I groggily stirred as something stirred underneath me. It took me a few goes to get my eyes open and reorientated to where I was. I was lying on my side, curled up beside Riley with my head resting on his chest. I was warm and comfortable. A quick glance over my shoulder saw the clock only reading 0201. I didn't have be up for another few hours.
"Did I wake you?" Riley's quiet voice surprised me.
"Didn't know you were awake," I buried myself into him as close as possible. It was cold and Riley made the perfect hot water bottle. I had my leg thrown over his and my left arm over his stomach. Riley's fingers trailed down my back, almost absently. His fingers found my loose hair and he twirled the ends around his finger.
"I don't think I've been to sleep," Riley sounded exhausted. "I'm too nervous about tomorrow, well today now."
"You have nothing to be nervous about," I reassured him. "You're going to be fine, and it's only for a week in the classroom. Then you'll just be walking up and down the range bored for another week."
Riley had never had to teach a class before. Having Clint there was only making him get even more nervous about it. It was his punishment for punching Rollins and he'd have to do it. Nothing would get him out of this. Evans admitted to me over dinner the other night that it'd been the lightest punishment he could get. Otherwise he'd be off field duty for months and have to jump through a lot of hoops to get back. SHIELD seemed to think that putting special ops agents in a teaching position was more than enough proof that they could handle themselves. It still didn't help Riley's nerves on doing this.
"I have plenty to be nervous about," Riley sighed heavily. "I don't want to do this. But I don't want to be sitting around for the next 3 months either."
"Then next time you wont lose your temper," I teased him. My own fingers found the muscle definition on his abs. I trailed the tip of my index finger down the middle of his stomach. Riley's free hand reached down and covered mine stopping my exploring.
"Mean," I tried to wiggle my hand free, but Riley's grip held strong. "Come on, it'll distract you."
I reached up from my position and gently kissed his neck. My teeth nipped lightly at his skin, rewarding me with a sharp intake of breath. I grinned to myself as I went to suck at the skin to give him a hickey. Riley quickly pulled away before I could leave a proper mark with a barely muted snort of amusement. At least that would give all the students today something to whisper about. Riley and I had both been told, Coulson for me and Evans for Riley, that our relationship was to be completely professional for the next 2 weeks. I couldn't be shown any favouritism at all by Riley. This meant for us to come in separately and make no show of us being in a relationship at all. It'd been sheer luck he'd gotten the course. The Agent who usually took it had been injured on a mission and Riley had been the perfect replacement. I was apparently already down to do the course before the change of instructors.
"What are the 4 basic principles of marksmanship?" I breathed against Riley's neck as I trailed my lips against his skin again. I could feel goosebumps raising on his skin as my breath ghosted down his neck.
"Aiming, breath control, trigger control and follow through," Riley said automatically. He knew everything he had to cover over this week off by heart. It was only his own nerves getting in the way of him doing this. SEAL sniper school was 3 months of some of the most intense training you could go through. 12 hour plus days, 7 days a week. 2 weeks of teaching was a walk in the park compared to any of that. It was an unspoken rule as a SEAL that no one ever got ragged on for not making it through sniper school. It was brutal and intense. Not physically like BUDs, but there was a lot of mental pressure. Riley's class had 36 when they started. Only 12 of them graduated.
"See, your first half of the lesson is covered already," I quickly moved so I was straddling him. Even in the dark I could just make him out. His hands came to rest on my hips as I lent over him, resting my weight on my hands above his shoulders. I lazily moved my hips around, grinding against him. Even if his mind was saying no to sex. His cock definitely wasn't. Riley never disappointed in that department.
"Am I getting a say in this or are you just helping yourself?" Riley's hand came to rest behind my neck. He pulled me down into a kiss quickly silencing the smart ass reply I was going to say. His fingers tangled through my hair as his lips were pressed to mine hard, his tongue teasing along mine. I guess any thought of no was long gone now.
And then Riley's phone rang.
"Oh for fuck sake," Riley broke away from me with an irritated growl. He reached over and snatched his phone off the bedside table.
"This better be really fucking important Evans," Riley ground out as he answered the phone. I stifled back a giggle as Riley listened to whatever Evans wanted on the other end of the phone. I couldn't hear what Evans was saying as it was too quiet. But the shitty look on his face was quickly wiped away.
"No its fine, I'll be right over," Riley gave me a gentle nudge as he started to shift underneath me. I took the hint and instantly got off him. "I wasn't asleep anyway."
The bedside light flicked on as Riley sat on the edge of the bed. I lay back down on his side, pulling the blankets up against the intrusion of the cold air. Riley didn't feel the cold as much as I did. Something he liked to give me shit for all the time especially considering my powers. So we kept the heat turned to Riley's comfortable temperature of a nighttime and I just wrapped myself around him all night.
"Ha ha you're so fucking hilarious Troy," Riley snorted into the phone. "Do you want some sleep or not?"
Riley got up and pulled on a pair of boxers he'd left lying on the floor. I lay back against the pillows enjoying the sight of him wandering to the bathroom half naked. I wonder what kind of trouble Evans had gotten himself into? Abby had been sick for the last few days so I hoped nothing had gone wrong. But Riley didn't sound too upset or stressed. So my guess was Alexi was being a little hell raiser about bed time.
I curled up on my side, burying my face back into the pillow. Dammit, cock blocked again. Evans certainly had a knack for that. Even if it was unintentional. I planned on staying in bed until Clint came and picked me up at 0700. He was looking forward far too much to this course as soon as he found out Riley was teaching it. Apparently SHIELD made every marksmen take this course every 2 years as a refresher. The new recruits coming in from the Academy, or just becoming Agents could take it as an option as well. You had to do the refresher to be able to check the weapons out of the armoury. It was quite a bribe for people like Clint. He grumpily informed me that his bows were included in the no checking weapons out of the armoury rule until all courses were up to date.
Natasha had been sent on a mission 2 days earlier, with Jared who looked very happy with his choice of partner. They were off to Belgium for 3 weeks tracking a person of interest. Jared's brief stop over had been the only time I'd seen him since Christmas. Jared had fun poking my leg which I'd kicked him for. Laura had been changing the bandage for me instead of having to go up to medical to do it. She'd been slathering it with some green goop that I'm sure read veterinary use only on the label. It burnt and stung for a good minute after she applied it. But my leg was looking better. It was still scabbing over and hurt to move too much. Or if I sat for too long it'd feel stiff until I got moving again. But the pain had died down to an acceptable level. I could stand long enough to keep training with my archery. Sparring was still out of the question. But I'd taken the chance to focus on doing some more upper body strength work at the gym.
Riley came back into the bedroom, off the phone now. Seeing me still awake he smiled lightly and came over and sat on the edge of the bed. He gently brushing the hairs that had fallen around my face back, lingering over my skin as he did.
"Alexi won't go to sleep," Riley chuckled dryly. "Evans is a bit desperate for some sleep himself. Abby took some sleeping pills earlier and is passed out cold. Evans doesn't want to wake her after all the sleepless nights she's been having."
Poor Abby. The flu had hit her really hard. She looked terrible when we'd dropped around the other day to play with Alexi. Even those few hours of respite we'd given while we took Alexi to the park hadn't helped Abby much. At least we'd had the spare time to help out where we could. Clint brought Lila and Cooper out as well. So we all had a lot of fun playing in the few inches of snow that'd fallen. Alexi even liked Clint. She'd quite happily and willingly gone to him without a fuss. The adoring look Clint kept giving her made me think Laura was not going be to happy with being pestered for child number 3 again.
"Have fun," I burrowed myself into the blankets further. As adorable as Alexi was, I wasn't getting out of bed to help if she'd been up crying all night.
"Don't even think about taking your bike," Riley scolded me lightly, although he was smiling. "I'll see you in a few hours."
Riley lent forward and bushed his lips against mine gently. I smiled under the tender kiss.
"Love you," Riley said as he pulled back.
"Love you too," My smile grew wider. "Be careful."
"Always," Riley kissed me again. "Go back to sleep."
I didn't need to be told twice. I was asleep before Riley had finished getting dressed. I didn't wake up until my alarm started going off at 0630. I groggily I dragged myself into the bathroom pulling on a pair of underwear and a sports bra as I went. I left the toilet, absently scratching my stomach as I walked into the kitchen desperate for a coffee.
"Wow, there's oblivious and there's Kari oblivious," Clint's voice made me whirl around in fright to face where his voice had come from. He was casually lounging on the couch, cup of coffee already in hand. I had to walk right past the couch to get to the kitchen. I have no idea how I missed him sitting there.
"Fuck Clint, what are you doing here this early?" I could feel a blush start to crawl up my neck realising the amount of clothing I wasn't wearing. It wasn't helped by Clint's very obvious stare up and down my body either. "Stop gawking at me."
I rubbed my arms crossing them over each other to cover my chest. It didn't stop Clint who kept very openly staring just to annoy me. A smart little smirk crossed his face as his eyes finally landed on my flat stomach.
"Thats the nice start of 6 pack there," Clint smirk only grew as his eyes trailed down my legs. "Damn women, no wonder Riley is so protective of you."
"Only a little bit," I decided to ignore Clint's perving. He was only doing it to rattle me. I moved into the kitchen making my coffee. It was times like this the open plan apartment was perfect. "Just you wait until I tell your wife you're constantly checking my ass out."
At the mention of Laura, a scowl appeared on Clint's face. It was only fleeting but I didn't miss it. I raised an eyebrow at Clint. He looked down to his coffee cup staring at the contents intently. I flicked the jug back on the boil the water again.
"So you're here awfully early," I turned and opened the cupboard above the kettle looking for the chocolate protein powder. It was my staple breakfast these days. "And looking very cranky when I mention Laura's name."
At the mention of his wife name again I heard Clint made a grumbling sound deep in his chest. I smiled to myself, knowing I'd hit the nail on the head. This was a first. I'd never heard Clint and Laura argue. Let alone it be bad enough that Clint was still shitty over it. I never thought Clint had the attention span to actually hold a grudge.
"Where's Riley?" Clint avoided the question.
"Alexi is being a little hell raiser and his wife is sick," I finally found the protein powder. I don't know how it managed to get shoved to the back of the cupboard. "She sometimes goes to sleep for Riley so he went over there so Evans could get some sleep."
"Cute," if I was facing him I'm sure Clint was rolling his eyes.
"And Riley isn't that protective," I started to scoop the powder into the blender. "Just because he punched Rollins doesn't mean he's always like that."
"Oh please," Clint let out a short laugh. "You don't hear the shit that goes on in the showers. One of the new guys on Charlie team made the mistake of commenting on how hot you were. Rumlow loves to stir him up about it too."
"Whatever," I went to the fridge and got the milk and peanut butter out. "It still doesn't tell me why you're here early and looking shitty."
"Me and Laura had an argument," Clint said begrudgingly. I glanced over my shoulder at him. Clint was still sitting in the same position as before. Elbows resting on his knees, staring down into his now nearly empty mug. He looked a little defeated with a flicker of sadness.
"That I guessed," I poured the milk and added a generous spoonful of peanut butter. I flicked it on. The noise was deafening until I turned it off. The kettle boiled and turned itself off at the same time. The coffee smelt amazing as I poured the hot water over the instant granules. I took a moment to inhale the scent greedily. I loved my first morning coffee.
"Don't you guys fight?" Clint was back to deflecting.
"Sometimes we have snaps, the only time we've really fought is when I came off my bike," I added milk to my coffee. I didn't bother with a glass for my protein drink. I just took the jug and my coffee over to the couch instead of dirtying a glass. I sat down next to Clint, balancing both of them.
Clint only gave me a grunt in response. I took pity on him and didn't push. It wasn't really any of my business what he and Laura fought about. If it was something really serious, I'm sure he'd open up about it.
"You're really going to sit there in your underwear?" Clint turned to look at me as I got settled. "After standing there blushing while I checked you out?"
"Yep," I decided to be terribly obnoxious in return. I turned so I was sitting across the couch and put my bare legs across Clint's lap. "What are you going to do about it?"
"This," Clint trailed his fingers up the inside of my calf and straight up the inside of my thigh. I jerked away from his tickling fingers, landing a light kick in his side. Clint flinched at the bare foot in his side but laughed at my ticklish reaction.
"Bully," I straightened myself and resumed my previous position, stretched out across him. This time he left me alone to drink my coffee and protein drink in peace. We both sat in comfortable silence while I had my liquid breakfast. I was nearly finished by the time Clint spoke again.
"Go put some clothes on, you're distracting me," Clint slapped my thigh. It wasn't hard but it was open handed enough to make a loud slapping noise.
"You shouldn't be looking," I dug my heel into his thigh in return. "Maybe Riley will punch you next."
"I would love to go a few rounds with Riley," Clint chuckled. He was completely unfazed about my heel digging into his thing muscle. "He'd be a hell of a lot of fun to spar with."
"I'll tell him that."
I drained the last of my coffee and protein shake in 2 separate swallows. I'd love to see Riley and Clint spar as well. From the little I'd ever seen of Riley spar he was quick and very brutal. He definitely didn't hold back. I'd have to mention it to him and see if he'd be up for it. I might even quietly be going around and making a betting pool as well. I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one who'd place a bet on sparring match like that. I got up and put my mug and the blender jug in the dishwasher.
"Ready to go once I'm dressed?" I asked Clint.
The look he gave me spoke more than words could. I really asked the stupidest questions sometimes. I did however not miss his eyes following me as I walked to the bedroom. I could see him in the reflection of the TV.
"Stop staring at my ass," I called back over my shoulder.
"Not my fault it looks great," Clint countered smartly.
I had no reply to that. I just pretended to ignore him, slamming the bedroom door behind me. Today was just going to be one of these days where it was easier to ignore Clint than to rise to his baiting. He'd been a pretty shocking tease the last week and a half. Even Riley hadn't escaped from it when we went to his place for pizza night. Fortunately Riley gave back as good as he got. He was finally starting to relax around Clint to be able to joke with him.
I was dressed and ready to go in 5 minutes. Clint was playing a game on his phone until I walked back out with clothes on this time. From what Riley told me the next week would be spent in the classroom. Then next week would be spent at the range putting it into practice with an overnight shoot and camp out towards the end of the week. For today I just threw on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with a STRIKE logo on the sleeve and SHIELD logo on the left chest. It was more than comfortable enough for sitting in a classroom all day.
Clint was quiet on the drive to the Triskelion. Despite having coffee at my place Clint stopped to get another coffee. I decided to be nice and take one to Riley as well. He drank his coffee disgustingly strong. Always a double shot, black with only a small splash of milk thrown in. I'd picked up his coffee one morning by accident and nearly vomited at the taste. I loved strong coffee but what he drank was more like paint thinner. In return Riley had no idea how I could deal with my coffee so sweet and weak.
We both headed straight to the classroom once we reached the Triskelion. Riley wasn't there yet, but plenty of other agents were. I left his coffee sitting on the front desk for whenever he arrived. Much to my surprise I wasn't the only female for once. There were 4 other female agents, already sitting at the desks that lined the room. The classroom was one of the ones right against the west side of the Triskelion. The windows overlooked the landing pad for the Quinjets. I was going to be thoroughly distracted watching them take off all day. Luckily for me I knew the teacher so he could fill me in if I didn't pay attention. That thought brought a cheeky smile to my face.
Clint and I took a seat right up the back. Notebooks and pens were already on the desks, giving us no excuses not to actually pay attention. Or take notes. Not that either of us needed to do that. Clint knew all of this. What he knew he'd been teaching me. This week would just be boring for him. More agents filtered in the room over the next 10 minutes while Clint and I conversed quietly between ourselves. It wasn't until 2 minutes before the class was due to start Riley walked in. Sitting on his hip, bouncing along to his step was Alexi. She was wide awake and grinning up at Riley. Riley pulled a silly face at her bopping her on the nose. Alexi reached up with her chubby fists and grabbed at Riley's fingers. He let her grab onto his fingers, grinning as she babbled up at him.
"Sorry everyone, we have a hanger on for this lesson," Riley raised his voice over the dim noise of the room. He shrugged Alexi's bag off his spare shoulder onto the ground. "If we can all get seated so we can get started."
People that weren't already sitting scrambled to grab a table. Clint pushed his chair back, putting his feet up on the desk, lounging in his chair with his hands behind his head. I didn't miss Riley's eyes briefly flicking towards us. Or the barely concealed roll of his eyes as he looked at Clint's position.
"Oh my god these 2 weeks are going to be so good," a female agent whispered. The small group of females were seated about 2 rows in front of Clint and I. That caused me to raise an eyebrow at the back of their heads.
"Lets hope he's single," another one of them giggled.
I glared at the back of their heads. Like hell he was single. Just because Riley looked utterly adorable with Alexi in his arms didn't mean they had to gawk. My glaring was interrupted by the door opening again. Nearly every single head swivelled around to see the late comer. To my surprise, Rumlow strode into the room looking very pleased with himself. He came and took the spare seat next to me. I glanced back to Riley who was suddenly looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now. Alexi interrupted by letting out a loud squeal as her eyes landed on me. Riley quickly shushed her. She just grinned up at him babbling in response while pointing to me. Riley quietly sighed under his breath and sat down on the desk at the front of the room. Alexi continued to babble up at him to keep his attention. It was very adorable.
"Please go and get her, I'm feeling cluckly," Clint muttered under his breath very quietly in Russian. "And save those women from their ovaries exploding from the cuteness overload of your boyfriend being maternal."
I covered my mouth to hide my amusement. But I didn't move. While Alexi liked me enough to go to me most of the time. There'd been a few times that she wasn't so keen and made a big fuss until I handed her back to Riley. On the little sleep she probably had, now wasn't a good time to test those boundaries.
"For those who don't know me," the room fell completely silent as Riley started to speak. "I'm Agent Riley Hunterton. I'm the marksman on STRIKE Team Bravo. This little madam is Alexi Evans, she's my STRIKE leaders daughter and my god daughter. Unfortunately she decided that sleeping was optional for the last few nights so I'm helping Evans and his wife get some sleep."
A quiet laugh rippled through the room as Riley introduced Alexi. Riley gave Alexi a little bounce which made her giggle and smile up at him. She then pointed to me again, babbling like mad. A few heads turned curiously to see who she was pointing at.
"Fine, if you don't get her I will," Clint pushed himself back and stood up. He ignored all the stares as he walked down to the front of the classroom. Much to my surprise, Alexi instantly held her arms out to be picked up by Clint. My ego deflated slightly. Ok, she wasn't just pointing for me. Apparently Clint was a new favourite now too. Clint looked so damn proud of himself as he walked back to his seat with Alexi in his arms. Seemingly content, Alexi rested her head against Clint's chest, her eyes fluttering as she tried to stay awake. By the time Clint settled back into his chair, Alexi had fallen asleep.
"Thanks Barton," Riley looked relieved and nervous all at the same time. His little shield had gone and now it was just him sitting up there on the desk in front of everyone. "So I'll tell everyone a bit about myself, then we'll go around and get names and a brief introduction from everyone. As I said before, I'm the marksman on STRIKE Team Bravo. Before I joined SHIELD, I was a SEAL and one of the leading snipers in the Navy."
"What team were you?" one of the female agents interrupted him.
"6, Golden Knights," Riley gave a small shrug. There were some impressed mummers go through the room. "I've been in SHIELD 5 years now. Enough about me, lets start with you."
Riley pointed at the Agent in the front row closest to the window. The agent had only been half paying attention and jumped when Riley called on him first. As he started to speak I quickly tuned out to the droning of the voices. Introductions were always boring and pointless for me. I never remembered names anyway. The only time I actually paid attention was to scowl at the back of the female agents heads was they fawned over Riley for their introductions. Poor Riley just looked embarrassed at their obvious flirting. Even from the back of the room I could see his ears turning bright red. A sure sign he was embarrassed. It wasn't helped by both Clint and Rumlow snickering on either side of me.
It didn't take long for Rumlow's turn.
"Brock Rumlow," Rumlow started, shifting so his feet went on the table and he stretched out much like Clint before. "STRIKE Team Alpha leader. I'm just here to watch Hunterton squirm for being in trouble."
A few other people in the room covered their laughs politely. Some openly chuckled at Rumlow's bold statement. The rest just shot confused looks back to Rumlow.
"Oh Rumlow, just you wait until I get you on the range next week then we'll see who squirms," Riley scowled. His eyes then fell on me and I could see the plead across his face very clearly. It was one for me to be nice and not make a scene.
"Kari Lyngley," I would play nice. Especially because I wanted to finish what I started this morning. "One third of STRIKE Team Delta."
It still amused me about people's reactions when I said I was part of STRIKE Team Delta. A few agents didn't move, all used to me and who I was by now. But the new agents or those just finished at the Academy still swivelled around to stare at me. I just crossed my arms in front of my chest and smirked at the faces looking at me.
"Hawkeye," Clint didn't even bother with his name. "The second third of STRIKE Team Delta."
Short, sweet and very to the point was Clint. Like he needed to introduce himself anyway. If I thought I'd gotten some stares before. It was nothing compared to the faces of the newer agents seeing the legendary Hawkeye sitting in the same room. The 4 female agents suddenly didn't know who to stare at now. Riley or Clint. Though the brunette female agent sitting on the left couldn't seem to take her eyes off Rumlow. I didn't miss the small wink he sent her either.
"Thanks everyone," Riley grabbed a remote that was sitting next to him. "Someone get the lights please? There's a lot to get through so lets get stuck into it."
Rumlow jumped from his seat and switched the lights off. The projector came to life with the power point presentation Riley had furiously been working on for the last week and a half. SHIELD had its own teaching materials but Riley wanted to do it with his own. He really had worked really hard to put this all together in such a short amount of time. I'd briefly flicking through it doing a proofread for Riley. He didn't miss much out, even for the short space of time he had to teach.
"Right the 4 basic principles of marksmanship," Riley flicked onto the first slideshow. I settled back down in the chair and picked the pen up,
I thought I'd be bored out of my mind while doing the theory part of the day. But Riley's teaching style far exceeded my expectations. While I knew the content of what he was teaching. Riley kept it interesting and fun. Injecting his own little stories and ways of remembering things from his SEAL days. Even Clint had stayed interested, making notes which surprised me. Alexi only woke up once and then went back to sleep almost instantly. She looked so tired. I had no doubts she hadn't actually been to sleep properly in days. Evans dropped in just before our scheduled lunch break to pick her up. Thankfully she only briefly stirred with a small grumble but went back to sleep as soon as Riley kissed her goodbye. I was going to throw a pen at the blonde female Agent who was sitting in the middle of their group. She was the loudest one about her obvious attraction to Riley. I started to aim but Clint quickly grabbed it off me before I could throw it. Rumlow ended up with his head buried in his arms on the desk to stop himself laughing.
Lunch was spent in the cafeteria of the Triskelion. It was only a 45 minute break so there wasn't much point trying to go elsewhere for it. Clint, Rumlow, Riley and I all found a table together in a quiet corner. We'd only just sat down at the large round table when we were interrupted. The 4 female agents spotted us and all made a beeline for us.
"Do you mind if we sit with you?" the blonde who'd been openly flirting with Riley asked in an excited rush.
I minded. I opened my mouth to tell them to fuck off. But Rumlow beat me.
"Of course you can sit with us," he flashed a charming smile. "Always room for more people."
Rumlow shuffled around the table to make more room for the extra bodies. I scowled at him and he only shot me a knowing smirk in response. Asshole. He just wanted to flirt with the skinny brunette who'd plonked herself right next to him. I was sitting between Clint and Riley, so I got squished between their muscly bodies. Something I'm sure one of the other females would appreciate more than me. The flirty blonde made sure she was sitting next to Riley.
"I'm really enjoying this course so far," she fluttered her eyelashes at Riley. "Do you mind if I pick your brain Agent Hunterton?"
Next to me Clint looked like he was having a hard time swallowing the large mouthful of chicken and rice he'd just shoved in his mouth. I elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. He forced the mouthful down with a small cough to cover his laugh. I glared at him hoping he'd keep his mouth shut.
"Are you not following everything Agent Brown?" Riley instantly had his attention turned to her. I inwardly sighed and wanted to reach over to smack him. Or kiss him. Part of me really wanted to mark my territory despite the warning of having to be professional. But I also knew Riley was really worried he was missing pieces of information in everything he was trying to cram in. I'd followed everything just fine. But it didn't mean everyone else did either.
"You can call me Kiley," Agent Brown smiled. "I think I am, but theres so much to take in."
"How about Brown Nose?" I muttered in Icelandic. I quickly shoved a mouthful of my own chicken in my mouth to cover my jealous snipe. Clint looked at me curiously for a second before tapping his watch band and then his nose in quick succession. It took me a few seconds to process what he just did. His wristband on his watch was brown. It was well picked up by him. Clint had picked up some very, very basic words and a few curses in Icelandic from Jared and I. I didn't think he'd actually recognise any words from what I said. I just nodded in confirmation making Clint smile in response. He looked very pleased with himself.
Kiley launched a few questions at Riley, making his full attention stay on her while we ate. Rumlow was flirting with the brunette, while the other brunette and darker blonde only occasionally chipped into the conversation. Clint and I mostly stayed silent. Well, more me than Clint. He was helping Riley when he got stuck explaining something to Kiley. I mostly just stabbed my chicken with a lot more force than necessary. Although Kiley was very flirty, Riley remained professional and cool the entire time. Any time Kiley would 'accidentally' brush up his leg with hers, he moved closer to me. Clint would then me a tease and move in closer too. I was so squished by the time lunch had finished I could barely move. Clint was silently laughing the entire time as well. Despite my none to subtle jabs in his ribs, he wouldn't move away from me. I paid him back on the walk back to the classroom. Clint and I lagged a few feet behind the small lunch group we'd acquired. As soon as no one was paying attention I made a ball of ice and shoved it down the back of Clint's jeans. The very undignified yelp and funky shenanigans he had to do to get it out was worth whatever payback I was going to get from it.
The rest of the week continued much of the same. Kiley was all over Riley, flirting with him at every chance she could get. Riley was professional with her the entire time. While I trusted Riley impeccably that he was just helping her out. It still didn't stop the green eyed monster from rearing its ugly head. A lot. It wasn't helped by the fact that Kiley was gorgeous. Slender, with curves in the right places. Perfectly maintained blonde hair with a strand never out of place, manicured nails and always dressed nicely. She'd just graduated from the Academy as a Specialist. I was jealous enough that I was probably going to turn green by the end of the week. I was never so grateful for the weekend.
Riley surprised me with an amazing night out on Saturday. We had dinner at a very fancy place called Marcel's. The food was absolutely exquisite. Nothing like I ever had before. 7 courses of French fine dining filled both our massive appetites up. Riley even persuaded me to try the caviar course. After the early dinner, we headed to the Kennedy Centre for The Lion King musical. It just made the night magical. It was so nice to have an evening out just to ourselves. We spent so much time with both our teams, sometimes we forgot just to enjoy each others company. Sunday night was spent at a Capitols versus Rangers game with just us again. I think I embarrassed Riley by how loud I could actually be at a game. But it was a lot of fun to be completely wound down and relaxed before another big week at work.
Monday morning came far too quickly. We had to be at the Triskelion at 0500 to get on the bus to go to the range. It wasn't the range I originally met Clint on, but another one specifically used for more specialised weapons. The long distance range was meant to be one of the best in the country. It was nearly a 2 hour drive there and back, hence the very early morning start. On Wednesday we'd stay there and not be picked up until Friday afternoon for the night shoot and counter sniper tactics. That part I was looking forward to. It was essentially one big game of paintball with sniper rifles.
Clint and I sat together on the bus. He was asleep slumped against me within 2 minutes of the bus pulling out. Riley was sitting a few seats ahead of me flicking through his iPad of what he wanted to get through today. Today was simple enough. Everyone got a standard issue M24 much to my disgust. I really wanted my AWSM which I'd gotten so comfortable using. No amount of pleading or bribery would help me with getting it. We'd start at the 200 yard range. Then move onto drills in the afternoon. Tomorrow would be doing further and further targets. Plus cold bore shots and a few other things to get through. I was nearly asleep when a conversation with my name in it instantly made me start listening to the hushed voices sitting in front of me.
"I always thought Hawkeye was with Black Widow," Kiley's whispered voice was barely distinguishable. "I guess not seeing those two snuggled up together. They barely leave each others side."
"Brock said they're just friends," the other voice was the brunette agent Rumlow had finally asked out. It was only because of him I actually remembered her name. Vanessa and Kiley always seemed to be together as well. The other 2 female agents had gradually drifted away from them during the week. "Did you know that Jared Lyngley is her twin brother?"
Here we go. I wonder if Jared had slept with either of them. Or they were still in the stages of fawning over him and hoping they might get lucky. I really hated to admit that my brother was hot.
"Really?" Kiley sounded completely surprised. "Does that make her a mutant too?"
"I think so," the seat creaked as I assumed Vanessa gave a shrug. "I don't think she teleports though. I heard from one of the other guys on the course that Kari is nearly as good as shot as Hawkeye. Maybe thats her power or something."
"Or maybe Hawkeye just gives her lots of extra practice," Kiley giggled quietly. "Then again, I wouldn't say no to fucking him either. But she seems to have him so wrapped around her finger Hawkeye barely speaks to anyone else."
I mentally rolled my eyes at this conversation. Clint didn't speak to anyone else because he generally didn't like most people enough to have a conversation with them. He was polite enough to answer questions and that was about it.
"Are you having any luck with Riley?" Vanessa asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"No," Kiley huffed in annoyance. "I heard he has a girlfriend, but he hasn't said anything about it. If he did, then obviously he isn't happy because he's always theres helping me out."
It took a lot of effort for me to keep a straight face and not move. As much as I wanted to jump up and smack her across the face for her stupidity, I wanted to hear where this conversation was going as well. Riley was just too polite to actually tell her to fuck off. He even said to me over the weekend he was just so embarrassed at her bold flirting he got tongue tied. It was so easy for me to forget how shy Riley actually was around other people. It only helped tame my green eyed monster a little bit. Besides, she wasn't doing that well on this course. I could see by the frustration in her face a lot of the time she actually really wasn't getting it at all. Riley really wanted everyone to pass this. So he helped her out as much as possible.
"Maybe he just needs a push," Vanessa smothered back a giggle rather unsuccessfully. "Just wait until everyone leaves and then kiss him."
"Maybe I will," Kiley sounded very sure of herself. "How was your weekend with Brock?"
Ugh. I tuned out instantly. I'd already heard Rumlow bragging about his weekend on the walk from the garage. Vanessa had no problems in throwing herself at him after their dinner on Friday night. She'd only left last night because she had no clothes ready for today. Although he was acting all tough about it and being a typical guy bragging about all the sex he was getting. It actually sounded like he really liked Vanessa. He might have a tough guy exterior, but Rumlow could actually be a really nice guy. If he wasn't such a slut he would be a nice catch for someone.
I drifted in and out of sleep during the entire ride. Riley and I had stayed up far too late for the early start we had. My legs were still sore this morning from the bedroom work out we did last night. I had more than my fair share of bite marks and hickeys spread over my body. Riley had made the rule about no obvious marks while he was teaching. So I was more than happy to put them where no one else would see them. Clint had offered to drive us both in, since he had to drive past the street on the way to work anyway. Personally I think Clint just wanted to pick Riley's brain a bit on what we were doing today. He'd been kept interested the entire week with Riley's teaching. There'd been minimal smart ass remarks and Clint had actually been helpful in giving proper answers.
The bus dropped us off at the covered picnic area. There was at least a kitchen and real toilets here. Although unstaffed, it'd been well supplied for our week out here. Everyone made a beeline for coffee and food. Or straight to the toilet after the long drive. I was dying for another coffee. 2 hours was far too long between caffeine hits at this early hour. Once we were all fed and had coffee, the group made their way to the closest range. All the M24's were already lined up waiting for all of us. There were only enough rifles for half of us. We'd change between being the shooter and spotter throughout the day. Today was just getting us used to shooting the weapons, getting used to using a normal scope. Not the advanced ones STRIKE used which manually read all information back to you. Clint and I paired off as usual. I let him have first go at shooting. I settled beside him with a spotting scope, already bored.
"Can I trust you two without supervision for more than 5 minutes?" Riley's voice loomed over us. Clint and I looked up with near identical smug expressions. Riley sighed heavily in mock defeat and walked away. Clint already had his first shot lined up as soon as Riley gave the all clear to fire. Clint squeezed the trigger and didn't disappoint. The shot hit a dead centre head shot. Perfect kill. You couldn't get anymore accurate than that. As I knew it would. Clint didn't even have to wait for me to give him calculations. He got off another 4 shots and emptied the magazine before most people had even done their first one. Each bullet went through the first hole he'd made on the first shot.
"Show off," I muttered giving him a kick. "My turn."
Clint and I kept doing this all morning. By the end of it we'd shot a smiley face into the target which just made Riley shake his head when he looked at it. We were both bored out of our minds but knew this was necessary. At least tomorrow would be a lot more fun.
Clint and I had switched again. Just as I settled down behind the rifle, I glanced over to where I'd seen Riley last. I stopped as I saw him laying down beside Kiley, half covering her body as he guided her into the shot. I scowled heavily at the sight.
"Green does not suit you Kari," Clint gave me a shove.
The movement put me off balance and I fell onto the ground. I winced as I hit my still healing leg before righting myself into the correct position. I reloaded the M24 ignoring Clint's stare.
"I'm not jealous," I snapped. Then I cringed. Yep I came across as very defensive. Clint had been watching the situation very carefully all week. He hadn't commented on it yet. But I could see him dying to either tease me for it. Or step in and smack me for my own stupidity.
"I'm not jealous," Clint mimicked my tone perfectly with a sassy roll of his eyes. "No, not at all. I just want to swing my gun around and shoot the person flirting with my boyfriend."
"Shut up," I grumbled as I fiddled with the dial. A light wind had picked up so I needed to adjust my position slightly.
"You have absolutely nothing to be jealous about," Clint turned to look through the spotters scope. "Stop being stupid."
"Your face is stupid," I shot back. I had nothing else to say at all. I knew I was being really stupid about this. But the conversation I overheard on the bus made the jealously come back in full swing.
"Your face is stupider," Clint smirked but didn't move his position.
"Your face is the stupidest."
The inner 5 year old in us was in full swing today. It was amazing what boredom could bring out.
"Shoot her target," Clint was finally being helpful. "Then see the look your boyfriend gives you. She might get the hint then."
I turned away and looked to our target. We'd really shot at it far too much this morning. I wanted to be able to move to the 1000 yard targets and actually do some real sniper shooter. This shooting at 200 yards was bullshit. At least this afternoon we were going to be doing some drills. Standing, sitting, standing to sitting rapid, prone slow fire and standing to prone rapid fire. I was looking forward to that.
"Go on," Clint encouraged me. "It'll be fun."
I didn't need much more encouragement. I swung the M24 around and lined up Kiley's target. It only took a minor adjustment and I squeezed the trigger. I got a kill head shot in. Just not quite the dead centre forehead shot I wanted. Both Kiley and Riley's head snapped over to look where the shot had come from. I smiled sweetly and gave a small salute. Riley's middle finger being raised at me was the response I got. Kiley seemed to be torn between looking very impressed at my shot, or really embarrassed that I'd just done it. Her and Vanessa were together and both were struggling to actually hit their target all morning.
"Funny Kari, fucking hilarious," Riley raised his voice. "Stop laughing Barton."
Beside me Clint was shaking in silent laughter. His head was buried in his arms so I couldn't see his face.
"Ok, we're breaking for lunch," Riley just shook his head. "Lets have an hour and then we'll move onto drills. Magazines out, you all know the drill."
At the promise of an early and longer lunch. It didn't take long to get the range cleared and everyone heading back to the undercover area. As usual I hung back with Clint who rapidly texting with a small frown on his face. I never did find out what he and Laura were fighting about. But things were still a little tense in the Barton household the few times I'd dropped over there the last week. So we were the last ones to make it back to the kitchen. SHIELD had supplied a lot of food, everything for sandwiches, enough grilled meat already cooked to satisfy us carnivores and high protein diet freaks. Along with plenty of dried food and cans in case someone could actually be bothered to make a batch of pasta. I was boring and went for sandwiches. At least I couldn't burn the kitchen down by making sandwiches. Though I did eye off the macaroni and cheese I spotted in the cupboard. I was almost tempted to get Clint to make it for me. But my starving body demanded food now. My stomach simply couldn't be silenced enough for 5 minutes to wait for it to cook. So I stacked my sandwiches and sat down with Clint who had the exact same food as me. Just as my ass hit the seat, I felt a familiar pair of hands come down on my shoulders.
"If you do that again," Riley bent down and whispered quietly in Russian. "I'm going to spank you so fucking hard you won't sit down for the rest of the week comfortably."
Clint choked on the mouthful of sandwich he'd just taken a huge bite out of. He covered his mouth as he started coughing, turning bright red in the face. Riley gave him a rather unsympathetic and not too gentle thump on the back. Without another word Riley left, leaving us both sitting there. Me feeling a little dumbfounded and turned on by the whispered threat. Clint now wheezing to try and get himself back under control. As soon as he could breath again he opened his mouth.
"Don't even say it," I cut him off instantly.
Clint's mouth clicked shut though the smirk on his face didn't die down. I inwardly sighed. I wouldn't be hearing the end of it about that comment all afternoon now. Possibly the entire week now. I knew better than to expect anything less from Clint. He'd been far too well behaved last week to have it continue into this week. At least it'd break up the monotony until we got to the really fun stuff.
Authors Note
This chapter ran away with me and bam 8K words and it still has another big chunk to go. I know my updates are slow at the moment. So I'm happy to put things out in smaller chunks than one big one to keep updates going. I'm kind of in a shitty personal situation right now, so I'm just writing when I can as an escape. So things might be quick or they might be slow. I'm asking everyone to bear with me at the moment because life has thrown a bit of a massive curve ball at me. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing right now and a lot of things are up in the air.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. And you all enjoy this chapter. Your author craves reviews, so a bit of shameless plug to please review!
Until next time.