Loki shifted gently under the sheets, trying to get up silently, but the archer was awake anyways, though he kept his eyes shut and just listened. Loki sat on the edge of the bed for a few moments, staring down at the carpet in the dark before sighing through his nose and getting up. At the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing, Clint's eyes popped open. He leaned over to the bedside table and checked his phone for the time, and he grunted at it. He got out of bed and dressed slowly, pausing for a second when he heard soft music start playing from the rest of the apartment. Shuffling out through the living room to the kitchen, Clint watched Loki at the window again, and he felt the slightest twinge of guilt at the longing expression on the god's face as he looked out and up at the world through their tiny window.

With the vaguest sunshine on his pale cheeks, the god seemed to know he was being watched, though he didn't look. He couldn't hear the others approach for the slow jazz pouring in from the neighbor lady's house.

"Did I wake you?"

"I was already awake."

Loki hummed and turned away, opening the fridge, selecting a jug of grape juice and he drank straight from it.

"Something's bugging you," Clint decided as he watch the god drink. "Is it what we were talking about last night? I thought I was the one that was supposed to be all brooding."

The god sighed hard and looked out the window again for a second and then braced himself against the counter, staring down into the sink.

"I despise this existence as a caged animal," he rasped. He gripped the countertop angrily, but he tried hard not to let it into his voice. "There is absolutely no excitement in it. Your world is interesting enough and, fortunately for you all, it holds my curiosity... But such dull lives humans lead!"

And then he sneered and wheezed in a harsh laugh. "The most fun I've had here is being chased down by those bandits- and we didn't even get to gut the bastards for their stupidity!"

Clint chuckled a little, though he thought that maybe he shouldn't. "Yeah, you're right, regular living is boring."

He grunted as he lifted himself to sit on the counter and reached out for the jug. "Let me have some of that." He took a long pull from the bottle as Loki had. "Life as an agent though- CIA, Special Forces, SHIELD- all those jobs where you get to kill or steal or generally fuck people up, they come with a price tag. You could die at any moment. Someone can walk up and shoot you in the head. You could get captured, tortured. You get followed and chased and everyone usually hates you and can't trust you. It can be stressful- you're always on your guard. You're always suspicious of every person and every action. Someone says one thing in the wrong tone and suddenly you're wire-tapping their phones 'cause you're just not sure about them anymore."

"Any human can die at any moment," Loki scoffed and shook his head condescendingly. "Why choose a life of sluggish subjugation when the world is at your fingertips- just ripe for the taking? Fools they are."

Clint shrugged. "Some people aren't cut out for that kind of life- criminal or agent. Some people just want to blend in. You sound like you're dying for something to do."

"I am," Loki sighed.

Clint drank from the jug again and Loki watched intently as his throat moved with the swallow. "If Fury were to offer you a job at SHIELD, would you take it?"

The god scoffed with distaste. "Of course not. Sniffing out drug lords and tracking mass murderers; chasing slave traders- there is no fun in that. Being the so-called 'good guy' is not exciting in the way I would like. The righteous man does these things out of a twisted sense of protection and self-imposed responsibility." He looked at Clint with a curious gaze. "Are these your reasons for your service with SHIELD?"

"No," Clint chuckled and handed the jug back to Loki. "No, I just like to shoot people."

Loki blinked in surprise. "Truly?"

"Yeah. I like to shoot things and fight. Being sneaky and undercover is fun. Taking people out before they even knew I was there. I know what you're talking about with the righteous man- that was partly why I joined, but I stay for the black ops. It can get boring if it's a stakeout or recon, but I know that when I get the intel, it's fun time."

Loki hummed and nodded interestedly. "Sabotage."

Clint nodded. "Bitchin'."

"Theft."

"Thrills."

"Trickery. Scheming. Lies."

Clint squinted at the god but smiled all the same, thinking he was catching on to something. "What are we talking about here?"

Loki put the juice back in the fridge and leaned against the counter opposite to Clint's, arms out wide to hold himself up against the edge.

"Barton, you know I have no intention of redeeming myself in the eyes of the AllFather. I will get my magic back in some way or another. How, I know not, but it will happen. Until I find the means of my recovery, I would quite like to... 'fuck around' I believe the term is. But as much of the ways of humans are still unknown to me and I have no citizenship anywhere, I cannot go about my plans alone."

"You have plans?"

"I will," Loki assured and leveled Clint a serious look. "If you come with me."

The archer was serious then too, watching the god for a sign that he was playing him. He did say he wanted to fuck with someone. "You want to run away and just-" he chortled and wheezed as he thought about it. "Just be the God of Chaos on Earth."

Loki merely nodded, but he smirked, feeling that spark of thrill he'd sorely missed. He hoped deep inside himself that this would come to pass, that he'd played his cards right and spoken to the heart in just the right tone to bring Clint to him.

Clint snorted softly and jumped down from the counter. "Sounds like some TV show romance where we ride into the sunset together to live out our bad-guy dreams."

"It could be."

He looked at the god incredulously. "So, what, we steal the Mona Lisa? Fuck each other in the cracked-open safe of the Geneva Swiss Bank?"

"Among many other things." Loki was trying his hardest to keep a straight face. He had to play this right- not sneering nor smiling, in order to get what he wanted. "You know I am no hero, Clint. And while you play the hero- the agent who makes the world better one villain at a time... This is not who you are meant to be. It's not who you want to be."

Clint glared at the floor for a moment, thinking of his next move, the repercussions it might have. He looked up at the god and considered him carefully, taking in his hopeful green eyes and unsure frown. He already knew what he was going to say- he never thought about the future, only what was put in front of him. The blond moved in close to the tall god and he grabbed the counter edge behind Loki, bumping his forehead on the other's chest. He was breathing a little harder with the drumming of his heart, starting to get excited by the mere mention of what Loki had planned.

"We could never go back," Clint grumbled roughly to the god's chest.

"I know."

"We'd be hunted by everyone, not just SHIELD. Every government we would ever wrong, every town, every hopeful soul."

"I know."

Clint looked up and saw Loki's smile was genuine and soft and his heart beat harder still. Loki rested his hands on Clint's waist and gently rubbed the shirt over his sides. The blond thumped his head against Loki's chest again, closing his eyes and wishing. Wishing they could leave right now. Loki breathed into Clint's hair and brought his hands up to cup his face, forcing the archer to look at him.

"I want to play 'Tesseract'," he said low in his throat. "I want you to lead me across this world, leaving hurricanes of hate and envy in our wake, and when I point and want, you say-"

"When do you want it."

Loki's grin was feral. "Yes."

Clint's eyes bored into Loki's; grey and green without a vein of opal-blue in sight, and he smirked and pulled Loki down for a kiss. They hummed between kisses before Clint locked their lips together and flicked his tongue against Loki's, holding his head hard with both hands. He tried not to stand on his tiptoes to get his fill, but had to anyway, surging up against the god and feeling that slight rub of their jeans against each other. Loki panted into Clint's mouth and pulled the archer's hips against his, grinding their hardening lengths together. Clint groaned and broke their kiss, huffing short breaths over Loki's collar as he rutted against the god, using the countertop as leverage for his thrusts.

When he felt cool fingers running down his waist to dip into the edge of his pants he slowed his movement, letting the god snap open his jeans and slide his hand in to grip his length in one teasing squeeze. Clint tugged the clothes down around his hips to show himself and he moaned low in his throat as he took himself in hand while Loki undid his own pants and shoved them down, pulling them flush again to finally touch skin to skin. Clint dropped his forehead on the god's shoulder and wrapped his arms around him, digging his fingers into the muscles of Loki's back as the god cupped his half-uncovered ass to grind their cocks together between their bellies. Loki's eyes slid shut and he moaned in broken stutters as they pushed together.

Clint tried to gather his wits and panted as he unclawed one hand from the god's back to flail around blindly at the cabinet doors until he found which end to open. The god leaned down to bite at Clint's neck with a wide open jaw and Clint's hips faltered in their movement, but it gave him the moment to hazily look into the cabinet and grab a bottle, slamming it onto the counter before viciously grinding against the god again, making him squeeze his ass hard. Clint wet his lips and grunted against Loki's shoulder.

"Gonna fuck you."

The proclamation made Loki gasp against Clint's ear, running his lips over the soft flesh.

"Here?"

"Right here," the archer breathed, blindly pushing Loki's jeans down to the floor and grabbing his thigh, pulling the leg up to hitch around his hip. "Right here."

He unscrewed the bottle and dipped his fingers inside, bringing them out dripping thickly with oil. He brought the hand down between them and slid one slick finger into the god, making his breath flutter in his throat. The god's eyes rolled back and he wrapped his leg around Clint's waist harder, trying to pull it all closer. He held himself up against the counter while Clint still rubbed his cock against his and slid another finger into him. Loki's neck went limp and he moaned, huffing open-mouthed against his own chest.

"I won't make it for another," he panted. "I'm ready."

Clint grabbed Loki's hair to pull his head up for a kiss, messy and wet as he pulled his fingers out and dipped them in the bottle again to slick his length with the oil. Loki braced himself on the countertop and wrapped his other leg around the archer's hips, feeling the tip of the man sliding back and forth against his opening. Clint stood his ground and grabbed the god's hips, digging his fingers into the flesh hard enough to bruise. He leaned forward and nudged the tip of his cock into the god, sighing with how easily it slid in. He thrust his face into Loki's chest and bit into his pec as he slid further inside, holding back his moan to hear Loki begin panting again.

The god strained to hold himself up on one arm and hold Clint by the back of his neck, craning to rub his lip against the man's forehead and fluffing the blond hair with his heavy breaths. Clint shoved his last inches harshly into the god, earning him a loud groan and a squeeze of the legs around him. Loki's eyes squeezed shut and his brows knit together as the archer pushed and pulled at his hips to help slide himself in and out. He hissed and bit his lip and urged Clint further, using his legs to pull the length inside him harder, helping Clint set the pace.

Clint panted hard and leaned back from Loki's chest and started to thrust in time with the urging of the god, snapping his hips harshly against him. He dug his blunt nails into the flesh and slapped their skin together with every thrust of his cock. Loki growled as the length jabbed his insides, waiting for that one spot inside him to light on fire. Clint adjusted his sweaty grip and hiked the hips up further, shoving Loki's back into the counter and piercing his cock straight in, making Loki howl to the ceiling and scratch his nails deep up Clint's back. The open moans Loki funneled straight into the archer's ear when he curled around him to hold tighter urged Clint to fuck him harder, faster, needing to hear more. His legs shook with the effort and he knew he wasn't going to be able to hold them up any longer. He pulled Loki down by the neck and dropped to the tiles, sitting on his knees and continuing to fuck the god into the cabinets. The new position didn't allow for their bodies to touch at any place but hips to ass and Clint still held Loki's hips to push him onto his cock while the god gripped the edge of the counter to hold himself steady. Practically sitting on the archer forced him deeper inside, urging the pace into a frenzy, with Loki gasping for breath as his insides jolted at every well-aimed thrust. He reached clumsily for Clint's hand and led him to his cock to jerk him off, feeling his finish near. Loki panted brokenly as his body pulled taut and he spilled over the archer's hand, face twisted in pure pleasure as he came. Clint squeezed his eyes shut and growled hard when he felt the god tighten to a vice-like grip around him. His hips stuttered against the pale body and he cursed over and over as emptied his come into him, milking himself with the last jerky thrusts of his orgasm before he slowed enough to seat the god directly on him.

Clint released Loki's hips and pulled him flush against his chest, holding the god up as they caught their breath in the aftermath. Loki wrapped his arms around Clint's shoulders and he panted against his neck, heartbeat beginning to die down to it's normal pace. The archer embraced him, rubbing his nose against the god's shoulder and feeling the sweat soaked through their shirts until Loki pulled his head up and slotted their lips together in a slow kiss.

They rested rested their foreheads together and breathed slowly with Loki fingering the archer's collar absently. Clint rubbed the god's sides and sighed.

"We're supposed to see Fury today," he muttered softly.

"Mm. When?"

"Less than an hour. We'll be late."

The god snickered. "I think our stolen time was used well."

"Definitely," Clint grunted as he shifted to lay Loki down on the floor, pulling his soft flesh out of him and settling himself over the prone body. He swept the black waves of hair back and looked into Loki's eyes, arms framing his head on the tiles. The god gazed up at him and blinked slowly. They merely saw each other in the quiet of the kitchen, smooth jazz coming to their ears again now that they had their wits about them for anything but each other.

Clint mused to himself what would have to come next, seeing as he just agreed to escape with the god and run amok in the world. It would be some time before they could leave, everything had to be meticulously planned for them to get away with this scheme. As he looked down at the pale thing under him, he surmised Loki was thinking the same; wondering what to do first. They could tell no one until the deed was done and that day might be a long time ahead of them.

Loki broke the archer out of his thoughts with a brush of his fingers on his belly. Clint half-smiled contentedly and bent his head to catch his lips again. The god's legs lifted and trapped Clint against him, pulling to rub their soft lengths together. The god hummed into the slow kiss and felt himself hardening again, hoping to coax Clint firm as well. Clint freed his lips and ground his hips into Loki's, watching him close his eyes and moan with the stimulation.

"Again?"

Loki smirked. "We're already going to be late, what's a few minutes more?"

Loki had led the way into the conference room, Clint trailing behind him with ease, a serene look on his face. The door swooshed shut behind them and all the bodies in the room swiveled to see them.

"Thank you for joining us," Fury remarked sarcastically, standing at the head of the table. "I know it can be difficult to make time for us in your busy schedule."

Loki tilted his head in appreciation and posed himself in his chair gracefully. "It's not a problem, I do love coming to these gatherings of 'heroes', seeing them behind the scenes."

Clint rolled his eyes and fell into his seat with a slouch, hands in his coat pockets. He bobbed his head in greeting to Steve beside him, who looked at him with slight disappointment.

"'Sup."

The captain furrowed his brows at the archer and turned away to give his attention to Fury, leaving Clint to roll his eyes again behind him. The rest of the Avengers listened attentively to the Director who was giving a brief about a group of vigilantes that had finally done enough to register on SHIELD's radar. Apparently they liked to spout about 'spiritual freedom' and killed under those terms.

Clint rolled his head along the back of the chair and showed Loki his expression of unimpressed boredom, swiveling his seat left and right with impatience. Loki chuckled low in his throat and continued to watch the Director speak. The archer couldn't bring himself to care about the meeting, still listening and digesting the information, but he found the god sitting beside him to be a nice distraction. He let his eyes rove over Loki's body lustily.

"Agent Barton," Fury barked, wrenching Clint from his greedy gaze. The Director leveled him an expectant look. "Is this briefing not up to your standards? Having a hard time bringing yourself down to our level?"

"Am I going to take any part in this mission, sir?" Clint asked seriously. He'd received too many briefings and subjected to learning everything there was to know about the topic just to be skipped over in favor of Captain America or Iron Man. Why send a man with an arrow when you could send a man with an arsenal, or a man who counted as five in one?

"I'd like you to," Fury said.

"Whoa, uh-" Tony swiveled his chair to look at the whole room and he gestured at Loki and Clint with a pen in hand. "He's got a pet to take care of- crate training and all that. How does that enter in to taking out a-"

"The leash, I know," Fury interrupted. "Loki will stay within his allotted distance during the mission, fitted with a communicator and tracker directly linked to Agent Barton to aid in this endeavor."

All the eyebrows rose at the man's announcement of Loki's semi-involvement in the mission, and some of them balked. Including Clint.

"Uh, heh, I don't think that's gonna happen," He scoffed.

"I agree with Agent Barton's sentiment," Loki drawled, confused by the sudden turn of events. "Has the thought never occurred to you I might not want to play?"

"Well, seeing as I want Barton on this mission, and you are attached to him with an unknown disciplinary action if you get too far away- you'll play because Barton will play."

Tony quirked his head and was amused against himself as he regarded the pair at the back of the room. "You don't know what happens if he goes past the quarter mile?" He smiled at Loki condescendingly. "What's the matter, Princess- Hawkeye got you chained to the bed?"

Steve tutted the bearded man and tried to put him down with a look of distaste. "Tony..."

"This plan sounds really unnecessary," Bruce spoke quietly, looking at Director Fury with concern. "If it's so much extra work to keep- him, and Barton together, why not just send someone else?"

Fury raised his brow at the scientist. "Are you volunteering?"

"Thankfully, I'm not the subterfuge kind of guy," Bruce sighed and leaned back in his chair with his hands folded over his stomach. "You know when you need the Other Guy."

Natasha, who had been silent and watchful during this exchange finally spoke up. "This is a trial-run to see how well they can work around their leash while simultaneously completing a mission. If it can be done with as few snags as possible, it could be a tilt in the right direction for more involvement of Loki in our outings." She turned to Fury. "If that's your intention."

Fury nodded. "Very perceptive, Agent Romanov."

The responses to Natasha's assessment were loud and doubtful, scoffs and riotous laughter.

"You cannot be serious," Loki glowered with contempt.

Tony jerked in his seat with a snicker, trying to hold his laughter in by biting his knuckle. "Will you have to give Clint a new codename? I think 'Santa' will work perfectly if Loki gets to be 'Blitzen'." He chuckled behind his hand until it grew into a choking laughter.

Clint sighed in exasperation and stared up at the ceiling. "Jesus."

"I will not be joining your little band of misfits," Loki argued. "If Barton must take part in a mission, then I can perhaps be swayed to accompany him, but I will not be 'joining up' to supplement your agenda. I will not make merry with your pawns of vengeance."

Clint was shocked by Loki's non-rejection of Fury's half-baked plan to send them out together. "Really? You'd go for it?"

Loki stopped him with a raised finger for patience. "But, I must remind you that if I am to die while in the Hawk's custody, then so too shall he die."

The Director was indignant. "Is that a threat?"

"It is Odin's stipulation of the contract between my handler and I. If I am killed, then Barton is killed. I am merely reminding you of that fact."

"Hm," Fury intoned. "Then you best not die out there."

Steve looked bewildered. "Is it really worth risking one of your best agents just to see if Loki will play ball? He even said he wouldn't join-"

Tony shared in Steve's confusion. "Why gamble Clint's life for a washout, evil tyrant?"

Fury put up his hands to silence them, looking apologetic. "This is coming from the World Council. They want to test this out and they asked me to make sure it got done. So, get it done."

The Avengers were speechless, all thinking to themselves different scenarios for potential destruction of their team, of their friend. They looked lost and resigned. The god was annoyed and looked away from them at Clint, who noticed the attention and gazed back. The others observed Clint with worry, like they had lost him already.

"Can I talk to you?" Clint suggested and nodded his head towards the door. He got up without waiting for Loki's answer and headed away, hearing Loki follow him. They stopped outside the conference room, across the walkway to lean against the banister and look down to the ground floor of the headquarters.

The archer spoke quietly, holding on to his arms and glancing at agents who walked by on their way to wherever.

"You're really okay with this?"

"It would seem as though I have no choice- unless you would like to find out what the punishment is for straying too far from your side."

Clint shook his head violently. "No," he whispered. "No, I don't want that- if it kills you then I'm dead too. This could be dangerous."

"It could be quite perilous indeed," Loki concurred with a sigh. "Though they are giving us the opportunity to begin our work together, unbeknownst to them. We could seize this chance to use them for everything they're worth before our departure."

Clint's mouth fell open and he glanced around suspiciously before stepping nearer to the god, keeping their backs to the door. "You wanna steal from SHIELD?"

"Think on it- they have weapons, technology far beyond what is available to the common man, clout with companies and governments; their fingers dangling into the swamps of criminal bases. Most of what we need is readily available, if you know how to ask for it."

Clint expelled a large huff of air and leaned his arms on the banister. "So you shadow me on these missions- and in the meantime milk them for all they've got. Somehow 'lose' a few handy tools and get replacements handed right to us."

"Exactly," Loki smiled. "They're fools. I'll be learning the technology and skills of an agent in order to survive these assignments, while they pine for my reluctant agreement into your ranks."

"Oh, Jesus," Clint snorted as realization came upon him. "They'll be training you to sneak right out from under them and disappear from the radar. Won't even know they did it until we're gone."

"We'll have them eating from the palm of our hands," Loki gloated.

Clint chuckled and rubbed his face, smiling all the while. "Do you think if I said it was punishment for rejecting Fury's offer, they'd let me fuck you on the table in there?"

"I am still prepared from our last encounter," Loki teased with a smirk.

Clint snickered and pulled the god away from the ledge by the arm. "Come on."

The two entered the room again, interrupting the other's heated conversation into silence. They looked guilty, knowing their abrupt silence revealed to Clint they had been talking about him and the situation. Fury stood waiting for the word from the archer, thinking the two had been discussing their options on accepting the mission or not. Or possibly Clint trying to convince Loki into it or not. He wasn't sure. He found their forced coexistence strange with how nonplussed they acted. It made him uncomfortable.

"Well?" Fury prompted.

Clint dug his fists into his coat pockets again and said, "We'll need weapons."