Well, thanks folks! Didn't realise this silly little idea would get this much attention! Thank you all for the follows and favourites!
Lot's of Clint in this chapter. Tony next.
Yes, this is a multi chapter, because I have a little story in mind and you know me; if it doesn't come out then I'll be dreaming about it for weeks!
Reviewers!
Snow Brightness; Thank you my dear! Glad you liked it!
Niom Lamboise; Good to hear you enjoyed it, pal! :)
ELOSHAZZY; Creative name, I like it! You understand me, man! You understand me! Not quite putting his foot in it. Watching and reading Iron Man for years has thought me that he always tries fix what he did wrong first then does something wrong again! I hope you enjoy :)
Disclaimer; Just.. Just read the last chapter one, man. It upsets me to write that I don't own anything to do with Marvel each and every time I update!
"Don't look at me like that!"
"You said.."
"I know."
"And that.."
"I was there."
"How could you be such an ass!?"
Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead a little, he should NOT be standing awkwardly in his own bedroom door! But, here he was, standing there while his girlfriend scolded him like a five year old.
"Look, I wasn't thinking.." He tried defend himself, offering Pepper an apologetic smile. She was having none of it though. She always did have a soft spot for Barton. Always. He often got a smack across the head for insinuating there was something going on between them, she just always said Coulson spoke highly of the archer and she wanted to make sure he had someone. "They just spilled from my mouth."
"And a shot from your hand." Pepper snapped with a frown, her arms folded across her chest now. That meant business.
"Ok.." Tony sighed, nodding a little before pointing a thumb to himself. "That's on me, I need to apologise for that. But he was choking me!"
"Because you attacked him!" Pepper yelled, arms thrown up in a fed up manner before she turned to go get changed out of her business clothes. "The man's barely healed and you nearly blew a hole through his chest!"
"Look, I fucked up, I get that!" Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair to try stay calm. Blowing up at Pepper would only end up with a worse situation. "Cap won't let me near the guy to apologise so I don't know what else to do!"
"You just have to make this right, Tony." Pepper sighed, shaking her head a little as she turned to look at Stark. "I don't know how, but you crossed so many lines and I don't think any one of us would have blamed him if he killed you then and there."
"Gee, thanks." Tony scoffed, plonking down on the end of the bed. "Just once could you take my side? Just once."
"Oh don't do that." Pepper replied with a humourless laugh, busy slipping into some pyjamas now. "You were in the wrong here, pal. No one's taking your side."
"Nothing new there." Tony sighed roughly, falling back so he was lying on the bed. He could feel Pepper by his feet a moment later but didn't look at her. "Always poor Barton, Clint has it so hard, ah leave him alone he's fine, no no just do what he says about your car Tony he knows this stuff, give him a confidence boost! Last I checked, the guy was fine."
"Oh don't be jealous." Pepper sighed, nudging his legs a little which was her way of saying 'move over so I can get into bed'.
"More fed up than jealous." Tony said with a shake of his head, leaning up on one elbow to look to his girlfriend as she settled against the headboard to read a little. "Tell me you're not sick of it and I'll drop the subject."
"I don't even know what you're sick of." Pepper shrugged, not looking to him though. He pouted a little. "Jealous of him getting some attention? Your attention? Tony, that's no excuse for what you did."
He sighed for what felt like the millionth time since the conversation had begun, falling back down onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. Did he even know what he was sick of?
Yeah, the little carny running around the place and everyone acting like he's made of glass. He's one of the toughest ones of the lot of them, actually he IS the toughest of the lot of them, so they shouldn't be treating him the way they are.
Let the guy heal and get over all this shit! No point babying him forever!
He rolled his head to look at Pepper when her hand lazily played with his hair, he could see her smiling slightly behind her book but he didn't know if it was towards him or whatever she was reading.
"Just make things right, Tony.." She whispered, her hand leaving his hair then. "His file doesn't hold everything. He didn't have the nice easy life you think. And there's only so many times I can stop Nat from killing you."
"You know something I don't?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. She nodded in confirmation. "Not gonna tell me?"
"Not my information to give." She shrugged, leaving it at that.
He sighed softly and nodded, closing his eyes for a moment to think things through. Maybe running to the circus kind of should have indicated that the guy had some crap going on.. But still, Tony stands by his words!
Make things right..
How do I do that..?
He opened his eyes with a slight grin, a plan forming in his head.
How Hawkeye thought to make things right, that's how!
He sat upright and gave Pepper a quick kiss before jumping off the bed and packing up a duffel bag. He could feel her eyes on him as he threw clothes into the bag, but he didn't look at her.
"Should I ask?" She said with a slightly curious tone, and he just shrugged. She was WAY too used to his crazy plans to care anymore!
"Making things right!" He grinned, waving his phone at her to let her know he had it before running from the room and to his garage.
He had to make things right, had to feel the way Clint does right now to understand.
He had a circus to join!
He couldn't feel the weight on his chest that would usually be there when the waking world approached him. It made him frown a little and stretch himself out, giving a little sad sound at the pop of all his sore muscles and bones.
Relaxing hurt more than training recently!
He opened his eyes and glanced around the room for a moment, arms outstretched on the bed since he had that space.
After the incident with Tony yesterday, Natasha must have let him sleep in. Usually he'd be woken at 6am when she was going training with a smack on the forehead and a 'Get your lazy ass up Hawkeye! Do your exercises before I kill you!'.
She meant well, he knew that. The exercises he had to do were helping him get stronger each day. Last week, he was finally able to pull his bow string again. Dislocated shoulders made that little task pretty difficult!
But she wasn't here now, and the light in the room gave him the indication it was a little after 10am.
Gotta love lie ins, man!
Though his rumbling stomach was telling him to get his ass out of bed just like Natasha would, and he listened to it alot easier than he did her! So, he got up, changed into some sort of decent clothes that weren't just his boxers, and left the room to head to the kitchen.
"Morning sleepy head." Natasha greeted with a smile when he entered the kitchen, instantly going over to give her cheek a soft kiss before heading to make himself some coffee.
"Thanks for letting me sleep in. Really didn't miss the head slap!" He grinned, sitting up on one of the counters to eat a yoghurt he grabbed. She was reading the paper at the table, still in her training clothes. She was always too lazy after her morning training to change until absolutely necessary.
"Looked like you needed it." She replied with a soft smile, which was Natasha nice talk for 'You looked like shit and needed to rest it off so I let you this one time you big idiot!'. He liked her nice version more. Didn't crush his soul a little!
"Fury has a mission, y'know." She said after a moment of silence, while he threw his empty carton into the trash can at the opposite side of the wall.
Target practice can happen any time, people! Take every chance!
"I ain't ready yet." He shrugged, taking a sip from his coffee. "His words, not mine. I'd love to take a mission Tash."
"Gotta start back at the basics, Clint." She smiled, putting the newspaper down to look at him. "I know you don't want to take the crappy missions, but I think he just wants to ease you back up to Avenger level."
"I can draw my bow, that's all I need." He pouted, grabbing the pot of coffee when she stood with her cup. She went over and leaned against the counter beside him as he filled her mug up.
"Yeah, but your stamina is non existent right now." She said softly, and he couldn't argue with that.
He glanced at the clock on the wall and shrugged, putting the coffee back on the hot plate before sipping his own. "Fourteen minutes Cap and Falcon will ask me on a run. If I go with them, and keep up, can you tell Fury I'm fine?"
"If you go with them, and aren't dead when you come back, I'll think about it." She smiled, patting his cheek gently.
"That's all I ask!" He grinned, giving her a quick kiss before she had the chance to go back to her seat.
"How are you two the worlds most deadly assassin?" He heard a chuckling voice say, and he looked over to the entrance to see Pepper coming in. "Way too cute to be."
"Only to make you guys comfortable." Natasha replied with a slight smirk, reading the paper again at the table. "That way it'll be more of a shock when we kill Tony."
"Don't think that'll shock anyone." Pepper laughed, patting Clint's arm gently as she passed, a little way he knew was her saying she knew about last night.
He gave the woman a shy smile and hopped down from the counter. "Excuse me, ladies.. I'm just gonna, um.."
He couldn't think of an excuse really. But if Pepper was here that meant Tony was about to drag his ass out of bed and he didn't want to have an awkward moment this early. Classic Barton style never involved apologies. Never involved giving one or accepting one. It involved having a fight or argument, avoiding the person for about three days, then acting like nothing happened.
Pepper cut him off though, obviously seeing right through his idea.
"Relax Clint." She smiled, heading over to the table to sit with Natasha and a bowl of cereal. "He went out somewhere last night and hasn't come back. Don't need to tip-toe around the place."
"If he's under a table of that damn Irish pub again.." Natasha sighed, shooting Clint a smile when he laughed at the memory of the last time they had to drag Stark's ass out of that place. He was just leaning against the wall by the door, incase he did want to make a quick escape.
"Don't think so." Pepper laughed, shaking her head at the idea. "He took a bag with him so I'm guessing he's gone on one of his adventures."
"Both always end with us having to save his ass." Clint said with an amused smirk. Natasha nodded in agreement, though the look she shot him to begin with made him think she was about to disagree.
"What do you say, Clint?" He looked to his right, to see Steve standing in the doorway with a smile. Clint just knew that his usual morning question was playing on his lips, and today he unfortunately had to say yes. "Up for a run before training?"
He glanced at Natasha who was watching him now with a curious face, he'd bet everything on the fact she was expecting him to say another time.
He smirked and winked at her, and she just laughed and looked away.
Game on, Romanoff.
"Sure!" He grinned, moving away from the wall to pat a pretty surprised Captain on the shoulder. "About time I got into some proper training again!"
About time I got into some proper missions, more like..
Tony problems could wait, he had his own problems to deal with right now!
Natasha might be right..
Might be..
Like, don't tell her that! Good lord don't tell her that! But, she might be right..
An hour they've been running. They started at the tower and had made their way down to Central Park. He was running with a super-soldier and an ex-soldier. For the first time since he's been out of a giant cage around his leg, might he add!
Ok, he's actually doing better than he's letting on!
He's been keeping up with them, most times, even though he knew that Cap was setting a slow pace so he wouldn't over-exert himself!
The odd time he'd fall behind, lose his footing and need to slow down or something like that. But he had Captain America and Falcon as trainers, so they worked around it! Each time he fell behind, they'd fall behind, and slowly build him up to a proper speed again.
He swears, they had this all planned out. Too well executed to be a plan they just thought up of on the run.
He was so thankful halfway around the park when they were forced to stop.
Yes, forced.
Not because of him, no no, he was a little winded sure, a little sore, but he could have kept going.
Some kids birthday party had spotted Captain America and they were suddenly surrounded by little people begging for pictures and autographs.
Clint and Sam had sat on a bench near Steve when they realised they may be here a while! People just kept joining the crowd and there seemed to be no end!
So his feet and lungs were thankful for the rest. More thankful for the water bottle Sam held out to him.
The guy wasn't even breathing hard. This was probably nothing to the two soldiers. They were probably hoping for a proper run, and Clint couldn't help but feel bad for ruining that.
"You two forget.." Cap started after a comment from Sam about Steve falling into celebrity role too easily had Clint laughing. "I had stage shows each night and movies every week back in my day. This is just as natural as combat to me."
"Oh don't remind me.." Clint groaned, his head falling into his hands. "Coulson would make me watch those horrible things whenever he was in sick bay and I had to monitor him.."
A pen hitting his head made him look up and smirk at Steve, the all powerful Captain America pouting like a child at the comment.
"Come on Clint, be nice." Sam laughed, looking to the archer then. "I'm sure there's some things you're not proud of in the past! Bet being in the circus wasn't the most glamorous!"
He knew Wilson was just joking around, but he still gave a shy smile and looked to the ground. Well, that was a whole different thing entirely!
"Sam." Cap's stern warning voice was on, and though he couldn't see him, Clint would bet anything on the fact Steve was sending the guy beside him such a glare.
"Why's it such a touchy subject?" Sam asked, his tone surprised more than anything.
"Wilson. Drop it." Oh, Captain voice definitely was on!
Steve was seriously protective of Clint. Like seriously. He and Natasha were the only ones of the group who knew everything about his past, Pepper knowing little bits and pieces from their late night chats. His SHIELD file only held the basics, nothing in depth or personal, and that's the way Fury always promised to keep it.
So, he understood why the others always got a bit annoyed about him being so secretive. But really, what's there to know? They know he was in a circus, that's enough in his view.
He only needed those really close to him to know everything else. About his father, about the children homes, about that horribleness the system brought to him and his brother. They didn't need to know that even the circus was torture, learning the craft that to this day keeps him alive and keeps the world safe was torture. That he was left for dead on more than one occasion in that horrible place before he even became a member of SHIELD.
No.
To them, he was an orphan who ran away and had a fun time learning how to shoot a bow and arrow and that's all they needed to know.
"It's fine, Cap!" Clint grinned, sitting back in the bench to see Steve better. He was giving Clint the 'You sure?' eyebrow raise and he just nodded. "Not a touchy subject Sam. Just don't like people bringing it up. I was more famous than Cap's movies after all!"
"Sure you were." Sam laughed, and Clint just shrugged as he drank from the bottle of water. Steve gave him a little smile, one he hadn't seen on the guy before.
"I'd well believe it." Rogers simply said before turning to sign some more autographs. "That's why all these people are swarming you!"
"Let me don the old costume and my legions of fans will come from nowhere!" He laughed back, settling back to relax and wait until Cap's fans are ready to give him back.
He could feel Sam's eyes on him, but he kept his gaze on the ground, his feet kicking a stone back and forth.
Uncomfortable..
"Trust me enough one day, Hawk?" Were the only words Sam spoke after a while, and Clint frowned a little.
Not about trust..
"Maybe." He sighed, standing as he spoke to go and continue the run himself, not wanting to sit there any longer.
They'd catch up easily enough.
But he didn't want the awkward conversation on the way back.
So, like most things, he finished the run home alone.
"He comes running out of the building with a swarm of like 50 AIM agents chasing him.. Y'know, the ones he said he could take out with three arrows?"
"Natasha!"
"Screaming at the top of his lungs.."
"Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it.."
They were all laughing already at 'I'm better than all of you blindfolded!' young agent Clint Barton stories. Natasha was trying her best not to laugh through the story but it wasn't working very well.
"'Not good, not good, mommy save me!' over and over again!"
He groaned a little at the laughs of the group around the table, letting his head fall against the table with a nice 'thud'.
The way back from the run was uneventful. Steve and Sam did catch up to him in no time, and Sam said nothing more of the matter and actually brought up baseball as a topic. Clint guessed that Steve had some words with him while catching up.
He couldn't do training after the run, and everyone understood. He took a shower, changed the bandage on his chest, and slept for about 5 hours. Until 20 minutes ago when Natasha got him up for dinner. The smirk she held told him there was no way he was going near missions yet.
He could feel her hand running through his hair, his head still on the table. She was next to him, Steve and Sam opposite, Pepper at the end of the table, and Tony still no where to be found.
He didn't ask where the guy was, the day he decided to try figure out the mind and actions of Tony Stark is the day he loses all battles!
"He did eventually take them out though." Natasha said when the laughter died down and he finally lifted his head. He nodded as he took a bit of his food, still pouting a little from the story.
"Damn right I did.."
"Just after a change of boxers." She laughed, and he sent her a glare as the table went off on one again.
"Why am I still with you!?"
She just smiled and kissed the tip of his nose, and as much as he tried he couldn't stop the little smile crossing his face.
"Not much has changed since then, huh?" Sam commented with an amused smirk, and he just shrugged.
"Little better at following orders. Fury and Stark make sure of that." He replied quietly, taking Natasha's hand and linking their fingers together when she offered.
"Any luck getting through to our brave leader, Pep?" Steve asked as soon as the words left Clint's mouth, and everyone looked to Pepper for an answer. Kind of been playing on everyone's minds today, but no one wanted to ask.
"Oh, that idiot?" She sighed, rolling her eyes as she took out her phone. That meant he was fine, so Clint was satisfied enough to go back to eating his dinner. "Said he needed to make things right. So I got a picture from him about an hour ago. The moron joined the circus!"
This made Clint choke on his food, and he had to push himself away from the table to double over and cough. He could feel eyes on him, and Natasha was gently patting his back.
He joined the circus!?
He joined the fucking circus!?
That can't be right!
He ignored the water Natasha offered him, ignored the worried eyes that were on him, and just stood up all red faced and gasping to grab the phone from Pepper.
His blood ran cold at the image that stared back at him.
Sure, Tony was smiling. Grinning even. Looked like a lovely day, nothing horrible going on. To most people, to nearly everyone, it would look like a perfectly fine picture.
But the sign he was posing infront of had Clint running to his room to suit up without a word to any of his team members.
Above his head, the all too familiar plaque read 'CARSON CARNIVAL OF TRAVELLING WONDERS.'.
That damn place, why had he chosen there!?
Get it from his file or something!? That was the only explanation!
He threw on his SHIELD gear, grabbed his bow and quiver of arrows, and was out of the building in a blur, ignoring all questions.
This is bad.
This is so bad.
He got into his car and sped off to where he knew the Carnival was, always keeping tabs on it so he could avoid it.
This is so so so bad, worse than bad!
He didn't care about anything else now.
He had a friend to save.