Clint and the Rainstorm

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"Try to tame the Broken Blade, King of Monsters, I dare it!" Loki sneered as he began to shift and warp. It disturbed Clint, it caused his jaw to slack and his throat to itch. Loki's body breaking and changing into a creature Clint couldn't yet put a finger on didn't cause it, but the fact that Loki referred to himself as a monster deeply jarred him.

Loki still really believed it. That he was some monster. Snippets of conversation flashed back through his mind like arrows in the sky.

'I existed once, I truly did, you know that.' Loki murmured the night of the strategy meeting.

'I believe, Clint, that I may just be one of those ghosts of which you speak.' Loki whispered when he saw Loki in the kitchen after his nightmare.

'Do not mistake yourself to be anything near as disgraceful as I.' Loki hissed after their third spar when he laid him out.

He wasn't a wild animal, he wasn't broken, not even close. He knew wild animals, he used to work with them. He knew broken too.

"I'm an animal trainer, not tamer. Understand Bart?" Vildan corrected, a serious tone simmering under his knowing smile. Clint, at first, hated the nickname that everyone gave him but it was slowly growing on him.

It was if the nickname made him someone new. It was what he wanted after all. A year after Nate… yeah. He had to leave and send back money. He wasn't good to anyone back home and probably vice versa. Though he was especially no good to his younger brother Jake. His late nights, his busted knuckles, bruised ribs and black eyes began to rub off on him.

And it wasn't like mom was around anymore to give half a shit about…well…anything.

Besides who needed school? He was always more street smart than book smart anyway.

"What's the difference? You make the animals do what you want." Clint stated matter of factly and Vildan just tutted the way he always did when he wanted to be a condescending jackass.

He let it go usually. He didn't think 'Vildan the Visionary Animal Trainer' meant to sound so high and mighty all the time.

"You can't force animals like these ones—" Vildan gestured to 'King Midas' the African lion, 'Krishna' and 'Arjuna' the Bengal tigers, two of the six elephants that Clint didn't know the names of, and lastly a big yellow snake, 'Medusa'. Clint didn't know where they got the names of the Bengal tigers from but he knew 'Medusa' and that definitely suited that big snake. It wasn't that Clint was afraid of the snake, it was more like he flat out didn't like them. Snakes creeped him out a bit.

"—they're wild, and are better this way. I can encourage them to perform certain tasks, but I must first build a relationship with them. I see inside their mind, and them, mine. You must gain their trust, and always treat them courteously." Vildan lectured and Clint just scratched the underside of his jaw. Vildan could take things a little too seriously, and could be a little too philosophical at times.

Vildan and his girlfriend Wanda with her twin brother, Pietro fled Bosnia three years ago after the war broke out. Clint vaguely watched the news about it, it apparently was a real shitshow.

Pietro was an acrobat too, and a know-it-all, arrogant, smart-ass. He always seemed to pop out of nowhere and bug him about something. He also constantly acted like they were rivals, but they totally weren't. Sure, he was fast, had great balance from parkour but Clint was stronger, better at the trapeze and Pietro couldn't shoot worth snot. But, besides all his obnoxious antics Clint could say that Pietro at least took the animals seriously.

A lot of people thought that animals in circuses were mistreated and yeah maybe that was the case with some circuses but as far as Clint could tell, Vildan, and yes even that Euro-trash Pietro, treated the animals well. They always pet them, and even talked to them, even the snake. Clint didn't know why they had a snake, it couldn't really do many cool tricks, but apparently not many circuses had them.

"Yeah, sounds the same as pets. But we consider pets tame, what's the real difference here?" Clint challenged as Vildan reached caressed Krishna's…(or was that one Arjuna's?) back.

"To tame these animals, would mean a broken soul, or rather spirit. Their spirit would be broken. That is a tragedy, one for the circus, one for me, and of course for the animals." Vildan's low, straight ponytail whipped around a bit as he gave the tiger one last hearty scratch. Ok, he could really get deep about this stuff. "Let me now show you." Vildan rocked back and Clint just shook his head.

"Nah, thanks man but I'm good with just doing my thing." Clint laughed uneasily. He didn't want to insult Vildan with his animals, but he really wanted to keep all his fingers.

And he swore the snake was plotting something.

"You're new and young, Bart. You should be open to learn new things." Vildan tutted again with that old man smile. He actually ruffled his hair with his hand, after he touched the tiger. Maybe he had a tick now, lime disease was a real thing.

"Uh yeah, sure maybe. Maybe later or something." It wasn't that he didn't like Vildan, it was just the guy reminded him a little of Nate. He couldn't put his finger on why, they didn't look anything alike and Vildan had a pretty heavy accent. Maybe it was his smile, or the way he ruffled his hair. Maybe everyone and everything reminded of Nate, but not at the same time, or in the same way.

"Later? Maybe not all of us get one of those." Vildan stared right into Clint's eyes, his prominent nose hooking down. Clint didn't know Vildan's whole story, like most of the people in this circus. Not a lot of people knew his either, but…they all had one. The Bosnian War couldn't have a walk in the park for them, especially if they came all the way to Iowa.

Vildan then lifted his eyebrows in challenge, and that reminded him of when Nate did the same thing when they snuck into a sold-out Metallica concert. Nate wasn't a huge animal guy, but he was always down for a challenge. He'd totally be calling Clint a pansy-ass right now.

"Fine. Bring it on." Clint huffed as if his time was being wasted to make up for the smug look on Vildan's face. Vildan went into the enclosure and brought out the python. Of course, the damned snake. He couldn't start with something that couldn't eat him. Like Dumbo or whatever the elephant's name was.

He was wearing the snake like a scarf or something. He couldn't be serious.

"This is my beautiful Esma. Her circus name is Medusa, ružan! Such an ugly name! My Esma is pretty, smart and mostly docile. She simply hates sudden movements and noises. She is not naturally mean." Vildan handed him the snake and Clint sucked it up only because he knew on the off chance there was some afterlife, Nate would never let him live it down if he bolted here. The only thing helping him was that the snake was yellow and white. It was almost like a cartoon.

Vildan sensed his hesitation and snickered a little, but to his credit, only a little.

"Confidence! Be confident around her. Snakes frighten easy when others are frightened. Slow and confident, like you're comforting a child." Vildan instructed and Clint rolled his eyes. Vildan slowly lifted the way too long python off his own shoulders and into Clint's arms like a blanket. Immediately the snake began to coil and Clint froze.

No. Man up. It's just a snake, it doesn't even have venom. If Vildan, the guy who once pissed into the wind, sober, could handle this snake without losing a limb, so could he.

"Oh. Cool. I guess." Clint began to lift the snake over his head and let 'the beautiful Esma' do her thing of…well…curling around him. It was pretty cool, the snake totally felt different than he thought it would. It felt smooth, alive and warm, not cold or slimy.

Vildan tutted.

"You guess… Pythons may not fetchsay paper or jump through loops of fire, but they are smart. They can learn. Be calm, sure, and slow with snakes. I will teach you more later, for now just now feel Esma." Vildan jutted his stubbly chin up and Clint, slowly, pet what he thought would be a safe part of the snake, halfway back.

"Hey Barty! Didn't know you could actually pick up a good-looking girl! Try to treat her right, she'll probably be the only girl who wants to be around you!" Pietro, wearing of course an Adidas tracksuit, called out from across the tent and sped off. Clint would have yelled at the bleach blond asshat and ran after him if he wasn't holding a snake that could squeeze him to death.

He couldn't even yell back, that would definitely scare the stupid snake and Pietro knew it.

"At least I don't look like I'm in a knock-off boy band…Why is your friend such a pain in my ass?" Clint muttered and Vildan laughed heartily.

"He wants to be your friend." Vildan smirked and Clint resisted the urge to kick him, again. Except he of course still had the snake. He knew this whole thing was some sort of trap, and he fell for it.

Oh, Nate is definitely laughing his ass off at him right now. Like he needed a friend like that!

Clint never really held 'the beautiful Esma' again, which now he sort-of regretted. Because, the man who he thought was dead less than a half hour ago, was now a giant snake.

A giant, black, venomous, panicked, angry snake. Super.

Today was easily in Clint's top three worst days of his life. Yesterday was a joke compared to today. He would easily have another yesterday instead of today.

He would have easily taken another day of alien invasions, getting cursed, Fury's accusations, finding out he was being used, Loki and his spar, Loki and his magic, Loki and his grins, Loki and his taunting kiss…over this.

When the first bullet hit Loki it was if someone took barbed wire and flossed it through his throat and stomach. From his angle, he could see his green eyes bulge out and his chest flinch. The small spray of blood, almost as if he had spritzed red cologne on himself, spiked Clint's pulse.

Nate. It was Nate all over again. A mix of Pietro and Nate was happening again and Clint's instincts took over. An urgency that hadn't lit up his mind in years overwhelmed his blood stream and before he knew it he caught Loki before he hit the stage.

He could have been in the line of fire, but he didn't care. He just couldn't be too late. Not again.

And… when Loki's mouth filled with blood his eyes glassed over and his whole body convulsed Clint couldn't fight back a strained, screamed, 'no'.

Not Loki too.

Everyone strong and sure in his life he personally watched deteriorate and implode in front of him. He was too late to stop Nate, his indomitable big brother. He was too clueless to help Pietro, the cock-sure, rival turned friend. But he wouldn't allow this to happen to Loki, the unbreakable, resilient, mysterious God. He'd save the only man who could flash a smile, and he'd return one just one on reflex.

He didn't know what really made him suddenly feel that way, but when he committed to something, he stuck with it. And he wasn't going to stop now. Not with Loki.

Yet, Loki and Nat played him, again. He thought he was saving him from the enemy, but no, he was saving him from himself. Plausible deniability. Out of scope. Just like when Loki pretended he was Fancy Pants and he had to go through hoops with Fury. He was always in the dark, but always put on the spot to hold everything together. Now, he had to figure out a way to hold the Avengers and Loki together.

Clint didn't know if anyone else had picked up on Loki's little tells: his hand wringing, finger twitching, eyes buzzing, that he was about to spiral into a tail-spin, but he did. Maybe he was the only one who cared enough to pay attention to what Loki was really feeling.

Loki was scared.

And, in perfectly a dramatic fashion he had come to expect from the handsome god, he panicked and turned himself into the scariest, most stereotypical villainous creature he could. Clint knew he could shapeshift into people, but he didn't really think he could do animals, especially ones as big around as an SUV's car tire and as long as almost three of them.

He reacted the same way most people would, just…in a way he didn't expect.

Clint didn't really blame Loki for it, but damn he picked a bad time to not think everything through. Loki, scared that he couldn't prevent his best friend for being his fall guy, freaked out and tried to scare everyone off. Clint guessed it was the only way his magic let him. Cerberus had obviously wreaked havoc on his magic, otherwise he would've probably teleported out long ago. Which would have been for the best.

Though, if he had to be nauseatingly honest with himself, he didn't want Loki to leave the tower. Who would watch Loki's six o'clock? Who would help him work through his outbursts? Clint knew Loki wasn't a kid but he definitely struggled with his self-destructive tendencies. However, anything was better than Loki, Fancy Pants, or Bruce, or any combination of the three in SHIELD H.Q.

He knew that Loki and Sesshomaru were close, but seeing their friendship tested like this, and seeing how Bruce reacted sort of relieved Clint in a way. Clint was just an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation. He couldn't match all that supernatural stuff so knowing a Demon Lord had Loki's back, and gave a shit, relieved him. Nat and them had a point, he saw all the people screaming for Loki's blood, hating him, and god did it get under his skin.

The exact same thing happened to him, and sure, it basically tanked his career, but no one wanted his blood. Loki and Fancy Pants took one for the team alright.

Which is what everyone in the room was currently doing in one way or another. He didn't quite blame Tony either for blowing his stack.

He got it. If this went down in his front yard he'd be just as pissed.

Though, c'mon man, sometimes you just got to take one for the team and let this situation cool down. He thought Tony might just give in when he yelled an objection when Fancy Pants was about to turn himself in. Clint knew he cared about the guy.

Though Tony's attitude wasn't making anything easier, Clint's problem wasn't with Tony. It was surprise, surprise, Fury and SHIELD.

Hill and Coulson couldn't be any less helpful either. It was sheer luck that the bullet that ricocheted off of the magic forcefield didn't hit him or Rhodes, or that Steve was in the right place at the right time to deflect the bullet meant for Fancy Pants.

Because, Clint was fairly certain that Fancy Pants, just like Bruce and Loki, was on the brink of turning Fury, Hill, and Coulson to mush. And while they weren't his favorite people, he couldn't stand by and let them just get killed. He also knew that Loki wanted them alive, whatever he was doing now had to be stopped.

"Holy Hell." Steve said across the room. His sentiments exactly. How was he supposed to help Loki not get hit by anymore sniper bullets now? He was a terrifyingly large target.

And it wasn't like Bruce wasn't currently hulking out either. He really, really hoped his tutoring session with Fancy Pants paid off.

Clint's stomach flipped as Loki careened forward like a whip crack to rise up as a challenge to Fury, Hill, and Coulson. Damnit, Loki, couldn't you see this was a colossally bad idea?!

"Friends, this does not bode well. Loki has never had the best control over his mind when he creature-shifts." Thor informed and Clint rolled his eyes. Great, could this get any worse?! A prickling sensation trickled up Clint's spine. A foreboding, dark shadow settled over Clint. Something in him was telling him something bad was just around the bend.

"Everyone. No sudden movements! Snakes can't handle the vibrations." Clint used his entire diaphragm to shout the command. He didn't know if anyone would listen to him or not but regardless he fluidly moved towards Loki. He had to get through to him, everything would just go to hell if he impaled Fury with what had to be foot-long fangs.

Please let this work.

"Technically, snakes can't handle anything you know, no hands?…what?" Clint ignored Tony's stupid quip. Clint swerved around Loki's slithering tail to get in front of him, between Coulson, the agent most likely to shoot him, and Loki. He slid his hands over Loki's back, in what he hoped would be a placating, calming gesture, not one that would get him skewered.

Loki's flat, scaled head swiveled around. His black and green eyes alight and mouth snapped closed. It reminded him, weirdly of how he was when he kissed him a second time on the roof.

Only then he wasn't a giant cobra snake.

"Easy Loki, easy. Come back alright? You didn't have to do this. This isn't you." Clint slowly, though surely and confidently caressed Loki's black scales. Loki pulsed and twisted with energy, but what really shook Clint was that he was certain he could feel Loki's fluttering heartbeat a mile a minute.

Yet, Loki hadn't lunged yet. He hadn't attacked yet.

A small explosion of blood and scales erupted to his left. A sniper shot, blown wide of a sure target, struck Loki near the end of his tail and Loki let loose a scream like steam escaping a pressurized valve. Clint's heart pounded in ears, he had to calm himself down, and Loki. He couldn't protect Loki if he panicked, he had literally….wait.

That huge fucking idiot.

That was it. Loki was trying to get hit! He was pulling the whole 'eyes on me' thing to divert attention from the Hulk and Fancy Pants.

"All agents stand down." Fury commanded again. Before Clint could do much else, the Hulk, decided enough was enough, and roared which stilled everyone in the room.

He leapt out of the window, climbing up the tower. Well, that wasn't the worst thing that could have happened, Coulson could be Tony's new rug. Just where the Hulk was headed to Clint had no idea but he was not about to….oh.

"Elvis has left the building." Rhodes muttered. We've got two joksters here now, thanks for the one-liner Rhodes. Clint watched the Hulk sail through the air and onto the side of the building where the snipers were perched. He began to climb up it one decimated window at a time.

"Bruce! We need possible containment across from Stark Tower…" Nat called in, but even with her skills she couldn't get to Hulk before anything happened.

Many of the red laser sights has now disappeared, probably now pointing down to the Hulk.

"All tactical support fall back." Hill demanded, Clint thinly smiled to himself, if they were smart, they would. Then Clint squinted his eyes.

Right above where the Hulk launched himself a small parting in the clouds had appeared. It wasn't daylight, like Thor had let up on the storm and sun had peaked through. The parting in the clouds was dark, but small enough that he doubted anyone else saw it but him.

He was Hawkeye after all.

But he had spotted it, a smudge obscure, mottled smudge of space. It couldn't be a portal… could it? Loki couldn't make portals like that, neither could Thanos. If he could, then the Other wouldn't have bothered with getting Loki to get the Tesseract, right?

"The five entities, Lord Sesshomaru, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, and Horns have been classified as hostiles. Sir, would you like for me to proceed with appropriate countermeasures or did you have something else in mind?" Jarvis sounded and Clint cursed. He had forgotten all about Jarvis. Clint wasn't exactly sure what 'appropriate countermeasures' Jarvis had in mind, but he knew it wasn't going to be a group hug.

"Stark, let's go with 'something else'." Fury tensely negotiated and Clint didn't have enough time to look Tony's way, because on his right, Sesshomaru took a step forward.

"Um, still deciding, can you leave your opinion in the form of a voicemail? I just love those." Tony responded and Clint resisted the urge to groan out loud.

"Enough." Sesshomaru's placid voice cut through the chaos. Clint noticed his markings were all black and the death ray around his sword shockwaved out. Clint was actually impressed; Fancy Pants had shown remarkable restraint until now.

Fancy Pants leapt towards Fury, but he wasn't moving nearly as fast as he had been earlier. The poison he got hit by must have hit him hard too for him to move so sluggishly. Clint continued to keep Loki's attention by caressing him, but it had begun to waiver.

"Easy Loki, don—" Clint got cut off.

"Stop, Son of Taisho!" Thor bellowed as Mjolnir soared through the air over Loki's back. Fancy Pants almost dodged Mjolnir completely, but it struck him hard on the left shoulder, twisting him around.

"If there is a battle you seek, then seek it with me." Thor stormed forward, blond hair streaming in the wind. Didn't he just say that to not have any sudden movements? Thor strode all the way up to Fancy Pants, which like little brother like big brother, seemed like another colossally bad idea.

"You will actually betray me, Storm God?" Sesshomaru snarled, eyes flashing white and red. Mjolnir returned, streaking past a dodging Sesshomaru and into Thor's hand, who immediately swung and Sesshomaru swiped his sword to meet Mjolnir.

The impact and high shriek of the sword and low gong of metal rippled through Clint's skull as a terrible headache. Clint didn't have time to react as the two spun to face the other, lightning striking green youki.

"I'd never betray you! I wish to avoid further bloodshed of my friends, including you!" Thor shouted and beyond them, the dark, starry smudge in the sky grew.

They clashed again and a rogue sniper shot zipped through the air and skimmed Sesshomaru's ear and miraculously only through Thor's hair. Blood sprayed the air from the ear wound.

Loki's smooth scales rushed beneath Clint's hands as Loki spun, flared and launched after Thor in a black flash.

"Loki! No!" Clint called out. This was chaos. Someone was going to end up dead.

"You two hot shots, both stop." Steve yelled, attempting to interject himself into the fight as Loki opened his mouth out wide, fangs extended.

Loki rocked forward like a tidal surge and caught Steve off guard with his speed. Steve paused in his advance, instead opting to throw his shield which sliced through the air between Thor and Sesshomaru. Ok Steve, that was not really going to help…

"Loki that's Thor!" Clint called out during Loki's strike but, it was too little too late. Loki clamped down partially on Thor's shoulder. To Clint, it looked like Loki tried to pull his attack at the last minute.

"Brother!" Thor cried in agony and Clint hadn't heard Thor cry out like that, ever. Loki balked back in surprise and writhed his massive frame across the floor. Loki knocked Steve back with his tail, sending him sailing across the room towards the shattered window.

Nat and Hill, supposedly putting their differences aside, jumped into action to prevent Steve from flying out the window with a quick grab. The rain outside came down in sheets.

A roar was heard across the street and Fury whipped around. Coulson used the distraction to line another shot. No. He wasn't going to let Coulson take another cheap shot at Loki.

Loki didn't mean for any of this to happen. Clint was just close enough to charge forward and tackle Coulson hard to the ground. He wrestled for the gun, but Coulson's grip was more secure on the pistol.

"Barton, he needs to be stopped!" Coulson reasoned, but Clint didn't want to hear it. In a flash of frustration, he wished he had magic too. He wished he could burn Coulson's hand off his gun, do something, anything! His chest, right under his tattoo began to prickle and heat up, and his whole blood stream began to dart with tongues of flame.

"Damnit Coulson just drop the damn gun! Don't make me hurt you over this!" Clint's pent up anxiety, adrenaline, pounded in his temples.

A small, muted fuchsia light glowed from his palm. It wasn't larger or anymore bright than a lit cigarette but it caused Coulson to recoil and drop the gun, but not before gun went off. The loud shot rang in Clint's his ears.

He didn't need to be Hawkeye to know the shot was right at Sesshomaru's head who didn't appear set for the shot. Of all the rotten goddamn luck…

Thruuuuummmm

Clint didn't know how it happened, or when Tony had picked up the blue sword, but he had it and he threw up a similar forcefield from earlier, refracting the shot high and up.

"Alright, they can stay. Happy Patchy? Jarvis stand down…I'll be in my lab, figuring out who hacked me. No Demons, Gods, Rage Monsters, Agents or…Christ giant reptiles allowed. When Loki turns mammalian again tell him he's on cleanup duty." Tony announced and the tension in the room relaxed. Tony dropped the blue sword and turned sharply to leave the room, Rhodes tight on his heels.

"Good to see we could reach a mostly peaceful resolution. Let's pack it in Hill, Coulson we have a lot to discuss." Fury sounded tired; he didn't blame him. Clint grunted, slowly sitting up from the hard fall he had taken tackling Coulson.

'What was that light from my hand all about? Maybe I'm hallucinating, maybe that twitchy teen barista slipped something in my coffee. That explains the patch of darkness in the sky, my hand lighting up like barbie's dreamhouse…I think I need some air.' Clint tweezed a sliver of broken glass out of his hand and looked the bloody shard like it held answers.

Coulson rebounded up with a spring in his step and looked down on an exhausted Clint with a cold, neutral stare. Yeah, he doubted they were going to go back to friendly terms any time soon.

"Loki, it's over. Feel free to turn back into something more apartment friendly." Clint groaned, and stood up. Loki's long black tail thinned and shortened as he morphed back. In the process, two cartridges popped out of his body, rolling across the floor. One had to have been the sniper round with the toxin, the other from the shot he took as a snake.

Loki didn't bother looking back, he just stood frozen facing Sesshomaru. Fancy Pants, clear-eyed, cut his gaze from Thor to Clint. He eyed him in a way Clint could only say was suspicious.

'Okay come off it Fancy Pants, it's not like I meant for Coulson to shoot you in the head.' Clint rolled his eyes to shake his glare.

Wordlessly, Fancy Pants sheathed his death ray sword, and picked up his blue one and before Clint could really guess at what he was doing, he vaulted out the broken window into the rainstorm.

'Oh yeah, Squirt, Fury Jr, and Pepper are out there. Man, Pepper is going to let Tony have it…. ' Clint didn't even want to imagine how mad she had to be.

"Thor, allow me to see you—" Thor, face twisted in pain, clutched his bloody shoulder, which veins had begun to turn a sinister black-green. Blood seeped between his fingers, it was bleeding heavy for a puncture wound. Damn, Loki did a number on the big guy.

"I shall be fine Loki, I need not your aid." Thor grumbled out and turned to leave. Loki trailed him as a shadow. Clint sighed, he wasn't going to get involved with that. His own mind still buzzed and had too much cotton stuffed in it.

Hill then started after Fury and Coulson bent down, picking up his gun and other things that had scattered.

Clint looked down at his hands, they were bloody. He didn't know if it was his own blood or whose anymore. He didn't think he got hit… oh the shattered glass. Maybe it was all his blood.

Jittery with unprocessed emotions and high adrenaline, Clint ran for the roof access. Whatever else happened down there could just happen. Fuck this horse mess.

"Clint wait up." Clint heard Nat, but he had no intention on waiting. He needed space, air, a reality check. Something. He didn't need to wait, or hear Nat's explanation of the absolute chaos that was his life right now. He didn't even know how heavy he was breathing until he started up the stairs. His lungs stung.

"Not interested Nat. You can speak to my receptionist, she can probably pencil you in for next Tuesday, that is if you can trust me to remember the appointment." Clint called out, knowing he sounded like a scorned teenager holding a grudge, but he didn't care. Maybe he could pilot the Quinjet solo and just leave.

That sounded wonderful. Escape.

Up on the roof Thor's rainstorm continued to pelt down fat, heavy drops. The rain refreshed him, and he let loose a long, heavy sigh as the blood rinsed from his skin.

'The black smudge is gone from the sky, in fact it looks like a patch of normal daylight. Good sign, I guess. Or bad. Maybe I Hawkeye, am really beginning to see things. Maybe I'm losing my edge.' Clint absently tweezed another splinter of glass out of his hand with his short nails.

He stood on the roof, scanning across the city, wondering how it could still be operating after everything got thrown so upside down. He stared down at the street below, wondering which one of the black SUV's in the caravan of three Fury was in. Maybe he could spit on it from here.

"Clint, I had no idea." He turned to see Nat standing behind him in the rain, clouds billowing and knocking with distant thunder. They were both still dressed in what they ate bagels in together earlier that morning. He had even gotten Nat her favorite bagel, sesame with light cream cheese and black coffee. He laughed.

He was such a sucker, always such a sucker. This morning he was worried about the bagel guy messing up her breakfast order while she plotted the assassination attempt of his friends.

One of whom, he held in his arms, his own throat swollen in terror, watching his chest wash over in sticky blood. Clint remembered helplessly applying pressure to Loki's chest, knowing that if Loki had been human he'd be long dead by now. Loki's eyes were glassy, his mouth bloody, skin ashen.

'I don't even remember knowing what I yelled at him, I just had to get his attention. I had to get him to notice me. I needed Loki to narrow his eyes in recognition, and wink. Loki had to be ok, I needed him back.' Clint squinted into the sideways rain. He was soaked to the bone, but it reflected his mood.

"Really Nat? You, the best read we have at SHIELD, had no idea? I have a really hard time believing that. I have an easier time believing that it was just easier to ignore, or maybe even you don't trust me." Clint laughed, his voice brittle and dark.

"I don't ignore important things Clint. I unintentionally allowed myself to be too narrowly invested with the invasion and the double agents. Leaving you out of scope had nothing to do with your trustworthiness; you know I never saw you compromised." Nat started to approach Clint and he held out his hand, finger pointed high to stop her.

"First with Loki impersonating Fancy Pants now this…. Why did you let me shoot Loki back then? You never saw it as a matter of honor. Who did? Oh yeah, the Demon Lord who probably only agreed to this whole circus act because like he wasn't going to help his best friend in a stunt like this. You manipulated him real good too." Clint yelled so that none of his words got carried away by the wind. Nat rocked back and straightened.

"You're still on the arrow thing? This isn't a fairy tale Clint! You can't just put ideals like that first over the bigger picture. You didn't need to put arrows in Loki to regain any honor you thought you lost. I didn't think you lost any to begin with, what happened to you was awful but it never should have reflected on you at all. And as for Pretty Boy? He is almost five hundred years old. I think he can make a decision for himself." Nat fired back, her blue eyes positively wild, her hair thrashing in the wind, her black blouse began to shine with rainwater.

"Did you know? Did you know how crazy Tony is about the guy?" Clint asked the obvious question and Nat rubbed her temple in frustration.

"Pretty Boy told me they slept together, but Tony wanted to keep it strictly casual." Clint laughed and ran a hand through his now soaked hair. This was so messed up.

"Steve was right...wow. Ok, Tony 'commitment-phobe' Stark can't leave Sesshomaru alone for more than three waking hours. He wigged out on Steve for letting him go after the spaceship solo, and bets on his favorite bands. I don't think that's casual Tony. I can't believe you knew he slept with him and you still didn't tell him. " Clint spun around in a circle, wiping rain water off his face, Nat's makeup still held on true to her face, somehow.

"Did you just not hear the conversation we had down there? Tony's infatuation, no matter how short lived for Pretty Boy was secondary to what we needed to accomplish. Do you want to continue to dance around what's really bothering you?" Nat began to sound angry as she pursed her full lips together, the rain began to slowly let up. It wasn't just an infatuation, Tony didn't cave easy and Clint suspected it had everything to do with Fancy Pants being locked up in SHEILD H.Q. or getting a bullet in the skull.

"I'm just peachy. Today is such a great day. I want to wake up and just do it all over again. Should we try again tomorrow?" Clint fired back venomously and Nat crossed the helipad as if to slap him. She stood in his face, taut like a bowstring, eyes icy.

"I had no idea you cared so much for Loki. Something happened between you two, didn't it?" Nat's voice sounded like a baseball bat hitting a fastball for a home run. Clint wiped more rain water off his square face and nodded.

"Yeah. Something did…" Clint caught a suggestive eyebrow quirk from Nat and Clint rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look. Well, would it have changed anything if you did know?" Clint's voice wrapped around Nat like a lasso.

"I would have found a way to bring you in scope. Tony had the most to lose if this Op went south, or if we didn't do it at all. You can understand that. We're friends Clint. I would never want to put you through something like that, again. Not after Nate and Pietro." Nat put her hand on his shoulder, the same one Loki healed the night before.

He locked eyes with her and he knew when she was lying, probably one of two on the planet who could read her. She told him the truth. He relaxed, feeling like giving up.

"And yet you sat back, doing nothing as Fury threatened to basically imprison him again. What if he's the mole? What if he is trying to get Loki captured by the Other again?" Clint's voice hot met Nat's voice cold.

"Fury didn't want them at SHIELD, Clint. He isn't the mole. My guess is that the last thing he wants is for them to be off grid when the enemy comes back and one ends up getting captured. It was another ploy to call Tony's bluff and to keep us united, as a team. A ploy that almost didn't swing our way. I think I even saw Fury twitch." Nat informed and Clint's eyes widened. That made a lot more sense.

"Fine, you win, per usual. I'm…" Clint trailed off, he didn't even know what to say anymore.

"Totally neck deep in drama involving the biggest diva to ever come to 'Midgard'? You know he is absolutely obsessed with you, Pretty Boy called it from day one. I even taunted Loki about it. Did you see the way he looked at you when Pepper lost her cool?" Nat smirked and Clint wanted to throw himself from the roof. Maybe he could do a flip.

At first, Clint thought Loki was fucking with him. That this was some sort of game to him, tease and win the affections of the sucker archer. Now he wasn't so sure. He knew Nat's previous little speech about how Loki didn't set out to win anyone's trust unless he real wanted it was directed at him.

"No. Not even going there. I'm a simple guy who likes simple things, like hunting… or riding motorcycles, or going to see a hockey game. Loki is about as simple as Fancy Pants is chatty, Tony is sober, or Steve is a Redsox fan. Loki is not what I want, or need, or my type. Besides I don't even like men." Clint put his hands up in in mock surrender. It was way too complicated in an already mucky situation.

'Besides, what if I just like him because he likes me? What if Nat is wrong and this is just a huge game to him? No, this is too risky. I'm better off getting on damn tinder.' Clint smiled wanly, the rain was finally letting up.

Nat snorted and swiped water from her eye, streaking her eye makeup some.

"Lie. If that were true you wouldn't have joined the circus, then joined SHIELD after Pietro. You would have killed me instead of risking your life, to give me a chance. You would have quit after the battle of New York. You would have gone on vacation instead of getting in that Quinjet with me and flying out to New Mexico to investigate a magic signature. You love complicated, and don't try to convince me you don't like Glow Stick. I've never seen you act that way today about anyone, ever. Did you see the look on your face when Loki said 'Jacuzzi'?" Nat listed everything off on her fingers like she was in court. Clint rolled his eyes, it was impossible to have a conversation with her.

"So, you, as a friend, are encouraging me to try to get with Loki, the manic God of Mischief? He is a lightning rod, no offense to Thor, for trouble, disorder, and calamity. He's unstable and… really that's your play? Good to know my friends have my best interests at heart, I think I'll take my chances flinging myself off this rooftop instead." Clint's put his hand to his chin in thought and looked down to the street below.

"Now who's being dramatic? You should give him a chance, and talk to him. Especially about our operation on Asgard. You know he, not Thor, saved Rin and I from Odin. There are some other details he should also let you in on. Together, you two, might work. I'm going back inside, I need a shower, and a massage and you need to find Glow Stick, he should be done playing nursemaid by now." Nat slapped his shoulder and turned to the roof access, the clouds beginning to finally thin out. Clint opened his mouth but he couldn't find a sarcastic retort.

Instead, Clint just shook his head. What choice did he really have? He couldn't avoid Loki forever.

"Awesome Clint. You can reeeallly pick 'em. Unbalanced, check. Inhuman, check. America's most wanted, check. Yeah, let's date him. We can just get more ice cream and watch Return of the Jedi and Loki can go off on the terrible tactics of the empire and the rebellion. Ugh. How gross, I'm more focused on this than the global invasion." Clint shoved his hands in his soaked pockets and began to go back inside, wondering where the God of Mischief could even be.

Poof ffft.

In a whirl of pine scented magic, cool hands grabbed his shoulders and he instantly found himself in Loki's room.

Well that certainly didn't take long.

"Good to see your magic is back. Thanks for orchestrating one of the worst days of my life, five out of five stars." Clint found the words pouring out of his mouth, attacking a positively manic Loki. His green eyes darted over him like a swarm of bees. Loki pursed his lips, finally focusing back onto Clint's brown eyes, locking in like he might break down if he gave up eye contact.

"Yes, somewhat back… I wish…I mean to…I'd like to collect my billiards wager from you." Loki stammered completely inarticulately. Clint almost called him out on it, but Loki's hands were trembling. Loki ran a pale hand through his long hair, pushing it back in a nervous reaction.

Loki was a wreck. A wreck over him. Good, because he was a wreck too.

'Nat was right. Of course, per usual. Loki looks like he has no idea what to do, and this guy probably makes a plan before he takes a leak.' Clint sighed. He wanted Loki being a strung-out mess to make him feel better, but it didn't.

"Wow. You want more from me? After all of that? You shot yourself, made an ass out of me…then lost your mind turned into giant snake…And you want something from me? I'm out of here, your ego…." Clint started to leave and Loki stiffened and moved in front of him.

"You misunderstand. I don't want anything from you, except an opportunity to give you something. Besides, I was under the assumption that you no longer wanted me near you. I didn't think…" Loki faltered as if the words caught in his throat.

"Oh, 'I'm Loki, strategist extraordinaire and I didn't think' just who are you trying to fool? I'm not a damn kid. You think more than Steve works out or Pepper cleans up Tony's public image. I know you thought it'd be easier to run than to talk to me. You thought it'd be easier to get yourself shot than to work through what people thought of you. You thought it'd be easier to turn into a giant snake to get the attention off of Bruce and Fancy Pants than let them handle themselves. But, look at what happened! You can't just run or…you can't make yourself the most hated guy in the room anymore to solve problems. It's not working. We don't hate you, well Coulson does and Hill might, but, we don't. I… don't." There. He said it. He said he didn't hate Loki and it sounded so gross, like he was some tween.

"Ah, you think I am a coward." Loki thinned his lips and Clint furrowed his brow and his stomach sunk. Idiot.

"Do you purposely twist everything I say into something negative, or is that just another perk of being me? I think you're a self-destructive dick with anger management issues, not a coward. I certainly don't think you're some monster, or some stupid title 'broken blade' the scepter used to call you. Get over that." Clint's tone came out much harsher than he meant and he caught Loki's stunned expression.

"It was far more expedient to have me be the target, and it mattered the least to most." Loki rocked back on his heels, appearing to be waiting for something.

"There could have been other options. You also didn't have to go full-tilt crazy. You could have …I don't know, looked for different options. You saw my tattoo, right? That was for my brother Nate. He was only seventeen when he died. My brother also thought shooting himself mattered the least to most." Clint abruptly closed his mouth. He didn't mean to admit that to Loki. Awkward.

Loki closed the distance between them with a few strides of his long, lean legs.

"I refuse to argue the point, but I will not leave you to face the Mad Titan's fleet alone. You underestimate me if you think three Midgardian bullets can stop me so." Loki reached out to touch Clint, but stopped just short. Clint grabbed his hand anyway, the action mirroring when Loki 'shushed' him after he healed his shoulder.

The cuts on his hand healed in a Christmas scented puff of smoke.

"You know, as 'the Dude' would say, You're not wrong, Loki; You're just an asshole. No more of that crap. No more plausible deniability. No more making me think you're dead. You owe me big, 8-ball wager be damned." Clint bit out and Loki's face lit up and he laughed, and magic sparking from his fingertips. Clint had seen Loki do this before, but he had never been the one to make him laugh that way.

"Then, Clint, allow me to make it up to you." Loki grinned wickedly and disappeared in a flash of green.

Um ok.

Then Clint felt a presence behind him and all the sudden two arms snaked around his sides from behind, left hand splayed across his chest, the right at his collarbone and neck. Clint absolutely froze, his skin prickled as if freezing and fire at the same time. Every hair stood on end as Loki breathed in his left ear, soft lips grazing his ear lobe. Loki's chest pressed flush up against his board rigid back.

Clint didn't even breathe.

"I desire to make it up to you by satisfying you." Loki's voice sounded velvet and forbidden as his lips traveled down from his ear, to the left side of his neck. Clint exhaled sharply when Loki's hand on his chest began to inch downwards on his wet shirt while the other gently pushed his jaw up.

'Holy God I am in such trouble. I am never listening to Nat again.' Clint gasped inadvertently as Loki's lips kissed the valley where his neck met his shoulder, his tongue flicking out swirling and lips sucking, a preview for what surely Loki meant to give on later.

"Loki…" Damnit Clint you couldn't just only say his name! "Makeup sex huh? If you're only doing this because I'm mad at you, I don't want it. I'm tired of your games." Clint wanted to punch himself in the face. That was what he came up with? Really?!

Clint started to turn around but Loki held him in place, lips curling into a smirk on his skin. Clint finally found Loki's arms, stopping them, his skin burned in anger and arousal. He slapped one hand on Loki's left that now reached dangerously close to his pants, and grabbed his right forearm.

"This is no game to me Clint. These actions I took today, I did to protect you. I wish to treat you, because you are precious to me and I want you. I will invoke a hunger so carnal you'll forget how food tastes. If you will have me." Loki's soft lips left a trail of buzzing, and needy kisses from his shoulders up to his jawbone and Clint anger fled like a crowd after a show.

'Precious? What? Really? What in the he-' Clint's thoughts froze as something that was most assuredly not a flashlight, poked his ass.

"Will you have me Clint?" Loki asked, voice a blend of sultry and husky ribbons. Clint's groin warmed and twitched and Clint's mouth opened and his throat swelled shut. Loki began to suck harder, his teeth raking his skin and lips spreading and pawing.

'Loki hasn't even done anything yet and I am already freezing up like a virgin. Well, to be honest I haven't ever had sex with a guy before. I am so screwed. Literally.' Clint tensed up. Loki had obviously done this before with a guy, but he had no idea what to do. He was going to be made an ass of, again.

"Well?" Loki prompted again, and Clint could feel the teasing tone through his lips. Loki was either oblivious to Clint's nervousness, or just chose to ignore it. Clint went with the latter as Loki moved his own hand from under Clint's to finally reach Clint's belt and with a curl of green magic the belt slipped off and flung into the chair across the room. Clint subconsciously flexed his abs, making room between his pants and his body.

Was his body betraying him…or did he really want this this badly?

Clint couldn't find his voice. This felt right, more than right. But he had no idea if this was going to blow up in his face later.

His wet dress shirt disappeared, and Loki's as well. Loki's bare chest pressed up against his wet back, his defined pecks against his lats. Loki continued to suck and swirl kisses, while holding his jaw up with long, probably double jointed fingers. His neck could fry an egg Loki made him so hot.

With no warning, Loki's hand shot down his pants, leaving his hand now on his wrist. Loki's fingers brushed through his body hair, under his boxers, finding his stiffening cock.

Clint sucked in another breath. How long had he wanted this?!

"I…" Clint started, regretting how he sounded already and Loki stopped, picking up on his hesitation. Quick and strong as a panther he relinquished all body contact with Clint, his skin immediately cooling. For a flash of a moment Clint thought Loki left him just standing there, but green eyes blazed on him like the sun off a snowy peak.

Clint instantly missed his touch, not knowing how much he had been craving, waiting for it til now. He immediately spun around to see Loki only in his leather pants, his hard dick tenting them. A devilish gleam and grin overtook his features.

"Which female form would you like me to take? I have seen many popular, pretty ones on your advertisements. How about this one?" Instantly Loki turned into a topless Scarlett Johansson. Clint blinked in confusion, about to protest. That wasn't what he meant, that's not why he hesitated.

"Or this one?" Loki's voice was suddenly a smokey alto as he shifted into a very real Natalie Portman, running a manicured hand through his now super long, dark brown hair. Clint fought a growing frustration and lost his hard-on, which was equally confusing considering since both women were gorgeous. Yet, Clint knew why he suddenly got soft.

'There is, I guess, no really use denying it. I want Loki. Wow, didn't see that one coming a month ago, damn you Fancy Pants, and Nat.' Clint watched as Loki began to sway hips that weren't his, and touch breasts that certainly weren't either.

"Name attributes you like. I can be quite crea—" Loki's voice sang out feminine and sweet, and it was all wrong. Loki batted his now hazel eyes playfully and licked his red painted lips and Clint had enough.

"Shift back to you. I told you before, you should stay you. Be you." Clint snapped, and immediately Loki flashed back to himself, face slack in shock and disbelief. He stopped swaying and simply stared.

'Is that what he really thinks?! That I only want to have sex with him because he can look like any beautiful woman? He thinks I'm that shallow?' Clint searched Loki's face, and saw complete and utter disbelief and barely hidden joy. It wasn't about him. This. This was about Loki.

This was about the whole 'King of Monsters' thing. Someone as confident as Loki shouldn't ever have that look in his eyes.

Clint decided then, in Stark Tower, still wet from Thor's rainstorm, he was going to give this a shot. It wasn't because he thought he lost him today, and it wasn't just because the look that Loki gave him shattered something deep inside him.

He wanted this just as much, he just didn't have the stones that Loki had to be upfront about it. He wanted to see Loki bend, he wanted to see Loki's face explode in ecstasy, and he wanted to be the one to melt him into the bed. He wanted his sly smiles to land on him.

'At some point during Loki's stay, the idea of me sparring touching, or straddling anyone else just lost a lot of appeal. I waited for Loki rather than sparring with Steve. And I don't want Loki to want to do those things with anyone else over me.' Clint swallowed, and committed.

Clint moved fast, faster than Loki anticipated. Clint grabbed the back of Loki's head and the small of his back and joined themselves together with their lips. Clint slanted his lips over Loki's and forced his tongue in messily. Clint drove them both back, hitting the wall behind them, bed to his left.

The force of them hitting the wall probably caused his lip to bleed, and a few knuckles on his hand on the back of Loki's head to scrape open and bruise, but he didn't care. He had a point to make. He swirled and curled his tongue in Loki's mouth.

He tasted like pine and winter and he wanted to devour him more. He greedily ran his hands through Loki's thick, disheveled hair. Hastily, Clint kneaded his lips against Loki's, flicking his tongue deep in his mouth like a flag at a bull.

Loki moaned deeply, mouth purring against his and Clint got rock hard again immediately, his cock straining his trousers. Loki reciprocated the kiss with a gusto Clint hadn't been subjected to in a long time. Loki's left arm looped under Clint's right and rubbed down his back while his other hooked around his neck. Loki's embrace convinced Clint that he thought he was made of steel because he might just bruise a rib from his vice-like hold.

Clint grunted back, shoving his right hand down the backside of Loki's leather pants, gripping and cupping his smooth, toned ass, squeezing it like a stress ball. His cock spurted wet. He usually had better control than this, yet with Loki he was sure to lose it all.

Clint felt their pants and boxers somehow disappear. Cheater. Wait when did his shoes disappear?

"Cheater. Magic is cheating." Clint pulled back, getting air, his breath coming in rasps in between words. Clint gripped his ass harder as Loki's left arm raised up and swung down, slapping and gripping his own ass with a firm smack.

Loki's eyes looked like a jungle, all green, secrets and teeming with life. Blue flecks, like shards of glass, eclipsed pupils dilated in lust. He lifted Clint's chin again and sucked his adams apple with swollen lips, as he was trying to separate it from his body and swallow it whole.

"This isn't your gym Clint; this is my domain." Loki's lips split like a crescent and his eyes blazed as he dropped to his knees like a dancer. With Loki's left hand still on his ass, and his right hand grazing down his torso and down to his groin Clint knew he was done. His knees already weakened into pudding and Loki hadn't even started.

Loki's hand finally brushed through his thankfully trimmed pubic hair again down to his balls and with another slap on his ass and a hand cupping his balls Clint shouted. Clint planted one of his hands against the wall to steady himself, the other on Loki's head. In Loki's right hand pooled warm oil. Loki smoothly and slowly massaged it on his sack, warming it like a sunny day.

"Ahhh, Loki, please." Clint's voice sounded desperate and he didn't care, because he was. His whole body flared, tingled for Loki and Loki needed to know that.

Loki spread the oil around the base of his throbbing cock and sack and, damn what was this stuff?! Good. Too good. Loki made a ring with his thumb and index finger, continuing to cup his balls with his other fingers. Clint could cum right then, and this was just the warm up before the big game.

"Please what, Clint?" Loki's breath panted hot on the tip of his penis and Clint growled in frustration. He glared down at the God who gazed right back up, licking his lips with a flick of a tongue. He was all challenging mischief.

Screw you!

"Please stop being a such damn tease." Clint's voice dripped with need and Loki merely narrowed his eyes, dancing in mirth. He stopped cupping Clint's sack and grinned wildly, just like a cat would that caught prey.

"Is that a challenge?" Loki licked his lips, his voice coy and husky.

'He is going to make me say it! Damn I never stood a chance, he is going to own me. He is making it sound like I'm the one ordering him around, but…that's not true.' Clint bit his lip.

"It's an earnest request. Suck me dry Loki. Now." Clint ordered with what he hoped with some authority and Loki's lips sealed around the tip of his penis and the same tongue looped and swirled counterclockwise.

When Loki's cheeks hollowed out and he sucked like a Dyson, Clint flinched.

'Fuck Loki is hot, this is too much, I have got to hold it together.' Clint took a deep inhale of humid air to steady his thoughts. As Loki started a quick, bobbing rhythm his knees shook. Loki massaged his sack again, tightening the ring around the base of his dick. Clint moaned deep and heady.

"With pleasure." Loki came up, voice like a threat. He descended back down, taking all of Clint in his mouth. Clint gripped Loki's hair, he was breathing way too hard for a blow job. Loki ran his pointed tongue along the sensitive underside seam of his cock. The seal of his vacuumed lips and the white hot of his mouth hitting his warm, lubed fingers bucked Clint's body into a full body twitch like he touched a live wire.

"God Loki, You're good!" Clint was not usually vocal in bed, but he couldn't restrain himself. He bit down on his thumb, he couldn't cum yet. Loki would think he couldn't handle anything. Clint tried to cycle through the startup process of the Quinjet to distract himself. He just couldn't think of the cream skinned, green eyed God literally on his knees for him, giving him anything, everything he could want.

It was then Loki started to pick up speed and his knees softened into a buckle, this wasn't good, he couldn't endure this much longer, Loki's hot, talented tongue continued to rib up and down his seam. That oil, oh man that oil, his sack felt like heaven, and that ring around his base, please don't stop Loki.

The suction…it was…inhuman. He had to have more.

"Don't stop. Don't." Clint plead, knowing that he would have to get this God back later, he couldn't sound like some damsel in a terribly written smut novel. Loki's lips curved up on the head of his dick, and the hand that had been gripping his ass slid down to his taint, right behind his balls and apply pressure upwards.

Shit! Loki! That's….Clint's mind fuzzed. Loki's head bobbed back and forth as he continued the pressure father back with three fingers. Through all of this Loki kept up his rhythm and caressing, god he could multi task. Clint was about undone when the first finger tabbed at his entrance.

'Oh no, he couldn't be…' was the last coherent thought Clint had when the oil appeared on Loki's other hand and warmed up his entrance, slicking it and making it relax. Loki's lips left his dick with a pop, flicking the tip of his trembling, red cock, about to blow.

"Do you want it Clint?" Loki hummed, his voice vibrating the room and Clint looked down in shock and in aching, trembling need. Loki's finger circled his entrance, like a plane about to land.

"Yes! Loki. I want you in me!" Clint's order unfortunately sounded more like begging with his voice wavering. Loki's eyes flashed with magic, glowing like Jaguar's would at night and his lips slid tight down his shaft. As soon as the first finger entered his ass and Clint bucked, a yell caught in his throat like on a roller coaster. His toes curled and he would have fallen over already if his hand wasn't against the wall. His other hand still tangled in Loki's hair, forgotten.

His finger slowly swirled inside him like a stirrer in a drink and he had no choice but to soften onto him. Like his whole body responded to everything he did with yielding permission. Loki took all of his cock inside his wet mouth again, humming. When the second finger entered, they curled up deep to find that one spot.

"Shit! Lo…yes!" Clint couldn't hold on any longer, his jaw went slack and he closed his eyes.

Loki long fingers curled up and applied pressure on his prostate, and his mouth vacuumed back up his shaft, tip of his tongue dragging down that one seam.

Clint came, and came hard. He saw stars and his whole body convulsed.

"Loki! God ahh." Clint emptied all he had into Loki's mouth. Clint's breath rocked heavy in the pine scented air, he didn't even care he didn't last as long as he usually did. Loki was that good, that mind blowingly incredible. Clint wanted more of him. He almost collapsed when Loki rose up, eyes meeting his, both pairs of eyes wide in lust.

Clint crashed his mouth down on his, bringing them flush together. Clint grabbed at what he could on Loki. He raked his nails down his back, he gripped his toned ass hard. He tasted himself in his mouth and felt Loki's unattended need prodding him hard on the groin. The kiss grew desperate and breathy as Loki lowered them both down on the bed, Loki on top, looking down through the curtain of his hair, eyes mapping Clint's face.

"Do you want this Clint? Do yo—" Loki sounded almost unsure as his cock moved against Clint's leg and Clint unconsciously moved his legs apart to accommodate it. An unspoken invitation.

"You better fuck me, Loki." Loki flashed him an animalistic grin as he crashed his lips down on him once more. Loki's tongue plowed deep in Clint's mouth, possessive and hungry. Loki's hands swept up to his elbows, pressing them to either sides of his head, trapping him down. Clint moaned and Loki's own voice vibrated the kiss as laughed back. Loki raised up smiling broadly, cheeks flushed, eyes dark. Clint saw then, exactly what everyone else missed when they first saw him.

"Oh, I shall." Loki improved his posture. Straddling him, black hair wild, emerald eyes burning, was a God. Every inch, every chiseled line, every swerve of his muscles, every curve of his face. His cream skin, dark hair, and sparkling smile made him every bit of a God as Thor.

'No. Definitely more. He is what he wanted Gods to look like. Loki is what Gods should want to be.' Clint wondered when he had become such a sap.

"I missed it." Clint gasped. Loki moved back and off the bed. Standing in front of Clint, he spread his thighs apart, fingers still coated in that stupid good magic oil. Clint shuddered as long fingers made their way up to his entrance again, warming and relaxing it. The other hand poised over Clint's cock, green magic spreading out of it like a vine. Clint recovered to hockey stick hard in record time. His cock throbbing, red and ready back to life.

'Magic. Magic is definitely cheating. There is just no way I'd could literally up for another round without it.' Clint let loose a high pitched moan.

"Miss what, Clint?" Loki finally asked. He inserted his oil slicked fingers back into Clint, almost as if a punishment for being vague, like it was reserved for Loki only. Clint grunted slightly, closing his eyes, adjusting and relaxing while at the same time prepping his mind for round two.

"You're what Gods should be." Clint rasped out and Loki paused in his scissoring of his opening. Clint opened his eyes to see that Loki's magic had laced the room with green and coiling vines, complete with wide, heart shaped leaves, sparkling and verdant. The whole steamy room smelled like Christmas, all that was missing was candles.

Though, something in Loki's facial expression looked crushed and elated at the same time. Clint filtered through his lust filled thoughts to come up with what he said that could made Loki look so sad.

"Mmm, flattery will get you nowhere, Clint." Loki recovered, winking, shoving whatever emotion Clint saw away as he slipped another finger inside of him. Clint's back arched on the bed as the third finger reached his prostate, rubbing it and causing his now hard cock to rock up towards his own torso.

"—Got me this far." Clint breathed back as the fingers fully prepped him and Loki leaned forward, and Clint held a breath in as the oil warmed, blunt suede tip greeted his relaxed entrance. Loki's eyes danced and Clint used his arms to search for anything that could give him leverage. He almost got to the head board when something tingly wrapped around his wrists and pinned them above his head to the bed.

The green magic!

"Damn, you cheater!" Loki grabbed his hips and with his commendable strength pulled his ass to the edge of the bed, magicking a pillow under his hips. Loki stood, holding Clint's calves against his shoulders, legs almost flat against his body.

"That's more like it." Loki's face took on that feral edge. He slowly, oh so slowly, thrusted his hips forward, and as a result, his cock inched into Clint. Clint couldn't move, couldn't think. He bit his lip as fiery pain of stretching so much around Loki's thick cock, hit.

Then in an instant it was gone, Loki coiled more magic down near his entrance, and the abrasive friction, the dull ache vanished, replaced by a mind blanking bliss.

'How had I never done this till now?' Clint unfortunately knew he was completely at Loki's mercy, which he knew personally he didn't have a lot of. Clint groaned as his ass filled up with Loki's dick and his jaw slacked. He blubbered out some nonsense, pulling at his magic restraints, unable to find anyway to move against or respond to Loki's movements.

"Loki, let me go." Clint moaned as Loki pushed further inside him, almost too deep.

'How big is Loki? Is he trying to split me in two?' Clint heard Loki tut and saw him put a finger to his lips.

"My wager, my domain, remember?" Loki's eyes danced and Clint wished he could throw something at him as he inhaled again through his teeth. This was too much and not enough. He wanted to touch Loki, he wanted to have as much of him touching him as possible.

Clint heard Loki shutter a gasp and grinned at the God who looked down at him, whole body the shape of an L, with the back of his legs flush against the God's body.

Loki's face, lax and eyebrows slanted, found his desire. He began to slowly thrust in and out, balls slapping against the back of Clint's ass and Clint's his cock got wet, fast.

"Oh—Cli—Clint." He heard Loki's broken voice make his name five syllables long. He said his name like someone begging for mercy. Loki sped up the tempo, and they locked eyes. And Clint saw the leaves on the wall begin to curl and tendrils of green magic bud out.

Clint wanted to see Loki lose himself, wanted to see him quiver, sputter, and cave into ruin. Clint tightened his muscles down there, increasing the friction and Loki's gaze hardened knowing it was on purpose. Clint shrugged and winked back. Loki swung his hips back out to just his tip, then threw his full force back into the nest thrust, pounding into him.

Clint's vision blacked out at the edges, his whole body sparked in intense sensitivity and he regretted challenging the god when he held the upper hand as he did. Clint still refused to call out. He had uttered enough embarrassing sounds and admissions, thank you.

At least until Loki, with hands still slippery, grabbed his stick straight cock and pumped and pounded to the same tempo.

'Where did this guy learn how to multi-task?' Clint let loose a full body shudder and he locked eyes with Loki again, Loki upping the tempo slightly with a sly smirk.

"Damn you, Diva." Clint couldn't take much more of this, with each rolling thrust his mind whited out and his vision blurred. Ripples of pleasure arced through him as Loki stroked his cock wet from the oil and his own fluids. He wanted to hang on though, he had to wait for Loki.

He couldn't cum twice before him. He'd never live it down.

Then, deep within him, he felt a twinge and a flick. Loki was close, Loki's back bucked and his rhythm went haywire.

"Damn I'm—" Clint gasped as one hand ringed his cock and the other hand twisted and pumped at the same time. He wouldn't last long the second time either. "Gonna so get you back for this Loki. You have no idea." Clint another jolt of warmth and pleasure burst out as Loki changed his angle.

Clint's throat went dry and he mouthed Loki's name again. He heard Loki gasp out, almost feminine, lips swollen and soft, mouth a large 'o'. The magic vines around the room began to unfurl.

"Clint, I…the Nines!" Loki eyes blazed and his body bent like a strung bow. Loki released himself deep inside Clint. Clint never felt more satisfied or completed from a sex act in his life.

Loki's face, soft, slack, and open had never been more readable to Clint. Like he could read his every thought, or predict what he'd say next.

This wasn't just a wager for Loki. He meant what he said earlier.

Clint's chest pooled with a jellying warmth as Loki's cock began to settle out. The flowers bloomed and as quickly as they did they faded. Loki's body warped in elation, his smile lit his face like a beachside bonfire.

Loki's shoulders relaxed, and with a few slow, teasing pumps, Clint found his next release immanent. How could he not after seeing Loki like that? He had to see that again.

"Loki!" Clint threw his head back, back arching, arms still restrained. He spurted up and over Loki's hand with a voice high. He smelled a new whiff of pine again as Loki slowly retracted out of him. Loki removed the vine restraints and cleaned up the sticky mess with a poof of magic.

'Um, well, that just happened. I swear if he leaves and teleports away from me or something I'm gonna kill him. But like hell am I going to ask him to stay like I'm needy.' Clint studied Loki as his legs fell to either side of Loki.

Loki cautiously, almost like he was approaching a live bomb, sprawled almost cat-like next to Clint. He appraised him like one would an artifact and released the restraints.

Pause.

Clint moved his arms, putting his hands under his head, elbows sticking out. He turned his head to Loki, who was idly tracing his finger up and down the sheets which suddenly became really interesting.

For uncountable minutes they just looked at each other, the other not knowing what to say, if anything at all. Was Loki waiting for him to say something? Just a little awkward. Or maybe it wasn't awkward and Clint was just making the silence awkward.

Screw it. He was going to say something.

"Why a cobra? I don't think snake when I look at you… I think some sort of jungle cat. Jaguar, Panther, maybe leopard." Clint finally asked and Loki narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"Black mamba, not cobra." Loki corrected. "They're far deadlier than your cobras, I would know, Sho and I fought our fare share of various Snake Demons. I chose it because Agent Coulson called me one and mortals fear them intrinsically." Loki elaborated, scrunching his nose.

"Yeah, well don't do that again. And don't listen to Coulson, I think he is a little biased." Clint smirked and playfully flicked Loki's shoulder.

"As are you. Though, you'd be surprised. Your mortal tales have me fathering a giant sea serpent." Loki quirked a grin and before Clint could ask a follow up question he explained. "A long story, rest assured, I have fathered no such creature, nor a wolf, a ruler of the underworld, or the Norns, given birth to a horse. Safe to say mortals, loved to weave the Demons and Gods together in various lore. When they vanished and their memories along with them...their characters in our stories simply warped and became other things." Loki's eyes lost focus on Clint's chest, as he took Clint's hand and peppered it with biting kisses.

Clint thought for a moment. He wondered how crushing it would be to have someone you considered a brother simply vanish. Vanish along with every trace of their existence and anyone else of their race and no one remember them.

And how Loki must feel to have him back, but in a world where the same problem exists.

"They just disappeared huh? That had to be tough for you. Don't worry, I won't bring it up to Fancy Pants. But I'm serious, no more animals, I was an acrobat not a lion trainer." Clint reassured and Loki nodded, biting and sucking one of his knuckles.

"Your other tattoo, on your calf, 'quicksilver'… " Loki began and Clint chuckled heartily, deep and rich. Loki reared his head back in confusion.

"That too is a loooong story. Remember the gambling acrobat I mentioned that you reminded me of? That one was for him." Clint bent his leg up and absently scratched the inked calligraphy with the hand currently not being gnawed on.

"I'm not a chew toy, you vampire." Clint kicked at Loki when he bit too hard.

"I mean to… I wish to..." Loki's eyes darted up to Clint's and Clint just laughed.

"You aren't very articulate in 'your domain' you know." Clint said, with his best Loki impression for 'your domain'. Clint continued to laugh as he propped himself up better to look at Loki. He was splayed nude and soft, like a water color painting.

"I want to know what you thought of this, what you're thinking." Loki scowled eyebrows furrowing and Clint stopped laughing.

"I'm thinking that…" Clint led lowly. How much should he torture Loki over this? He could say it didn't come close to making up anything, but he had the feeling the God of Lies would pick up on that lie.

Loki tensed.

"We should get cleaned up and get some food. Lunch… dinner whatever time it is." In an action Clint had used before, sprung on top of Loki with a quick slide and flip. He straddled him their sweaty, spent bodies sticking against each other slightly as Clint' mouth came down upon Loki's open lips.

"I did forget what food tastes like after all." Clint confessed with a cheeky grin, breaking apart the kiss.

Loki smiled saucily and leaned up, biting a harsh kiss on Clint's neck which could easily hickey. Before Clint could protest, Loki summoned his magic and in a puff of Christmas scented smoke, he teleported them both to the shower.

Yeaaaah...another long clint chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it ;) sorry for the delay in uploading, work got crazy.

Happy Chinese New Year to you all:)

let me know what you thought of this chapter!

-TL