A Pairing of Two Archers
AN: This story has the same beginning as Realizations About a Blonde Former-Playboy, and they are two different versions of the same thing. This is just to let you guys know that they are connected, but they don't need to be read as sequels or anything. Enjoy!
Clark froze as an arrow lodged itself into the throat of an enemy he didn't see coming. "Thanks, Oliver." he breathed, not turning around. After he spoke he took a better look at the arrow. It wasn't green like the Green Arrow's were.
"Wrong archer." a stranger replied as the Kryptonian whiped around.
The stranger was wearing all black-heavy combat boots, tight pants, and a vest with a strange bird-like symbol on his chest. He was relatively short with short, light brown hair that was spiked in the front, and he was wearing dark black sunglasses. A black bow was in his hand, the matching quiver on his back.
"Who are you?" Clark demanded.
"That's for you to figure out." The stranger smirked before juming straight up into an air vent that Clark was too big to enter.
"What the hell?" Clark breathed.
"Oliver?" Clark called as he opened the elevator. "You here?"
"Yes, Clark. I am, but, if you would call before just showing up, you'd know that I have company." the blonde replied, obviously a bit annoyed.
"Sorry, Oliver." the farm boy apologized, looking at the "company."
He had stormy blue eyes, light brown hair that was spiked in the front, and strong facial features. He was a few inches shorter than the blonde billionare but was fairly muscular-not overbearingly so.
"Have we met before?" Clark asked.
"Not likely. This is my first time in town; I came to visit Oliver while I'm on vacation. And, no, the last time I visited him was when he was in Star City." the stranger replied.
"Oh, well, I'm Clark Kent." he introduced himself, holding out his hand.
"Clint Barton." The handshake was surprisingly firm for a human, Clark noted. He also noted the platinum wedding ring on his left hand. He resolved to ask Oliver about it later.
"Whad do you do for a living?"
"Clint works for the government." Oliver replied for him. "He's an old friend of mine."
"What do you do for the government?"
"That's classified." Clint replied. Interesting, Clark thought.
"And we have reservations." Oliver added. "We have to get going."
"Well, it's been nice meeting you." Clark clapped a hand on the man's shoulder. As a result, Clint's breathing hitched, face screwed up in pain, and his knees buckled, causing him to fall to the ground to his knees.
"Clint!" Oliver gasped. "Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling beside him.
"I'm so sorry!" Clark said a bit frantically. "I didn't mean to-"
"It's not your fault, Clark." Clint's voice was hoarse with pain as he interrupted the apology. "You didn't know." He offered a smirk to the blonde billionaire. "I'll be okay, Ollie. I took a bad spill on my back during my last mission. Haven't quite healed yet."
"Are you going to be okay for dinner?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah, just got to be careful about my back."
Oliver nodded and helped him stand. "Then let's get going."
"Bye, guys." Clark bode him farewell at the parking garage.
"So, what happened?" Oliver asked once the pair had ordered their meal.
"You know how I was telling you about that alien invasion on New York?" The blonde nodded. "Well, I was playing sniper on a roof and ran out of arrows. I had to pull and reuse one of the ones that I had killed when it landed on the roof that I was on. My quiver switched it to a grappling arrowhead, but it wasn't long enough to get me to the ground. I jumped quickly-and hard-and smashed through a window several floors down in another building. I landed pretty badly on my back."
"Are you going to be okay staying here away from your doctors?"
"You know how much I hate going to medical. You had to all-but knock me out to go when I had the flu. Anyway, they assigned me to vacation time until I'm completely healed, so you're stuck with me."
"That's the greatest news I've gotten all week." Oliver grinned before kissing Clint briefly. "I love you."
"Love you, too." the darker archer replied with a smile.
"So, tomorrow you get to meet the rest of the gang." Oliver announced. "I'm going to call Clark and have him call Chloe and Lana; that way we can get it out of the way."
"How much are we going to tell them?"
"Well, I plan on being as close with you as I can while I have you. They will probably want an explination about that."
"So, everything." Clint nodded. "We're going to have to tell them not to tell anyone else about our relationship. I don't want my enemies attacking you because someone blabbed that 'Hawkeye is married'."
"They know how to keep secrets; you'll likely learn their secrets, too."
"Well okay, then." Clint grinned.
"Clark, why are we here?" Chloe sighed as she plopped down the Kent's couch.
"Oliver has something to tell us, and I wanted to ask you about something."
"What is it?" Lana inquired curiously.
"Have you heard about another archer around? I ran into one while I was trying to stop Lex the other day?"
"What did he look like?" Chloe asked.
"He was wearing all black, sunglasses, and there was a bird emblem on his chest."
"I've been hearing rumors about a guy like that since I worked on the Torch." Chloe said after a moment's thought. "People have been saying an archer called Hawkeye has been around doing missions longer that the Green Arrow. The prevailing theory is that he's an assassin for some government agency."
"You'd be correct on that." Clint stated. The group turned to see him leaning aginst the door frame with Oliver behind him.
"How do you know?" Chloe added.
"Agent Clint Barton of S.H.I.E.L.D. Also known as Hawkeye." he replied with a smirk. "Yes, I was the one that saved your ass, Clark."
"Do you have any abilities?" Lana asked.
"Nope, just a lot of training."
"He trained me after we met." Oliver stated. "He is respected worldwide as the 'World's Greatest Marksman'."
"Impressive, but why are you telling us this? Isn't your identity supposed to be kept secret?" Chloe pointed out.
"It is, but in order to understand what we're about to tell you, you have to know that what we say here has to be kept confidential." Clint grimaced towards the end of this sentence, breathing getting a bit harsher and moving his shoulders uncomfortably.
"Clint, come sit down before you fall down." Clark ordered. "Your back is obviously worse than you said."
Having to use Oliver as a crutch to come and sit on the couch, Clint sat down heavily with a sigh. "I'm fine, you guys."
"Don't lie to me, Clint." Oliver growled. "Natasha will kill me if you mess up the healing process."
"What happened?" Chloe inquired.
"Back injury from the Battle of New York." Hawkeye shrugged.
"What else were you going to tell us?" Clark asked.
That was when Lana caught sight of the matching platinum rings on their wedding rings. "You guys are-" trailed off.
The pair nodded.
Chloe caught on and grinned inhumanly broadly. "Congratulations, Ollie! How long?"
"Four years." the billionaire smiled, gazing at Cling.
"What are you guys talking about?" Clark obviously hadn't caught on yet.
"Clark, my full name is Oliver Queen-Barton. We've been married for four years."
"But what about all those one-night stands?"
"Paid actresses. Had to keep the cover of being single." Clint answered for his husband. "It is of the uttmost importance that no one else-except maybe Lois-finds out about us. Ollie's wanted to tell you guys about us for a while now, but I have a lot of enemies that would do anything to get me. I don't want Oliver, or you guys to get hurt because of me."
"Thank you for telling us; we won't tell a soul." Chloe promised.
"And Tony Stark wanted me to invite you all to stay at Stark Tower for the last half of my vacation." Clint informed them. "Ollie told them about you guys last time he was up there-when I was in the hospital right after the Loki thing."
"So that's where you disappeared to . . ." Lana breathed. Oliver nodded.
"That'd be awesome!" Chloe grinned again.
"Then we leave in two weeks." Clint smiled.
~End~