After the duck story was fully explained, and Tony was disappointed that it didn't involve something dirty, we continued on with dinner.
Halfway through dinner though, my phone began to ring.
Hurriedly I grabbed my phone out of pocket and looked at the screen.
"I knew it!" Yelling at Clint like a psycho, "I fucking called it!" Pointing at him and his stupid smirk. Stumbling over my chair I got up from the table.
"I'm really sorry I need to take this call for the exi-" I was trying to explain to the amused Avengers when Clint cut me off.
"Babe take the call before it goes to voicemail!" He half yelled half laughed at me.
"Right!" Scrunching my face in stupidity,
Quickly answering the phone I said, "Hello Mr. Okrent, thank you for getting back to me." Sucking in calming breath hoping to sound professional.
I could hear Clint laughing behind me. Turning around I flipped him off before leaving the room to talk to Mr. Okrent.
"I like her!" I heard Sam shout. It made me smile.
"It was no problem." He answered back.
Standing in the hallway I leaned against the wall.
"Have you had a chance to look over all of my materials?" Anxiously asking as I picked at my nails.
"I did. It is quite an impressive feat you're going for here. How old did you say you were again?" He asked me.
"I'm 26 sir." Biting my lip.
God not the age thing again…
"I'm just wondering how you expect to take on a project this momentous. I mean don't get me wrong, the ideas are genius, but do you think you're ready for a project like this? Your first exhibit ever." Mr. Okrent sounded skeptical.
"I am ready sir. If I wasn't I wouldn't have submitted my proposal. I am young yes, the youngest person to have their proposal accepted for a project this size but I know I can do it." Fiercely saying.
"I don't think my age should be discounted against me. I am young yes, I am inexperienced, but I am not ignorant or uneducated. I wasn't handed this. I earned it. I'm not doing this alone. I have supervisors to help oversee everything and show me right from wrong. This is something I've dreamed about for years." My confidence growing.
"I know I can make this work and I know that this exhibit will be amazing. I wanted to bring you in on this project because you know this area like the back of your hand. I don't want you to hold my hand but guide me and give your input when needed. I visited the Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition and it was spectacular. I want your help to bring the magic you brought with you to Philadelphia and take it to Washington." Finishing.
There was silence on the other line.
Gulping I began to sweat.
"You have a lot of drive. That will get you far in this concentration." Mr. Okrent finally said.
I wanted to say thank you but I was afraid to speak.
"I'll be in my New York City office on Wednesday. I'll put you down for an eleven am appointment. We can begin to hammer out the details then." He said to me.
"Wait, so does this mean?" Trailing off.
"Yes, Ms. Laurens I will act as a historical and project supervisor for your exhibit." I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Oh thank you so much Mr. Okrent!" Exclaiming but trying to stay calm "I swear you won't regret this."
"Let's hope not." Hearing the sly sarcasm "I'll see you Wednesday."
"Yes sir, thank you again sir." Hanging up the phone.
The excitement was fizzing up inside me.
Shooting Jude a rapid emailing explaining that on Wednesday I would be in NYC to meet with Mr. Okrent. I ran back into the dining room.
"Clint!" Calling out.
Clint stood up. Everyone's attention was now on us.
"He said yes!" Squealing as I jumped into his arms.
"Hot damn!" He spun me around "Congrats babe!"
"I can't believe it! He actually said yes!" Jumping up and down after Clint let my feet touch the floor "A Pulitzer Prize finalist is supervising my exhibit!" Gesturing with my hands that my mine was blown.
The smile on my face was so wide it began to make my cheeks hurt but I wasn't complaining.
"Sorry, what are we celebrating?" Tony asked in clear amusement.
Clint and I sat down.
"It's for the exhibit I'm putting together. I asked Mr. Daniel Okrent an author and historian to be a supervisor on the project. That was him on the phone, obviously." Chuckling "And he said yes. I am going to New York City on Wednesday to meet with him at his office."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Clint asked.
"You can't. Wednesday you said you were looking at spaces to rent for temporary workshops Mr. I Can Build This Set Myself." Playfully mocking him.
"I can take the train it's completely fine." Reassuring him "I'll be back by Wednesday evening."
"Clint was filling us in on your exhibit. Congratulations!" Wanda smiled at me.
"Thank you!" Smiling back "It's a lot but I can handle it even if half of the office doesn't think so."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked me.
"I'm the youngest person ever to be chosen for an exhibit of this size. It's a very huge deal. Naturally, there are a lot of people expecting me to fall on my face and fail. My boss especially." Rolling my eyes.
"Why would your boss want you to fail?" Vision inquired.
"Because she hates me." Laughing "She has hated me since the day I was hired. She has been very vocal on how she thinks I shouldn't be in the position I have."
"Fresh out of grad school, some experience, but not much. The position should have gone to someone with more…everything in Diana's opinion. But her boss thought that bringing in a fresh, young face would help bring a younger crowd back to the museums. It's just tiring sometimes. I feel like this poster child for the museum." Sighing.
After I finished my ramble I was keenly aware that all the attention was on me.
"Sorry, you guys don't need to hear about my problems." Chuckling.
"Don't apologize. We all know what it's like to deal with a difficult boss." Steve said empathically to me.
"Yeah like Stark." Natasha smiled.
Everyone but Tony laughed.
"I'm sorry but who pays for everything?" He asked aloud.
"You know Cap, Dot actually worked on the Howling Commandos Exhibit they put up in the Smithsonian," Clint said to Steve.
He probably said it to change the subject so Tony wouldn't have a hissy fit.
"You did?" Steve's face lit up.
"Yeah, it was during grad school while I was an intern. It was so incredible." Shyly answering "I'm going to be completely honest I total geeked out when we unboxed all of the uniforms." My cheeks lightly tinting "It was the first major exhibit I had ever been apart of."
"Well that exhibit was amazing so thank you so much for your help." Steve gave me an enduring smile. I only blushed more.
"Be honest who was your favorite Howling Commando. And don't feel the need to say Steve just because he is here." Sam quipped.
Taking a second to think it over I answered, "It would have to be your best friend sir, Sergeant James Buchannan Barnes." Softly saying to Steve "He…was something special. I hounded the project manager so much that eventually he gave up and just assigned me to Sergeant Barnes." Smiling at the memory.
"I just…felt connected to him the more I learned about his past. If that makes any sense." Shaking my head knowing I wasn't making any sense.
"He was a remarkable man I felt very honored to present his legacy to the world." Sincerely telling Steve.
I saw the emotions that are always connected with grief pass over Steve's face.
The atmosphere got very depressing.
Way to go Dottie.
"But you were my close second obviously!" Trying to cheer him up "When I first saw your suit I…squealed a little." Blushing "I never realized how tall you were until we fitted the suit on the mannequin."
Steve blushed a little as the others laughed.
"Yeah, that serum added a few inches." Steve coughed out, his cheeks pink.
"Yes, Rogers is quite tall for a misguardian." Thor mused.
"I'd imagine we are all puny humans to you strong Asgardians." Wanda joked.
"Well, what shall we do next?" Thor clapped his hands.
"As Dorothy is the visiting guest I say she has the say," Natasha said to me.
I smiled at her kindness.
"Well…" My mind trailing off.
"Do you have a fire pit here?" Asking them.
"Yup out by the lake," Sam said.
Turning to Clint I saw his smirk. He already knew what I was thinking.
"Got any marshmallows?" Gleefully asking.
Clint was happy.
Hell he was more than happy he was ecstatic.
So far the weekend was going great. Currently, all of them were gathered around the fire pit making s'mores and roasting marshmallows.
Clint looked back over to Dorothy who was currently trying to teach Thor how to make a s'more.
Rhodey had joined them not too long ago. He had come back from D.C. on business. Clint introduced Dot and Rhodey, and they seemed to get along well enough.
Everyone was hanging around, chilling out, and getting filled with sugar. Clint had insisted on Dot being allowed to play her iPod.
So far there were no objections, though he did notice several twitches from his team members when two Taylor Swift songs came on.
He felt someone sit next to him. Glancing up he saw it was Nat.
"So how are you? Really?" She asked him, handing him a beer.
"I'm good. I'm really good Nat." His gaze shifted back to Dot.
She was laughing along with Thor over something. They both were toasting their marshmallows.
"Damn you really do have it bad." Nat smiled at him.
"Jesus I do." He sighed and turned to his best friend give a laugh "I've never felt like this before Nat. We just…we click." Attempting to reason it.
"Oh that I can see. In fact, everyone can see it." She smirked taking a sip of beer.
"What's your opinion?" Clint asked her.
Nat studied Dot briefly before saying "I like her. She's good for you. You are the happiest I've ever seen you." Nat gave him a rare sympathetic smile "She's right for you."
"Good because she's terrified of you." He chuckled.
"As she damn well should be." Nat grinned "You are my best friend after all."
"Just go easy on her when you give her the 'if you hurt my friend I'll kill you speech' because she already is afraid you'll kill her." Clint half-joked.
"No promises but I'll do my best." Nudging him.
"I even talked to her about leaving." Clint quietly said to Nat.
"How did she react?" Nat questioned.
"She said she wants me to do whatever is going to make me happy. At the end of the day, she doesn't want me stuck in doing something I hate." He told her.
"Sound advice." Nat agreed.
Clint knew Nat must hate talking about this. No one expected Clint's leave to be permanent. But then when he brought up the idea that he might want it to be, Nat had been nothing but supportive. Clint knew she'd hate for him to leave the team, but she'd understand.
She'd understand more than anyone. Out of all of the team, the pair of them had been doing this the longest.
Clint took a sip of beer when Nat asked, "So have you told her you love her yet?"
Clint spit out his beer and began to choke on the remains.
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"Hun are you alright?" Dot started to get up, worried for him.
That warmed him. Her worrying about him.
"No babe I'm fine. Just went down the wrong pipe." He lied putting a smile on his face as he side-eyed Nat with a killer look.
Clint gave Dot one more nod before she went back to helping Thor.
"Jesus H. Christ Nat!" Clint hissed at her wiping his mouth.
"What?" Nat said innocently.
Clint starred daggers into his best friend.
"Clint we all can tell. Look at me honestly and tell me you haven't thought about it." She countered at him.
"No. I have." He sighed in defeat "I see getting our own place. Lazy Sundays on a back porch and me mowing the lawn." His lips quirked into a smile.
"So…what's the problem." Nat gestured.
"We've only been dating a month. I don't want to scare her off." Clint revealed quietly.
"Oh, you're so stupid." Nat groaned throwing her head back.
"Hey!" He smacked her arm.
"Clint." Nat raised her head back up "She loves you. Again, it's obvious. Just tell her." Nat rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"How?" He asked innocently.
"Honestly." Nat snorted "You know from the heart and all that shit."
That got Clint laughing.
A large shout from across the fire pit got everyone's attention.
"This is wonderous!" Thor cheered, his mouth covered in marshmallow and graham cracker crumbs.
Dot was sitting next to him, trying not to laugh.
"Why have you guys not introduced this to me sooner!" The God demanded at all of them.
"Probably because of the way we've seen you hoover through Pop Tart boxes." Rhodey sarcastically responded.
That did get a snort out of Dot. Looking into her eyes across the fire he saw the laughter in her eyes.
"You wanna train tomorrow morning?" Nat asked him.
"Sure, seven okay?" He questioned.
"Perfect. See you in the gym." Nat patted his leg and got up and sat down by Wanda.
Shortly after Dot got up and sat down next to him.
Clint brought her close to him until she was resting against his chest.
"You having fun?" He asked kissing her head.
"I am actually now that I've calmed down." She giggled.
"You guys are probably going to have to hide the s'mores fixings from him now." Dot giggled even further as they watched Thor shove two more s'mores into his mouth.
"Their problem not ours." Clint snorted.
Dot's laughter shook his chest.
"Why Dorothy I do see that you're wearing a Hamilton sweatshirt." Stark spoke up "Do you like the musical?" A mischievous, smug look in his eyes.
"I am obsessed with it! Clint actually got us tickets. Two weeks into dating and he surprised me with them! I almost blacked out." Dot laughed "The show was incredible. It was one of the best nights of my life."
Dot beamed up at him and pecked his lips.
"To be fair this is actually Clint's sweatshirt. I borrow it periodically now." She glanced up at him with a goofy look.
"I can get you your own," Clint said to her.
"No, I like yours because it smells like you." She snuggled closer to him.
"Aw, you guys are disgusting!" Sam crooned.
"Sam!" Steve chastised him.
"You know Sam I actually have a friend you might like." Dot slyly said to Sam.
Clint let out a loud groan "No! God No! Do not set them up! It'd be a waking nightmare."
"What! Who! Who would you hook me up with?" Sam questioned like a frantic, giddy puppy.
"My best friend Beth. She's beautiful, caring, funny, smart. She's in vet school right now." Dot glanced back up at Clint who just shook his head and drank his beer.
"Oh sounds interesting." Sam grinned wickedly "Do you have a picture?"
Dot pulled out her phone and opened up her pictures and selected one of her and Beth. She moved forward and handed Sam her phone.
"Damn she's cute!" Sam said while everyone else crowded around Dot's phone to get a look.
"You two would look good together," Stark commented.
"Or it could bring out the end of the world," Clint added.
"Oh, man Barton we could go on double dates!" Sam yelled joyously.
"Yeah, Clint!" Dot mocked him with a large smile.
"I hate you both." He said.
"Put your number in my phone. I'll see if she'd be interested." Dot grinned.
Sam whooped and put his number in Dot's phone before handing it back to her.
"Great now you've brought on the apocalypse." Clint sighed.
"Or a great love story in the making." Dot said dramatically.
"Yeah, Barton why should you be the only one happy?" Sam shot back.
"I wouldn't say he's happy." Dot joked "I don't know babe are you happy?" Looking up at him with a smirk.
"Nope, not at all." He smirked back then kissed her cheek.
"Not that I don't love adventure but what are we doing up here…on the roof?" I asked Clint as we stepped outside.
"I wanted you to see things from my point of view for once." He smirked as he laid down the throw blanket.
Cautiously I made my way over to the side "You're lucky I'm not afraid of heights." Then I peered over the edge "Much." Gulping.
That was a long way down.
Scampering away from the edge I went back over to Clint and sat down next to him.
"You really feel happy in tall places?" Asking him.
"I do. It kind of goes with the Hawkeye thing." He joked.
"Man you must be going nuts in D.C. then." Laughing.
"Nah I've been pretty occupied with a certain nerd." He smiled at me.
"Oh really?" Grinning as he gathered us up and laid us down on the blanket.
"Oh wow." Breathing out as I took in the night sky.
So many stars. It was beautiful.
"This high up I feel like I could touch them." Reaching my arm upward to the sky.
"Living in the city I haven't seen the stars since I lived with Pops." Dropping my arm and intertwining my hand with Clint's.
"How many starry nights have you seen?" Asking him.
"Too many to count." He snorted.
"I imagine not all the nights were good." Gently saying.
"You'd be right. But the little moments outweighed the bad nights." Clint quietly said.
Moving my free hand up and down his arm I sought to bring him comfort.
"Well, for right now that's not something you have to deal with." Offering that at least.
"You're right. All I have to do is sit back and look at the stars with the woman I love." Clint said.
I went still.
Did I just hear that correctly?
I felt Clint tense up when I wasn't responding to anything.
Propping myself up I looked at him, well tried since it was nighttime.
"Did you-did you just say you love me?" Whispering out.
"I did." He said. Putting my hand over his heart I felt all the nervous energy humming inside of him.
"I know we've only been together a month and I know it's early but I can't help feeling this way about you. I feel connected to you. Like we're attached by an invisible something." His voice shook.
Tears welled into my eyes.
He was different. So different.
"I love you too." Softly saying to him.
"You do?" He sounded so unsure.
"Yes." Laughing out "I love you."
"If you'll allow me to be corny and mushy, I'd like to quote Jane Eyre 'Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still.'
"There is nothing that you could do to change how I feel about you Clint." Gently speaking, wishing I could see him better in the darkness.
Threading my hand through his hair, I brought us together and sealed what I meant with a long kiss.
"Do you believe me now?" Breaking away slightly breathless.
"I do." He leaned forward and kissed me again, and again, and again.
And we stayed on the roof, content in each other's arms until my fingers started turning cold.
We made our way back downstairs to our room. Holding the hand of the man I loved.
I loved Clint Barton.
Clint Barton. Hawkeye. Avenger.
None of those labels mattered to me.
To me, he was just Clint.
My Clint.
Opening my eyes in bed the first thing I noticed that I was the only one in it.
A bit disconcerting when the night before you tell the guy you love, that you love him, and then wake up to an empty bed the next morning…
Shutting my eight am alarm off I threw the covers back and got out of bed.
"Good morning Miss Laurens." Friday's voice sounded scaring the crap out of me again.
"Good morning Friday. Please just call me Dorothy, Dot or Dottie." Telling the AI system.
"Noted. Mr. Barton wanted me to tell you when you woke up to come and find him in the training room where he is with Natasha. He then said you two would have breakfast." She said? Yeah, I'm going to refer to the AI system as a she.
"Thank you, Friday. I'll go down after I get dressed." Responding.
Throwing on a pair of jeans and a loose blouse and a pair of red Keds I brushed my teeth and took a few minutes to control my hair.
For good measure, I put on some brown eyeliner and a sheer layer of foundation.
Leaving our bedroom, I looked down the hallway.
"Uh Friday? Where do I go?" Asking her.
"I'll guide you or if you'd like Steve is coming around the corner just now. I'm sure he'd be happy to assist." She said.
"What?" Getting out right before seeing Steve turn the corner and seeing me.
"Dorothy! Good morning!" He cheerily said coming up to me. Surprising me with a hug.
Oh my God I am hugging Captain America!
Keep calm!
"Good morning!" Smiling at him "Also you guys don't need to call me Dorothy, you can call me Dottie or Dot."
Steve chuckled "Noted I'll spread the word. Where are you off to?"
"Clint left a message for Friday to tell me to meet him in the training room. But as you can see-" Moving my head around "I have no idea where I'm going." Blushing.
"Well, I'd be happy to take you down there." Steve grinned.
"Friday said you'd be able to help." Laughing.
"Lead the way." Gesturing for Steve to start walking.
We made small talk on our journey. Steve asked me about my life in D.C. and other parts of my job, and what I loved about history.
"About yesterday. I just wanted to apologize if I said anything out of line about Mr. Barnes." Stopping him.
He looked completely surprised.
"No, no you didn't do anything wrong. It was actually sweet to hear someone speaking about him like that." Steve sighed and looked to the ground.
"Grief never goes away does it." Gently saying "When we're little we think of it as a time span. Grieve for a week then it will all be over and done with. It isn't until we grow up and realize that, grief sticks with us."
"You're not wrong about that." Steve gave a small smile "Even now it hurts. It hurts so much it's hard to think."
"I understand." Placing a comforting hand on his arm "It's the most painful thing in the world to lose someone you love. It's been thirteen years since I lost my mom but somedays I wake up and think it happened yesterday and the weight of grief is heavy on my shoulders."
"I'm sorry about your mother." Steve offered his condolences.
"Thank you. It was a long time ago." Shrugging my shoulders. Wanting to shrug off the memories.
"Oh I wanted to talk to you about something." Broaching the subject lightly as I wanted to talk to him about it last night.
"Okay," Steve said.
"This might be a bit embarrassing…" Treading
"It's okay Dot, you can tell me anything." Steve comforted me.
"Well uh, it's just when Clint brought up my involvement with the Howling Commandos Exhibit last night something jogged my memory."
"See actually, your Captain America uniform was stolen one night right before the exhibit closed." Slowly saying as I eyed Steve.
Steve got very shifty.
"When that happened, the museum needed someone to blame. Stan, one of the night watchmen at the museum was on duty that night. He's the sweetest old man. He and his wife are adorable. He started working at the museum for something to do, and well…they fired him after the suit was stolen." Explaining to Steve.
"I'm just saying…" Drawing out "That maybe if the suit magically turned back up at the museum, then maybe they'd give Stan his job back." Ending my speech.
Steve rubbed the back of his neck looking so guilty.
I didn't mean to make him feel bad but Stan really was the sweetest.
"Yeah, um." He coughed out "Let me see what I can do." He turned pink.
"Thank you." Gently thanking him.
The rest of the way to the training room was thankfully uneventful.
Here and there I asked Steve a few questions about his life and how he liked living at the compound.
When we arrived at the training room we saw Natasha and Clint sparring.
Holy. Damn.
I had never seen Clint in his Avengers gear. Mostly just in jeans and flannels.
This. This was a special treat.
Steve coughed next to me. Looking at him I saw him attempting to hold in his laughter.
"You might want to close your mouth." He whispered to me with a chuckle.
Snapping my jaw shut I instantly went red.
"Thank you." Whispering to him mortified.
Turning my attention back to the sparring partners I looked just in time to see Natasha flip Clint and throw him onto the floor.
"Oh!" Crying out. My hands flying to my mouth.
Natasha and Clint turned to me.
"Oh hey, babe." Clint groaned from his spot on the mat.
Natasha smirked and stood up over him. She held her hand out. Clint grabbed it and let her pull him up.
"Are you okay?" Rushing to his side.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit rusty." He stretched his back.
"Don't worry Dorothy he's seen worse." Nat chuckled.
"Especially from Nat." Steve chimed in with a laugh.
"You ready for some breakfast?" Clint asked still rubbing his back.
"If you can make it to the kitchen grandpa." Sarcastically shooting back.
I heard Natasha and Steve chuckling.
Clint narrowed his eyes at me "I'll remember that for later."
"Oh, I'm so scared." Mocking him.
"Don't worry I'm sure someone else here can take you. Nat, would you like to do it again?" Turning to her with a grin.
"With pleasure." She grinned and made an advance on Clint.
"Hey!" He held his hands up to her "I've got a little monster to feed."
"That is true. I do turn into a monster when not regularly feed." Commenting.
Clint grabbed my hand "Later I could teach you how to shoot a bow."
I let out a laugh "You can try but I'm not sure how much success you'd have."
"We'll give it a shot." Clint joked "Get it. Shot."
"You proud of that dad joke are you?" Musing.
"A little yes." He looked pleased with himself.
Waving goodbye to Natasha and Steve we made our way to the kitchen.
"Sure I'll try the bow but uh you're going to need to do one thing before we go out and practice."
"What is that?" Clint asked.
Leaning close to him I whispered, "You're going to need to change because if I keep getting distracted by your ass in those pants then someone is definitely going to get accidentally hit with an arrow."
Clint's mouth hung open in surprise.
"And please feel free to wear your uniform whenever you'd like back at home." Winking at him before skipping ahead of him down the hallway.
"Are you coming?" Innocently asking after I stopped a few feet away from him. Clint still stood rooted in his spot.
Clint stalked over to me and in an instant, I was backed up against the wall. His hands in my hair. His pupils were dark and wide.
"You're going to be the death of me." He breathed into my ear.
"What a way to go." Winking at him as my body temperature rose.
"I'd gladly take that death. Slow and pleasurable." He nibbled my ear and my nerves went crazy.
We were lost in each other's lips for I don't even know how long until my stomach rumbled.
"Time to feed to the monster." Panting out trying to get air into my lungs.
"Right, let me just change first," Clint smirked giving me one last kiss.
"Okay hold the string steady." Clint was behind Dot.
It had been half an hour and unfortunately, Dot was not a natural with a bow and arrow.
"Got it." She nodded.
Clint nudged her elbow higher.
"Release." He told her.
Clint watched her release the arrow but it fell to the ground again.
"Christ!" She shouted.
Clint doubled over in laughter.
"Not all of us can be naturals." She yelled at him with a pout.
"No, you're just really bad at this baby." Clint wheezed.
When he finally got upright he saw Dot standing there tapping her foot, not amused.
"Yeah well let's see you organize an exhibit." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Fair." Clint conceded with a chuckle.
"Come on, show me what you've got Hawkeye." Dot handed him the bow "Let me see you hit the bullseye."
Clint took the bow and grabbed an arrow, taking in a breath he released the arrow and watched it go straight through the red of the bullseye.
Dead Center.
"Shit." Dot whispered.
"I'm both terrified and turned on at the same time." She laughed at him.
"Oh really?" Clint grinned like a wicked creature.
"Yeah." Dot raised her eyebrows "But I bet you can't do it again." She crossed her arms.
Clint's lips twitched into a smirk. Reaching down he grabbed another arrow. He pulled back and hit the bullseye again.
"Lucky shot." Dot sarcastically said.
"I bet I could get an arrow into the bullseye." She surely told him.
"Really?" Clint's skepticism was through the roof.
"Yeah. If I win we get to listen to my music on the way back home. And that means all the Taylor Swift I want." She jutted out her chin with the challenge.
"Okay you got a deal, but no bitching when you have to listen to the Beatles for five and a half hours straight," Clint smirked.
Dot held out her hand "Shake on it."
Clint chuckled and shook his head.
He shook her hand.
"Right so the goal is to get an arrow into that bullseye." Dot picked up an arrow and pointed to the target.
"Yes." Clint nodded.
"Okay well-" She then took off in a run towards the bullseye.
"Oh, that's fucking low!" Clint hollered at her before charging after her.
"You didn't specify how I had to get the arrow into the target!" She laughed getting closer to the target.
He watched Dot stick the arrow next to his in the bullseye.
She began jumping up and down "I'm the champion!" She cheered with a huge grin.
"Not so fast!" Clint began to chase after her. She took off zigzagging across the field but he was faster. Eventually, he caught her around her waist and swung her over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" She laughed thumping his back.
"That was a dirty trick baby." He tried to be pissed off.
Secretly though he was proud. It was something he would do.
"I never said I play fair." She shot back.
"Clint, what the hell are you doing to Dottie?" Clint turned around and saw Sam, Nat, Rhodey, and Thor staring at them. Clearly amused.
"Someone, please help! Help rescue me from the dreaded Prince Humperdinck!" Dot shouted to them.
"Really? The Princess Bride?" Clint snorted.
"I shall rescue the fair maiden!" Thor yelled, joining along. He ran towards them and manifested his hammer.
"Christ no! Not the hammer!" Clint was panicked now.
He swung Dot right-side up and put her down.
"Oh thank you valiant God of Thunder!" Dot dramatically swooned into Thor's arms "My hero!" Playing the damsel in distress.
Clint rolled his eyes at them. Nat, Rhodey, and Sam caught up with them by now.
"Come my lady. We'll escape this monster." Thor swung his hammer and wrapped an arm around Dot's waist.
"Thor wait!" They all screamed but it was too late.
Clint and them watched the God of Thunder fly his girlfriend off into the sky and disappear.
The four of them were silent for a couple of seconds.
A minute passed. Then two.
"...He's going to bring her back right?" Rhodey openly questioned.
"He fucking better!" Clint looked up into the sky "Thor bring my girlfriend back right now!" He hollered into the air.
"Did Thor just abduct Dot?" They heard Tony's voice.
They turned around and saw Tony and Steve standing there right behind them looking at the group with confusion.
"Yeah, kind of," Nat replied.
"Oh my God!" Tony let out an exasperated sigh.
"To be fair it did start out as a bit," Sam said.
"I really feel like they should have been back by now." Rhodey stared up at the blue sky.
"Thor!" Clint yelled into the air "Bring her back now!"
Stark was about to suit up when the air crackled and lightning appeared in the sky.
A blinding second later Thor and Dot were in front of them.
Both appeared fine and intact.
"Holy shit! Guys that was so much fun!" Dot squealed. She hopped up and down giving Thor a hug.
Clint let out a relieved breath.
"Can we do it again?" Dot beamed at Thor.
Thor grinned, but before he could swing his hammer again Dot and Thor were met by a chorus of several No's!
