Accidents Happen

Pairing: Phil Coulson and Clint Barton (Avengers)

It took several hours, but the team of heroes were finally able to rid the panhandle of Texas of the giant beast that had been unleashed by Loki. Though, even as the monster was gone, their work was not finished. Over their ear pieces, Agent Coulson had informed them that Hawkeye had disappeared and dropped all contact in the general time area that Loki had vanished. Coulson tried to hide it, but they all noticed the fright in their superior's voice, if anything were to happen to Clint, Odin only knows what that man would do.

The team split up and followed their footsteps back to where the battle had begun about thirty or so miles back. A good thirty minutes into the search, Phil had shown up with other agents to help look for Agent Barton. It was around that time that Phil had whispered over the comm.

"I've got a visual. Natasha, lock onto my location and everyone stay away, I repeat, keep-away."

Phil hid behind a crumpled vehicle and watched in silence. Clint was on his knees holding the limp body of a young ginger boy, appearing to be nine years of age, and what unsettled Phil the most was Loki standing in front of the archer talking to him calmly. He couldn't make out what was being said, the distance was too great for that, but he could tell it had something to do with the boy. Another thing about the scene that confused him was that one of Clint's hands held a bloody arrow and when the archer turned his head to certain angles, light reflected heavily off of the tears that covered his face. It was then that everything finally clicked in his head.

After several moments, Loki nodded and began walking away until Clint had lashed out and grabbed the hem of Loki's robes.

"Please! I know you can-" Was all Phil would make out from Clint's plea. The slender god lowered his head and said something before disappearing in a flash of green smoke and large sparks. A lingering shudder ran down Coulson's spine as Clint's beastly cry echoed through the dusty air. Aside from his lover's current mental break down, Phil felt it was safe enough to approach and did so with caution.

"Clint." Said name paused from rocking the motionless body with his own and reluctantly raised his head enough to look straight ahead.

"I killed him, Philip. I made a mistake and I killed this innocent little boy." His voice crackled pathetically. The senior agent released a deep sigh and kneeled down next to the shaking man.

"Clint, listen to me, you're a good man, you fight day in and day out risking your life to protect the human race, no one is ever going to blame you for making a simple mistake. You're human, Clint-" An unnaturally strong hand fisted Phil's shirt collar and pulled him in close, the look in his eyes caused his stomach to twist in fear.

"He's just a boy, damnit! Look at him, Phil, it doesn't matter what good I've done, I killed him! My fucking arrow shot through his god damn neck and he drowned on his own fucking blood, do you really think there's not a god damn person who'll blame me for what I did? What about his mother? Huh? I think she'd be a little pissed, don't you? I know I fucking would if someone who my son looked up to fucking shot him through his mother fucking throat with a mother fucking arrow! Don't you try to make me feel better about what happened, don't you try to justify this boy's death, mistake or not, he's dead because of me! ME!"

"Then accept responsibility for your mistake and turn yourself in, Clint, don't just sit here and cry like you think he's going to magically come back to life. That, or learn from your slip-up and don't do it again, keep fighting and keep saving lives, dedicating each day to this kid. It's your choice, love." Clint's body trembled when he broke into sobs again and dropped his hand, gripping tightly at the shirt the boy was wearing and holding him close, as if he were his own. Phil drew Clint into a half-hug and held him firmly, listening as he repeated his apologies in a quiet, high-pitched whimper. "It's okay, sweetie, everything's going to be okay."

Thanks for reading guys! I was really pissed of when I wrote this so it's not great but I hope you still enjoyed it somewhat.