As usual Clint was the last person to come down for breakfast. Not so usual was the way the rest of the team was gathered around the morning newspaper and simultaneously looked up when he came in, vaguely reminding him of vultures.

"Morning", Clint said, purposefully ignoring their strange behaviour while calculating how long it would take him to get to the door and alarm Coulson in case his teammates had all been replaced by pod people.

Longer than usually in any case since he forgot his phone at Justin's place last night.

"Clint, I think we should talk", Steve said seriously. Tony's face on the other hand was a bizarre mix of glee and disbelief while Natasha and Bruce were unsuccessfully trying to hide their grins and Thor looked simply confused.

Good to know they weren't pod people after all.

"Sure, about what?" He sat down, stealing a pancake from Natasha's plate before she could hit him.

"I mean I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but really, all you had to do was asked. I mean he's as dumb as a post, not to mention evil", Tony said dramatically exaggerating.

"I'm sure he has other qualities than intellect", Natasha threw in.

"You make it sound as if I don't have these qualities", Tony gave back.

"How would I know?" She replied smugly.

"Clint if you have told him anything about the Initiative-"Steve began before Natasha and Tony could continue their bickering.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Clint demanded to know.

"-then now is the best time to come clean about it since we all know now. You cannot hide it anymore." Steve went on ignoring Clint's question.

"Although he is not in the same league as my brother he has made some very questionable choices and I honestly thought that you would choose your companions better than that." Thor said gravely.

"See that's what I mean. We fight supervillains, we don't just go and date them!" Tony threw in.

Clint sent Bruce a helpless look. Bruce rolled his eyes, grabbed the newspaper and held it out for Clint to read the front page.

The main photo was him and Justin, wrapped around each other and kissing under a lantern in Central Park.

Oh.

His teammates were looking at him expectantly.

Clint looked back. "He's nice?" He offered.

Tony snorted.

"He is", Clint repeated crossing his arms over his chest.

"He tried to kill me", Tony said.

"That was Vanko", Clint replied.

"Hammer got him out of prison and employed him", Tony retorted.

"To help him gain an advantage over you and stay competitive until Vanko betrayed him", Clint pointed out. "You're not the one with a white vest either, right?" He added sharply.

"He's a pathetic loser with an inferiority and a superiority complex at the same time", Tony said exasperatedly.

"So what?" Clint asked coolly.

"Clint", Steve started, "we're just concerned for you. That's all."

"No you're trying to make me feel bad about him. You didn't even ask how long we've been together or how we met. You just assumed it was some scheme and that Justin is the bad guy because he made a few mistakes. Well, fuck you!" Clint yelled and stormed out, leaving five bewildered teammates behind.