Chapter Text
John readjusted his duffel a bit so the strap wouldn’t dig in his shoulder as much. Then he started his track through the fairly populated airport. He had spent the last couple of days arguing with his cousin about this visit. He really hadn’t wanted to go, but Clint wasn’t taking no for an answer. His cousin had even gotten Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts involved, who had confirmed that everyone in the tower knew that he was coming and didn’t mind.
The change of scenery probably wasn’t as bad as John was making it out to be. When he had told people back home he would be visiting a distance cousin in the states for a while most had reacted relieved. It was also likely that they were just happy he had finally left the flat. He had become really bad towards the end, John though, feeling a bit guilty.
So with goodbyes from his friends in London (and John was secretly very relieved that Mycroft had seemed preoccupied with something else. He really didn’t want to explain his cousin the Avenger to the British government), John had set off to New York.
The flight itself hadn’t been very interesting. John had tried and failed to sleep through his eight-hour flight. And while John had succeeded in talking his cousin out of a first-class seat, the archer had insisted on picking him up from the airport.
So came it that he was making his way towards the exit of the airport while looking for a familiar sight.
“JOHN!”
The blond doctor turned his head in the direction he thought his name had sounded from. At first, he saw nothing familiar, but then he noticed a shock of red hair among the masses. Careful, as to not run into too many people, he made his way over to the familiar sight.
When he arrived at the pair he didn’t get the change to say as much as a ‘Hello’ before Clint caught him in a big hug.
“It is good to see you, John,” Clint spoke into his shoulder.
“It is good to see you too,” John replied, getting a soft squeeze from his cousin before letting go.
“And lovely to see you as well Miss Romanov.” John inclined his head toward the redhead.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Natasha told him, while they started to make their way outside, “It will be nice to have another sensible person in the Tower.”
“We’re not that bad.” Clint protested.
“You mean to tell me Tony isn’t currently sleeping off a three-day bender that ended with the two of you shooting paint arrows at unsuspecting people?” Natasha asked the archer.
Clint grumbled something unintelligible under his breath but didn’t correct the red-haired assassin.
When the trio arrived at the car Natasha took a step forward to open the back door and motioned for the cousins to get in.
“Take a seat, boys. I’m driving.”
“Why can’t I sit shotgun?” Clint whined while John got in.
Widow gave the archer a look, “Because you have a cousin to entertain and I don’t want you anywhere near the radio.”
Clint pouted but wisely didn’t argue as he took a seat next to John.
“Why were you shooting, what did she call it, paint arrows?” John asked, slightly curious.
“Like Nat said, Tony went on a bender,” Clint explained, “that means he disappears in his lab/workshop for an extended period of time and because he doesn’t sleep his attention deteriorates over time. And then you get things like paint arrows.”
“Oh, I understand how Stark ended up where he is. And does he really not sleep? That isn’t healthy. But I didn’t ask about Stark,” John turned to his cousin, “I asked how you ended up shooting paint arrows. Because you haven’t just been awake for three days, you’re here instead of sleeping like Stark. And for some reason, I don’t think Stark would have made paint arrows himself, no matter how much his attention span deteriorates.”
Clint looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie-jar and John could see Natasha smirking from the corner of his eye.
“What?!” Clint sputtered, “I was told to get him out of his lab! And I succeeded! I don’t understand why everyone is whining so much.”
“Maybe we wanted you to do so without repainting a couple of floors. Although the blue in Thor’s hair was quite fetching.”
John spoke up before the archer could respond, “So that is what you do now? I thought you had upgraded to superhero.”
Clint took the bait and spend the rest of the drive telling stories about the battles the Avengers had fought. Defending his position that he really was a superhero in a serious superhero team.
They arrived at the tower with minimal delay, or as much ‘minimal delay’ as one could expect in New York, and Natasha parked the car in the underground parking. When they made their way to the elevator a voice spoke up.
“Welcome back, Agent Romanov, Agent Barton,” John jumped in response to the sudden sound, “Excuses doctor Watson, I didn’t mean to startle you. Let me introduce myself. I am JARVIS, I am an AI and am integrated into the entire tower. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you two,” John responded, a bit bewildered, “I just didn’t expect you, JARVIS, it is fine. And you can call me John.”
“Much obliged doctor Watson.” JARVIS replied, before addressing the agents again, “Captain Rogers inquired who will be joining for dinner.”
“Don’t bother John, even Steve lost that battle with JARVIS.” Clint told John before asking, “You think you’re up for team dinner? Tony’s probably back up by then, so you could meet the gang.”
John shook his head, “Stark might be awake, but I don’t think I will be. I just had an eight-hour flight, remember?”
“How about we give you a tour of the tower,” Natasha cut in, “You need to see more than just Clint’s guest room. And after that, we’ll eat a late lunch together on Clint’s floor. Then you can hit the hay if you need to and Clint and I go to the team dinner.”
“That sounds good,” John replied before they stepped into the elevator.