for shenshen77: Home for the Holidays
Type Of Gift: fic
Title: Home for the Holidays
A Gift For: shenshen77
Rating: PG
Warnings: A bit of language not much
Summary/Prompt Used: Clint and Natasha as a team of architect and lawyer helping out people who have been duped by contractors and are now living in the ruins of their dream home, your choice of who does which. The lawyer will try to bring about some kind of agreement with the contractor/getting justice for the clients while the architect and their team work on righting all that's wrong with the house and making it into a home. With some deaf!Clint thrown in :)
Author's Note: In case it’s not clear Clint is the lawyer and Natasha is the contractor/architect. Thank you so much for my own personal cheerleader spyforaday Merry Christmas shenshen77!!!
Clint sat in the office with papers scattered all in front of him. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with this but he knew that it was going to be something. According to Natasha it was going to be something. He knew what he was doing was important to the couples they helped but each story was more depressing than the one that came before it. He put down the papers he was reading through and began to massage his temples. He sensed, rather than heard, Natasha behind him and wasn’t surprised when she reached out and began to massage his shoulders. She didn’t say a word, didn’t have to. This was how they worked.
It was an unlikely pairing at first sight but it completely worked. They had met a few years ago when he was working at a firm in New York. She was a contractor who had come across a couple who had been duped by a pervious contractor. She was a shark when she wanted to be, absolutely deadly. She needed some help with the legal aspect of things. That’s how their partnership worked. They had made a habit of helping people who had been screwed over. Clint had to admit it wasn’t the career he had envisioned as a little boy but it was certainly rewarding.
They had run into Tony Stark of Stark industries after he had ‘mangled his entire house because he had all the money in the world and brains but he wasn’t smart enough to know and ask for help’ as his personal assistant (and girlfriend) put it. After Stark had learned more of their story and what they did in their spare time (well it wasn’t really spare time it was more of who needs to sleep) he had made them an offer that changed their lives. He had offered them a show on one of networks SHG (Stark Home and Garden). Apart form that he was funding all of their renovations plus their salaries. He knew that he got lucky, really got lucky in more ways then one.
Natasha sat across from him. He wasn’t sure when she moved but he didn’t question it. “I don’t know where to start. Do you?” She asked and he shook his head.
“I was hoping that you had something.” He replied honestly.
“This is worse then when Stark thought he could do his own house.” She grinned and he mirrored her.
“That was pretty bad.” It wasn’t that Stark was awful with tools or lacking in knowledge. He had built an empire and was creative with technology. But that’s where it ended. With trying to build a bathroom or Pepper’s dream kitchen he had certainly fell short. Nat even said that Clint was more helpful than Tony (which actually wasn’t hard seeing as Clint was handy with a hammer and in his humble opinion looked great in a tool belt). “But I agree this is worse.” Clint handed over a small file folder he had put together with information on the couple, the house, the incident and some of his notes. He had a similar file folder in front of him, he found this helpful so they were both on the same page.
Natasha kept a blank face as she read the file. She always did that and he always made a note to never play poker with her. “We can have this done by Christmas.” Natasha finally spoke looking at Clint. “We can surprise them and do it for Christmas.”
Clint grinned. “I was thinking of that. They certainly seem deserving of our help around Christmas. Any ideas where to start?”
“Gut the house.” Natasha said and Clint could tell that she was dead serious by the look on her face.
“We need to talk to Tony about this. I can call Pepper.” Clint said.
Natasha nodded her head and got up to leave. “I’ll go prepare my crew. Let’s get in and get out without them knowing.”
“Got it.” Clint said taking out his cell phone to call Pepper to let her know what was going on. Unsurprisingly Pepper picked up just after the first ring.
“Stark Industries Pepper speaking.” Pepper was one of the nicest people he had met but she certainly had a no nonsense way about her. Well he supposed that she needed that dealing with Tony all the time.
“Pepper’s its Clint.” He said gathering up papers to fax her knowing she would want to read it herself seeing as Tony would just wave off the file. “Natasha and I decided upon the Christmas recipients.” It was an extremely over the top idea that Tony had suggested and both him and Nat agreed it was actually one of his better ideas. “I have a file for you to read over but we know this is the house.”
“Perfect.” Pepper sounded relieved. “Fax it over to me I’ll read it and then we can get them out of the house. So how it’s going to work is we already have their permission. All homeowners who entered the contest had to give permission. So I’ll handle how to get them out of the house. Did Natasha give you an idea on how long it’s going to take.”
Clint made a sound over the phone. “Not exactly but we’re hoping no more than three weeks.”
“I can work with that timeline. And you’re ready to start.” It was a statement and note a question. Pepper liked results and Clint was more than happy to give her some.
“As ready as we ever are.” He finished piling up the necessary papers and got up to fax them off. “We’ll do our best. Okay I have everything ready to fax. I’ll do that now and you can look it over and call me with any questions.”
“Sounds good. Bye Clint.” Pepper responded before hanging up the phone. Clint knew that this was going to be one of the best episodes they had filmed but that’s not why he did it. Sometimes he didn’t think that he did it to make someone happy, the hours were shit and he was always tired as they filmed. But it was worth it in the end. He did it because he knew what it was like to not know where you were sleeping or even if you would have a house at the end of the day. He did it because the house represented so much more and he understood that.
He quickly glanced down at the fax cover page he held in his hands. It held all the nitty gritty details. A quick overview incase Pepper (or Tony) didn’t have time to read the entire file right away.
Homeowners: Thor Odinson and Jane Foster
Issues: Leaking in the basement (possible foundation issues), half done kitchen, bathroom, extension not completed.
Contractor: Took over half of the payment of what he quoted them, did some of the work and then took off with almost half a million dollars.
Description of why they need help: Nice and friendly couple seem almost too trusting. Overwhelmed with no idea where to start. Nominated by Jane’s best friend Darcy and Thor’s friend Steve (two separate entrance videos).
Every homeowner who applied for the show had to submit a tape explaining their situation. Him and Natasha always viewed all the tapes, splitting the pile between them. For the Christmas special they would make a home right for one couple who wouldn’t know that they were doing it at all. They had sifted through the thousands upon thousands of applications they received. He picked his top ten and Nat did the same. They then sat down with popcorn and watched all 20 together before deciding which house and homeowners needed them the most.
There were a lot of applicants to sort through but Thor Odinson and Jane Foster really stood apart form the crowd. This was their first home; they had bought an older home because it had character. They didn’t realize everything that was wrong with it at first and then they wanted to fix it and expanded the house while still keeping the character of the house. They were taken by a contractor for almost half a million before said contractor walked out on the couple. They hadn’t even applied original two operate friends did the videos but they had a copy of the permission form signed by the couple so legal they were good to go.
He knew that Pepper would be able to get them out of the house for almost a month. He wasn’t sure how but that wasn’t his problem. He sat down at his desk and began to go over the legal documents again. It was going to be an exceptionally long month.
He was lost in all the legal jargon, numbers and paperwork when he felt his chin being pulled upwards. “You really should wear your hearing aids when you decide to get lost in your paperwork.” Nat held out two purple devices to him and Clint made a face. “Hey you should wear them. If you don’t you can’t complain about me sneaking up on you.”
“I don’t complain about that.” He said knowing that it was false. A couple of times he didn’t sense her in the room and he told her not to sneak up on him. It also sometimes had interesting results with new staff members who didn’t realize he was deaf. It wasn’t something he talked about often (if at all).
“Right.” He didn’t have to hear Natasha to know the sarcasm that was dripping off of her words. “So are you ready to do this? Apparently Pepper’s got everything worked out that we should be able to start around the first of December and that gives us 24 days to get them back in their home.”
He didn’t even have to think about his response. “Let’s do it.” Besides he would get to see Natasha in a tool belt, bossing people around and yelling at them (seriously she had some major trust issues when it came to most people) and who wouldn’t want to see all of that.
It was only August and December seemed so far off but Clint knew that it would sneak up. They tried to arm themselves with knowledge of the house and situation before hand. Tony as expected loved the story and the couple who had been chosen. Pepper managed to get in touch with the two friends who nominated them in the first place and asked them to be their inside help taking pictures and trying to answer questions they may have.
Clint spent most of the time tracking down the good for nothing contractor that would take advantage of a couple and just strand them like that. He had a few favours he could call in to move things along. Him and Natasha had decided that they wanted to try and bring the contractor to justice if they could. Not always easy but lately Clint felt it was the only thing he was working on. In the end he was sure the preparations would be worth it.
Someone had started a countdown to the 1st of December and he was sure that once the first came there would be a second countdown started. He wasn’t sure how this happened to him but he certainly was thankful for everything in his life.
He didn’t get to see much of Natasha once December started. She was busy with the house and he was busy trying to get things done for Thor and Jane. Even their phone conversations where short or centered around the couple. He tried to keep reminding himself that it would all be worth it in the end but as the 24th crept closer and closer he wasn’t so sure.
The evening of the 24th was when Thor and Jane were due to come back. Everyone (friends, family, the crew, him and Natasha) was crammed into their newly down kitchen and Clint was sure that this was the longest him and Nat had been in each other’s company since December started. He knew that he should pay closer attention to the reactions of the couple as they walked in and then got the speal from Nat as she explained everything her and her crew did for them. But he just couldn’t seem to focus right now.
He let Natasha show the couple around knowing that they would come back to the kitchen. Thor was speechless and Jane was crying and there was still one more surprise left. “This is for you.” Clint said as he handed Thor over the settlement money that he had worked for (and pretty much called in ever favour he had). He was right, the look on their faces was priceless and worth every sleepless night (and there had been a lot of those). Next thing he knew he was being picked up off the ground in a hug.
“Thank-you for everything I don’t know what to say.” He was pretty sure it was Thor who was talking.
“You don’t have to say anything.” Natasha said honestly. “Your reactions are enough and the reason why we do what we do.”
It didn’t take long after that to get ready to clear out of the house. It was almost Christmas and he was sure as much as Thor and Jane appreciated their gift they wanted to be alone to enjoy it.
“It was a busy month.” Clint said as him and Natasha climbed into his truck.
“But worth it.” She said getting comfortable.
“Worth it.” He echoed her sentiments. “Let’s go home Nat.”
He knew the difference between house and home now. A house was just a structure a home was a place people could feel comfortable in and make memories.
Him and Nat didn’t build houses, they made homes.