Clint opened his eyes, waking up from the deepest sleep he'd had in ages and reached his arm out to feel for his partner. He was disappointed to note he was alone until he smelled coffee and bacon coming from the kitchen. Phil must be making breakfast, he thought as he got out of bed and picked up a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the floor.
Not bothering to brush his hair, he stumbled out of his bedroom and into the kitchen still half asleep. If he had been more awake, he would've noticed that they weren't alone, that the other Avengers were sitting at the dining room table. Instead, he just wandered over to Phil, who was wearing his usual weekend outfit of worn jeans and a soft sweater, wrapping his strong arms around his waist and planting chaste kisses on the back of Phil's neck while he cooked.
"G' morning," Clint mumbled into Phil's skin. Turning around, Clint headed towards the coffee maker only to see his fellow team members (not including Natasha) staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths.
"Wha… when… how," sputtered Tony.
"Shit," Clint said under his breath as he realized he'd just outed his and Phil's relationship to the entire team, excluding Natasha, who'd known about Phil and Clint since she'd joined SHIELD.
"Are you guys screwing?" Tony asked, finally able to form a full sentence.
Phil turned around from the bacon he'd been cooking to look at Clint, then his team, and back at Clint. Considering what to tell them, they turned back to face their friends.
"I guess now's a good time to tell you," Phil said as Clint filled a cup with coffee and took a sip.
"We're dating." Clint scanned his friend's faces as he said it, trying to judge what their reactions would be. Tony seemed shocked while Bruce, Steve, and Thor seemed pleasantly surprised. Natasha was just sitting in her chair, sipping her coffee, not at all dazed by this sudden revelation.
"So how long has this been going on?" Steve asked. But before either of them could answer, Natasha piped in with the answer.
"They've been together for 8 years and were pining over each other since before I even started working with them. I'm surprised none of you noticed."
Everyone in the group stared at Natasha, mouths hanging open, absolutely stunned by the information she'd just given them.
"You knew?" Tony exclaimed.
"I've known since the day I met them. It was painfully obvious. I was surprised they weren't more subtle about it. "
"Sorry we didn't tell you guys. I mean we wanted to but...," Clint said, trailing off.
"Yeah. We've been keeping it a secret for so long we weren't really sure how to tell you." Phil finished for him. He was nervous, telling people who trusted him with their lives that he'd been keeping a secret from them. He thinks Clint could feel how nervous he was because he had grabbed Phil's hand, pulling him slightly closer to where he was standing by the kitchen counter. Breakfast had long been forgotten, toast getting cold on the counter, bacon still sizzling in the pan.
"We get it. Kinda," Tony said. He felt disappointed that his team members no, his friends, felt the need to keep their relationship a secret from them, especially for such a long amount of time.
"Why have you guys kept it a secret for so long?"
Clint and Phil made their way over to the dining room table, sitting down with the rest of the team. It wasn't a hard story to explain, in fact, it was pretty straight forward, but they felt weird standing so far from the group.
"Well we'd been working together for 4 years before we started dating though I'd practically been in love with him since the day we met. I'd even asked him out a few times before he became my main handler," Clint started. He looked over at Phil, who was holding his hand under the table. Usually, they refrained from PDA, what with their relationship being a secret and everything, but there didn't seem to be a point to it now. Phil turned his head towards him as Clint before looking back at the team.
"And every time I turned him down no matter how much I want to say yes. When I became his handler, I just... I didn't want people to think I was abusing my position as his superior."
"Or that I was only using him to get better missions or higher clearance."
"So what changed?" asked Tony.
"I almost died," Clint said simply. He glanced down, staring at his Phil's hand in his. He remembered that day like it was yesterday.
They had invaded what was supposed to be an abandoned warehouse that was a base for the weapons smuggling ring they'd been tracking. It should've been a simple mission. Get in, grab the weapons, capture a few guards to take back for questioning then get out, but their intel turned out to be shit and the eight men they'd gone in with hadn't been enough to get out with all the weapons and take out the dozens of men inside the warehouse.
They'd lost over half the team they came in with, the rest barely making it out alive. Clint had been shot, could hardly walk, and Phil had had to carry him out despite having been stabbed himself. When they'd finally made it back to the quinjet, Phil stitched Clint back together as best he could but he was fading fast. He wasn't sure how long Clint would have if they didn't get back to base soon. In the few moments they had before Clint would pass out from blood loss, Phil had leaned down, kissing the other man firmly on the lips, silently begging him not to die.
"I love you Clint, please, you can't die, not yet." Phil had said, holding Clint in his arms as the quinjet flew back to base.
"I… I love you too Phil," Clint replied, smiling up at the other man. He pulled Phil down for another quick kiss before finally passing out. Phil was still holding the other man in his arms as he moved to bandage his own wounds.
When they finally made it back to base, the entire team had been rushed to medical, where Clint had undergone emergency surgery. It was days before Phil had been able to see Clint again.
When they were finally able to talk about what had happened on the quinjet, they both agreed it would be better to keep their relationship a secret. 8 years later and they still hadn't told anyone besides Nick Fury and Natasha.
"We've been together ever since," Phil said, smiling softly. "So how about breakfast?"
The team fixed up their breakfast, scrapping what had been burned, before sitting down to eat. The rest of the morning went like any other team breakfast and if anyone noticed that Clint and Phil sat a little bit closer to each other or shared just a few more casual touches and glances, well nobody said anything.
When breakfast finally ended Clint and Phil made their way back to the privacy of their room.
"At least now we don't have to worry about telling them," Clint said. He pulled Phil closer, leaning into him.
"I love you," Phil said, kissing Clint deeply.
"Love you too."