Notes: Yeah, seeing the Barton boys all happy and content and getting to be part of a family for the first time warms the heart, doesn't it? Why is this so much fun? Why can't Marvel do more of this?

Chapter 14: Friendly Competition

It wasn't long after Christmas before the boys found themselves in the Jeep with K on the way to the archery tournament. Both of them were excited, and Clint was especially thrilled that his purple arrows would be easy to pick out — but K could also tell that both of them were nervous.

They wanted to do well, and this was also, for Barney, the first real 'test' of how well he'd learned and kept up his skills without Jacques.

Still, there was a whole new change that came over both of the boys once they arrived to see the small crowd gathered up — of parents, trainers, instructors, and people in the community all coming to support the kids for the tournament.

With someone to show off to, and someone to compete against, K could actually see both of them getting more confident — especially Clint, who was still short and looked small enough that some of the older kids didn't seem to believe that he was in the skill level that he signed up for.

K had to smirk when she saw Clint draw himself up with his chin jutted out. "Money where your mouth is," he told the older boys, which got a sort of snerk out of Barney. "When I win, you'll just have to be wrong. So, so wrong."

Barney was grinning as he put an arm around Clint's shoulders. "C'mon, Clint. You don't wanna get off on the wrong foot. We'll fight 'em later if they're still gonna pick on someone half their side," he said in a voice that the other boys could still hear.

The other boys glanced at each other and seemed to take offense to that, but one of the instructors stepped in before things could get too out of hand and had all the kids get set up with their targets, reminding everyone of the scoring system.

"You will each shoot three arrows in each round," she told them. "A perfect thirty will get you an extra prize, but the goal here is just to do your best." She flashed the kids a smile. "And good luck."

Clint's group went first — though he and Barney were at the same skill level. This was where most of the kids were, so they shot in groups and then stepped aside for the next group… and the Barton boys had decided that there had to be one of them in each line.

After all, they wanted to show off.

The first group of five hit the line at the same time, though the kids took varying amounts of time to get set up. Clint took a moment to set his stance, remembering to set his gaze on the target, drawing his string back so that his hand was resting at about his jawline…

He let his arrow fly, and he couldn't stop the grin when he hit the line right on the red and yellow — which still counted as nine points. He adjusted his sights so he wouldn't shoot as high and then grinned over his shoulder at Barney, checking out the other kids' shots. Most of them were about where he was — there was one kid who looked like he'd been doing it for a while that got on the yellow, a nine-pointer too.

When Barney's group took their turns, Clint wasn't surprised to see that his brother got on the red the first shot — eight points — and from there, it was just a matter of honestly showing off.

Once the boys had their groove, they were shooting consistently, reds and yellows most of the way. It was the product of practicing as often as they did — practically every other day — but K was also sure that competition had a lot to do with it too. The boys were checking themselves and their posture, their positions, their hands, their grips — all of it was far more meticulous than when it was just the two of them in the repurposed barn.

The instructor looked impressed by the time the younger shooters were done, though Barney and Clint were more focused on needling each other as they headed over to K.

"Did you see that?" Clint asked, bouncing on his toes. "I got a twenty-six!"

"Not bad," she said with a little smirk. "I'm not surprised though. You've been practicing."

"I got a twenty-five," Barney said. "I was, like, this close to the line, though."

"Still less than me," Clint sang to his brother, who shoved him in the shoulder and rolled his eyes.

"Aww, shut up, Clint."

"You're just jealous!"

"Yeah, because getting shown up by my baby brother is real fun," Barney said.

Clint shook his head at that. "I'm not a baby!"

"It'd probably be a different story with knives," K reminded both of them.

"Oooh, yeah, that's true," Clint said, nodding seriously. "You'd totally win if it was knives."

Barney smirked and straightened up a bit, though it was clear that he didn't realize he was doing it. "Yeah, I'd totally wipe the floor with everyone."

Clint grinned even wider at that before he and Barney ducked out to get the ribbons and the golden arrows — which, of course, only had them more energetic and excited to show off their winnings to K.

"Oh yeah, this was a good idea, alright," K said, nodding her head when she saw the expressions on their faces. "Does this mean you want to come back for the Valentine's Day one too?"

"Yes please!" Clint sang out, with Barney nodding seriously beside him.

She gestured to where the sign-up sheet was. "Go ahead. Sign up now then you know you're in."

The boys raced each other to the sheet, which had a few people chuckling. "Where'd you find them?" one of the men asked, grinning K's way.

"What's it to you?" K shot back. "You know I just like to see them do well, right? That's why I helped your boy a few years back."

The man smirked, glancing toward his own little brown-haired boy, who was shooting with the older kids at the moment. "Well, yeah, but you just show up with a couple boys who can outshoot everyone — you gotta know we want to know more."

"They're mine. What more is there to know?" she asked, tipping her head to the side.

"Did you just pick them up out of an archery tournament?" he teased.

"No, the heavens opened up, and they floated down on gossamer clouds. Come on."

He had to laugh at that. "Okay, okay," he said, holding up both hands.

She made her way over to him and let her voice drop lower. "Come on. Kids their age have a hell of a time finding families. Especially together."

At that, he dropped his teasing smile and nodded, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Couldn't ask for a better mom," he said.

"I already told you I'm not adopting you," she laughed, though she hadn't seem bothered by the teasing anyhow. "You couldn't pass the shooting test."

"I knew it!" he laughed, shaking his head before he headed off to go cheer on his boy, leaving K with her two excited boys brimming with energy.

"D'you think they'll do lots of Cupid decorations?" Clint was asking Barney as they caught up to K. "That seems like an archery-Valentines thing, right?"

"Umm, maybe?" Barney said, one eye closed as he considered the possibility. "I dunno. But I'm not wearing a diaper," he added, crossing his arms.

"You're not gonna make me where one either!" Clint said quickly.

"Well, you are the baby brother," Barney pointed out.

"I'm not gonna do it!"

"You gotta; you're the baby."

"Mom!" Clint rushed over to K. "Mom! I don't wanna be a Cupid!"

"So don't," she said. "No one says it's a rule. But if your brother wants to push, I vote he has to put on a toga."

"What's a toga?" Clint asked.

"It's a bedsheet," Barney said, pulling a face with his tongue sticking out.

"More or less," K laughed. "Bedsheet and a rope."

"Like a really bad Halloween ghost?" Clint asked, mimicking Barney's face from earlier.

"Especially that time of year," K said. "February is even colder than January. And you can't wear pants with a toga — so there would be a breeze where there should not be."

Both of the boys shuddered at that. "No way," they said, almost in unison.

"Hey, I've worn short dresses in this weather. I don't want to hear speculative whining," K pointed out.

"And your legs didn't freeze off?" Barney said, his eyebrows high.

Clint leaned over and tapped Barney on the shoulder to sign, it's the healing, to him, and Barney's eyebrows went even higher as he looked K's way. "Really?" he asked.

"Well a little bit. The cold doesn't bother me very much," K said. "Unless I get wet. Then that's an issue, but otherwise …"

"Yeah, being wet and cold is the worst," Clint agreed, wrinkling his nose.

Barney was nodding, though he kept frowning K's way, watching her quietly as they headed back to the Jeep — though that was as long as he was willing to wait before he blurted out, "Okay, so… what?"

"What what?" K asked, turning his way, still smirking.

"What… what healing?" he asked.

"Oh," she said before she cleared her throat a little. "Well. I heal fast."

"Like real fast," Clint said, his eyes wide. "I saw her cut her hand and there was no blood, like, a minute later!"

"That's…" Barney tipped his head to the side, watching K. "Huh."

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" she asked. "Because I have no control over that."

"Well," Barney said slowly, drawing out the one word for a long time. "Well… I live with a buncha circus freaks... so I can't really judge, right?"

She tipped her head and sighed. "I suppose that's one way to look at it. But Clint can tell you the rest — and if you have questions, I'll answer them."

Barney nodded, and that was really all the permission Clint needed to launch into an explanation of what he knew — that K could heal, that she could bounce back from even big stuff… which, he said, he knew because she'd said that there were bad guys who wanted to use her because she could get shot and still fight for them.

"And," K said when Clint was all talked out. "I have enhanced senses."

"Like… like X-ray vision?" Barney asked.

"Oh that would be cool, no," K said in an almost awed tone. "I have excellent vision and night vision — so I can see in very low light, my hearing is well above normal, and I can decipher scents better than … pretty much anything I'm aware of." She shrugged. "Nothing too exciting, really."

"Oh, okay. So you're like… like if everyone else had a cold and you were normal, except different…"

"I like that," K said. "Good description."

Barney grinned at that. "Well, okay. So… so you have bad guys comin' after you… like ... like Jacques or like bad guys?"

"Comparatively, I don't think Jacques is too bad," K said. "Stupid. Self-centered, sure. But not necessarily bad."

Barney let out a low whistle. "That's… that's kinda crazy."

"Hey, I didn't ask for it," she said frankly but in a very easy tone.

"Did you just… wake up that way? Did you fall in, like, a vat of toxic sludge or something?"

"Oooh, that would be a good story," she said. "Maybe I should use that, No." She smirked at him. "I was maybe ten when it kicked in."

Barney was quiet for a long time before he seemed to straighten up and turned her way. "Did ... did you … are you a mutant?"

"I am," she said. "Something else I had no choice in, but I get it if you don't want to get too cozy."

Barney bit his lip, obviously thinking it over before he glanced over at Clint and then let his shoulders drop as he shook his head. "No, no… I just…" He let out a breath. "No, I just wasn't expecting it? We got a couple in the circus, but you can't tell nobody, okay? They don't want people to know."

"I'm in the same kind of boat," K agreed. "I don't really talk about it."

"Well…" Barney looked back at Clint. "I guess if Clint's gonna have a new mom… one that is real hard to kill would… um. That would be better than… before…" he said, trailing off as he did so.

She smiled softly at that and turned his way. "I should probably come clean and let you know that it's next to impossible to lie to me. So no one will get away with lying to either of you if I'm around."

Barney let out a low whistle. "How do you do that?"

"Some of it's body language — the way someone's eyes dart one way or another, things like that. But the rest of it is that I can smell it when someone tries to be deceitful."

"That is kinda cool," Barney said. "I wish I could do that."

"I can teach you the other stuff," she said. "The body language and whatnot. That's nearly as reliable."

"Can I learn that too?" Clint chimed in from the backseat. "I wanna keep up! If both of my favorite people know that stuff, I wanna do it too!"

"I think you should," K agreed. "It's useful, and it might save you some trouble down the road."

"Yeah, and when I'm grown up, I can totally make sure nobody lies to kids too!" Clint said, his eyes wide.

Barney glanced at K and smirked lightly. "Yeah. That's a good life plan."