It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is an Avengers fanfic written by Livin4Jesus
. It can be found here.
The premise: Tony and Clint are drinking buddies who happen to do grand stupid things when they get drunk together. Each chapter normally features them having to deal with the consequences of their drunken nights out, usually after piecing together what the hell exactly happened, though there are occasional breaks from this formula (having other Avengers join in the escapades, for example).
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time provides examples of:
- Accidental Marriage:
- Clint thinks he did this with Natasha in chapter 5. Turns out it was a fake.
- In chapter 49, this happens to Natasha again, this time with Loki of all people. Unfortunately, this one is real and has to be annulled.
- Acquainted with Emergency Services: In chapter 49, it's revealed that Tony has had to get so many drunken marriages annulled he knows the clerk and the judge on a first-name basis.
- April Fools' Plot: Chapter 32, in which Tony and Clint realize they pulled a prank on Maria Hill.
- Blackmail: Pepper and Natasha get some in chapter 24 when they catch Tony and Clint trying on their dresses.
- Broken Record: In the first chapter, Clint can't stop saying "I don't remember any of that" until Natasha smacks him upside the head.
- Christmas Episode: Chapters 17, 54, 72, and 75.
- Crossover:
- Chapter 18 brings the X-Men into the mix (who had yet to appear in the MCU at the time of writing).
- As of chapter 42, they now share a universe with Supernatural. Except the actual series exists within the universe. Maybe it's an adaptation of Chuck's books?
- Chapter 56 gives us Doctors Nine through Eleven appearing while the residents of the tower are watching the show. This one can be more easily explained, given parallel universes and the like.
- The Dreaded: Nick Fury, Natasha Romanov, Pepper Potts, and Maria Hill.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Tony and Clint both get one in chapter 28.
- Expy: FBJ is apparently the turkey version of Coulson. Or Coulson's the human version of FBJ. We're not sure. Everyone but Coulson and the turkey are disturbed by this.
- Frame-Up: In chapter 21, Loki paints the city in his signature colors, planning to let Tony and Clint get the blame. It fails when Jarvis confirms that they had nothing to drink the night before.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Clint and Natasha in chapter 11, with the Trope Namer being the inspiration behind the machine that caused it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As demonstrated in chapter 67, Tony. He locates Bucky for Steve, hoping to help the two of them reconcile, then pretends to get drunk (and actually does get Hawkeye drunk) in order to get Natasha to take Bucky's arm to the tower so he can let Steve know where he is. He only pretended to be drunk for three reasons: he figured Bucky would forgive him for breaking and entering his new home if he looked drunk, he claimed he had a reputation to uphold, and he liked the idea of messing with everyone.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again:
- Tony and Clint decide to never bring up the fact that Clint fake-married Natasha.
- Tony ends up being the only one to remember the Freaky Friday incident. He orders Jarvis to erase all the footage related to it, then destroys the machine that caused it.
- Mood Whiplash: Chapter 61 begins with the Avengers seeing the news and discovering that Tony and Clint apparently died. Turns out some idiots had actually robbed their wallets and gotten into an accident.
- Musical Episode: Chapter 69, sort of. Tony rigs the tower so that an appropriate song plays whenever someone walks through a door or says certain words or phrases. And since Jarvis has access to every song in existence...
- Noodle Incident:
- Some stupid things Tony and Clint do will go without explanation as to how they did them.
- Averted at one point; in chapter 57, Tony and Clint wonder how they survived their impromptu drunken Olympics. The next chapter explains that this was due to the effort of their friends.
- Oh, Crap!: The usual reaction when the someone realizes that they did something to piss off a character listed under The Dreaded.
- Only Known by Initials: FBJ's full name is "Feather Butt Jr". Understandably, he's usually called FBJ.
- Pyromaniac: Clint quits being a part of the Drunken Duo for a chapter, leading to Tony replacing him with Rhodey. The result is them waking up to a burning gas station, an empty gas can and lighter in hand.
- Running Gag:
- "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
- Animal transformations. So far, we have Clint as a hawk, Tony as a rabbit, Natasha as a fox, Bruce as a small pig (that turns into a hog-Hulk when angry), Loki as a reindeer (complete with a Rudolph-style nose), Thor as a golden retriever, Steve as a bald eagle, Bucky as a bear, and Coulson as FBJ.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: In chapter 64, Loki teleports to Avengers Tower while Tony and Clint are drunkenly reenacting Frozen. He makes the wise decision to leave when Clint mistakes him for Kristoff and asks him to kiss "Anna" (Tony, who also leaves when Clint makes that request) and he spots the reindeer and robot Olaf.
- Shout-Out: Many drunken antics are inspired by films/shows watched under the influence:
- The boys build their own Wipeout course in chapter 6.
- In chapter 8, they build a fortunately fake Hunger Games arena, based on the one from Catching Fire.
- Chapter 11's antics were inspired by Freaky Friday (though it's not specified which version).
- Chapter 14 is titled "Not In Kansas Anymore".
- In chapter 16, the boys rig the Mark 7 Iron Man suit and War machine suit to act like the robots in Real Steel.
- In chapter 22, Tony and Clint bring toys to life à la Toy Story.
- Chapter 64 has the boys try and create their own version of Frozen.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Tony plus Independence Day fireworks plus alcohol equals this trope.
- Take That!: In chapter 55, Tony interferes with Miley Cyrus' New Years performance, leaving her "unable to twerk for quite some time". The audience cheered for this.
- Thanksgiving Episode: Chapter 11, which is when they get FBJ the turkey. And chapters 53 and 71.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Tony. Bruce. Cattle prod. That is all.
- Everyone who decided to pinch Bruce on St. Patrick’s Day.
- Wham Line: Chapter 67 has this line from Jarvis:"Sir? May I ask why you were faking being intoxicated?"
- What the Hell, Hero?: In chapter 43, Tony apparently gave the Winchesters one offscreen about leaving them to deal with an angry ghost.
- Your Costume Needs Work: A recurring character is a Know-Nothing Know-It-All fan who refuses to believe that our characters are the real deal. Crosses into Bullying a Dragon territory when the Avengers start getting ticked off at him. Cas eventually gets annoyed with him and sends him to Hell.
