A/N

I may be slow af but I am still refusing to drop this story. I'm still invested, I'm sure at least one or two of you are too, so here we are. As always, please review. Tell me what you liked, what you'd like to see in the future, how I can improve. To those of you who are still reading despite my ridiculous mini-hiatuses, thank you. (And happy holidays, once again.)

Clint was still gone when Loki woke up the next morning, but by the time he'd finished his morning training the car was back in the driveway. He'd brought food- something greasy and way more delicious than it seemed to be healthy- so for once everyone ate together. There were a few words of small talk, but for the most part it was quiet and tense. No one seemed to quite know how to interact with each other under the circumstances. Loki knew it was his fault, that these were good friends in any other circumstances, but he tried to swallow his guilt along with the cheap soda. There wasn't much point in feeling bad about something he couldn't change.

"So, how's the training going?"

To everyone's surprise, it was Clint that asked the question. Loki blinked up at him, caught off guard.

"It's- It's going well." He almost left it there, but really, what did he have to lose? It wasn't like Clint could like him any less, and maybe starting the conversation was him was an offer at something a little better than bitter tolerance. "I'm learning how to fight, but I'm not very good at it. Mostly I'm just getting better with magic." He lifted his fingers and glanced for a split second over at Natasha, hoping she would signal if he should stop, but she was only watching calmly. He barely had to focus anymore- he really had been working hard- and the energy nestled in his chest flowed up through his fingers and moved where he directed it, invisible until it touched the table with a soft green glow. It was hard to explain exactly what happened, he still wasn't really sure how it worked, but it felt like his magic gathered up the energy around it and shaped it into whatever form he wanted. Whatever it was, he'd gotten pretty good at controlling it. Illusions were probably the easiest thing to do- nothing physical to work with- and he conjured up a little brown rabbit to scamper through the wrappers and discarded fries. It faded before it reached the end of the table, but the trick got the desired effect. Even Bruce, who was barely paying attention, smiled when the rabbit tripped over a straw wrapper.

"Cute. What else can you do with that?"

"I can move things, as long as they aren't too heavy. If you threw something at me I could probably stop it." He shrugged.

"That's pretty good." He took another fry, tapping it against the table instead of eating it. "You think you could use it in combat? Like, if someone shot at you could you protect yourself?"

"I- maybe, but probably not. I think bullets would be a little much for me."

"Hm. You should work on that. You used to be able to do it." Loki felt the familiar cold in his gut, but Clint kept talking like he hadn't just brushed a sensitive topic. "I'm just saying, it would be way easier to protect you if you weren't so vulnerable." He put the fry in his mouth, not reacting even though it was probably cold. "If you want, I could help you train with that. Might be easier to start with arrows than bullets."

Natasha had been silent up until then, but she looked up then. "You're not going to shoot at him-"

"I wasn't planning on shooting him. If anyone's gonna shoot in his direction without accidentally killing him, it should be me. Don't pretend like any of you wouldn't risk hitting him." Natasha opened her mouth to counter again, but Loki interrupted her.

"Alright, I'm in."

"Loki-"

"No, he's right, it would be way better if I could defend myself with magic. I trust him not to shoot me." It wasn't entirely true, but he needed to gain points with the archer where he could get them.

Natasha still seemed tense, but she didn't argue further.

"Alright." Clint tossed another fry to the table as he stood. "I'll meet you outside."

Loki started to stand, having finished his meal, but Natasha stopped him. "Do you want anyone to come with you?"

"You don't trust him?" It might have been rude to ask, but her unrelenting distrust seemed kind of weird, considering their history.

"In general, sure. But he's got a little bit of a history of not letting go of things, so I personally wouldn't be thrilled to let him shoot at my head. If he seems angry or tense, just come back inside. Ok?"

Loki thought to himself that if things went well an arrow to the head wouldn't be a problem, but he only nodded. "I'll be careful."

Clint leaned against a tree, bow in hand, watching the kid cross the field. Snow dusted the ground, and his black hair stood out sharply against the landscape. He'd been aware of how tiny the demigod was- it was hard not to notice, honestly- but he'd cooled down a lot while he'd been gone. Distaste for the kid had really made him seem a lot more threatening than he was, especially after his leg had healed. But walking alone through the grass, he looked like a strong breeze could carry him away.

"You ready to start?" Clint pulled himself upright, shifting the bow to his right hand.

"Yes. Where should I stand?"

Clint glanced around quickly before pointing to a spot in the grass, doing his best to pretend like he'd put any thought into this beforehand. "I'll shoot a little to your left. Do your best to knock it out of the air before it gets to you."

They both moved into position, and at a nod from Loki Clint nocked an arrow and fired. He aimed a little less than a foot away from his left ear, and that was exactly where it went. The kid had barely managed to get his hands up before the arrow was already past him.

"You've gotta be faster than that. Again?"

He definitely looked shaken- an arrow nearly putting a hole in your skull will do that- but he nodded, lifting his hands in advance this time. Clint fired again, with the same result, but his next shot was knocked a few degrees off its course by a wisp of green light.

He couldn't help smiling at the kid's grin. "Better. See if you can get it more than a few feet away now."

Clint could see from the increasing strain on his face that the little flashes of green were taking a lot more effort than they appeared to, but he kept pushing him. He wanted him to eventually be able to stop it completely- in combat, if you knocked a projectile to the side it would be just as likely to hit someone on your side as an enemy.

When the arrow was deflected enough that it flew past nearly six feet from the boy's head, he stopped firing. Clint's heart rate hadn't gone up even slightly, but Loki was panting and his hair stuck to his forehead. Once he cooled down, he would be freezing.

"Do you want to stop?" He wanted to push him farther before they went in, but he also didn't want to accidentally shoot him. The boy shook his head though, shaking himself off and standing straight again. "Alright. Take a breather, though. Don't want you passing out on me." Clint was doing his best to be friendly. He doubted he would ever get close to the rest of the team's affection for him, but he knew as well as anyone that a team couldn't function if it was divided. So, he would be civil.

He waited for Loki's breathing to return to near normal before lifting his bow back up. "Alright. This time, I want you to try slowing it down instead. You think you can do that?"

He didn't look too sure, but he nodded and lifted his hands. Clint fired.

As before, the first shot flew unimpeded past his head, but the second one had a bit of a green glow around it and passed closer to his neck than his ear. By the fifth shot, the slowing was visible. Four more, and the arrow fell softly to the ground only a few feet behind Loki.

"Good job. If that'd been aimed at you, it probably wouldn't have even bruised." The kid grinned again. "You want to try one more thing?" He knew Loki wouldn't say no, but he waited for a nod anyways before continuing. "Try slowing it again, but this time keep it in the air. If someone throws something at you, you should be able to throw it back." This was a little more than what they'd been aiming for- the goal had been self defense only- but Clint couldn't help thinking how useful it would be to have an extra person fighting when things finally came down to confrontation. And they definitely would.

This time it only took four shots for Loki to succeed, and the arrow hoovered in the air half a dozen feet from his shaking fingers. it turned, trembling as much as the boy's hands, and flew back to land a few yards behind Clint. Not enough force to do damage, but definitely a start.

The rest of the afternoon was spent improving on his new skill. Speeding up his movements, getting him more comfortable with being shot at, stopping arrows directed at other targets. By the time the light started to fade, Loki could barely stand, but he could stop an arrow in mid flight and send it to bury itself nearly six inches into a tree, whether it was originally aimed at the house or directly at his face. Not that either of them would ever tell Natasha that they tried either of those things.

It was probably more exhaustion than trust, but Loki held onto Clint's arm as they walked back to the house. "Thank you," he said before they went in. "I really appreciate you helping me."

Clint replied that it was no problem, and that they could try bullets tomorrow if he wanted.

Dinner that night was still awkward, but the tension that had been present for the past few weeks was finally gone, and before they went to bed Natasha gave him a genuine smile for the first time in weeks.