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Tony had appeared upstairs in the common area kitchen. It was sometime around 4 am, or maybe it was 3:30am. Tony wasn’t so sure and he hadn’t really bothered to check, it just felt like it could be around that time. He’d run out of coffee in the workshop and he knew there would be some up here that he could make and then slink back to the lab without anyone knowing.
Sadly Tony’s plan wasn’t going to go as he wanted it as Clint Barton stood in the kitchen in a beat up white shirt with what might have been a target pattern on it in shades of purple and a pair of equally well worm boxers that may have been dark purple at one point but were now faded to a rather dull shade of lavender. He was also drinking coffee…straight from the coffee pot.
“Good god Barton, and here I didn’t think you could lower the bar any more.” Tony huffed annoyed that the other would be able to tell everyone else he was up this early or late, and too with the coffee pot compromised there wouldn’t be coffee for him.
Clint arched a brow, his blond hair was wild and obviously slept on, his chin scruffy from not shaving yet. He just arched a brow at Tony. Those steel blue eyes looking him over critically.
“What, didn’t want to wait and dirty another cup” he shrugged and was again eyeing the inventor. “So late night or early morning? Though figuring from how you look, it’s a late night”
Tony sighed and rolled his eyes and would come over. Maybe they had an extra coffee pot.
“You are a travesty of a human being Barton. Are you going to drink that whole thing?” He asked, not that Tony didn’t ingest a pot or three of coffee in any given day. Tony had his back to Clint as he rifled through the cupboards near the coffee maker.
Clint looked down at the now half empty coffee pot in his hand as if truly contemplating how full the pot was.
“Yeah, I think I will…” he said casually as he looked to Tony’s back there was a long pause and then Clint went on. “You know how it is, when you can’t get a real meal you just kind of drown the cravings in caffeine, Coffee always seems to do the trick.” Clint watched as Tony’s back went a little stiff and he’d drink another large gulp of the coffee from the pot.
“I…am not sure what your talking about Barton” Tony said even as he kept his back to his fellow Avenger. He and Clint got on most of the time, usually the blond archer was the only one that was willing to verbally spar with him and at times said things that made Tony glad he wasn’t always the blatant asshole in the room. But the other had always seemed a little…off. That was a good way for Tony to put it, and it could mean one of two things. The scruffy blond archer knew what he was, had some how put it all together and had been sitting on this information for a while. It would explain the long looks he sometimes got. Or it would mean that Clint had the same affliction as he did. It would of course explain a few things.
“Dude, really Stark are we going to do this song and dance? Because we can or we can maybe cut the shit for once. Its just you, me and your eyes in the sky. Which I am sure could like, I dunno, laser beam me to death or upload really compromising pictures of me on facebook, if I did something to upset you.” Clint would move to lean back against the counter. “I know alright, cause you know, same goes for me.”
Tony closed his eyes a long moment, griping the edge of the counter before turning around to look at Clint and he was going for nonchalance.
“Explains your like, super vision and like accuracy thing you have going on.” He said with a small wave of his hand. That was the thing, if you were a vampire you did get a few perks out of the deal but they were different for everyone. Some traits where common place but the big ones were usually unique. Tony figured for him along with his father it had been their intellects, or at least partially so.
Clint would shrug a bit. “Maybe a little bit, I still had to practice like hell though. I wasn’t some, like instant savant at it. But might have had a hand ‘n all.” But Clint would look to Tony with a small tilt of his own head. “I’m not looking for any kind of great bond or anything for what we got going on in our genetics and all, I just….I guess I just wanted to let you know that I get it.” He said in a quiet tone and was then looking down at the coffee pot in his hands.
Tony felt a small rush go through him and in that moment he realized, this was his connection with Clint, this was their common ground. He had common ground with everyone on the team and this was the last little piece where it clicked between him and the archer.
“Does Natasha know?” Tony asked in the same quiet voice. He didn’t really know a ton about the pairs relationship. He knew the two were as thick as thieves at least as ex-SHIELD agents and as two that had found some salvation in the other. Tony was pretty sure the pair were shagging at times but he didn’t see them as more then casual lovers and mostly family in a world where neither really had any.
“Yeah she knows, knew after our second mission ever together. I took one too many hits and we’d already been out for over a week. I was going into withdrawal and yeah I didn’t bring any emergency supply, even just to take the edge off. I had to tell her and well she helped.” He said looking up a bit at Tony. “I mean like, she didn’t offer herself up or anything just you know….kind of just got me what I needed.” Clint would vaguely explain. Tony would just nod, Natasha could be frightening in the best of times, so he could only imagine just what she must have done to help Clint and he was sure it must have been something crazy by the Archers reaction. Coupled with the fact if Clint had gone into blood withdrawal, it must have been a far from pretty sight.
“Well glad she’s got your back Clint. I mean you know we all have it right? If you need, you know, special help and she’s not around you know you can come to me.” He said still looking to his teammate.
“Yeah I know and now I know we can talk about this stuff.” Clint would move to drink again from the coffee pot.
“Course you can, just don’t share this information just yet will you?” Tony hoped he didn’t sound too pleading. But Clint would nod, his gaze alone showing he understood.
The pair stood there in silence for a long moment before Tony would huff a bit.
“Come on Barton, its obvious we are both hungry and while coffee might indeed be the best thing this crummy planet has ever come up with, besides me, I think we better get a meal in before the sun comes up. Come on…” Tony said slipping into his usual cocky being.
Clint would snort and would put the coffee pot in the sink and yawned. But he was grinning a bit, a small hint of fang showing. “Now your talking a good time Stark.” He would scratch at his stomach, his shirt bunching up a bit. Tony rolled his eyes but started to lead the way out of the Kitchen and toward the Elevators.
“You’re a god damned mess Barton, a travesty to all we are supposed to be!”
“Hey, not all of us are like…billionaires twenty times over or whatever Stark. So cut a guy some slack. Also Its late a man can be as comfortable as he wants at this hour.” Clint would grin back as they got into the elevator and Tony would call to head to the workshop. Tony just rocked back on his heels and made a disapproving noise. Clint of course couldn’t let one more nagging thing be.
“You know, not all of us have Captain America following us around like interested puppy. I could smell him all over you last week, sooooooooo what’s up with that?”