Wow. Thank you all so much for the follows, reviews and favorites! Made me feel really happy and work harder on the next chapter. Well, actually I have the third chapter done now but won't post it until I finish the fourth. Either way, here is chapter two!
Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye) sighed deeply as he stepped out from the 68 degree temp inside compared to the 87 degree temp outside. Being down here in Miami at the beach was nice, but Clint tended to want to stay on land more than the water. So the oceanfront property (owned by none other than Tony Stark) was rather waisted on him. Of course Natasha (a.k.a. Black Widow) always held a small fondness for swiming in the ocean. So she was enjoying the place much more then him. Right now, he could just about see her diving into the water some good distance away. From her movements, Clint could see that she was happy and enjoying the ocean. It made him sigh. There wasn't really anything but archery that made him let loose like Natasha was. And sadly, a shoulder injury (from crashing through a window onto his quiver) made him receive a ban for now. So, his troubled thoughts of Loki and Coulson's death could not be erased. More than anything, he wanted to shoot just to stop feeling guilty.
"You okay?" asked a newly familiar voice to his right. Not at all surprised to see her here, Clint forced himself to turn and smile at Stark's CEO and just announced girlfriend, Pepper Potts. Since Natasha and Clint arrived at Tony's less than modest home a few days ago, JARVIS (Tony's AI) had alerted the owner of the so called break-in and now mostly all of the Avengers were there. Only Thor (who was still in Asgard) and Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Caption America) was missing. Steve's road across the US seemed to be taking longer than the super soldier expected.
"I'm good," Clint found himself lying. Since getting released from Loki's mind control, that's just about all the archer could do to keep away from Psych. If they ever got ahold of him now, he'd be screwed for life. Thankfully, most of the others were still busy dealing with their own past mistakes to really wonder if Clint was indeed okay. Pepper, the only one without an issue, was his biggest worry. If she really got to know him, Clint was sure she'd send him to get checked up on. So, because of that fact, he never truely focused his gaze on her. And that was how he noticed Pepper had the grill lite and ready for food. But, Tony had previously mentioned, off handily, that Pepper can't cook anything edible, and neither could he. So the cooking was left to Bruce Banner (a.k.a. Hulk), Natasha or himself. All very well self taught cooks. "You cooking?"
Pepper looked momentarily confused. Until she noticed the grill prepped and ready to go. She laughed while shaking her head and backing away. Clint smirked at her reaction. Very rarely did he surprise someone with just simple words. Normally it was always attached to his sudden apperance or an arrow/bullet imbedded somewhere in their bodies. "No! I was getting it ready for Bruce! He's making us burgers and hot dogs for lunch."
Clint nodded as Pepper graced him with one of her smiles. The smile that kind of told Clint that she knew something was wrong. It was this smile that normally graced Tony's actions, not his own. And right now it worried him. He had, only seconds before, made eye contact with her. But was that enough for her to see all his problems? Thankfully, that was when Bruce came out with a huge plate filled with uncooked food. Clint quickly noted that it was piled higher than ever before. Nearly triple what the trio normally made for the small group. Bruce smiled lightly to Clint and Pepper, to which both returned one, but then Pepper noticed the enormous amount of food.
"Dear me! Is Tony planning a party without my okay?" she asked. Bruce laughed as Clint faded back, going to use her distraction as a chance to get away.
"No. Heard that Captain America was on the way. And after shwarma, I know that man's appetite is as large as my own. So we don't want to run out," Bruce mentioned sounding more relaxed than ever. That might have to do with Tony finding a new experiment idea and so he tried to release the Hulk less often now. Why Bruce hadn't just let loose to stop Tony by this point, Clint could not fathom. But, he was somewhat glad that he hadn't. Based on Natasha quick reflection from the Helicarrier, it might not always be a good thing to see the Hulk.
Clint used that moment to then quickly spin on his heel and jump down to the beach before Pepper or Bruce could even notice he was distancing himself from them. As his bare feet touched the hot sand, Clint already was starting to go for a run. Normally, he would never do something like this but recently he had taken a liking to running from his thoughts and the other Avengers. Many people had told Clint that running was a good way to think but Clint always found his mind clearing and simply focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. He almost felt like he was training, at times. And that wasn't good for it tended to bring up old memories of Coulson when he finally would stop.
It was a good thirty minutes later until Clint realized he was now missing lunch back at Stark's house. Slowing down to a walk, Clint turned and walked backwards away from the new Avengers hang-out. As much as he wanted to go back for Bruce's cooking, he really didn't want to deal with Natasha's 'are you okay' looks. She was too intuitive and Clint wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up his feel good appearance. Especially concidering just how well she was doing. It mostly felt like a slap in the face. But, if he kept on avoiding her, Natasha would really know how fucked up he was.
"Fuck," Clint cursed as he went to turn around but instead his hawk-like eyes picked up on startling red rushing closer to him. Natasha was looking for him. Groaning now, Clint stopped walking away and watched as his partner approached. It took him only a few more seconds to see that she had covered her sexy but rather small bathing suit with a light cover-up dress. Figuring she did that to only have to protection of her gun and possibly phone, Clint didn't feel as if he need to worry that she was concerned for him.
"Clint!" Natasha called from a good distance away. Clint sighed before walking toward her still running form. His earlier assumption was wrong. From where she called out, Clint could only assume she had spotted him but couldn't tell that he had stopped and waited for her. She only ever called out to him like that if she thought he was in danger. As the pair got closer to each other, Clint felt like he should just turn back now and not deal with Natasha. But it was too late. She was close enough now to slow down to a walk and her eyes flickered across his form to see what was going on. "Hey. You went for a run?"
Clint simply nodded. He didn't want to risk opening his mouth and ruining everything right now. Natasha's question had been double laced. There was the obvious one and a hidden one, for she knew how much he didn't like going for a run. So her hidden question had been 'are you alright?' Thankfully, she took his nod as an acceptance for both questions. Her eyes quickly began scanning his features and stance for any signs of an issue. But Clint had gotten much better at hidding his emotions. Ever since he found out about Coulson, Clint was able to mask his feelings. Sadly now, he was just so tired. Tired of trying to act normal. Tired of acting like he wasn't blaiming himself. And mostly tired of dealing with everyone around him.
"We're missing lunch," she mentioned, a sign that she could tell he had lied. Natasha knew that he hadn't been eating that much since the attack. So, declaring that he was missing food was now turning into a question saying 'are you lying to me?' Clint shrugged as he debated how to really answer her.
"Not hungry," was his final decision. Natasha tilted her head as his stomach let out a growl of disapproval. Clint almost audibly groaned. He just confirmed he was lying. Why did his body have to betray him? It was already bad enough that Pepper was starting to see how messed up he is, now Natasha knows he is freely lying. The only thing that could make his day worse was if Tony tried calling him gay because the billionaire claimed that if he hadn't fucked Natasha yet, then he must be. "Not in the mood for Stark, okay?"
"I'm not in the mood to deal with him but I still eat food. You've been missing how many meals?" Natasha questioned. Clint turned to face the ocean now. He missed every meal. To be honest he had only grabbed some snacks to munch on last night and before that was Shwarma with everyone else. The worst part... Before shwarma was a small peanut butter and jelly sandwich four hours before Loki took over his mind. Thinking back on it now, Clint wondered why Loki never fed them all. But as his mind focused more on the memories, Clint recalled seeing some personal eating. Then it hit him. Only people under Loki's control didn't eat because the god never ate himself. "Clint?"
"Fine, I'll go back with you," Clint conceded, tired of fighting with her. Really, he had wanted to say something like 'leave me alone woman', but the additude he used in the first word seemed to make his comment perfectly clear. Natasha's raised eyebrows showed that she understood and was shocked. Clint had never treated her so harshly. And it now made her wonder if Loki's control had changed her partner permanently. Knowing he fucked up, Clint groaned and raised a hand to rub at his eyes, forehead and temples. "Look, Tasha, I'm sorry I'm being such a prick. I'm just tired."
"I thought you were sleeping fine?" Natasha mentioned, her concern growing. Clint turned away from her and began walking. After a few seconds, the archer realized he was walking toward the ocean. Spinning back around, he noted that Natasha only shifted slightly so as to better watch him.
"Sometimes. Not often enough," Clint half lied. In actuality, he barely slept more than an hour and took many naps to hide that fact from her. But that wasn't nearly enough. Especially now that he had to avoid more than just Natasha or... Clint frowned as his mind focused once again on his now deceased handler. Could it really have only been three days since he died? Was it seriously only five days ago that Clint was unmade? "God, Nat! I just want it all to be over."
"All of what?" Natasha lightly pressed. She didn't want to scare him off now. This was the first time he mentioned something was bothering since the medical room. Clint spun away for a moment and she feared that he was clamming up again. But when he slowly turned back to look at her again, his eyes looked thousands of years older than they had only seconds before. His wall was finally down.
"The guilt," Clint began but was stopped by the sounds of ringing. Natasha groaned as she went and dug her phone out of a concealed pocket. Her eyes watching Clint with an apologetic look until they focused on the name of the caller. All she could do was grimace. Clint, who had been using these precious moments to rebuild his wall, smirked. That particular grimace was only reserved for one person; Maria Hill. Though they had been getting along better, Natasha still didn't fully care for the other woman. Hell, she almost felt like chucking her phone in the ocean to avoid answering the call. But, she had been having a bad feeling all day and now she wanted to speak to Hill. "Gonna answer?"
"Yeah. Meet me back at Stark's?" she asked while looking up at him. His wall was now fully erected again. The sight made her want to scream. But all he did was simply nod and walk away and she let him. When he was out of hearing range, Natasha answered. "This better be good."
"Are you with Agent Barton?" Hill responded, sharply. Too sharply. Almost as if she was under orders to call Natasha. Feeling very vunerable, Natasha tensed and focused on Clint's retreating form. "Natasha! This is serious! Are you with Barton?"
"No. And before you ask, I won't tell you where he is," Natasha snarkily replied. Hill's stressed sigh made the assassin pause. Could she really be calling for something other than debrieffing Clint? "Also, you should note that we both found the tracers in our phones, bags and weapons. All of which are removed and destroyed."
"Good," was Hill's answer back. Natasha's lower jaw dropped. Did she really hear that right?
"Good?" she muttered before looking for Clint again. He was already gone from her sight. It relieved some of her stress. Until Hill spoke again.
"Yes. Barton's in trouble."
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