"Lay by me, trapped in evergreen. Catching stars to keep. Feel my quiver cease. Since we found out that we're invincible, we've been living in a dream world. Since we decided to be infinite, there's no ending and there's no fear. We've been weak. We've been down. Kicked ourselves to the ground. Only lost to be found. You're my hero now."
Evergreen by Broods
Clint aimlessly walked around the house, wondering what on earth made him come here. The only good thing was the open bar. As long as the dad-to-be was using his money on all the beers Clint was downing to make it through the night, he wouldn't lose one ounce of sleep. He'd probably gain more.
As he rounded the corner, he caught sight of the reason why he was here. His gentle, blonde badass. He smiled to himself, hearing her laugh trickle through the air. It was that laugh she used when something was only slightly funny to her. They weren't even close to her gasping-for-air laugh which was a hard one to get to.
"This is so lame." He turned to where the sound of the voice had come from. It was a girl with dark hair and tanned skin. She wore a leather jacket with a plaid shirt coming out and dark jeans as her hair fell down in loose waves.
"Tell me about it." He spoke as he pulled his beer to his lips before taking a swig out of it.
"Baby showers have never been my thing." She spoke as she pulled her phone out to see a message from Simmons. She was hoping she could get some more time hiding. "They're for those preppy girls, and my best friend is one of them." She looked over to Clint, noticing his smile at her comment. He looked so familiar to her, she just couldn't place it.
"Yeah." He spoke as he looked back to Melody. "My girlfriend is one of those." His head turned at the sight of Natasha being roped into the baby shower excitement. "And apparently so is my best friend."
Skye looked to the girls who were excitedly playing games, realizing exactly who he was talking about. Melody Barnes and Natasha Romanoff. "Holy shit." She exclaimed, realization hitting her like a brick. Clint smiled as he turned to look at her. He got this a lot. "You're the archer. Hawkeye. You're Clint Barton."
"Agent Barton," They both turned, startled by Coulson standing behind them. "I see you've met Skye."
Clint looked over, smiling at her pleading face. "She's really nice."
"Hey, honey." Clint smiled at her hands on his shoulders and her mouth near his ear, immediately his evening had all been worth it. He put his arm around her waist, the two smiling at each other a loving smile, making Skye blush. She had only heard stories about the way those two looked at each other. It was different to see it. When Melody finally looked away, she met eye contact with Skye. "You must be Skye." She spoke as they shook hands. "Coulson has told me so much about you."
Skye continued to smile as she shook her hand. Melody was just so secure with herself in every form of the way. Was it too soon to say that she aspired to be just like her? "And he's told me so much about you." Skye had never been this star struck, but Melody was used to it by now. Besides Howard Stark, she was the only celebrity who was a SHIELD agent. "Hey," Skye spoke with wide eyes, a thought coming to her. "Is it true that you bashed an alien's skull in with Captain America's shield?"
Melody smiled at that frequently asked question since the videos from the attack in New York leaked. "If you thought that was cool, you should ask this guy what he can do with an arrow."
Clint smirked at her as Melody gave him a devious face by switching the conversation back to him. SHIELD had taught her too good. "She's pretty handy with a knife." Clint shrugged, ready to play her game.
Skye and Coulson looked to each other with a smile at the way the two could act like they were the only ones in the room. "Hey!" Natasha called, breaking them out of their spell. "Are you coming?"
Melody turned back to Clint, smiling happily while tugging on his arm. "I need my better half for this one."
Clint sighed as he looked over at Skye, remembering their conversation earlier. He looked back at Melody, putting on a smile just for her. "Anything for you, babe." Clint looked over at Skye again, giving her a small smile at the look she was giving him for having to partake in these baby shower games. "Skye, would you like to join us?"
Skye's face went blank as Melody's eyes lit up. "That's perfect!"
Skye gave Clint a dirty look as she was dragged to the group of girls surrounding the pregnant SHIELD accountant. As she looked around, she could hardly believe the SHIELD superstars gathered around her. Emily Carter, SHIELD supervisor, Natasha Romanoff, the notorious Black Widow, and even Captain America himself. She was keeping it cool, but on the inside, she was fangirling.
"All right," Melissa spoke with her hand resting on her pregnant belly. "This is a guessing game." She spoke as she passed around the small slips of paper. Clint sighed. He was getting drunk and he already wasn't good at guessing. "You're going to write down if you want kids or not and put it in this bucket anonymously. Then we read them out loud and decide who wrote what."
Cling finished his beer and quickly picked up another one before playing the game. Melody looked up at Clint, wondering how many beers he had tonight as she wrote down her answer and dropped it in the bucket.
After Melissa got the bucket back, she began to mix the slips of paper around and looked up to everyone in anticipation as she unfolded it. "'I already have one and she's twenty-three.'"
Everyone laughed as Melody looked over at her mom who gave her a warm smile. "Thanks, mom." She spoke with a smiling eye roll.
"Alright, next one," Melissa spoke as she reached into the bucket. "'Of course someday.'"
Everyone looked around the circle, wondering who wrote it when Clint decided to speak. "Well, it can't be Melody's because she doesn't want kids." Melody looked to Clint, her face immediately flushing with embarrassment, all eyes on her. "Hell," Clint chuckled out. "She doesn't even want to get married." Melody's mouth dropped, never having been this embarrassed by her boyfriend. "So," he glanced around the circle, stopping at Skye's face. "I'm gonna go with Skye."
Skye shook her head, only looking at Melody. Everyone was looking at Melody, causing her to look down, wanting to disappear into the furniture. "I don't want kids."
Melody got up, taking the piece of paper from Melissa and inspecting it. "It's my handwriting." She admitted as she sat down.
Clint looked to her, eyes slightly wide. Everyone looked back at Melissa, not being able to forget what they just witnessed as they turned back. "Alright," Melissa spoke cautiously, never expecting this much drama to come out of her baby shower. "Next one."
Melody stomped up the stairs to get to their apartment with Clint following behind her. She had been silent for the entire car ride and even now, she still hadn't said a word since that baby shower game. "Mel," Clint spoke. She still didn't turn around. "Are you mad at me?"
That made her stop walking. She turned around to look at him like he was an idiot. "Okay, that was a dumb question." She nodded at how obvious that was before turning around and continuing up the stairs. "Am I lucky enough to just get the silent treatment?"
She turned around, her glare even deeper than before. Man, Clint was happy they were just in public so she couldn't kill him right there. "I'll take that as a no."
She turned around again, her blonde hair slapping him in the face. Clint sighed as he followed after her heavy stomping feet. "Are you gonna yell at me once we get inside?"
He saw her head go up and down, Clint sighing from fear, knowing she possessed the skills and weaponry to kill him in the apartment while making it look like an accident. "Perfect."
When they got to the door, Melody unlocked it, Clint feeling his nervousness increasing. When they walked inside, Clint delayed closing it as long as possible, wishing he would be able to run away without her tracking him down and killing him. Clint finally closed the door, Melody turning around and throwing her purse down. "Have you completely lost your mind?!"
Clint threw his hands up, deciding the best thing to do was to beg for forgiveness right now. "Okay, I know I was an asshole."
"You know what," Melody practically screamed as Lucky ran up to the two. "I'm not even that mad about that part, I'm madder that you told my mother at a baby shower that I didn't want to get married or have kids."
Clint shrugged like it was kind of obvious before throwing his hands up. "You don't!"
"That's not something you tell my mother!"
She turned away from him and threw her coat to the ground while Clint stood there for a moment, blinking, letting the anger take over him. "Why am I getting in trouble for telling the truth?!" He followed her into their room as she began to take off her jewelry and put it up neatly, Lucky still trailing behind them. "Isn't that the exact same thing I got in trouble for when we first started dating?!"
Melody whipped around, the rage taking over her eyes. "That was different!" Her voice had gotten high pitched and if he continued to make her angry, it was going to go into super sonic.
"How?" Clint almost laughed out before hitting their bed. "Please explain to me how!"
She could feel her face turning bright red the madder she got. "You were lying about who you were, but the truth kind of needs to be kept from my mother."
She pushed past him and moved into the kitchen, Lucky deciding to follow her out. "Why can't I tell your mother that you don't want to get married or have kids?! You're the one who refused my proposal." Clint asked, following her out and leaning against their bar as she moved to the fridge.
"Oh, you're going to throw that in my face again?" She opened up their fridge, taking in a quick survey of all the snacks they had.
"I think I have a right to." Clint spoke while throwing his hands in the air.
Melody pulled out string cheese, making sure to take a big chunk out of it before screaming her response. "You said that I didn't want marriage and children at all, and my mother going to think I'm a lesbian!"
Clint stifled a laugh but Melody just glared at him before taking another chunk out of the cheese. She pushed past him again and moved to Lucky who had finally taken comfort on his bed, finding it exhausting moving from one end of the apartment to the other like them. "Melody," Clint sighed as she began to scratch his ear, acting like she wasn't hearing what he was saying. "You need to start telling me what's public and what's private knowledge."
She turned to him as he sat down next to her, giving her a sympathetic stare. "But you know I want babies." She spoke sadly, her eyes trained on Lucky, not wanting to look at Clint's face for this part. "You know I want to get married and start a family, and you make it seem like I don't want any of that."
Clint just looked at her for a moment, not really thinking about her in his drunken moment. "Hey," Clint spoke as he grabbed her face. "I am sorry for not thinking about that." She nodded and gave him a small smile. He then leaned forward to kiss her forehead lightly while stroking her hair, Melody still scratching Lucky's ear. Clint began to get an idea as Lucky began kicking once Melody got to his spot. Clint slowly stopped stroking her hair and stared at her. "Melody," She turned to look at him, having to do a double take at how serious he looked. "Why don't we get married and have kids?"
She scoffed at him and looked back to Lucky. "Are you kidding?"
"No." She looked back to him, realizing he was serious, her eyes taking up about half of her face in that moment. "Let's get married and have kids right now."
"Clint," She laughed out while looking around. "We're both in STRIKE Team, I can't do that job pregnant and even after I have the baby and get back on the team, we're going to have to go away for weeks at a time. We're going to have to end up getting a nanny."
"Then we'll get a nanny." Clint spoke with a shrug.
Melody began to shake her head with a small smile growing. He just wasn't going to let it go. "Okay, what about the wedding? Because if we have a wedding, it's going to be huge and extravagant because you know Tony's going to pay for it. He's not going to take no for an answer."
"Then we let him pay for the wedding."
Melody threw her hands in the air, finding herself smiling at how easy Clint was making it sound. "When will we even have it?" Clint pushed his forehead to hers, Melody getting a wide smile on her face. "I'm a very busy woman."
"On a day all of SHIELD can stop operating for one damn second and let us get married."
Melody pulled away from him, shaking her head. "It's not going to be that easy." She laughed out. "There's a lot of things that go behind both a wedding and babies and right now we just don't have the time for it."
"I think you're just making excuses." Clint whispered into her ear while moving to kiss her neck.
"You think you're so slick." Melody laughed out as he continued to kiss her neck. "You think you're going to get me pregnant, but you forget I'm on birth control."
"Yeah," Clint whispered, pushing his hand in-between her thighs, stroking the panties she wore under her dress. "Don't take your pill tomorrow morning."
Melody rolled her eyes, turning to look at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, looking him right in the eyes. "Just promise me you're not going to rush me into any decisions. I'm on board for Team Marriage and Babies, but only at my pace."
Clint gave her a soft smile, pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear before kissing her cheek. "Yes, ma'am."
Melody let out soft little groans as the alarm next to her screeched. Clint rolled – almost on top of her – shutting off the alarm with his hand, already wide awake. Melody groaned as she rolled on her back with Clint now holding himself up above her. "Mel," he whispered out as she tried to pull the blanket on top of her. "You've got to wake up."
"I don't feel like it." She was still on a high from their fight, agreement to get married and their insanely hot sex afterwards.
"You're the one who said you wanted to learn how to shoot a bow. It takes discipline."
Melody peeked out from the covers, a sly smile on her face. "I thought I was disciplined last night."
Clint let out a husky laugh that was making her heart melt like hot butter. "You could use some more."
Melody let out a bubbly laugh as Clint moved to tickle her. Her laughter began to fill the room, but it was quickly filled with coughs. Clint began to stop once he heard her coughs being to grow vigorous. "Melody," Clint began while putting his hand on her back. "Breathe."
Melody let out ragged breaths as she coughed into her hand. That's when the coughs stopped. She was turned away so Clint wasn't able to see the slimy, bright red liquid she had been coughing up for the past few weeks.
She turned to look at Clint, her hand closed completely so he wouldn't be able to see her blood. "Are you okay?" He asked intensely, not ever seeing her cough like that.
She nodded like nothing happened, very proud of her acting skills at the moment. "Those cigarettes I used to smoke caught up to me." She spoke with a slight shrug and smile. Clint smiled back as he pet her head, but he wasn't totally convinced that's what happened. She leaned forward, giving him a light kiss on the cheek, causing him to just lean into it, his smile only getting wider. "I'm gonna brush my teeth."
He nodded, holding onto her hand as she walked off, not letting go until it was necessary. When the bathroom door closed, he kept his eyes on the door, his eyebrows only stitching together in confusion.
Melody threw her elbows down on the skin from the fear she was able to keep hidden. She threw the knobs to the sink on, taking deep breaths as she tried to wash the blood off her hands. The blood wasn't even the worst part about all of this. No, the worst part was that she could remember her father doing the same thing when he was sick. When he was dying. They had the exact same symptoms. That was the one thing that was scaring her to death.
When Melody was done, she wiped off any fear from her face and smiled, knowing that the love of her life was just out that door. As the door opened, she moved to him, a smile spreading across his face. "I love that shirt." He whispered as she sat on his lap while he pushed his head to hers.
After their battle in New York, all the Avengers became instantly famous. More so than before. There was actual merchandise that people could buy. This was particularly Melody's favorite one. It read, "Hawkeye's Girl" across the chest with an arrow running across the wording.
"I bet I love it more." She challenged.
"Bet I could shoot it off you." Clint spoke as he pulled her closer.
Melody wrapped her arms around her neck, giving him a devious smile. "Get your arrows and we'll see about that." That smile made Clint want to rip that shirt off of her right now.
He pushed Melody to the side before darting out of the room. Melody laughed before pushing herself off of the bed and following Clint to their armory. They knew that what they found their sexual pleasure in was dangerous. They even refused to try it for a couple of months, but now, they knew it would lead to the best sex they ever had. Their arrows and knives were their weapons and their best tools when it came to their extreme pleasure.
Right when they got to the living room, they both jumped, seeing Fury sitting on their couch with Lucky at his feet with a happy smile at the scratching he was receiving. Clint threw his hands in the air, most upset about Lucky. "Worst dog ever."
"Would it kill you to call?" Melody yelled, trying to position herself so Fury wouldn't be able to see her bare legs or the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. "Or knock?"
"I've got a mission for the STRIKE Team." He spoke as he stood up from his spot as Lucky ran to go join Melody and Clint.
"And it couldn't wait…" Clint shrugged while looking at the clock behind Fury. "Two hours?"
"This is a last minute mission." He handed them both separate files, but what they didn't know was that they had to separate missions. Those two separate missions, they would begin to tear their relationship apart. "It's simple. Get hostages and get the hell out."
Melody nodded, feeling a headache beginning to spread across her brain. This was another symptom of her illness. She had gotten used to the pain, but some had gotten to her. Some were worse than the others.
"Seems easy enough." Clint spoke while closing his file and looking up at his boss, knowing he and Melody had completely different missions.
"Good." Fury spoke as he turned around. "Clint, you'll get Natasha. Melody, you'll get Steve and meet with the rest of STRIKE on the aircraft in two hours."
He walked out of the door without another word, causing Melody to roll her eyes at him. "He can be so annoying." Clint continued to stand there, wondering if Melody was ever going to realize their difference in their missions as she got on her knees right in front of Lucky, petting him while pulling his face to hers. "You are so useless."
Melody took a deep breath while looking at the target on the wall. She pulled the string back on the bow, taking her aim, then letting go, hitting the ring right next to the bullseye. She smiled at herself and turned to Clint who was behind her. He didn't look too impressed though. "I could do better."
She rolled her eyes with a sigh while turning to look at where her arrow landed. "That was a great shot!"
Clint looked at where the arrow landed, and she was right, it was a great shot. "But it wasn't an excellent shot."
She grunted as Clint moved next to her while she played with her wrist brace. "I hate training with you."
Clint then got directly behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I'm just trying to keep you alive." He put a kiss on her temple as she began to mock him, but in all honesty, the kiss made her smile. Just a little bit.
"I wanted to teach you a new draw." Clint spoke as he brought up his own bow. "The Mongolian Draw." He grabbed an arrow, pulling it back with the string while holding the bow sideways. Before shooting it off quickly and making a perfect shot.
Melody rolled her eyes as he turned to her with a smirk. "You're such a show off." She commented as she took the bow from him before leaning down to get a new arrow.
She pulled the string back the way she was used to, confusing Clint. "What are you doing?" He was talking like an annoyed parent, making Melody just want to continue with what she was doing.
"Shooting."
"Do it the way I just showed you."
"I don't know how to do it that way." She complained to him.
Clint moved forward, trying to grab the bow from her. "Just…" He tried to turn it over, but Melody was fighting him with it. "Melody!" He complained just as the arrow shot off.
They both looked panicked at where it was going, but when it went toward Brock, he simply ducked before it landed in his head. Clint turned to Melody with an irritated stare as she gave him an innocent smile. "Careful with that thing." Brock commented. "Don't take my eye out."
Melody rolled her eyes before putting the bow down and placing her hands on her hips. "What's up, Rumlow?"
"I was thinking we could move up the schedule." He spoke with a shrug, only looking at Melody for that part.
Melody turned to Clint next, breathing heavily from their struggling to give him a shrug, not having any problem with that, Clint nodding in agreement. "I'll get the Captain then." Melody spoke, picking up her duffle bag and hurrying out of the training room.
"You got a completely different mission than her, don't you?" Brock asked. Clint couldn't stop looking at the direction she had walked off in as he nodded to Brock's question. Brock simply patted him on the back, looking off in the same direction Clint was. "Don't let her find that out."
I'm back! Okay, I know Clint kind of came off as an asshole in this chapter, but I wanted to keep him true to comic book Clint who is low key an asshole, but because he's hurt. That's one of the main reasons I love Clint. And I know the Avengers technically don't know that Coulson is alive, but this is my story and I do as I please. Let me know what you guys think and if you're excited for The Winter Soldier story to play out as much as I am! Thanks for sticking with me so long, you guys!
