Chapter 14
“I’m confused Clint, you say you care but you tried to strangle the man who saved me and the kids. Twice,” Laura emphasizes. She wasn’t sure what she was to expect out of Tony Stark and she hadn’t heard much good about him. When she met him, though, she wasn’t entirely sure why the team disliked him so much. Like the others he was more than willing to help out around the farm, using his expertise to fix that damn tractor that kept breaking down. She would have fixed it herself but mechanics and pregnancy didn’t mix well, she learned that the hard way.
“I don’t trust him, Laura,” Clint says, near pleads, begging her to understand with his eyes.
“Well I do, if it wasn’t for him the kids and I would be dead twice over and that’s just counting actual attacks. The government froze all of our assets for over a month after this Civil War business and how was I supposed to feed the kids with no way to buy them food, hmm? If it wasn’t for Tony we would have been starved out long ago, and he was the one who got our assets back. My bank account was frozen because you ran off to help your old team leader and then you became an international terrorist? Do you have any idea what this has done to the kids?” The older two mostly, the baby was still far too young to have any memory of this, thankfully. She did her best to keep them from the news but there was only so much she could do.
“Laura, I was doing what’s right, you know that. Right?” he asks.
“Don’t you dare try and guilt trip me, Clint Barton, you were retired. The only people you had to do right by were your kids and you up and left them in the middle of a vacation! Then you go and follow a man intent on ignoring the wishes of one hundred and seventeen countries. What they wanted isn’t unreasonable, Clint! I have no doubt that the Accords have, or had now I suppose, problems, but that doesn’t mean you just ignore the whole world crying for your help. To add insult to injury you told them that blatantly ignoring them was supposed to help when they were telling you to do the exact opposite of that. What are the kids supposed to learn from all of this?” Because from where she was standing they haven’t learned anything good.
“They’re supposed to learn to stand up for what you believe in, Laura! Those Accords were run by a bunch of people who have their own plans with us, their own thoughts of what we should be doing. How am I supposed to be sure that we’re doing the right thing with them telling us what to do?” Clint asks.
“How are you supposed to know you’re doing the right thing with Steve Rogers telling you what to do, leading you around with his own agendas and ideas of what you’re supposed to be doing? I understand where you’re coming from, Clint, but you can’t possibly have that much faith that without ever talking to any one of the countries you regularly find yourselves in doing god knows what will always be helpful to them. Asking for some cooperation isn’t an unreasonable request, and laws are subject to change at any moment so whatever was in the Accords that put you off could be amended and changed. You can’t rely on one man’s opinion to any less biased than a government, that isn’t how bias works,” Laura says.
God knows she knew that the government was unfair and cruel, but the Avengers haven’t shown themselves to be any less unfair and cruel and the people have had enough. She absolutely understood why Clint was suspicious and maybe he even had a right to be, but neither the world nor the government is stupid. They needed the Avengers and anyone else equipped to deal with the growing threat of super villains and other powered criminals, or even non-powered clever criminals like Zemo turned out to be. The world would accommodate for the Avengers so long as they made at least some effort to listen, they didn’t have a choice.
“What do you mean what is Steve leads us wrong? It’s always Tony who’s fucking up, without him we’re all just fine. And what do you mean Steve’s biases? He hasn’t lead us wrong yet so I trust him more than the government,” Clint says. Laura resists the urge to smack him because that was rude, even if it might knock a little sense into his head.
“I understand why you trust Steve. He’s a good man and he genuinely wants to do good, but just because the things he does don’t have the same… explosive affects as Tony’s admittedly very poor decisions doesn’t mean he has no bias. You’ve been all over the world raiding HYDRA bases, most of them abandoned, in the pursuit of Bucky Barnes. His obsession with the man has all but completely blinded him because he’s stuck on hurting for an old friend. I know he’s lost everyone close to him and that must be very difficult, I honestly couldn’t imagine, but I don’t think he realizes that Bucky Barnes is not his friend anymore. He probably won’t ever be again and making reckless decisions because of him does no one any good, least of all you. The kids have missed you,” she says. I’ve missed you sticks in her throat unexpectedly, caught there by anger.
She knew Clint was only doing his best and she supported that in theory, but he couldn’t just up and abandon his family every time Steve Rogers called. And he would call again; the team needed Clint far more than they probably liked to think if his being called back for this Civil War thing was any indication. And Clint would go back every time because he might be an idiot but he’s a good man and he wanted to do right by the world. She just wished he had that motivation for his own family.
She knew he was a bit of an adrenaline junkie when they met, he and Phil used to make jokes about it back before Phil died, but she stupidly assumed he’d settle down when he got older. That was her mistake and she loved Clint all the same for it, but she was frustrated and stuck on what to do here. They couldn’t even leave the property now for fear they’ll all get murdered because Steve Rogers selfishly called Clint from his family and them made him a pariah. Now she and the kids were dealing with the brunt of it and no one except Tony Stark even thought to remember she and the kids existed. By then the damn house was under attack and she had no clue what to do. When Tony descended out of the sky and told her to take the kids to the barn it was a blessing. Watching her house and everything in it burn to the ground was less of a blessing but she and the kids escaped with their lives, that was all that mattered to her.
Then came the second attack, Tony said he wasn’t sure how they were located but now they were completely without technology minus the phone she had been assured couldn’t be used as a tracking device. The kids had nightmares semi-regularly still and if she was honest she wasn’t sleeping well herself. It wasn’t as if Clint was around for protection and she couldn’t keep track of the kids and protect them at the same time even if she was trained for that sort of thing. Still, someone had to stay up and listen for anything that sounded out of the ordinary.
Clint sighs heavily, bringing her attention back to her husband. “I don’t get it Laura, how can you trust Tony over Steve? Do you not remember Ultron?” he asks, clearly exasperated. That made two of them, at least.
“Yes, Clint, I do. But I also remember that he is the only one who kept me from watching my children die and very likely dying myself twice. I remember him sustaining us for the moth and a half before he managed to get access to my bank accounts back, and I remember him calling regularly to give my updates on your legal process. Steve Rogers took you away from my kids and Tony Stark made sure they were still alive for you to see them again. That says all I need to know about them,” she says perhaps a little too harshly. Steve was nice enough, and he was helpful when he was at the farm, but she couldn’t help but harbor anger against the man for instigating the last four and a half months of hell for her and her kids. If Steve hadn’t called Clint wouldn’t have left and they never would have had to deal with any of this. And Clint never should have left and he damn well knew it.
Clint opens his mouth to respond but a small voice interrupts them, “daddy?” Laura turns to find Cooper there rubbing at his eyes, “when did you get home?” he asks.
“A few hours ago,” Laura answers before Clint has a chance, “but its bed time for you right now so back to bed you go,” she says.
“But-” Cooper starts and Laura cuts him off.
“No buts, you know the rules. Daddy will still be here in the morning so you can say hi then,” she tells him.
Cooper narrows his eyes suspiciously, “are you sure?” he asks.
Her heart breaks just a little bit for her poor boy, “yes, honey, I’m sure. Now lets go put you back to bed,” she says softly, starting towards her child.
*
Clint watches Laura walk off with Cooper, who is still looking at him suspiciously and Clint feels like he just got kicked in the gut. He couldn’t believe his kid just asked if Laura was sure he’d be there tomorrow.
Guess what, I had a dad that thought his job was more important than me too. Would you like to know how the story ends?
Tony’s words float back to him unbidden and unwanted so he ignores them, even if the suspicious look on Cooper’s face hurt to think about.
*
He gets another package, this one thankfully addressed to Tony Stark despite Rhodey’s waiting around with a hopeful face for a mistake. “What is it?” Rhodey asks excitedly, wheeling towards Tony to snoop.
“Go away, it’s a present from T’Challa. Or I think it is, either that or some rando in Wakanda sent me a thing,” he says. God he hoped being T’Challa’s soul mate didn’t get him random gifts from the locals, they could keep their money.
“Well open it, I wanna see what it is,” Rhodey tells him, leaning over his chair to poke him in the side.
‘Don’t poke my wounds you busybody,” Tony tells him, waving him off.
“Open the damn present so we can T’Challa’s gift together, its against the bro code to not just soul mate gifts together,” Rhodey says, raising his eyebrows.
“You ditched me for Shuri like seven times when we were in Wakanda, don’t judge me for violating the bro code you heathen.” Rhodey was so not in a position to judge, thank you.
“That was so you were forced to spend time with your soul mate and it paid off because you just got a present. Now stop making me wait and open that thing,” Rhodey tells him impatiently. God, Rhodey was an ass sometimes but Tony complies, setting the box on the couch so he could remove its contents. Rhodey leans forward in interest so Tony makes sure to take forever pulling the box apart, getting several glares from Rhodey.
“A suit?” Tony says, pulling the jacket out of the box. It was nice though, really nice and it looked like it’d fit too. Interesting considering T’Challa ad no idea what his measurements were but he figured he could ask about that later.
“Huh, nice jacket,” Rhode says. He reaches out and tips the box over, taking over Tony’s present opening and Tony lets him root through the box because he was more excited that Tony was anyways. “Is this tie a specific color or is it grey?” Rhodey asks, holding up a deep purple tie.
“It’s purple,” Tony tells him, taking the soft looking satin from Rhodey. The tie is as soft as it looks and it’s even a nice shade of purple even if he didn’t much care for purple usually. Too understated for his tastes.
“That a good thing, a purple tie? Or should I get my judging face on?” Rhodey asks.
“Normally no, I don’t really like purple but you can put your judging face away because T’Challa managed to find a shade that I don’t find hideous.” Upon closer inspection the tie also has a subtle pattern on it that was only visible when it caught the light. Interesting.
“Sir, you have a meeting with Everett Ross in an hour,” FRIDAY reminds him, interrupting his musings. He swears and stands there for a few seconds before grabbing the shit and fleeing to his closet to get dressed and find some damn shoes.
When he gets to the meeting Ross looks like he’s got a stick shoved up his ass but that was nothing new. Tony was familiar with the type having spent his whole life playing games with them. “What is it you want?” he asks, carefully arranging himself in his chair. His ribs were only tender now but he wasn’t intent on jostling shit around and reinjuring himself.
Ross narrows his eyes at him for a moment but says nothing in some stupid attempt at a power play. Whatever. Finally though he spins in his chair towards the large projection screen behind him and hits a button on the clicker Tony just noticed he was holding. He isn’t sure if he’s surprised or not to find it’s footage of him and Peter saving the day and he knows exactly where Ross is going with this.
“So this is about the Accords, what little is left of them?” he asks just to make sure he’s got this right. Ross, the moron, looks gleeful that he’s made Tony break down and speak but he didn’t know what cards Tony is holding so he lets him have the temporary glee.
“You were the one who was insistent on adhering to laws and here you are breaking them,” Ross says, eyebrow rising, “care to explain?”
“Actually I haven’t and neither has P-the Spiderling. Just because you don’t know who’s behind the mask doesn’t mean any laws are out of sorts. Go filter through all the video footage, your friendly neighborhood spider is following every law outlined in our agreement so even if you do find your mystery spider you can’t do much about it. You can’t charge people for wearing bad onsies,” he says, grinning cockily when Ross whips around and backtracks the footage. Sure shit Peter is following the laws with a little guidance from Tony of course but Ross probably figured that out already.
“You can’t just recruit people wearing suits, Tony,” Ross snaps.
“Really? Was that somewhere in the agreement because I don’t remember reading it and I have a very good memory. Like I said, you can’t charge people for being anonymous. Spiderman- and do we even have confirmation that he’s a guy because if we find out Spiderman is Spiderwoman that’d be a tad embarrassing- is following all your pretty little laws. Doesn’t matter if you manage to track the spider down or not because you’ve got nothing but a stick up your ass,” Tony says. Now he just needed to have a conversation about the finer lines of the agreement so he didn’t step on toes accidentally. Well, he had that pesky bullying problem too… might as well hit two birds in one stone.
“So you don’t know who this… Spiderman is?” Ross asks, narrowing his eyes skeptically at Tony.
“No, and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you. Spiderman isn’t breaking the law so he’s of no concern to you, at least until you want to admit you have more of an interest in controlling superheroes rather than containing them,” he says bluntly. See, the thing about Steve’s ‘agendas’ argument was that agendas made a person vulnerable and politicians had to lay it all on the line for people to judge them and thus vote them in. or, alternatively, they bought a vote. If they bought a vote, well, Tony had more money so he could buy them right back out. And if they didn’t all it took was the suggestion that they were faulty and people would tear them apart for every wrongdoing possible. If you knew how to play the game it was easy to flip the board back in your favor, he’s spent his entire life in a tangled web of politics. He was well aware of how to cheat the system with the system.
Ross’ constipated look tells him that he’s won, which is no surprise; it isn’t the first time he’s done this. He knew damn well how to read the fine print and exploit it just as well as the government did. He’s well aware of how the agreements could work for or against him in any given situation because planning, building, memorizing, examining, and testing limitations and exceptions was what he did. Just because this was law instead of engineering was irrelevant, he’s spent enough time in the political sphere to know how things go. “So if that’s all…” Tony says, waving a hand around casually.
“Oh no, no, you sit down. When, exactly, were you going to tell us that T’Challa is your soul mate?” Ross asks.
Tony makes a face, “is that information relevant to you somehow? Because I fail to see how that has any effects on your superheroing agreement.” It was part of Ross’ own controlling agenda of course, but he couldn’t just out and out admit that. Unfortunately for him Tony isn’t nearly as stupid as he seems to think he is.
“It could be a problem later, soul mates are known to be very protective of each other and that doesn’t exactly inspire public confidence,” Ross says and oh, that’s how he was going to play it.
“Did you watch the airport footage? Clearly he knows how to focus on things that aren’t me and he freshly realized I was his soul mate then. If he could focus then he can focus now and frankly so can I. Neither of us is so selfish that we’d let the other become distracted with the other given the dire consequences that would have,” he says bluntly. T’Challa didn’t seem the type to be particularly distractible if he had a goal though Tony had to admit he had no real clue if that was true. It wasn’t like he knew T’Challa well, or at all even. Two days of idol conversation hardly counted as knowing the guy.
“Speaking of the airport-”
“Oh fuck off Ross, he didn’t do anything your guys wouldn’t have and he was with me. Plus you can’t do anything about it, he was under the protection of diplomacy at the time,” Tony says. That was an admittedly stupid way to use the law in your favor but Ross and his team would do the same or worse in a heartbeat so. Plus he wasn’t in a position to judge given the stupid things he’s done.
“I thought you said you had only just met then, hmm?” Ross says, thinking he was smart and catching Tony in a lie.
“Yeah, and we had a common interest, bring Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers into custody. Well, his intentions might have been slightly more murderous but you have trigger finger too so you can’t really fault him for that. And he brought you Zemo alive too so again, can’t really fault the guy. It doesn’t take long to figure out we’re working on the same side,” Tony points out. Ross bats a few other arguments around but ultimately they were fickle at best and Tony easily slaps them down. Within an hour of getting there he’s gone, back into the world and the very brief media spectacle that followed him around at all times.
He glances at the clock before nodding to himself, this was as good a time as any, so he sets off for Peter’s high school. It takes some time to get there but that turns out to work in his favor because everyone, Peter included, was standing outside wither waiting for their rides, standing with their rides, or suffering the bus. He pulls up, his bright sports car drawing attention immediately, and honks the horn. “Get in loser, we’re going shopping!” he yells across the yard at Peter. People look around, trying to locate who he’s talking to and he can hear the whispers from here. Ha, good. Peter, of course, knows right away that Tony is talking to him and he waves at his friends briefly before bounding over and sliding into the passenger seat easily.
The movement is casual, easily displaying that they’re on good terms and have been for some time though Peter doesn’t try for that. It makes the show that Peter doesn’t know he’s putting on all the better. The students’ buzzing was loud now and the inquiries were almost asked directly to them though none of the students were quite bold enough to out and out ask a famous celebrity and superhero what he was doing picking up some rando fifteen year old dork. “Umm, what’re we doing?” Peter asks after a moment of sitting there.
“I told you, shopping. I can’t believe May lets you out looking like that,” he says, eyeing Peter’s terribly coordinated clothes. Boy was he going to be embarrassed when he saw the pictures later, assuming he had a soul mate. Hell, for all he knew May didn’t have a soul mate and that’s why she let Peter run around looking like a bad child’s painting but he doesn’t say that. Peter lost his uncle not long ago and he didn’t want to insult the guy’s memory even if he fully believed that being someone’s soul mate meant dick all. Still, most other people didn’t.
“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Peter asks, looking down.
“Everything, now lets go.” He pulls out of the school zone, student buzzing growing louder as he goes.
“Wait, are we actually going shopping?” Peter asks once they’re a block away, “because I like this shirt. And also that seemed really staged but I can’t figure out how because we were both acting normal.”
“Good eye, kid, that was staged but the naturalness of the movements was the point. So, how exactly did you end up on good terms with a superhero and a celebrity?” he asks, grinning at Peter.
He goes to open his mouth to state the obvious before he realizes something, “they don’t know about Spiderman,” he says.
“Exactly, so now it looks like you’re randomly on some pretty good terms with celebrities and you were so sure of yourself you never thought to mention it to anyone even with the bullying. Which is technically true anyways, so. But they all saw how easy your movements were, they could visibly see that we know each other well and we’re comfortable in each other’s presence, it indicates rapport. They’re all going to be more than a little desperate for answers so maybe that’ll keep the bullying to a minimum for awhile,” he says. It wasn’t a solid plan but the students would be so thrown they’d be more interested in answers than cruelty.
Peter blinks for a moment before he grins wide, “thank you!” he says meaningfully. “I really appreciate this.” Tony shrugs because it wasn’t much of a hardship; all he had to do was pick the kid up. “Hey, so I know a guy and he claims to have met his soul mate and he says that the stop lights are in color. Is that true?” Peter asks, looking up at the lights they were currently stopped at.
“Rest assured your classmate is a fucking idiot who hasn’t met his soul mate. The top light is white, the middle light has a heavier frosting and I guess it shines kind of blue but it’s meant to appear grey, and the bottom light is black. Now technically black lights shine purple but it’s black, not a color, only people who see color would even notice that and the average person meet their soul mate in their late twenties, long after they’ve learned how to drive.” All the signs and road directions were meant to cater to those who couldn’t see color yet, meaning a lot f reflector tape and weird shapes to draw attention.
“Oh. What about food? That changes colors when it cooks, right?” he asks.
“Yeah, kid, that’s why we have a bunch of different gadgets to tell people if their meat is cooked or not. Raw meat sucks, and it’s pink raw by the way, it turns brown when cooked.” Peter asks a handful of other color questions and he answers them, excited by Peter’s excitement.
*
T’Challa looks down at Tony spread out underneath of him looking more self-conscious than he’s ever seen him. He runs a hand down Tony’s side, smoothing out the wrinkles in his soft AC/DC shirt and hopefully removing any lingering doubts. He looks marginally less worried, blowing out a breath of anxiety. T’Challa smiles at him, leaning down and-
A sharp peel of laughter wakes him up and he looks around, blinking rapidly. “Were you kissing your pillow?” Shuri asks, clutching her sides as she doubles over laughing. T’Challa looks underneath of him and finds twisted blankets and a pillow in place of Tony and glares at the mess.
“I was not kissing the pillow,” he says, technically telling the truth. How was he to know that Tony was actually a pillow? And of course Shuri had to witness this, “who even let you in?” he asks.
“I am your sister, I will come and go as I please. I have to tell Rhodey about this-” T’Challa leaps out of bed to try and snatch her phone but Shuri has already ducked his arms, rolling across his bed and landing on her feet smoothly, tapping away at her screen as she dashes from the room cackling. Cleo, who was sleeping on the pillow next to T’Challa, looks deeply offended that her sleep was interrupted.
“Me too, Cleo, me too,” he tells the cat, giving her a pat before he resigns himself to his fate and leaves the room.
“So, you sent Tony a gift,” Shuri says, grinning at him from behind the table she was currently sitting at.
“Yes, I did.” It was not unusual, actually the fact that courtship started this late was unusual, not that it was happening.
“Rhodey said he wore the suit today,” Shuri tells him and he perks up, “but not because he enjoyed it any, he was in a rush and the outfit was immediate,” she finishes.
He deflates some, “why must you ruin things?” he asks. Shuri took a particular delight in it too, snickering at his annoyance.
“The bonus is that Tony said that the shade of purple you chose was ‘not hideous’. I have no idea what purple looks like but I will hazard a guess and say it is not a color Tony is fond of.” Of course it was not a color Tony was fond of, he was terrible at this soul mate thing.
“I like purple, I like it best actually,” he says. Which was why he chose the color, plus he thought the deep color would look pretty against Tony’s pale skin. Granted he could be completely wrong, he had no clue how to dress someone pale and have it come out nice so he went for a more classic look and hoped for the best. Of course it was the purple that threw it off.
“How nice. Rhodey advises red,” Shuri says.
“I am well aware that he is fond of red, he wears it frequently, and his suit is mostly red with gold. It does not take a genius to come to the conclusion that he likes the color,” he says perhaps a little too sharply. Regardless, he is a genius so even if it did take a genius to figure that out he would have been fine.
“Touchy,” Shuri chirps, “so attempt one in wooing Tony Stark went okay. I assume okay is not what you are looking for hmm? So what is next in your courtships plans?” she asks, leaning forward in interest. T’Challa… shrugs because he was taking some stabs in the dark and evidently failing in his attempts. “You are honestly embarrassing, brother of mine, did you not make a plan?”
“I have no clue what he likes, what am I supposed to get him? Better yet, what am I supposed to get him that I know he does not have?” he asks. He half wished Tony was not wealthy because than this would be easy. Showering him with gifts he could not afford himself would be an easy task but fate hated him and gave him a soul mate that had extensive resources, making him particularly difficult to buy for.
“Dumbass. Woo him with emotions, not money. He has enough money to throw at himself, give him something new, exciting, something he does not have a lot of. Emotional connection fits all of those criteria so take him to places that mean something to you, open yourself up to him,” she says, giving him some very good advice.
He narrows his eyes at her, “I dislike you.”