Hiya, thanks for the reviews i got! This is a biggie! Barney finally enters the story!
Barney Barton arrived at Stark Tower in the late evening looking shabbily out of place. After being let out at the front doors by Happy he was lead upstairs by a disembodied voice calling it's self JARVIS. Not the strangest thing to happen in his life but it was up there. He was tired and not at all thrilled by the tone of voice Tony had had with him on the phone.
He was greeted by Natasha who lead him to the kitchen where he was faced with all the big shot Avengers. Ironman and Captain America stood out particularly amongst them. Not a sight that made a former supervillain feel comfortable. Captain America on the other hand held out his hand and shook it firmly.
"Thanks for coming out. Clint locked himself in his bathroom a bout an hour ago. After we told him what year it was."
Barney slid uneasily into a chair. The same chair Clint usually sat in. He put his hands on the table in a nonthreatening manner. "Is he real scared?"
"I don't know if scared is the right word. He's upset. He asked about your parents and we told him the truth. That was when he ran off." Bruce said, polishing his glasses. "It's not a good situation."
"I think he's hurt that we kept it a secret from him. He said something about lying and I guess he's right." Steve added, looking sad.
Barney ran a hand over his face, stubble catching on his palm. "I guess I should go talk to him then."
"I'll show you where his room is." Natasha said, standing. She lead the way quietly down the hall and stopped by a closed door. "Do you want anyone to come in with you?"
"Nah, he's my brother. I wanna talk to him."
She nodded. "If he won't open the door, JAVIS can override the locks. Just ask him."
Barney licked his lips and nodded. He knocked on the bedroom door but heard no answer. "Guess I'll just go in." For a split second her eyes looked very apologetic but then the look disappeared and she turned back to the kitchen.
Clint's room was dark and as Barney crossed to the bathroom he saw in the dark that there was a pile of toys in the corner. He smiled ruefully, glad his brother had something to play with. "Clint?" He said softly, knocking on the bathroom door with his knuckles. There was no answer. "Clint, it's Bareny." Still no answer sighing his looked up at the ceiling. "JARVIS? Can you. . . er. . . open the door?" There was a small click and the handle turned.
Peeking inside he saw that Clint had fallen asleep on the bathroom rug, curled up with his fists clenched next to his face. Looking down at a sight he hadn't seen in years Barney felt a surge of guilt. This was his little brother. How he had ever felt jealous of him was beyond his imagination. This was the little brother that he cared so deeply for that it hurt.
He crouched and shook his brother gently. Clint made a jerking movement and opened his eyes. He stared blurrily at the floor for a moment before his eyes focused and he looked up at Barney. Barney smiled, knowing he looked worse for ware. "Hey kiddo." He said softly.
"Who are you?" Clint asked softly.
"It's me, Barney. Barney all grown up."
The little boy sat up and rubbed his face. "You look old."
"I'm not that old."
Clint eyed him silently for a moment then straightened into a proper sitting position. "When did you get here?"
"Just now. I heard you wouldn't talk to anyone." Barney dropped down to sit opposite him."Can you tell me what's up?"
"They told me it's the future."
"Yeah. 2014."
"And they told me I'm supposed to be a grown up."
"Yeah."
"And they told me mom and dad are dead."
"Yeah." Barney sat quietly, remembering Clint's reaction to their parents' deaths as a child. Clint hadn't cried. He had said he was glad.
"How did they die?"
Barney looked at the floor. "Dad was driving drunk again. Guess he was a little more drunk than usual."
Clint gazed at his brother with big blue eyes. "I'm not sad." He said so quietly Barney had to strain to hear. "Am I gonna go to hell for not being sad?"
"No kiddo. You're not." Barney reached out and affectionately scratched behind his brother's ear. "You're a good kid Clint and you grow up to be a damn good man. A better man than me."
"Really?"
"Yeah. A much better man than me. You go places."
"Like Africa?"
Barney smiled at his brother's innocence. "Maybe, I dunno if you've ever been there. Probably. When you grow up you save people and people love you."
Clint looked at him strangely. "They do?"
"Yeah. I should know, I'm one of them."
"I save you?"
"Yeah and vise versa. I save you back sometimes."
Clint sat quietly looking down at the floor. "Can you spend the night?"
"Yeah, brought my tooth brush and everything."
"Can you stay with me?"
Barney squinted seriously. " 'Coarse I can."
And then, with slow determination Clint crawled towards him and gave him a loose hug. Barney squeezed back. "You ready for bed?" Clint nodded and Barney helped him up. It wasn't really that late but all of the evening's emotion had drained Clint to the point of exhaustion.
Half way there Clint stopped and gripped Barney's shirt. "Can you stay in my room?"
Feeling his heart break a little at the vulnerability in his brother's eyes Barney sighed and nodded. Funny to think, in just a few years time Clint would learn to hide that. He'd learned pretty fast to hide being scared from everyone except Barney. He'd always known when Clint was afraid. "Yeah I'll stay with you. Want me to camp on the floor?"
"No, we can share the bed."
A pang went through his heart. He'd done that sometimes when they were kids. If a fight had been really bad or he knew their dad was in an exceptionally foul mood he'd slept next to Clint. He had been a kid then, he couldn't really keep him safe but he had done his best. This was different though. He was grown up and he could make Clint feel safe, even if right now there was no one trying to hurt him.
"Okay. Clint. You go ahead and climb in, I'm gonna go brush my teeth and change." He left the room to go and grab his bag from the kitchen. The rest of the team was waiting.
"How is he?" Steve asked urgently.
"He's. . . he's better." Barney said lamely. "I'm gonna spend the night with him. He asked me to." He didn't ask permission. He wasn't going to leave Clint now, even if the others wanted him to. Obviously they did not want him to leave because no objections were raised.
"Thanks for coming." Tony said gruffly.
"No problem. He's my little brother."
After a quick 'night' he grabbed up his bag and returned to Clint's room. His brother was lying in bed watching the door, he did not smile when he saw Barney but he looked more at ease. "Just be a minute." He said, gesturing towards the bathroom door. Once shut inside of the bathroom he stared at himself in the mirror, completely disliking the whole situation. Everything made him feel emotionally raw. Seeing Clint again as a child made him think of things he's tried to forget. Seeing the brother he'd taken care of made him almost hate himself for the anger he'd put between them. Sure they got along now but he'd tried to kill Clint, hadn't he? And that was unforgivable. He felt sick thinking about it. How had he ever become so twisted that he'd forgotten the little boy he'd taught to stand up for himself?
"Barney?" A small voice called out.
He grunted to knock himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah, just a second." He dressed quickly and then hurried back out. Clint was sitting up in bed hugging his knees. Barney smiled warmly at him. "Sorry about taking so long." He said, climbing under the covers.
Clint settled down next to him and for a long time neither of them spoke. The Clint said: "I'm really glad you came."
Barney smiled sadly. "Me too."
This chapter made me kind of sad :(
Clint has some questions about his adult self next chapter and he gets a lot closer with his brother!
Thanks for reading!