Prompt: Clint makes cookies and one by one everyone wanders in because of the smell
@laurenlikesstuff
Clint’s mom had always liked to bake cookies. It was one of the few good memories he had of her. He’d be hiding out in his room or playing with Barney in the yard when he’d suddenly get a whiff of melting chocolate and butter. He’d stop whatever he was doing and follow his nose to the kitchen. It was a smell that meant all was well. His dad wasn’t home, his mom was having a good day, and his fears could be pushed away for a while. He honestly didn’t remember much about the taste of the cookies. His mom could’ve made terrible cookies for all he remembered. It was all about the smell. So that’s what he set out to recreate when he began gathering the ingredients and asked Jarvis to walk him through the process of making cookies. Clint had never been much of a cook. Eggs and pancakes and well, various other breakfast foods were about the extent of his cooking knowledge. But he figured with a nosy, all-seeing AI carefully monitoring him, it couldn’t go too wrong, right? The first one to pop up was Sam. “Aw, man, it smells just like my mom’s kitchen in here. How much longer they got?”“About ten minutes,” Clint told him, feeling a little bubble of pride inside his chest. “Perfect,” Sam said and plopped down in a chair. Steve and Natasha wandered in together, clearly fresh off a workout. “I thought I smelled something delicious,” Steve said, retrieving two water bottles and tossing one to Natasha. “What are you burning, Barton?” Natasha asked. She had been a witness to a few of Clint’s more disastrous attempts at cooking while hiding out together at various safe houses. Her skepticism was warranted. “I’m not burning anything!” Clint defended himself and leaned down to peer through the oven door at the same time, just to make sure. “I’m making cookies.”When he turned back around, they had both found seats at the table. Tony stumbled in a moment later, having clearly just woken up from a long sleep after a several day science binge. His hair was in disarray and his nose was stuck in the air actually sniffing like a dog. “Why do I smell Jarvis’ famous chocolate chip cookies?” Tony asked. “Uh, well, I’m making cookies and Jarvis helped me,” Clint told him, suddenly feeling a little awkward. He knew how much Tony missed human-Jarvis. He glared at the ceiling; that damn AI had to have known what it was doing, choosing that recipe, though there was complete silence from above. “Oh,” Tony said, then veered around the table and scooted into Steve’s lap, leaning his head on one broad shoulder in an attempt to hide his face. Steve just wrapped his arms around Tony and kissed his forehead. Clint cleared his throat and turned back towards the oven, thinking they were probably about ready to come out, when Bruce and Thor appeared, talking animatedly about something science-y. “What is that delicious smell, friend Barton?” Thor boomed, breaking off from the conversation. “Cookies,” Clint told him. “I must try one. Is that what all of you are waiting for?” Thor asked the occupants of the table, and they all nodded in response. “Splendid. We will join you.”He clapped Bruce on the shoulder and led him towards the table. “It does smell great, Clint,” Bruce said over his shoulder with a small smile. Grabbing an oven mitt, Clint opened the oven door, the scent of freshly baked cookies pouring out. He reached in carefully and pulled out the large tray filled from edge to edge with perfect, golden-brown cookies. Placing the tray on the stove top, he hurried to grab a cooling rack before they cooked on the tray much more. “When do we get to eat them?” Thor asked. “They have to cool down,” Tony told him. “They’re best when they’re hot!” Sam protested. “They literally just came out of the oven,” Natasha said. “You’ll burn your mouth.”“Worth it,” Steve and Sam said at the exact same time. Bruce and Natasha rolled their eyes, but everyone had smiles on their faces. Clint cleared his throat and said a little louder than he probably needed to, letting his voice carry, “Bucky gets the first cookie.”General protests erupted around the room, but Clint insisted, “they’re for Bucky. He gets the first one and he decides who gets one.”The shadow that had been lurking outside the door to the common living room shifted and everyone’s eyes went to it. “You made me cookies?” Bucky asked, just as his face became distinguishable from the shadow. Clint shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “You said you thought you liked them, so…”Clint used the spatula to pull one from the cooling rack and placed it on a small plate, holding it out to Bucky. Reluctantly, Bucky took a few more steps into the room, his wary eyes shifting from the cookie, to Clint, to the crowd of people gathered at the table. His flesh and blood hand slowly came up and took the plate, lifting it to his nose. Just as he took a sniff, his eyes fell closed and a small smile formed on his lips.















