CHAPTER 1 - Foot in Mouth
"Bucky?" Clint asked, seriously confused. What happened? Where was he? The soldier before him bristled and seemed furiously curious. Clint frowned. Bucky knew him well. Why would he act like that? It wasn't like they had gotten into some sort of fight recently. Right?
"How do you know that name?" 'Bucky' demanded. Clint winced, what the fuck? His eyes quickly flicked to Bucky's left hand. It was flesh. Something was wrong. Maybe Clint shouldn't have said Bucky's name. Could this be something like the Reality stone again? Or something different? What other stones were there? What happened? "I don't know ya."
"I..." Clint started, unsure what to say to that. He needed more information before he answered and fucked something up. Well, fucked something up more than it already was. Jesus, couldn't he get a fricking break? He had just gotten home!
"Buck! What's going on?" another voice called out. Clint looked past Bucky and noted a rather small, thin and slightly sickly looking figure coming out of the hallway behind Bucky. The archer tried hard not to gasp at the sight. It was Steve Rogers before the serum. He had seen enough of the photos. Tony loved making fun of Steve by showing off the older pictures. But... If Clint was seeing him like this now...
"Oh fuck," Clint whispered mostly to himself. He thought back to what he last remembered. Maybe that would help him to figure out what happened. All he could really come up with was that he had gone upstairs to go to... He was resting... He had been sleeping with the... Oh damn it. This wasn't the Reality Stone. Only one stone could do something like this. And it wasn't good for him. "Aw, Time stone, no."
"What?" Bucky growled, staring harshly down at Clint as if the archer had lost his mind. Clint shook his head. He really had to watch himself right now. Wouldn't want to change history. At all. God forbid he erased Cap or Bucky from the future. Wait, would the future he knows even be the same? Or... Could he even get back to the proper time? He needed to get out of here and figure out what to do. The one thing he did know, it wasn't going to be good if he stayed with them.
"Look, I'm sorry but... I gotta go," Clint tried, getting to his feet. Bucky shook his head and moved to push Clint against a wall. Clint ducked his attempt but didn't move any closer to the door. There was no way he could hurt either of them. He needed to leave them alone. If only they'd leave him alone. Bucky shifted again in an attempt to grab him but again, Clint ducked away. Jesus, was Bucky just as stubborn/stupid as Steve?
"No, you're gonna tell me how ya got in here," Bucky snarled. Clint winced, finally looking around. Only to see he had arrived in a rather run down apartment. An apartment that Steve had intricately drawn in exact detail soon after defeating Loki and deciding to live in the tower. A picture that hung, framed (thanks Pepper) in the living room of Avengers Tower. Clint had fallen in Steve and Bucky's apartment from the 1940s. This was the worse possible option right now. "Answer me!"
"You... Honestly, you wouldn't believe me," Clint mumbled before wincing and looking at Bucky with an apologetic look. The archer could only hope that Bucky would drop his questioning. Bucky frowned at the archer but didn't back off. If anything, he moved closer to Clint. Clint's face contorted in misery. He had only one way to potentially escape this and he could hope that there wouldn't be any repercussions for it. If he ever got home, hopefully Bucky wouldn't kill him. "Don't hate me."
Then, quicker than Bucky or Steve could track, Clint slammed a fist into Bucky's gut and then into his face, seemingly knocking the soldier out. Clint winced again, looking up at Steve to see if he'd do anything. Steve looked down at Bucky, now laying possibly unconscious on the floor before looking at Clint. Slowly, the guy lifted his hands, readying for a fight. Clint sighed. He wasn't gonna fight small Steve. God forbid he broke the guy's ribs or some shit and killed him before Steve could even meet Erskine.
"I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to leave and he wouldn't have let me," Clint begged. Steve frowned. The little guy looked down again at Bucky before back to Clint with narrowed eyes.
"No, I won't either. Ya need to tell me how ya got in here," Steve called. Clint tried hard not to laugh. There was no way in hell that Steve would be able to stop him. Especially since he had easily 'knocked' Bucky out. Neither of them were Super Soldiers yet, so it was easy for Clint to overwhelm them. He was a highly trained agent and... Only Bucky had any sort of training, if this was when Clint figured it was, but Clint doubted it included hand to hand fighting.
"You can't stop me," Clint said, moving to get to the door which was behind Steve. Surprisingly, Steve moved before Clint and swung out a punch. Being nice, Clint allowed it to hit but refused to react on principal not that the hit hurt or anything. But considering Steve was the size of Lila and he always faked being hurt by her punches, Clint held himself from doing the same. Steve pulled back, hissing as he tried not to shake his now aching hand and wrist. Clint sighed, trying to hid his smirk over Steve's really soft punch. God, if he returned to his right time Steve was gonna be pissed about all this. "Ya done?"
"I ain't," a voice snapped. Clint turned just in time to see Bucky's fist come straight for him. The archer dodged to the side, the punch skimming his right shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Clint danced out of the way. Steve came at him next, trying to body tackle him. Clint grimaced, catching the 90 pound guy and tried his hardest not to instinctively just flip Steve over onto the table that sat behind the archer. Because Clint became distracted trying not to hurt Steve, Bucky was able to jump forward and get a hard hit into Clint's face. The archer lost balance in surprise and he, with Steve on his chest, fell into the table, it breaking under their combined weight.
"Damn it," Clint growled, pushing Steve off him as gently as possible and shifting to catch Bucky's foot as he tried to stomp onto the archer's chest above where Steve had laid. Pushing it away he kept the soldier from slamming into Clint's gut. Even off balance, Bucky recovered fast and twisted his stance to now kick Clint in the ribs. Shifting a bit more on the table remains, Clint noted Steve was laying winded beside him. If Clint dodged again, Bucky would likely hit Steve. So, Clint took the kick with a loud grunt. Growling, Clint jerked his arm to the side, catching Bucky's foot and pulling to toward him and partially over him accidentally shifting Bucky toward Steve. Bucky tipped over, just barely missing landing on Steve who was jerking to his feet. Frowning, Clint automatically casted a protection spell on Steve. No need to have the guy killed before getting the serum. His distraction costed him again as Bucky aimed a kick right to his face. "Son of a bitch!"
"Language," Steve grumbled, getting to his feet. Clint paused at that before he stopped to laugh, hardly able to stop if Bucky attacked again. But he couldn't help it. Thankfully his laughter made both of them pause. They were in the midst of a fight and this guy just stopped to laugh at them? "What?"
"Sorry... I... I have a friend who's stuck on that as well. You... You remind me of him," Clint explained with a soft smile on his face, wistfully wondering if Steve had restarted that joke just for his sake. But, what if Steve didn't know? What if Clint was in a different timeline, or was creating a different timeline? Forgetting it as best as possible, the archer looked up at Bucky, who had since recovered and was now standing above Clint's crouched form. Bucky glanced at Steve before looking back to Clint.
"Who are you?" Bucky asked again. Clint sighed, realizing at this point he was trapped. Bucky and Steve would have no qualms about hurting him while he would be afraid of hurting them. How was he gonna get himself out of this mess? It wasn't like he could just tell them what was going on. He needed to get out of here without tell them a thing. But Bucky was going to fight him tooth and nail. And Steve would try and help. Keyword being try. But, maybe some bit of truth could work? Just let them know a little of what happened? Not that he expected them to believe him, but still. He had to give them something.
"My name is Clint and I... I was accidentally brought here," Clint stuttered, not wanting to reveal much more. Not that he had much more information as to what happened. Either way, it was bad enough he had to do this tiny bit. He was likely changing something, somewhere. Course thinking about what he said to them, he couldn't help but frown. Seemed him getting sent somewhere he didn't want to go happened at lot to him. Maybe one day he'd actually be sent somewhere he meant to go. Or maybe he could just not be sent anywhere at all.
"What are you talking about? Accidentally brought here?" Bucky repeated, an eyebrow raised as if Clint was talking in another language. Clint grimaced, slowly getting to his feet. That really shouldn't have been what he said. He should have said something else like... Broke in to the wrong place? No... God damn it. It would have been so much better if anyone other than him had been sent back. Well, not everyone. Wouldn't have been good if Steve or Bucky got sent back to their past selves.
"I told you before, you wouldn't believe me," Clint tried again, lost in what he should have said originally instead of paying attention to what he was saying now. Bucky stepped forward, grabbing Clint's shirt collar. That redrew Clint's attention on his future friend. Shit, he was in trouble. Bucky only gave that look when he was pissed.
"Make me," the solider growled. Clint winced. How... Fuck it... Lets pull a god damn Back to the Future shit. It worked in the movie. Maybe it wouldn't hurt here. And hell, if this was the actual past of his Steve and Bucky, they'd... They'd have fucking know he got sent back! Why hadn't either of them said anything? Wait, forget it. Focus on the now.
"You get your papers saying you're in the 107th?" Clint countered, figuring that was likely the time he landed in. Or, could this have been before Bucky was drafted? Damn it. He seriously should have talked to Steve about this. Coulson had drilled a lot of information about Cap, but not about Bucky. Still, he must have been right as Bucky paused, letting go of Clint and backing away. The Sergeant had just gotten them that morning. He hadn't even been able to tell Steve. Steve looked to Bucky in surprise but didn't comment on it. The smaller guy could tell that Clint was right in his assumption.
"How-"
"Did I know? Cause, honestly. You two are history lessons for me," Clint finally informed, honestly not able to think of what else to say. How best was it to break to someone he was from the future? Especially when traveling to 1940 where Clint doubted there was even any sort of mention of time travel. Bucky and Steve frowned. Clint sighed. In for a dollar... "I'm from like nearly eighty years in the future."
"Bullshit," Bucky growled, moving to stand so close to Clint that they seemed to share breath. Clint grimaced. Steve let out a small cough that had Bucky and Clint looking to him. Was Steve sick? Did he need to rest?
"I told you you wouldn't believe me," Clint muttered when it seemed like Steve had most likely just been trying to get their attention. Bucky looked to Clint and then to Steve with a disbelieving face. Steve just stared back. The duo stayed like that for a moment. Silently speaking to each other. Clint twitched a bit. So, was that what he and Natasha was... Were? Will be? Anyway, like? While he had seen it in the other reality with Wanda and Pietro, knowing Wanda could mentally speak to Pietro was much different than this moment here. Then Bucky sighed and turned back to look at Clint.
"Okay, oh wise one. Tell us something about us that no one else should know?" Bucky dared, crossing his arms. Clint winced, apparently the papers about the 107th worked to some small degree. How it wasn't proof enough, Clint didn't know. All he knew was what he was going to be saying next followed a very fine line of Clint saying too much or saying not enough to be believed. To be honest, Clint had a lot of stories from the duo from before the war. But not all history books would talk about some of those stories. And the more believable things that Clint could say wouldn't be likely that the books would have, even as stupid trivia. But, those stupid stories would likely be the only thing that would work considering a lot that would have been in history books had yet to happen. Growling, Clint gave in. He needed to use the stories that both of them had told him.
"You used to work as hard as you did to get Steve in to art school but he refused and so the money went to Rebecca," Clint stated, focusing mainly on Bucky. Rebecca was a safe topic for Clint to choose, right? Bucky's frown increased as Steve nudged the soldier. Okay... Not good enough. Try again. "Steve's been beaten up in nearly every alley from here to Sal's and there was only twice that you were late to getting to him and he nearly died from the bruising alone."
"Okay, I believe you," Steve called, shifting to stand between Clint and Bucky. Bucky rolled his eyes as Clint just raised an eyebrow, looking at Steve.
"You would," the soldier grumbled with Clint mentally agreeing with him.
"Buck, come on," Steve pressed. Clint then noticed that his path to the door had opened. So he moved a few inches toward the door, warily watching Bucky as he did. And in return, Bucky warily watched him back but didn't stop the small progress. So, knowing Bucky was watching, Clint knew he would not able to go too far then. Bucky was too focused on him. "Not even Becca knows about the money."
"Stevie," Bucky argued, focusing again on his friend. Clint held his hands up in defense even though mentally he knew he should just run for it, he didn't. Because this was him and he was never all that good at doing the smart thing unless on a mission. Then it was a fifty/fifty shot of him doing the smart thing (according to Nat and Coulson).
"Look, I get it. You don't believe me and I'm not gonna make you. I just... I just wanna leave and not cause you guys any more trouble," Clint informed, beginning to back away even more. He was surprised when Steve snatched his hand and held the archer still. Again, Clint couldn't allow himself to fight out of this, no matter how tempting it was. It was just, most of the moves he could do at the moment had a high possibility of hurting Steve and it would be really bad to do that.
"Stevie," Bucky warned, his eyes glancing to Steve's hand on Clint's wrist. Steve shook his head not wanting to hear it.
"Look at him, no one wears clothes like that," Steve muttered. Clint glanced down at this clothes. It was a purple 'Stark Industries' shirt and flannel 'Captain America' bottoms. Clint winced. God damn it. Why did he have to wear this to rest? He should have... Well, he didn't know what he should have done but he certainly could have picked something less obvious. "He doesn't even have shoes! We can't let him go."
"Stevie, we can hardly take care of ourselves," Bucky pointed out. Clint sighed, finally noting his not even sock covered feet. Apparently he might want to start thinking about wearing his cargo pants filled with items he might need full time as a just in case a situation of something like this happened again. And with Clint's luck lately, it likely will happen again. Or he should just ask Loki how to create and access a pocket dimension. That'd be cool. It would be just like Izril. Just a flick of the wrist and a simple thought and he'd have a change of clothes. Or food. Or meds. Anything that he currently did not have at this moment and likely needed. Hell, maybe he could ask to learn an invisibility spell. If he had that he could have snuck out by now. Damn, he should totally have asked to learn more spells. Well, he'll certainly do that after all this. If he made it back.
"Look, I don't want to bother you any more. Just let me go and you'll never see me again," Clint bargained. 'Until Steve unfreezes and we save Bucky from Hydra' Clint couldn't help but finish safely in his head, 'not that I'd know you guys.' Steve somehow tightened his grip on Clint's wrist and the archer had to admit, he was surprised at the force the smaller guy had. It wasn't enough to hurt or truly even stop him from escaping but considering Steve's stature, it was like he was the strongest man alive. Huh. Maybe Erskine's formula didn't create the extra muscle. Instead it just brought out what Steve should/could have been. Minus the rapid healing, metabolism, and stuff.
"No. You can't go out there dressed how you are," Steve stated, turning to look at the archer. Clint and Bucky frowned at Steve's decision. The guy was far too trusting. And even though Clint knew that Steve would survive everything, it was still worry some. No wonder Bucky always called him a stupid punk. Steve really was a stupid punk. "You should fit in Bucky's clothes."
"Stevie," Bucky whined nearly making Clint snigger. Steve shook his head and while still holding Clint, began walking to what Clint could only assume was the bedrooms. Bucky and Clint willingly allowed it and as Clint passed by Bucky, he just gave the soldier a 'what can you do' look. The sight of it had Bucky frowning at the archer but he followed Steve as well. Steve let go of Clint once they entered what Clint could only assume was Bucky's room. Clint had had Steve tell him about his room. The walls were covered with drawings from random pieces of papers. And this room didn't have anything. "Stevie."
"Oh, stop, Buck. We're gonna help," Steve snapped, not even turning to look back at the other two men. Both of them winced. There was gonna be no way either of them could stop Steve now. The guy was determined to help Clint. And it was odd cause even though Clint had 'broken' into their apartment, Steve was willingly showing him around and offering clothing. Clothing that Clint was certain they couldn't spare, even with Bucky going to war soon.
"You really don't have to," Clint stressed. Steve shook his head and began looking through Bucky's clothes. Clint looked to Bucky for some type of help. Bucky shook his head and pointed looked at Steve. Clint hung his head. Yeah, he thought as much. Steve was far too stubborn for his own good.
"Do... Do you know us personally?" Bucky asked after that, his brows furrowed. Clint tensed. Shit, he fucked up again. God he was so bad at this. And he used to be a top spy! When had his attention on these skills failed? Was being with the Avengers so long that it made him forget everything? Or... Could Bucky have just been that good at seeing things like this? It wasn't Hydra training. Mentally shaking his head, Clint focused on the moment on hand
"What?" Clint wondered as if he could argue with Bucky on what he had done. But glancing over to Bucky, Clint could tell it likely wouldn't work. Even Steve had stopped looking in order to stare at the archer. Aw, actions, no.
"You seem to know more than just what history books would say. Like, I doubt they'd mention how stubborn Stevie could be," Bucky huffed. Clint looked to the ground, unsure what else to say. Indeed, the history books only talked about Steve's determination, kindness and sense of righteousness. Not the stubborn shit head that the Avengers knew. "If you're eighty years in the future, how do you know us?"
"I don't," Clint tried, trying not to squeak but he could hear how much of a lie that was. Bucky leveled him with a look. A look that Clint knew rather well. But was typically aimed at Steve. He could see now why Steve use to fidget under the stare. It was uncomfortable. But Clint couldn't give in and explain everything that was going on. He gave Bucky an apologetic look, wishing that there was a better way to do any of this. "Look, please. Don't. It's bad enough I'm here."
"Fine," Bucky snorted, shaking his head, an odd expression crossing his face. Clint sighed in relief, ignoring the look. At least that small bit of begging had worked a bit. Maybe he could just sneak out quickly before they noticed. They'd have to relax at some point.
"We must be like a hundred or something, right?" Steve questioned making Clint look up at him. The archer let out a soft breath as he thought about what Steve said. Yeah, he could take that out. That would work.
"Or something," he whispered before mentally slapping himself. Why hadn't he tried to sound more confident? Hell why didn't he just nod his head and smile rather than giving those two stupid words as his answer. Thankfully, Steve just shook it off and stated looking through Bucky's clothes again. Bucky leaned against the door frame and watched the smaller guy. Clint grunted and shifted to lean against the wall opposite of Bucky as he tried to relax and act calm. Yeah, he could do that. He could totally do that. But, he also totally needed to leave. Now. "You really shouldn't do this."
"I doubt there is mention of some guy wandering around in a very American related pants and a shirt that has no actual design like Howard Stark's new company," Steve mentioned. Clint frowned, glancing quickly at his shirt before focusing on the smaller man.
"Stark Industries started in 1940," the archer argued forgetting exactly what year Bucky had joined the war.
"And it's 1943," Bucky added. Steve stopped and looked to them.
"Stark's logo looks nothing like that," the guy hissed. Clint looked down to the logo again. Yeah, it was one of the more recent designs of the logo but Tony had said it was based on the first design that Howard had done. Apparently it wasn't close enough. He was gonna kill Tony when he got back... Well, if he got back.
"Stevie," Bucky groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. Clint snorted at that. Everyone one of the Avengers knew of Steve's tendency to point out useless changes that no one other than an artist or someone with great memory would know. "Stop with that."
"Eidetic memory," Clint and Steve replied at the same time. Steve quickly turned to look at Clint who just winced. He was really digging himself a deep hole here.
"Sorry," the archer mumbled. At least the memory thing would have been mentioned in the history books. Steve shook his head and finally grabbed some clothes and held them up to Clint and looked both the clothes and the archer over. With a smile, Steve nodded his head and brought the clothes over.
"Dude, that's my favorite shirt," Bucky jokingly protested. Steve leveled his friend with a look that had Bucky huff out a small laugh. Clint smirked.
"Well, then I really can't take this," Clint jokingly added, raising his hands up so he couldn't actually take the clothes. Steve then turned his look to Clint. The archer chuckled even as Steve shoved the clothes into his chest. Clint shook his head with a sigh but took the clothes in the end. They all knew Steve would push the subject until Clint caved. Might as well save them all the trouble. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it!" Steve happily retorted before pushing Bucky out of the room and closing the door behind him. Clint sighed deeply, looking the clothes over. What the hell was he going to do? He was already changing history enough with just speaking to them. Never mind what else he could do. There was no way he wouldn't accidentally spill some sort of note of the future. God, what if he mentioned Bucky's falling from the train? Or Steve's plunge into the water in the Valkyrie? He was the worst person to have been sent to the past...
Clint dressed quickly and was kinda surprised that he nearly didn't fit correctly into Bucky's clothes as they just barely hung onto his hips. In the future... God that was odd to say... Anyway, in the future, Bucky's clothes had always been either the perfect fit or a little tight. Apparently the faux super soldier serum Bucky will get does enhance his muscle mass. Oh damn... Clint really shouldn't stay. He glanced to the door, knowing Steve and Bucky were waiting on the other side. Slowly he looked to the window. Carefully, he headed over to it and looked through. There wasn't really a good way down, unless you could parkour it down. Clint calculated the angles he'd need to take and moved to open the window. He hardly had his hands on the pane when he was interrupted.
"It's stuck. You won't be able to open it anyways," Bucky's voice called. Clint didn't jump. He just sheepishly turned to see Bucky had opened the door and like before leaned against the frame, watching him. "Didn't think it'd take you long to get dressed. So, came to check on ya."
"You really didn't need to," Clint grumbled, quickly glancing to the window again. Bucky huffed.
"Apparently I do if ya think you can just slip out of here," Bucky replied. Clint winced. Damn it. He needed to leave them. And fast. They were a bit to curious for their own good. It wouldn't do well to have them learn things they shouldn't. Like Azzano... The Train... The Valkyrie... "We should talk."
"I really shouldn't," Clint mumbled knowing that those words were the worst to hear in this sort of situation. Bucky leveled him with a look. The same look from before. Clint shifted, trying not to let it bother him. But this time, it totally bothered him.
"I'm gonna be shipped out in tomorrow, Stevie and I have a date tonight and I wanna make sure I don't gotta worry 'bout ya," Bucky quickly listed. Clint paled. If Bucky was shipping out the next day... This was when Steve was going to meet Erskine! Jesus, this was the worst fucking day for him to have arrived. He thought Bucky had gotten his papers maybe a week or more before Steve got 'enlisted.' Had Coulson known that? Was it written... No, it couldn't have been know. Steve never told the SSR about Bucky till Azzano. And Bucky never met Erskine. There was no way he could have known. And surprisingly, that made Clint feel so much worse. "Something I'm missin'?"
"Uh..." Clint started, cursing his inability to cover his emotions at this point. He was too wired and keyed up from having been sent back to really focus. But what should he say? No, what could he say? No matter what he did here, it was dangerous. He really didn't want to change history. Even if it ended up being an alternate future or something. Steve and Bucky were needed.
"Do I gotta worry about ya?" Bucky wondered, his face curious but cautious. Clint shook his head. He needed to leave. And if lying was gonna get it done, then he'd do that.
"No, I'll get out of here and neither of you will see me again," Clint replied, moving to try and slip past Bucky. Bucky allowed it and only twisted a little to give Clint room but not enough for Clint to actually get through.
"For another eighty years or so?" Bucky added. Clint winced and nodded. It was at least a little feasible that someone could live to a hundred or so. Even if it seemed highly unlikely that Steve could even survive the next week. Bucky hummed and let Clint start to slip past but quickly followed after him. Steve had planted himself right in front of the door, arms crossed and glaring at Clint as soon as the archer left Bucky's room. For half a second, Clint wanted to laugh at the guy. There was no way Steve would be able to stop him. But, if he was just there to delay Clint, Bucky had a good chance of taking him down (only cause Clint couldn't fight to hurt while Bucky could). "He tried sneaking out my window."
"Good thing that's sealed shut," Steve retorted his gaze angrily focusing on the archer. Clint sighed. Apparently he was predictable. Wasn't that a hit to his pride. "We need to talk."
"We really don't," Clint seemingly begged, trying to get out of all this. Steve shook his head. He was at the point where he was gonna be too stubborn to fight. Clint almost whimpered. Why couldn't he catch a freaking break?
"We really do," the smaller guy practically hissed. Clint shook his head. A second later, Bucky placed a hand on Clint's shoulder and started leading the archer to the couch. It took a moment later for Clint to realize it was Bucky's left hand that was touching him. He couldn't stop himself from getting tense against the hand. But Bucky got his point across and thankfully he seemingly didn't care about Clint's reaction as he just forced Clint to sit down on the couch.
"You said your name is Clint, right?" Bucky started. Clint nodded, looking to the ground. Why couldn't they just drop it? Just let him walk out of their lives? He was totally gonna have words with Steve and Bucky whenever/if he got back. "Last name?"
"Barton," Clint muttered as soft as he could. Maybe telling them his actual name rather than a fake one would actually help get him saved in the long run. At least they'd know he was here. And... They'd know if he made it safely back or not. God, could what he was saying already be changing things? Were they telling Tony, Natasha, Bruce and the others? It was more likely though that Clint was creating an alternate timeline so no one knew about him.
"Clint Barton, okay," Bucky confirmed. Clint nodded. No real reason to lie about that even with the possibility of this being a different timeline. It wasn't like he planned on meeting anyone else. And he'd already given them his first name. He'll certainly lie to any other people he potentially ran across. "Do you have a place to stay while here?"
"What?" Clint asked, head jerking up to look at Bucky in surprise. He really hadn't expected the conversation going this way. Maybe he heard Bucky wrong. Bucky sighed, moving a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. That was a sign that he was getting a bit aggravated. Clint nearly winced.
"Not sure if ya remember but there is a war going on. Someone your age who hasn't been drafted or enlisted yet, is gonna get in trouble without a place to stay," Bucky pointed out. Clint actually winced this time. He hadn't even thought about possibly getting drafted. What would happen if he was and then died? Would he just be sent back home or would he actually be dead? Dead with no mention of what happened to him in the future. Other than a small memory in (likely only) Steve's mind. Jesus... Why the hell was his life so fucked?
"You could always just enlist," Steve suggested with a shrug. Bucky looked at Steve with a disparaging gaze. Even Clint looked to him incredulously. He knew the history books and Steve himself said he was a stubborn shit about fighting but he never expected Steve to try and get Clint to willingly send himself into a battle that he'd likely not survive.
"Not everyone wants to go to war, Stevie," Bucky informed. Steve shrugged. But Steve's point was valid. Going to the war could be a good option. He'd likely get put into a different regiment than Bucky and he'd never see either of them again. He'd have a shot at not spilling any information. It... It could be worth it. Even if risking the dangers of being killed on the battlefield. Hell, he could always just defect once in Germany.
"Might as well," Clint mumbled facing the ground now. From the corner of his eyes, Clint noticed Bucky and Steve looked to him surprised. Clint shrugged, looking back up at them. "I don't have anywhere else to go. And I can't stay here with Steve..."
"Why not?" Steve wondered. Clint winced, looking back to the ground again. Aw, mouth, no! He was such an idiot. "Does something happen?"
"Well, not exactly," Clint replied, mentally kicking himself and his big mouth. Jesus, why did he mention anything? He could have just made up some stupid reason. Like he didn't want to bother them anymore or something. Maybe that he'd only be here a short time... Something like that. Bucky and Steve traded looks.
"What happens?" Bucky pressed. Clint shook his head. Bucky kneeled down in front of Clint. "What happens?"
"I can't," Clint nearly whimpered his eyes shifting to look Bucky in the face. Bucky frowned and Clint could see that Bucky was likely starting to understand the implications of them learning too much. "I can't let you guys know. It's important."
"What is?" Steve asked. Clint shook his head focusing anywhere other than at the duo.
"Forget it Stevie. If he says we can't know, we can't know," Bucky cut off before Steve even had a shot of getting stubborn about it all. Clint looked to him, curious and cautious. Was this going to back fire on the archer? Bucky sighed, nearly rubbing the bridge of his nose again. "You can stay here. Even if something happens to Stevie. This place will be open to you."
"I-"
"No, you can," Bucky interrupted getting to his feet and giving the archer a strict glare. "You're already wearing my clothes. And to be honest, I don't have enough time to really figure out if you're gonna be an issue. Stevie stupidly trusts you. So there's gotta be something good about ya."
"Yeah, stupid to trust me, really," Clint agreed with a small laugh, shifting to face the ground again. Bucky snorted at that and smiled. Steve chuckled. That got him to look back at them. Seriously? They laugh at that? He basically admitted to being a liar or something. "What?"
"Nothing," Bucky replied the smile not wiping off his face. Clint frowned at him but he knew Bucky wasn't going to elaborate. Then Bucky sighed. "Look, I mentioned before, Stevie and I have a double date to get to tonight. But, if ya want, you can tag along, see if anything out there can spark ya to go back."
"I-"
"Come on. What other person can say they went to the Exhibition of the Future while knowing what really comes next?" Bucky bargained his smile growing a bit bigger. Clint snorted. That was true. It'd be great to tell Tony about Howard's stupid inventions and show. Oh shit... He might have to deal with Howard... And Director... Well, future Director Carter. God, this whole thing was a bad idea.
"A better time traveler than me?" he stated with a wince. That got both Steve and Bucky to laugh even if it sounded odd. Clint sighed. Why was it always him?
"Just come. We can't leave ya here alone if you're gonna run," Steve informed. Clint frowned. Jesus, what was with them not wanting to leave them alone? Why was it so important to them?
"Why can't you just let me run? Just, let me leave and you two go on with your lives?" Clint tried, focusing on them. Bucky and Steve shook their heads. The archer almost rolled his eyes. Of course, now both of them were gonna be stubborn about this.
"You're from too far in the future and have already said a good deal to us. Not gonna be a good idea for you to keep spreading the knowledge," Bucky pointed out. Clint sighed, sagging his head into his hands. Dear god, Bucky was right. While he knew what Bucky and Steve were gonna go through, he could meet a random Joe on the street and let them know something that was going to happen. Or save someone who was supposed to die... Fuck him. "Good, so you'll come!"
"Fine..."
"Okay, let me get dressed, then I got a few things I need to do but then I'll go get the girls, you two meet us at the doors," Bucky stated, getting back to his feet to go grab his uniform. Clint furrowed his brow. He forgot that Bucky would need to be in uniform while out in public and the guy wasn't dressed in such right now. Once dressed, less than a few minutes of awkward silence later, Bucky headed to the door. Clint frowned and looked to Steve who had a grimace on his face. Bucky made it to the door before he turned to look at the two of them. Clint almost expected Bucky to point two fingers at his eyes and then move them to point at Steve and the archer. "If I don't see either one of ya at the doors, I will come find ya."
"And end us, I know," Steve joked. Bucky chuckled and slipped out. Clint sighed, looking down to his outfit. It wasn't really date ready and Steve certainly wasn't dressed date friendly. Steve must have noticed as well. "Lets go change ourselves and I got a movie I wanna go see."
Bucky didn't end up meeting Steve and Clint at the doors to the exhibit. Steve had decided to pick a fight with some guy in a back alley over the war trailers before the movie. Surprisingly, that one guy had friends. Clint knew that Bucky only would take down one guy when finding Steve. So, that meant Clint should be free to kick their asses. And he graciously did as much. By the time Clint finished with the group of five other men, Bucky had already found them and 'saved' Steve.
"I had em on the ropes," Steve argued when Bucky went to give him a hand up. Clint snorted as Bucky rolled his eyes. Then he looked to the archer.
"And why did you get involved?" Bucky half hissed. Clint looked down to the five men just around the bend of the building behind him. Bucky shifted to look over and huffed. "Show off."
The two girls on the double date were more than pleased about Clint's inclusion as what was supposed to be a fifth wheel. But, it ended up being Steve as the one being the fifth wheel. Clint tried his best to turn the girl down over and over. He also pointed acted like he couldn't even remember her name, Connie. But she, like the other girl (Bonnie), easily dragged him and Bucky to Howard Stark's 'Vision of the Future.' Steve sedately followed behind and all Clint wanted to do was apologize and run off.
At the announcement of the flying car, both Steve and Bucky glanced to Clint who pointedly looked to the sky even as they heard the popping of the mechanics inside the car. As it dropped down, Clint heard Howard say 'I did say a few years, didn't I?' Steve chuckled at both Howard and Clint. Even Bucky let out a snort of humor, patting Bonnie's hand when she tightened her grip on him. Steve and Clint now rolled their eyes before Steve started to look around the exhibit and spot something interesting. Clint turned (having made it clear to Connie that he didn't want to be touched) and watched as Steve walked away. He looked to Bucky, who was still distracted with the girls and Stark's show. With a sigh, Clint turned and followed Steve over to the Recruitment area. He watched as some random guy got on some light up sign and laughed before the girl with him dragged him off. Steve got on next and sighed. Clint winced at the sight even as Bucky came by.
"He ain't ever gonna let this go," Bucky softly cussed, actually not wanting Clint to answer, before moving to speak to Steve. Clint backed off, not wanting to listen to this. As he did, he watched the crowd of those enlisting and spotted Erskine slipping out from the back and carefully watching Steve's and Bucky's conversation. Clint sighed. This was really it. This was when Erskine decides to recruit Steve. Clint focused back on his future friends, not seeing Erskine stare at him before looking to see Steve and Bucky. They turned just in time to see Bucky starting to back away. "Don't do anything stupid till I get back."
"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you," Steve snipped back. Clint snorted. Bucky stopped and then shook his head before walking toward Steve again. Clint could only mentally hear Bucky call Steve a punk and Steve returning it with a jerk. Then Bucky started walking away again. "Don't win the war till I get there!"
Bucky turned back to Steve and saluted him before turning to see Clint standing there. He raised an eyebrow at him. Clint shook his head. He was not gonna enlist here, if he did he might end up ruining Steve's run in with Erskine. But he sure as hell wasn't gonna follow Bucky with the girls. They were far too clingy for his liking. Bucky sighed and then headed down the steps. "Come on girls."
Clint huffed at their questions of Clint following before he turned to see Steve head deeper into the center. Erskine watched the little guy go before he turned to look at Clint. The archer just stared back, not wanting to do anything to let Erskine know that he knew what was going to come on. But when Erskine frowned and headed over to him, the archer knew he had to leave. Clint grimaced and started to walk away. No... He had already ruined enough.
"Vait!" Erskine called out. Clint winced but did stop and turn to look at the doctor. Not gonna do him any good if Erskine tried to send someone after him or he chased Clint down himself. The guy really needed to go back and see Steve. "You knov that man?"
"Who? The little guy?" Clint asked, only to wince seconds later when he realized he should have said someone else. Wow... Why the hell was he so bad at this? Erskine smiled and nodded. "Kinda."
"Is he as good as he seems?" Erskine wondered. Clint sighed and nodded his head. Again he couldn't stop the grimace from appeared. God, he should just walk away. Neither Steve or Bucky was here to stop him. He could just disappear. Erskine tilted his head before frowning. Clint frowned himself as Erskine looked Clint over. Then before the archer could really stop him, Erskine grabbed Clint by the arm and dragged him toward the recruitment center. No one stopped the duo as Erskine brought the archer into an empty check over area. Clint figured this was just for some privacy so he wasn't going to argue it. Yet. "Vat do you knov?"
"I don't kn-"
"Don't. You knov somethin'," Erskine accused, nearly stabbing a finger into Clint's chest. Clint winced. Jesus, why were the important future people demanding so much information from him? Why couldn't any of them just leave him alone? "Please."
"I can't," Clint mumbled, really hating that he kept getting himself into these situations. Erskine's eyes narrowed on the archer. He must have noticed something about Clint's posture because he nodded before leaning a bit closer.
"If I choose him? Vill it vork?" Erskine questioned, his voice dropping to nearly a whisper. Clint looked up to him. How the hell did Erskine figure it out? God, he was totally stupid. Erskine just stared at Clint. There was only one way out of this. The archer sighed and slowly nodded. "Thank you."
"Can I go now?" Clint basically whimpered, looking to the doc. Erskine frowned before looking the archer over carefully once again.
"You are a fighter, no?" the man wondered. Clint raised an eyebrow. What the hell did that matter? Confused as to why that could be important and knowing it wouldn't effect the future, Clint nodded his head. "Trained?"
"Kinda," Clint answered, lost in trying to figure out what Erskine was hunting for.
"Good." With that, Erskine turned around and headed off. Clint distantly heard Erskine speaking to someone out there. If he focused hard enough he would have heard Erskine saying that he was going to send Clint out with the next unit and to set the archer up with one of the uniforms in the back. There was a pause after that before Clint heard Erskine move and start speaking with Steve but the archer didn't want to stay and listen. Instead he got up, intent on leaving but, his luck really wasn't going to work. An MP entered the room before a nurse came in and suddenly, Clint found himself getting checked over to get recruited himself.
While he could have argued and just left, Clint figured that because he was planning on joining soon anyways, why not just do it now? Hopefully, because the 107th was getting shipped off tomorrow, he wouldn't even get placed with them. Side, he had to get trained first. And that was something like six months or something like that. But a few seconds after the nurse left (but not the MP), Clint was handed a letter by said MP. He was to join the 107th, tomorrow.
His stomach sank. He almost asked about training as he was ushered toward a back room but stopped when he saw Erskine looking at him. The doc gave Clint a smile and then held a hand to his forehead and as he moved it away. Erskine also nodded his head to Clint in an almost smug and pleased way. Clint grimaced. Damn that doctor. That's what those questions were about. Erskine had seen that Bucky and Clint knew Steve. But, why would Erskine want him to enlist and leave with Bucky? There must be something else going on here. But Clint just couldn't figure out what. For now, he had to continue getting his 'new' uniform that had been stashed in the back.
"Fuck me..."
Oh my god! I am so excited that I got to this story! I have been rewriting this story over and over to get it just right. Heck, as I was getting ready to post this, I edited it a bunch, adding new scenes and deleting at least one other one. Anyways, YAY ME!
Darius was great on vacation. So much better than he ever is at home. Only thing that really ticked me off was when he made me wait for nearly an hour an a half to get on Peter Pan's Flight and once we were halfway through the line, he decided he was done. So, we leave the line and as we pass the front area once again, the kiddo dares to ask me if we could go on it. -_- Yeah, that's a no kid. In the end, Darius didn't do many rides. Between the long waits and him being afraid of the stupidest things, there wasn't much he could do. Hubby doesn't like rides to begin with so I think he only ended up doing one. But, I got wicked lucky this trip. My first attempt at doing Rise of the Resistance, I got it! I was group 17, meaning after the park opened at 8 am, I was on the ride by 845ish. So, yeah. FUN! Then I did two runs of Smugglers Run. Was a gunner in the first go round, and then a engineer in the second. I also got to go on Everest during a After Hours party at Animal Kingdom, so it wasn't a long wait. And, I FINALLY FIT ON FLIGHT OF PASSAGE! For those of you who don't know me... I am fat. And that ride does not cater well to people who are a little front heavy and back flabby. So, I was never able to get securely locked in. This time, I did it! The best part, once the ride was over, it almost refused to let me off. Tee hee. The cast member was able to free me in the end, but still funny to watch everyone getting up to leave while I'm trapped. Good story for all of us to tell.
Baby Jason apparently finally said 'mama' while we were gone. So his mother is happy. He also got a little ill and after what happened to Clint, they got really scared. It was thankfully nothing but a small cold and fever so just some Tylenol/Motrin and he was as okay as one can be when that young. Still, he otherwise seems to be doing good.
Please review, I'd love to hear what people think of this. I know it doesn't seem like much happened in this chapter but, do you all at least like the build up?