymore but didn’t want to drag everyone’s attention by leaving. He put his shield on the floor and noticed right then that Sam and Clint followed every single move he made. So did Natasha but more discreetly. Then the door opened and Tony stepped in with Bucky next to him. He looked much better. His jeans were ripped and the Black Sabbath t’shirt had seen better days but overall he looked clean. His hair was damp and stuck in all possible directions. His eyes were blue but he seemed calm. He stopped when he noticed Fury.
“Nick?”
Fury smirked.
“Surprised Wonderboy?”
Tony was looking at him as if he was trying to judge what what happening. But then he nodded slightly.
“A bit. Didn’t expect you here.”
“And I didn’t expect you to have blue eyes again.”
Tony finally smiled.
“Yeah. A small gift from my daughter.”
Everyone snapped their heads to Wanda. The girl blushed a bit.
“Yeah I kinda asked. Or rather Bucky asked for me. And he said I could call him dad if I wanted. And I want that.”
Then her eyes flashed red and she asked with a sharp tone:
“Problems with that?”
Tony laughed but stopped a second later and put a hand on the reactor. It seemed that it was still hurting when he laughed. So instead he went over to Wanda and ruffled her hair a bit. Everyone but Fury who had not seen the clips was struck by how much it resembled the way Winter used to ruffle Tony’s hair. They understood that it was a way to show affection but Wanda still swatted playfully at Tony’s hands.
“That’s my girl.”
She smiled at him and pulled out the chair next to her. He sat down and Bucky flopped down on the chair next to him. He kept the human arm on the back of Tony’s chair and the metal arm on the table. The message was clear. ‘Touch Tony and you would get hurt.’ Tony visibly relaxed but everyone noticed that he was doing his best to not look over to where Steve was standing. Clint, seeing this, sat down at the table and asked:
“Why do you keep your eyes blue?”
Tony sighed.
“I knew someone would ask. I… I’ve simply not been able to feel this in so many years. I guess I am afraid it will disappear if I let it go even for a few seconds. And as long as my eyes are blue I have a constant connection with my powers. I feel it inside me. In every muscle and every blood drop. Everywhere. I feel more alive than I have since they took it away.”
While he was speaking Sam and Rhodey had gone over to the table and sat down. Sam had pointed the chair next to him while he was looking at Steve and Steve understood. He was being put under surveillance. Vision and Bruce were still standing in the corner. It seemed that they had something very important to discuss. Pepper looked at all the food and the table and was thinking about telling everyone to get up and get their food when a blue glow appeared around the plates and they levitated over to the table and froze in the air. Tony smirked.
“All right. Everyone grab what you want. Brucie, Viz. Food is ready.”
The scientist and the android came over to the table and sat down along with Pepper who was now smiling towards Tony.
“That thing is handy.”
Tony faked a hurt expression.
“Thing. I’m hurt Pep. Right here.”
He pointed at the reactor and Pepper threw him a worried glance. He must have understood what it meant because he smiled and said quickly:
“It’s not that bad anymore Pep. Had a laughing fit before but Birdbrain was there. It’s better now.”
Sam stared at Tony.
“Yeah. About that. Mind telling the White House story now? I’m still curious.”
Tony almost begun to laugh again. He held a hand to the reactor and said with a smirk.
“Sorry Feathers. I’m not sure the reactor will live through it. Maybe some other time.”
Then he became serious.
“What parts did you see?”
They all looked around at each other. In the end almost everyone’s eyes settled at Natasha. She sighed.
“Well. The first one was when Bucky shot that man and you showed your powers in front of Howard the first time. It ended with Jarvis carrying you away from there. Then there was the one where Howard hit you and then ordered you to attack Maria. Then there were some arguments in the group and Bruce asked Friday to play the clip from when we all met the first time on the Helicarrier and everyone was arguing. Oh, and Bruce quoted you.”
Tony looked over to Bruce.
“Really Brucie. Aww. What did you say?”
Bruce looked a bit embarrassed actually.
“Barnes punched Steve and Sam asked him to calm down. And I said: ‘Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?’ That’s all.”
Tony looked proud.
“That was a good one Brucie.”
Natasha made a small sound and continued.
“Well then there was the one where Bucky came to your house and took you to the Hydra base. And you chose the name James Winter. And if you try to steal Wanda’s or Bucky’s fries again I will throw you out of the window. Eat your soup.”
Tony tilted his head and smiled.
“Throwing me out of the window won’t really solve your problem Tasha.”
Almost everyone stilled. No one except for occasionally Clint called her Tasha. Nat was accepted when she understood that sleepy Avengers had trouble pronouncing her whole name. But Tasha had always been off limits. But, to everyone’s surprise, she just smiled at him.
“And why not?”
“Loki tried. And failed.”
A few persons choked on their food.
“Loki what?!”
Tony paled.
“Shit. You were not supposed to find out about that one. Damn it.”
Natasha looked up to the ceiling.
“Friday. Do you have the footage?”
“Fri don’t!”
It was quiet for a few seconds but then a big screen was projected onto one of the walls and the windows dimmed. Tony sighed.
“My kids are rebelling against me.”
Everyone turned so that they saw the screen and Friday played it.