Avengers Stories //Oneshots//

The Aligator Stuffed Animal

"I wouldn't prank him, Agent Barton." Jarvis tutted lightly from the small speakers in the air vents. It may have just been Clint and his feeling of eagerness to prank a currently sleeping Tony Stark, but the AI sounded amused.

"Sorry, Jarvis. I know he's your creator, but..... I can't pass this up!" The archer grinned. "It's the perfect opportunity. He's dyed my practice arrows pink, twice! My prank has been a long time coming."

"When you say 'long time coming' do you mean the three minutes ago when I told you sir's status?" Jarvis answered dryly.

Clint rolled his eyes. "Fine, Mr. Sarcasm."

"Actually it is Just A Rather Very Intelligent System."

"More like sassy."

"I learned from the best."

"And who would that be?"

"Certainly not you."

"Hardy har har. You're so funny, Jarvis."

"Why, thank you, Agent Barton." Clint could hear the AI's smirk.

"Out of curiosity, if you are so against me pranking Tony then why don't you stop me? I'm sure you could have shot me to the other side of the globe by now."

"If you were a real threat, you would not have been able to step within fifty feet of Stark Tower." Jarvis said with a protective finality, "I do not stop you because I know you will change your mind about this prank."

Clint raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You'll see."

"Mysterious."

Clint finally came across the grate leading to the lab. With skilled hands, he pulled off the cover, moving it to the side and then dropping down through the hole himself. He landed gracefully on the clearest work table......but still managed to knock something off.

His heart almost sropped as he lurched forward off the table and grabbed the object when it was a mere two inches from the ground. Clint breathed a sigh of relief and went to set the object down on the table, examining it with curiosity.

It was strange. It looked like four tools melded together with a few extra parts thrown in. It didn't make sense to him, but it probably did to Tony.

Though how it did was a mystery to the super spy.

The archer placed the mutant-tool down quietly and then surveyed the room to look for the resident genius, already moving to take off his pack where he had roughly fifteen stuffed animals. His plan was to put all the stuffed animals around Tony and then take a picture.

Not his best prank, but he'd come up with something better later.

(Being honest with himself, Tony would have probably gotten him back three or four times before the next good opportunity for Clint to prank him arose again.)

He spotted Tony's mop of brown hair from just over the arm of the couch. Snickering quietly to himself, Clint made his way over to the genius, unzipping his bag.

The sandy-blonde imagined Tony had fallen asleep after a work binge, which Jarvis quietly confirmed, and he probably was passed out in some weird position.

But when he leaned over Tony to look at his face, he lost all heart to do his prank.

The genius was lying straight, arms crossed loosely over his fraying, old band t-shirt. He was wearing sweatpants with a red stripe and one of his shoes was hanging from his toes by the heel. The genius's hair was mussed and his bangs fell over one of his eyes, very unlike his usual gelled-back style.

His face was lax, peaceful in a way Clint had never seen except for when he was with Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, or with the team on movie night when he thought no one was watching. Except his chocolate brown eyes were closed and mouth slightly open.

Clint felt his heart melt just a little. Tony looked like a puppy to be honest.

Putting down his bag, Clint grabbed a messily-folded blanket off the back of the couch and smoothed it out over his teamate. He gently pulled his shoes off and put them together on the floor at the end of the couch.

The archer was just about to leave when he remembered his bag. Then another idea came to mind. He reached down into the bottom of the bag and pulled out a stuffed green alligator he got from a toy store last week.

Yes, he goes to the toy store every few days to look at toys, sue him.

Gently, he place the alligator against Tony's neck, letting it splay over half of his chest but not covering the light blue glow of the arc reactor.

If it were possible, Tony seemed to relax even more.

Clint smiled fondly as he stepped back, saving the picture in his mind. But just so, he pulled a notepad and pen from his jean pocket and wrote down every detail about the scene so that he could paint a picture in his mind. It was a different way if remembering than by picture and Clint liked to see it in his mind with each word.

Smoothing out the blanket one last time, he left, jumping up through the vent with his bag over his shoulder. The vent closed silently and a still-smiling Clint disappeared.

In the morning, the alligator could be found in Tony's bedroom, along with all the other items he cared about. The mechanic knew exactly who had covered him up and given him the alligator, and a new set of arrows appeared on his friend's doorstep in the morning.

They weren't pink.