It starts when Steve and Bucky come back from class late at night maybe two weeks later, while everyone else is sitting in the lounge, half of them studying (well, more like Phil and Natasha), while the others sort of watch a movie silently (it's a good movie, and none of them are really close enough friends to feel comfortable making commentary). They both look kind of battered, Steve more than Bucky, but they both seem about equally angry. Well, Clint thinks, tilting his head a little, maybe Bucky's more pissed. Although it might just be that black eye he's sporting, along with a giant and nasty-looking bruise on his flesh arm. Not to say that Steve isn't injured - he's got a towel pressed to his mouth that looks a more than a little bit red, and he's using his elbow to cradle the other arm. But that black may makes Bucky look downright dangerous.
Buck's trying to lecture Steve, or something, but he always looks like that because of how he puts his hand on Steve's shoulder. Even though Steve's taller than him, Bucky looks like the older friend. The Mr. Darcy to his Mr. Bingley, except perhaps less early-novel and more later-novel, when he's less of a douche (Clint, despite all the jokes Tony made about him being raised on shitty circus shows and public television crap like the Teletubbies, has gone to fucking school, where you read shit).
But whatever. Steve and Bucky are kind of angrily talking over one another in hissed whispers, and only a few words tumble out - it's hard for Clint to hear when they're so jumbled together, especially from too people, but he gets a few things out of it. "Regressive bastards" from Steve, who curses like a sailor even though he looks clean as fresh laundry. "Harebrained" from Bucky, which seems a bit old-fashioned but probably makes sense. Steve shoots back with something that sounds like "could have fucked up your arm." And also "HYDRA," which makes Clint uneasy.
"HYDRA," Clint knows now, is the name that another floor uses to talk about themselves. When Sam had told him initially, Clint hadn't really gotten what he was saying. But once he explained it to him the next day, he thought it was sort of comical. He would have laughed them off the first time he heard about them, except for the fact that they were literal neo-nazis. Like, literal Nazis who want to kill fucking everyone and complain when anyone who isn't a straight cis white man gets rights. Not only did they basically spend all their fucking time preaching about the wonders of white supremacy (didn't they have classes to go to, or something?), but they got away with so much bullshit it was ridiculous. And they'd been around for fucking ever, too. Clint's not sure how they manage it, to have all of them on the same fucking floor every year, but somehow they do it.
Looking around, he notices that everyone else looks concerned or angry, too. He's not sure if it's because of the mention of HYDRA, which Tony's alumni father had apparently told him horror stories about, or because of how fucked up Steve and Bucky look. Everyone's staring at the floor, shifting their eyes away from Steve and Bucky making their way down the hall, only to look back almost immediately. It's like a game of hot potato that doesn't stop until Pepper decides to go for it.
"Steve, Bucky, what happened?" There isn't any accusation in her voice, no motherly censure or anger. Just concern and curiosity, and Clint can see Steve relax after he tensed when she started talking.
He gestures to his shirt, black with pink, purple, and blue text - the same colors as the bisexual flag stuck onto the bulletin board that displayed different sexualities and their pride flags. It reads, "I'm not confused, I'm bisexual."
"HYDRA," he starts, before shaking his head angrily and just looking pissed off as fuck. But that's alright, because everyone immediately understands. Fucking HYDRA, who likes to paste signs about how "the gays" or "feminists" or basically everyone are going to be the death of civilization. Of course they would go after Steve, who could almost be their white cis man wet dream if it wasn't for his sexuality. "They didn't… they were yelling outside the LGBTQ center. It wasn't okay."
There's an explosion of sound around him, as everyone immediately jumps into action. No one is really close to one another, that's true, but when they're united against a common enemy... Pepper and Sam pull out their phones to talk to Nick Fury about disciplinary measures for HYDRA while everyone else starts either plotting against HYDRA (Tony, of course) or going up to Steve and Bucky to check on them.
It sort of surprises Clint to see Natasha give them both tight hugs, only a little bit. Steve, despite all his inherent goodness, is absolutely driven and works so hard, of course he and Natasha would get along. Bucky, on the other hand, has the same intensity and focus that Natasha does, although he's more lighthearted and science-minded. And she doesn't stay long, either, just gives them hugs and what looks like a comforting whisper from the way the two seem more at ease, before she slips off into the crowd.
Clint mostly watches from the side, not wanting to interrupt or overload their senses. That's what he would want, anyways, to be alone and not have people constantly coming up to him, talking to and at him. But he catches Steve's eye and tries to shoot him a reassuring smile, something that will say "I'm here for you if you need me." Steve smiles back, although with that towel still pressed against his mouth, it looks rather sinister - messaged delivered. Natasha backs away from them too, and goes up to Clint, leaning her head against his shoulder for a moment. She, like Tony, will want revenge, he knows. But she knows to wait, to gauge her options before making a move.
Tony, on the other hand, is planning like no tomorrow. He's not making much sense to Clint, since it's all engineering jargon, although he can understand when Tony weighs the pros and cons of having his father withdraw Stark Foundation donations to the school. Because while "it would fuck those HYDRA bastards over," it would also make things worse for the other students. Not to mention, Rhodey reminds him, that HYDRA has connections to the school's administration and directors, so they wouldn't be the ones hurt the most. Just the ones who need that money.
Thor tries to find a way, too. In his booming Shakespearian voice he offers to to talk to some people, he doesn't say who exactly, to figure out what to do. But before he or Tony can get very far in their discussion, Nick Fury sweeps into the lounge, his black trenchcoat flailing dramatically behind him.
Steve and Bucky are seated on one of the couches now, Pepper and Sam still around them, with Jane and Betty, one of Bruce's classmates, doing their best to inspect their wounds and figure out of they should go to the campus health center. Despite Steve's insistence of "no doctors," of course, but he doesn't seem super set on it; mostly, he seems almost content and comfortable, although he still looks pissed as all hell. His lip has stopped bleeding, Bucky's eye looks less gross (and it's not that bad - Clint knows from experience), and they're surrounded by friends who want to help them get back at HYDRA.
Except for Fury, it seems like, who just says, "What the fuck happened here?"
Immediately, everyone quiets down. Sam and Pepper look both worried and confident, even though Clint thinks that doesn't make any sense at all, but that's just how it looks. Fury fixes his eyes on Steve and Bucky, though, surrounded by everyone else, without even looking at his RAs. But his voice is, at least to Clint, surprisingly gentle. "Did you two want to explain this here, or in my office?"
Steve and Bucky share a moment, a look, and then seem to straighten up in unison.
"Here, sir," Steve says.
"Cut the bullshit, Rogers," Fury says, but without an ounce of anger in his voice. "Just explain."