Message to everyone:
Thank you sooooo much for putting up with my gaps between posting. I've been posting around once every week and a half for my four stories, so I think I'm doing okay considering my first exam was this Wednesday. :) Anyway, THANK YOU and I hope you enjoy the chapter. There is a poll on my profile for Riley's hero name if you want to check it out and VOTE!
Response to reviews:
Chescacat - Thank you so much for reviewing :) Glad you liked it
ClintandNatasha - Yeah, but a slow build makes it worthwhile in the end ;) Yeah, I think they have a cute father and son relationship, much like Clint and Wanda have a father and daughter relationship in the movies.
"You're being all weird will her."
"I am not being all weird with her."
"You're being all weird with her and you know it," Clint said, finishing tightening the wraps around his wrists.
The newbie, Riley, was boxing across the room from us, looking quite skilled in the art. I didn't trust her, but I knew she was skilled at her job. It didn't mean I had to like her.
"You could try and be a little more warming?" He suggested. I just gave him a blank stare and he put up his hands in defeat. "My bad!" I shoved him playfully onto the mats and he laughed. "Playing rough today, Widow?"
"I don't need to play rough to beat you," I told him with a smirk. He shook his head as he walked over to the side of the mats, clenching and unclenching his fists as he prepared himself.
"You're going down, Widow." He settled into a ready stance and I went to my place across the mat, my hands in fists protecting my face.
"You're going down, Hawk." He smiled and then we began our fight. We ran towards each other and as soon as he was close enough, I swung my leg out to knock Clint off his feet.
He jumped, immediately aiming a punch for the left side of my face. I ducked and attempted to kick Clint in the face, but he quickly caught my foot before it could make an impact. He pulled my legs towards him, making me have to hop in order not to break a bone.
He grabbed my shoulders and tried to get me on the ground, but I resisted and managed to escape his hold. He was strong, but I was quick and could sneak out of or into places easily. He came at me, throwing three fists in a row, all of which i avoided, before I charged against him, wrapping my arms around his stomach as I tried to get him down. I swung my legs round, causing him to fall backwards as I acted like a barrel for him to fall over.
He was down and I was immediately straddling him, quickly trying to grab his arms before he could attack back. Unfortunately for me, he did. He grabbed my waist and chucked me off of him, sending me flying across the mats. Anyone would've thought Clint had super strength from the muscles he had. Obviously, he was no Captain America, but he was very toned. I grunted and pushed myself upwards, Clint also managing to get back on his feet.
"Still confident you're gonna win?" he asked, a smug smile tugging at his lips. I rolled my eyes and went back into action, throwing punches at his face this time, managing to hit him with one of my two. It was strong, but not strong enough to seriously hurt him. He scowled at me and swept my legs from under me, but I quickly put my hand on the floor and pushed myself up.
We carried on sparring for about twenty more minutes until I winced when Clint slammed me to the floor, his body weight pressing down on my wound. Hissing from the pain, Clint immediately took his body weight off of my, coming to the side of me and placing his hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" He asked worriedly and I nodded, sitting up.
"Stop fussing, I'm fine." I said, hoping that he wouldn't worry about me so much. "It's just my stitching."
"Can I check?" Clint always asked before doing anything. He was sweet like that. Because he knew my history, he knew that I was wary about people touching me.
I nodded and leant on my elbows as he went to my side to check the stitches. "Doesn't seem bad." He slowly put his hands on my skin and I appreciated that he took his time with me. His fingers were soft and didn't hurt me at all as he smoothed over my skin, checking for damage. He touched the cut ever so softly and it only twinged. "A little blood, but not much apart from that. I'll get another bandage."
"Thanks." I said as I watched Clint walk over to the medical kit. I looked over at Riley who was thankfully too focused on her boxing to notice my moment of weakness. I needed to show my strength, not be pathetic because of an injury.
My attention was drawn as Clint walked back to me, bandage in hand. It didn't take long to undo the current bandage and replace it with a new one. He was careful though, his skilled hands managing not to cause me much pain. He clipped it up and pulled me to a stand, not that I needed assistance.
The next thing he did surprised me. He brought his hand up and slowly took a slither of hair that was resting on my cheek that had fallen out of my ponytail during the fight. "You feeling okay now?" He asked softly as he tucked the hair behind my ear, his soft fingertips stroking it briefly before his hand came down to rest by his side again.
"Fine," I said, feeling like I was frozen. The weird thing was...I didn't hate it. It was odd, but I didn't dislike it.
He smiled sweetly and looked behind me at Riley who I nearly forgot about being in the room. I stepped away from him, suddenly wanting as much distance away from him as I could get. What was going on with me?
Clint picked up his water bottle that was placed at the side of the mats and shouted at Riley from across the room. "Hey!" The girl clinched slightly before bringing her hands to her side.
"Hey." She replied, stepping away from the punchbag to face us. She had a good physique, strong build with defined muscles. She had a good start at becoming an Avenger. Wanda had less muscle, which put her at a disadvantage.
"We are going to breakfast. Do you want to come?" I saw Clint look back and smile, realising that I wasn't going to try and be a mean bitch to her. I wanted to at least be decent with her.
She smirked and looked us both up and down. "Are you guys showering first or are we going to show up all sweaty and disgusting?" Hmmm, she seemed nice. Not too innocent though. She reminded me a little of Stark which was good and bad depending on which was you looked at it.
"No one gives a shit around here," Clint replied, throwing his water bottle between his hands. "We show up at breakfast like this all the time." He looked at me and scowled playfully. "Well, I do. You hardly break a sweat," he added to which I just smirked and cross my arms across my chest.
"You've got a serum in you, right?" That was what really caught my attention. The smile I had was no completely wiped off my face. Was she here to spy on us? I trusted Fury but only to a certain extent. He brought her in here to 'improve the team'. I didn't see the harm in telling her what the public and Fury already knew. I felt Clint tense up next to me, his body image changing to stiff rather than his relaxed self. Clint was very defensive over me and my abilities. Many people had tried to exploit me for it and I felt Clint feel a little more hostile towards her now she had mentioned that. I wasn't his property and he wasn't my carer, but it felt like that sometimes.
"Yeah, Rogers isn't the only super soldier around here. though, people don't tend to call me a super soldier. Anyway, breakfast?" I asked, hoping to steer away from the line of iterrogation. I wasn't much of a super soldier anyway, not nearly as powerful as Rogers, but not nearly as weak as a human. I felt Clint's tense demeanour slip away into a more relaxed posture, glad that he wasn't too upset about Riley's comment.
"Sure," she replied simply and walked over to come with us. I turned to Clint who still had a concerned look on his face. As soon as I met his eyes, I reached up and ruffled his hair slightly. A small smile came onto his face at that and he shook his head, laughing slightly to himself.
"Do you know how many times we've asked fury to recruit you?" Clint asked after we excited the gym and started walking towards the kitchen. The interior of the building was plain, bland, and it always made me forget that we were still flying. It felt like we were taking years to reach our destination in New York.
"We?" she asked as Clint opened one of the doors for us to walk through in the corridor.
"Me and Nat." I didn't argue with his statement. I'd said to Fury she was a good fighter a couple of times, but never pushed the boat out like Clint was implying. Clint had always said she was a good fighter, but he had worked with her more personally than I had. If he trusted her, then I did too, but I was unsure whether he 100% did. "Told Fury that we could make a good agent out of you with your skill set, a proper agent."
"Are S.H.I.E.L.D agents not proper agents to you, Barton?" she asked, raising an eyebrow that made me smile a little. She was funny, I'd give her that. Her and Stark would get on like a house on fire. That could be bad or good depending on whether you are the owner of the house or not.
"Well," he said, shrugging. "You've gotta start somewhere." We entered the kitchen and it was quite a scene. Wanda was at the stove, cooking something, Pietro was sitting on a stool at the end of the table and Rhodey, Steve and Sam were sitting on proper chairs around the marble table, eating poached eggs on toast. I felt sick looking at the food. In the Red Room, we were conditioned not to eat much. Food was a reward. I never really thought about food the same way after that.
"I've made some eggs if you would like some?" Wanda said, smiling at us all with a frying pan in her hand. She was so innocent.
"I would love some, Scarlet," Clint replied, hopping onto a stool beside Pietro. I didn't feel like sitting down and opted to lean against the fridge, watching the mundane scene unfold before me. That's what it was...mundane. If a photo of us would taken, it would look like a bunch of friends on a field trip somewhere staying in an airbnb, not a room full of killers. Well, I was the main killer anyway. The others did have blood on their hands, red in their ledgers, but not as much as me.
"Scarlet? I thought your name was Wanda?" Riley asked, taking a seat beside Clint. I watched her very carefully.
"Scarlet Witch is her Avengers title, remember? Speaking of, we still need one of you," Sam reminded us, turning to Riley. I zoned out for a few seconds as I stared at the food that was being passed around. I knew that I needed to eat, it was a process of living, but part of me just wanted to never eat another bite of food again. It made me feel so sick. A panicked voice took me out of my daydream.
"What if they hate me?" Riley was panicking, looking like she was about the have a panic attack.
"Who? The public?" Sam asked. She stepped off of the stool with clumsiness and started to pace back and forth, her shoulders rapidly moving up and down.
"Yeah, what happens if they hate me an-and they-" I could tell she was finding it hard to breathe and was about to tell her to calm down when a rush of wind blew past my face followed by a blue trail of energy seeping towards the ground.
Pietro had taken Riley aside, his fingers resting over her forearms as she told her not to panic. "Everything is going to be fine. You're with the Avengers now, that's a status symbol enough. Me, Wanda, Sam, Rhodey, Vision - we all have to go through the same thing as you do. We will be accepted, don't worry. They'll love you. I have no doubt about it." She had gotten to Pietro. She had definitely gotten to Pietro. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was enchanted by the woman, already being so fearful for her safety after only meeting yesterday. I sensed it from when they first met when Pietro woke up. It was bad news in my books. "Are you okay?"
He pulled his arms away as she nodded. "Hungry." she replied and the others laughed. I didn't. I didn't know what to think of her. She was a mystery, a mystery that I would have to go digging for answers about.
"Good." he replied and sped back to his seat, something that she scolded him for as he wasn't supposed to be doing that. I noticed someone's eyes watching me and immediately looked at Clint, knowing it would be him.
He mouthed to me: 'Are you okay?' I nodded and gave a small smile to assure him that I was. He nodded hesitantly and then turned back to the table. I hated how he worried. It set me on edge. I zoned out again, trying not to focus on food but failing. I just didn't feel hungry. Come on, Romanoff. There's nothing wrong with you. I went over to where the bread was stored and picked out a single slice, putting it on a plate that I got from the cupboard.
"We should be arriving in half an hour." Steve said, allowing me to turn away from the plate of food I had and focus on him. "You can have a little time to settle in and such, your bags should already be in your rooms when you arrive. Our arrival time will be about 7:30am. If everyone's comfortable with it, we would really like to start training as soon as possible. Is that alright?" Nobody objected, not that they would protest again mighty Captain America's plans. "Good. hill should be there to tell you where each place is, but you can have a look round yourselves if you want. I haven't even had the change to go around yet, but apparently, there are people in reception that have offered to take us on tours, so you should be able to find people there."
"There's staff already there?" Sam asked, scraping his scraps away into the bin. I was excited to get to the new place. The remote location meant more peace to my ears. I didn't really like the city, it was too much noise for me.
"They have been there for about a week now to make sure that everything is up and running. Everything in the rooms is clean and apparently Pepper has picked out some clothes that she thought would suit you all." I really hoped that she didn't buy me anything pink. Pepper knows that I hate pink. She wouldn't dare...
"Isn't she here?" Wanda asked, gesturing to the helicarrier around us. Pepper was one person that I actually felt like I could trust, nearly at the same level as Clint anyway.
"She wakes up very early for...yoga, I think?" Steve speculated, looking to me for answers. I nodded. Pepper loves her yoga. I had done it with her once, but soon got restless and realised that yoga is definitely not my thing.
"That woman is crazy with everything she manages to fit in with her life." Clint said, getting another coffee from the machine. Clint was obsessed with coffee. Lucky, his dog, and coffee were his two favourite things.
"And she has to look after Tony," Sam joked, but it was true. Pepper had so much shit to cope with. She had one of the hardest jobs in the world. No wonder she needed yoga.
"So, settle in at 7:30, training at mid-day, small party at 8pm." Steve didn't sound very happy when saying the last part.
"Tony?' Rhodes asked and Roger's pursed his lips in annoyance.
"Who else?" he sighed, reaching over to grab an apple from the fruit bowl in the centre of the table. "I'll see you at the bay in half an hour. Pack up and get ready to board to your new home." He took a bite out of the apple and exited the room. Home. I tossed the word around in my brain for a few seconds. Home was somewhere that I felt comfortable or in my case someone. I looked at the back of Clint's head, the man in question completely oblivious to my gaze. Was it bad for me to be so dependent on one person? Probably. Clint was my home though. Wherever he went, I went. Wherever he goes, I go. It was always like that and I hoped that it always would be. Not having Clint in my life would tear a whole in my heart, something that I didn't want to and would never admit to anyone. Clint meant a lot more to me than I realised and I shook my head at that stupid thought. I couldn't be this dependent on him. It was bad. I couldn't have him, not in the ways that I wanted. I shook my head again. I didn't want that anyway. It was stupid and...childish.
Most of the people were gone once my head finished it's miniature rant. I was passing Riley on the way to the exit and stopped, turning to her. "Are you scared?" I asked, hoping that she would give an honest opinion in return.
"A little bit, but I'm surrounded by superheroes, so i believe I have the right to be." I smirked at her response. She had spunk and a spine, but wasn't afraid to admit to how she felt. I was growing to trust her, but something was still off about her.
"You do, indeed." I replied and swiftly exited the room. Before I did, I smirked at her, making sure that I kept eye contact with her long enough to see a flicker of fear spark in her eyes. I needed to make sure that she did fear me in order for me to trust her. A requirement, I guess. I heard Clint follow me as I left the room.
"That was a bit..." I gave him a side glance as we walked back to our rooms. "Unnecessary," he said, but I guessed that he was putting it mildly.
I shrugged and replied "I don't trust her." I slowed for a second and made eye contact with him, looking at him inquisitively. "Do you?"
He pursed his lips in thought for a second as we continued walking down the corridor. "Maybe...more than you do, I bet." I nodded because he probably did.
"Meet you out here at twenty past?" He asked. I nodded and entered my room, immediately shutting the door. That was a bit rude...I just needed to shower.
I was glad that Clint understood me, understood my problems. I don't know why he put up with me all these years. He was so kind and I didn't deserve a friend like him. We weren't really friends, we were more than that. Not a brother sister relationship, but we were close. Very close. We practically knew everything about each other. Knowing that he knew so much made me feel a little vulnerable, like he would stab me in the back some day, but I could trust him. Part of me just wanted to curl up in a little ball and have him hold me, but the other part just wanted to stay in our usual routine. I sighed in my head. Why am I being so whiney?
I groaned and quickly stripped off my clothes, jumping into the shower. I was obsessed with showering, my skin usually feeling like a sticky canvas that was covered in fingerprints. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like that today. I wanted to wash because I was sweaty and because of the sparring, not because of Clint touching my skin when he was stitching me up. It was the first time that I had actually enjoyed someone's touch without feeling that I wanted to scratch at my skin. I stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, staring at my body.
What had changed? Maybe it was everything that had happened with Banner or staying in Clint's room last night, but I felt like I just wanted to be in his presence. After pretending to date Banner like that, I had no idea what he thought of me now. Perhaps he viewed me as the little girl that he first took in, prepared to strip down and shag the target to get the information. Maybe I had become that person again... I felt the itch on my skin start to rise up and I quickly turned on the shower and got in, turning the heat up.
I showered quickly, wincing a few times when I moved too quickly and stretched the skin near my stitches. Thankfully, the waterproof bandage managed to contain the bleeding. There was something peaceful about showering. Clint always showered listening to rock and roll music, much like he did in general, but I couldn't understand why he would disrupt the peacefulness of a shower, like rain on a rooftop. It was kind of sacred to me, my one place of calm. I couldn't shower forever though... I turned off the taps and reached for a pristine white towel on one of the racks. I wrapped it round me, grabbing another smaller towel to make a turban with my hair.
In five minutes, I had dried everything and changed back into my combat suit. I could hear Clint pacing outside my door as he waited for me and I realised that it had just gone twenty past seven when I looked at the clock. I quickly dried my hair and brushed it, chucking my towels in the bath once I was done. I had packed my stuff up while I was getting dressed, which didn't take very long as I always packed light.
I picked up my bag, hooking it across my left shoulder, and went to the door. Clint gave a small smile when he saw me and since having an imaginary discussion with myself naked in the mirror, I felt like I wanted to reach out to him and be close. I gave a quick smile and turned and to the door. God, this was stupid. I'd never felt like I wanted comfort before. He was the only person whose opinion of me mattered to me. It was strange. I shut the door, with more care than I did last time, and started walking with him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked. I looked ahead to the end of the corridor even though I knew his eyes were on me.
"I'm fine," I replied, happy that my voice wasn't affected by the feelings I was having. I didn't want Clint, I wasn't good enough for him even if I did. Clint was a man who most likely had a secret wife that he wasn't telling me about or something. I smiled to myself. That wouldn't be true. I would've found out. He probably still saw me as the little S.H.I.E.L.D girl he brought in. My smile dropped.
"Do you want some food before we get there?" He asked, gesturing to the kitchen as we walked past. I looked behind us, frowning at the fact I didn't even realise that we'd walked through the double doors to the bedrooms.
"No, thanks." I said, continuing to walk toward the lift. Our boots were sounding across the floor in perfect sync, like they always did.
"You didn't have breakfast." I slowed for a second, our steps now out of time and gagged in an uneven beat on the floor.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, but I knew exactly what he was digging at. I pressed the lift button, the circle lighting up, and I heard him sigh.
"You didn't have breakfast this morning, you had hardly any pizza last night-"
"Just because I don't eat like a pig, Barton," I joked, the elevator doors opening for us. We stepped in and he shook his head in a way that hinted he wasn't amused, maybe disappointed. It seemed like disappointment to me anyway.
"I'm serious, Nat." I felt like a school child being told off by the headmaster. "You can't go without eating like you were when i first got you and I've noticed you doing it for a while, not just the past day. Meals are smaller for you."
"I really don't want to talk about this right no-"
"Well, we're going to," he said with a firm tone, looking straight ahead at the elevator wall. He bit his lip and turned to me, a worried look cast across his face. I felt bad for making him so scared for me because I didn't deserve it. He switched his gaze to the ground and frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh." He looked up to meet my eyes again. "You know that I'm here if you need me," he said carefully touching his fingers against my own. It wasn't like he was holding my hand, but it was sweeter that he wasn't. It was something to show that he was there for me if I needed him.
His fingers were softly stroking mine and I refused to meet his eyes as did so. "Can we talk about it later?" I asked, my voice sounding painfully quiet and shy. I hated how I sounded when I was vulnerable.
I followed his left hand as it moved away from my fingers and rose up to stroke my cheek with his thumb, the calloused texture surprisingly being smooth. I saw his baby blues eyes stare straight into mine and noticed a small smile rise on his face. "It's okay."
The elevator dinged suddenly and he brought his hands down to his side as the elevator doors opened, making sure that no one saw the moment between us that felt a little too intimate to me. We walked out together, entering the exit hangar that most of the Avengers were gathered in. I couldn't stop thinking about that moment though.
He treated me like I was a delicate object, but I also knew he had a very high opinion of me, viewing me as a warrior rather than someone who was suited to working behind a desk. He was much stronger than me, mentally and physically, and I admired him much. The few times he had touched me during the morning had been so warm and comforting that I didn't want to break from them. Maybe I was becoming weak...
PLEASE MAKE ME HAPPY AND GIVE A REVIEW! I spend so many hours writing and planning these and I would appreciate it. Thank you for following and reading though :)
Please point out any mistakes as I don't really have time to re-read. Haha! :P
