Resistors and Capacitors
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Hawkeye. Either of them. All hail Fraction?
"Ready for your first grown-up mission, girly?"
Kate jumps in her seat. How did she not hear him slide into the row of seats behind her? This physics lecture is not that absorbing. She turns around to see Clint perched on the edge of the seat behind her. He's not looking at her; rather his sharp blue eyes are focused very intently on her professor at the front of the class.
"What are you doing here," she furtively whispers.
He moves his attention to her and smiles innocently.
"Pay attention, Katie. Stuff's real important." His focus goes back to the professor. The mocking smirk on his face betrays his sudden interest in the mechanics of electromagnetism.
If she wouldn't have to twist awkwardly around in her chair, she would have landed a nice solid punch to his bicep. Instead, she tries to focus back on the professor and the circuit of resistors and capacitors drawn on the chalkboard. Fortunately, there's only five minutes left in the lecture. Which is good because there's no way in hell she could pay attention a full fifty minutes with Clint behind her.
She's surprised he didn't drag her right out of class. She reasons he's finally learned how important her classes are to her. Finally. She's getting incredibly tired of all his whining about her supposed constant abandonment.
What doesn't surprise her is the feel of his head resting on her left shoulder or the low anguished groan that escapes his mouth not even three minutes after he sits down.
"Oh my god. Kate. This is so boring."
She chuckles and fondly scratches the hair above his ear with her left hand while she reproduces the diagram in her notes with her right hand. "Patience, you big baby. It's almost over," she whispers.
He groans softly again but this time it's a much more content sound. A sound she is very, very fond of.
She continues scratching his scalp until she feels a warm wet spot on her shoulder. Is that- is he drooling on her? Before she can smack his head away, the professor dismisses the class and Clint's head shoots up. He's standing and stretching before she can even put her pencil down. She shoves her notebook into her purple back pack and walks out to the aisle where Clint is waiting with his version of patience.
"College is so overrated," he grunts as he glances around the large lecture hall.
Kate rolls her eyes, grabs his arm, and steers him toward the exit at the back of the room.
"Seriously, Kate. Why are you doing this? You're rich. You'll never have to work a day in your life. Oh and you're kind of a superhero," he asks, sounding genuinely puzzled.
She pinches his arm and looks around to make sure no one heard him. She's tried to remain fairly invisible to her peers. Clint's doing a pretty good job of diminishing that invisibility, especially since she's noticed several of her female class mates checking him out. Which she doesn't like. But she's immensely pleased to see that he's keeping his eyes to himself for once. Well, to himself and on her. Not the very attractive co-eds milling around the physics building.
When she doesn't reply he prods again. "So what gives?"
Kate looks away from him. She doesn't know why but she feels embarrassed and defensive. She doesn't know why she's here. Perhaps this is her way of reclaiming control of her life after Cassie died. Calculus based physics equations are a lot easier to solve than battle strategies and worrying over which one of her friends is going to die next.
"Because, doofus, I want at least of part of my life to be normal. College is normal. It's safe. No supervillain is going to come bursting into class declaring war on the entire planet."
Clint gives a quick nod of his head. He understands. She hopes. He bumps her shoulder with his as they walk out of the building. The bright sun glares at them and he slides on his shades.
He looks at her with a stupidly serious expression and says, in the most stupidly serious voice, "Normal's overrated, too, Katie."
She laughs. A genuine, deep laugh that shakes her shoulders. "Okay, Joe-Cool. What's up?"
She's doing a good job of acting like him coming to campus, to her class, in the middle of the day is a completely normal ordeal. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a bit nervous. But his calm, almost care-free demeanor rules out the possibility that someone on her team, or his team, is in need of rescuing.
In fact, he actually looks… happy. Which is a nice change up from the mopey, self-loathing Clint that's been hanging around recently. She likes to think he looks younger in this light. But then she's probably just being a sap.
"You up for some avenging? Well, not so much avenging as a simple recon mission in Prague."
She stops walking and whirls around to face him. She's trying very hard to keep the grin off her face. She fails.
"Good God, yes! Anything, please. Bed-Stuy has been so boring lately. It's driving me crazy!"
With the Tracksuit Bros successfully deported back to Russia, there has been a severe lack of action of any kind. Well, except for a couple muggings on Fulton Street. And the other day when Jessica dropped by to deliver Clint a long overdue punch. He had used the last frozen pizza to ice his eye while Kate sat on the couch and fought back laughter for a solid ten minutes.
The unusual draught of crime and shenanigans in Bedford-Stuyvesant had equated to many long nights of training, sparring, and Dog Cops marathons at Clint's in order to expel their unused adrenaline.
"All ready crazy, Katie-Kate. Anyway, I talked to Tasha. Tasha talked to Cap. Cap talked to Fury. Everyone thinks this will be a good mission to help your transition to the big kid playground."
She punches his arm and fakes offense.
"Excuse me, did you forget that I was a major player in the Battle of Central Park? I have a battle scar from that you know!"
She lifts her shirt up enough to show the puckered scar running across her stomach. He stares at it and frowns. He knows all about her scars. Can tell you how she got each one of them. Can feel their phantom presence on his own skin. He's quick to push her shirt down to cover the injury he wasn't able to prevent.
"All right, hot shot," he says. "So what do you say? A week with yours truly in Prague? Sound enticing?"
Her eyes widen and she curses. "Shit. I have a physics exam next week! My dick professor doesn't allow make-up exams."
She looks thoroughly distressed while Clint throws his head back in exasperation.
"You kidding me? Kate Bishop, I am offering you a chance to help the Avengers take down a twenty year old international arms ring in your favorite city and you're worried about your physics class?"
He rubs the back of his head like he always does when he's frustrated. She reaches up and pulls his arm back down.
"Hey, cool your shit. I didn't say no." She chews her lip.
"Look," he sighs. "We'll get someone to talk to your professor. Explain the circumstances. I'm pretty sure he can't say no to Captain America. And Tony will teach you everything there is to know about that electro-bullshit or whatever."
That seems to quell her worries. A pearly white smile quickly graces her face.
"So I'm going to ask you again," he says. "Hawkeye, will you please join me for an all-expense paid week of awesome badassery on S.H.E.I.L.D.'s bill?"
She rolls her eyes and nods, still grinning. "Hawkeye, it would be my pleasure."
AN: I'm too madly in love with the Hawkeyes not to write this. I hope it isn't terribly OOC. I fear I have failed to capture Kate's sass and Clint's... Clintness. Anyway, please review! I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I'm very nervous.