A/N: I don't own the Avengers or Mission Impossible characters. Jeremy Renner is my ultimate bias currently, so I thought, well, why not bring them together and make them twins who can't live with each other? Categorized under Avengers because it's AU either way, and the fic is going to be in Tony's 3rd person limited narrative, anyway.

Tangle of Red: Chapter 6

In the end, everyone was either too sore or too lazy to go out into the slopes the first day, so they ended up watching movies the entire day. Apparently Iron Man 2 was the obvious choice, because they'd watched the first one. "Hey." Ethan snickered. "You look like Robert Downey Jr."

"So people tell me. Let's be honest, though, I look a lot better." He shot back, which earned him a snicker and a jab in the side by Clint. Natasha tossed a pen at him and it hit him in the cheek, so he obediently stayed quiet as the movie continued. Apparently the decided theme of the day was Marvel, because Captain America followed right after.

"We need a break." Bruce moaned when Natasha stood up with the Blu-Ray disc for Thor. "We've been staring at that TV screen for almost four hours."

"Yes. I am frankly starving." Thor announced. "Even if I am not quite against watching a movie about an actual god that I am named after, I would like to do it after food."

Will looked up, laughing lightly. "I can cook."

Steve held his hand up. "No, no. We'll order. Or Tony will. What're you in the mood for? I think we should celebrate. You know." He glanced over at the largest couch, where Ethan, Will, Clint, and lastly Tony were sitting. Clint had Will tucked into his side, but his hand was ghosting along Tony's wrist and hand, tracing swirls. Will himself was chatting quietly to Ethan, looking amused. "Or you can just, you know, stare amongst each other."

Ethan chuckled lightly. "No, lunch sounds good. Something not too much."

"Pizza." Clint announced. "I want pizza." He glanced over at Will, tucked under his arm, and nuzzled his cheek. "Hawaiian?" Will laughed, reaching over to tug at Clint's neck and touch their noses together. And then that was that, so twenty minutes later they were watching Thor, except with three pies of Hawaiian pizza in the table in front of them.

Tony noted that Clint was picking out all the pineapple off Will's pizza to put on his own. "What's the point of getting Hawaiian?" He asked quietly. "We could have gotten a pie of just regular."

Clint snickered. "This is how Will likes it." He bit into his pizza, nibbling at a piece of pineapple that almost fell off. "I don't argue, means more pineapple for me."He reached down to kiss the crown of Will's head, and Will looked up, his eyes laughing. "Don't be turned off, Tony." Clint whispered so lowly that Tony himself barely heard it.

The entire room was focused on the movie. Ethan seemed to have noticed but was pointedly ignoring the pair, but Tony couldn't take his eyes off. Clint's hand moved to the back of Will's neck, stroking gently before tugging firmly. Will's arm wrapped around Clint's back and his fingers gripped the arm of Clint's shirt, and then Clint's lips were on Will's.

But it wasn't the chaste kiss Tony was used to seeing between the twins. There was definitely, definitely tongue. Will's head tipped back and Clint pushed slightly forward before his hand on Will's neck fell and they parted. Will's eyes caught Tony's and a flash of embarrassment with a mix of indignation crossed his eyes, as if saying, 'so what?' Clint peeked back and smirked smugly at Tony and settled Will into his side again, sighing contently glancing at Tony as if in a challenge.

Tony wasn't one to step back from a challenge. Especially not on something like this. So he moved in, gripped Clint's chin and kissed him with just as much force as Clint had used kissing his twin brother. The thought and the reminder sent a flash of heat straight below his waist and Tony pulled back first, trying to force his flush back down. Clint snickered and reached over, his cheeks colored pink, and touched Tony's cheek. "Maybe someone needs a cold shower."

Tony refused to lose, so he managed a smirk back. "Yeah, Clint. Go ahead." Clint raised an eyebrow, looking mildly impressed that Tony could pretend the kiss had done nothing for him. Tony looked back to the movie and wondered if his friends really hadn't seen or were just pretending not to have noticed. He glanced over at the twins after a while and saw that Clint's head was ducked, listening to something Will was saying, a smile playing along his lips.

Ethan looked over the twins at him, an unreadable look on his face. He didn't look mad or disapproving of Tony, and it took a bit of time for Tony to realize what it was. It was understanding and sympathy, which weren't exactly the first ones on the list of things Tony thought Ethan would feel for him. But Tony understood. They were the same – outsiders who weren't outsiders. They were neither inside nor outside the twin's relationship.

And then Tony finally realized all along, for almost four months, that his picture was wrong. He'd thought that the tangle of red had looped around everyone, around Thor and Bruce and Steve and Natasha and Ethan and him. But he'd been wrong. The twins had a tight tangle around each other and only around each other. Tony had a strand, but with a wrong move the string could become completely unraveled from the main ball and the twins wouldn't even notice.

Ethan then smiled softly at him, and then placed a hand on Will's thigh. Will looked up, squeezed Ethan's hand and held it, but went back to talking to Clint. Ethan settled for this and looked back to the screen, his soft smile still lingering on his lips, looking relaxed and easy.

Ethan was the complicated part of this picture. He was almost like Tony, in the fact that the string he held should have been easily pulled out. But Tony realized the twins were clutching onto the other end so that it wasn't necessarily completely all around them, but it was a line they weren't willing to let go.

Tony wondered if he could ever make his own line become as important as Ethan's. Clint caught his gaze and winked at him and Tony realized it was a challenge he was going to take up. And enjoy.

The rest of the day was spent on whatever Marvel movie they could find after they were done with Avengers. The Fantastic Four movie and its sequel followed, and everyone chomped down on pizza for dinner as Thor commented on how hot Jessica Alba was. "I think I've had enough." Clint moaned as the credits to Silver Surfer rolled through the screen. "Let's go to sleep or something. We can hit the slopes early in the morning."

"Clint brings up a valid point." Thor agreed, turning his neck and shoulder to test if he still ached. Steve did the same with his legs next to him. "It's 10, but we could go to bed."

"We could soak in the hot tub." Steve pointed out. "It's just 10."

Will perked up at this. "There's a hot tub here? Oh, that's why you said to bring swimsuits."

"Well, there's a pool, too." Natasha quipped lightly. "Tony's loaded, remember? We could jump in the Jacuzzi. Should we?"

It was apparently a rhetorical question, because in less than five minutes, they were all at the hot tub. "This thing is big enough to be a pool." Ethan whistled lowly, sitting down on the edge and testing the water. Will came up next to him in dark violet swim trunks and a white shirt over his torso. Tony was somewhat thankful that Clint chose to go without the shirt and was kicking up the water next to Ethan clad only in his black swim trunks.

As it always happened with a group of guys in topless conditions, there was immediately a battle to show off who was more muscular. The obvious winner was Thor, Natasha pointed out, with Steve and Ethan not too far behind. "And Bruce would lose." She announced, and Bruce glared at her. "It's not even like you're participating in this muscle battle." She pointed out, pointing her chin at Thor, Steve, Ethan, Tony and Clint. Will himself was sitting in the tub, looking content. Natasha tugged Bruce over and the three stretched out in the water, sighing contently as the hot water lapped around them.

But peace and quiet around Thor wasn't exactly long lasting. In fact, it ended when Thor and Clint play-wrestled and splashed each other with heaps of water, resulting in a large splash overtaking a resting Natasha. Will and Bruce wisely sunk lower into the water and pressed themselves to the edge as Natasha calmly swept her red hair from her cheeks and stood.

It wasn't the first time Tony had felt that Natasha was actually bigger than Thor, and every time it happened he wondered why he always forgot it felt sort of like a frog being paralyzed in a snake's stare. Or a fly trapped in a spider's web. They were almost immediately barraged with torrents of water. The fact that a thin, just-barely-over-5-feet girl was able to conjure up this big of a splash was obviously against the laws of Physics, but Tony had more things to worry about than the laws of Physics that Natasha was usually happy breaking. Like not drowning, for example.

But thinking was barely a possibility when a 100 pound redhead Russian was shooting hot water in your face. Right as Tony thought he might possibly drown, the water tsunami ended, and when Tony finally got enough of his bearings to see straight, he saw that Ethan was holding one of Natasha's hands. "You don't want to kill them, do you?"

"That could be argued." Natasha glared. According to what Tony remembered, Ethan should have been on the receiving end of the water tsunami along with him, Clint, Thor and Steve, but Ethan was barely wet and was all smiles, unlike the other four who looked like cats left out in the rain for too long.

Will and Bruce were laughing. "What happened to the muscle contest?" Bruce snickered.

"I think Tasha won." Will supplied softly. He dove underwater and pushed off his end, and Clint had his arms up so Will could hold them to surface. "Look at you." Will teased, brushing the dripping water off Clint's forehead and cheeks. "Don't you guys know not to mess with Tasha's rest time?" Clint grabbed his hands and grinned back.

Thor grumbled but sunk down, looking winded. He brushed his hair back and shook it like a wet dog, so hard that the droplets hit Tony. Steve swam up to where Natasha had sat back down with a huff, and was apparently trying to make peace with her, because, as anyone knows, not being at peace with Natasha was a dangerous thing.

Tony considered sitting next to Clint and Will, but thought better and trudged to plop down between Ethan and Thor. Ethan snorted but said nothing and instead sunk low into the water, resting his head on the back and closing his eyes. Tony could see the tense muscles under the water – no doubt he had to spring up if there was an attack on the mansion or something. Tony wondered if there was a gun somewhere hidden in his swim trunks, but realized that a gun with wet gunpowder couldn't really fire.

"Hey." Tony prodded Ethan on the side. "I think you should relax."

Ethan chuckled lowly and opened an eye. "I am relaxed. You'll learn to be relaxed and be able to jump into action immediately." He closed his eye again. Tony didn't buy it for a second – Ethan was a mass of coiled muscle, ready to spring to action at any sort of disturbance. Tony thought he could see an earpiece under the shaggy brown hair, and then didn't doubt it that he was actually wearing an earpiece. He also didn't doubt that there were probably people on their roof, maybe even inside, monitoring everything. Maybe it was Jane and Benji, from the airport fiasco.

Tony wasn't one to let curiosities lie. "So are people like, on the roof, watching us?"

Ethan chuckled. "No, people are not watching us. They're nearby, ready to jump into action when they're called. But they're not here, with us." He opened his eyes and looked at Tony. "Contrary to popular belief – well, I suppose there is no popular belief with the IMF – but contrary to popular belief on many government agencies, they have better things to do than breathe down necks. Plus, our agents are skilled enough to spring into action immediately even if they're a little off-site." He flicked the water at Tony. "Just relax, Tony. We've got it covered. No one's going to attempt anything while Natasha and I are within ten feet of Clint and Will." Ethan glanced over at him and his tone was final, so Tony let everything lie for now.

In any case, everything was too peaceful to bother. Thor was lying down right outside the tub, stomach down with his head buried in his arms. The overflowing water from the tub lapped at him before it drained, and from the muffled snoring from in arms, Tony knew he was asleep. Bruce was leaning on Natasha's shoulder, his eyes fluttering shut now and then. Natasha kept patting his cheek as she talked to Steve. Steve was still trying to cajole her, which seemed to amuse Natasha to no end.

Will and Clint were talking, laughing quietly, sometimes splashing each other with warm water. Once every so often they slid up to Ethan or Tony, shared a quick kiss, but then went back to each other, sharing secret smiles and private looks. He glanced at Ethan, who looked like he cared almost nothing that the twins had a secret little world. He was leaning back again, his shaggy brown hair damp and almost touching Thor. But Tony wanted to be a part of it. Wanted to be part of their secret.

He barely moved when Ethan's hand grabbed his arm. "Don't." Ethan said, eyes still closed. "Let them be, Tony. Clint's helping Will cope."

"Cope? With what?'

"With dating you." Ethan answered, his eyes still closed. "Will did the same with Clint when he started to date me. They have to come to terms with the fact that they have to share each other. Let them be."

That made sense. Sort of. Tony decided to let it lie and, as Ethan had told him, kept himself from hovering. One by one everyone went to take a shower and drifted off to bed. Natasha trod on Thor's knee to get him to yelp awake, and by the time Tony got out of the shower, it was past midnight. He was humming to himself in his room when a gentle knock sounded on the door. "Will?"

Clint poked his head in. "Try again. Nice to know you'd prefer Will over me."

Tony shook his head. "No, I mean. No one else would knock, and I thought you weren't the type to knock either."

Clint snickered. "I know, I'm joking. I usually don't knock. But I figured since you just got out of the shower, you might be changing or something." He closed the door behind him and sat down on Tony's bed. He hummed softly in his throat before looking up. "Ethan said I should go see you about something he said in the tub. He thought you'd like to talk about it." He regarded Tony quietly. "What'd he say?"

Tony shrugged. He was now pretty certain Ethan could read minds. Maybe that was how he became such a good agent at the age of twenty. "Something about you and Will coping that you have to share."

"Ah." Understanding flitted over Clint's eyes, and then a smile snuck into them. "I guess he thinks you should know the story." He patted the bed next to him and Tony came to sit down. "I bet he made it sound like Will was the one doing the comforting." Tony blinked. "Didn't really happen that way. Ethan asked Will out, after a fiasco we had in Africa - "

Tony didn't know why he interrupted, "The water… thing."

Clint stiffened, and a dark look crossed into his eyes. After a moment of silence, he spoke up again. "Nat told you, huh." Nat. The word sounded dangerous, harder and colder than the usual soft "Tasha", and Tony felt unnerved. Clint was unhappy that it had been spoken about. He frowned lightly and looked dissatisfied, but sighed and looked back up. "…The water thing, yeah. Will was in a coma for over a week after Africa. They were planning to take him off life support, but Ethan kept fighting them. And I was throwing up all over the place and having organ failure here and there, which didn't help Ethan's state at all. When Will woke up, Ethan had a breakdown and then got him a ring."

Tony blinked. "A ring."

Clint snickered. "Yeah, like a promise ring. Will freaked out, I mean, like any normal person would. He sort of relapsed again and Ethan panicked and it was… well, it was a mess." He laughed sadly. "I mean, they were made for each other. Even if that sounds cheesy. The moment we met Ethan, I think I knew it was going to happen. Everyone has a pair somewhere out there. But anyway, they didn't really talk about it while Will was in the hospital, and Ethan didn't bring it up again. To be honest, I don't even know what Ethan was thinking. Will was fourteen back then. Not that we're any much more mature now but…" Clint broke off, looking a little broken. "Will grew up too fast." Clint looked up at Tony. "Everyone looks at us and thinks I'm the one doing all the protecting."

Tony nodded hesitantly. His mind tried to keep up with Clint's story. Clint was trying to tell him too much at once and he was branching off into topics that were off the original, but Tony didn't dare stop him. Unlike Ethan or Natasha, he hadn't been able to witness everything firsthand. If Clint could only tell the story in torrents of broken memories, Tony was going to take everything he could get.

"Will protected me. Ever since we were in the orphanage. Even then I was still bigger than him, but he still did. We got adopted, and then he still protected me. He took in all the emotional stress that we should have had and let me vent everything out. He carried both of our burden and had to mature faster, understand the world faster." He closed his eyes. "No one can really understand it. No one but Ethan. Not even Tasha will understand how much Will does for me." He smiled gently at Tony. "You don't have to lie right now and say you get it, either. That's not something for you to know yet, anyway." He paused. "I got really off track, didn't I?"

Tony managed to smile. Clint had drawn the line out to him in bold, the line where he wasn't allowed to cross yet. It shook him more than it should have, because it wasn't something he didn't know already. He managed to calm himself down and nodded for Clint to continue.

"Anyway, Ethan gave him the ring and they started to, I don't know, date, or something. They haven't really gone on an official date yet, even, and they don't exactly sleep together or like do anything. But Will was scared of... letting someone else inside. We had our own little castle and he wasn't sure what would happen if he let the doors open for Ethan to walk in. So we talked."

"Is that what you did today?"

"No, not really. I told you. Will takes all of the mental stress. He worried for me again, but in the end he trusts you, I think." He reached over and squeezed Tony's hand. "He says you're good for me, but I think he feels a little betrayed." He shrugged. "Or depressed, or something. He hasn't exactly said it out loud, but I felt it." He smiled. "He doesn't like sharing me, I guess."

Tony turned to stare directly at Clint. "Not sharing yet, though." He said softly. "Will still owns most of you."

Clint laughed appreciatively. "Will owns all of me. You just share some of it." He laced his fingers through Tony's own and thumbed Tony's index knuckle. "I love him. More than anything."

Tony snorted. "Yeah, that much is pretty obvious."

"And you're okay with that?"

Tony eased his hand away from Clint's hold to cup Clint's cheeks in both of his hands. When he leaned forward to kiss him, Clint didn't pull away. It was an innocent, soft kiss, almost a mockery of what he'd wanted to do to Clint when he'd watched the twins make out. He spoke against Clint's lips, barely parting away. "Yeah. I'm okay with that." Clint laughed on his lips and Tony pressed their lips together again, feeling the smile on his own lips.

Clint's hands rose to gently hook themselves on Tony's arms, not to pull them down but to secure himself. He let Tony push him down onto the bed, and let Tony climb over him and press their bodies together as he opened his lips to let Tony lay claim to his mouth. They were a fervent tangle of tongue and limbs until Clint pushed slightly on Tony's chest with a breathy laugh. "We've been dating for less than 24 hours, Tony. I think sex right now would be moving too fast. And if we continue like this, we're definitely going in that direction."

Tony nodded distractedly, focusing on breathing and willing his arousal away. "I'm not usually like this." He said desperately, feeling incredibly out of character. "No one was supposed to make me feel this way." He was supporting himself on his elbows right on top of Clint.

"What, desperate and craving and confused?" Clint laughed, fanning his face and avoiding Tony's eyes. "Same here."

The fact that Clint felt about the same way as he did made him feel a little better. Tony rolled off of Clint and they stayed quietly in silence, Tony snaking his arm under and around Clint's shoulders. "Will probably felt that, huh?"

"He probably thinks we were having sex." Clint muttered, amusement clear in his voice. He rolled over to his side, carefully avoiding having to roll his shoulder on Tony's arm. He rested his ear on Tony's arm and looked up at Tony. "We're going to work out, I think."

"Yeah, I think so." Tony laughed, feeling completely confident for the first time the entire day. He felt confident letting Clint go so he and Will could snuggle in bed together. He tried to imagine how Will and Clint would interact, but figured they would act like nothing had happened. For the first time in a rather long time, he fell asleep easily, not rolling around in his bed with his head full of thoughts of the twins.

He woke up the next morning when he felt the pressure on his knee and jumped up into a sitting position before it could transfer to pain. Natasha looked impressed as she landed back on the floor. "Your reflex." She nodded in approval. "We should hone that. It's too much of a good physical trait to pass up."

Tony groaned. "Stop talking to me like I'm a secret agent, because I'm not. And will you please wake me up without physically hurting me?"

Natasha huffed and jabbed a finger at him. "Did you have sex with Clint?"

"Please. Gimme some credit here. I'm not that much of a sex fiend, am I? I think we should be dating for a little longer than 12 hours to be having sex." He rubbed his cheek. A quick glance at the clock told him it was 6:30. Figured Natasha would want to hit the slopes before they even opened. "I'll be ready in half an hour." He grumbled. She patted his head as if he was an obedient puppy, which he sort of felt like around Natasha sometimes.

He was downstairs in full boarding gear in 45 minutes. Clint leaned up to him and kissed his cheek softly. "Morning." He grinned, adjusting his goggles on his head. "Bruce and Will are sleeping in. Bruce says he'll join us at 1 for lunch."

"Sounds good." Tony nodded. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah." Clint's grin grew wider as he offered an ungloved hand to Tony. Tony snatched a glove off one hand to hold it. He ignored Steve's comment about Tony being mushy, and tugged Clint to follow the group. Natasha and Ethan disappeared as soon as their feet hit the snow.

Thor snorted. "I will never understand Natasha's fondness of rapidly descending down a pile of snow."

"Well, if you put it like that it does sound kinda dumb." Clint agreed, laughing. "Let us commoners go off somewhere where we can't kill ourselves." He shifted the weight of his jet-black board on his arm. "Should we start off easy?"

Steve pointed to a large lift on the far end. "We can take this one all the way to the top. It has a double green circle that we can start with, and then ease into a blue square and then a double blue square if you want."

Tony snorted. "Figures you'd have it all figured out. But that sounds perfect, let's go."

"We've been here every year for the past six years, Tony. It'd be weird if I didn't know."Steve rolled his eyes and strapped his foot into the board as they slid into place in line. "You own this place, shouldn't you know it better?"

"I don't own this place, my parents do." Tony shot back. He paused and glanced over at his new boyfriend, wondering what the news would do to Clint. One thing Tony had learned about his money was that it tended to scare a lot of people away. Not that Clint was anywhere bordering poor, since Ethan apparently owned an Audi, a Rolls Royce and a Porsche. But all the same.

Clint didn't even look surprised that Tony owned the entire ski resort. He actually looked a little annoyed. "How come we have to stand in line if you own this place?"

Tony sighed. "I told you, I don't own it, my parents do. Plus, this is part of boarding. What's the fun if you just constantly board down the slopes? We gotta rest with this."

"Yeah, but we don't need rest right now." Clint nudged Tony in the side, though Tony barely felt it through the layers of boarding gear. "Please?"

Tony rolled his eyes but tugged Clint's hand and beckoned for Thor and Steve to follow. The employees recognized him almost immediately and let the four on, much to the complaints of those waiting in line. Clint seemed to enjoy the special treatment and he was all grins as he plopped down in between Steve and Tony, with Tony on the far left and Thor on the far right of the four-person lift. "How good are you?" Steve wanted to know. "Thor's the best out of all of us."

"Thor's just good at anything related to anything physical." Tony snorted. "He's as good at Natasha, but he likes hanging out with us better. Cause he's cool like that, unlike Natasha."

Thor flashed a toothy grin their way. "I will take that as a compliment, friend." Tony snorted, but didn't say anything to rebuke it. "So, Clint, how good are you at this sport?"

Clint shrugged. "I'm not fantastic. You know, not like basketball. That I'm pretty fantastic at." He grinned proudly, and Tony felt his insides warm. "But I can make it down the slopes without crashing into anyone or anything. You should see Will on the board though. He wipes out when he falls. Creates a mini snowstorm or something."

Steve raised an eyebrow, and then must have pictured the event, because he smiled a little. "Will falls often?"

"Only because he gets scared of people in his way. He tries to jerk out of the way and then he ends up somehow swerving a 360, kicking up a bunch of snow and then falling on his ass. If you give him a clean slope without any people, he'll blow your fucking mind with his skills, but put all these people in the way and he'll panic." Clint laughed fondly, and he glanced backward in the general direction of the winter house.

"Sounds like our own Bruce." Thor hummed lightly. "Do you acquire assistance getting off the lift?"

Clint snorted as the fast lift approached to the end. "Please. I'm not an amateur." He was the one to push the bar up. As he'd said, he slid almost as professionally off the lift as Thor did, reaching a hand out to grab the larger teen just so he knew which direction to go. He whistled when he saw the amount of children on the first double-green course. "Will would have a heart attack." His glance flitted toward the mansion again, a sort of worry flashing across his eyes before he fitted his other foot onto the board.

Tony wasn't one to miss it. He let Steve and Thor scoot ahead and he slid up to Clint so they could talk on the relatively flat beginning portion. "Worried about Will?"

Clint looked surprised, and then embarrassed. "Was I really that obvious?" Tony snorted in response. They separated for a bit to turn around the corner, and then Tony slid back up next to Clint. "I asked Bruce to make sure he takes his meds, and I know Bruce won't forget, but still." He sighed. "I worry about him, all the time." He leaned back a little to follow the slightly curving slope, moving fluidly down next to Tony. "We usually don't stay too far apart unless it's in school."

It was the last bit of conversation Tony was able to have with Clint before Thor led into the blue square and they were boarding at a safe distance away from each other. Clint moved easily, weaving in between stumbling rookie boarders and wide-turning skiers. He kept in pace with Steve and Tony, and the three trailed only slightly behind Thor. Tony knew Thor was controlling his speed so he could stay with his friends, because he'd seen Thor board once with Natasha and Thor looked like he could beat a professional boarder down the slope. When they got to the bottom Clint was laughing, but the concern wasn't completely etched from his eyes. "That was the first time I got to board all the way down without stopping." He said excitedly as they slid into line again for the same lift.

Thor chuckled. "We should take a different route. Just explore around. As long as we don't turn into a double-black diamond, we should be fine."

"That would be bad. Remember that time when Tony thought he was going to die?" Steve snickered. Tony glared. That was not one of his best moments, and not one he wanted to share with his day-old relationship. It was obviously too late, because Clint perked up immediately. "We accidentally went down a double diamond once. I mean, I think we would have been okay if we kept down it, but Tony sorta sat down and I don't even remember why. But the thing is, the slope was so steep that he just kept sliding down it, and he panicked because he couldn't get up or stop and the trees were rushing up to him. He like flipped over and grabbed the slopes but kept sliding down. It was kinda funny to watch."

Thor winked at Clint. "Steve may laugh about it now, but at the time he himself was panicked. I recall you attempted to intercept his fall and it resulted in slowing him down, but both of you lost control."

Clint laughed. "So how'd they get out of the mess?"

Steve shrugged. "Turns out that the slope turns down a lot near the trees, so Tony would have stopped a long way before the trees anyway. But yeah, Tony doesn't go there anymore." He snickered, and Tony groaned. He wasn't embarrassed by it – Tony Stark never got embarrassed – but it was something he would have preferred Clint never really knew. Or at least didn't know until way, way later.

Clint seemed infinitely amused by the entire thing, and kept poking Tony about it. "I think it's cute." Clint grinned as they got off the lift a second time. Tony was about to say something but Clint used his free foot to anchor himself, lean upward and plant a quick kiss on his lips. Before he could respond, Clint was already sliding away, glancing back at him with a quirky smirk.

After that, it was a contest between him and Clint to see who could kiss who first. He only succeeded twice, but once when Clint kissed him, Tony had managed to grab him and turn it into a heated kiss. He was pelted with snowballs from Steve for "indecent public display of affection." Clint didn't even seem to mind the dirty looks he was getting from a few people, which suited Tony just fine. He didn't really care about homophobic people either.

Clint all but abandoned him in favor of Will when lunchtime rolled around, but Tony couldn't bring himself to mind, especially when Clint padded up to Will and they stood smiling at each other for five seconds before Will sat Clint down, patting at his sweaty forehead with napkins. "Had fun?" Will asked gently, brushing snow from Clint's gloves and jacket, his eyes nothing if warmth.

"Yeah, but there're a lot of kids on the slope." Clint rubbed Will's cheek with his right hand, running his thumb along Will's jaw line. "Maybe you should just stay here."

Will pulled snow-covered boots onto his lap, apparently uncaring about the weight of the heavy snowboard boots. He pulled on Clint's gloves to start brushing away at the snow that had accumulated around the bottom and sighed, smiling up at Ethan as he and Natasha came in. "Maybe, but I don't…. I feel uneasy being apart for so long." He bit his lip. "The snow…"

Tony and Steve exchanged a glance. Bruce looked uneasy listening to the conversation, but thankfully Will didn't have to continue for Clint and Clint sighed, taking a cup of hot chocolate Thor had brought over to sip. "Yeah, I know." He rubbed his warmed hands on Will's cheek again. "Did you take your meds?"

"Of course I did." Will snorted. "Bruce forced me awake at noon and made me take them." He smiled across the table at Bruce, who grinned back.

"We could board at the night shift, take it easy for now." Steve suggested. "We could go up the gondola again." He flicked a piece of snow from his sleeve, watching Will settle Clint's feet back down onto the floor. "It has a really nice view."

Thor nodded in agreement. "There are less people on the slopes at night, so William doesn't have to worry as much about running into others."

Tony quickly supplied, "But still enough that, you know, we don't have to worry about no one being around or it being dangerous or anything like that." Tony made a mental note to ask Ethan about the snow thing later. He would have preferred asking Clint, but figured Clint may set up boundaries. Plus, Ethan seemed to have no problem informing Tony what he could ask and what he could not at this moment, and didn't judge Tony for wanting to know.

Ethan caught his look and he smiled knowingly. "Natasha and I'll stay with you for the night run, anyway."

"Maybe you and Tasha and Thor can go up to a double black and we can watch you board down from the bottom once." Clint spoke up excitedly. "You know, so we can see you show off all your little stunts." Natasha snorted, Ethan looked abashed and Thor looked excited. "In any case, let's eat something, I'm starving." Will stood up the same time Tony did, and Clint laughed lightly. "Both of you go."

Will chuckled and tugged on Tony's jacket to steer him in the direction of the food stands in the cabin. Will stood a little back from the counter, quietly reading the menu, probably making a mental checklist of what to buy. Tony didn't know what made him do it, but he stepped right up to Will and asked, "So what's up with the… snow thing?"

Will didn't react with the guard and hesitation that Clint had reacted when Clint found out that Tony had known more about them than he'd expected. Instead, he responded to Tony with an unsure smile. "The Africa incident." He explained gently. "We were kidnapped on a white Christmas." Tony's face must have done something, because Will went on quickly. "We don't have trauma about it or anything. It just makes me uneasy, a little, sometimes. Only sometimes."

"Maybe it was a bad idea to come here." Tony said quietly, biting his lips.

Will brushed Tony's arm. "No, we're having a lot of fun. And I told you, it's only sometimes. Not often, either." He smiled reassuringly. "I promise." He tugged Tony to the counter and started to order. Tony pointed out things Bruce and Steve liked, and when asked about Thor, pointed out that Thor would eat anything. Will laughed easily, and Tony took this as a good sign.

They ended up getting too much food for the two of them to carry, but Will and Clint must have worked some twin magic, because Clint came as the food trays came out, with Steve behind him, and the four carried a tray each. "I think we cleaned out their hotdog supply." Clint joked as he sat down, pushing the tray in front of Thor. He took a chili dog and a piece of Hawaiian pizza himself and helped Will pluck out the pieces of pineapple from his pizza.

"We're good business for them, whatever."

"I thought your parents owned this place."

"The food stores are rented out to individual owners." Tony supplied, biting into his burger. Neither Will nor Ethan looked surprised at Clint's comment, meaning Natasha had probably told Ethan and Bruce had probably told Will. Clint shrugged and popped a pineapple in his mouth and turned when Will started to say something.

Tony stayed quiet throughout dinner, munching slowly on his burger. Natasha and Bruce kept eyeing him weirdly, but said nothing. Tony tried to organize his thoughts as much as possible. From what he could get, Clint was more open about Will than everything except details about their twin relationship. Will was more at ease giving it away, at least to Tony. Will seemed to trust Tony more than Clint trusted Tony, which Tony didn't quite know what to feel about. But it meant he could ease more information from Will than he could with Clint. Not that he was going to abuse the fact, but he made a note of it.

He broke out of his thought process only when the group got up. Clint came up to lace their fingers together and he smiled, tugging Clint up ahead so he could buy tickets. "It's got a really nice view, Will." Clint was telling his twin. "Even you'll like it. Just don't look down. And we're all in boarding gear, so it won't even be that cold. Hopefully, at least."

Tony turned, eight tickets in hand. "Yeah, unlike yesterday when Clint and I went up there, we were freezing body parts off." Clint laughed in response and they filed into a single gondola. Will was clutching Clint's hand, slightly stiff.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Are you acrophobic?"

"No, just healthily afraid of heights." Will sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I have full confidence in the technology behind all of it, just… I just get scared a little." He confessed, smiling sheepishly at Steve. "Plus, malfunctions always happen."

Natasha snickered. "That's what all acrophobic people say."

Will stuck a tongue out in response. In any case, Will spent the entire ride stiff and holding Clint's hand, and he was the first one out of the gondola, walking briskly out into the top of the mountain. Ethan rolled his eyes and quickened his pace to catch up once everyone was off the ride.

And then a large snowball hit Will so hard in the head that he stumbled. Tony felt Natasha run before he saw her, and Ethan was also right by Will's side in a heartbeat. "What happened?" Bruce demanded, jogging over right behind Clint.

"Fucking faggots." Tony heard a voice hiss. A few grunts and shouts later, Natasha threw a large, middle-aged man down to the snow, her eyes cold and dangerous. "What the hell's wrong with you, bitch? You got a problem with me handing justice to faggots? They're an eyesore, unnatural."

Natasha hissed dangerously. "I've got a problem when you throw snowballs at my friend." She bent down, grabbed the heavy man by the collar and easily hoisted him up to jab her finger in his throat. "And you know what's an eyesore? " She spoke in harsh Russian, looming over him even though the man had a foot on her in height.

Tony swerved his attention back to Clint and Will. "I'm okay." Will waved his hand. "It was just a snowball. No harm done."

The look on Clint's and Ethan's face indicated that there was going to be harm done. Clint's hand was shaking in rage as he brushed the snow off Will's blonde hair. Tony watched his friends, all shaking in silent anger, and stood. He grabbed Natasha's arm lightly and Natasha swerved to look at him, cold anger burning in her eyes. "Don't stop me, Tony." She hissed. "No one gets away with hurting Will."

"You're right. I'll take care of it, Natasha." He spoke softly. She glared at him, standing her ground. "Trust me. I will." His voice was firm, and Natasha gripped his shoulder before she stepped aside, her blazing gray eyes set on him. Tony stepped forward as the man tried to swing at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said smoothly. "Please remove yourself from the park before you cause anymore disturbance. Will could probably sue you for physical assault and defamation of character. I could sue you for deliberate obstruction of business, and you'd probably lose it all. So before we have to get into dirty terms, I suggest you remove yourself quietly and completely from this park."

The man spat at his feet. "Who the fuck are you to tell me all those things, kid?"

Tony felt tall, like he was looming over the man even though they were about the same height. He smiled because he knew he had won, knew the man was already scared of his answer despite the tough attitude. "Me? I'm Anthory Edward Stark. I own this place."

I think from today, I'm going to be updating this every week instead of every four days because I'm writing all these other one-shots at the same time and I haven't written a word of a new chapter for Clipped. Sorry