YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE AWESOME RESPONSES TO THESE CHAPTERS IT LITERALLY MAKES MY WEEK.
THIS CHAPTER IS A LOT OF TALKING AND ANGSTIM SORRY IF IT GETS A BIT BORING FOR SOME PEOPLE BUT I PROMISE IT WILL PICK UP - ISH - IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.
Clint pushed her hands off of his shoulder, running from the room. Natasha and Phil watched him go with a sad look, the twenty four year old girl letting her head fall into her hands.
"I'm going to go talk to Fury. Maybe he can…" Phil trailed off, shaking his head as if he had no idea what Fury could do. SHIELD required an agent's hearing to be a minimum of -10 to 20 dB. Coulson left the Russian alone, briefly thinking that Clint would be angry if he knew Phil was leaving her alone again.
Director Fury didn't even flinch when the door to his office cracked against the wall and a completely crazed looking Agent Coulson paced into the room, stalking back and forth in front of his cluttered metal desk with his hands pulling at his already short hair. Fury closed out of the audiology report that had shown up in his inbox minutes earlier, and started following Phil with his eye.
"You can't fire him." Phil finally said, dropping into the chair and slumping forward.
"I know." Fury replied. Coulson didn't hear him, lost in his own panicked thoughts.
"He has nowhere else to go, Director."
"I know."
"If we kick him out he will be just as lost as before I found him."
"I know."
"There's got to be something you can… Wait – what?"
"Agent Coulson, I'm not a sentimental person. You know this. But you and I both know I'm rather attached to those insane partners. They drive me absolutely crazy, they've torn apart my base more times than I could ever hope to count, they scare off my agents, are constantly trying to kill each other, they make it their job to make my life harder than it already is, they spend seventy-five percent of their time on my base sneaking out of medical and making the nurses cry and they are in constant need of a babysitter, but Phil, they're part of this team." Fury explained. "And I will do everything in my power to help that archer keep his job." Phil blinked blankly at his boss, processing the admittance.
"I… What did you have in mind, sir?" Coulson asked simply after a minute of silence, pierced only by Phil's uneven breathing. Fury slammed a dull colored file folder down in front of Coulson, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his chest.
"I have no intention of letting one half of my best partnership walk away, agent." he concluded lowly, walking out of the room with his black trench coat flaring behind him.
Phil flipped open the file, thumbing through the hearing aid blueprints, pages and pages of notes on ways to make the device smaller, water proof, indestructible, undetectable, contacts lists of SHIELD's best mechanics and scientists. Leave it to Fury to compile this much information within the hour. Coulson's mind was suddenly completely occupied by hope.
Clint tilted his head back against the trunk of the tree he was sitting up against, one knee pulled up to his chest as he observed the few people who were restless or romantic enough to stroll around Brooklyn Bridge Park late at night. He imagined the sounds he knew he should've been hearing; the quiet sound the wind made on the water just a few yards away from where he was. The faint sounds of people laughing he would've been able to hear just before the giggles would get lost in the wind he could feel whipping against his rough face. The occasional sound of a dog barking could usually be heard as its owner walked by, deep in thought.
But all Clint Barton heard was deafening silence. It made him want to scream – anything that had the possibility of breaking the quiet bubble encasing his mind – but he didn't. It made the infamous Hawkeye want to cry thinking about the things he would never be able to hear again. He would never hear Natasha's genuine laugh when he was lucky enough to elicit the rare sound from her. He would never hear her smooth seductive voice that he had fallen so deeply in love with. He would never hear her heartbeat again on nights when one or the other woke from a nightmare. Worst of all, he would never again hear her tell him she loved him. Still, he didn't cry, only remained completely still, staring up at the stars that were invisible due to the endless city lights.
Out of the corner of her eye, Natasha saw Phil approach, carefully so as not to spook the assassin. She focused on anything other than the music blaring into her ears through the headphones. Romanoff struggled in vain to hear anything over the booming bass beat of the music, finding it beyond frustrating. Phil stepped forward and pulled the headphones away from her ears.
"You'll damage your hearing." Phil muttered blandly. She shrugged. "What were you doing?" he asked, expecting the silence he got. "You wanted to know what it felt like." He guessed. Her eyes flitted toward him and he knew he'd been right. "I borrowed sound cancelling headphones from the shooting range." He admitted shamelessly.
"They won't fire him." She said with forced coolness.
"No?" he responded warily.
"No. I told Fury I'd walk away with him without a second thought." She said honestly.
"Would you really?" he asked.
"Would she really what?" Clint interjected suddenly. Natasha spun around to see Clint leaning against the door frame in the shadows dressed in his usual cargo pants and SHIELD tee shirt. Natasha looked down at the tennis shoes and instantly knew he'd been running.
"Walk away if they fire you." She answered without hesitation. His eyes widened in surprise.
"You wouldn't." he replied darkly after working for a minute to figure out what she'd said. "I wouldn't let you." He walked forward until he was standing in front of her, chest to chest. "SHIELD is your life Tasha."
She shook her head.
"You're wrong." She said slowly. She splayed her palm out on his cheek, staring him dead in the eye. "You. Are. My. Life." She drew out each word so he could read her lips easier.
She knew those were one of many things he needed to know. She wasn't good with feelings and words but she would try – for Clint.
LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE PHIL/CLINT.
PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKED IT.
THE MORE REVIEWS, THE FASTER THE UPDATE.
