Work Text:
It had started innocently enough. Every other Saturday was movie night at the lake house, with Peter and Morgan taking turns picking the movie. Morgan had been on a Descendants kick recently and he was happy to realize that for this Saturday, it was Peter's turn to choose. He kept movies PG for Morgan's sake but was willing to branch outwards in his interests. That said, somehow they still ended up watching a Disney movie – but it was Brave, which at least wasn't full of singing teenagers. Peter had been scrolling through the selections when Pepper mentioned how much she enjoyed Brave, and the rest had been history.
Now, snuggled together on the couch – Pepper on one end, then Morgan, then Peter, and finally Tony – the movie was over, the credits rolling as the Scottish music played, and Pepper softly stroking her daughter's hair while they talked about their favorite parts.
“I thought it was funny when the boys locked the dads on the roof!” Morgan giggled.
Peter nodded his agreement. “I liked that part too. And when she saves her mom at the end.”
“That's my favorite bit,” Pepper said, smiling softly at the kids.
“I liked when she kicked the boy's butts at archery,” Tony said. “No guy was good enough for her and she wasn't ready, so she made sure everyone knew how awesome she is.”
“Yeah!” Peter enthused. “Merida was so cool with her bow. Archery looks fun.”
“Daddy,” Morgan gasped, sitting up with a gleam in her eye. “I want archery lessons.”
There was a moment of silence before Peter started laughing. “That sounds incredible Morgy-porgy! Think I can join?”
“Of course!” The little girl nodded imperiously. “That way you can win the archery contest for MJ's hand in marriage.”
Peter choked on his laughter while Pepper snickered and Tony smirked at him. “Yeah, Pete. Gotta win your girl's hand, eh?”
The teen shot him a quick glare before a mischievous expression lit up his face. He ignored Tony, turning to talk directly to Morgan. “You know, Dad is really well connected. He knows a ton of amazing people. And I bet he'd want us to learn archery from the best, right?” Morgan smiled, eager for him to continue. “Well, the best archer I know of is Mr. Barton. And I know he does lessons, Lila has told me about her dad training her. I bet Dad could get Mr. Barton to teach us!”
“Oooh, Daddy, can you ask Mr. Barton to teach us too?” Morgan squealed, bouncing across Peter's lap to sit next to her father.
“Yeah, Dad, can you ask Mr. Barton to teach us?” Peter echoed, a smug grin on his face.
“Betrayal,” Tony said dramatically, clutching a hand to his chest. “Turning my baby girl against me.”
Peter only shrugged, grin growing wider, as Pepper's snickering turned into giggles.
“Daddy!” Morgan whined. “I'm not a baby!”
Tony huffed out a breath and pulled Morgan into a hug. “I know, I know. Okay, how's this: I'll call Clint tomorrow and see what his availability looks like. Remember, he has a family too, he might not be free right away.”
“That's okay,” Morgan replied. “I can wait, if it means getting the best archer to teach me.”
Tony merely sighed. Peter cackled at his expression.
…
The next morning found Tony making a phone call. He could feel his dignity slipping away.
“Hello, Barton residence!”
“Hi Laura, it's Tony. Is Clint around?”
“Oh hey Tony!” Laura's voice perked up once she placed who it was. “Clint's outside doing some chores, can I have him call you back in a few minutes?” Her voice got a little more suspicious. “It's not a mission, is it?”
“No, no,” Tony was quick to reassure him. “I have a favor to ask of him.”
There was a pause, as Laura waited for him to say more. He sighed heavily. “Morgan watched Brave for the first time last night. She wants archery lessons and Peter tricked her into demanding that I ask Barton to teach her.”
There was a snorting noise from Laura's end before she composed herself. “I see. Well, I'm sure he'll be happy to oblige. He's a great teacher with our kids. How about I go get him and you two can talk details?”
“Sounds great,” Tony responded, listening as Laura put down the phone and went outside to seek out her husband. There was a few moments of silence, then Tony could hear a bark of laughter, some shuffling noises, and finally the phone got picked back up.
“Hey Tony.” The humor was still evident in Clint's voice. “Hear your brats want to learn how to shoot some arrows.”
“Yeah, yeah. You free any time soon? I'm betting that Morgan will try it for like, an hour, and be over it.” Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. The things he does for his kids.
“Sure. I'll come by the compound next weekend. We can get started easy.”
“Alright then. Feel free to bring the family, we can have a beginning of summer get together.”
Clint let out a low hum of agreement. “The domestic stuff suits you, Tony. We'll be there.” Before Tony could respond, there was a click and silence.
“Did Barton just hang up on me?” Tony asked himself.
“Seems like it, Boss,” FRIDAY responded cheekily.
…
The next Saturday dawned bright and warm, good conditions to practice some archery. Clint and his family had arrived at the compound the previous night, while Tony, Pepper, Peter, and Morgan were due to arrive in a few minutes. Clint had gone ahead and set up a few targets and pulled out some training materials for the kids to use. Lila and Nate would also be participating in the lesson. Cooper had broken his arm falling from a tree a few days previously, so he was sitting to the side with Laura under a shade tree, ready to shout comments at his siblings.
Lila had just finished helping Nate strap on an arm guard when the Stark and Parker contingent strolled up. Peter and Morgan had huge grins on their faces. Pepper looked mildly amused and walked over to join Cooper and Laura on the lawn furniture. Tony, sunglasses firmly perched on his face, clasped Clint's forearm and patted him on the back, which Clint returned.
“Good luck with these two,” was all Tony said with a grin on his face. He wandered over to his wife, giving her a kiss before fist-bumping Cooper's cast-covered hand. “How are things on the ole farmstead?” Tony asked Laura, settling into a lounger.
Meanwhile, Clint was handing out equipment to the kids. “Okay. Pete, Morgan, pay attention. There's some safety info you should know. Basically, don't mess up or you'll get hurt.”
Lila rolled her eyes at her dad. “So helpful.”
“I try.” Clint turned serious. “Here is a bracer. This will keep the bowstring from slapping your forearm and leaving a painful bruise.” He watched as Peter slipped his own while Lila helped Morgan with hers. “Great. For today, we'll just shoot with the bare basics. If you end up getting into this, I'll get you a finger tab like what Lila has.”
Lila showed Peter and Morgan what looked like a tiny leather mitten with some hair on it. “This helps protect my fingers from the bowstring,” she said, demonstrating how to put it on her hand.
“Cool!” Morgan said, a huge smile on her face.
“Let's figure out your dominant eye, and then we'll get more into it.” Clint helped Morgan and Peter determine which eye was stronger with a little activity where they held their hands up in the air, making a little circle with their hands and thumbs overlapping, focusing on something far away while bringing their hands closer to their faces. Whichever eye ended up with the circle over it was the dominant eye. Morgan turned out to be right eye dominant, while Peter did not have a dominant eye. “Probably due to your special skill set,” Clint murmured. “Which hand do you write with? We'll use that as your dominant side.”
As Peter was ambidextrous since the spider-bite, they decided that he would try shooting both right and left handed, and see what felt most comfortable.
“Now, before we can start with the actual bow and arrows, we're going to practice our stance with some stretchy bands,” Clint said, pulling some of the aforementioned bands from a bag at his feet.
Morgan groaned with annoyance but Clint ignored it, used to impatient children. He passed a band to each kid, and held another in his own hands. He showed them how to stand, where to place their feet, and how to hold their head and shoulders. Clint made a few corrections with Morgan and Nate, but gave Peter an impressed nod as he imitated the stance nearly perfectly.
Next was showing them how to hold the bands to practice releasing. One end of the loop was loosely held between the thumb and rest of the fingers, while the other end was gripped in the opposing hand. Clint explained how to pull the band back in a proper firing stance and they all practiced for a few minutes.
“Don't forget that you're using your back muscles to pull the string,” Clint commented, mostly directed at Peter. “You should feel it in between your shoulder blades.”
The sound of bands being thwipped as they released echoed through the training area a few more times before Clint called for a pause. “I think we can try with bows now. Lila, you help Peter string his bow up and I'll help the young'uns.”
Lila smiled shyly at Peter as he put his band down and walked over to her. She strung her bow with an efficiency that spoke of much practice, and Peter copied her movements easily. Clint didn't let Morgan and Nate string their bows, as he knew from experience how one wrong move could cause the string to slip and leave a nasty welt.
Once everyone was prepped, they stepped up to a mock shooting line that Clint had prepared. Morgan and Nate were shooting at a target that was maybe 25 feet away, Peter was taking aim at one about 60 feet away, and Lila's target was definitely over 100 feet from where they were standing.
“We hold the bow in a soft grip. You pulling back on the string is really what keeps the bow in your hands. Don't close your fist around it,” Clint instructed. He then showed them how to nock an arrow using the one finger above, two below technique, taught them how to sight the target, and invited them to try taking a shot.
Unsurprisingly, Lila's arrow found the target and she nearly made a bullseye. Nate also hit the target, but on the outer ring. Morgan missed completely, the arrow flopping to the ground in front of her. Peter, not quite getting his strength modulated, ended up sending the arrow deep into the top of his target. He gave Clint a bashful grin.
“Maybe I shouldn't have given you such a high draw bow,” Clint said thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Keep practicing. Lila can give you some pointers while I monitor these two.”
Clint turned his attention to Morgan, who was pouting. He helped her try again, and this time her arrow managed to hit the target block. She gave a cheer and tried again, with more success as the arrow actually hit within the outer ring of the target.
“Daddy! Mommy! Look!”
Pepper gave her a thumbs up and Tony applauded. Morgan put on a determined face as she and Nate continued to fire away with varying levels of achievement.
It took Peter a few more arrows deeply buried into the target before he found a good balance in his strength. He released a few more arrows with Lila watching closely, ready to offer tips. Her target was filled with closely bunched arrows in the bullseye.
“Nice job!” Lila complemented as Peter finally got an arrow into one of the inner rings. He gave her a cheerful smile and loosed his last arrow, which flew perfectly into the bullseye.
“Wow. Beginner's luck?” Clint questioned, watching the teens. Morgan and Nate were done with their round, waiting to retrieve the arrows they had sent flying.
Peter shrugged, placing the bow on a stand so he could also get his arrows. “My hand-eye coordination improved a lot after the bite. I think once I figure out the right amount of power to put behind my pulls, I could probably get good at this.”
“You're so cool, Peter!” Nate said, eyes wide with admiration.
Peter ducked his head, blushing a little. “Thanks! You're pretty cool too,” he said, pointing to the target where Nate's arrows were tightly grouped, clearly showing his practice.
Nate positively beamed at the praise. The kids all took a few moments to retrieve their arrows and came back to the shooting line, ready to go again.
…
Tony's prediction turned out to be false, as Morgan was absolutely in love with archery. Once she had consistently hit the target for a few rounds, Clint pushed it back a little farther to make it challenging. He did the same for Peter and Lila, and seemed awed at how quickly Peter was able to get bullseye shots at a range where most people had to practice for months before being able to hit such a distance. Lila and Peter took turns shooting at the same target for a while, seeing who could get closest to the other's arrows without them touching. Lila's practice turned out to be the deciding factor and she was declared the winner, with Peter gracefully bowing to her abilities. She turned red but grinned at the approval.
“Hm,” Laura said quietly, watching from a distance. “It would seem that my daughter has a crush on your son, Tony.”
Pepper nodded her agreement and the mothers shared a look of amusement as Tony groaned but didn't look up from his tablet. “She'll have to fight MJ for Peter, and besides, he's not allowed to date for another two years,” he said.
The women chortled at this, though Pepper's face took on a knowing look. “That's okay Laura. It would also seem that my daughter has a crush on your son.”
Tony's head whipped up so fast that he almost gave himself a neck injury. “What?”
Cooper, who had long since grown bored of sitting with the adults on the sidelines, was hovering over his younger brother and Morgan, offering some advice occasionally. Morgan was doing her best to pay attention to his words, and giving him starry-eyed glances when she could.
“Oh, no no no. She's not allowed to date until she's thirty,” Tony grumbled, putting the tablet down and making to get up.
“A harmless crush won't hurt anyone,” Pepper lightly scolded. Tony grimaced at her words but stayed seated, hearing the threat of don't interfere underneath Pepper's words.
Lunch time arrived, the kids gathering around Laura, Pepper, and Tony, hungry and ready for some food. A picnic spread was laid out and soon everyone was enjoying their meal.
“You know, Morgan,” Peter said casually between a few bites of his sandwich, “maybe next time we could watch Lilo and Stitch.”
Clint snorted into his food while Tony gave Peter a disgruntled look.
“Is that your not-so-subtle way of asking for surfing lessons?” Tony quipped.
Peter smiled cryptically. “It was actually my super subtle way of saying we should go to Hawaii for vacation, but sure, I'll take surfing lessons too."
There was a quiet gasp, and Nate hopped up and poked his father in the shoulder. “Daddy! I want surfing lessons too!”