When he came to, he found his eyes covered by a cloth. Instinctively, his other senses became tuned, and based on the smell and the sounds he heard, he concluded that he is in a basement. Unfortunately, his mouth was taped shut, and his arms and legs were tied securely to the chair he was sat on.
Shit. What the hell was he doing there? Who did this? Why does the back of his head hurt?
Then he remembered what happened before; the memories of Natasha's furious glare making his stomach roil uncomfortably. On top of that, the recollection of being struck by something quite hard made his head hurt.
A minute later, he heard near-silent footsteps approaching from behind him.
"Let me go!" Of course, the words all came out as grunts, Clint's lips sealed shut. With no reply, Clint began to struggle against his bonds with no avail.
They let him struggle for a while until he tired himself out. That was when he felt his chair tip backwards, so his feet were no longer touching the ground. His abdominal muscles strained to keep his balance, even though he wasn't in any place to control it anyway.
Another pair of hands, Clint assumed, tore the tape away from his lips. He groaned as his skin burned from the tape being ripped off.
"Jesus," he muttered.
"Actually, it's just me." Loki's smooth voice made Clint freeze. "Sorry, you were really getting on my nerves earlier. You're much less distracting down here."
Out of Clint's mouth came a string of particularly foul curse words, ending off with, "What the fuck do you want with me?" He felt another, smaller presence on his other side, quite a few feet away, probably hiding. "Who else is with you?"
"It's me," a familiar female voice said, her words as clear as Loki's. She must've moved closer to them.
"I - "
"You don't know who it is, do you? Can I un-blindfold him?" she asked Loki.
A second later, the cloth was removed from Clint's eyes, and it took him a minute to get his bearings from the sudden light. He was right; he was in a storage room, the concrete floors and walls indicating that it was likely on the lowest floor.
"Bobbi Morse?" Clint's jaw dropped. "What the hell?"
She smiled, her braces glinting from the dim fluorescent lights. "I really like you, Clint. And I knew we couldn't be together with that redhead girlfriend of yours in the way."
Clint still couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. Why would two teenage students hold a classmate – a friend, even – hostage, just because they could? Surely, the two before him couldn't be capable of such crime. Especially, Bobbi. She was such a sweet girl, and not just to Clint, but to everyone. Something wasn't adding up.
It was a prank. Clint knew it. He could almost hear their victorious thoughts raging through their heads of pranking him. But he wouldn't let them know that he knew just yet. He had to find out more first.
"You kissed Natasha because you saw me walk in," Clint realized, glaring at Loki.
"I deny nothing, but nor do I admit to anything."
"And you, Bobbi. All this time in art class, you wanted to be more than friends."
She chuckled. "I mean, it's not like I told you that, or anything," was her sarcastic response.
"I trusted you – both of you," Clint bit out, making sure to add the hurt in his tone.
Loki paced from his right to his front, staring him down. "Well, Clinton, I'm sure you learned your lesson. Now, promise to let Natasha go. Everyone will be conten-."
He was cut off by a shadow kicking his knees out from under him. A punch to the side of the head effectively knocked Loki out. Bobbi edged away from the agile figure, pressing up against the wall. Unfortunately for her, that wouldn't stop Clint's saviour. The next moment, Bobbi was unconscious and lying beside Loki, both bonded by the ropes that were previously wrapped around Clint's extremities.
"Hello, Clint." Natasha smiled smugly. "Long time no see."
"Romanoff." He nodded curtly, rotating his stiff wrists. "How'd you find me?"
"I followed Loki down here," she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I thought you ran off after our… talk."
She shrugged, dusting her hands after she tied the last knot around Loki's ankles. "I felt bad after I realized what I did. I don't like to admit it, but I may have overreacted a little."
Clint began to smirk, then admitted, "Maybe I did too. From now on, we'll have each other's backs and put our faith in one another. How does that sound?"
It was a minute reaction, but Natasha's expression flickered into something close to guilt. "Uh – well, about that…"
She was cut off by the storage room door opening with a bang. In came two burly figures, their faces shadowed by the brighter lights behind them.
"Brother!" Thor rushed over to the unconscious Loki.
"Natasha? Clint?" Steve's face became clear as he stepped closer. "What the hell is going on here?"
Clint was about to begin his long tale when Natasha cleared her throat. "It's partially my fault. This wasn't supposed to happen. How'd you find us?"
"Those wristbands that were given to you at the front doors had trackers in them. Didn't want anyone being where they shouldn't be." Tony entered the storage room next, his hands in his pockets and a strangely satisfied look on his face. "I was informed there were a few unauthorized people down here, and you, Clint and Loki had been gone for some time. So, we came here to check."
Thor had finished untying his brother and slowly coaxing him awake. When Loki finally awoke, blinking groggily, he nearly jumped out of his brother's arms. "Shit! Thor, what in the name of – ?"
"Explain yourself, Loki," Thor said sternly, gripping his squirming brother tightly.
"I was the one who was bound!" The whole group looked at him disbelievingly. "The lack of trust." He sighed. "It was getting rather kinky before you boys came barging in."
Natasha exhaled deeply, realizing that everything was going out of control. "For fuck's sake, Loki. Tell them the truth. We're in too much of a mess now."
"You were in on this, too!" Clint finally realized, his eyes narrowing. "Holy shit! And I nearly fell for it! And Loki, just so you know, I knew you and Bobbi were pranking me from the beginning."
Loki rolled his eyes.
Thor looked from Loki to Clint. "Would someone care to explain what the prank was?"
Finally, with a defeated slump, Loki began his story: "Natasha was rather cross with Clint after he forgot about her birthday, so she came to me with an idea. So, she, as she did, 'broke up' with him, and I pretended to kidnap him."
"Well, you actually did kidnap me."
"And Bobbi helped try and solidify the whole jealous, revengeful kidnapping," Loki continued, as if Clint hadn't interrupted. "Natasha would come here to save Clint – although I would have preferred her not truly knocking me unconscious – so he would appreciate their relationship more. Then, you blundering idiots show up and force this whole thing to come out. There, happy now?" He got up, brushed his brother off, and stormed out into the hall. "I hate admitting what I've done," he mumbled on his way out.
All the attention was now on Natasha.
"Is this true?" Clint asked.
"Yes." She didn't look fazed whatsoever.
There was some silence, only broken by a groan. "We've been made, haven't we?" asked Bobbi, who was currently struggling against her bonds. She noticed the tense situation around her. "Shit, Clint. I'm sorry. I didn't think it'd be this serious."
Clint was too busy staring Natasha down to answer.
Steve knelt down to help Bobbi free herself. When she was released, she stretched, and thanked Steve. "Uh, sorry, Tony, for roaming around here. I'm going to go." And she left silently, slipping meekly between Clint and Natasha.
Thor, Steve, and Tony looked to each other, deciding whether or not they should say something. They opted not to – even the talkative Tony – and left as well, leaving the couple alone.
Once they were safely in the hallway, they exchanged equally exhausted looks.
"This has to stop," Steve said as they made their way back upstairs. "These back-and-forth pranks. It's getting out of hand. I mean, they kidnapped him!"
Thor shook his head. "My brother always gets his revenge. Nothing can stop him."
"Thor." Tony held a hand up. "I have a plan. I know how to stop him – and no, Steve, don't look so worried, it's not a prank."
AAAAAAA
Natasha and Clint's standoff lasted for less than a second more after everyone else left. Clint grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall, pressing his lips to hers. She was half-expecting it.
She knew there were two possibilities: Clint was actually pissed off he tricked her, or that he was just glad she didn't actually break up with him.
Apparently it was the latter.
When they broke apart, Clint lurched away from her, squeezing his eyes shut, his forehead scrunching up. "We're a fucking mess, Tasha," he muttered.
For once, Natasha didn't have anything to say. They both knew it. Their relationship was tumultuous, filled with fights, confusion, and not-complete trust. It was fun at first, but the past few months, it wasn't working. They just had too many secrets. And that last fight, even if it were staged by Natasha, felt all too real.
It wasn't working out.
"Okay," Clint finally said, as if he made his mind up.
Natasha knew what he was thinking. "Okay."
They locked eyes, her green pair and his light blue, both shining with what looked like tears. But both knew not to mention it.
Natasha slipped out soundlessly, the fabric of her dress barely brushing against the narrow bit of door opened. Wiping away a tear that slipped down her cheek, her fingers ghosted over her swollen lips. With a great amount of self-restraint, she didn't look back to the storage room.
AAAAAAA
Clint leaned against the wall where Natasha was just a minute before. What had he done?
He really did like her. Why else would he spend three years just trying to get her? He thought back to the happy memories with her: their first date at McDonald's (classy), all those parties they went to, their first kiss (beside a dumpster – again, classy).
Then he thought about their first actual argument, a few months ago. It was about something stupid, like how Natasha never told him what her favourite band was. But he realized, now, there were many of those stupid arguments. A lot. Too many, probably, to be healthy for their relationship.
"Bye, Natasha," he whispered, hastily rubbing his burning eyes.
AAAAAAA
"Mother would like to speak with you." Thor handed Loki his cell phone.
Loki took it, his expression suspicious. "Hello? Mother?"
Tony could hear rather loud admonishments from the other end of the phone, and he sniggered, earning a dirty look from Loki.
"Mo – mother. No, it wasn't – I was just-" Loki was cut off, his expression sour. "Fine, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. But I am not helping Thor clean his room. I'd rather clean all the bathrooms. Fine. Bye."
He tossed Thor's phone back, casting a last dark look to Tony and Thor. "You called Mother? Really?" he said disdainfully. Then, once again, he swiveled away and stormed off. It seemed like he stormed off a lot. Tony decided he looked like an overgrown toddler.
AAAAAAA
Peggy was smiling broadly when Steve returned. "I forgot to tell you something." She grabbed his hand and pulled him aside. "My father bought me a ticket to visit him in London early."
Steve grinned tightly. "That's great."
"And, he gave me another one."
"Well, yeah, I guess your moth-"
She socked him lightly on the shoulder. "It's for you, you arse! I know we were going to do Skype calls all summer, but I thought, maybe before you start school, we could have a summer together."
A smile split across his face and he scooped her up in an embrace. He'd changed his plans. Camp Lehigh had sent him an e-mail, telling him he would have been accepted, if not for his shoulder. He'd really done a number on it during football season and it still wasn't completely healed. He'd apply again the next year after doing a year at NYU.
His mother was so excited that she'd taken them out for a lobster dinner, which was his favourite. When he'd protested against the cost, she shook her head, insisting that it was okay because of her raise at work.
Still, he'd looked into it and found out she had taken another job on top of her nursing work so she could pay for his tuition. They were especially tight for money after their trip to England that Christmas. He made sure to eat as little as possible without her noticing that dinner, and vowed to do some extra work wherever he could.
AAAAAAA
Bruce sat alone outside on the balcony. From afar, it looked as if he were contemplating the meaning of life, sitting in 'The Thinker' pose. He was actually trying to figure out which song was playing back inside the ballroom. It sounded familiar, the bass thumping in a syncopated beat.
"Hey."
Bruce didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. "Hi, Natasha. How are you doing?"
She sat down next to him, smoothing her dress around her thighs. Instead of answering, she gave him an uncharacteristically ill-concealed look of grief.
They sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Well, Bruce was just kind of bored because they were playing a song he didn't know.
"You know what sucks?" Natasha asked, running a hand through her stiffly-hair-sprayed curls. "When you think you know what you're doing, and you're so confidently going through with whatever it is. Then, shit goes down and you look back and see how badly you fucked everything up."
Bruce was taken aback, unsure of how to respond to that. Thankfully, he didn't have to, as there was a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, my favourite song's on. Do you want to dance?" Betty smiled charmingly, coming around and taking his hands in hers, the hem of her long green dress brushing over his feet. "Sorry I took so long, by the way. My dad was trying to get me to go home early, but I told him no." She turned to the distraught redhead beside him. "Hey, Natasha."
She didn't even look up.
Bruce, still curious as to what was bothering Natasha, thought of asking her about it. But he realized she wouldn't tell him. She never told anyone anything. So he went with a gentle pat on her shoulder, and left with his date.
On his way back inside, he passed by Tony and Pepper swaying gently to the upbeat rhythm of the song, which Bruce initially found odd. Then, he thought with amusement, that Tony always danced to the beat of his own drum.
Steve and Peggy were dancing, huge smiles on their faces. A weight seemed to have been lifted off Steve's shoulders, his steps much lighter than before. Thor was twirling Jane around in the middle of the banquet hall, her shouts of laughter heard even over the loud music. Clint was nowhere to be found, and neither was Loki.
He brushed those thoughts aside, though, as Betty began to jump energetically, leaving Bruce with no choice but to follow her lead. She looked so happy and carefree, her face lit up in a way that made Bruce's heart warm so intensively. He knew, right then and there, that he had to kiss her.
So, he did. And to his surprise, she didn't pull away. Though surprised at first, she kissed him back. They hadn't had a real kiss since their first back in December.
They were enjoying themselves until a teacher marched up to them and pulled them apart.
.
A/N: My story progression sucks because I have all these ideas in my head but can't seem to fit everything into the storyline. Does that happen to anyone else?
