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Tony saw it coming.
He saw the way Clint bristled as soon as the Maximoff kid walked into a room, proof that Pietro had managed to wriggle his way underneath the normally unruffled archer's skin. He saw the way Clint's eyes twinkled in challenge as the two men tried to out-snark each other, the delighted grin that was hidden away behind a poker face each time the kid gave as good as he got.
He'd not seen Clint act like this since...well, since him.
As for the kid? Throwing yourself in front of a slew of bullets meant for someone else is a pretty bold declaration of feelings.
Tony didn't give up the things that made him happy without a fight and, as Pepper reminded him on a daily basis, Clint Barton made him happy. Clint Barton, with his snark and dry wit, with his love of pizza and habit of picking up stray dogs that threatened to overtake Avengers Tower, was the best thing that ever happened to him.
There was obviously only one solution.
In retrospect, Tony probably should have waited until Clint had at least had his morning coffee before broaching the subject.
“You want to invite Pietro Maximoff to join us in a three-way relationship? Are you drunk?”
“I resent that accusation, Barton. It's not even 10am.”
“'S'always five pm somewhere.”
“While I would normally raise a glass to that sentiment, I'm going to ignore it and your heinous besmirching of my name because I want to have a serious conversation with you.”
Clint downs the rest of his coffee with a long-suffering sigh. “You want to have a serious conversation about polyamory at 9.20am in the morning? I thought Tony Stark didn't share? Plus, you do realise that he still resents you for what happened to his parents, right?”
Tony resists the urge to punch the air in victory (at least until Clint's back is turned as he loads his mug into the dishwasher) because that was not a 'No' and he can definitely work with that.
“First of all, I apologised for my part in what happened and both he and Wanda accepted. They moved into the tower, didn't they? Second of all, how dare you suggest that I am not capable of winning over anyone with my superior wooing skills. Third of all, you're right. I don't like to share. But you are important to me and I want you to be happy. For some reason, the kid makes you happy. I'm willing to make an exception to my rule if it means that you stay that way.”
Clint's eyes are fond and soft and Tony knows that he's won. He doesn't even try to hide his victory punch this time.
*
“You want me to date both of you? Are you drunk?” Pietro stares at a blushing Clint and grinning Tony, waiting for the punch-line.
“Why do people keep asking me that?” Tony wonders aloud. “Look, kid. Clint likes you. You like Clint. One problem: Clint and I are together and neither of us wants that to end. Ergo, the obvious solution is for the three of us to date. Polyamorous relationships. They're a thing. Ask Cap, I'm pretty sure he just got done reading about alternate lifestyles in the 21st century.”
Pietro is....tempted. It's the worst kept secret in the Tower that he has a gigantic crush on Clint and if this is his only chance to be with him then...he'll get used to Tony, right?
Wrong.
It's been three weeks, six dates, and all Pietro can think of when he sees Tony's face is the dying screams of his parents.
It's unfair of him, he knows it is. Tony is trying so fucking hard to make this work, for Clint's sake. An idiot could see just how much Clint means to him, to them both and they try, Pietro tries to get past it, tries not to stiffen every time Tony's hand presses against him, tries to smile and flirt and pretend that this is working but....neither of them are fooling Clint.
It all comes to a head on date seven which, of course, takes place in the Tower. Clint had gone to the bathroom and Tony had passed Pietro another beer, his fingers tangling up with Pietro's in the process. Pietro flinches, Tony sighs and suddenly Clint is there and yelling about how it's killing him to see two people he loves put themselves through such misery just to make him happy.
“Maybe I should just remove myself from the whole damn thing because this? This is making no-one happy.” Clint is gone after saying his piece, Tony sprinting after him and Pietro is left sitting in the kitchen feeling like he just ruined two peoples lives.
Wanda finds him not long after, Pietro isn't surprised, half the Tower must have heard what just happened. He accepts her comfort, sighing as her long fingers start to run through his white hair.
“Do you know why I forgave Tony so much more easily than you?” Wanda asks, voice gentle.
Of course Pietro knows. “Because you are a better person that I am.”
“No. Because I saw his greatest fear. I've been inside his head and I know that he never wants to be responsible for destruction ever again. The Tony that is here now, he's not the same man he was when he made those bombs. He doesn't ever want to be that man again. You should have some sympathy for him, brother. You know what it feels like to want redemption.”
Wanda leaves him with those words rattling around his head. He doesn't sleep that night, instead thinking about the Tony Stark he's hated for the past ten years compared to the Tony Stark he has gotten to know over the past few months.
The Tony Stark who invited he and his sister into his home, the Tony Stark who suffers from PTSD from sacrificing himself for the world, the Tony Stark who helps Clint with his own PTSD without complaint, the Tony Stark who has never once snapped at Pietro for his behaviour towards him. The Tony Stark who, Pietro is starting to realise, thinks that he deserves Pietro's hatred for something that, when it all boils down to it, was not his fault.
Fuck.
Not caring that it's barely 3am, Pietro finds himself taking the elevator up to Tony's floor where Tony and Clint are still awake, eyes red and raw looking, still in the middle of a fight. He finds himself ignoring their questions about what he is doing there, walking straight up to Tony and fitting their mouths together in a tender kiss, full of apologies, acceptance and promise.
Breaking away, he looks at them both. “I'm in this.”
*
Clint wakes up cold. Grumbling, he kicks out at the body nearest him trying to pull the blankets closer. This always happens when Pietro sleeps in the middle, the draw of the light from Tony's ARC reactor calling to the speedster until he's burrowed into Tony's side, as close to the light as he can get, puffs of breath tickling the skin of Tony's chest.
It's be damn adorable if he didn't take the damn blankets with him, leaving Clint shivering in the dark.
Tony's awake and grinning at him which makes Clint want to throw a pillow at his boyfriend's smug face.
“I'm breaking up with you. I hate you both.”
“No y'don'” Pietro mumbles sleepily against Tony. “You love us.”
Tony's grin widens as he drops a kiss to Pietro's temple before looking up at Clint. “What the kid said.”
It's too early and Clint needs coffee but damn, if the sight of his two boyfriends snuggled up in bed doesn't make his heart sore. “Yeah, yeah. What he said. Now, give me some blankets!”