Disclaimer: I do not own Clint Barton, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, or any of the Marvel Universe/its affiliations.

I decided to write these little one shots because there are a lot of scenes I wanted to write between Clint/Phil/Natasha that don't necessarily fit into the master plans of my major stories. So I found a prompt list of single word prompts that I am basing these off of. I plan to do lots of these as well as some other series [like AUs and Clint's birthday mini series] so look forward to that.

The prompt for this one shot was the word "Treat"

Enjoy!


March 2nd, 2007

New York City, New York


"Where are you going, Clint?"

Clint stopped dead in his tracks, keeping his back to his handler. He slowly pushed his hands into his hoodie pocket, spinning around, an innocent smile on his face.

"Back to my room. Think I forgot something."

The two of them were scheduled to join an overnight security detail in Washington DC and had just finished loading up the Jeep they'd be driving. Clint had ducked out of the garage when Phil had looked down to answer an email. He had barely made it to the elevator before Phil was behind him. The fact that nothing ever went over the man's head was usually the thing that saved Clint's life, but today it was just annoying.

"Mm hm," Phil said, taking a slow step towards him. "Then why is there food in your pocket?"

Clint slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets, showing them to be empty. There was, in fact, three pieces of chicken wrapped in a napkin hidden there, but he didn't need to tell Phil that.

"Don't know what you're talking about," he said easily, reaching behind him to hit the elevator call button. Phil folded his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I was hungry?" he tried again, with little less conviction.

"Come on, Clint. Drop the bullshit. You've been acting strange all day. What's going on?"

Clint hesitated, glancing back as the elevator opened. He sighed heavily, knowing he was busted, and he might as well come clean. He stepped back into the elevator, gesturing for him to follow. Phil did without a word and the two silently rode up to the seventh floor.

Clint stepped out and walked over to his room. Once he was at the door, he hesitated again.

"Promise not to freak out," he said, looking over at his handler. Phil gave him a pointed look, silently asking 'Why would I freak out?' Clint shook his head, placing his hand on the palm reader and waiting for the light to flash green. He opened the door, stepping into his room as Phil followed. What met him was nothing like Phil had been expecting.

A one eyed Labrador retriever jumped up from Clint's bed, running over to where the archer had knelt down on the ground. He was currently energetically scratching the dog behind its ears, a big smile on his face. Phil let the door shut behind him, looking curiously down at his agent and the dog.

"I figured Lucky could use a treat before we left," Clint said, hugging the dog around his neck. The dog - Lucky, apparently - sat down on his lap and Clint pulled a chicken leg out of his pocket at fed it to him.

"It has a name?" Phil asked, wondering how Clint had managed to sneak a dog all the way up to the seventh floor.

Clint's gaze softened slightly as he looked up at Phil. "You remember that run in I had with Ivan Banionis about a month ago? Well, Lucky used to belong to him until that bastard threw him in front of traffic. I brought him to a vet and somehow he survived." He shrugged, looking down at the dog who was working on his second piece of chicken.

"So, you decided to keep him?" Phil honestly didn't know how Clint had gotten the dog up here but he knew for a fact he couldn't keep him. It was against every SHIELD regulation and it just didn't make sense. He had nowhere to keep him and was hardly on base long enough to care for him anyway.

"I couldn't just let him go, Phil. He saved my life," Clint said, rubbing the dog behind his head.

"He did?"

Clint nodded, looking down at Lucky. "Yeah. Banionis and his crew were shooting at me and Lucky attacked them. Which is why he was thrown in the street. Vet said he shouldn't have survived but he did."

Phil slowly nodded, finally understanding. The dog was a loner, a stray, who had nowhere to go and nothing to turn to. He had survived, defying all odds even though everyone had said he was going to die. The world had given up on him and left him to die but somehow, he had been given a second chance.

Much like someone else Phil knew.

"You know you can't keep him here. There's no one to take care of him when you're gone," Phil started, the dropping of his agent's features making his heart hurt. "But, I can talk to the director and see if I can work something out. Agent Hill mentioned something to me about wanting a dog."

Clint looked down at Lucky, who was busy licking his face. To Phil, Clint had never been a stray. He had been lost, sure, but not a stray. Strays were unwanted and abandoned to die. But Clint wasn't like that.

Because Phil would always want Clint and couldn't even dream of leaving him to die. Ever. Even back when the only way he knew him was through a case file and an old military ID photo.

"She'd only watching him while you're away on missions and you can spend as much time as you want with him when you're on base," he said, adjusting his statement. It would be a trick getting Fury on board, but the look in Clint's eyes was just one he couldn't say no to.

"You'd really do that?" he asked, looking up at Phil with hope in his eyes. The handler nodded with a sigh.

"Of course, I would. He did save your life after all," Phil said, taking a step towards the two of them. He pat the dog on the head and he could have sworn the animal looked up and smiled at him.

"Come on. We're on a time schedule."

Clint nodded, jumping to his feet and rubbing Lucky's ear with enthusiasm.

"If I have to."

"You have to," Phil said, putting a hand on Clint's shoulder, pushing him towards the door. The archer smiled softly over at Phil, glancing back at Lucky, who had moved to lie down on Clint's bed.

"Thanks, Phil."

"Sure thing, kid. Sure thing."


There we go!

This is the sort of thing you should expect from these little one shots. None of them will be too long, but they will (hopefully) be able to stand alone. Some of them are domestic like this one and others are a little more dramatic, if that's what you enjoy more.

Expect lots of Phil and Natasha, and I might even throw in the rest of the team at some point. There will definitely be glimpses into Clint's inner SHIELD circle (Fury, Hill, Coulson, Dr. Hawkins, Agent Bryant, and Agent Foster) as well. I plan on expanding on all Clint's relationships with the whole gang.

Stay tuned for the next one!

Ciao