As the elevator descended, Clint zipped up his vest with a rough jerk, slapping all the pockets along its front to double check his gear. Loki kept fiddling with his own vest, tugging it down at its hem and looking uncomfortable.

"Got everything?"

"I stowed everything you laid out for me."

"How's your earpiece feel?"

"It's comfortable enough, though all my hearing on that side is now... less."

"You'll get used to it."

The elevator wobbled to a stop and they got out, gathering their helmets when they reached Clint's bike. They mounted the machine and the archer revved the engine, letting the starting diagnostics run by on the screen. Inside his helmet the soft voice of the AI sounded.

"Welcome back, Agent Barton."

"Hey, LUCIA. Got a destination for you, but I need a back-alley entrance- something away from the watch of the general public. Can you do that?"

"Of course, sir. Address?"

They zoomed into the streets, not at all empty even through the dark night, but the two nearly disappeared with the bike in the darkness.

At the mouth of an alleyway Clint shut the engine off and walked the bike silently into it, parking behind a dumpster to hide it from any pedestrian glances. They hooked their helmets on the handlebars and Clint reached up to his ear to turn on his headset. Loki followed suit.

"Mic check," Clint muttered absently as he checked his pistol again.

Loki pulled on a tight pair of rough leather gloves, threading his fingers together to push them down.

"Mic check heard," he responded.

"Okay. I'm going up top, I'll stay along the edges so we're always close. You stay on the ground and you tell me if you find anything strange that I don't call out first. Got it?"

Loki nodded and Clint took a deep breath and turned away for a ladder leading to the roof of a short building. He climbed up as the god began walking deeper into the alley, checking the locator on his wrist for the map of the vicinity. Along the map's squares and rectangles were two green dots- one for him and one for Clint. A small compass pointed north in one corner and a free floating arrow in the center tilted in the direction of their destination, listing the distance in yards.

He glanced up to see Clint stalking the edge of the building, looking ahead and glancing at his surroundings. At the corner Clint crouched and scanned the area still, leaning over the edge to look down the intersecting alley. Loki pulled his pistol from its holster and slyly peeked around the corner of the building just as he heard Clint speak lowly in his ear.

"On your nine- movement."

"I hear it," the god muttered and checked the position. He rounded the corner and slid against the wall as he went, keeping his back to it as he continuously looked down both sides of the alley. Reaching the side of a dumpster, he crouched low and peeked around its edge for one second and then retreated back down to his corner.

"It's a whore and her customer," he informed the archer and heard him snort.

"At least someone's getting something tonight."

Loki smiled although Clint wouldn't see it. "I could always oblige you, though we are in the midst of reconnaissance."

"Heh. Maybe when we get home."

"Boys," Natasha's voice came into their ears, "Focus."

Loki checked his locator again and started down the intersecting alley, going deeper into the dark.

"Hello, Agent Romanov," he greeted calmly as he peered around another corner, gun up and ready for a shot. "I wasn't aware you would be joining us."

"Just listening in- checking your info."

"Are we being recorded, Nat?" Clint tried to keep his question as innocent as possible just in case they were being recorded, but he wasn't sure how to ask that without sounding suspicious. She denied it and Clint felt better, scuttling along the rooftop quietly.

Down the alley intersecting again, a door was open and spewing bright light. Clint looked down the side of the building and saw nothing but the light. He murmured to Loki to check it out carefully and the god did so, sidling up the wall and around yet another dumpster, stepping around the empty cardboard boxes strewn everywhere. He stopped beside the door and listened for a moment.

"Going for a smoke, Aaron!"

A shadow crept through the light and grew over the ground and up the opposing wall and then a girl stepped out, just turning to stand where Loki stood and she gasped when she saw him in the faint shadows. The girl's mouth hung open and she dropped her lighter onto the grimy ground as Loki pointed his weapon at her and raised a finger to his lips slowly to indicate her silence. From inside the building Loki heard the clattering of dishes and others shouting commands about food stuffs. The god turned away unceremoniously and left the girl dumbstruck.

"It's a restaurant," he said in his earpiece.

"Boring."

The god checked the locator again and headed in the direction of the arrow.

"I think I can see it from here," Clint said. "Looks like a parking garage? Weird place for a hideout."

He checked the distance between his building and the next and took it at a running jump, leaping the alleyway to the next short rooftop. He grunted as he rolled to a stop and got up to jog to the edge, keeping his eye down for Loki.

"It's under construction," Natasha informed him. "But the workers have been on strike for a few months- no one's been there since then."

Clint grunted. "An entire parking tower left unsupervised- fucking breeding ground for tweakers."

"Right, so watch yourselves."

"Hear all that, Loki?"

The god was still skulking down and down the alleys, getting closer to the destination, just wanting to get the mission over with.

"What are tweakers?"

"Drug addicts, hobos, alcoholics sleeping it off in an alley, take your pick. People that are potentially dangerous and desperate when they can't get their fix."

"Marvelous," Loki grumbled. He looked above him and watched Clint jump to another rooftop and then he continued onwards, finally able to see the parking garage. He was cautious as he inched up to the tower, looking up at it's full height, dark throughout the entire block but for a faint yellow glow at the top corner.

"Hawkeye, can you see that light at the top?"

"Yeah," Clint confirmed breathily. "There's plastic lining the openings; light's coming from inside. Must be where they are. Hold on, I'm coming down to you."

Loki heard rustling and a grunt and then the archer was suddenly behind him, having dropped down from the rooftops. Clint came up beside him and craned his neck to see the glowing light. He grimaced at it and then jostled the god with his elbow, signaling for him to follow as he started into the tower of concrete, dodging traffic cones and jumping rolls of abandoned plastic wrap, bundles of cast-iron strengthening rods. They scuttled to the center of the ground floor where a giant pillar of concrete balanced the building around it, and they moved to stand on either side of the one metal door there. Clint nodded to Loki and the god twisted the knob of the door and let it swing open as Clint thrust his head and gun into the stairwell, checking for enemies. He pulled out a moment later and groaned, coughing as quietly as he could.

"Jesus fuck. You smell that?"

Loki grimaced and turned his head away, exhaling the lungful of stench he'd taken.

Natasha crackled in their ears, "What is it?"

"Ugh! Smells like... Rot. Rotting food. Garlic. It's the same fucking smell of that chemical shit Prophet fed us."

"Then our sources were most likely right- he makes his gas here. Or stores it there. Either way." Natasha seemed to grasp the brevity of the situation without having to be there or see it. She whispered to them, "Be careful."

Clint cupped a hand over his mouth and nose and moved into the stairwell again with his pistol pointed up the center. Loki followed close behind and kicked a chunk of concrete into the door to keep it open a sliver. They hustled up the flights of stairs as silently as they could, taking a break every few flights to catch their breath, wishing they didn't have to with the reeking smell. A few floors below the top, they slowed their pace and listened as they crept. A faint drumming sound reached them and it got louder as they approached the top- music with hard beats and a chanting, crackling voice and electric guitars. At the top of the stairs, the door was shut, but Clint peeked in through the long window embedded in it, eyes flicking back and forth as he searched. He drew back from the window and spoke lowly.

"There's barely an opening in the plastic to see through. If we open the door and sit right here I think we'll be able to get a view in."

Loki shook his head, disagreeing with the plan. "We'll be right in their line of sight- they're most likely keeping it open to see who comes and goes through the door."

"There's no other way to get in, unless you want to hide outside the plastic and cut a hole for our eyes like we're watching a fucking peep show!"

"I have no idea what that is," Loki snarled at the archer and grabbed the door handle. "Go then, if you want to die so badly!"

Clint laid his hand over Loki's and squeezed. "I'm sorry, okay? Just trust me, I've done this a shitload of times- you're safe with me."

The god's venomous glare softened some with Clint's calming tone and he took a stabilizing breath and nodded, though he was still unhappy. Clint gestured for him to open the door and he did so slowly by centimeters. Clint edged up to the growing crack, letting the light into the stairwell by a thin line as he peered out into the abandoned parking area. The plastic sheets hung everywhere before them, and just as Clint had said there was rift between two sheets right outside the door. As the door opened enough for his head to stick out, he crouched down low and shimmied half of himself through it, listening for the sounds of people through the crashing noise of the music. He hadn't heard anything yet, and he moved to lie down on his stomach in the doorway, letting Loki crawl over him to sit on his knees over the archer's back. Clint readied his weapon in tandem with the god, but they inspected the contents of the plastic-lined room carefully from their position.

There were tall steel canisters scattered everywhere, wood crates stacked up and some with their lids off and leaning against them. Caged lights were set up on stands to light the place up, glinting off glass vials and shiny plastic tubes lined up on the corner of a table barely visible through the small opening. Loki cocked his head at the oddly shaped glasses on the table and leaned forward to see more. He set his hands on the dusty floor above Clint's shoulders, and followed the curling tubes leading in and out of the vials until the figure of a seated man came into view, his back to the door. Loki jerked back and leaned down to Clint's ear.

"There's a man seated at the table right here," he whispered.

Clint hummed and squinted at the canisters, making out the words curving around them. -xide Ni-. -us Oxi. He put the words together, mouthing them as he sounded them out silently. He was safe enough to whisper through the music to Natasha.

"There're bottles of nitrous oxide all over the place. No wonder everything was so fucking funny. Chemistry sets... This is the place."

Loki leaned down to him once more. "I don't believe Prophet is intelligent enough to make his own poisons- he either isn't here, or he's actually not speaking for once. Therefore I believe he simply is not present."

"Shit."

"Why don't we kill them? There can't be many- we haven't heard anything and it's such a small area."

"No," Natasha commanded in their ears. "This is recon- don't kill them. We need to know what they're using."

Loki tapped the archer on the shoulder and scuttled back into the stairwell for Clint to follow him. He shut the door silently and cut out the din of music.

"We have them unawares," Loki said to him, and Natasha at HeadQuarters. "If they're such a threat to society- murdering innocents; why shouldn't we kill them now? This could freeze their supply and make trouble for Prophet, leading him to be sloppy and scramble for new resources. Won't we come back to kill them anyway?"

"The mission right now is to find their hideout. Check them out, get numbers, find supplies. You don't have orders to kill." Natasha's voice was strong but calm, no nonsense.

The look Loki gave Clint was dangerous, an anger beginning to boil that he was trying to keep a lid on. He reached up and switched off his earpiece and moved to do the same to Clint's.

"This is what I was speaking of," he said now that they were alone. "They want something from these hooligans."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at this place!" Loki flung his hand out towards the door to indicate the plastic room beyond. "It's a laboratory and they've made something that SHIELD wants to get their hands on. If they were some two-bit criminals we would have slit their throats already- not inventoried their hoard. There is an agenda that you grunts of SHIELD have not been made aware of. I've told you this before."

Clint gave him a warning look before he glanced out the little window into the makeshift lab. "Who gives a fuck if SHIELD wants whatever they're making? We're going to kill them later, okay? They won't hurt anyone then and SHIELD will be happy with their new toy. Maybe they'll let me use it to make my job easier!"

"If they're going to die, what's the harm in doing it now then? Surely these creatures have made notes of their recipe and it'll be sitting pretty right on top for SHIELD to gather and brew up for themselves. Kill them now and there will be no more blood shed of your people by their hand. If we don't, there will be another mess for us to clean up in the future while we wish we had just taken the chance to shoot them all."

The archer sighed hard, contemplating the consequences if they were to do as Loki wished.

"Imelda was on the verge of murdering herself," the god said in a low grumble. "We were close to that as well, now imagine that Prophet is out there in the city this moment with another set of victims."

"We're going to kill them, we just have to do it by the book. We have to play by SHIELDs rules. They don't want them killed right now so we don't. We'd be in some serious shit if we did."

And Loki scoffed, "Oh, please! What will they do- give us a spanking? There is more at stake here than the simple completion of reconnaissance. Lives at stake. Isn't that what you joined for? To save your fellow man."

Clint balled up his fists and tensed the muscles in his arms, knowing Loki was manipulating him into deviating from the mission, but he just couldn't make himself follow orders.

"Fuck," he growled and looked up at the god, pointing a warning finger up between them. "When they ask, you let me tell the story how this happened, okay? If I let you tell it they'll never trust us again. Go with everything I say."

Loki nodded without a smile. "Of course."

He slid the door open a sliver again, just enough for the muzzle of his gun and he aimed out. In the next second he squeezed the trigger and there was a mouse-squeak of a sound before one of the canisters exploded, blowing out all the plastic wrap like a tent blowing in the breeze. Clint retreated beside the door again as it was forced shut by the blast and they listened to the cacophony of surprised and panicked shouts.

Clint nodded at the god and readied his pistol.

"Ready?"

Loki just smiled nastily and held up his gun as well. The archer chuckled and set his hand on the doorknob.

"God, you get off on this!"

"Mm. Just as you do."

"Let's kill these fuckers."

He flung the steel door open and ran out behind the plastic sheets, hiding in the shadow made by the popped bulbs of the light stand. He aimed towards the door as Loki jumped out, heading straight into the lab and its mess of exploded glass and wood.

The man who had sat at the table was lying on the floor, bleeding from his nose and unconscious as he was being lifted by another, a man in glasses, who looked up at Loki with shock on his face. He was barely able to shout out incoherently before the god shot him in the head. Clint hustled into the lab as the man fell back dead onto the floor and three others down the long hall of plastic wrap jumped up from frantically packing things into bags, two of them with weapons in hand. Clint ducked away behind a half-intact crate as they opened fire, but Loki stood his ground and fired back at them with the archer, laying them down in only a few seconds of gunfire.

When the echoes of the shots died away, they listened for a sign of life and found none, just the sounds of settling debris; tinkling glass beneath their boots. Clint stood up and took count of the bodies, Loki brushed the bangs away from the face of the man with glasses. He hummed appreciatively in the recognition he found.

"This is 'the boy who cried wolf' during our stay with Prophet," he said to the archer.

Clint grunted and checked the faces of the others but he couldn't recognize them. "I didn't think you knew that story."

"I recently checked out a book of children's stories and nursery rhymes."

"Good timing."

"Yes, I thought so."

Suddenly the archer threw up his hands in irritation and huffed. "Five fucking guys. That's it? Five guys."

"Apparently so," Loki muttered as he bent down to inspect the remnants of the chemistry table.

"And they're putting all New York in a panic with their chemistry set in a half-finished parking garage. I know it's only a small part of a larger operation but come the fuck on!"

"You sound disappointed," Loki chuckled quietly.

"I kinda am! Two guns laying down on you, standing right out in the middle, and they couldn't hit you."

The god snorted and took Clint by the arm, turning him towards the door. Clint fussed the whole way into the stairwell, complaining about the lack of competent enemies he'd been encountering lately, how they were half-baked wanna-be criminals trying to get their kicks. He ranted as he was pushed up against the wall in the stairwell until Loki suddenly disappeared from his vision and he felt a hand rubbing over his crotch. He caught his breath from his tirade as he looked down to see the god on his knees, unbuckling Clint's pants leisurely. Loki tugged them down slightly and pulled out the archer's half-hard cock, squeezing gently as he pulled on it.

Clint wheezed and wanted to laugh. "Right now?"

"Yes," Loki said as his tongue darted out to lick the underside of the head. "Right now."

Clint's length was rapidly hardening with the attention, getting licks along the underside and nibbles at the base, and he stuttered as he rested his hand on the top of Loki's head.

"Oh fuuuuck..."

"In a moment," the god informed him just before taking the entire length of the archer into his mouth.

Clint knocked his head back into the wall and hissed as he gripped Loki's hair, trying his hardest not to thrust into the wet cavern the god had accepted him into. He barely registered the sound of clinking metal and shifting clothes, a zipper being undone, he was solely concentrating on that mouth and its wet suction. Velcro ripping open made him open his eyes finally and he look down to see the god pull off of his length and pop open the cap of a small bottle, dripping the contents onto his shaft and rubbing it in. Loki rose and turned to the railing of the staircase, holding onto it hard through his leather gloves and looking over his shoulder at the archer, beginning to pant. He hooked his thumb into the back of his tactical pants and drew them down an inch to entice the archer, who chuckled disbelievingly and went right to him, tugging the pants down the god's ass and rubbing his slickened length between his cheeks. As he reached to wrap his arms around the tall one, he remembered his pistol was still in hand and he clicked the safety on before teasing the muzzle down from Loki's belly to touch the base of his rigid flesh. The god breathed heavily and reached back to Clint's hips, pulling him in a gesture to hurry up. Clint chuckled as he grasped his length and lined up the tip to Loki's entrance, rubbing it teasingly.

"Want this?" he rasped in Loki's ear and began to nudge inside him. "Want this dick?"

He pushed forward hard and sheathed himself completely inside the god and made him groan and gasp, fisting the railing in front of him hard as he pushed back against the archer. The blond pushed Loki to lean down and then gripped his hips with one free hand and the other crushing the pistol into his skin to thrust viscously into him, grunting with every inward motion. Loki took the pounding pleasantly, mouth hanging open as he kept his head down towards the floor, letting his breath come out in huffs. He was almost lost in the pleasure until the door behind them creaked and he reacted instantly, whipping his gun from its holster just below his hip and twisting to shoot the intruder in the face, dropping him to the floor in a heap. He sighed and turned back to the railing with gun still in hand as Clint barked out in nervous laughter.

"Shit! Almost scared me out of my hard on."

"Don't you dare," the god growled and pushed back onto Clint's cock to remind him of their business. "He's dead now- finish me."

Clint chuckled, bewildered and excited, and he went back to thrusting into the god with vigor, making it a goal to have Loki moan with every filling of his body. He pulled Loki up to his chest and bit into the back of his shoulder through his shirt, rubbing his gun against the base of the god's length as he pistoned harshly in and out, finding his release on its way. Loki dropped his head back onto the archer's shoulder and panted, leading Clint's free hand to his cock to stroke it. The sound of the door slamming open at the bottom of the stairwell reached them, shouts of SHIELD agents giving commands and starting up the stairs and Loki gasped, reaching around Clint's head to pull him into a sloppy kiss.

"Hurry," he moaned. "They're coming."

Clint grunted and pounded into the god, holding his middle with his arms to force him back onto his cock, listening to the heightening moans of the god and the steps of the soldiers closing in on them.

"Hurry, Clint," Loki panted, losing himself and feeling his release on the edge. Another thrust and his legs went numb, tightening himself around the archer as he came, dripping onto the concrete. Clint cursed as he thrust through the vice-grip Loki put on his cock, jerking unsteadily until he came into the god, smacking his hips into the flesh of Loki's ass hard as he milked himself. They took one moment to breathe after their orgasms before Clint slid out of the god and hiked his pants up around his hips again, Loki doing the same and clearing his throat as he gathered his forgotten bottle of lubricant, tucking it away in his vest again. The soldiers reached the top of the stairs then, pointing their rifles at the two with the flashlights blinding them before turning them down and hustling past into the laboratory. Natasha brought up the rear of the trail of men, scowling at the archer and god as she reached the landing. She looked down at the heap of dead man in the doorway and looked back up at Clint, waiting for an explanation.

Clint was sheepish, smiling and chuckling nervously as he gestured her into the lab behind him.

"You're late for the party- it was a blast."

She stuck her head out and inspected quickly before turning back.

"I see. And your comms? Those go out before or after the explosion?"

Clint tried to play dumb, reaching up to tap the plastic in his ear canal. "They went out? Wow, didn't even notice."

"Mm-hm." She didn't believe him for a second, she knew better.

She kneeled to search the dead body for identification and Clint folded his arms, cocking his head at the body.

"Where the hell did he come from anyway? I though we checked the whole place."

"He was the man at the table," Loki stated. "The blast must have only knocked him unconscious."

One of the soldiers in his blackish-blue gear and heavy rifle came to the door as Natasha stood up, wallet in hand.

"The area is secure, Ma'am. There are no survivors."

She flipped the wallet open and sifted through the cards inside.

"Thank you. You and your team can leave- send in the cleaning crew."

The soldier nodded jerkily and stood at attention. "Yes, Ma'am." And then he retreated to gather his men, hustling them back down the stairwell.

The redhead turned to Clint and Loki, slapping the wallet closed and sliding it into her jacket pocket.

"There's a debrief in forty-five minutes- let's get going."

She started towards the stairs, setting her boot on the first step down and then she looked at the landing right beside the banister. Loki's cooling sperm in dark, wet drips dotted the concrete. She looked up at the two, unimpressed, and Clint gave her a shit-eating grin, shrugging his shoulders. She rolled her eyes and started down the stairs, letting the boys follow after her like children being taken to their father for punishment.

In the conference room by themselves, Clint threw himself into one of the leather chairs, twirling the seat in a circle while he pulled out his earpiece and tossed it on the table. Loki sat in a chair beside him more gently, also removing his communicator and stowing it in a pocket of his vest. Clint laid his head back and chuckled to himself,

"I can't believe you brought lube on a mission."

Loki just smiled to himself and chuckled silently.

The door behind them opened and they didn't turn to see who entered, waiting to find Natasha stroll over and sit on Clint's left and then Fury stand beside her. The bald man looked sternly down at the archer. He didn't yell, though he wanted to, but he found that Clint tuned out any kind of angry, loud shouts.

"Care to explain what happened?" Fury asked as calmly as he could.

Clint shrugged, "One of the guys caught us by surprise- we killed him, shit exploded. Then we took out the others."

"Was that completely necessary?"

"They were shooting at us, so I thought so."

Fury hummed and nodded, not convinced but willing to let it be for now. "This was only supposed to be reconnaissance. We were going to apprehend them and question them at a later date."

"Why?" Clint scoffed.

"Well, the chemicals they've been using on their victims are a unique formula," Fury sighed as he sat himself in the leather chair he'd been hovering behind. "We've been curious about it."

Clint swiveled his chair to look at Loki with a scowl, and the god returned it with an 'I told you so' raise of his brows. But Fury was able to get his attention again:

"But the cleaning crew informed me that our dear departed chemists left some very detailed notes, so I guess the mission wasn't a total failure."

Clint growled. "What's the big deal? Were you going to kill them after the interrogation or not?"

"No, they would've been put on trial for their crimes, sentenced to life in prison most likely."

"Why?! They were fucking scum! If we had left them, they would've just killed some more before we got around to catching them."

The Director shifted in his seat, digging around in his back pocket before coming out with a wallet and tossing it on the table between Clint and Loki. Clint picked it up and flipped it open, being greeted with a photograph of a woman and two small girls, and the man at the chemistry set Loki had shot while they were fucking. All smiling up at Clint on a summers day.

Clint scoffed and tapped the photo behind it's protective plastic with the side of his finger. "This supposed to make me feel bad?"

He handed the wallet over to Loki, who curiously looked inside and raised his eyebrows expectantly. Clint explained the situation to him.

"They're saying we shouldn't have killed him because he has a family."

Loki scoffed then and threw the wallet on the table dismissively. "Most killers have families, Director Fury. The All-father led vicious wars that destroyed hundreds of thousands of men- he has a wife and son. I did not take you for such a bleeding heart."

"Does your father deserve to be killed for his actions?" Fury tried to counter, and Loki ticked his head,

"Perhaps. And he's not my father; my biological father was murdered some time ago. By myself."

Clint furrowed his brows at the god. "Really?"

And Loki merely nodded and confirmed with a hum as though they were discussing a regular fact of life. Clint hummed in return and looked away towards the Director.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry, Fury. I'm not sorry. The fucker's dead and I'm glad. One less murderer on the streets, right? I'm tired of cleaning up innocent people's dead bodies. We might've just lit the fuse and this will explode Prophet's shit right in his face! And you even got your precious notes to boil up a brew of fucking voodoo juice. Everybody's happy." He stood up then, "We done here?"

The Director bored a look of wrath into Clint's eyes and nodded, "We're done."

Loki followed Clint dutifully out of the conference room and through headquarters, passing Sitwell on the way down the main staircase and the bald man seemed pissed. He had tried to avert his gaze from the two but glanced at them as he neared, eyebrows down low and a frown on his face. They stopped at Clint's locker in the gym basement and Loki began to remove his tactical gear while the archer opened the lock. He watched Clint violently get out of his own clothes, throwing them into the locker haphazardly and the god slowly and calmly undressed as well. He lay his clothes over the bench instead. He handed Clint his pistol in its holster and Clint set it in the locker gently, and then sat on the bench in his shorts with a sigh, rubbing his forehead with one hand. Loki looked down on him, naked and uncaring.

"Are you upset because you realize I'm right?"

Clint rubbed his eyes roughly and groaned. "Right about what?"

"SHIELD," Loki said simply.

"Wanting the chems doesn't prove anything other than they're greedy. They've always been like that."

"It's still quite threatening that they would have all these devious weapons, storing them away."

Clint huffed heavily through the muggy warm air and shook his head lightly. "I don't wanna talk about this, babe," he whispered, suddenly exhausted. "Let's just shower and go home."

"As you wish," Loki assented as he padded by the archer to the wet tiles of the showers. Clint watched him go, feeling like his arms were numb, and he got up with effort, wondering if his legs were going to be able to get him to the tiles without buckling. He stood at the edge of the showers, in the small entryway of the short dividing wall and he watched Loki stand in the hard spray of water, head hanging and arms limp at his sides. A slam of a locker down the room somewhere punched out in the quiet, and then the sound of the doors opening and shutting with the departure of some agent. Clint shucked off his shorts and laid them over the half-wall before stepping into the showers, feet slapping the puddles of water along the way until he came up behind the god and wrapped his arms around the pale body. Loki jolted in his skin and then sighed sadly, resting his hands over the archer's while Clint thudded his forehead against his back. He let the water swim down from the god's shoulders to drip off the end of his nose, looking intently at the wet black locks flattened under the drench.

"You don't believe me," Loki muttered, tracing his thumbs along the back of Clint's hands.

"I don't want to, but I know it's probably true. To some extent." He squeezed tight around the god for a second and rubbed his cheek against the tall one's back. "I'm not trying to piss you off, babe. It's just... I've been with SHIELD for so long- it's hard to just slam 'em. I feel like, if I do, it'll be something violent and destructive and we're not ready for that- we still have some prep to do before we can go."

The god turned in Clint's grasp and swiped back the sopping blond hair from his face.

"I understand your feelings- they are similar to my own during a- harsh turning point in my life some time ago. I did not want to believe a long-hidden truth and I sought to destroy the one thing that could link me to it... Destructive and violent and it led me to the life I lead now."

Clint's grey eyes were boring into Loki's, hard and searching and Loki had to look away, drawing his hands down from the archer's face to his neck, watching the water drip down his arms and off his elbows.

"You have a very strong will, a strong soul, but a mind behind it to keep it all in check. You do not let your emotions fly away with you but you are curious enough to explore them in safety, with stability." He chuckled and suddenly smiled. "You have heart."

Clint looked at the god with widening eyes, remembering the day Loki had said that to him once before, but he was shocked that he now looked back on that day with pleasure. The first sight of Loki crouched on the dock of the Tesseract had sent through Clint a mixture of fearful curiosity; wary awe. And when he had tried to fight against the god, and caught himself in the sharp gaze of his then-blue eyes; when he had heard those words spoken in a breathless whisper... He hadn't been sure what he was feeling then, and he still wasn't sure, but now he likened it to-

"I love you."

The god's eyes darted up to Clint's in surprise, his hands fell off the archer's body. Clint snorted with a disbelieving shake to his head and he looked straight into Loki's eyes again.

"Yeah, you heard me."

Loki brought his shaking hands up to Clint's neck again, stroking gently as though he thought the blond would crumble away if he pushed too hard. His breath stuttered though he tried to hold it in, and he was trying to keep back a grin. He bowed his head to touch his nose against the archer's, fingers trailing up to wind in his short hair gently and Clint grinned and chuckled again as Loki started to smile.

"I love you, Lo," he whispered before Loki drew him in and slid their lips together. They kissed lazily, bodies pressed together under the shower's spray, Clint's hands wrapped around the god's neck to pull him down in the kiss and Loki's on the back of the blond's head to keep him there. The cloying steam wafted around them and all that could be heard was the splashing of water on the tiles echoing through the locker room. They pulled apart breathlessly and smiled at each other, seeming like they didn't know what to do with themselves now. They chuckled at their behavior and moved to actually clean up, using the same shower head to rinse with; keeping close and smirking at each other.