There was a shadow. A quick blur of a dull colour that almost put Clint off his aim.
Almost. He still scored a direct hit straight in the middle of his intended target but, it had been close.
He sighed, rocked back on his heels and then walked over to retrieve his arrow. He reached out, and a blur of darkness swept across his vision. There was a brief moment where he felt the brush of sleek fur, then the arrow and the blur of darkness vanished.
He blinked, stared at the archery target, and then frowned.
A thief had just stolen off with one of his arrows - a dark-furred, feline thief.
He turned, scoured the room with his gaze.
The cat stalked out from seemingly nowhere, his arrow in its mouth. It narrowed its nasty little green cat eyes up at Clint.
"You little-!" Clint growled, stepping closer to the cat.
The cat tilted its ears back, its tail tip twitching. It almost seemed as if it was laughing at him, laughing.
How he hated it.
He was sure that Loki was still there, just lurking beneath the surface of this cattish facade. If it weren't for the fact that Thor was so close by, that he'd so obviously beat the crap out of Clint if he did something to his brother, then he'd already have sent an arrow piercing through the middle of that stupid cat face.
The cat stood up, the beginning of a purr rumbling upwards and in Clint's direction. He glared down at it.
"Give me back my arrow."
It flicked it's tail to the side and began to saunter away, its nose held high in the air.
"No, don't you dare. Get back here!"
Clint hurried after it, reaching out to try and grab the arrow from its grasp. It simply moved faster, twirling away from his outstretched hand, purring all the louder.
"You stupid thing. Give, me, it."
He could swear that the cat just glanced back at him with an amused glint in its eyes. And then it was gone, slipping between the cracks of the training room door as it opened.
"Clint?" Natasha paused, then leaned back against the door's frames, her gaze drifting momentarily to the black shadow that slinked its way into the next room over. "What are you doing?"
"Chasing that damn cat," Clint said, clenching his fists. That stupid thing. "He's stolen one of my arrows."
"Well, that's your problem," Natasha said.
Clint shook his head and brushed past her.
By this time, the cat was sat down near the couch, the arrow still clenched within its teeth. As it saw Clint walk in, its tail flicked and it dropped the arrow on the floor.
"That's right, leave it there..." Clint moved closer, taking careful steps.
The cat pushed the arrow underneath the couch.
Clint blinked. "What? ... You stupid cat!"
He launched himself at it and it jumped on top of his head, then scrambled down onto his back. He twirled, yelling at the stupid thing, reaching out to try and grab it.
There was the clump of heavy feet, and Thor pushed open the door, staring in, taking in the mess of a room.
"What is happening?" he asked, his gaze shifting from Clint, caught half-way inbetween grasping hold of Loki's fur, to Natasha, whom stood watching this with the slightest hint of a smile.
"Clint lost his arrow," Natasha said.
"This cat took off with it!" Clint said, scowling back at the thief.
"This cat is my brother," Thor said.
Loki lashed his tail and scrambled down Clint's back, being absolutely certain to dig his claws into his back as he went, then rushed over near Thor to headbutt against his ankles.
Thor scooped him up with a small resigned sigh and Loki clambered up onto his shoulders, twitching the tip of his tail.
Clint turned to glare at the cat and, in that moment, he could have sworn that the dumb thing returned his look with a mischievous glint in its gaze. He looked away quickly as Thor locked eyes with him.
He ran his hand through his hair and bent to try and retrieve his arrow from beneath the dark recesses of the couch.
He was going to be so glad when this was all over with, and he no longer had a thieving, manipulating god cat living under the same roof as himself.