This chapter took a while for a number of reasons! One; there's SO much in it and I try stick to a word limit! Number two; my head got in a fight with a wall.. Guess who won and guess who walked away with a concussion..?
So sorry if this chapter sucks! Head's a little messed up but I think I got the basic idea into it!
THANKS FOR THE FOLLOWS AND FAVS!
AND, AS ALWAYS, REVIEWERS!
On that not, Ms. Perry would like the audience at home to know that if you, yes you, there, the one reading this, would like to be featured the last chapter of Probably Saw That Coming like the following beautiful people are, you simply have to review! That's it! No catch! Just review and send the $199.99 post and packaging fee and you, too, can have your name here!
...I think I've hit a new level of weird..huh..
everfaraway; I liked that part, if I'm honest :P I think it was just notes I wrote where it was those lines back to back, but I like that Pietro knows he's fine because he insulted him in some way!
Niom Lamboise; Hope it's updating quick enough for you! Hopefully be finished soon and, I dunno, already have people asking for a sequel, so your request may turn into a mini series for all I know! Hope you enjoy :)
Odd's Little Girl; Ah I wouldn't kill him really! I like to try, but I think Pietro would genuinely murder me if I did! Glad you liked it :)
Cori; Your reviews make me smile! BUT I'M SORRY! D: *Takes feels back and gives cookies instead!* BETTER!? I think your review was a compliment in anyways, so, thank you!
Disclaimer;
Clint; You calm yet?
Pietro; *Huffs* She nearly killed you.. I am NOT sorry for my actions or words! And she took her plushie back so she can go to hell!
Clint; *Sighs* He's still sulking. I'll get him to come around! Until then; Tara still doesn't own us or anything to do with Marvel. Just playing with us!
They probably all thought he was watching the Hawk like, well, a hawk because he was a crazy in love kid. But he had other reasons.
No one was this fine after experimentation.
No one.
Himself and Wanda included.
But Clint seemed like he was doing fine.
Two weeks they stayed in that hospital. Well, Natasha was released after three days, but much like Pietro, she refused to leave Clint's side incase the archer needed anything at all.
He had his ups and downs. Some days were much better than others. Some days he'd be sitting up and talking to the pair fine, sure his words would slur every now and again, and he'd get tired pretty easily and need to lie down and sleep for a while, but that was to be expected.
Other days, the days after he'd spend the night fighting nightmares, he wouldn't talk. Natasha and Pietro would try everything to get him to. They'd try simply asking if he wanted anything, if he needed something brought in. They'd try get him to talk about past missions or get him to talk about any new arrows he was making. But nothing would get him to. He'd just stare at the sheets with such a blank and foregone stare that made Pietro wonder if there was even a person inside the body anymore.
Two weeks they went through the motions, two weeks Pietro sat in that chair, stealing maybe a half hour of sleep at a time before snapping himself awake. Fourteen long days before they were finally told they could bring him back to America. Tony and Bruce had been trying for it since the day after he woke up, but the doctors in the facility were having none of it.
The rest of the team stayed for maybe only a week, Pietro really lost count of the days. But they just knew that Natasha and Pietro had everything covered. Sure, they barely dropped in while he was conscious anyway. Pietro could only hazard a guess, but he did think it was because they were still feeling guilty about him winding up there. The only others to stay were Sam and Wanda so they could bring the three home in one piece. No way was Pietro trained enough to fly the larger jet home. But they needed the larger jet, because Clint was going to need a bed on the way back to the states. So Sam would pilot them, much to the disagreement of a still pretty concussed Natasha Romanoff! They could break her arm, but they could never break that 'I can do this by myself' mentality the Widow held!
The day before they were scheduled to leave, it was one of Clint's bad days. He was sleeping for most of it thankfully, but that didn't mean that it didn't leave Natasha and Pietro with a tonne of worry.
"Ever think what it'd be like without him?" Natasha whispered by his side, her eyes glued to the sleeping archer's face just like his was.
"Like if he was never here or..?" He asked, unable to finish the sentence because it hurt too much to even hypothesise about. He knew Natasha would know where he was going though.
"If he was never here."
"Be alot more relaxing, I think." He chuckled, her quiet laugh reaching his ears in response.
They fell into a silence once more, Clint's heart monitor softly beeping away.
He didn't mind the silence. He knew Natasha was never one for long conversations, so he never tried push her. It was never an uncomfortable silence, that's all that mattered.
"Pietro..?"
He looked back to the door when he heard his name called, giving his sister a smile which soon fell when he saw the way she was standing.
She was worried about something. He excused himself from Natasha's side, giving Clint's forehead a soft kiss then before leaving the room to go to the hall to talk with Wanda.
"He's not showing healing factors." She started, and he knew then what her trail of thought was going. "He's not showing any superhuman qualities, even so long on. Not even their usual no need to sleep or eat super soldier style is poking through. Did they just not do anything to him?"
"It's possible." Pietro sighed, leaning against the wall by the the door and running a hand over his face. "They didn't have him down there too long. They could have still been prepping him. Remember how long ours took to prep?"
"Ours were different from all others." Wanda replied with a frown, and he nodded in understanding. Theirs took a while because they were willing, they wouldn't try run, so all safety and care was taken. Hydra usually rushed through prep of people they were experimenting on against their will so they wouldn't have a chance to escape.
"Look.." He sighed after the two fell into a silence, not knowing what to tell her about the topic. "I don't even think he has been awake enough to show signs. I promise to keep an eye on him and if some start to show, we'll work from there."
"You need some sleep." Wanda said with a slightly amused smile, her hand coming up to pat his cheek.
He just rolled his eyes and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I need a run!"
They dropped the topic and he returned to his post by the bed, making something up when Natasha asked about just finalising some travel details. She knew he was lying, he was never a good liar, but didn't call him up on it. None of the rest of the team needed to know what could happen, what could be running through Clint's system right now.
If something popped up, then the twins would let them know.
Until then, it was their little secret.
It started out slowly.
He should have noticed it, but the actions he should have noticed were just so Barton like that he honestly didn't realise it.
The trip back to America was relatively uneventful. Honestly, himself, Barton, and Romanoff slept the whole way. Barton and Romanoff were probably the ones willingly sleeping, Pietro pretty much crashed from exhaustion!
He tried his best to beg and plead for Clint to stay in the same room as Pietro, even separate beds. But Stark insisted that he stay in his own room for a while, until he's back to kind of normal and not falling in and out of sleep every ten minutes. So, Pietro dragged a comfy arm chair into Clint's room and set himself up next to his bed.
Clint was going through hell, so Pietro couldn't blame him for not really talking. Since he was taken off the strong meds in the hospital, the archer made no attempt to hide just how much pain he was in. He usually did, which means that the pain must be excruciating. Each time he'd shift in the bed, each time he'd move to get a drink, every time he'd chuckle, even sometimes when he'd smile too much, a wince would follow and a few minutes where his eyes would shut and his breathing would take on a nervously quick rate.
Pietro should have noticed something was off the day they returned and Bruce came in to check on him. He moved away from the archer's bed side to give the doctor room to work, and looking back on it now, Clint watched him move with such scared and haunted eyes.
This wasn't one of Clint's bad days. It was actually pretty good. Before Bruce had come in, they were just talking and joking about how Clint would kill for a pizza but how his stomach would probably kill him. Then, in an instant, he went quiet. His shoulder's tensed up and he wouldn't utter a word to Banner, just the odd nod or shake of his head at some questions the doctor would ask.
He should have noticed, but Pietro put it down to Barton being stubborn, never liking to talk about his injuries or what hurt and what didn't.
He calmed down when Natasha came in, mainly because she had a slice of pizza for him and his eyes lit up like he was a child on Christmas morning.
Steve was after that. But this was a different kind of tense in the archer's shoulders. Because it was actually a bad day. It was about three days after they arrived at the tower. The team had been giving Clint space, leaving Natasha to help him recover because she's the master at it by now. Even Pietro left the room for a few hours each day to leave the two assassins alone.
He was always happy to, because whatever they did during that time, whatever they talked about or whatever physio they'd do, when Pietro would return Clint would seem like nothing ever happened. He'd be sitting up on the bed with that smile that made it seem like he never left for the mission in the first place.
But the night before Steve came in to give the archer his bow back, Clint was up all night with bad nightmares. Pietro had to run in at one stage because he actually started screaming and lashing out, and it took everything the speedster had to keep Clint held down so he wouldn't hurt himself further.
So the tenseness in Clint's shoulders and the lock in his jaw didn't surprise Pietro. Seeing his bow would probably bring back memories from when he was taken, and that would make the bad day worse.
After a bit of a forced conversation on the archers side, Steve excused himself when Tony called down for some help from the good Captain. Nothing Pietro or Natasha did could get the archer to turn back around to them from facing the wall for the rest of the evening, so they just let him to his thoughts.
Tony was next.
Tony Stark. He was the next and the last.
The next day, when Clint was testing out his crutches and hobbling around the room, Tony decided to drop in and say hi. He was in a better mood that morning, joking as usual, and even seemed brighter. The bruises were all but gone and the colour had returned to his face, bringing back the usual happy shining face that Pietro had fallen in love with.
Pietro and Natasha were following Clint around incase he fell, because knowing him he would and worsen all his injuries! Really, he shouldn't have been hobbling around until his ribs were a little better, but it was hell trying to convince him to sit still so they gave up.
Pietro was still a little pissy at the billionaire, so he offered to change the bandage on Natasha's head while the pair had a catch up. While he might not like the man, he knew that Clint was actually pretty close to the engineer, so he figured it was ok to leave them for a while.
"Y'know, you can't avoid him forever." Natasha with with a slight grin, sitting sill on the edge of her bed while Pietro cleaned the still healing cut on her forehead. It was a bad gash, and Pietro was beginning to guess more was at play than just a knife if it was taking this long to heal. Hydra were partial to their poisons, so whatever wound they inflicted would last that little bit longer and little more painfully. "He kinda owns this place."
"I know.." He sighed, not meeting Natasha's eyes as he unwrapped a clean bandage. "But until Clint is better, I don't think I can talk to him properly."
"How long will that take?" Natasha suddenly asked, but he hadn't a clue. When he met her gaze though, he knew she meant something more than just asking a doctor opinion. Why would she even ask his medical opinion anyway? He was useless at this kind of stuff. "What aren't you telling us?"
He watched her for a moment or two, a frown slowly creeping onto his face. He knew he couldn't hide it too long from her, that there was something wrong with him, that they didn't quite know what but something was there and they had to figure it out.
Just as he was about to reply, there was a crash from outside the room and it had the two of them on their feet in a millisecond. He rushed to the door and flung it open, noticing that Steve and Wanda were running into Clint's room. He made it down the hall in no time, Natasha on his heels.
He froze at the door with wide eyes at what he saw, hearing Natasha gasp by his side once she caught up to him.
In the centre of the room, both Tony and Clint were on the floor. Clint was on his back with Tony lying ontop of him, the archers arms wrapped dangerously tight around the struggling billionaire's neck.
Tony was grasping at Clint's arms, trying all he had to break the hold he had. But nothing was helping. Steve was trying to pull them apart, but Clint swept his casted leg out to trip the Captain up, sending him down onto his back.
"Clint!" Natasha shouted, trying to break through whatever was going on. Pietro was a little too shocked to move, not let alone speak.
Wanda was the same, a little away from her brother and watching the events with wide eyes.
There was no way in hell they perfected that control..
Natasha's words seemed to break through to Clint, his head snapped to look as she carefully approached. His eyes weren't his. Pietro noticed that right away. They were blank, distant. He could pick Clint's eyes out of a sea of a hundred thousand people, but these weren't those shining orbs. His archer wasn't in there, that much he knew.
"What are you doing!?" Clint growled out, his hold faltering a little on the billionaire's neck. "Take out Steve before he gets back up!"
"Wanda.." Pietro whispered, but she was one step ahead of him.
Clint's arms slowly, reluctantly, pulled away from Tony's neck, Wanda's powers doing their job by pulling them off. Pietro was over in a second to grab the barely moving Tony from ontop of Clint, leading him out of the room. He could hear Wanda telling Steve to follow them, and the captain was out in a second.
Pietro placed a gasping Tony down against the wall and made sure he was conscious before turning to Steve, who was now kneeling down to check on his just assaulted friend.
"Get Banner. We'll meet you all in the living area in a minute." Pietro said sternly before moving back to the room, closing the door behind him.
Wanda and Natasha were in the middle of calming Clint down. He was sitting in the middle of the room, his hands clutching his head while Natasha knelt next to him and rubbed small circles on his back. He was fighting something, and Pietro hated what it was.
Wanda approached her brother and they moved in close so they could talk privately.
"I thought control was still being developed.." She whispered with a worried frown, her eyes not leaving Clint.
"We've been gone a long time, Wanda.." He whispered back, watching as Clint shook his head at something Natasha asked. "They must have done something right.."
"I have no clue how to fight this, Pietro." Wanda frowned, and he simply nodded.
He had no idea either, but they'd have to figure it out.
He pulled his sister into a one armed hug and kissed the side of her head. He could tell this upset her. It was her powers that helped develop this kind of experiment, her insight into the human mind allowing the Hydra scientists to pretty much perfect it.
He moved over to Barton when they locked eyes, hunkering down infront of him with a soft smile. Natasha was still rubbing his back, but he could feel her gaze on him instead as he spoke to Clint.
"It'll be alright Clint, I promise.. Just.. How long have you been fighting this?" He whispered to Clint with that same smile, his hand giong up to stroke his cheek gently. He was too tense, to worked up, he needed to relax, and Pietro was needing to know what was going on in his mind.
His eyes were Clint again, at least. They were back to his normal steely goodness that just screamed Clint Barton. Something flashed across them though, something so quick that Pietro couldn't figure it out. But he assumed it wasn't good, because Clint frowned.
"Since I woke up.." He whispered back, something in his voice straining. Wanda was by her brothers side then. Clint looked between the two. "You know what's happening to me?"
"We think we do." Wanda answered with a nod, but it didn't seem to settle Clint. If anything, it made his frown deepen. "You mind if I take a look?"
Clint flashed a look to Natasha and his partner nodded with a little smile. She knew that Wanda wouldn't do anything to make the archer worse, wouldn't hurt him. She just needed to see if their suspicions were right. After a moment of looks between the assassins, Clint looked back to Wanda and nodded.
"You want to lie down for it?" She asked with a smile as she stood up, Pietro followed suit to help Clint to the bed. "Just incase I hit on something I'm not meant to and it hurts."
Clint, after consulting Natasha once more, nodded and let Pietro help him to the bed. He let Clint lie down before giving the archer's forehead a soft kiss. The little smile Pietro got in response melted his heart.
"Some beer after this?" He whispered to Pietro, giving the speedster a smile of his own.
"When you're off the pills, or at least some of them. I promise, you can get piss drunk and I promise not to take advantage of you.." He whispered back, ruffling Clint's hair a little. He was nervous, confused, as he should be. Something going so wrong in your mind would have anyone panicking like crazy.
"Awh.. Kinda wanted to be taken advantage of.." Clint pouted, quickly smirking up at him then. It was like all the other times. Now Pietro could piece it together. He'd go into a bad place while the others were around, but once they left he slipped right back into normal Clint mode.
He just rolled his eyes at Clint's comment then moved away to give his sister some room, going to stand next to Natasha. Once Clint's eyes were closed, and Wanda was fully focused, only then did Romanoff speak.
"Can you tell me now?"
"You're oddly calm.." Pietro said through a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he watched Clint's face for any sign of discomfort.
"I was expecting something worse, if I'm honest." She shrugged, but he knew better than to ask why she thought that way. "I mean, even after a good mission I sometimes feel like choking Stark."
Despite what was happening, Pietro found himself laughing. He didn't know how they could do that, Clint and Natasha. He didn't know how they could take such a serious situation and make a joke out of it. But it's their job, he guessed. They're always in serious situations. So what he finds serious, they may find normal.
"I only have a guess right now." He replied softly, shrugging a little himself since he really couldn't offer anything right now. "I can tell you when I tell the others."
Clint's eyes didn't open even when Wanda straightened up, and she turned with a sad smile to the pair by the wall.
"He wore himself out." She said softly, and it gave Pietro a little smile. "He's fast asleep and happily dreaming."
"And?" Pietro pushed gently, his smile falling when she simply nodded her head.
Shit..
He looked to Natasha and nodded in direction of the door, and the three left the sleeping archer to move silently to the living area Pietro told the others to wait in.
This was going to suck..
When they got there, the team were all waiting. Banner and Pepper were by Tony who was lying on one of the sofa's. Banner was giving him a check over while Pepper was holding an ice pack under his neck. Steve and Sam were just off to the side, talking quietly. All bar Stark looked up to the three of them when they stepped closer.
"Anyone know what just happened?" Steve asked with a frown without wasting a moment, his arms folded across his chest.
Pietro looked to Stark, needing to know one last thing before they could say for certain. "I don't mean in an attack way, but, did you touch him?"
Tony opened his eyes and looked up at Pietro, thinking for a moment before nodding. "I checked his temperature.. He looked flushed and I was worried."
Pietro frowned and turned to Wanda who was by his side, Natasha had moved over to sit on the arm of the sofa. She was limping, she might have strained herself a little too much.
"He was fighting as long as he could.." Pietro whispered, not wanting the others to hear just yet. "None of them touched him yet, even Banner kept his distance when checking him.. Stark was the first.."
"Which is why he attacked.." Wanda nodded, understanding what Pietro was getting at.
"You two gonna fill us in?" Sam asked impatiently, causing Pietro to look at the group.
He sighed and ran a hand over his face, not knowing where to start.
"Clint was brought to the experimentation section of the Hydra base." He finally said, deciding to start from the beginning. "The place where we got our powers. The place I'm still shocked he survived."
"We didn't know if anything was done to him." Wanda continued, her hand on Pietro's shoulder to give it a little squeeze. "He wasn't showing any signs of powers or changes."
"Until now." Steve cut in, his frown deepening. Pietro nodded, the rest of the group giving the twins their complete and undivided attention. Even Stark who looked like he was about to pass out.
"Before we left, there was a technique in development. They were calling it the Suicide Bomber. Worse than it sounds.." He sighed out the last four words when shocked eyes looked at him. Wanda had fallen silent. She hated this one more than any of the others. "Strucker was hoping to take one of the Avengers to try it out on, but the opportunity never arose. Now, I guess his co-workers took the chance during his.. Well.. Absence."
"So, what does it mean?" Banner asked carefully, causing Pietro to frown and run a hand over his face once again. He was going for a run after this, he needed a run after this, if Clint didn't need him that is.
"They wanted to design it so that if an agency was after them, they could take maybe two or three agents and turn them into their weapons.." He said quietly, watching the floor so he wouldn't have to look at the team in front of him anymore. "They drug the person up to inhuman levels with a horrible cocktail of things. Then they play on their fears. They use the memories of team mates, of loved ones. They get inside the head and manipulate the persons thoughts.."
"Sounds familiar.." He heard Tony grumble, and he sent the billionaire a glare. He just held his hands up in defence. "I'm just saying! I had someone play with my thoughts and fears alright."
"This is different." Pietro continued after Wanda rubbed his back, letting him know Stark's comment was fine with her. "They manipulate the good memories as well as the bad memories so they're linked with fear, with danger. The person should be fine until they see whoever it is they're programmed to kill, then they attack like Clint did in there. Once the mission is over, they kill themselves so they can never sell out Hydra to whatever authorities come asking."
"So, he was sent to kill Tony?" Pepper asked from her man's side, but Pietro thought that it was a little more than that. He turned to his sister for the answer. She was the one inside Clint's head after all.
"All of you." Wanda simply replied, her arms folding across her chest like she did when she was upset. "I took a look at his fears, and it is associated with everyone except me, Pietro and Natasha. I can't figure that out."
Pietro, Natasha, and Wanda..
That even had Pietro stumped!
Of all the three to be excluded, why those?
"Well.." Banner started, clearing his throat a little then. "He asked Natasha for help, and she was taken aswell.."
"You think they were going to do the same to me?" Natasha asked with an eyebrow raised, her frown present through this whole conversation. Pietro made a mental note to talk to her later and see if she was alright.
"It makes sense.." Sam nodded, watching a spot on the floor as he thought. "Why only send one in to attack us when they can send two? And they couldn't have him attacking her, otherwise they'd both off eachother before they off their targets."
"So what about the twins?" Tony asked, lying down once more with his eyes closed. His neck was beginning to sport a nice bruise now.
"They wouldn't know we're here." Wanda said after a moments silence, her attention on Pietro now. "If they did.."
"Then they'd have sent people to take us out ages ago.." Pietro finished with a nod of understanding, the others seeming to have their confusion lifted too. "They didn't know he had memories of us.."
"And I'm pretty sure they still think you're dead." Wanda smiled a little sadly. If he didn't know how to take the news that Clint was this bad, then he could only imagine how she felt knowing she helped do it, in a round-a-bout way.
"Well not anymore." Natasha chuckled, and he smirked a little. There was no way they missed the fact that someone was ripping through their base at a literal blinding speed.
"So, what do we do?" Steve asked to break the joke before it started. "If he wants to kill us, how safe are we?"
"Right now he's broken. He nearly choked me out alright, but that wasn't Barton's style.." Tony said quietly, a thoughtful frown crossing his face. Everyone stayed quiet so he could continue. "He was sloppy, he wasn't on his feet like he normally would be. I know he has a cast, but you know what I mean. Instead of going for the take down, why didn't he break my back? Instead of choking me, why didn't he snap my neck?"
"He's fighting it." Pietro offered as way of an explanation, the only one he could think of anyway. "The control is strong, you and Steve saw his eyes. But he's fighting it. He doesn't want to kill you."
He wouldn't want to. He never even wants to kill those who deserve it. He always told Pietro during training to never kill, only if 100% necessary or if it's actually mission stated.
"That doesn't answer what we do though." Steve pushed, but Pietro was at a loss with that one. He hadn't a clue.
"He needs time." Wanda said with a smile, surprising even Pietro. "His memories are still there. He can think about you all just fine, it's only when he sees you the link kicks in. If the link was always there, he'd be too scared to even get close enough to try kill you. Just give him time to realise those links are false and he'll be just fine."
"He's in a tower with us. Can't really give him space to work this out." Tony said with a shrug, wincing at the pain it obviously caused. Pepper just replaced the ice pack to ease his discomfort.
He felt eyes on him, from multiple directions. He looked first to his sister who held a small smile, then to Natasha who sent him a slight shrug. He was spending way too much time with the pair since he knew exactly what they were suggesting. He just sighed and nodded his approval of the plan.
"We'll take him to the farm." Natasha said once she knew Pietro was on board, looking at the other team members. "Let him heal physically and mentally. You guys drop by maybe once a week or something, give him the time he needs."
"There aren't many doctors around there.." Bruce said pretty quickly, and that was a pretty big worry of Pietro's too now that he mentioned it!
"We'll be fine." Natasha smiled, standing them since she, apparently, had last say in the matter. "He only needs painkillers now. I can drive for them. And if he gets bad, you can talk me through things on the phone."
She turned and walked back in the direction of Clint's room then, the matter decided.
Honestly, he loved the idea.
He missed the farm!
This was nice.
This was how things should be, when he thinks about it.
Waking up with someone you love in your arms, sunlight streaming in though the window. It was a little chilly, the window being opened and all, and his current shirtless attire didn't help the fact, but he had to because the other male in the room got too warm at night recently, so the little breeze the Iowa hide away sent through the room always helped him sleep.
Pietro definitely loved this place. He could see now why Clint bought it all those years ago. It held such a relaxing atmosphere that, no matter the situation in your life or the troubles that were going on, made it so every fibre of your being relaxed completely.
He glanced down at Clint and smiled, the archer still fast asleep in his arms. He had one arm around Clint's shoulder while his head rested on Pietro's chest. One arm tucked safely under his chin while his other was draped lazily across the speedster's stomach. Pietro let his free hand trace small patterns on the back of Clint's hand as he listened to his love's steady breathing. This is how it should always be, and how it was for the past while.
They never started like this really. Pietro had his own room he stayed in each night, right next to Clint's. The past three weeks while he was recovering from everything, Pietro was on what Natasha called night watch. Clint apparently had a habit of getting up and leaving when he was strong enough to after an injury set back. And since Pietro would be up most nights anyway, he was set on watch. So, he'd lie in his room listening out for the archer if he needed something.
After the attack on Stark, the nightmares were a constant for Clint now. Each night, his mind would think up something horrible for the archer to experience. Each night, Pietro would hear the tossing and turning, the mumbles, then finally the shouts letting him know that Clint's mind was not a safe thing to leave alone. So, each night, he'd start out in his own room, but end up in Clint's bed, comforting the upset archer until he fell back asleep, then falling asleep with Clint in his arms.
He seriously didn't mind. He loved it, in fact!
He noticed, maybe the fifth or sixth night this little ritual occurred, that Clint didn't have nightmares after calming down and sleeping again. He would never bring it up with Barton though, but he wondered if all he needed was to know someone was there to help him.
He placed a soft kiss on top of Clint's head and closed his eyes once again, just to relax. it was only a little after 9am. Clint wouldn't wake for another hour at least. They weren't waking him the past few weeks. The more rest he got, the better, and Pietro didn't mind lying there with him.
He glanced down at the cast when it hit off his leg, the archer stretching out a little before nuzzling Pietro's chest and settling again. He was getting better, faster on the crutches, concussion nearly gone, stitches out, though he was right in saying that Hydra were assholes and used some poison to keep the wounds healing right. He still had bandages around his torso and Natasha still had one around her forehead to keep the wounds bleeding out with movement. It would take time, but that didn't matter, because all that any of them cared about was that Clint's mind was starting to come back to his own.
That doesn't mean he didn't have his moments. But he was trying. Natasha would sit him on the decking on the sunny days, sipping beers with him and the twins and having Clint tell stories about the team with her. His eyes lit up with each tale, some involving the team, others just himself and Natasha. When someone would come and visit though, deciding it be better to go single file rather than all at once, his shoulders would tense and Pietro would notice that his mind would have a battle with something, some inner voice trying to order him around.
He fought it though. Each time, the same would happen. They were trying to reconnect all the happy memories, trying to push whatever mind control was left out. So whoever was over, whichever member of the team was by that day, they'd bring Clint a pizza, they'd build a fire, and everyone would sit around drinking and joking for the night. As time went on through the evening, Clint's shoulders would relax. He'd smile more, sometimes he'd even laugh. He was always by Pietro's side though, never going near the team member. But it was a step in the right direction. It would go back to being the exact same each time though. It was like he'd revert back to the old way the next day. But one day they started counting the time from when the team mate would enter, and he was coming around to them quicker with each visit. Hopefully soon, the fear will be gone completely.
"You're thinking too much.." Clint mumbled against his chest, earning a surprised smile from Pietro. The archers sleepy eyes met his a moment later. "What's wrong?"
Loaded question.
"Go back to sleep, you idiot." He chuckled, leaning down a little to kiss the tip of Clint's nose. But he just pouted at Pietro and started to sit up.
"Not until you tell me what had your heart thumping." He mumbled through his pout, giving up on moving to instead nuzzle Pietro's chest once more. The speedster much preferred the latter.
That one wasn't a loaded question. Thinking of Clint always had his heart thumping.
"How are you feeling today?" He whispered after a moment of silence, his hand gently rubbing Clint's upper arm when he felt the archer tense.
Loaded question.
"Less sore." He whispered back after thinking for a few, his finger lazily tracing one of Pietro's scars. It made his breath catch in his throat a little.
"Well, little victories." Pietro whispered, hoping Clint wouldn't catch the hitch in his voice. Though, the chuckle the archer gave told him his hopes wouldn't follow through.
"Am I distracting you?" He whispered back, though Pietro couldn't see he just knew Clint was smirking.
He refused to answer, hoping that he'd give up, but when he didn't get a response, Clint placed a soft, slow kiss to the scar he was tracing.
The laugh he gave when Pietro jumped was something he hasn't heard from Clint in a long while, and it made him nearly smile.
Nearly.
Because instead, he pouted at Clint with as hard eyes as he could muster. It was difficult when Barton was sitting cross legged next to him now, well as cross legged as he could with a giant cast on one of them, laughing at the reaction he earned. Pietro just wanted to wrap him up in his arms again and laugh along.
"I'm sorry! I know how sensitive they are!" Clint eventually said, though it was through his laughs.
"You're lucky you're cute." Pietro growled, letting his arm fall over his eyes to hide away from Barton.
"Wait until I'm better. I'll knock that 'Cute' thought right out of you." Clint said lowly, and Pietro could feel his weight shifting. He sat up on his elbows and looked to see the archer moving off the bed, a slight smirk on his lips.
Those sly little comments would be the death of Pietro..
He didn't know how to take them though. They cuddled, they kissed, they were practically inseparable, they even shared a bed for the past while. But still, Pietro had no idea where he stood with Clint.
"Quit thinking." Clint said softly, though his back was to Pietro. He was supporting himself on one crutch, facing the wardrobe as he pulled on a shirt. Pietro stopped offering to help last week when something was thrown at his head. Clint didn't like feeling useless, but Pietro wanted to help. He needed to help.
"You sure they didn't give you some super power, old man?" Pietro asked with an eyebrow raised. Every time he thought of something that would get to him, Clint would know and ask about it.
"I just know you." He shrugged, hobbling back over to sit on the edge of the bed. He smiled at Pietro and offered him his hand. "Spill."
Pietro frowned slightly and took Clint's hand, linking their fingers together and watching them as he tried think of the best way to word things. It was a tricky thing to bring up so early in the morning.
"What are we doing?" He whispered after a moment or two, a little too lost watching Clint's thumb stroke the back of his hand.
"Relaxing in bed, I thought." Clint replied, his tone curious. Pietro shook his head a little and finally looked up to meet Clint's eyes.
"Me and you.. What is this whole thing?" He said a little louder, indicating to their joined hands.
Clint gave a soft smile and shrugged, kissing Pietro's hand softly before standing with his crutches once again.
"Don't know what it is where you're from, kid. But here, it's called holding your boyfriend's hand." Clint said as he made his way to the door. He paused at it and looked back to smile at Pietro. "Get dressed. I love you topless alright, but I don't think Wanda and Natasha do."
He left without another word, leaving Pietro staring shell shocked at the door he hobbled through.
Boyfriend.
He saw Pietro as a boyfriend.
He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, letting himself fall back down against the pillow then with his hands over his face.
That's all he wanted to know.
He could live with nothing else in the world, no money or food,no shelter or home to call his own. Just once he had Clint Barton as a boyfriend, he could live just fine!
"Need a top up?"
He looked up at the voice and smiled, nodding a little before holding his mug out towards Natasha. She was standing by the decking door with a coffee pot in hand and a smile on her face. She seemed relaxed here just as much as Barton did.
"You're turning into a right young Hawkeye, you know." She teased with a smile as she filled his mug back up, his cheeks going a little red at the comment.
He looked from his position on the bench to where Clint was in the garden, tinkering with the broken tractor sitting in some grassy area. It was a project for him, each day he'd go spend an hour after breakfast on it. No one objected.
"He will wear himself out." He said with a shrug, sipping from his coffee before sighing happily at the feeling the warm liquid gave. She made some damn good coffee! Natasha moved to sit next to him on the bench. "I just need to make sure he doesn't pass out over there."
"He's been through worse, Pietro." Natasha said softly. The amount of times he's heard that now must be in the billions!
"So you keep saying." He sighed. Every time she said it, it killed him a little more. Because worse than this was just horrendous.
"Because you keep worrying." She laughed, ruffling his hair a little when he looked to her. "He's been shot, blown up, tortured, scarred beyond belief. Trust me when I say, to us, this is nothing but a little set back."
"He's trying to kill his team." He whispered with a slight frown, not knowing how she was so easy going about this. "That's more than a little set back."
"He obviously never told you about Madrid.. Or Budapest, Slovakia.. Or New York for that matter." She shrugged, looking back out to the archer in the garden, coffee pot abandoned on the ground beside her. "It's not the first time we've tried kill each other. Won't be the last. But we always get past it."
He really needed to ask Clint about this stuff..
He heard a few missions, during the times they'd try get Clint to talk about his past to try bring up happy memories. But he never heard about the bad ones. He was really curious about New York. The way they always spoke about it, and from the few reports he could find mentioned Clint alot. But it was like taboo. Something that just wasn't to be spoken about around Barton.
"We need a movie night." Natasha suddenly said, grinning at the idea she just had.
"Well he has some dvds in there. We can put one on tonight. Wanda and I have not seen many, but you and Clint can pick a good one, I'm sure." Pietro smiled, shrugging then before looking back to Clint.
"I mean all of us." She replied, giving him a slight shove.
"Think he's ready?" He asked softly, watching as Clint grabbed one of his crutches and used it to help him stand up.
"Fixing old memories is going slow." She sighed, quiet for a moment but he stayed quiet too because he knew she had more to add to that. "It's working, but barely. So we need to start building new ones."
He hated that it made sense, he really did. Because he didn't want to push Clint.
"I don't think we can tell him about it." He finally said, knowing full well the archer would refuse it and lock himself in his room.
"I know. I don't like tricking him, but I think the team needs a night to just do nothing."
He nodded, smiling a little when he saw Clint hobbling over their way. He stood and finished off his coffee before smiling down at Natasha.
"Get them tomorrow. Steve would have been coming over anyway." He said with a smile, both of them dropping it then since Clint was hobbling up the stairs of the decking.
"Alright kid. Let's get these bandages changed so I can sleep for a while!" Clint smiled as he approached, a little out of breath from the effort of making it that far.
"You're such a baby with this." Pietro laughed, holding the door open so Clint could hobble through. He followed after him towards his room then.
"Well it hurts." Clint huffed out, the tone telling Pietro that he was pouting even though he could only see the back of the archer's head.
"It can not be that bad." He laughed, patiently following Clint up the stairs. It was difficult for him to do at first but he was getting quicker at it. Pietro really hated that there was no downstairs room to make the archer's life a little easier.
"Get me a knife, I'll cut you open, and see how you like alcohol burning it each morning!" He growled, shooting Pietro a little grin though when the speedster went to open the bedroom door, his way of letting Pietro know that he was only joking around.
He let Clint hobble in and took a moment outside the room to himself. He let a frown cross his face, just to get it out of his system so the hawk wouldn't notice and worry.
He was doing so well now. He was happy, relaxed. He was Clint.
Hopefully having him bombarded with the rest of the team wouldn't set him back. Because he was finally getting his Clint back, and he couldn't lose him again.
He sighed softly to himself and entered the room, closing the door softly behind him to lock them away from the world for a while.