It started with Clint. He was sitting at a briefing, a ball of brown yarn in his pocket and two metal needles the thickness of Natasha's little finger in his hands, feet propped up on the table. Everyone noticed, but no one said anything about it. He wasn't even really looking at what he was doing, except when he changed hands. Knit twenty-five stitches, purl twenty-five stitches.

When Coulson finally finished the briefing and left, Tony was the first to say "What, your nest getting cold or something?"

Clint said nothing; he was looking at his knitting. "Clint? Clint!"

"Oh, for-" Natasha tapped his foot and he glanced up before she signed at him. He sighed and turned his hearing-aid back on before turning to Tony.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Since when do you knit?" Tony asked. He shrugged.

"Learned a while ago, I do it when I'm bored."

"Clint, did you even listen to any of the briefing?" Steve asked, frowning.

"Nah," Clint said, shrugging and switching hands. "I read the file, though; I've got the gist of it."

Steve sighed and Natasha rolled her eyes before signing something to him. He stuck his tongue out at her and went back to his project.

"But, like, why?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why what? Do I knit? I dunno," Clint shrugged, "why do you build AIs in your spare time?"

"That's completely different!" Tony said. "That requires focus! And it's not exactly a portable hobby. Besides, I've never seen you knit before."

Clint gave him a skeptical look. "Dude, I know that you could make a robot on the fly, don't deny it. Anyway, I stopped for a while when I lost my needles. What's it to you?"

"Nothing, but it's just..." Tony shrugged. "It doesn't seem like something you'd be interested in."

Clint looked up at him and smirked, twirling one of the needles in his fingers. "Dude, it's literally a long, metal, pointy stick. Of course I'm interested, and I swear to fucking God if you don't shut up about it, I'm going to put my long, sharp, pointy metal thing through your face."

Steve was the second. Tony walked in to find Clint and Steve knitting in front of the television, Clint with two needles, Steve with three. They were watching Project Runway.

"Oh my God," Tony said. "Steve, not you too."

"Hey, I've known how to knit for years," Steve shrugged. "Used to make socks and blankets and hats. Bucky helped sometimes."

"See? We are the manliest men," Clint said, grinning at him. "You should join us."

"I think I'll pass," Tony said, but sat to watch the TV with them. Unlike Clint, Steve used bamboo needles that didn't clink quite so often. More than once, Tony found himself staring at either Clint or Steve as they worked with their needles. It was almost hypnotizing. Tony finally got up and went back to the workshop.

The next one was Bruce, and in all honesty, Tiny really should have seen that one coming. Tony went into the kitchen to make coffee one morning and found Bruce knitting something, the stitches a bit uneven and crooked, but Steve talked him through it.

Tony didn't comment; after all, it appeared to be a relaxing hobby, and the more relaxed Bruce was, the better.

A couple of days later, however, Bruce had switched to crocheting. He moved faster with just one needle, and it was apparently easier to carry around. It was quieter too; there was no clicking of needles and Tony appreciated that. He still didn't want to take it up, though. Too many things to do.

Yet, one week later, he found knitting needles in Pepper's handbag, along with a bright orange ball of fluffy yarn. He just sighed and walked off, wondering what the hell was happening.

Surprisingly enough, Thor took to knitting with enthusiasm, concentrating hard with the needles and slowly stitching, dropping then now and then, accidentally breaking the needles when he got frustrated.

Clint finally got him a pair of metal needles that were quite thick. Thor didn't break these, and so he continued. It was hilarious, Tony thought, to watch Thor's massive figure hunched over, focusing only on the neon pink and green yarn. Clint taught them all how to fix dropped stitches with a crochet needle and soon after, Natasha joined them, knitting a green scarf to set off her red hair.

Tony walked in on them all silently knitting at the table, the TV on. Even Coulson had gotten into it, but then again, Tony wasn't very surprised about him liking it either. Coulson was Coulson and he worked in mysterious ways. Tony simply poured himself another cup of coffee and left, saying "JARVIS, put in a large order for strong. Like, lots of string. In lots of different textures and fluffiness and colors and shit."

"Of course, Sir," JARVIS replied. "Shall I get you a pair of knitting needles or a crochet hook as well?"

"Oh, fuck off," Tony snapped. "I am not getting into knitting."

Tony snapped a month later when a pair of needles mysteriously appeared in the workshop along with some red yarn. He stared at them for a few minutes before saying "JARVIS, who put these here?"

"Agent Barton, I think, Sir," JARVIS replied.

"Fuck no," Tony said and turned away to work play with some scraps.

Three hours later, Pepper found him sitting at his workbench, muttering curses under his breath. She stopped when she saw the tangled mess of red string. She pressed a hand to her mouth to suppress a grin and said "Tony, would you like help?"

"No," he snapped, not looking up. "If the rest of you can do it, I can do it."

"I was taught, Tony, I didn't just figure it out," Pepper replied and put her paperwork down before walking over. She took the needles and said "Okay, hold it like this... And then you take the string and make a loop by doing this, then you make more stitches like this." She showed him and he watched petulantly. When he finally got it back, she left, smirking.

Tony went upstairs a few hours later, having made some progress with the knitting. All the others were sitting around a table, playing poker, and he said "Wow. I'd've thought you'd all be knitting."

"You mean you haven't tried yet?" Steve said, smirking. Tony glared and sat down.

"Deal me in."

Clint grinned. "Oh, you have. You totally have."

"I have not been knitting!" Tony denied.

"Oh, he totally has," Natasha also grinned. "Fork it over, Barton."

"Nope! He hasn't admitted to it yet!" Clint said.

"I haven't been knitting!" Tony repeated.

"We believe you," Steve said. When tony gave him a skeptical look, he just said "Really, we do!"

"Right," Tony said. Natasha ended up winning the game.

Of all people, it was Thor who caught him. He was sitting in the workshop, still trying to figure out how to cast off when Thor knocked on the door, accidentally shattering it. Tony jumped and the red scarf fell out of his hands. Thor grinned at him slowly.

"Friend Tony! You have been knitting!" He said loudly.

"I knew it!" Came Natasha's voice from somewhere upstairs. "Give it here, Clint!"

"I'm not knitting!" Tony said, stuffing the needles and yarn into the drawer. "Why the fuck are you down here anyway?"

"Steve asked if you would like a waffle," Thor replied. "And if so, to come up and ask your waffle maker to cooperate with us, as it is refusing to accept and bake the batter. He also says even if you would not like a waffle, to come upstairs and fix it anyway."

"No," Tony said. "Go away. No waffles."

Thor frowned and said "Whyever not? Waffles are delicious and we require breakfast."

"No."

"Also Steve is planning to put chips of chocolate in them. And blueberries."

"...Fine." Tony got up as Thor grinned widely and thanked him. When he got to the kitchen, he saw Natasha furiously signing to Clint, who was purposely looking away from her.

"He owes me thirty bucks," she said before Tony could ask. Tony rolled his eyes and smacked the back to Clint's head as he passed him before going to negotiate with the waffle iron. When Clint frowned at him, Tony glared and said "You're a dick, Barton."

Clint just grinned.