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Tony was bored. He was in an Avengers briefing so of course he was bored. He didn’t even really understand why they had these briefings, just point them in the right direction and the Avengers will take down whatever villain-of-the-day it is in ease. This one wasn't even about anything that was happening right now, it was all in the planning stages - definitely no reason for him to be here.
Tony’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out to find a message from Pepper,
Start concentrating! Or at least look as if you’re paying attention.
Tony looked around the room; yep he was right Pepper wasn’t here. Maybe she'd finally conspired with Coulson and installed cameras all around SHIELD just for Tony.
You’re not even at this meeting! How do you know I’m not the perfect example of attentive and interested!
I know you.
Tony had to concede she had a point with that one. He looked up to find Steve looking disappointed in him – and that didn’t automatically make him feel awkward and bad at all. Tony gave him his most winning smile and then turned his attention to Coulson who was at the front, leading this briefing. Fury was out of town so that left Coulson and Maria Hill in charge. Tony was starting to miss Fury (not that he would ever tell him that), the way Coulson and Hill ran the place was terrifyingly efficient and just pure terrifying to be honest.
“To give you more information, I’d like to introduce Chief Analyst William Brandt.” Coulson stepped back to show man that Tony hadn’t noticed before. He’d been hidden in the shadows (who knew that the conference room had shadows) and as he stepped forward Tony could feel his eyes widening with shock. It was Clint but it wasn’t. He physically looked exactly the same but the way he held himself was different, less cocky and self-assured.
“Good afternoon,” The man, Brandt shuffled some pages and looked at the screen behind him, “The man you’re after is Arnold Baxter, code name Cobra. He's known to have links with Hydra...”
Tony glanced round the table and was happy to notice that he wasn’t the only one who seemed to have missed the memo about doubles in the workplace day. Bruce was blinking at Brandt from behind his glasses whilst Steve kept glancing between Clint, who was sitting next to him, and Brandt. Tony would be surprised if he didn’t give himself whiplash. Thor looked confused, but he always seemed to get confused by briefings, he was always far too eager to go and smash things up. Natasha was looking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and that her partner’s twin was not standing next to her, she was the textbook example of the perfect SHIELD Agent.
Tony turned his gaze to Clint who was still flicking a paper clip into the air and catching it without looking, one eyebrow raised at Brandt and a smirk on his face. So Clint apparently knew he had a double, or was at least not fazed by it, interesting.
“What you need to be careful of is…”
Tony realised that Brandt was still talking. He had another quick glance around the room and seeing that no one else was going to say anything, “Is the fact that you’re the image of Barton an elephant in the room, or can I mention it?” Tony leaned forward slightly to gage the team’s reactions.
“Well you seemed to have already mentioned it so I guess it’s not,” Brandt replied not looking that impressed, “Clint’s my little brother.”
“By three minutes!” Clint shouted and threw the paper clip at him. Brandt easily side stepped it.
“Now that you know, may I continue?” Tony waved a hand and settled back in his chair, phone in hand.
So Clint’s got an identical twin brother. Maybe Darcy will have better luck with him since Clint’s otherwise engaged.
Really. (Pepper is the only person Tony knew who could sound uninterested in a text message) Stop gossiping about your teammates and listen to what Clint’s identical twin brother is saying.
How do you know he’s saying anything?!
He must be there for something else besides being Clint’s brother. Now go away, I’m busy running your company.
Tony sighed and looked up in time to see that Brandt had finished his presentation-thing. Oh well, JARVIS would have recorded the important bits for him.
Clint was the first to his feet, making his way round the table to his brother. Clint punched Brandt in the shoulder before pulling him into a hug. Tony blinked and before he knew it, it was like a huge family reunion. Everyone gathered around Brandt, who was beginning to look more and more self-conscious.
“The brother of my friend is a brother to me!” Thor’s booming voice was heard before almost crushing the man in a huge hug.
Brandt spluttered and hesitantly patted Thor on the back, “Thanks.”
Thor let him go and Brandt straightened his tie (that’s another thing, seeing someone who looked like Barton in a suit was weird.) “We must celebrate this occasion with the finest Asgardian mead!”
“Celebrate?”
“Of course!” And that was apparently all that Thor had to say on the matter. Thor didn’t need a reason to have a party; Tony knew there was a reason why he was his favourite.
“Will, I haven’t seen your face for over a year,” Clint said, arms crossed and with his serious face on. “You’re coming back to the mansion and that’s that.”
Natasha had pulled some knives out from somewhere, Tony noticed, and was sharpening in a threatening manner. If Brandt could say no to Clint with a knife wielding red head standing behind him, he was a braver man than Tony.
Brandt looked around the group of people who'd surrounded him and he seemed to realise that there was no escaping the invertible. Thor had even brought out the puppy eyes. Brandt sighed. “Alright, but I need to be back in Washington by midday tomorrow at the latest.”
“You can use Tony’s jet,” Clint promised.
“Hey! Don’t I get a say in all this?”
“No.” Natasha answered.
Tony rolled his eyes and left the board room. The other’s still surrounding Brandt and Clint whilst Coulson did his best to get them to calm down and let the men breathe.
Tony couldn’t wait to question Brandt about what a kid Clint was like. It will be hilarious. Tony text Pepper before sending a message to JARVIS to contact their usual cattering company.
Drinks at the mansion tonight to celebrate the team finding out about Clint’s secret twin brother. Bring Darcy, I want to see if Brandt gets as flustered about Darcy’s advances as Clint did.
If my new secretary gets hurt, you’re finding me a new one.