A/N: I used the Wikipedia website for this one. Unfortunately, I didn't have a beta to help me with it. I hope that I did a good enough job on it, though. I did improvise on part of it, because it isn't covered in the Wikipedia article. For those of you who may know how Clint and Natasha re-met, I'd like to apologize for having to make it up. Hopefully it isn't too awful.

WARNINGS: Past deaths of parents (both died in a car wreck)

My name is Clinton Barton

My name is Clinton Barton. I was raised mostly in a circus. My parents died after my drunk father lost control of their car and crashed into a tree. My older brother, Barney, and I were sent to an orphanage. We stayed for a few years, but then we ran away to join the Carson Carnival of Travelling Wonders. I'm not sure what led us to do that. Maybe it was because we had always enjoyed seeing performers like them, or maybe it was because they would be leaving; a good way to get out of town. Either way, that's where we went. I was trained by two of the performers, the Swordsman and Trick Shot, to be a master archer. It was pretty fun, and I was good at it. After a time, I found out that the Swordsman had been embezzling money from the carnival. Before I was able to report him, he not-so-nicely got me out of the way. This was done by beating me nearly to death and leaving me. I've seen worse. He got away, and I haven't had to deal with him since.

After the incident with the Swordsman, my relationship with Trick Shot pretty much evaporated. It's not that he agreed with what the Swordsman had done, but we just stopped talking with one another. Barney got sick of the circus after another year or so, and left. He joined the army, asking me to do the same. At the time, I had declined. But later, I changed my mind. When I got to the bus station, where Barney was going to be, I found that the bus had already left, taking my brother with it. We didn't talk after that, and grew apart. I haven't seen him since, either. I miss him a lot, but I have a new life now. I'm not sure that I would, if Barney was here. I think that I'd feel tied down to my old life, if he was still around.

I was part of a couple other circuses after that, having refined my skills as an archer. I made a name for myself as a star marksman, going by Hawkeye. While I was still working for one of the circuses, I saw a man, a hero, called Iron Man, at work. He was saving lives. That's when I was inspired to become a costumed super hero. I had heard about them, but until I saw Iron Man, I thought you had to be some sort of mutant or alien. But Iron Man was a regular man. A genius, but a regular human being. He had built on his genius and created a suit that he could use to save lives. I didn't have a special suit, but I did have a talent.

My first night out didn't go so well. People thought I was a thief, and they accused me of being a criminal. I was on the run from then on, doing my best to keep from getting caught. I met a woman called the Black Widow during this stage of my life. I fell in love with her. I still love her. Unfortunately, back then I was blinded by my love. I didn't care that she was a spy for the Soviet Union, and I didn't care that the technology that I was helping her steal was created by the same man who inspired me to become a hero in the first place.

We fought with Iron Man, or Tony Stark, a lot. I lost count of the times we were pitted against him after a while. During one of these battles, the Black Widow, or Natasha, as I had been calling her for a while, was badly injured. I ran from the fight, something I hadn't done before that. I had to do it, though, to keep Natasha alive. I left her alone for barely a minute; turning away to make sure it was safe to rest for a moment. When I turned back, she was gone.

I did what I could after that, getting little jobs to pay for what I needed. I didn't get very many jobs at first, but after a while I gained a reputation. I got more and more jobs, and eventually I was able to pick which ones I wanted to do. It was nice being able to choose who I was going to kill. Sometimes I was comfortable enough to even just not have a job for a while. That was also nice. Going a week without killing someone is always good, even if they are technically 'bad guys'.

After a while, I received a call from an agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. They wanted me to join them, and hunt down villains alongside them. I was informed that I was too dangerous to be left to my own devices and that if I didn't join them, the threat would be removed. Needless to say, I agreed to join them.

After a few months of working with S.H.I.E.L.D., I was given a job to hunt down and kill the woman that I worked with before. Natasha Romanoff. She had been killing innocent people, working for some other people I've never heard of. I didn't want to have to kill her, but if she was really doing all the things that they said that she was, she needed to be taken care of. When I got to her, I saw that while S.H.I.E.L.D. was right in saying that she had been killing people, she didn't seem to be fully aware of what she was doing. It was like dangerous ballet. She was graceful, but I had been trained at S.H.I.E.L.D. and I was much better in combat than I had been before. I was so much better, in fact, that I was able to take her out. Instead of killing her like I had been told to, I just talked to her until she stopped trying to kill me. I hugged her, telling her that she would be okay. She would be taken care of. She would have freedom. When she finally caved in and started crying, I took her back to S.H.I.E.L.D. They were, expectedly, pretty ticked off at me for doing this. Before long I was pardoned my offense and Natasha started training as an agent, like me.

When her training was completed, Natasha and I worked together again. It was different, though. I felt like I could trust her more. Being rooted in the same organization did that, I think. We both trusted each other more since we were working for people other than ourselves. We had to report to the same people.

Agent Coulson brought us closer, too. He was the head of our department, so we both saw a lot of him. The three of us were like a little family. He told us later that he not only enjoyed working with us, but he found our cases interesting, as well. Instead of treating us like we were some messed up kids, like a lot of the other agents, he treated us like people with stories that needed to be told. He treated us equally. One wasn't better or more interesting than the other. We weren't better or worse than the other agents. We were just different.

When we lost Phil, it was like our world came crashing down. Neither of us could function properly for a week or five. We slept in the same room for a while, clinging onto each other. We were told off for it, since most of the other agents thought that more was going on. We eventually convinced Fury that we just needed one another for a while. We were allowed to sleep together after that, no questions asked. The other agents teased us and murmured when they thought we couldn't hear. But the rumors were always easily audible, even with my hearing aid.

Loki's stupid stunt took Phil from us. A part of me will still hate him for that. I've mostly forgiven him, but Phil is a touchy subject. Loki has tried to apologize to us, and I have to say that it did help a bit. The pain is a little less, but it didn't make it right. We've all forgiven Loki to some extent, but Thor is the only one who fully trusts him. We all trust him not to kill us at night. He stays in the tower with us, and hangs out with us. But yeah. Only Thor really trusts him.

Right now I'm in my hiding place, a.k.a. the air ducts. I have just been informed by none other than Natasha that I didn't do anything to help at all during the Chitauri invasion. Ouch. Considering I found their weaknesses, saying that I did nothing is kind of a huge lie. My knees are pulled up to my chest and my chin rests on top of them. I don't want to talk to anyone. It sounds kind of teenager-y but I really don't want to talk to anybody right now. I'm too mad.

I can hear the others calling my name as they walk around the tower. I didn't tell anyone where I'd be, and they haven't figured it out yet. I don't know how many times I've been able to find sanctuary in the cool space of the air ducts. What makes it even better is the fact that all the noise made by the air rattling through masks any sound that I might make. I've hidden up here a few times when I needed a good cry. I asked JARVIS before not to tell the others where I am when I'm up here, so I know that he won't give me away, either.

I take a deep breath and hold it in as I hear the others coming this way. Tony is whining, begging the others to just shut up and leave me alone. It seems almost like he knows I want to be alone, but after I think for a moment, I know that it's only because he doesn't want to have to walk around with them. He doesn't really care about me that much. They finally leave after a while. Natasha sounds pretty upset about what she said, but I still don't want to talk to her. I don't even want to see her - at least not for a few hours.

I am left to my peace and quiet after they finally leave. I try to think of other things, but my mind just keeps going back to how angry I am. It isn't fair that Natasha would accuse me of doing nothing to help. I know that I helped; she knows that I helped; every one of the Avengers knows that I helped; she has no right to say that I didn't.

I get about half an hour to myself before the sound of someone climbing up into the vent a little ways down pulls me from my thoughts. My brows furrow as I look over. I can't see his face, but I'm going to guess that it's Thor judging by the long blonde hair that pokes its way up into the duct. I turn away so that my back faces Thor. He doesn't seem to get the hint, though, and he struggles his way up into the duct. A minute later he's clambering over to me, thudding and dinging all the way. Even the air clattering through the metal can't hide how much noise he's making.

He plunks down beside me, sending a resounding ding through the entire duct. I roll my eyes and huff. Thor still doesn't get the message, and he looks over at me expectantly. I just shake my head. I'm not talking. Nope. Not at all. I can feel Thor's eyes on me for what seems like hours on end. I know he wants me to say something, but I'm really not going to. This goes on for several more minutes before he scoots a little bit closer. Now he's just trying to make me feel awkward enough to talk, and I don't like it.

I look over at him incredulously as he puts his chin on my shoulder. He takes puppy dog eyes to a whole new level. His eyes are round and wide, bright blue, and shining. He just stares at me with a tiny smile on his lips. I know that he's trying to help, but he's really only succeeding in annoying me. I shrug him off my shoulder. He moves his chin, but nothing else. He's still staring at me.

The annoyance slowly starts to build up. I can feel my muscles tensing, ready to either shove Thor away or crawl further down the duct. But I don't. I just sit there, waiting for him to leave. He doesn't leave. Fifteen minutes go by. I'm starting to feel really annoyed by now. I'm totally about to push him away when he puts a hand on my shoulder. When I turn to look at him I see that he doesn't have the annoying puppy dog look now. He looks sympathetic and a little bit sad. I am all too aware of the tears stinging my eyes. I blink furiously, willing them to go away. Blinking only makes them roll down my cheeks, though. I sniff as I look at him. I don't want to talk about it, but I am glad that he cares. It does help a bit to know that not everyone thinks I'm useless.

We sit together, Thor's arm around my shoulders. He is going on about something that I'm not interested in at all. I don't even pretend to listen, but he doesn't care. He just doesn't like how quiet it is. The guy is probably the most fun in the whole tower. I get along with him best. He's funny, like me. He's talented, like me. He also has great hair. Like me. We're practically best buds.

I'm so lost in thought that I don't hear his shortest sentence. I shake my head a bit and look at him. He's smiling. I ask him to repeat. When he does, I smile back at him.

"I love you."

My name is Clinton Barton, and even though I haven't always been part of the team, I am loved.

A/N: How was that, guys? I didn't make you wait too long, did I?

This one is for you, Rogers. You know who you are. ;)