Hello, all! This is my first foray into Marvel fanfiction and my first 5:1 story, so I hope you all enjoy it. I took bits and pieces from Young Avengers, Matt Fraction's run of Hawkeye, Hawkeye vs. Deadpool, and the MCU to kind of form my own mix-and-match canon. There were a few things that I tried to do here, but I'm not entirely sure how well they came across. If anything is confusing, just ask :)

Settings:

1. Not long before Hawkeye #1

2. A few hours after Hawkeye #7, a little bit before YA vol 2

3. Immediately after YA vol 2, issue 13

4. A couple of days after YA vol 2, issue 13

5. Six-seven months later, a few hours after L.A. Woman

+1. The next night

Enjoy!

1.

When Clint Barton came home after a particularly draining day with the Avengers to find that his door was already unlocked, he figured he had just forgotten to lock it on the way out.

When he heard the soft groaning noise coming from inside as he opened the door, he figured the old apartment building was just settling.

When he saw the clump of blankets bundled up on the far edge of his couch as he entered the living room, he figured he had just forgotten to put the laundry away (again).

So to say that he was surprised when he flopped onto said couch only to have the bundle of blankets let out a shriek and start kicking at him until he retreated onto the floor would be quite the understatement.

"What the hell, Clint?" Came the sharp voice of none other than the young Kate Bishop. "Aw, futz, your freaking head better not have left a mark on me."

"Ow, Katie, you're one to talk." Clint rubbed his shoulder where Kate had kicked him. "I'm gonna have a bruise on top of my bruises. And watch your mouth, girly-girl."

"Bite me." Kate harrumphed and folded herself back into a little ball in the corner of the couch. "You could have laid down like a normal human instead of just throwing yourself on top of me," she pouted as she buried her face into the blanket.

"And you could have let me know you were going to play hide-and-seek in my apartment," Clint retorted. He let out a strained noise as he picked himself up (since when did getting up off the floor require so much effort?) and headed to the kitchen to grab some beer. "Better watch yourself or I won't let you drink illegally here anymore."

Clint wasn't entirely sure what kind of response he was expecting (probably something of the sassy and snarky variety), but what he definitely wasn't expecting was for the little bundle of Kate to start shaking slightly and emitting small whimpering noises. He set the bottles on top of the dirty coffee table and knelt down to place a hand on the young archer's side. "Woah, Kate, are you okay?"

Kate squirmed against Clint's hand. "Don't coddle me. I'm not a kid," she sniffled.

"Yeah, Katie, I know. I'm just-"

A hand shot out from underneath the blanket to cover Clint's mouth. (She missed and laid her hand on his cheek instead, but it was still effective in making him shut up.) "Just stop." Kate cleared her throat and furrowed deeper under the blankets, wincing audibly as she did so. "Ow, futzing cramp..." She murmured angrily.

It took Clint a moment, but it clicked.

"Oh, um," he never was much good at this. "Do you want me to… I think the drugstore down the road is still open? I could grab you some chips or a chocolate bar or something…"

Kate shook her head, not looking up. "Can I have a beer?"

Clint scoffed. "Brat." He teased as he stuck one of the chilled bottles under the blanket to poke it against her warm skin.

She jumped at the cold, but accepted the offer and raised herself to a slightly more upright position. She squinted at the label before handing the drink back to Clint with an indignant pout. "This kind is hoppy." She pointed out.

"And it's what you're getting. Better be grateful, Hawkeye, or I might change my mind about letting you have it." Clint teased as he took the beer back and popped the lid off for her against the edge of the table.

Kate rolled her eyes and took the drink out of Clint's hand, making a disgusted face as she gulped down the first sip. She watched as Clint opened his own and turned on the TV. "Anything you want to watch, Katie?"

"Just get up here and cuddle with me." Kate responded bitingly. Clint chuckled, flipping the channel to a Dog Cops rerun and getting up onto the couch next to his young protégé. She almost immediately wormed her way under his arm and settled her head firmly onto his shoulder, her body turned to face him and her knees pulled up to her chest. Clint rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but he squeezed her close for a second and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

Kate struggled through almost half of her beer before deeming it "utterly disgusting" and giving the rest back to her mentor. With her hands now free, she turned her hips and wrapped her arms around Clint's midsection. Before long, she had dozed off. Clint carefully peeled himself from her grip.

Kate woke up the next morning to find a chocolate bar, two aspirin, and a mug (ready to be filled with the coffee that was bubbling away on the counter) sitting on the table in front of her. Stuck underneath the mug was a note scrawled in Clint's god-awful handwriting on a ripped piece of paper:

"Here's to another month closer to beating teen pregnancy, Hawkeye. –Hawkeye"

She was going to murder him.

2.

For Kate Bishop, it always seemed that the most exhausting days were the ones that turned into the nights she couldn't get a wink of sleep.

It had been three hours since she had returned from the engagement party in Jersey, and by all accounts, she should have passed out the second her head hit the pillow. Instead, she was still laying in Clint's bed, dressed in nothing but a pair of his old sweatpants and a sports bra that she had apparently left at his place at some point, staring at a spot on the wall and listening to the rain hitting the window. She yawned and shifted positions, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get to sleep.

Maybe it was the stress of the whole hurricane fiasco. Maybe it was residual adrenaline from her swim away from the hotel. Maybe it was the super sugary fake coffee nonsense that she had bought in the hotel lobby to keep her awake on the train back to New York. Whatever the reason, Kate couldn't even force herself to keep her eyes shut. This was getting annoying.

She sighed and grabbed her phone from Clint's nightstand to check the time again. It had now been approximately three hours and eighteen minutes that she had been willing the sandman to come do his thing.

Kate began scrolling through news sites in an effort to tire her eyes out and hopefully finally get some shut-eye. It ended up being more depressing than anything else, so she opened up her messaging app and texted everyone she could think of who might possibly be awake right now. Tommy, Eli, Billy, Teddy, she even texted Clint (wow did she need to get some female friends)… No answer. Nothing. From any of them. Wow, screw those guys. Not like there had just been a MAJOR NATURAL DISASTER or anything. She even was polite and asked how they were doing instead of starting off with a "hey, can't sleep". Jerks.

She groaned and opened up Yamblr to see what the current drama was. The microblogging site was shockingly dead compared to normal. Lots of people posting their well wishes and safety tips for the East Coast, lots of people getting offended over nothing, a few gifsets from TV shows, a queued post from Cassie's old blog… Wow, that was unexpected. And now Kate was sad. Enough Yamblr for tonight, she guessed.

Kate groaned and covered her face with her hands. This wasn't working. Now she was just even more awake AND she missed Cassie. She was about to resign herself to a sleepless night when her phone lit up and buzzed on top of her face. She jumped, knocking it onto the floor. Kate was actually pretty glad no one had seen that. People might start thinking she was Clint or something.

She rolled over to the edge of the bed and retrieved the phone to see who had actually responded. Speak of the devil; the text was from the other Hawkeye. It read, "y r u txtng me im just n the nxt rm" and had an emoji of a fish, for some reason. Kate stared at her phone, completely done with Clint. Between his terrible texting habits and obsession with useless "trick" arrows, she wondered why she even hung out with him.

She sat up and crawled out of bed, stretching as she made her way over to the door. She cracked it open slowly and peeked her head out into the living room. "Clint?" She called softly.

"What, did you have a nightmare?" Clint teased, his voice still husky from sleep.

"You text like an old man," Kate responded. She paused for a moment and then sighed. "I couldn't sleep."

"What do you want me to do about it, girly-girl?" The bow-slinging Avenger was now sitting up, still wrapped in his blanket, and rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know." Kate shrugged.

Clint reached down to where Lucky was lying on the floor and scratched behind the dog's ear. "You want some water or something?"

Kate considered it. "Nah, I'm not thirsty." She decided.

"Well," Clint pulled an arm over his head to crack his shoulder. "If you're just gonna stand there and be sulky, I'm gonna go back to-"

"Actually," Kate interrupted. "I don't know, that hurricane was kind of…" She played with the drawstring on the pants. "Maybe you and Lucky and I could share the bed or something. I mean, I'm still kind of cold from getting that thin dress all wet."

"Aw, is little Kate scared of the rain?" Clint had, by now, stood up and was nudging Lucky with his foot. "Come on, boy," he muttered.

"I am not scared of the weather." Kate snapped. "I'm just cold, you jerk."

"Mm-hmm." Clint ruffled the hair of his young partner as he breezed past her and into the bedroom. "If you were that cold, you'd put on a shirt."

"I didn't leave any over here, and all my stuff got wet!" Kate protested. She made a show of rolling her eyes and huffing before climbing into the bed where Clint was just making himself comfortable. She climbed in to join him and turned herself so her back was lying against his torso.

"You good there, Hawkeye?" Clint kneed Kate softly in the back of the leg.

"Umm…" Kate reached behind herself and took Clint's arms, wrapping them around herself. She shifted her position a couple of times and then settled in decisively. "Yeah, never been better, Hawkeye." She reached down to cover their bodies with the blanket, called Lucky up onto the bed, and gripped onto Clint's forearms in front of her. "Never been better."

3.

Kate Bishop was happy that her team had beaten Mother. Really, she was. She couldn't be prouder of everyone. That was absolutely true.

Well, kind of.

It was mostly true, at least.

Kinda.

Billy's parents had offered her a lift back to her place after the team had returned from Mother's home dimension, which was very sweet of them, but she wasn't in the mood to really be with anyone right now.

Okay, almost anyone.

With hair tied up in a messy bun using a hair tie she had borrowed from America (who also offered to accompany her. Again, super sweet), Kate began jogging over to the nearest train station to get her to that familiar apartment over in Bed-Stuy. The exercise allowed her to clear her mind and just concentrate on her breathing and pace, and the chill in the air kept her calm and focused. She just needed to get to Clint's place, and THEN she could blow up over Noh-Varr.

The station wasn't far from there they had landed; it was about a two-mile stretch. Kate was a little bit out of breath and sweaty by the time she reached it. At least it meant she wasn't too cold, though. Winters could be brutal in the city. She rode the train until she was a little more than three miles from Clint's place and continued her jog to his front door.

It wasn't a moment too soon, either. Kate had always found that exercising helped her to forget about any issues she was having and clear her mind, but that only worked up to a certain point. Too long alone with her thoughts, and they would inevitably turn back to whatever was troubling her at the time. She had hit that point about a mile into the last stretch, and her anger had quickly been bubbling away inside of her.

Panting from equal parts ire and exertion, Kate climbed the stairs to Clint's apartment. She fished for her key in a pocket in her quiver, not worrying about paying attention to what floor she was on or where she was turning. She knew she hadn't gone too far or anything. She had been to Clint's place so many times, she could do it blindfolded. She knew she was only a short stretch of hallway away from his door and timed it so that she located and dug out the key just as she stepped up to his threshold.

"Knock knock," she called out as she swung the door open.

The older Hawkeye was playing tug-o-war with Lucky on the living room floor. The dog, excited from the game and now from Kate's arrival, jumped up to greet the Young Avenger and lick the sweat off her face. "Oh, you're here?" Clint dropped the toy to the floor and brushed some dog hair off of his pants.

"Don't act so excited," Kate spat back while she rubbed Lucky's fur in greeting. The dog wriggled around and demanded to be pet everywhere.

"Wow, your temper." Clint mock-scolded. "Forgive me for being surprised that you came back after that fight over… Well, whatever it was, without texting or something first." He received no response. "You guys had a mission or something, right? What was all that about?"

"It's a long story." Kate answered brusquely. "Not even worth it to explain. I've had a cruddy day. Do we have coffee?"

"'We'." Clint pointed out. Kate stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, there's probably some still in the pot. You just gotta…"

"I know how to microwave old coffee, Clint." Kate brushed past him and headed into the kitchen. She debated taking a mug, but seeing how much of the drink was left in the pot, she changed her mind and grabbed the entire thing. "On second thought… Room-temperature coffee isn't the worst thing that could happen." Taking a page out of her mentor's book, she lifted the entire coffee pot to her lips and began drinking.

Clint let out a low whistle. "Must've been a REALLY cruddy day. You didn't even put any cream in there."

Kate took another gulp of coffee, still standing in the kitchen. "Noh-Varr dumped me in the middle of a battle."

"Ooh, rough." Clint pushed himself off the floor and went to join his partner in the kitchen. "You feeling okay?"

"If by 'feeling okay', you mean 'wanting to rip his stupid head off', then yeah, peachy." Kate deadpanned. She polished off the rest of the coffee in the pot and rummaged through the cabinets to find more. "Can you set up the filter thingy? And the water? I need more of this." She lifted up the coffee pot.

Clint nodded and squeezed Kate's shoulder as he took the pot from her and began to fill it with water. "Did he say why?"

"His old villainess girlfriend showed up," Kate pulled a bag down from the cabinet, sniffed it, and put it back. "Well, sort of. She ended up being a projection of Loki's subconscious or something." She took a different bag of coffee out and started scooping it out onto the paper filter. "But anyway, the second she showed any interest in him, he just dropped me like that. Right in the middle of a fight. In front of everyone. Can you even believe he'd do something like that?"

Clint poured the water into the coffeemaker and stepped closer so he could rub Kate's back with one hand. "That futzing sucks, Katie."

Kate scoffed in reply. "Don't I know it. Did I leave any clothes here last time? I don't want to wear this thing anymore."

"Yeah," Clint nodded. "I think there's, like, a sweater and a skirt in the bathroom."

"Perfect. Watch the coffee." Kate left to get changed, leaving Clint to set some mugs on the counter and grab her creamer from the fridge. Kate returned quickly, clad in a short, black skirt and a baggy, purple sweater. Just like Clint had said. She was finger-combing her hair and preparing to put it back up. "Is it ready yet?" She called.

"Just about." Clint responded. "Hold your horses, girl."

Kate groaned and tossed her hair into another messy bun. "I need caffeine."

"It's coming, it's coming." Clint assured her. The last few drops were just falling into the pot. He pulled it out and got a mug ready for each of them. "Come on, let's sit down, and you can- oh, hey." He was interrupted by Kate coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. He awkwardly tried to reach around and stroke her hair. "It'll be okay, Katie. That guy was an ass."

"A gigantic one." Kate agreed, her voice muffled against Clint's back. "I want to rip his throat out."

"Yeah, don't do that." Clint nudged her hand with her mug. "Not good for the Hawkeye name."

"Now you're the ass," Kate cracked a small smile, accepting the mug and letting Clint go so she could sip at the still-piping hot beverage. "But I guess I'm stuck with you." She playfully bumped Clint's hip with her own.

"Yup, for life." Clint elbowed her in retaliation. "Couch?"

"After you," Kate gestured into the living room with her free hand. Clint sat down on the couch with his arm up on the back. Kate sat as close as she could get and leaned back so she was lying against his side with her legs stretched out along the rest of the couch. He draped his arm around her shoulder, and she reached up to hold that hand with her own. The two Hawkeyes sat together and talked for a while.

After a few hours of sitting and talking, Kate found herself just about entirely forgetting about Noh-Varr as she relaxed into the loose hold and let herself be enveloped in Clint's scent. She was feeling a lot less murderous now and a lot calmer. The ends of her sentences were trailing off, and the now-empty coffee mug ended up on the floor. "You need to go to bed, Katie?" Clint asked quietly, nudging her with his shoulder.

"Hmm?" Kate groggily cracked her eyes open. "No. I wanna stay… Here…" She allowed her head to fall so her face was turned toward Clint's, and she snuggled a little closer.

Clint was starting to get tired, as well, so he reached his arm across Kate's hip to get a more hug-like position and tilted his head to rest it on top of hers. It was a good thing, Kate thought as she slipped into unconsciousness, that he couldn't see her face from that angle, because she really didn't want to have to explain her gigantic smile.

4.

It was finally Kate Bishop's 21st birthday, and she felt… Apathetic.

Drinking had never seemed like that big a deal to Kate. Growing up in a rich household had ensured that she was allowed to have a bit of wine with dinner or a flute of champagne at fancy parties from a young age. Even after moving out of her parents' place, Clint would always let her have some beer if he was drinking in the apartment (never on the roof or anything, though. He didn't want to risk his public record for something so small, which was cool with Kate). If she ever wanted alcohol, there were always ways to get it, was the point. Celebrating her ability to drink seemed… Pointless, if she was being honest, especially with New Years' just a few days away.

The day so far had been… Nice, she supposed. She woke up to a text from Billy saying that he and Teddy were at her door with interdimensional brunch (courtesy of one Miss America Chavez), which was lovely. They also brought with them a purple teddy bear that every member of the team (save for Loki, of course) had signed and doodled on in silver marker.

After the leftovers were boxed up and the boys left, she had gone to celebrate with her family. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but they were sweet and she got to spend time with her sister again, which was always nice. Once that was over, she left for Clint's apartment to hang out and play with Lucky. They had planned on ordering a pizza and knocking back some wine coolers (Kate's choice; she was so done with Clint's pretentious and revolting IPAs), and she had been looking forward to it all day.

Kate let herself in, announcing her presence to the older archer, but the words died on her lips when she saw that she and Clint were not alone in the small apartment. Joining them were the rest of the senior Avengers, all dressed and ready to party.

It turned out that Clint had mentioned at one of the team meetings how her 21st was coming up, and Tony had gotten it in his head that they needed to give her a big bash. It was due to this that Kate was currently sitting at a high-top table in one of the most exclusive nightclubs in the city, sipping on her tequila sunrise and watching the Avengers get down.

Well, she was watching Steve and Thor arm-wrestle with Bruce as the referee while Sam entertained Wanda with some stories and Clint and Natasha danced together nearby (Kate realized that she had never seen either of them dance before. Clint was surprisingly good at it, able to nearly effortlessly keep up with Natasha the ex-ballerina), but for all of them, that totally counted as getting down.

Kate was pulled from her thoughts by another body sliding into the seat directly to her right. She looked away from the dance floor to identify her new companion as THE Iron Man - Tony Stark. "Hi, Mr. Stark." She smiled, yelling slightly to be heard over the music.

"Oh, come on," Tony waved at the air. "You can drop the formalities; just call me Tony. After all, you're an Avenger, right?"

"Well, a Young Avenger." Kate shrugged.

"You're pretty much an Avenger." Tony pointed out.

"Thank you!" Kate giggled. "I am always trying to tell Clint that."

"Ignore Hawky. He doesn't know what he's talking about half the time." Tony responded.

"He doesn't even know which of his arrows are which. I had to help him label them." Kate agreed.

The pair laughed together and settled into a brief silence.

"So." Tony put his hands up on the table, clasping them loosely in front of him and leaning into Kate's ear so he could be heard better. "Tell me one thing, Miss Kate Bishop. It's your birthday, yes?"

"Yes," Kate gave her conversation partner a curious look.

"Your 21st birthday." Tony clarified.

"Mm-hmm." Kate furrowed her eyebrows as she took a sip of her drink.

"And you're very pretty."

Kate turned her head to the side to hide her surprised smile. "I, uh… Thank you, Tony." She grinned.

"And you are aware that I'm paying for all of this." Tony gestured toward the rest of the club with a small circle of his hand.

"I'm aware." Kate informed him with a sassy cock of the head. "And I really appreciate it."

"Good, you're supposed to." Tony joked back at the young woman. "But tell me. How is it that a pretty girl, on her 21st birthday, with one of the most famous billionaires in the world footing the bill, has been sitting alone at this table with the same cocktail for the past hour?"

Kate shrugged and pushed some hair behind her ear. "I guess I'm just not… Entirely sure what to do here." She admitted, tipping her now mostly-empty glass up to her lips.

"Come on." Tony nodded over to the bar and got down from the chair. "Let me show you how it's done."

As it turned out, drinking with Tony was a lot different than drinking at a fancy cocktail party with Mr. Bishop's friends. It wasn't long before Kate was completely hammered. She flirted around and got several guys' phone numbers until Clint's protective instincts took over and he roped her back in. He himself was decently buzzed, though, so she got off without too much of a scolding.

As the night died down and everyone grew a little mellower, Tony invited everyone to the Avengers Tower to just relax and get some post-drinking food in their stomachs. Kate giggled and allowed Tony to help her out the door and into the limo that he had called for the group. (Special occasions and whatnot, plus he didn't want anyone flying the jet after they had just spent the past six hours at a nightclub.) She sprawled across his lap in the backseat, playing with the collar of his shirt and giggling every time he swatted her hands away. This lasted until Clint pulled her off of the billionaire (to a cry of "protective mama bird!" from Kate) and into her own seat.

Unsurprisingly, Kate was still very drunk when they arrived back at the tower. As the older Avengers got out of the car, she held her arms up to Clint, who rolled his eyes but ultimately allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck so he could pull her out. She didn't let go after they were on the sidewalk, though, no matter how hard he tried to pry her fingers apart. Exasperated, he scooped the smaller archer up off of her feet and carried her inside like a child who had fallen asleep on a car trip. ("Protective mama bird," teased Natasha. Clint wasn't foreseeing that one going away anytime soon.)

They all piled onto the elevator together and spilled out into the living room, Kate still cradled in Clint's arms. The older adults made the decision to relax and chow down on some of the snacks in the cupboard.

Clint awkwardly sat himself and Kate down on the couch while the others grabbed and prepared some snacks (popcorn in the microwave, Pop Tarts in the toaster, chips and dip in their serving dishes… the usual). Clint was relieved to feel Kate's grip loosen around his neck, but the respite was brief as she adjusted to wrap herself more fully around him.

"What are you doing?" Clint chuckled, watching her squirm into a new position with her arms around his chest and her legs crossed behind his lower back.

"We're cuddling now." Kate insisted as she snuggled her head forcefully into the crook of his neck.

Clint shook his head and laughed, but he put his arms loosely around her hips and shifted into a more comfortable position nonetheless.

It was awkward for the first half hour or so; the Avengers kept teasing the "mama bird" (god dammit, Kate.), and Kate would occasionally kiss Clint's neck or collar bone, completely ignoring the other senior Avengers as they all talked about life, hero work, and whatever else came to mind. It seemed like ages before Clint noticed that Kate was softly snoring into his shirt. He smiled and leaned down to nuzzle her head a bit. Wanda was the first one to point out a few minutes later that both of the Hawkeyes were out cold, still holding onto each other. It was a sweet sight.

And if it just so happened that that sweet sight made for a perfect new contact photo for Clint in the database and everyone's phones, that protective, old mama bird would have to deal with that.

5.

Kate Bishop was one determined girl.

WOMAN, she corrected herself. She was a woman now. She had been in JAIL. And she had cracked some intense cases without the help of any of the Avengers. Not even Clint. In fact, she was on her way to go SAVE Clint. You go, Kate-o-Potato.

She rolled her neck and checked the GPS on her phone again. It was almost 10:00, and she still had over fourteen hours of driving left before she got to New York. Despite her anger and determination to get back and rescue her friend (even though he didn't know he needed rescuing yet), she found herself getting sleepy. She pushed it away as long as she could, but adrenaline could only carry her so far.

But no, wait, she could do this. She was Kate futzing Bishop. She could handle a little tiredness.

Just as she decided on sticking it out, though, a sign caught her eye. "Rest stop, 10 miles." She read out loud. Her face split into a grin (ow). "Lucky, we're making a pit stop."

The dog perked his ears up and wagged his tail at hearing his name. Kate took that as a sign that this was a good idea, and she changed lanes to pass the person she was stuck behind and get ready to hunt down some coffee.

The ten miles to the rest stop might as well have been ten light-years, as far as Kate was concerned, but she finally (finally!) saw the glorious exit that lead to the rest stop. She was giddy with excitement over getting out of the car and stretching her legs, maybe finding some kind of food or something. And come to think of it, she kind of had to pee, too.

Oh wait. Crap. If she had to pee, that probably meant that Lucky had to pee, too. Okay, so she would take Lucky out, then use the bathroom, then see if she could hunt down some food. She should probably get him some kind of food too. And maybe a few energy drinks if she wanted to reach New York by the next afternoon. Maybe she should make a list…

Kate shook her head. Come on, you got this, Alexander-the-Kate. She pulled into a parking spot and jumped out of the car as quickly as she could.

She clipped Lucky's leash on and let him sniff around while she counted the money in her wallet. Marcus and Finch had given her some money for tolls and gas, which was SO sweet of them; they didn't have to do that, and she fully intended upon paying them back as soon as she was able.

But anyway, she figured she should probably hold onto that money and use it for its intended purpose, which left her a little less than forty dollars to spend on food and coffee. If she tried to keep it under $20 here, she could keep the rest for any kind of emergencies or something. Yeah, excellent plan, Kate. You got this. See, being an adult was easy.

When Lucky finished his business, Kate locked him back in the car and ran into the rest stop to take care of herself. She located the bathroom, splashed some cold water on her face, and went off on a search for food.

It seemed like it was Kate's lucky day; there was one of those 24-hour fake-Mexican food joints there that had crazy-cheap prices. She could probably get, like, fifteen tacos and still have enough money for coffee from the gas station across the parking lot. She squealed and ran up to the line (which was only a couple of people deep) to order.

When it was her turn, Kate got herself a whole mess of fast food (her stomach was NOT going to be happy later, but her wallet sure would be) and a couple of caffeinated drinks. She would still grab some of that gas station coffee, though. She and Lucky could sit and eat their tacos together. Wait, was taco seasoning bad for dogs? She sure hoped it wasn't. Well, he wasn't going to be eating a ton of it, at least. She was sure he'd be fine (hopefully).

When Kate's order was up, she snatched the bag and a couple of packets of hot sauce and happily took it out to the car. Lucky started begging the second the smell of the food hit his nose. "No, boy." She wagged a finger in his face. "Be patient. First, we need to get coffee. Then we can chow down." She tucked the food away into the glove compartment where Lucky couldn't get at it and ran to grab that coffee. Fortunately, there was no one in the gas station, so it was a very quick in-and-out. It wouldn't be long now before she'd be back on the road.

Kate returned to the car and pulled out a couple of the tacos (and the cinnamon-flavored dessert things that she couldn't talk herself out of) for her meal with Lucky. The dog was excited to eat some human garbage (seriously, Clint, get your dog some damn dog food. He is way too used to this). Kate was just happy to be out of that car for a few minutes. She sipped at her coffee and chowed down on her own taco while watching Lucky decimate his. She let him run around on the leash for a little bit as she finished her cinnamon thingies and coffee, but then it was time to get back in the car and get back on the road.

Starting now.

Okay, now.

Come on, Kate-White-Way, you can do this.

Come on!

But Kate couldn't bring herself to start the car. She was exhausted. All of the craziness of the last few weeks was finally starting to catch up to her, and all she wanted was to be back in New York, curled up on Clint's couch while he chattered on about arrows or last night's Dog Cops or whatever the gossip was in the apartment building this week or SOMETHING.

It was the first time in weeks that she realized that she wasn't really angry at Clint anymore. In fact, she was starting to kind of… See where he was coming from? Thinking about it, she herself had kind of pulled away from her team because it was awkward being around Noh-Varr. And she'd distanced herself from her father and sister because she was still mad about them replacing her mother. Kate sighed. Is this what growing up was? Realizing that you might have been wrong? Because this sucked.

She was stirred from her thoughts by Lucky's slobbery tongue flopping itself across her face. "You miss home, too, don't you, buddy?" She scratched the dog behind the ear and nuzzled his face.

"I bet you miss your daddy." She kissed Lucky's forehead and wrapped him into her arms. "How he always had pizza for you to steal and people all around for you to play with… And how he always was ready to romp around the apartment with you, even when he was banged up… And how he always had your back in a fight, and how he would entertain you with circus stuff when you got hurt, and… And how he would sit with you and hold you for hours when you just needed someone to be there…"

Kate choked back a sob that appeared out of nowhere. She had only just now noticed that she was crying, and that she really missed her mentor. Lucky lifted his head to lick away Kate's tears, and she found herself crying even harder the more she tried to stop.

This was it, there was no way she was going to be able to drive any more tonight. She took Lucky into the back seat, balled some clothes up to use as a pillow, and curled up with the dog underneath a couple of sweaters. She just wanted Clint to hold her right now. She wanted to not be fighting with him anymore. She just wanted to be with him.

Kate laughed through her tears. God, this all sounded like she was in love with him or something. But that would be crazy… Right? She huddled closer to Lucky and thought back on her relationship with Clint over the past four years, from finding out he was alive and challenging him to a shooting contest for the name to starting to work together with him to their adventure in Madripoor…

Oh god, she might be in love with Clint Barton.

"Ugh, Kate-Wall-of-China, what have you gotten yourself into now?"

+1.

Kate Bishop's heart was pounding as she reached the door of Clint's apartment. She had taken as few stops as possible after waking up that morning in the car, Lucky still curled up with her. She needed to get back to Clint.

Lucky looked up at her expectantly. He recognized his home, and he probably wanted to get in there just as badly as Kate did. And god, did she want to get in there. She just… Needed a moment. She had to collect herself before going in.

This was stupid. It was 11:00 at night. Clint was probably still awake and watching some dumb show on TV or trying to figure out his toaster or something. He was going to notice sooner or later that there was a shadow at his door. She had to just man up and open the door.

So she took a deep breath and lifted the key to the lock. She stared at it for a few seconds before finally plunging it into the lock and opening the door slowly. "Clint?" She called cautiously.

Oh, god. The lamp in the living room was on. She wasn't really ready for him to see her like this. What was she thinking? She should just go now and come back in the morning.

But of course, as luck would have it, Lucky was getting impatient and wanted to go in and see Clint. The dog pushed through the door and over a scattered pile of papers to the couch where Clint was – Sleeping. Oh. Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

Or not. Lucky was excited to be back in the apartment and started nosing and licking at Clint's unconscious form. The man stirred and groggily sat up. "Lucky?" Kate heard him murmur from across the room. As she watched him swing his legs over the edge of the couch and sit up to greet the dog, she noticed something strange. Something purple, sitting just behind his ear. "Where did you come from?" Clint continued. He rubbed Lucky's head and turned to look at the door. "Kate?"

"Hi, Clint," Kate breathed. She fingered the edge of the door and bit her lip. "I'm home."

Clint continued staring at the doorway and absently rubbing his dog's head. "Are you going to come in or just stand there?"

Kate stepped forward cautiously, closing the door gently behind her. As she stepped into the light, she could hear Clint let out a low whistle. "Jesus, Katie," he said in astonishment. "You look awful."

The tension of the moment was broken somewhat. Kate let out a small chuckle. "Futz off, Barton."

She took the last few steps to bring her over to her fellow Hawkeye and wrapped her arms around him in the tightest hug she could muster. Clint immediately stopped petting Lucky and returned her hug. "You don't smell like lilacs anymore." He whispered into her hair.

Kate laughed softly. "It's really good to be back here," she breathed.

Clint pulled back from the hug and looked Kate in the eyes. "One more time?" He said.

Loud. He was too loud. Kate looked at the bright purple hearing aids in his ears and shook her head slightly. She saw his gaze fall to her mouth as she started talking. "Clint, what happened to you?"

With one hand, Kate reached out to touch one. The pair didn't break eye contact as she felt its hard plastic underneath her fingertips and let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Clint, in turn, placed a gentle, calloused hand underneath her chin and turned it slightly so he could look at her injuries.

"I could ask you the same thing, you know." He pointed out. Kate swallowed and continued staring him straight in the eye. The eye contact was only broken when Clint took her chin, which was still resting on his hand, and moved it closer to himself. He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

Kate's breath hitched. He was so close. She could easily just tilt her head and brush against his lips right now. She was so tempted, but she knew she didn't want to ruin anything. He had made his thoughts on her clear after they hijacked the circus. But god, he was just so CLOSE.

She was saved from her internal struggle by a soft whisper coming from the very lips that she was trying not to think about. "Are you spending the night?"

She nodded against his forehead.

"Do you want to come share the bed?"

Again, Kate nodded. She felt his forehead leave hers, and she was suddenly very cold. She opened her eyes carefully, as if doing anything too quickly would shatter the moment, and watched him take the hearing aids out of his ears and set them on the end table by the couch. He nudged at some of the papers on the floor with his foot and gestured toward his bedroom door – after you.

Kate entered his room and pulled the covers back, lying on her side as she waited for Clint to join her. He turned off the lamp in the living room, closed the door, and climbed into bed so that he was face-to-face with the younger archer.

He slid an arm underneath her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. She rested her head against it, feeling more than hearing his heart beating against his ribs. She tangled their legs together while slipping her arms around his waist. Clint reached down to cover them with the blanket and hugged her even closer. She nuzzled him with her head and they both lay there, sharing the moment. There was an unspoken agreement that all would be explained in the morning, but for now, they just needed to be here.

Kate could never say for certain if it was real or just a dream, but just as she was crossing the line between awake and asleep, she could swear that Clint whispered a soft "I missed you" and kissed the top of her head.

She didn't think she wanted to know which it joojfoeef