He watches...

High above the heads of the others, always searching always waiting...wondering...slightly, hoping.

Some wonder if he could wait forever

Some know, for the right reasons, he surely would.

There are others he cares for. He loves his wife, his children. Loves his friends and colleagues, the time they spend together at Stark Tower, the time they fight on the battle field. He finds the time acting with the woman he is supposed to love enjoyable, and her children are definitely his favorite parts of the day. But...they aren't his children, and this he knows.

But he wouldn't really wait forever for them.

Captain America has always looked out for him, probably because in him, Steve sees the kid from Brooklyn, the smallest of the team, the biggest heart. Rodgers includes him in everything, making sure he isn't left out because he's...normal.

But he wouldn't wait for Steve...not forever.

Banner and Stark never really got to know him, sticking to science, each other, and JARVIS. It was a duo click that wouldn't be broken, one hot headed and attention loving, the other quiet, and ready to play background at any moment, but both loving the same things. They really could understand each other.

But he wouldn't wait for them either.

Then there was SHEILD, and Nick Fury. The badass father of the group, who would come to their aid at a moment's notice, and the people that watch over the Avengers every single day, always watching them, some wishing to be them.

But honestly, he wouldn't wait for them.

Then there was Thor, who never could seem to get his name right. The childish adult, always full of wonder, rage or fear at the slightest things. You should have seen his reaction to his first horror movie, JARVIS was fixing the damage from that for weeks. But Thor was tied to other things, other worries...other people.

And so, who would he wait for?

Not his family, not his friends, not mortal or un-mortal men, not even the world...

So why does he sit for hours on end high above the sky, looking for something.

There was only one person he waited for. With her piercing eyes and blood red hair, her firm grasp and her slight smile that only he got to see. The fighting suit that she secretly complained about...apparently it rode up her crotch too much and squeezed her chest too tight...her fighting skills that he could never match. He loved the quiet times he taught her to shoot a bow, and she taught him how to take down an enemy three times his size. The moments she opened up and told him about her childhood...and the horrors that surrounded it.

She was the only reason he would sit there, watching the world die around him, because she asked him too.

The only person he loved

The only person he called his friend

The only person he would wait forever for.

And so, Hawkeye waited.