Prompt: Time
From: avengers-tables .livejournal under 50-word prompt (yes, I do intent to use all 50 words)
Pairings: Clint/Darcy
I wish I had all the time in the world.
Silently, Clint stares at the woman sprawled across his naked torso in sleep. Darcy's own bare skin slides slightly against his with each minor shift, reminding him constantly of her presence. Not that he could miss it with her curled as she is around him. It's a reminder to him though; a reminder that this is real, not a dream that will disappear as soon as he blinks.
I want to just hold her. Stay here forever.
His arms are curled around her body, cradling her close in sleep. He knows he'll have to leave soon. It's unavoidable. He has to return to work and she has to return to college. To classes and a campus filled with guys her own age. To people who are more like her, not broken the way he is. Nothing has been able to fix him so far. Not even time has closed some of his worst injuries. Yet she holds him close, clings to him in sleep.
What did I do to deserve something so wonderful?
In her sleep, Darcy curls closer and whispers his name. It's little more than a puff of warm breath against his skin, cooling in the desert air that's leaking into his hotel room. But that one simple word makes him hold her closer. What I wouldn't give for all the time in the world.
For the first time in years, Clint doesn't want to let go. Doesn't want to go back to his job. Doesn't want to be separated from something as simple as a woman. It should scare him, terrify him even. It's been years since he felt like this, and that was back when he was still hopelessly in love with Tasha. Thank god he got over that before it killed him. And he's not foolish enough to believe that loving his exceptionally dangerous and very scary partner wouldn't have meant death for him.
Looking back at Darcy again, he felt his heart swell as he stared at her. How could she do this to him? How was it possible for a woman to enchant him the way she has? Stop fighting it, Barton, and stop trying to analyze it. You love her, you know you do, get over it and figure out how to keep her. Because keeping her is going to be the hard part. Keeping her knowing it might be almost a year before they're together again. Reminding her day after day that he's here and loves her. That he doesn't want to loose her. That's going to be the hard part.
"Clint, stop thinking and go to sleep." Darcy's voice is little more than a murmur, but as his eyes refocus and meet her own sleepy ones, he can't help but lean down to kiss her lips. Hug her a little closer as he tries to convey what he's feeling into that one moment.
When she pulls back a second later, she's giving him a confused look. "What was that for?"
"Being you," whispered Clint. "I was just thinking that we didn't have a lot more time together and, well, I didn't want to waste a chance."
Smiling, Darcy propped herself up on her elbow and leaned in to softly kiss Clint. She doesn't pull back far a moment later, just enough that she can speak. "No matter how much time has to pass, we will meet and be together again. I promise."