1,637I always knew Pepper was a force to be reckoned with. She would have never made it through all those years of working for Tony otherwise. I hadn't seen her in action as a CEO in a long time. I forgot how amazing she was.
Pepper destroyed Constance's well-laid-out plans with a simple no, then let her PR team swoop in.
It had been glorious.
The day of interviews had been exhausting. But it was much less painful than anything else Constance had made us do. Whenever someone stepped out of line with an inappropriate question, one of Pepper's people was there to deal with it swiftly.
Pepper then insisted we all have dinner together. Nothing fancy. Pizza and a few drinks in the penthouse.
Despite the interviews running like a well-oiled machine, we all sat in the penthouse, looking at each other awkwardly. Pepper had even stopped Tony from disappearing into his lab immediately, Though Pepper wasn't here right now. She'd gone down to get the pizza from the front desk. I knew she'd done it on purpose to get us all to talk. Pepper had also told us to help ourselves to the liquor cabinet.
Jared, Clint, Natasha and I shared one couch with Lucky lounging at our feet. Bruce, Steve and Tony had taken individual chairs. Steve looked stiff and uncomfortable sitting on the edge of his chair, nursing a glass of bourbon. Tony didn't look much more at ease than the rest of us. He hadn't cracked on smart ass joke since we'd all sat down.
"You know those horrible freshman-year college classes where they make you stand up and say something about yourself?"
I was not the only one who was surprised when Bruce spoke up first.
"This is what this feels like."
His blunt statement made us all laugh, easing the tension slightly.
I'd forgotten Bruce had a good sense of humour. It took me back to when we were on the Helicarrier talking about Loki's plans. My mind had been elsewhere at the time. At least now I could appreciate it.
"Do they actually do that?" Natasha asked. She'd been the smart one and took a bottle of vodka to the couch. She was passing it between the four of us. In true Tony style, it was very expensive vodka. Even I could appreciate it.
"They made us do it at the Academy," Jared said with a shrug. "All the bullshit of why you are here and want to be a Specialist. I teleported to the front of the room and said, 'Ta Da!'"
Jared threw his arms out in an over-exaggerated move with a wide smile. This time the room laughed a little easier.
"And you got sent to the principal's office right away," I replied smugly. "Mom was so annoyed with you."
I remembered the day well. I was still waiting to get into the Air Force, and I'd been bored out of my mind at home. Mom had come home early and told me. To this day, I don't know whether she found it amusing or was really pissed at Jared. She was friends with the person who ran the Operations Academy when Jared went through.
"It's not the principal's office," Jared said with an exasperated sigh. The exact one and the same words he'd used over the years as I teased him for this very thing.
"May as well be," I teased him back.
"Says the person who didn't go anywhere except the Air Force," Jared teased. "You were meant to be the smart one of the family."
I pulled a face at him.
"Didn't you get into MIT, Ice Queen?" Tony piped up.
I could feel everyone's attention suddenly on me. Not even Jared had known about that. Judging by the smug look on Tony's face, I knew it had been intentional. Even Bruce was looking at me with renewed interest.
"You did what now?" Jared asked, looking dumbfounded.
"I was bored," I muttered, returning to the vodka bottle. "I wrote a lot of college applications because I didn't think I'd get into the Air Force as the last of the direct entry. I did need college if that happened, you know."
"You wrote college applications because you were bored?" It was Steve's turn to give me an incredulous look.
I sank into the couch a little further at the attention.
"Didn't you know?" Jared said with a smirk. "Kari is actually the smart twin. It's not a joke."
Vodka was not what I needed right now. I needed something much better, even though the vodka was really expensive. Getting up, I headed over to the bar to get some of the very good scotch that Tony always had.
"If you must know," I decided to come clean as I walked over. "I got into Cal-Tech as well. Both for Aerospace Engineering."
The look on Jared's face was priceless. I wish I had a camera to capture it. It wasn't often I could surprise him. Right now, he looked the most surprised I'd ever seen.
"How did I not know any of this?" Jared asked, looking genuinely flabbergasted. "And how did he know it?"
Jared waved the vodka bottle in Tony's direction.
"I hacked into Kari's files." Tony did not look the least bit apologetic at that bit of information. "When she had to babysit me."
That felt like a lifetime ago. Out of all the missions I'd done, it was probably one of the better ones. As annoying as Tony was, at least it had put us on slightly friendly terms. We had some good banter during our interview today.
Even though we'd been having a good time, Tony still looked slightly off. I didn't blame him. The only one of us who didn't look like they had raging PTSD was Bruce.
That was pretty hilarious, considering he was the one who turned into the huge green rage monster.
"What happened to Captain Hot Pants, by the way?" Tony asked. "The one you were sexting while you were meant to be babysitting me."
Tony had a really nice bottle of 25-year-old Dewar whiskey in his collection. I picked it up without hesitation. Coulson enjoyed Dewar's a lot. The thought made my chest clench. I missed drinking scotch with Coulson.
"Captain Hot Pants and I had a great time fucking, and then he got transferred to Hawaii," I said as nonchalantly as I could manage. There were days when I still missed Gareth. We were still friends, but I had enjoyed our time together.
To my surprise, Steve snorted with laughter. I wasn't the only one who turned to look at him in surprise.
"I'm sorry," Steve said instantly when all the attention was on him. "You sounded far too much like Hazel."
"When did our Grandmother ever say that?" Jared looked baffled yet again.
I had an idea of when it might have been said. Except Bucky was a sergeant. I had to take a drink to not say something that was going to incriminate Grams.
Steve gave me a slightly panicked look. I shook my head, pressing my lips together, trying not to laugh. Even Clint was giving me a confused look.
"I know nothing," I said quickly and far too innocently. "You're on your own, Steve."
Steve laughed again, shaking his head. It was good to see him laugh. I felt out of place today, and I've been doing this for the last few months. I knew what was going to happen. Poor Steve didn't have any of that luxury.
"Apparently, neither do any of us," Natasha said dryly.
That got the entire room laughing. As we did, the door opened, and Pepper came in with our promised pizza.
"The love of my life," Tony declared brightly. "And Pepper as well."
If she hadn't had her hands full, I was sure that Pepper would have thrown the pizza at Tony's head.
Her presence drained the last of the awkwardness from the room. Ever since I'd known her, Pepper was good at this. She could diffuse any situation. Though I don't think she expected to be diffusing a situation with all of us.
Then again, I don't think anyone was prepared for our situation. Even Fury didn't have a handle on things when Loki came along and fucked things up.
"Have you been asking inappropriate questions as usual?" Pepper asked Tony in her dry, unamused tone.
"Not yet, but now you mention it; how are you four getting away with fucking around at work? And why does Barton have a service dog?"
Tony spoke so quickly that it took me a moment to process his words. It was my turn to feel some internal panic. I hadn't actually thought of what bringing Lucky up with us meant. He was so well-behaved that I almost forgot he was there most of the time. It was the same as Clint being deaf. I only remembered it when there was a physical reminder, like his hearing aids on the bedside table. The rest of the time, I didn't think about it.
"Because I'm deaf," Clint said with a nonchalant shrug. "And being Fury's favourite assassin has its perks."
As he said it, he flashed me a quick smile. A genuine one. Something that made me feel warmer more than the expensive alcohol in my hand ever could.
"No shit?" Tony's surprise was genuine. "Do you lip read or?"
Even Pepper looked surprised at Tony's tone when he was asking. I thought he would go down the line of being a smart-ass about it.
Clint shook his head and turned his head to the side, reaching up to take out what I knew were his hearing aids. He pulled a face as it took him longer than usual to pull the right one out. Another thing to surprise me. Usually, he would have been extremely uncomfortable with any of the attention on him. Then again, he and Tony got along well during our interview.
"That is some seriously cool little bit of tech." Tony looked impressed as he got up to come closer. "May I?"
Clint got up and handed the hearing aid over without any hesitation. Another surprising thing. I don't think I had ever seen him hand over his hearing aids so willingly. Especially to someone he barely knew.
Bruce got up as well and peered over Tony's shoulder. While they were busy, I decided that drinking too much on an empty stomach was a terrible idea. Pepper was still standing at the bar, devouring her first slice of pizza like she hadn't eaten all day.
Knowing Pepper, she probably hadn't.
Natasha looked at where I was headed and jumped up as well. Jared flashed us both a look of mild panic at suddenly sitting on the couch alone. I had barely gone a step when he decided to get up and be social as well. Steve was only another second behind them.
"This is going better than I expected," I said quietly as I walked up to Pepper.
"The night is young, and there is a lot of alcohol," Pepper said dryly around a mouthful of cheese pizza. "Expect the conversations to take a turn for the worst."
"He already asked what happened to Captain Hot Pants," I said as I picked up a piece of pizza.
Pepper looked at me with a furrowed brow of confusion.
"Gareth," I supplied.
"Captain Hot Pants," Pepper snorted in amusement. "I bet he loved that name."
I laughed while taking a drink. Gareth had enjoyed that nickname. While I was drinking, I looked over at Natasha. During our conversation, she was doing what Clint and I called her socially acceptable smile. A sure sign she was uncomfortable. It took me a moment to realise why.
When she'd been undercover at Stark Industries, she had ended up as Pepper's assistant. When they had all blown wide open, I doubted they had spoken since. Natasha had said she respected Pepper a lot in the short time they'd known each other. But it hadn't changed the fact Natasha had lied about everything. Even if she was only doing her job.
"Nat and I were talking about going shopping tomorrow," I changed the subject, ignoring the side eye I was now getting from Natasha. "Any suggestions on some good shoe and coffee places?"
It was a surefire way to get Pepper involved. She loved to shop as much as I did. Her shoe collection was a great source of envy for me. Not to mention, I had to catch up with my parents. I knew my Mum wouldn't say no to me taking her shopping after a nice lunch.
I also felt guilty that I'd barely spoken to them lately.
The guilt could wait for another time, though. My plan worked perfectly. Pepper's eyes lit up, and I knew we would be in for a treat.
"There is this really nice boutique that hasn't long opened up," Pepper said around her mouthful of pizza. "I'll text you the address."
I glanced over at Natasha, still wearing her socially acceptable mask. She caught my looking at her, and her expression smoothed into something more neutral. And grateful.
"You should join us," Natasha said quickly. "A girl's day out is what we all need."
It would also help with some of the bonding for the boys. Looking over at their group, I was surprised to see Jared, who looked uncomfortable on the edges of the conversation.
Internally I sighed. It was amazing how the roles had been reversed over the last few months. Here I was, being the social one and making conversations happen.
Natasha's invitation broke the awkwardness no one would admit. The three of us fell into a much more natural conversation. Natasha started to relax more and more as we spoke about the shops Pepper wanted to check out but hadn't gotten around to. Gravitating to the couch with a whole pizza and our chosen alcohol, I began to relax. Truly relaxed for the first time in what felt like months.
"Apparently, Jared and Clint are buying a house together," Natasha said dryly as the conversation took a turn.
That answered my question of whether she knew or not.
"They make such a cute couple," I said as seriously as I could manage after half a bottle of good scotch.
Clint shot me a dirty look over his shoulder as we giggled. I wasn't being quiet. I knew he'd heard me.
"Don't make me rip that spa bath out of the master ensuite," Clint threatened playfully.
That got Pepper's attention immediately. I'd forgotten renovation shows were one of her favourite things as well.
"Now I need to see photos," Pepper said excitedly, waving Clint. "And yes, Clint and Jared are adorable together. You two should do some public making out to really piss Constance off as well."
It took all my self-control not to spray the mouthful of scotch I'd just taken all over the couch. Natasha had no problems laughing so hard she was clutching at her stomach. I'd filled Pepper in during our lunch break on why we'd been late. It had been such a rushed conversation I'd nearly forgotten about it.
"Are these photos of Clint and Jared together?" Tony piped up. "Because now I'm wondering how that works. I didn't think siblings shared."
I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. My face and stomach began to physically hurt. I couldn't catch my breath. For the life of me, I had no idea why I found it so funny.
While I was dying of laughter, Natasha was the sensible one and took her phone out to show Pepper the photos in our group chat.
Clint flopped down next to me, snagging the last piece of pizza from the box. As always, Lucky sprung up from where he'd been snoozing and came to put his face on Clint's leg. It worked every single time. Clint broke off half the slice and gave it to him.
"Stinky pizza dog can sleep on your side of the bed," I joked as I reached down to rub Lucky's ears.
Lucky farted all night when he had pepperoni pizza. The exact thing he was currently devouring. Clint's smile with a mouthful of pizza told me everything I needed to know. Lucky would be on the bed with us by the night's end. Usually, after Clint had taken away my ability to walk properly.
Something that would be happening again tonight. Clint was looking as relaxed as I was feeling.
"That's not how normal people buy a house," Jared's voice made my attention snap back to the group.
Bruce had his glasses off and was laughing as he rubbed his face. Steve was shaking his head in amusement.
"You have to get loans and shit from the bank," Jared sounded slightly slurred as he waved his arms dramatically. "You can't just throw the cash down and go in the next day to start pulling stuff out."
"Kari can." Tony waved his hand dismissively. "Go ask your sister for the loan and just pay her back. She's got the cash coming in."
Tony was right. I had more cash than I knew what to do with coming in right now. I would only do that if they asked me to, though.
"It's their project," I said with a shrug. "Though I'm super impressed they managed to keep this from us for this long. Besides, Jared still owes me $200 from like four years ago. Back when he was paid way more than me."
Jared looked at me with a furrowed brow, causing me to laugh again.
"You had a hot date and were super broke," I filled in for him. "And I was pissed at you because you kept going on about how you were on 70 grand a year and I was struggling on half that in the Air Force. But I still lent you the money and lived off mess food for a week until I got paid."
"Specialists are on 90 a year," Natasha said sweetly.
My mouth dropped open as I glared at my twin, who was now looking like he was trying not to laugh at me.
"Well, that's bullshit that you're still paid more than me," I huffed in mock annoyance.
The whole group laughed at that.
"Seriously," Tony steered the conversation back on track. "I have people who can fast-track that kind of stuff. It'll take about three phone calls. Let's go in and start making plans. I have this new AI tech that can scan the whole place."
I started drinking again while not paying attention to Jared's answer. It was his and Clint's project. There was no way they'd let Tony in on it all.
My sunglasses were plastered firmly to my face as the Autumn sun seemed far too bright. I hadn't been this hungover in a long time. We all, except Steve and Bruce, looked much worse for wear as we stood in front of the house Clint and Jared were buying.
I'd underestimated how much we'd all drunk and how excited Clint and Jared were about the new place.
Apparently, Tony could get shit done with just a few phone calls. Two to be exact. Jared and Clint owned the house less than an hour after that conversation. One private plane trip back to DC after four hours of sleep wasn't what I expected today.
From what I'd heard from Evans, Constance had thrown a fit that we'd all left without telling her anything. I thought Evans might have been pissed at our sudden departure, but he told us to have fun and not get caught doing anything illegal.
"It's a lot of work," Pepper echoed my thoughts as I looked over the exterior.
Photos didn't show how bad it really was. I was worried about walking up a few steps to the porch because it looked like it wouldn't support my weight. And I was the skinniest one out of all of us.
Off to the side, Tony and Bruce were arguing over something on their Stark Pads. Clint and Steve were prodding at the exterior panels. Jared had teleported inside a few minutes earlier. Natasha had been the only sensible one and had gone for a coffee and bagel run.
"It's a lot of work," I parroted, taking it all in.
Despite it being a lot of work, I was excited. The house was going to be beautiful. For whatever reason, it had just become an Avengers project. It was better than anything SHIELD could have come up with bullshit team building.
"I am so hungover," Pepper said under her breath. "Can we go inside?"
I snorted with barely contained laughter. Pepper didn't have a hair out of place, and as casual as she was dressed, she still looked ready to shift into CEO mode immediately. On the other hand, I looked and felt like I had been pulled from a dumpster. Probably one that was on fire.
We managed to get across the porch without falling through and into the front door. As I stepped over the threshold, I could see why Jared and Clint were so excited. The inside was worn but still beautiful. The spiral staircase gleamed in the morning sun. Peeling paint greeted us at every angle. I wasn't worried about any of that. I went straight up the stairs and headed for the master bedroom. Pepper stayed downstairs, taking photos I had no doubt would be in our new group text chat in the next few minutes.
Bay windows were the first thing to catch my attention. Sitting on one of them and reading a book was about to become my new favourite thing. Like the rest of the house, the room needed a new paint job. The floorboards were scratched and damaged in a lot of places. The walk-in robe looked big enough to fit even my extensive clothes collection.
Opening the door to the ensuite, my breath got caught in my throat for a few seconds. The spa bath was enormous. Clint and I would both be able to fit in it comfortably.
That was the only similarity to the one in the house Riley brought for us. Seeing it in person was completely different to the photo. This was something that wouldn't be a painful reminder at all. This was something new that we could build together.
At least until reality came back to bite us in the ass. I was going to enjoy this while I lasted, though.
Authors Note
So yeah, a chapter. At least it wasn't a year between them.
I am so sorry, everyone. Life has not been kind to me this year. My old dog got diagnosed with cancer. My husband and I have separated which has been one of the toughest things I've ever had to deal with in my life. I got diagnosed with major depression and felt like I had lost my passion for everything. In a way, I really have. I'd lost all motivation even to touch this story.
But I did finish my Bachelor. I'm slowly getting my life back on track. It's hard. It's just so damn hard some days.
I love this story and I will never abandon it. There may just be very long times between updates. Hopefully more than one a year though.
Until next time.