Once Upon an Avenger

Chapter 27: Steven Grant Rogers!

Hope was delighted to find Clint and Natasha in the kitchen when she got up the next morning. "Tasha!" She beamed, pulling her friend into an embrace. "I honestly don't know how you survived being the only girl here for so long, if it weren't for Pepper I might have gone insane."

"Who told you I was sane?" The redhead joked. "Tasha's new."

"Oh, sorry..." Hope hadn't even realised she'd called her something other than Nat.

"I like it."

She smiled at her friend. "Then it stays."

"Hmm, hmm," Clint coughed to get the two women's attention. "Do I not get a hello?"

"That depends." Hope was now stood in front of him. "Are you ready?"

Clint smirked. "Always."

Much to Nat's surprise, the two archers started doing a handshake. It started simple: palm, backhand, and then a fist bump. After which they did what Natasha could only describe as a hot potato dance move, taking it in turns knocking the top of the others fist, Clint first, then Hope. Just when she thought it couldn't get any weirder, they both drew and nocked an imaginary arrow before shooting it at the other. Dodging the non-existent ammunition, they seemingly caught it, interlocking their arms.

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked, walking down the stairs.

Natasha looked from Hope and Clint, who were having a staring contest, to Tony. "I'm not quite sure..."

"Ha, I win!" Clint exclaimed when Hope blinked.

"Whatever..." Fetching herself a glass of water, she noticed that Tony was now stood in the kitchen too. "Morning, CP3O."

He huffed at the nickname. "You're in a good mood this morning."

"Indeed I am, because not only are the dynamic duo back, I'm also staying at Parker's tonight. Which means when he's on watch, it's team Spider-pirate for the win!"

"Be careful!" The two men said simultaneously.

Natasha laughed. "What are you, her dads?"

"I know right." Hope playfully sighed. "Can't people just be friends in this place? I'm either a younger sister, well older for Pete, or a daughter to the older men."

"Older men?" Tony scoffed. "Barnes and Noble are both over a hundred and I'm pretty sure neither of them thinks of you as their daughter, especially considering one of them hates you."

"And both Loki and Thor something stupid like fifteen hundred years old," Clint added, trying to further Tony's point.

"Sorry..." Hope tried her best not to laugh at what she was about to say. "I meant the older looking men."

The sheer look of disgust on both men's faces sent Nat and Hope into fits of giggles; the pair of them could hardly stand up, still laughing hysterically when Pepper and Morgan came downstairs twenty minutes later.

"What's going on in here?" Pepper asked, planting a kiss on her husband's cheek.

"She said I looked old," Tony sulked.

Morgan furrowed her brows. "But you are old."

Nat and Hope had just about finished laughing but that set them off again, and this time Clint joined in too, making it hard for Pepper to keep a straight face.

"Why are you laughing?" Tony asked, pointing at Clint. "Hope said you looked old too." He turned to his wife. "I'm not old am I, honey?"

The brief moment of hesitation before Pepper answered caused the others to laugh more. Eventually, she told him, "you're mature..."