Notes: CC and griezz, I have to agree with both of you: I'm really enjoying all of the FLUFF in this story. It's so nice to have a story where the characters get to honestly have the love and families that they so very much deserve!
Chapter 7: I Got A Mom Now
As Steve had predicted, it didn't take long at all for the paperwork to go through. And as K had predicted, Fury was highly interested in even the basic information that was on the paperwork.
But now, Steve was just looking forward to seeing the look on both K and Clint's faces when he got back — and he was sure to tip Scott off as well. After all, he and Jean had a big hand in making sure this came together too.
When Steve got to the tower, Clint was directing a game of darts with gleeful abandon between K and Thor. He kept chanting about how he would get to play the winner — so of course, when Jean arrived, she cheated slightly and moved the target on Thor's turn.
"Guess you'll have to play your mom," she sang out — which prompted Clint to run over to hug her.
"That was going to be the outcome anyhow," K pointed out.
"You would lie to our honored guests?" Thor chuckled. "Nay; I had the upper hand."
"I'm not lying," K said. "But you go ahead and tell your ego whatever you need."
Clint giggled and then grinned up at Jean. "Do you wanna play? You'd have to not cheat, though."
"I don't know; that sounds too hard," she teased right back, brushing his hair back with a fond smile.
"Actually," Scott said, "we brought something for your mom."
"Already?" K said, shaking her head. "You guys are quick."
"Told you we'd handle it," Scott said with a smirk as he handed her a neatly pressed envelope.
K gave him a little smile as she took it then waved Clint over to open it up with him. "You want to read it over? Make sure they spelled your name right?"
Clint's eyes went wide. "Is that… does that say you're my mom now?" he asked, his voice going softer with every word as he made his way over.
"It should," K said. "I haven't read it yet either. Thought we could look it over at the same time."
Clint nodded, unable to hide his smile. "Okay, yeah. Let's do that."
K nodded and spread the contents of the envelope out in front of them, with Clint almost reverently, quietly pouring over it.
"What do you think, kiddo?"
"I think… they got your name wrong," Clint said. "I don't see any K's in here."
K looked it over and shook her head. "No … that's me. That's what my parents called me anyhow. The 'j' is soft … 'Lil-ya'."
"That's really pretty," Clint said softly. "How come you don't use it?"
"I guess I've just been using K for so long …"
"Well, I like 'mom'," Clint said with a decisive little nod, halfway curling into her and not about to let go.
She smiled to herself and pulled him tighter to kiss his head. "Sounds good to me."
Clint stayed curled up with K for a good long time, until he was half afraid to open his eyes again from the snuggle in case he had dreamed it — but eventually, he did let go of K and scrub his hand over his face. "I… um…" He glanced over K's shoulder to where the other heroes were watching — all of them with various looks of pure joy. Jean and Jan were the only ones not trying to pretend they weren't crying.
Clint glanced one more time at K before he darted over to the group — surprising everyone when the first person he went to was Scott, who crouched down to catch him when he launched.
"I got a mom," he whispered to Scott.
For just a second, anyone paying attention could see the open expression on Scott's face before he simply hugged Clint tightly, pulling Clint to his chest and half hiding his face too. "Yeah, yeah you did," he whispered right back.
I don't think we're getting either of them back from this, Jean projected to K.
Not unless you got Steve to sign the papers for Scott, K projected right back.
Jean snorted. Really, though. This is Scott's favorite part of what we do. The family that comes out of bad situations.
It's still kind of rare, K agreed. And I wish he'd gotten that sooner. Both of them.
You and me both, Jean said. That's why I'm not worried about our little one. Just look at him. She tipped her head Scott's way. He's going to be an amazing father.
Absolutely, K agreed. It'll be fun to show this reaction to Logan, too.
Jean smirked a little wider. He'll get hugged too, you know. Clint really looks up to him — even if he's a little possessive of you.
We'll see, K said. He's been more wary since Creed.
He has a right to be, Jean replied. That was awful all around.
I'm not arguing that. And I don't blame him if he just doesn't get over it.
Jean shook her head. You're forgetting that he ran right to Logan when Professor Xavier scared him. He still knows that Logan will protect him. That's a start.
K nodded at that, but didn't reply, mostly because she was enjoying the pure joy that both Scott and Clint were glowing with and didn't want to mar it with an argument.
When Scott finally let Clint go, Clint scrubbed his nose again and then hid in a long hug with Jean, and Thor was sure to pull K off her feet in a hug as well.
"You both deserve this happiness," he told K warmly.
"That's a charming sentiment," K replied. "Tack så mycket."
Thor grinned at her. "We should drink together," he announced. "This is a time for celebration."
"I'm in favor," Jan said, dabbing at her eyes.
"Ready when you are, thunder god," K said.
"Can I come?" Clint asked from underneath Jean's arms in a tight hug.
"I don't see why not — no reason to slip away from your mom so soon," Jean told him.
"Yeah, I wanna stay with her," Clint agreed, then let out an involuntary giggle when Jean swept him up to carry him herself. She dangled him upside down telekinetically for a second before she shot Scott a crooked smirk and settled Clint on Scott's shoulders.
"Let's go," Jean sang out.
Clint giggled as he held onto Scott's shoulders as they headed down to where — unsurprisingly — Tony had a party already going.
"Hey!" Tony grinned at the group. "Was wondering when you'd make it down here. Congratulations, Mama Barton."
"Ooh, yeah, that's … I'm gonna have to cut something off of you for that," K said. "Sounds like something out of the Grapes of Wrath. No."
"Well, what am I supposed to call you, then?" Tony asked. "I can't call Clint 'Baby K'."
"You call him Baby anything and I'm not going to stop him when he kicks you in the nuts."
"I'd have to get down," Clint pointed out. "I'll just throw something."
"You can just call both of us by our actual names, please," K said. "And thank you for being such a tolerant host."
"Hey, you've got some great reasons to break out the good stuff, K," Tony laughed. "If you're going to keep starting celebrations, stay as long as you like."
"I appreciate it all the same," she said. "Clint's gotten a few ideas going since he got here on how to protect himself."
Clint nodded. "I'm gonna be an Avenger."
"You sure about that, buddy?" Scott asked, looking up at him with his head tipped back. "You know you could always be an X-Man."
"Well, I don't got any powers, and you all have powers," Clint pointed out. "But Iron Man doesn't have powers and neither does Jan except for her shrinky stuff, but I dunno if that counts."
"It doesn't," Tony said. "But we're still pretty unstoppable even without the toys."
Clint nodded. "Yeah. I wanna be a hero."
"Tell you what," Scott said with a smirk. "When you're older, after you've had a few combat classes at the school, we'll see if you change your mind."
"Never know," Steve added. "You might just be able to do like Logan and Hank … both teams .."
"Well, I still wanna be an archer archeologist too…" Clint said. "That's a lot of stuff for just one kid…"
"Good thing you're not an average kid," K said.
Clint grinned. "Nope! I'm gonna be an Avenger-X-Man-archeologist-archer!"
"Sounds about right," Scott chuckled.
Clint smiled back down at him and then shrugged. "I dunno if I will look good in yellow, though."
"Kurt wears black and red," Scott said.
"Either way, you'd be choosing your own colors," K said. "No one on the Avengers wears purple either, sweetheart. You're one of a kind."
"Oooh, can I wear purple?"
"Yes. Yes you can," Jan blurted out. "I can make you something."
Clint started to giggle. "I think she wants to make me an outfit, Mom."
"What gave you that idea," Jean deadpanned.
"She's got some time to do that," K said. "But I think the redhead wants to design one for you too."
"Oh, absolutely," Jean agreed.
"In purple," Clint insisted.
"Like there is any other option," Jean laughed. "Storm and I already have thoughts."
"By that, she means she and Storm already have concept art," Scott laughed.
"He's not even ten yet," K said.
"I know," Jean said.
"But you have to admit — new teammates are the best to design for," Jan pointed out.
"So few and far between," K said as she made her way over to join Thor.
"You should see the designs Jan worked up for our little girl," Jean said with a proud smile. "The 'Daddy's little girl' ones are my favorite."
"I'd love to see it," K replied. "I'm sure that's the crown jewel though."
Jan grinned and zipped over to lean into K. "Oh, but the perfect Marvel Girl onesie is ready."
"Of course it is," Jean said, smiling sedately. "I hope she's a redhead."
"Me too," Scott said without missing a beat.
"Oh, you two are precious," K said. "Scott … come on. You're drinking for two. Jean can't."
"That's not how that works," Scott said, shaking his head.
"I'm pretty sure it is," K said. She turned toward Thor. "Sounds right to you, doesn't it?"
"Oh, of course,' Thor said, simply reaching over to pluck Clint off of Scott's shoulders. "Let me take the little one — lest you stumble under the weight of these rules," he chuckled.
"Aye, stumble not," K teased, pushing a shot toward Scott. "Or risk insulting the thunder god and summoning his vile brother."
"You know," Thor mused, "Loki would enjoy these festivities. He would be thrilled to celebrate a family forged in this way."
"I'm game," K said. "Might be fun."
"We're not inviting Loki," Tony said, pointing at both of them and shaking his head. "Stop that."
"Come on, Mr. Stark," K sang out. "Don't be a party pooper."
"If you are worried, I can always tell my brother of your happy news later when we are in a more private setting — he will want to celebrate."
"Well, if you're bringing your brother, I wanna bring my brother," Clint said.
"From what I understand of Barney Barton, the effect would be the same," Thor teased.
"All the brothers," K agreed. "Bring 'em on."
Tony shook his head to himself, but he couldn't help but laugh. "You sure you have to leave when school starts?"
"Kind of a commute otherwise, isn't it?" K said. "I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do with myself all day."
"The offer is still open to teach," Jean pointed out. "Clint said you taught him about weapons."
"And rodeos," Clint put in.
"I don't know that weapons would be proper to teach," K pointed out. "Especially when you already have a samurai on staff."
"What about horses and stuff?" Clint asked. "I betcha could teach that!"
"We do have a barn and stables that haven't been used for a while," SCott said.
"That's a huge expense to get started," K pointed out.
"Yes. Of course. What were we thinking," Jean said dryly. "I'm sure that we can't possibly afford that with the giant robots and the rebuilding projects we're always doing."
K sighed and turned her way. "That's not the point. It's a long process to find suitable horses for beginners."
"Well, you're sticking around for a while, aren't you?" Jean pointed out.
"That was the idea, yeah," K replied. "But we're already at the end of summer. This is one of those things you have to start up in the spring. If nothing else to stock hay for winter."
"Then you can start next spring," Scott said. "In the meantime, you can help us renovate the barn so you can have things the way you like it."
"Wow. You are all in," K said. "And you don't even know if I can ride worth a damn, let alone teach."
"I… may have peeked at Clint's memories of the rodeo," Jean admitted. "I was curious."
"And what did you see?" K asked.
"A few angry cowboys getting shown up," Jean said, this time with a smirk. "You can ride, K. And the horses love you — I saw that too."
"This area of the country isn't too big on western style," she said.
"Awww, come on, Mom," Clint said from Thor's shoulder. "Just do it! Then you can be a teacher at my school — and that would be so cool!"
"You sure you'd be okay with that?" K asked.
"Uh-huh!" Clint nodded. "Everyone should see how cool my mom is."
"We have to figure out how to handle things with Barney too," K said. "I don't want him alone all winter long."
"Well, can't he just stay with us?" Clint pointed out.
"I don't see why not," Scott said.
"He should get a little schooling, too," K agreed. "But he wouldn't be able to start classes on time, and he'd leave early. So …"
"I'll talk to Storm," Jean promised. "I'm sure she and I can work something out like we did for Clint to get him on track."
"Might be smart anyhow," K mused. "I'm sure that Miranda would want to see him making progress, too."
Clint nodded. "I bet she and Paul are helping him with school and stuff anyway."
Probably need to get them their own paperwork, K signed to him.
Clint grinned quietly and nodded. Probably, he agreed. I think they're getting married.
If they haven't already.
In the middle of the season? No way. Clint shook his head. Plus, he's gotta ask first.
I'll bet they just run away to do it as soon as they get engaged.
Clint shook his head again. No, I want to see it. And Barney needs to be there too.
I'm sure he won't be left out.
Thor beamed at them both. "Then we shall have all the more cause for celebration if your family is indeed growing."
"That … might be overstating it there, big guy," K said, scrunching her nose up at him. "It was this big before."
"Ah, but you are still family to Clint's brother, are you not? And if his family grows, does not yours as well?"
"I'm pretty sure with them it's just a legality, too," K said.
"As it was with you. And yet here we are." Thor beamed and pushed a drink into her hands. "Now, stop questioning the nits and picks and celebrate!"
"I shall not stop questioning, ever ever," she replied.
"Then do so with a drink in hand," Thor said. "We shall watch the others fall to drink long before us."
"You're on," she agreed.