The World We Live In

"My brothers and sisters in vengeance, I have returned with my lady Jane and her friend Lady Darcy!" Thor declared walking into the main living area of the tower.

"Thor! Welcome home!" Matilda screamed her words slurring slightly. She laughed, which ended in a hiccup, which ended up in more laughter.

"Chica there is totes wasted," Darcy said.

"What do you mean by wasted? Lady Matilda has not been put to waste," Thor asked.

"She's drunk," Jane explained.

"So is he," Bruce said. He pointed to where Tony was failing epically at rock band.

"They started off playing battle shots," Pepper said. "Jarvis?" she called.

"Yes Ms. Potts."

"Do not allow him to get in the suit."

"Yes Ms. Potts. Shall I do anything about Ms. Knight?"

Pepper sighed. "I don't know what we can do."

"I got her Pep," Clint said watching Matilda carefully. She was sitting on the couch laughing at Tony.

Tony finally gave up. "Whatever."

"Rock band sucks shit," Matilda said taking another swig from the bottle of tequila in her hand.

"Well you can come and sit down and watch the train wreck," Pepper said.

Matilda looked over at Jane and Darcy. She raised her bottled hand up in a drunken wave. "Hi. I'm Matilda, but you can call me Tilly or Tilda. I move shit with my mind."

"We've heard," Jane said, moving closer to Thor.

Tony had randomly started singing loudly and off key.

"Livin' easy
Lovin' free
Season ticket on a one way ride
Askin' nothin'
Leave me be
Takin' everythin' in my stride
Don't need reason
Don't need rhyme
Ain't nothin' that I'd r-"

"Shut the hell up!" Matilda yelled punching him in the arm.

"You're just jealous of my incredible voice."

"Like hell I am."

"You can sing better?" Bruce asked.

"Stop instigating," Steve scolded.

"I'm not instigating," Bruce replied with false innocence.

"You've been hanging around Tony too long," Clint said.

"That's his broski. Oh JARVIS!" Matilda called in a sing song voice.

"Yes Ms. Knight"

"Find me an instrumental version of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and play it." She stood up in her too high heels and wobbled for a second before regaining her balance.

"She was dressed like that before she got drunk," Steve explained.

The song started and Matilda smirked before singing.

"Step inside, walk this way
You and me babe, hey hey!

"Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on
Livin' like a lover with a radar phone
Lookin' like a tramp, like a video vamp
Demolition man, can I be your woman?
(Your woman, hey, hey!)"

She was dancing and spinning round. She brought a bottle of champagne to her hand.

"Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light
Television lover, baby, go all night
Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet
Little sir innocent sugar me, yeah"

She removed the cork from the bottle and poured a little on Tony who passed out next to the couch.

"Come on! Take a bottle, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up"

She pulled off her jacket and swung it over her head, her hips swaying as her voice rang out through the main room.

"Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me, c'mon fire me up
Pour your sugar on me, I can't get enough
I'm hot, sticky sweet from my head to my feet, yeah"

She poured some of the champagne into her mouth.

"Listen, red light, yellow light, green light, go
Crazy little woman in a one man show
Mirror king, mannequin, rhythm of love

She walked over to Clint.

"Sweet dream, saccharine, loosen up

I loosen up"

He held still watching on with what looked like mild curiosity. Part of him found her drunken antics funny. Another part found her obnoxiously attractive, and the way she was dancing near him and using him as a prop only made it worse. He never figured that she would be the flirty drunk.

"You gotta squeeze a little, squeeze a little, tease a little more
Easy operator come a-knockin' on my door

"Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet
Little miss innocent sugar me, yeah yeah
Give a little more"

Bruce was in hysterics as was Darcy. Pepper was face palming. Jane was weirded out. Thor was confused and Eric had left before he could actually see the train wreck.

"Take a bottle, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up
Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me, c'mon fire me up
Pour your sugar on me, oh, I can't get enough
I'm hot, sticky sweet from my head to my feet, yeah

"You got the peaches, I got the cream
Sweet to taste, saccharine
'Cause I'm hot, so hot, sticky sweet

"From my head, my head to my feet
Do you take sugar, one lump or two?

"Take a bottle, take a bottle
Shake it up, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up
Break it up
Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me, c'mon fire me up
Pour your sugar on me, oh, I can't get enough
Pour some sugar on me, oh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me, get it, come get it
Pour your sugar on me, ooh
Pour some sugar on me, yeah
Sugar me"

"Are you done?" Clint asked.

She just sort of fell on to him. "Steve, get Tony to his and Pepper's bathroom. Bruce shut the hell up. Thor go take Jane on a date or something. Darcy you shut the hell up too. Pepper, take care of Tony." Clint picked Matilda up and carried her to her room.

"Sam would kill me," Matilda said as Clint walked.

"She almost did when went and saw Poison. I made a huge ass out of myself then. She quit letting me drink at concerts."

Clint had been idly listening to her drunken chatter, but the last part grabbed his attention. Who was Sam? He didn't ask it out loud.

Matilda realized her slip.

Clint realized that Matilda was quickly sobering up, although he still hadn't figured out how. She opened the door to her room, and he set her down on her bed. She took off her shoes and put them in their place in her closet. She moved from the edge of the bed up against the headboard and leaned back.

He sat, where she had been sitting.

"Do me a favor?" she asked.

"What?"

"Forget about everything that I just did up there."

He smiled and shook his head. "Nah, that's gonna stick with me for a while."

She glowered, and he laughed. She reached up and smacked him upside the head.

"Pour some sugar on me," he sang.

She smacked him again.

"In the name of love"

There was another.

"Pour some sugar on me"

One more

"Come on and fire up"

She went to smack him again, but he caught her hand. She made him release her hand. Once she was free he flexed his hand and glared at her.

"You brought this upon yourself," she said. He kept glaring. "Bird boy mad that he got bested by little old me," she taunted.

"I could beat you with out your gift."

"Do you wanna bet?" she asked.

"Meet me in the training room in fifteen minutes."

"See ya there and I'll even make it fairer for ya," she said.

"How so?"

"You'll see. Now vamoose," She shooed him out. She got dressed and dug around through the unopened suitcase in her closet. She found the small metal item she was looking for and put it on before heading to the training room.

When she got there she saw Clint standing in the center of the room.

"What the hell is that?" he asked.

"It's a circlet dumb ass," she said, "This is your advantage. It's made of vibranium. That sixth sense of mine is completely blocked. You don't understand how blind I feel, and I can't move anything."

"That's called normal."

"Normal is overrated," she scoffed. She then smirked. "You ready to get beat?"

"You're not going to beat me," Clint said.

"We'll see," she said.

"Rules?" he asked.

"When one give up it's over. If one gets knocked out it's over."

"That all?"

"Don't hold anything back." She turned as if she was going to back up a few steps, but in an instant turned sending a well-placed kick to his kidneys. He caught her leg on the calf and pulled her towards him. She grabbed his head and lifted her knee as high as she could and pulling his head down to meet it. She knew she was being tougher than he expected. That was her plan. She was baiting him.

Her normal fighting technique was to avoid every punch thrown at her until her opponent was so tired that she could take him down with ease. That's not saying that she couldn't throw a punch, she just preferred not to.

He wiped at his nose checking for blood. She saw the change in his eyes. "Come on Birdie. I thought you were going to beat me," she taunted. She began to circle him. Using the reflection of the glass of the training room, he watched her, and when he had the perfect chance, he knocked her down.

She had gotten closer, but not close enough. He still didn't want to hurt her. She kicked him in the nads. He hit the ground and after a moment of her snickering started to get up. He glared at her.

"I told you not to hold back," she said. He got up and came after her. She dodged his every move with grace, jumping, spinning, splitting, and flipping.

As he tired out, she smirked. It had taken longer than normal, but it was still working. Clint knew what Matilda was doing. He feigned tired giving her a false sense of security. She went to kick him in the stomach and knock him back, but he knocked her down and pinned her there.

Matilda was caught off guard and let out a gasp. She smirked up and Clint. "Got me," she said. She shook her head really hard and her circlet came off. Her face broke out into a full blown smile as she sent Clint flying. He held on to her. He ended up pressed to the wall holding her close to him. Something changed between the two, and they found their faces slowly inching closer to each other's.

When their lips touched the two instantly melted into each other. Matilda released him, and he brought his hands to her face, cupping it.