Chapter Text
It had been pretty uninteresting day at the tower as of far. Most of the Avengers had, as usual, kept to themselves. Tony was tinkering away in his lab—Steve sat outside on his bedroom balcony working on a sketch of the vast city skyline that surrounded him—the spy duo was off in the training room practicing the most complicated and unnecessary moves that they’d somehow find a way to use in a fight. Bruce was splayed across the living room couch watching the news, next to him, the teams very own God of Thunder, sat on the floor staring at the television as though hypnotized by the program.
On the screen played CCTV camera footage of a man in a red devil outfit fighting off a group of thugs. The reporter on screen telling news of how the mysterious man had been linked to several solved cases. Cases that the police had worked on for months that the man in red had somehow solved in a few weeks, sometimes even days. With how he was taking down the criminals on screen single handedly seemingly without even breaking a sweat. It was no wonder how he was able to do it. It was like the man was dancing around them, his movements a mix between graceful and savage. He dodged every attack as though he could glance into the future and see what’s about to come next. It was extremely impressive and almost mesmerizing in way.
The God was broken out of his trance when a small alert chime rang throughout the building. Bruce groaned from beside him and he was almost positive that despite his fellow teammates not being in the room with them, that he could hear their own exasperated sighs as well. This was not an urgent alarm that would call for the Avengers to form together and engage in a life or death mission in order to save the world from evil.
No. This was something much worse and much more dangerous.
It was time for the teams weekly dinner.
Dragging themselves away from what they were doing with varying levels of enthusiasm (the happiest of course being Thor who never seemed to be in a bad mood) everyone made their way to the kitchen. Dreading the forced bonding exercise created by none other than America’s favorite soldier.
Sometimes even Steve regretted making it mandatory. But he decided against ever saying anything about it, not wanting to go back go against his words. Now how embarrassing would that be? Besides, the dinners (most of the time) never ended up being that bad. Well besides-
“Ew, can you two at least put some deodorant on before coming in here? I can practically see your guys’ stench lines flowing in the air.” Tony whined, childishly plugging his nose.
“Shut it Stark at least we don’t smell like motor oil!” Clint shot back
“I'll have you know that motor oil is very in these days. Car guys, inventors, stunningly handsome billionaire geniuses, that whole shebang."
Clint’s shoulders tensed in a rising anger. He took a menacing step towards the other man. Tony took one in return, a shit eating grin plastered on his face.
It seems Steve had spoken too soon.
Sighing, Steve walked over to Tony, taking him by the shoulder—leading him towards a chair—and forcing him to sit down before he could say anything more to further provoke the archer. He nodded thankfully to Natasha as she did the same with Clint, putting him in the seat farthest from Tony of course.
Just then Bruce and Thor walked into the room seemingly too engrossed in their conversation to notice anything. Wanting to calm the tension in the room that had so quickly arisen, Steve decided to ask what it was they were talking about hoping a new topic would distract the two other hot-headed men from breaking out into another all out fight. They didn’t need a repeat of last weeks dinner.
"Ah, um what are you guys talking about?" He said, sounding a little too eager and desperate, even in his own opinion.
“It seems that there’s a new savior defending the kingdom of New York!” Explained Thor cheerfully, very happy to elaborate on his conversation. It was almost comical how fast the mood seemed to switch as the new topic peaked the interest of both Tony and Clint. A series of emotions crossing both their faces at the words. Even Natasha tilted her head in curiosity at the mention of a supposed new hero. But before he could explain more, Stark interrupted his face and tone seemingly settling on slightly annoyed.
“Eugh, another new vigilante? Those guys are popping up like flies now. Also, how am I now just hearing bout’ this? Jarvis!” he called out.
“I had found unimportant seeing as the last time I’d reported news to you sir you’d told me to not interrupt your “tinkering time” with “silly business”” The AI responded, almost sounding sarcastic. Could AI's do that?
“Okay new rule J, don’t take everything I say when I'm running on 2 hours of sleep seriously,” mumbled Tony, “Just tell me what you know about the guy.”
“Gladly sir,” Jarvis said teasingly, “it seems a new vigilante has begun operating in Hells Kitchen going by the Alias Daredevil formerly known as The Devil of Hells Kitchen. It appears he’s made major news as of recently due having taken a hand in the apprehending of Wilson Fisk.”
“Oh shit I know that guy!” Clint piped up, nterest now fully peaked. He had an excited look on his face, like a child getting a new puppy.
“Who Fisk?” Steve asked.
“Huh? No not Fisk!" Clint scowled at him. Steve put his hands up in surrender as if too say 'okay, damn, sorry' though Clints face quickly morphed back into an expression that one might only make when fantasying about their deepest desires, “I meant the Daredevil guy, a video of him went viral a little while back. Dude is able to do some of craziest parkour I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. God to see him work in person... that would be the drea-”
“Ew, Fisk?” Tony grunted, interrupting Clint before he had the chance to continue fanboying, “I’ve always hated that guy. You know what? How bout’ we invite this new guy over to the tower. I think I’d like to thank him personally. And hey, if he’s as good as Barton says then maybe he’d be a good asset to work with in the future. We could always benefit with a few more allies."
“Uh, I don’t think we should do that Tony. From what I’ve seen this guy is not too keen on…well, on just other people in general.” Bruce said, remembering the man's unfriendly face from the news footage. If he wasn't captured taking down criminals, the scientists would have probably assumed he was one himself. The guy really lived up to the Devil part of his name, he could say that for sure. Besides, he didn’t want the other genius to go and harass another vigilante. Not all of them would be as accepting of it as the kid in Queens had been.
“Well if he’s gonna work in this field he’s gonna need to learn to be at the very least be open to others, whether he likes it or not.”
“Tony-,”
“Stop being such a little Debbie downer Brucie. What’s the worst that can happen?” Tony cried out. “Come on guys, ignore Mr. Party pooper over there, who wants to meet Lucifer?”
Clints hand shot up almost immediately. A huge smile spread across his face at the prospect of meeting someone he clearly admired. Natasha looked at him contemplating her decision for a moment before nodding at Tony in agreement with the archer. “Ok the spies are down! How about you cap? I know you’ve gotta be a little curious.” Sighing, Steve gave a reluctant thumbs up. Looking over to the two remaining Avengers Tony raised an eyebrow in question.
“I apologize man of Iron, but I agree with the doctor, maybe it would be best to leave the “new guy” alone.”
“THANK YOU! At least someone has common sense around here!”. Bruce half-shouted rubbing at the bridge of his nose trying to stave off the headache that had begun to form.
“Ah well, sorry to say guys” Tony guestured around the room with an annoyingly knowing smirk on his face, "but its seems like you've been slightly out voted." It was times like this when Bruce could understand why so many people hated the man.
Bruce glanced around the room with a look of betrayal across his face. The others looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with his firey gaze. Clint ever had the audacity to whistle as though he were innocent.
God they all were idiots.
“Fine,” he sighed finally, rubbing at his temples to keep the green from spreading on his skin, “but if bad anything happens I'm blaming it on you."
———
Matt could tell that someone, or well, two some ones were following him for a while now.
He'd been wrapping up taking down a mugger when they'd first appeared. Standing a good distance away from a top a building though not far enough that Matt wouldn't be able to tell.
With a final punch to thugs face, effectively knocking him out, Matt made a dash. And sure enough, the duo followed him.
Both heartbeats were light and fast and the sound of their footsteps would have been probably nonexistent to anyone normal. They’d clearly been highly trained as even with his super hearing he found it difficult to pick up on them.
Unable to determine the threat they posed, Matt ducked down into a corner of an alley hoping the darkness would consume him enough to hide him from their eyes. Judging by the spike in their heart beats, it seemed to do the trick.
“Ah, shit where’d he go?” Said one of the heart beats, a male. From what Matt could tell he had a relatively athletic build though nothing extremely bulky. Something was tapping on his back, a sword? No, tilting his head listening to it tap again, one part of it seemed made out of metal while the other half a string? Ah, he realized, a bow. Shaking his head slightly at the odd weapon choice, Matt moved onto another sound coming from the man, a faint buzzing near his ears, possibly a communicator? Though it seemed too bulky to be that, but he couldn’t mark it out as a possible option just yet.
The other heart beat sighed, this one a woman, before reaching to up and pressing a button on her own earpiece. This one was different from what the male had worn, it was smaller. The buzzing sound the mans had was much louder in comparison to hers.
“Tony, we lost him.”
A voice sounding oddly familiar crackled out from the other side, “You lost him? Did I just hear that right? The world's top spies? Lost some newbie guy in a halloween costume? Well I’ll be damned.”
“Hey, can it Stark,” growled the male into his own earpiece (so it was a communicator? But why was it so big?) “at least we were able to find him for a bit, can’t say the same for you and your fancy tech now can we?”
Ah, so thats what the drones that were following him the other day had been. Matt feels a mean smile slip onto his face as a small pool of satisfaction fills his stomach at that knowledge that he’d destroyed a few of Tony Starks toys.
Wait. That’s where he’d recognized that voice.
Fuck, Stark, spies, bow, fancy ass tech? This was the Avengers. The Avengers were tracking him down for whatever reason. How had he not realized this when he'd first found the drones? It was so obvious! ‘Stick would be disappointed’ he thought. He’d trained his whole life for this job and he couldn't even do it right. Oh crap. His attention turned back to the two figures only a few feet away from him. That means the two heart beats were probably none other than Black widow and Hawkeye.
Weighing his decisions Matt sighed and decided it might be best (for once) to stay and talk. At least then he could figure out why they were searching for him specifically. And hey, if he's lucky, maybe even get them to fuck off and leave him in peace. The last thing he wanted was for the Avengers to keep roaming around his city. It might lead to an identity reveal on Matt’s part and he was in no way ready for that. He’d just wrapped up with Fisk. A man needs a break from time to time.
“So...” He said in his menacing Devil Voice™ , " what reason might the Avengers have for looking for little ole me?”
He could hear both their heartbeats speed up, their bones and muscles ground together as their bodies tensed assuming fighting stances. Though the man, Hawkeye, faltered as he emerged from his hiding place and into the dim light of the alleyway.
“Woah” he said under his breath, making the corner of the vigilante's mouth quirk up a little in amusement. That’s not the kind of reaction he got often after all.
As the man dressed in red grew closer, the spies took advantage of the proximity and began silently analyzing him: taking in the way he carried himself, his appearance, he voice, any intel that might help build a solid profile. He wasn’t actually as large as the rumors had said. He wasn’t small by any means, being maybe an inch or two shorter than Clint though still taller than Natasha, but still, you’d expect a guy compared to the Devil to have some kind of huge hulking build similar to something like Steve or Thor. His height was actually just pretty average. Though this didn’t subtract from the strong presence he held, his shoulders were broad and as silly as the mask may seem at first glance it actually was pretty effective at shielding his expression. The black-reddish lenses making it impossible to tell where his gaze fell. The guy was clearly young, maybe not as young as the spider kid but most likely younger than the rest of the team by at least a couple of years. Possibly in his mid to late twenties or early thirties. Natasha sighed internally. All these damn new vigilantes are really beginning to make even her feel old. This must be how Stark feels everyday.
“How’d you know we were following you?” she asked. Afterall, it was not everyday that someone was able to tell when she was tracking them. Much less some random werido in a devil suit.
Which means this guy is good, really good.
“No, you answer my question first: why are the Avengers following me?” The vigilante growled bringing up his shoulders in an attempt to look more intimidating. And she'd be lying if she said it wasn't working.
Q
She crossed her arms defiance, standing her ground. If Natasha had been a weaker person she might've been scared of the man in front of her and broken right then and there, but luckily for her, she wasn’t.
Clint on the other hand…
“W-well" he stuttered, "we heard about the Fisk thingy at the tower and we were wondering if you wanted to come over and chat a little I guess.” The Devil tilted his head towards him, his face had fallen into an unreadable expression. “No pressure though! We just thought that what you did was really cool and can I be honest with you? I’m a little bit of a fan, I mean like, your parkour skills are just immaculate. I’m Hawkeye by the way but I guess maybe you already knew that, but you can call me Clint, if you wanna though! I uh, was also kinda wondering if you wanted to go parkouring sometime. Maybe you could teach a me a few tricks I’ve been trying to get used to a more city terrain recently and it'd be nice for someone like you to show me the ropes cuz you seem like a real pro. Not that I don't already know the ropes though! I'm actually pretty good at parkour if I do say so myself. Except for that one time when I was climbing that one fire escape and fell into a trash ca-"
“Clint, shut it.” Snapped the red head.
The archer's mouth clamped shut, a deep blush coloring his face, seemingly thankful that she’d had stopped him from embarrassing himself further.
It was quiet and with each second that passed Clint looked as though he wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground and become one with the nasty alley way.
“Hm,” the vigilante grunted finally after what felt like hours, “Let me tell you what, I’ll consider it." "Oh wow really that's gre-" "On one condition.” He said holding up a hand to interrupt Clint. Though the rude gesture did nothing to disway Clint from imagining all the fun he'll potentially get to have with the man he's already entitled his new "parkour buddy" in his mind.
“Yeah, sure anything you want!”
“Get the hell out of my city.”
———
“I think you should go”
“Foggy…”
“Come on Matt you need friends other than just us” Karen laughed playfully nudging the mopey red head's shoulder.
“You’re not my only friends, what about Luke, Jess, Danny, and Claire.”
“It doesn’t count if you’ve slept with them Matty.” Foggy teased.
“HEY, I’ve not slept with any of the defenders and I only ever kissed Claire!” Matt squeaked a telling blush rising to his face.
“That’s not what Jessica says.” Karen giggled and nudged Matt again much to his displeasure.
“Jessica is a lying lair who lies, stop believing everything she's says, she just likes making fun of me.” Matt replied the flush on his face growing even redder, from actual anger or embarrassment, neither of the blondes could tell exactly, but knowing Mat, it was probably the second.
“Sureeee…” Said Foggy, unconvinced.
“Can we go back to the Avengers, I’m actually starting to like the topic better.” The man groaned. His face was now almost as red as his hair.
“I still think you should go” shrugged Karen.
“I agree, like come on Matt it’s the Avengers! How could you not wanna be friends with them, they’re literally THE superheroes.”
Matt groaned again, bringing his hand up to rub his eyes under his glasses. “If I go,” he sighed, “will tell Jess to cut it out with the rumors (and they were totally rumors)?” It was an ultimatum that they all knew neither Foggy nor Karen would follow through on, but it couldn't hurt on Matt's end to try.
“That depends on whether you actually go or not.” Foggy sing songed.
“Fineee, sure, I’ll go! Happy? Now. Will you?”
“Mm maybe,” the other man grinned, heading back to his desk to "work". He was really going to text Jessica and tell her about how red Matt had turned, like the evil traitor he was. Karen walked to hers as well, shaking her head slightly in amusement and while very indiscreetly pulling out her phone to do the same.
Matt didnt even need to see their phones to know what they were texting about, their soft giggles and the rapid tapping of their thumbs on their phone said enough. Jerks.