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The next morning Barney awoke to see his brother deeply asleep, his mouth hanging open. He smiled a little and put his hands behind his head to think. He didn't know what to do. Next to him lay his five year old brother who was supposed to be a grown man. The damn kid had all of the fears and worries of his child self. He had all of the insecurities and naivetes of a kid too. He gazed around the room. There was a box of toys in the corner. Clint hadn't finished putting them away the night before. Lincoln Logs and a Lite Brite. That made him smile, he knew how much Clint had always wanted one as a kid. There was also a stack of papers and a box or crayons by the window. It was good that he was getting things to play with.

He looked down at his brother again and sighed. It had been hard to remember how small Clint had actually been. Somehow that had been lost to him. And suddenly his heart swelled up with the idea that he was the worst person for this. He hadn't been able to protect Clint as a kid and then he'd gone and become one more person to hurt him. But then, looking down at the kid, he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to leave him. This was his brother and he had to do right by him.

Silently he swung his legs out of bed and crept to the bathroom, leaving the door open so Clint would know where he was. A quick shower cleared his head and when he came back he found Clint sitting up in bed yawning. For a moment the boy looked surprised and then he wrinkled his nose. "You got old." He said.

Barney sighed happily and gave a little chuckle. "Not that old, kid."

There was a long pause and then Clint sighed. "Are they gonna be mad at me that I ran off?"

"No. Are you gonna be mad at them for keeping it a secret."

Clint looked down and Barney went to sit by him. "People keep secrets Clint, when they're most afraid the secret will hurt someone."

"I know."

"And those people out there are good people. You've told me about them. You always say stuff like how cool Captain America is and how much you like Natasha. You really like them and if you like them as an adult, I know they're trustworthy. I can't explain what an amazing person you grow up to be."

"Really?"

"Remember how I said you save people? How I said you save me? Well, sometimes I do bad things and you always stop me and lately, if it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be."

"Why do you do bad things?"

"I dunno. Maybe because I got a little bit of dad in me. I don't have to like it but he was still my dad and I can't say there's not a piece of him in me. Maybe he's in you too but you don't act like it. You rose above all of it."

Clint stared at him with wide eyes and then put his arms around his middle. "I like you Barney. Even as a grown up. I don't think you're bad."

He stroked the back of Clint's head. "That means a lot."

They sat for a moment before breaking apart. "We get along right?" Clint asked. "I mean, you wouldn't have come over we didn't get along."

Barney smiled sadly and said a half truth. "Yeah. We get along. Not all the time, sometimes we get into it, but yeah. For the most part."

Clint's brows came together. "We get into it?"

"Oh yeah, you're real stubborn. Won't do anything I say. You drink out of the milk jug and leave your dirty laundry everywhere. Actually, we've been living together."

Clint brightened. "We have? That's great." Suddenly he sat up, more cheerful. "Do I have a girlfriend?"

Barney laughed. "Well. . . I don't know about right now but you've had few. You always seem to attract girls who get you in trouble."

Clint looked confused and he had to laugh. "Don't worry, it's how you like 'em."

The boy wrinkled his face as though he thought Barney was crazy but didn't pursue the subject. "Do you want some breakfast?" He asked. "Everybody always eats breakfast here."

Barney smiled. "Yeah, let's go." It was a chance for him to see how things were faring for Clint. It was one thing for hm to live with the Avengers as and adult but quite another as a child and Barney cared for his brother. He wanted to make sure he was happy and safe. In his chest be felt bad because he knew that he couldn't care for Clint as well as these people could. He didn't have as much money and the apartment he and Clint lived in was a little more than run down, although that may have been chalked up to the adult Clint's poor house keeping skills.

Breakfast was a little awkward. Everyone was eying him him with suspicion and he couldn't blame them. Former Supervillain turned bum. Not really what you wanted around a little kid let alone at the breakfast table.

Clint was unusually quiet and somehow his down turned face and silence reminded Barney of family meals as a child. Finally when he could take it no more he turned to Steve. "So um, you're Captain America, huh?"

Steve nodded through a mouthful of toast. "Yeah." He said swallowing.

"Clint's talked about you. . . well, adult Clint's talked about you."

Steve finished eating. "Say anything good?"

"Whole lotta good."

"Gee," Steve rubbed the back of his neck and tried to catch Clint's eye. When all he got was a quiet, observant look he leaned down to the boy's level. "Hey, I'm really sorry about everything."

Clint glanced towards the floor and then back up. "I'm sorry too. Barney said it wasn't your fault for keeping a secret. I'm sorry I got mad."

Steve smiled. "It's okay. Can we still be friends again?"

Clint nodded and the faint hint of a smile pulled at his mouth. "Can Barney stay?" He asked.

"It's up to Tony." Steve said. Both of them turned to Tony who shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. Barton, you can have the room across from Clint's." In an undertone he added to Bruce: "Just what I need, another Barton." Bruce smiled wryly but kept his mouth shut.

After breakfast Clint ran to go get dressed and Barney was left at the table with the Avengers. "Guess you guys have been taking pretty good care of him then." He said awkwardly.

"We like to think so. You got a pretty fun little brother." Tony said. "I mean he grows up to be a bit of a jackass but as a kid he's alright."

Barney grinned. "Don't tell me what I already know. He's a pain in the ass. Stubborn as hell. But he was a sweet kid."

"We didn't know about your father." Steve said quietly.

Barney looked down at his hands. "Well, it doesn't look like any harm was done. To tell the truth he looks happier here than I ever saw him at this age." He felt a little jealous and thought maybe the others realized because several of them looked at him with pity and in a way it made him feel worse.

They hurried off to their respective activities and he was left alone. He sat for a while, feeling out of place and useless. The people here had been able to give Clint a safe and happy home. Something he had never been able to do. He didn't think he could have done more. For years he had done his best for Clint but it just hadn't been enough and when their parents had died something had changed between them. Then a succession of foster homes and youth centers had made things worse. They hadn't always been together and Barney knew Clint was good at making people angry. Clint was the one that got them shipped around. He just couldn't back down from a fight. Even when he knew was too little.

Barney felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was Natasha. Her slender hand was a lie, he knew that. She was one of the most deadly women he had ever met. Still at that moment she looked down at him with gentle eyes. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. Just thinking."

"Clint does that sometimes. It's not what he's best at. It isn't always good for him."

He stared at her. She was stunningly beautiful but with an approachability that kept her just barely within reach. Maybe that was why Clint had fallen so madly in love the first time he'd laid eyes on her. That had been a long time ago and a lot had changed since then but even now, Barney could see how it could happen.

She smiled. "I've found a lot of love for your brother."

"Kid him or adult him?"

"They're the same. When I was watching Clint the other day I saw his adult self in him."

Barney hung his head. "I don't really know him that well."

"Well, from what I've heard you've been given a chance to change that." She did not call it anything other than what it was. A second chance.

"Yeah."

"I think as he is now, having you here will make him quite happy."

"Yeah. I'll do what I can."

"You did something last night that none of us could do."

"H-he's my brother and I just did what I used to."

She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. "You did a good thing."

They were interrupted by the return of Clint and Steve. Barney smiled at his brother who smiled back.

"Barney, you better get him away from me or I'm gonna know all of your secrets." Steve said with a laugh.

Clint came and sat next to his brother at the table, watching him closely as Natasha left the room. "So, what do you do here?" Barney asked.

They boy counted on his fingers. "I got to the park and I watch movies and I play in my room. . ." He paused looking thoughtful.

"We haven't gotten around to too much." Steve added.

"Well it sounds like a good time." Barney said.

Clint twisted his hands together in a familiar way Barney knew meant he wanted to asked something. "What is it?"

"Well. . . can I see a picture of grown up me?"

Barney looked at Steve who nodded. "I don't see why not."

After a moment of fishing through JARVIS's files they picked one of Clint that looked suspiciously as though it had come from instagram.

Clint took the phone Barney handed him and looked it over. He examined himself closely. "Like what you see?" Barney asked.

Clint flipped to the next one. It was his adult self's instagram. He stopped on one that looked like it was from a cook out. Barney looked at it and made a face. His adult sized brother was standing in swim trunks and a snorkel mask with no shirt on cooking a hot dog over a burning barrel with an arrow. In the background he could see the girl Kate Bishop talking to someone else and a pool behind her. "Looks like he took a selfie." Barney said, trying to laugh at the picture.

"Not really a fan of those." Steve said. He still hadn't found the need to take a photo of himself every chance he got, although he thought it was nice to have a pocket camera.

Clint looked up from the picture with a smile. "I look good when I grow up!" He said.

Barney made a face. "I don't know about that." He said, teasing.

Clint continued to flip through the photos. He found another of himself in a Halloween costume. "You like that one?" Barney asked.

Clint studied his picture some more and nodded. "How come I got a bow in some of these?"

"Oh well, you got really into archery. We both did."

"Who's better?"

Barney bit his lip. It killed him to admit but Clint was. "You are." He said.

Clint's whole face lit up. "You mean I'm better than you at something?"

It was just innocent enough not to stir up any feelings of jealousy. "Yeah. I'm close though."

Clint smiled. "Can you show me sometime?"

"Actually he can right now, if he's up to it. There's a special shooting range for archery in the gym." Steve said.

Barney rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't bring my stuff." He said.

Steve gestured towards the hall with his eyes. "I think we can find you something."

Barney nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll show off a little."

Steve disappeared down the hall and must have gone to the adult Clint's room because he came back with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Barney examined it. "There are a couple others down in the gym." Steve said. "So if that's not the one you'd prefer he's got a few other types down there."

Barney held it out for Clint to see. "This is a compound bow, see? You and I both tend to use these a lot." Curiously Clint reached out a hand and touched pulleys on the end. "This is a pretty well used one but it looks like you take good care of it. You wanna go down and see me shoot?"

His brother beamed and nodded. And the two of them followed Steve down to the elevator and down to the gym.

"Over in the back, behind the boxing ring." Steve said. He knocked aside a punching bag and stepped over a set of dumbbells someone had left out. "Tony put it back here so he could have it next to the shooting gallery. Natasha uses that the most but I do too, I think it's good to keep my aim up and I've seen you use it." He smiled at Clint who was looking at a used target paper that had been taped to the wall. Someone, presumably himself of Natasha had recreated the Lethal Weapon smiley face scene by shooting a face onto the head of the silhouette. Barney laughed at it, guessing it had probably been Clint who's sense of humor was bad enough to think it was funny.

They stepped over to the end where a separate but much narrower gallery stood, with room for only two or three people. Against the wall hung several different types of bows and color coded stands of arrows. Crouching down to look at his brother's belongings, Barney selected a blunt tipped arrow and held it out to Clint. "This is a practice arrow. It's not as dangerous but you have to be careful 'cause it can still kill someone." Clint listened to him seriously and he found himself remembering how invested he got learning new things. Especially when he was a kid. He turned the arrow around. "It's got plastic fletchings on the end, most do unless you wanna spend a lot on real feathers or make 'em yourself. And see the nock is curved to fit around the string. That keeps it on better when you're shooting." He indicated the notched end.

"Stand back." Steve said, as Barney nocked his arrow and drew back. "He grinned down at his brother and let lose. The arrow sailed to the far end of the gallery and hit the center target. Clint clapped. "That was nothing." Barney said, picking up another. "We both got pretty good at trick shots." He turned his body and head away and aimed at a target he couldn't see, hitting the bullseye with ease. "You can do the robin hood thing, you know, splitting an arrow down the middle with another. I haven't mastered that yet though." He browsed through the clusters of arrows until he found some trick ones. Fishing a lighter out of his pocket he set one ablaze and shot it towards the target. Clint clapped again.

"Wow! Were did we learn to do that?"

"Circus. You and me ran away and joined a carnival wen we were teens."

Steve laughed as Barney switched bows and demonstrated how to shoot more than one arrow at a time eventually working up to three. "Trick shots like this are best done with a recurve bow, see?" He fired away, impressing his brother and in some way, finding it relaxing.

After a while they cleaned up and Clint wondered around the gym. He had never been in one before and was curious about the different types of equipment. While Barney cleaned and put things away Steve showed him around. "Tony uses the fancy stuff." He said, gesturing to the treadmill and a few of the weight lifting contraptions. "I mostly use the old fashioned stuff. Bench press, dumbbells, punching bag, speed bag. Stuff like that."

Clint looked around, he spotted the boxing ring and walked towards it.

"Wanna get up there?" Steve asked.

Clint nodded and he gave him a leg up. Steve picked up the focus mitts and put them on. "Gimme a punch." He said.

Clint looked at them for a minute before swinging back and hitting the mitt. He tottered off balance and had to right himself. "Good one." Steve said. "We use these for training so no one gets hurt." Truth be told, he'd barely felt Clint's punch but he didn't feel like telling him that. "Real boxers use them too." He let Clint deliver a few more punches, pretending to be pushed back by them before Barney loped over and hung on the ropes watching.

"Get him." Barney teased.

Clint turned and waved before giving his best punch and toppling over. "And he's down!" Barney cried in an imitation of an announcer's voice. "Barton's down. All his brother can do is watch as the once promising boxer lies on the mat, knocked out by his own punch."

Clint laughed and climbed to his feet. "I'm okay!" He called.

Barney grinned. "Okay, champ I see how it is. You coulda been a contender. All that." He helped his brother out of the ring and they returned to the upstairs.

With all of the excitement and the thrill of seeing his brother Clint seemed to have left his bad feelings behind. He stuck close to Barney as though he was afraid his brother would disappear and was a little clingy but Barney didn't mind. It felt good to have somebody depend on him again. For too long he had felt like a bum and for too long he had had to depend on other people. It took something away from him, living like that.

They spent the rest of the day out at the park and ate lunch at a small restaurant. Tony had given them enough money to live a month on for the day and although tempted, they did not go on a spending spree. At the end of the day they returned to the tower, Clint sitting on Barney's shoulders. He looked happy and alive as he did so and even Barney who'd spent most of the time slumped over was looking much happier.

"How was everything?" Tony asked as he set Clint down.

Barney looked up. "It was fine."

"Cap told me you went down to the shooting range earlier."

"Yeah," Barney rubbed the back of his neck. "Had to show off while I'm still a better shot."

Tony nodded. He did not entirely trust Barney but he was glad that he'd gotten Clint out of his room and having someone around to watch the kid made it easier for the Avengers to get their real job done. He just wasn't sure he trusted the guy who'd tried to kill Clint to now take care of him and somehow it didn't seem like any of the others felt the same way. None of them had even mentioned the concern since Barney's arrival.

"You know we only called you cause we didn't have a choice, right?" Tony said tentatively. He was not looking to offend, only to make clear.

Barney nodded. "Figured."

"And I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not thrilled with you being here. One you're a thief, two you've tried to kill him in the past and I can't even list all of the other things you've done."

Barney stood in the kitchen, listening to the accusations. He had expected them and honestly he was glad they cared enough about Clint to make them. Besides, it was only fair. He had done all of those things. "Yeah." He said quietly. He wasn't going to explain that he was done with that part of his life or that he was trying to turn himself around. He wasn't even going to tell that he had been homeless for a real long time now. He didn't have a right to expect Tony to believe him, after all he had done nothing so far to prove himself. Instead he shrugged. "Glad you called though. It isn't every day I get to see my brother reduced to an elementary student."

Tony looked a little thrown, he had expected denial or rationalization or even excuses but somehow, Barney's complete acceptance of what he'd done was a relief. "Well, I can't say it's been easy. I did scare him pretty good the other day."

"Yeah well, he's over that. He's tough and he's not going to hold on to something like that." The atmosphere relaxed.

"I'll take your word for it. You know him better than I do."

Barney smiled. "I guess. He's so much more relaxed here. I've only spent one day with him and he's so damn happy. He was never like this at home. He was always so angry."

Tony frowned and leaned against the wall. "I don't know everything about your family but it sounds like you two had it tough."

Barney nodded. "Clint especially. Dunno why but he never knew when to stay down. Always knew the wrong thing to say though."

Tony looked away considerately. "I could see that."

Barney smiled. "Yeah, guess you could."

They stood in the hall for a moment before Tony excused himself to go and head back to his lab and Barney wondered away to find his brother.

I hoped everyone liked this chapter, I didn't want to make things too easy for Barney but I kind of wanted to give hm a shot at personal redemption a bit. I dunno. Anyway, This story is gonna be about 21 chapters long I think, I've written most of it and I'm trying to come up with what my next big project should be. I wouldn't mind writing another deaging fic. Maybe for X-Men or something. When it comes to comics they're my forte. There's a really amazing one for Gambit already out. I dunno. I'll keep you guys posted!

Also, hope you liked the mention of Kate Bishop!

Thanks for reading!