Five times the team notice Hawkeye is younger, and once he notices it too.
1. Tony.
It has been a few months since the whole 'Loki-take-Manhattan' thing, and Tony hasn't seen the archer that helped them since Thor took Loki back too Asgard. Now Thor was back, and still Tony hasn't seen Hawkeye.
Natasha was still playing as Pepper's CEO, even though they all know she isn't really an assistant, but the public doesn't know. Steve lives at Stark Towers too, he though he works for SHIELD too. Bruce has been working and staying at Stark Towers since the battle, because he doesn't have that many places to go. So all Tony is waiting for is the archer and the set will be complete.
To say Tony wasn't really paying attention to the man when all hell broke loose was an understatement. Even during Shwarma, and Loki's departure, Tony didn't get a good look at Legolas. So when a kid, no older than 22 is passed out on the couch, cuddling a bow and lightly snoring, a cast rapped around his left foot, and a rag on his forehead, Tony thinks he is hallucinating.
"Wake him up Stark, and you will loose a finger." Natasha snapped, she was sitting on the floor by the kid's feet, an arm slung across his thigh as if keeping his feet from curling in.
"Who is 'he'?" Tony asked.
"Who do you think? It's Hawkeye. I thought you were smarter than that?" She huffed.
"Aren't you going to wake him up?" Tony snapped back. She wasn't being so quiet, and it looked like he was dead asleep anyways.
"No, but you can't touch him." She glared at Tony's looming fingers. He couldn't believe this...KID was the bad-ass bow wielding man at the battle.
"Loki's staff didn't like his age either, so Loki through some extra magic, it wore off after a couple of weeks." Natasha explained which made Tony feel a little better. At least he didn't get the age that messed up.
"So how old is he?" Tony asked.
"23, he's short for his age." Natasha nodded.
"What happened? Did a mission go wrong, or did Legolas fall off a roof?" Tony joked.
"He finally found out what happened to Coulson and trashed the place. He's going to hide out here for a few days." Natasha nodded. This made Tony's stomach clench. Hawkeye knew Coulson too.
"How did he know Coulson?" Tony asked.
"Tony, Coulson was like family to Cl- Hawkeye. I'm not telling you, because you can't feel bad, but don't think you had the best relationship to Phil, you didn't even know his name until Loki." Natasha said. "Hawkeye knew him since he was 17."
"That explains the broken leg. I thought SHIELD had an age limit?" Tony commented, he had read up on the covert government agency. And they only took those who had experience of about 21 years old. All this gave him was a smile, maybe one day he would figure out Hawkeye; maybe even get a real name.
2. Steve.
After Loki went with Thor back to Asgard, Steve went back to work as a SHIELD agent. He wasn't going to be that big on killing people, but in a good reason (and they seemed to have a lot of those) he would do what has to be done. So when Steve was being called Captain Rogers, and not Captain America, it kind of made him feel more grounded.
He saw Natasha a lot, but she was busy running around with a blonde, who looked suspiciously like a younger version of Hawkeye. Steve finally caught up with them after the kid, who barely 20, had through a fit for some unknown reason.
"Hey Nat." Steve said, hopping he wasn't crossing on of many boundaries the spy had up.
"Rogers." She nodded, looking down the medic hall to surgery.
"Who are you waiting for?" Steve asked, knowing full well it was the young blonde.
"Clint." She huffed. "He finally found out what happened to Coulson."
"He didn't know? I thought all the low level agents were told at the same time?" Steve said that was a mistake. Natasha turned to him and rose a perfectly sculpted red eye-brow at him.
"You know he is a level higher than me, and could kick your ass for being stereotypical." She said in a dry even tone. "He didn't find out until now, because he was brainwashed by Loki and then fought the Chatari, was dragged to Shwarma and say Loki sent off. Also because even though no one says anything, he was unstable before Loki. But he doesn't have anywhere else." She said, making no room to miss guidance. She also said it so that Steve knew not to pity the kid.
"Wait that is ... Hawkeye?" Steve finally got all the pieces to click. "Bu-"
"Magic is a bad this, didn't like that he was so young, so Loki changed a 23 year old into a 33 year old, and it wore off after a while." Natasha said grumpily, not happy that her partner is so... used.
"Well tell me if he's all right." Steve said and walked out.
3. Bruce.
Bruce was grateful that Tony let him have a home at Stark Towers; he was running out of crowded countries that he could hide from the government with. And to also be working for the government made him more untouchable. Commander Ross couldn't touch him without going through SHIELD, and if that didn't make him even a little safer, he didn't know what could.
Though today wasn't a particularly bad on. He woke up to find a blonde kid lying miserably on the couch, a broken face and scarred up torso and face. Not only that, but the kid was stubborn. He looked like a teen, and had a rebellious streak as one. Bruce tried to get his attention, but the kid wouldn't do anything, just glare at a wall and look absolutely pissed.
"He's deaf." Bruce jumped at the smooth voice of Agent Romanoff came through the kitchen bar. She was sipping a cup of coffee, turning to get something for breakfast, but Bruce knew better than to think she had taken her eyes off of the kid.
"Who is he?" Bruce asked.
"Loki's spear of destiny made him older, but that's Hawkeye." She nodded to the kid, who had slumped back to sleep, curled around a pillow, as if it was a child's stuffed animal, drool rolling down the corners of his mouth.
"That makes since, because at that age his mind is still maturing, so it needed to make it more set an stone before taking it over." Bruce nodded, getting the scientifically reasons, but didn't want to bore the spy this early in the morning. "What happened to his leg?"
"He found out Coulson had died, yesterday, it didn't end so well. You should see the other guys." Natasha said, chuckling slightly. Bruce felt a little threatened having a kid who did that when he was sad, what happens when he got mad?
"Why hasn't he come to the Tower sooner? Where has he been?" Bruce asked, maybe it was too soon to be asking of the other's information, maybe the kid had his own house? Though, Bruce doubted it. To think of it, Bruce didn't even know his name.
"He crashed at Phil's." Natasha said, but left no room for more questions as she walked silently to the sleeping archer, who started to toss and turn in his sleep.
4. Thor.
Thor had finally made it back to Midgard, and was visiting his fellow heroes and heroine. He had heard what Loki's scepter had down to the 'Hawkeye', but was sure it had worn off, so he was not too shocked at how young the archer looked.
Though, he was shocked when he had crutches and a cast on his leg. Thor was sure he had not had it before the god had left with Loki.
"Thor, I didn't know you were coming back." The Hawk-man smiled, holding out his hand, which Thor took gingerly, not wanting to hurt the young warrior more.
"I wanted to rejoyous in our battle, and see lady Jane." Thor said the last part a little quieter, his cheeks growing the lightest shade of pink.
"Oh, that's nice." Hawkeye shrugged. "Nat banished me to the Tower, she's out on some mission, and I have to be stuck and watched over by Captain 'buzz-kill'."
"That is most unfortunate." Thor nodded, but he didn't really know what a 'Captain-buzz-kill' was.
"You're telling me." After that the two lapsed into a comfortable silence, Thor glancing over at the boy once in a while, not exactly liking how old he is either, but at least he didn't change it.
5. NATASHA.
4 years ago.
Natasha had finally run away from the Red-Room, but she had no place to go. So she went to some local millionaire's house and seduced him, it was one of her main gifts, and took his money, as much as he had in cash, which was actually a lot.
Now she was in a shitty hotel near Budapest, hoping the Red-Room hadn't found out where she was, but of course she knew they would find her. She fell asleep, trying not to be too tired when they finally caught up with her.
She made it to Budapest and was half way through the city, when she was cornered by the assassins she was trained with, but never got their name, because it wasn't apart of a mission. Natasha knew that she was good, better than most here, but there were too many. She fought, trying to get away from them and run, she was small, even for her age. The instructors tried to make her taller, but instead just made her wear heals everywhere she went, even during combat training. Slipping away into a small crack would be easy, and she could hid, but the Red-Room would find her again, so right now she was fighting.
She was almost over run, when the person she was fighting sprouted an arrow from her eye socket. More assassins went down and more arrows appeared into their eyes, like some kind of sadistic bastard playing a game of darts, always getting the bulls-eye.
Natasha waited for an arrow to kill her, but none came, instead a kid, with sandy-blonde hair and a grubby white shirt came to her, he had an arrow knocked pointed between her eyes, making her go cross eyed.
"Natasha Romanoff?" He asked, not loosening his grip on his weapon of choice. Natasha wanted to say no, but if he wanted her alive, then he didn't want some one who wasn't her alive.
"Yes." She nodded, but his arrow staid.
"There are more of these robot-freaks coming, either help me fight them off, or they come after you and tear you apart." He said. "I was told to kill you, but I'm making a different call, but I can change my mind." He reassured her-ish. She didn't know what to say, but sure enough the arrow came out of her face and he held out his hand. "Come with me and become an agent of SHIELD. Don't, and then tell the devil I said hi." Natasha nodded and took his hand.
The fight was long and dubious, as if the whole Red-Room had come for her. And there were even things she didn't know, but had come after her. They fought side-by-side; he never took his eyes off of her, either for his protection, or her protection, either way they were together, fighting. At some point she realized she didn't even know the kid's name, but it was too late to ask, because they were fighting for their lives and that is no time to get familiar with some one.
One it was over however they talked.
"So you're Black-Widow?" He asked, a little breathless after the battle.
"And you are?" Natasha asked, placing a killer smile on her face, hoping he would be seduced and let her go.
"Not going to be fooled by that. I say you, I was watching you for a few days, and that's why I didn't kill you. Most people don't see it, but I can see over that mask, see through you, what you really want. You want to be good, because you are sick of being bad." He said. "Oh and Clint Barton." He held out his hand, but Natasha didn't know how to react, this kid looked like he was still in High school, but the way he acted and fought made her think he was much older. Maybe he was subjected to something and he was actually older than he looked, like her?
"How old are you?" She asked, because she couldn't see a kid running around playing super hero with out-dated weapons, and be that good of a shot.
"19 years old. You? Let me guess... 25? Maybe less?" He looked her up and down, but didn't say another word.
"37." She said. He raised an eyebrow. "Where I ran from, they had this thing that slowed down my aging, so yes physically I'm 25, but in years, I'm 37." Natasha explained. Though she didn't go into detail, not really getting the details herself, she was young when it happened, and it was all behind her now.
"Oh, that... Well, I am 19 physically and 19 in years." He said cheekily. "Let's get out of here, there's a 25 year old who is about to kick my ass."
Clint radio-ed back to SHIELD base, and was met by a cursing yelling handler, who was very mad. A helicarrier picked them both up, and took Natasha into an interrogation room, where she met a man with black-slicked back hair, who called himself 'Coulson'. After that the rest was history.
+1
CLINT
"You son of a bitch, get your damn ass out of this house you miserable slut." Harold Barton yelled at the younger of the Barton boys, Clint. He was bruised and had broken bones, but couldn't make his dad angrier, so he got up, trying not to make a sound and ran. He ran all the way to a circus and meets an angry Swordsman, who beat him more, adding to the pain.
Clint sat up after a while and was surrounded by everyone he had killed, and there were so many people. They started to come at him, started to kill him and beat him. They dragged him to an alley way and dumped him by a dumpster.
It felt like hours until a man came up and brought him to a safe place where he could use his skills for good, and he found a girl who needed the same thing and gave it to her. Clint felt like he was finally washing away the red on his ledger. Then an alien came and everything went wrong and Clint saw it. He saw Coulson get screwed by Loki's scepter right through the heart, and he heard Loki's laughter in his head.
"It is your entire fault he is dead. If you hadn't attached to this one he could have lived." Loki mocked in his mind.
Clint woke up screaming, tears streaming down his face and he tried to stop it. He was a trained assassin and spy, meant to hold in his emotions until they were no more, but the tears wouldn't stop. It was his fault his friend was dead, now he was going to get all these other people died to because he was going to like them. He tried not to come to the tower, but Natasha had brought him here, because of his stupid leg, and stupid SHIELD, and stupid Loki, and stupid mind-control.
He tried to rant the tears away, but with every thought more and more flowed down his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, but that only proved to let out a weak chocking sob.
He was so focused on stop crying he didn't realize there were more people in the living room. Not until a hand carded through his hair, making him gasp in surprise, which only made him start to hiccup.
"Hey kid, let it out." Clint looked up to see Steve above him, giving him a sad smile. Clint didn't even realize he had fallen asleep with his head in the Super-soldier's lap. When had that happen?
"I-I'm not a -hic- 'id." Clint protested.
"You are the youngest, so I believe you are the kid of the group. 23, wow that has to have some record at SHIELD?" Tony joked.
"It is, he's the youngest to recruit, youngest to be a level 8, ans has the most hits in his age." Natasha said, as if she had this memorized. Clint glared at her, but it didn't help that he was still hiccupping and had a red-blotchy face.
"Yep, total kid." Tony nodded. "But you, he hasn't even heard 'the bird and bees' yet." Tony only laughed more when Clint gave him a confused look.
"Bir-what? Why would I want to talk about birds and bees? Why would anyone want to talk about birds and bees?" Clint asked, sitting up, because it was only getting slightly embracing having his cheek pressed against Captain America's thigh.
"Oh my god, hasn't your parent's told you...Have you ever had a girlfriend before?" Tony asked.
"No, being an assassin got in the way." Clint rolled his eyes. "And my parents died when I was eight."
"Oh." Tony said. "What about your handler at SHIELD? Did they talk to about 'the importance of protection'?"
"Yeah." Clint said, not getting what it had to do with birds and bees. "He taught me to always have a bullet proof vest, and to make sure to watch over my back as much as my partner's. But I sort of knew that, being a hit man is a very dangerous job." Clint said seriously. Tony only groaned. Steve busted out laughing, along with Banner, Thor looked about as confused as Clint, but that was to be expected. Even Natasha had a subtle smirk on her face.
"Holy shit, does he not have a childhood? Bet you he doesn't even know what sex is." Tony exasperated.
"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH BIRDS AND BEES?" Clint yelled his face getting redder by the minute.
"Told you he was young." Natasha smirked.
"Yeah, but at least at 23, I knew what 'birds and bees' meant." Tony said, looking a little bewildered.
"I'm not a kid." Clint grumbled again, but he could stop but fell like he was pouting.
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