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Every morning since Tony had invited the Avengers to stay at the tower, Steve has come down early and started a pot of coffee before getting himself some breakfast and finding the newspaper. Clint was the first to notice, seeing that the Captain never drank any coffee. And then like magic, a sleepy Stark would wander down the hallway, as if drawn by the scent of caffeine, and crawl over to where he'd find a mug waiting for him.
They didn't call him Hawkeye for no reason. He noticed things, and tried to make sense of them. But it happened every day. The others started to catch on after a while. No one could be completely sure as to why Steve would always start up the coffee machine, other than it seemed to be the only things that would bring Tony out of his bed—or the lab, Clint wasn't actually sure of that one. Bruce had suggested that it was just Steve's way of being nice to Tony, seeing that the two hadn't been very friendly to one another on the Helicarrier. Natasha thought that he might have a motive behind it—he's being nice to Tony now, so maybe he could use that to his advantage, like when it came to listening on the field.
But Clint knew that they were both wrong. It was something else, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. And it wasn't just the coffee in the mornings, either, as he began to see. The more he watched, the more he saw, and the more confused he got.
It went beyond coffee. If Tony ever needed help in the lab, Steve would be the first one he'd turn to, even if it didn't involve any heavy lifting. Sure, Tony and Bruce worked together in the lab frequently, but even when they were working, Steve always seemed to be lingering around somewhere.
Clint had spied Steve heading down to the lab with his sketchbook dozens of times. He wasn't exactly sure what went on when he did that—the few times that he did manage his way into the air vents to spy on them while Steve was in the lab, he just spent a couple hours sketching a couple of the bots while Tony worked on some upgrades. The two barely said two words to each other for hours. (Needless to say, that was the last time Clint spied on them while they were in the lab together.)
But it was more than that, too. Sketchbooks and coffee aside, the way that the two touched one another was just... weird. It wasn't like Stark went around groping the Captain whenever he wanted to, no. It was more... well, subtle.
Steve's hand would rest on Tony's shoulder for longer than normal. Tony would smile at him in a way that he wouldn't smile at anyone else. Steve wouldn't say anything or move away when Tony fell asleep on him during Team Movie Night, no matter how many times it happened.
Clint would've guessed that they were dating, perhaps, due to the amount of flirting that went on. Well, actually, Tony was flirting, a lot, but Steve didn't seem to react to it at all. He didn't tell Tony to stop, but he didn't ever seem to really... encourage it, at all. The only time he put a stop to it was when Tony started flirting out on the battlefield, and Steve wanted to be sure that the lines were open so they could all communicate if something went wrong.
It was a strange sight to see. 'Casual' touching for longer than normal, mixed with the weird habits that the two had formed, and Clint was sure that they must've been messing with him. They must've noticed the way that he was watching them, and they thought 'let's confuse the shit out of him' because there was no other explanation.
He'd tried the casual touching stuff, a little longer than normal, and he'd received weird looks from his team, especially Tony. When he laid down on Steve while they were on the couch, the blond had looked to his teammates for help, eyes wide and worried. Clint stopped that after Natasha threatened him, telling him that he should stop making their leader so uncomfortable. So obviously it had something to do with Tony. Everything had something to do with Tony, it seemed.
When Clint tried to make a reference that Steve definitely shouldn't understand, the super-soldier kept telling him to try again, and would quote movies that Clint hadn't expected him to know. When interrogated about it, his only response was "Tony's already showed me that." It drove him crazy, because there was no way in the past couple of weeks that Tony could've showed him everything, and had him remember when they spent hours in the lab not even talking to one another.
Nothing seemed to make any sense, and he had a feeling that they really were trying to trick him.
So this morning, just like every other morning, Steve wandered into the kitchen. Clint was pretty sure that he got up earlier, went for his morning run, got a shower, then made his way to the kitchen, but today it looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. His blond hair was sticking out everywhere, his eyes were half-closed, and if Clint didn't know him better, he would've asked if he was feeling sick. (But super-soldiers apparently couldn't get sick. Huh.)
"Good morning," Clint said, just as he always did. After all, he was friendly with all of his teammates. They'd all started to become good friends of his, and he wanted to keep that.
"Morning," Steve mumbled, not like normal. He seemed to be drained of energy this morning instead of ready to start the day. It was strange, and he couldn't help but give his leader a weird look, which Steve didn't even acknowledge.
As usual though, Steve wandered over to the coffee maker, making sure to get it turned on before he wandered over and started toasting a bagel. As the blond went searching for the cream cheese, Tony wandered into the kitchen, earlier than he usually did. Steve typically had a chance to toast his bagel and find the newspaper long before the brunet ever found his way into the kitchen.
Tony looked different too. His hair was sticking everywhere, like he hadn't slept all night either, but there was a sleepy grin on his face. What was odd were the purple marks on his neck, and the fact that the man seemed to have forgotten his shirt. He was wearing a necklace, though. Hmm.
Clint didn't have a chance to get a good look at the man's necklace, though, because Tony walked over to Steve instead of the coffee machine. When Steve bent over to grab the cream cheese from the refrigerator, the genius collapsed onto his back, arms wrapping around his waist.
"I'm so sleepy," he mumbled, and Clint didn't miss the way that Steve's face lit up bright red. He was ready to run over there and drag Stark off of Steve if the Captain needed help and didn't want to hurt him, but a moment later the blond relaxed, seemingly unbothered by the way that Tony's face was pressed against his back and neck, or by the way that his bare chest was laying on top of Steve's back, preventing him from standing up.
"Well, you can't sleep there," Steve said, and Clint could see the smirk on his face. That wasn't a look that he usually had. "Want a bagel?"
"Yes please," Tony mumbled, and holy shit, he said please! Clint wasn't sure that he'd ever heard Tony say please to anyone, not even Pepper. So that was pretty shocking.
Judging by the way that Bruce and Natasha, who were in the living room, both looked over into the kitchen in surprise, they were just as lost as he was. Why in the world was Steve so comfortable with Tony lying all over him?
It wasn't until Tony slid off of Steve and moved over to the coffee machine when Clint knew that one of them had to speak up. And judging by his teammates’ silence, apparently it was going to have to be him.
"So are you two dating, or what?" Clint spoke up.
Steve continued toasting bagels, spreading some cream cheese across them before handing half to Tony, who thanked him. Thanked. Him.
"Dating?" Tony asked, yawning again before he took a big sip of coffee. He looked like he still needed to wake up before he was able to answer any questions.
Steve wandered over to the kitchen table, picking up the newspaper. He looked Clint in the eye, and the archer couldn't help but shiver a little. "No," Steve responded, "we're not dating."
Again, he was stumped. They weren't dating, and yet Steve let Tony lay all over him. He didn't let anyone else lay all over him, he didn't let anyone else have those casual yet intimate touches or those little moments.
But they weren't dating.
Tony brought the rest of the bagel over, handing it to Steve before he plopped down onto the blond's lap. The blond didn't even blink this time.
Clint gaped at him, eyes wide. They had to be messing with him. They must've been ready to tell him about it, except...
His gaze was caught by the little glimmer of light from Tony's necklace, which was hanging right in front of his arc reactor. But it wasn't just some normal little chain, no. On the end of that chain was a stunning golden ring.
A wedding ring.
Clint's eyes shot up, looking between Steve and Tony, who both looked calmer than normal. A wide smirk spread across Steve's face, and he wrapped both arms around Tony's waist.
"I think you've got a little cream cheese on your face," Tony murmured, leaning backward, reaching a hand up to Steve's jawline. Instead of brushing away the offending cream, he pulled Steve down a little so that he could press his lips to the Captain's, all while their three fellow Avengers looked on in a mix of shock and horror. That was the absolute last thing that anyone would've guessed.
When their kissing eventually stopped—eventually, what an evil word—Tony turned back around to get his coffee, and Steve put his chin on the genius's head, using him like a chinrest so that he could still get to the newspaper that he usually read.
Clint knew that he was still staring at the both of them, slack-jawed.
"What's wrong with you, birdbrain?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. "Ain't you ever seen two married men before?"
"B-but the team only formed a couple weeks ago," Clint said. He would've noticed if his teammates were marrying one another. He hadn't even seen them dating! Where in the world did any of this come from?
"Don't you think it's a good thing that Team Mom and Team Dad are married? At least now we have to get along," Tony said, crossing his arms.
"Tony," Steve murmured, and God the way he said it sounded like the two of them should be in bed together. "No teasing, we should've told them a long time ago." Steve looked over at Bruce and Natasha, still in the other room, before he turned his eyes back to Clint. "So when did you think that S.H.I.E.L.D. found me?"
"...a couple weeks before the team formed," Clint said, and judging by the way that Tony was barely containing his laughter, almost choking on his coffee, that was very clearly wrong.
Steve smiled like he'd been expecting that. "It's been a bit longer than that. S.H.I.E.L.D. found me... just about six years before the team formed."
"Six years? Not six weeks?" Clint gasped, and by then Tony had already put his coffee down so that he could bury his face against Steve's chest and laugh.
"I thought you'd figured it out," Tony cackled. "You keep spying on us! Don't think I haven't noticed, tweety bird, because I have. You seriously haven't caught us making out... ever?" Clint shook his head, and Tony burst out in laughter again. Steve managed to contain it to just a knowing smile. "This is perfect. We even fooled the best spies in the world. I mean, I expected that at least one of you knew—you three are Avengers, after all!"
"...So you really are married?" Clint asked.
Steve fished his dog tags out from under his shirt and held them up. Just as expected, another golden ring, bright against the silver dog tags. "Very happily."
"So you really didn't know? How have none of you heard us having sex, or walked in on us making out? Come on! We're not even quiet about that," Tony rambled on. "The lab, the living room, the kitchen—"
"For the love of everything, stop," Clint begged.
"You seriously didn't hear us last night? All night?" Tony asked, a devious smirk on his face. "Were none of you curious as to why Steve was so exhausted this morning?"
He waggled his eyebrows, and Clint groaned. Maybe it was better not knowing.