"Double espresso with a double shot of caramel for me," Ben said with a grin. "What about you, Steve?"

"Would it be too much trouble for just plain coffee?" Steve ventured. All of this talk of espresso and double shots and mochas made his head hurt. "Just cream and sugar?"

The barista giggled a bit and nodded.

"Coming right up," she said as she set the espresso machine and let it press the liquid caffeine while she poured the plain coffee. "Anything else?"

"Plain black tea."

"Sugar?"

"Not in that one."

"No problem." The barista worked quickly, juggling the orders well and presenting three more cups almost simultaneously. The plain coffee was black. "Cream and sugar are on the counter next to you."

"Thank you," Steve replied, going to pull out his wallet. He wasn't going to expect Ben, and by extension, Elaine, to pay for his drink and Clint's.

Ben beat Steve to it, handing over two cards, his and Elaine's.

"Elaine's and his plain coffee go on that one," he said, pointing to the first card. "And I'll take mine and the tea." He grinned briefly at Steve. "Our treat this time. Next time you can pay." He figured that was a fair trade off. He did, after all, get paid for all his time at the library.

"You don't have to do that," Steve replied, wallet still in his hand even as the barista took the cards. "Really, I have no trouble paying for my own."

Ben waved his concerns off. "Like I said, you can pay next time." He waited for the cards back before he picked up his drink and Clint's, glancing at Steve. "Can you grab Elaine's drink? We should get back before she thinks we got recruited here." He grinned at the barista.

Steve picked up his coffee and held out a hand for Clint's tea.

"Best if I take that one," he said. "Trust me on this one." He knew how Clint was by now.

Ben blinked before he shrugged and handed over the tea, taking Elaine's coffee instead.

"Alright, I think we're ready to go. Unless there was anything else you wanted?"

"I'm all set," Steve replied. "I should be getting back. I should make sure that Tony hasn't somehow made a mess of things." He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and went for the door.

Ben just snickered and followed Steve out the door, letting him lead the way back to the library. He headed back to the desk to hand over Elaine's coffee.

"We're back. No incidents. Here's your coffee, and you paid for Steve's." He grinned.

"It was probably cheaper than yours," Elaine retorted good-naturedly as she accepted the coffee and took a sip. She sighed happily. "Perfect." She was surprised that Ben had taken that kind of initiative, and also in a way she was pleased. It felt good to do something nice for one of the Avengers, even unwittingly.

Steve, on the other hand, had just gone straight back to give Clint his tea.

"I don't understand why they make it so hard to get plain coffee nowadays," he commented as he sat down.

"Hey, we're regulars now. They know your order well enough that they can get it perfect every time." Ben grinned.

Clint shrugged. "People are stranger now?" he said. "And obsessed with weird things." Since he wasn't a coffee person, he figured it wasn't his problem. Tea you couldn't mess up too badly.

Generally anyway.

Steve just gave Clint something of a sideways glance. The man could be infuriatingly unsympathetic sometimes.

"You mean I'm a regular," Elaine teased as she sipped the mocha. She felt around on the desk for a moment until she found an open spot far enough away from the edge to set the cup down. "You're my minion."

"Luckily for you." Ben grinned. "Oh, and I told Steve he could pay next time, so you get to turn him into a minion too."

"Ben!" Elaine faced him, sounding scandalized. "When he comes through those doors, he's nothing more than a patron. No special treatment, remember?"

"What? You bought him coffee, it's only fair that he buys you coffee." Ben shrugged. It made sense to him. "Besides, they come often enough that they're not exactly normal patrons, Lainey."

Elaine gave him a flat look, made all the more intense by her sightless eyes. After a moment she turned back to what she was doing.

"Kae has some books that need restickering, go ask her about it."

Ben frowned, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. Really, Elaine treated Steve differently anyway, so he couldn't see what the big problem was.

With a shrug, he sighed. "Alright. Yell if you need me. Otherwise Kae might work me to death." Which was a normal complaint from him.

Elaine waved a hand and put her half-headset back on. It would alert her if she got any emails coming in, and she would still be able to pay attention to her surroundings.

Tony waited until Ben was half-way across the room again to comment. "You know, minion, if you want to set those two up there are better ways to do it. Your subtlety and tact need work. Or you could just lock them in a closet together. Works for teenagers, right?"

Ben looked at Tony for a second, realized that was why Elaine was acting pissed off, and promptly scrambled back to the desk. "Elaine, I didn't-- I wasn't-- He just--I mean, it's not--"

"Mr Stark, I asked you not to screw with my minion," Elaine admonished as she heard Ben scramble back. Now that she realized Ben hadn't meant it, her annoyance evaporated. "No harm done, Ben. Just make sure to think next time, that's all."

Ben let out a breath and nodded. "Alright." He glanced over to see Tony looking amused before he huffed and went to go help Kae.

"He just makes it so easy." Tony grinned, clearly still amused.

"You shouldn't tease him like that, Mr. Stark," Elaine replied. "He already gets flustered enough when the group arrives." Because, as much as she would joke around with her minion, he was HER minion and she would defend him.

Tony shrugged. "He's a nice enough kid," he said. "But he gets flustered too easily. Won't get him anywhere in life. Look at me, you can't fluster me with anything."

"You are a very unique person, Mr. Stark," Elaine replied. "Not everyone is like that. Ben is a little starstruck, that's all. It will pass." After all, it did for her and Kae. Ben hadn't spent as much time around the group as the girls had.

Tony shrugged. "We'll see. It never passes for some people." Which he knew all too well.

Although, oddly enough, the people who spent the most time with him treated him the most like a normal person. Huh. Maybe there was some logic to him picking his personal staff and choosing to spend time with the rest of the Avengers.

Because yes, it was totally his choice and not because Fury told him to.