I couldn't wait for more of these cute Barton boys, so here you go! :D :D
Chapter 1: Who Needs Powers?
The last few days that Barney was in Westchester, he and Clint made it a point to play hard. They worked together to finish up Barney's homework assignments so that he was all squared away long before he needed to be packed, and that meant they could steal away to the lake, even if the water was still pretty cold in the spring.
It was all in good fun until they started to play tag, and a misplaced step later, Clint had gone down, and his ankle buckled underneath him.
Barney froze when he heard Clint cry out, and for just a second, the blood drained from his face. He didn't say anything — for Clint's sake — but he still couldn't help but panic when he thought his brother was in trouble, and that sort of scream had Barney right back to a few months ago, hiding in the tree and hoping hard that his brother wasn't dead when Sabretooth had grabbed him.
So he was honestly panicked until he got to where Clint was and could see for himself that Clint was fine, except for the fact that he couldn't put any weight on his foot. "Okay, okay," Barney said, biting his lip. "Okay, you just ... stay right there and I'll find help."
"I just slipped, Barn," Clint said. "I ain't broke."
"Yeah, well, you want me to carry you?"
"I just need help with the one foot."
Barney nodded at that and helped Clint up, putting Clint's arm around his shoulders as they hobbled like a three-legged race back to the lawn — though Arrow had run ahead of them and had started tugging on Logan's jeans with his teeth to get his attention. The dog already had an excellent sense of who he needed to get when Clint was in trouble.
Logan didn't argue with the way the pup was tugging at him and instead followed along, though when he caught up to where Barney and Clint were, he swore under his breath and rushed the last bit to the two of them. He didn't even ask what happened before he scooped Clint up and started back toward the house, with Barney on his heels.
"We were just playing and he fell," Barney panted as he tried to keep up with Logan's longer strides — the Barton boys were still a little bit short.
"That happens," Logan said, shaking his head to himself.
"I'm fine," Clint muttered. "I'm not broke or nothin'."
"Yeah, well you can't stand on it too good, so I'm gonna wait to see what Hank says about that, eh?" Logan said.
"I hate going to the doctor," Clint muttered, falling into an honest pout. "Even if it's Hank."
"Me too," Logan agreed. "But if he gives you any trouble, I'll knock him out."
"Can I help?" Barney asked.
"Sure," he replied. "Just grab the elevator — kick anyone out that's in your way."
Barney snickered at that but rushed ahead to get the elevator, sticking close to Logan and Clint all the way down to Hank's lab, where Hank rushed over when he saw the state of affairs. "What have we here?"
"I fell," Clint said, and it was clear to see that he was more than a little embarrassed by the attention — and his own clumsiness.
"Well, that's an easy enough thing to address," Hank told him gently, directing Logan on where he could set Clint down to get him set up so they could take a look at his ankle.
When Clint tried to sit up, Logan put his hand in the center of his chest to keep him down. "Wait. Everyone knows you don't want to be in the med bay. Make it go by quicker by just relaxing a little bit."
Clint let out a little noise, but he stayed where he was, if for no other reason than that he knew Logan was right and that Hank wasn't going to let him out until he could prove he could walk out on his own. Which he knew he couldn't do without help. So that was also a small problem for his escape plans.
Hank was, as always, gentle with Clint — and his worried, hovering brother — as he looked him over, though Clint was relieved to hear it when Hank assured him, "Nothing's broken. But you have a serious sprain."
"Toldja I wasn't broke," Clint sang out to Logan and Barney.
"Okay, so you were right this one time," Barney said, shaking his head at Clint. "But it sounds like it's still bad…"
"You definitely shouldn't walk on it," Hank said with a nod.
Clint tipped his head back and let out a long, loud groan — not exactly thrilled to be stuck. But when Hank reassured him that he could wrap him up and help his ankle heal faster, Clint relaxed a bit.
"You know your mom's gonna spoil you rotten, right?" Logan said quietly to Clint. "An' that ain't even takin' Jeannie and 'Ro into account."
"Miss Jean's gonna hear I'm not supposed to walk and think that means I should fly everywhere," Clint said with a crooked grin. "Which I think is exactly right."
"You look so broke up over it," Logan said.
"Storm can make you fly too, though," Barney put in helpfully. "She showed me how she can use the winds and stuff and I could see clear past the forest!"
"Oooh, yeah," Clint said, starting to get excited with his brother. "She says you can walk on the wind!"
"That's our goddess," Hank said with a little smile.
It didn't take much time at all for Hank to get Clint all set up, and then he patted Clint gently on the shoulder. "Now, as long as you stay off of that foot, you should be right as rain in no time at all," he said.
"If we tell Mom you're supposed to be staying inside, she'll let us watch movies," Barney said.
"Yeah, but I wanted to play with you before you go back," Clint pouted.
"Ah, that reminds me," Hank said as he came over to put a hand on Barney's shoulder. "I wonder if I could borrow you, Mr. Barton."
Barney raised both eyebrows but nodded, climbing up to sit for Hank. "What, did I catch the sprained ankle?" he joked.
"Yeah, I'm contagious!" Clint giggled.
"No, I simply wanted to do a little physical to set a baseline for you, since you will be returning regularly to our humble abode," Hank said. "And it wouldn't hurt to know if you should be prepared in the event of a manifestation of mutant ability."
Both Clint and Barney glanced at each other at that, suddenly looking more excited. "Do you think I'm a mutant?" Barney asked, in awe.
"The only way to know before a manifestation would be through a very simple and painless blood test."
"Me too!" Clint sang out, wide-eyed. "I wanna know if I'm gonna shoot fire out of my eyeballs or something!"
"You wanna be Scott?" Barney said, wrinkling his nose.
"No, I wanna shoot fire!" Clint said. "That would be way cooler!"
"I wanna have powers like Mom," Barney said. "Then can't nobody hurt me!"
Hank couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm, though he did try to temper it — especially knowing that Clint didn't carry the gene. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said. "I think even if neither of you have any powers to speak of, you can give any ruffian a run for their money."
"They've proved that already," Logan said. "And it really doesn't matter, does it?"
"No, of course not," Hank said. "It's simply a matter of curiosity."
"Yeah, well, you know what they say about curiosity," Logan muttered.
"And you do look like a cat," Clint told Hank with a crooked grin.
"So you better watch your litter box, Blue," Logan said just a hair louder, which just had the Barton boys giggling to themselves.
Hank shook his head at the three of them, but the boys were now completely invested in the idea, so he got both of them set up with the basic tests and explained to them what they were looking for — a line that would show up if there was a positive match.
Both of the boys were almost unconsciously leaning forward with wide eyes as they watched the tests, though when nothing happened…
"So… no powers, huh?" Barney said, glancing up at Hank. "Well that's just about typical."
Clint nodded his agreement for a moment and then stood up a little straighter. "We don't need 'em," he said, his chin tipped up. "We never had no help before, and we don't need no help now."
"Of course not," Hank said, his eyes twinkling. "Heaven help anyone who stands in the way of the Barton brothers."
Clint and Barney shared a look and then grinned at each other. "Yep," Clint said. "Sounds about right."
"So, we should go tell Mom that you need popcorn and movies," Barney said. "And we can play some games and stuff. I don't mind if we just stay in and play Yahtzee or something."
"You just picked that game 'cause it's all about luck and you don't gotta be any good at it to win," Clint teased.
"Well, you're hurt, so it wouldn't be real nice of me to kick your butt while you're a hopalong," Barney shot back.
Clint looked like he was going to pounce on Barney but for the hand that Hank had on his shoulder to keep him from doing just that, so he stuck his tongue out at his big brother with a little 'nyah' — and Barney pulled a face at him, too.
When they got up to K, she was just unpacking a box that had come in earlier that day and assembling something that looked suspiciously like targets. "Three handsome guys … how lucky am I?" she said, barely looking up at them at first, but she did a quick double-take when she saw how Clint was being supported by Logan. "What happened?"
"I had a fight with the Red Skull. I killed 'im, but he broke my foot," Clint said without missing a beat.
"That monster," she said, shaking her head slowly.
"He fell down while we were playing tag," Barney whispered to K, covering his mouth with one hand so Clint couldn't read his lips, though Clint knew what was happening and stuck his tongue out at him all the same.
"That's what he said," K whispered back.
"Only if you're a mom," Barney said.
"Lucky you then," she shot right back.
"So, I'm not s'pposed to be on my foot," Clint told K. "So we were thinking maybe some popcorn and Indiana Jones?"
"But you were having so much fun outside," she replied, frowning, before she shook her head at them both. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather do some horseback riding?"
The boys glanced at each other at that. "Can we?" Clint asked.
"Took me a while, but they're safe enough now," K said. "Six of them anyhow — but we can keep it to just us for now."
"I'm gonna need some help getting on," Clint warned her.
"I'm sure we can figure something out," K replied, nodding, before she held up the targets. "And if I do my work right, then by the time you get back, Barney, they'll be safe to shoot off of too."
"We can shoot on horseback?" Clint looked like he was going to die of happiness right there. "When can we do that? I wanna do that, like, right now!"
"Me too!" Barney said quickly. "I wanna learn to do that!"
"I have to get the horses used to it, but yeah, we can start riding first," K said. "And if you get too saddle sore and want to watch — you can see how I get the horses used to it."
"That sounds awesome," Barney said. "And by the time the circus season is over, you'll be real good at it and the horses'll be used to it and I can catch up, right?"
"Oh yeah," K said. "You'll be caught up in no time."
Barney grinned at that. "Good. If I didn't like the circus so much, I'd be here all the time so I could learn stuff, you know."
"Well then I guess I'll have to teach a few horses the circus tricks so you can be impressive at everything under the big top," K said.
"You mean it?" Barney asked, his eyes even wider than before.
"Honey, I can trick ride with the best of them. It won't be an issue."
"When I met her, she was talking about the horses at the circus where I was gonna run away to and explaining how they do stuff," Clint put in. "She's real good."
"You've only seen the rodeo stuff," K said, resting a hand on Clint's head. "I'll have a pair of them jumping over flaming crossbars and riding roman style."
"Oooh, I wanna do that too!" Barney said. "Can I please?"
"As long as I can find two that are matched well, I don't see why not."
"I wanna learn how to shoot a bow and arrow on a horse so I can be like Robin Hood," Clint said. "Or like — or like an Indian like in that book Storm got me!"
"Then you'll have to learn how to do it in tights," K said, not missing a beat. "Or suede pants if it's an Indian."
"I dunno what those are, but I bet I could do it," Clint said.
"Well, Kitty can let you borrow some tights," K teased.
"No, now I wanna try the suede pants," Clint said. "I can be like… Magua. Or Hawkeye!"
"That … fits," Logan said, frowning.
"It's from Storm's book," Clint explained. "I really liked it, and I didn't think I would, but I did!"
"Leave it to 'Ro to pick a winner," Logan said.
"It's better'n 'duck fluff' if you're gonna have a warrior name," Barney teased, getting Clint to shove him in the shoulder.
"That's Mom's name, not for anybody else!"
"You could totally rock 'Duck Fluff' in battle," K argued. "They'd never see it coming when you took. them. down."
"No, Mom," Clint said, rolling his eyes. "I know you like it, but I ain't using 'Duck Fluff'."
"Well, you can't use 'Trickshot', because that's what I'm using in the circus," Barney said with his chin tipped up.
"I guess I can't be Indiana Jones, neither…" Clint said with a sigh. "It's already taken."
"I think Logan's right, though," Barney said. "I think 'Hawkeye' is pretty cool. And it's still a bird — just not a duck."
"And it fits for as sharp as you are at spotting things," Logan agreed. "And … Iowa, right?"
"Yep!" Clint said with a grin. "Ever since I was born!"
"He means like the football games," Barney said, elbowing his brother.
"Oh, yeah. That too," Clint said, nodding quickly.
Barney rolled his eyes but decided not to call his brother out on not getting it, instead gesturing toward the hall that would lead down to the Danger Room if they took it. "So, you gonna join the X-Men now? Be a superhero? The youngest ever?"
"Well, I could."
"Jan still wants him for the Avengers," K pointed out.
"I can do both!" Clint insisted. "That's what Logan does!"
"You can, and you should," K agreed.
Barney grinned and nodded. "That's my little brother. Can't just do one thing at a time."
"Says the weapons master in training," K replied.
"Who's learning to be a ringmaster and also ride horses…" Clint put in helpfully.
"Yep. A pinnacle of 'one thing at a time'."
Barney grinned over at Clint. "Yeah, well, Beast says no one can stop us Barton brothers," he said, drawing himself up.
"Is that a dare?" K asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Whatchugonnado?" Barney shot back.
She grinned at him. "Wanna fight?"
"You're on," Barney said with a grin — simply breaking into a laugh as he rushed her in an attempted tackle. He knew he wasn't going to win, since she was the one who'd taught him the basics, but he wasn't expecting her to not only not fall over but instead grab him up and downright snuggle him.
And that of course just had Clint bursting into laughter. "Snuggle fight!" he declared — hopping over to join the snuggle with K and Barney too and giggling the whole time.