𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐒.

𝘪𝘪𝘪. 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴

i woke to a loud beeping. it rang in my ears loudly; too loudly. my silky pillow was pulled out from under my head and wrapped around my ears. still, the extra fluff from the pillow wasn't enough to block the noise out.

stupid alarm. one of these days i'm going to lose my temper and that tiny device will be the first to suffer.

that poor alarm received a fist that morning, and trust me, i can hit pretty damn hard.

.

i zipped up my leather boots, and tied my hair into a comfortable ponytail. leaving my room was always a bit of an adventure; i was still fairly new in this world of endless hallways. technically, it should've been easy, but directions are not my thing.

i really need to memorize the blue-print of this place.

a frosted door emerged from the opposite end of the hallway i was currently exploring.

oh, thank god. i'm starving.

my feet carried me to the glass, and i pushed it open with the silver handle. i smiled to see all my friends sitting in the main room. they were all conversing happily, each one shoving some variation of breakfast down their throats. mealtime was always very frantic around here, but the chaos of it all was almost homey. once i entered, all eyes turned to me.

"well, well, our new recruit is finally up!" steve said teasingly. he was brimming with happiness, a smile gracing his face.

i glared and responded, "hush, you. i had a long night."

he raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth to speak, when tony interrupted, "you have a guy over?" he said, with his signature smirk. "or maybe some friends? you should give me their numbers."

i felt a smile tugging at my lips. two can play the teasing game, asshole.

"oh, shut up, tony. i know you love pepper more than any friends i'd ever have," i said, happily heading over to the kitchen island to grab some toast. there was a plate left out with a well sized snack, and here it was every avenger for themselves. i had to eat while i could. plus, finders keepers.

tony whined at my comment, "hey, weaknesses are against the rules of friendly banter!"

i should've bit my tongue and shut up, but i've got no filter. not to mention i felt incredibly guilty about not telling them about my activities last night. i muttered under my breath, "but, yes, there was a guy."

. CLINT'S POV .

i smiled to myself as i watched the conversation occurring below me.

tony smiled teasingly, "oh, was there now?"

y/n glared daggers at him, taking a bite out of her toast without breaking eye contact. she sorta scared me; that was a woman you did not want to anger. i was feeling particularly like an evil little gremlin today, so, y'know, i did it anyways. she was about to say something, but i stopped her by hopping out of the vent i was eavesdropping in.

y/n and natasha simultaneously rolled their eyes at me, while steve asked, "how long have you been up there?"

"long enough to have decided that y/n has a secret boyfriend," i said, nodding to myself, as if this was a matter of purely facts. steve joined in on the eye rolling, and tony laughed.

wait- is y/n blushing? oh, yes, point for clint! i believe that's 13-42 in the current prank war. i'll totally catch up in no time.

tony smirked, "that's a good guess. i concur completely with your statement."

y/n tensed, and opened her mouth (probably to insult us), but before any words could come, natasha interrupted her, "alright, katniss, stand down."

coming closer to y/n, she placing a restraining hand on her shoulder. i quietly mimicked her words, while tony complained. but, then, pepper walked into the room.

rest in peace, buddy.

"hey pep. i— uh —love you," tony smiled, lacing his voice with innocence. yikes. the hesitation gave it all away.

"uh huh. i heard it all from the hallway. you're not getting off the hook for messing with y/n. same goes for you, clint." pepper said, first facing tony— then me.

i swear, the women in this place are incredible and basically family but oh, god, am i terrified of 'em.

"just quit pestering y/n," steve added. y/n stared at us with a triumphant grin. looking around at the group of people defending y/n, tony and i gave each other a look.

time to change the subject.

"but, there was a guy?"

the grin quickly faded from her face, and natasha stole a knowing glance at her. oh, it was obvious now. they're totally hiding something.

"come on, out with it."

she took a deep breath, knowing i had bested her, "there was a man, who tried to kill me last night. i woke up and he was pointing a gun at me, so i threw him out the open window he used to sneak in." y/n said, with her words coming rapid fire.

there was a beat of silence, until i burst into laughter. natasha sighed, "you're learning to defend yourself so quickly. stop growing up on me."

steve looked slightly shocked at y/n's confession, while tony and pepper grimaced. i realized something, and my laughter died down quickly.

how is bruce reacting? we don't need a code green; y/n hasn't been trained for one of those yet.

i looked to him, as he slowly turned around from eating breakfast on the couch. his spoon dripped milk back into his cereal, as it stood frozen halfway into his mouth.

"yeah, I'm officially scared of you," he announced.

this only made me laugh more, and this time y/n joined in. she still looked sorta tense, though.

what's up with her?

. Y/N'S POV .

"okay, i've done my job of training you well if he's scared of you," natasha told me with a smile. i responded, "you totally have, nat. and thanks for training me, by the way. maybe all those awful morning jogs are worth something."

bruce continued to stare, and pepper still seemed to be startled.

"i— um— good work... y/n," she said. her eyes were wide and she was tense.

yikes, i ruined pepper potts' perfect grammar with my impulsiveness. nice going, y/n.

i turned away from the team with a sigh, and walked over to the fridge. i needed something to wash down my toast.

that whole conversation had far more than its fair share of embarrassing. it's not a bad thing for the hulk to be scared of me, but, still. why couldn't i just have kept my mouth shut? i need them to trust me for fuck's sake.

i opened the fridge, and was hit by a burst of cold. the temperature refreshed me, since my cheeks had been burning with embarrassment. after grabbing some orange juice, i reached up to the kitchen cabinet and grabbed a glass. there was a sound of the door being opened again as i poured my drink. i turned around to see another person walk into the room.

unfortunately for me, i nearly dropped my fresh cup of juice when i saw the tall glass of water.