Notes: Griezz, I hear you. *snuggles you and gives you cookies* that was a rough one.

CC: *giggles* Oh yeah. Logan is totally dadding it up all over the place, and I love it so much. he's so good at it!

Arly: *gives you cookies as well* Yeah... Creed is just pure evil. Pure. Evil. I'm so sorry about him and his pure evil. At least he's dead?

Chapter 15: Better With Friends

The rest of the holiday spent at the cottage was a lot quieter than the little group had intended it to be. Aside from a brief call from Tony to Logan's comm in which half the Avengers apologized profusely — Creed had left Tony with a broken arm and Steve had gotten the sense knocked out of him in trying to contain the big threat — it was just the four of them at the cottage.

Which was about what they'd expected, but it still wasn't the same. For one thing, Clint was pretty miserable when he couldn't move around as much as he wanted, and without Sicem sitting on his feet like he always did when Clint wasn't feeling good, it was even more miserable.

And for another thing, anyone with half a brain could see that both of the Barton boys were immensely traumatized, so the novelty of Thanksgiving together wasn't quite balancing it all out.

And for Clint, it was hard to sleep. He simply didn't feel very good, and on top of that, he didn't know how to sleep when Sicem wasn't there and when he was still thinking about Creed and Hank and his dad if he got stuck in his head too long..

It was Sunday morning when Clint finally gave up on trying to sleep and came downstairs to get a soda and curl up with another book — he'd already finished all the ones he brought from Storm's supply. But Logan was already down there — Clint saw him moving in the kitchen before he heard him — and he paused for a second before he went ahead in anyway.

He really wanted a Sprite.

"Feel like breakfast, kiddo?" Logan asked, clearly setting up to make some omelettes.

Clint shrugged. "I was just… I was just gonna get some Sprite. I'm still not feeling real good, and my mom… my first mom… she always gave me Sprite when I didn't feel good."

Logan nodded at that. "I just stoked up the fire; curlin' up over there might help too."

Clint nodded. "I dunno why I don't feel good. I'm not sick," he said quietly. "I just… I wanna be okay so I can…" He trailed off when he opened the door to the fridge. "How come there's a cake box in the fridge?"

Logan let out a breath at that. "Your mom insisted. That's why."

"Yeah, but my birthday isn't 'til next week, and we always celebrate it on the actual day."

"Yeah, well. It's my birthday today." Logan shrugged. "Probably a big part of why Creed was poking around."

"It's your birthday?" Clint scrunched up his nose. "What's… what's that got to do with Sabretooth?"

"He's hunted me down and started a fight just about every year for as long as I can remember."

"That's not a good birthday present," Clint said, grabbing his can of Sprite and sitting down at the table to frown at Logan.

"That's how it's always been," he said, shrugging again. "Sure didn't ask for it."

Clint was quiet for a long time as Logan worked up some omelettes before he looked back up at Logan. "That… that makes sense," he said quietly. "'Cause he was saying about wrapping me up for you."

Logan stopped cold at that and turned toward him. "What."

"Well, he said — he said he was gonna kill me, but he wanted you to ... um ... to come see," Clint said, staring intently at his Sprite in his hands.

Logan set aside what he was doing and made his way over to Clint, crouching to his eye level with his hands on his shoulders. "I don't know how much I can tell you, but I did everything I could think of to make sure he's not ever gonna bother anyone ever again. He's as dead as anything I've ever seen, and there aren't even any pieces for him to pull together."

Clint nodded quietly and didn't move one way or the other. "It's okay," he said in that same quiet voice.

"Like hell it is," Logan said.

"It is, though," Clint said, finally looking back up. "He's gone now, so… so it's okay. Right?"

"Like I said," he agreed, "he's gone. That part's okay, but everything leading up to it? No."

Clint nodded. "Yeah. He hurt my family, and — and that's not okay," he agreed. "And he even hurt you, even if he didn't get to hit you as much as he wanted." He smirked quietly and looked at Logan sideways. "I saw, you know. I saw he was getting mad 'cause he couldn't win."

"He got mad that he couldn't bait me into acting like him in that fight," Logan said, nodding. "Wanted it all snarls and claws down to the end of it. Always hated when I'd use my training."

"That's dumb," Clint said. "If you're a trained samurai, then you use that samurai stuff. That's just — that's just how that works."

Logan nodded. "Yeah, but … for me, if I get mad enough, I can't think to use it," Logan said.

"Like how Mom forgets to speak English?"

"Yeah," Logan said with a little chuckle. "Only it turns out a lot worse for me when I do that."

"What do you do? Japanese?"

"No. Snarls and growls mostly." He cleared his throat. "I just forget how to talk."

"Oh." Clint nodded and turned the Sprite can around a few times. "I do that when I'm scared," he said. "I just wanna disappear."

"I want to chase off whatever got me riled," Logan said.

Clint smiled up at Logan. "Well, thanks," he said quietly. "'Cause you sure did."

"Long as you three are okay, that's what matters."

Clint blinked at Logan for a second and then smiled lightly. "Yeah," he said. "I'm real glad you were there."

"That was all on K," Logan said. "And … to a smaller degree, believe it or not, Cap didn't want you two goin' alone."

"We have the best family," Clint said with a little grin. "We got Barney's circus friends, and we got the X-Men and the Avengers."

"The spandex circus," Logan deadpanned.

Clint giggled. "Yeah, that." He glanced up at Logan. "So — so you can kiss Mom and stuff because — because I don't think it's so bad if she has a boyfriend who can keep her safe."

"That's good to know," Logan said. "But I'll leave her to make the call on that."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, but… but I won't stop you," he said. "And I don't think Barney will either. He was saying how you told him to hide and helped him be a hero too, and I thought that was pretty cool."

Logan nodded at that. "He did just fine, by the way."

"Of course he did. He's my big brother." Clint tipped his chin up Logan's way. "He's the best."

"He's pretty damn good," Logan said with a smirk. "Wanna pour up some coffee for your mom?"

Clint nodded with a little grin. "Uh-huh," he said. "I'll take it over to her."

"Tell her to stay where she is, too," Logan said. "I'll bring her breakfast to her."

"She doesn't like being stuck," Clint said.

"She'll be okay," Logan said. "She's usually up by now, and she's still out."

Clint nodded. "She got pretty tired from what Sabretooth did, and now she's just… she doesn't wanna do stuff."

"Healing takes it out of you," Logan said. "Just gotta make sure she's got food, water, and rest. She'll be givin' me a hard time by noon."

Clint giggled. "I like how she teases everyone," he admitted, his eyes sparkling.

"It's how you know she likes you."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's why I let her call me a duck."

"Like you could stop her," Logan said, shaking his head.

"I could if it bothered me," Clint said. "She doesn't do things that bother me."

"Because you're her littlest."

Clint giggled. "Yeah, I still think it's funny how she whistled at Barney when he was kissing Ana." He got up to grab a mug of coffee once Logan poured it out. "Thanks, Logan."

Logan waved him off, and Clint smiled to himself as he headed down the hallway, the warm coffee clutched close as he invited himself in with a little smile. "Hi, Mom," he called out.

K opened up one eye and smiled his way. "Morning," she called back. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep, so I came downstairs and talked to Logan," Clint said. He set the coffee down on K's nightstand and very carefully climbed up beside her.

She shifted just enough so that she could wrap an arm around him and pull him down into a snuggle. "Little blonde teddy bear. Yes. Good."

Clint giggled and snuggled right back into her. "You gotta make up your mind, Mom. Am I a teddy bear or a duck?"

"Since I can squish you? Right now, you're a teddy bear."

"Okay." Clint smiled and tucked into K's side before he glanced up at her for a second and bit his lip. "So… so I think it's okay if you and Logan are… are together," he said.

"You decided I'm not crazy then?" she asked. "Or you decided you like him?"

"Um, yes," Clint said. He snuggled in a little better. "I think it's a good idea if you — if you date someone who's nice and can make breakfast and can keep us safe."

"Helps a lot that I think he's cute, though," K said. "Because that's important too, you know."

Clint wrinkled his nose. "Okay, I guess."

"I'm glad you approve-ish all the same," she said before she gave him a little kiss and snuggled in better herself.

Eventually, Clint and Barney did have to go back to school, so the little group at K's cabin packed up to head back to Westchester — though Barney was progressively more nervous as they approached. Especially when he saw how big the school was.

"Oh wow," he whispered, staring out the windows of the truck. "Oh wow. Are you sure we're allowed in this school?"

"You are," K said, nodding.

"But it's … it's a private school," he said.

"Yeah, and you're with two teachers going in, too," she said. "It's already figured out. They're looking forward to meeting you."

Barney frowned, but Clint bumped shoulders with him. "You got my teachers too," he said. "I already told Jean and Storm all about you, and they were real nice to me even though I didn't go to school very much. They'll help you too."

Barney nodded. "Okay. But I been out of school longer than you."

"It's okay," Clint promised. "They're really nice."

"Okay."

Thankfully, when they got to the school, it didn't take any time at all for Logan and K's reassurance to come to fruition — especially since Logan had asked Kitty to meet them there.

"Hi, Kitty!" Clint sang out.

"Hi Clint!" Kitty called out as she headed their way, though when she got to them, the first thing she did was give Logan a bear hug — which he returned and gave her a little kiss on top of her head. "I thought you'd be back before Wolvie's birthday!" she said to Clint.

"I didn't know it was his birthday," Clint said. "I didn't find out until there was a cake!"

Kitty stopped and looked more shocked. "You guys had a cake? He never lets us do that!"

"Killed Creed," Logan said. "There was reason to celebrate for a change."

Kitty nodded, her eyes wide. "Kurt said that you guys … he said it was pretty bad," she said, glancing at the Barton boys.

"Everyone's fine," K said quietly. "Hank checked them over, but … maybe don't squeeze Clint too hard."

"Yeah, I'm still a little yellow," Clint said with a nod.

Kitty frowned at that before she took a deep breath and turned her attention to Barney. "So — are you ready to start here?" she asked. "I know you're not going to be here long, but Kurt is already excited to have a fellow carnie in the house for a while."

Barney smiled lightly at that, though he seemed a little starstruck by Kitty. "Uh-huh."

Kitty glanced between Barney and Clint with a grin. "I thought I'd have Clint give you your tour, but if you're hurting, Clint … I can take care of him for you. I'm done with all my work already for the whole break."

Clint glanced at Barney and then grinned crookedly. "Okay," he said, though when Barney's back was turned, he signed to K, You can't call me the lady killer anymore. It's Barney.

K chuckled at that. Genetic. You both are.

Clint stuck his tongue out at her. No. No, it's just Barney.

K raised an eyebrow at him as Jubilee slipped past the corner from a dead run and then rushed his way, only to stop at the very last second and give him the most gentle almost-hug ever. "I heard you helped hand out a butt whoopin' to a giant ugly loser. Welcome to the club!"

Clint smiled up at her. "I didn't do anything — Barney did all the cool stuff."

"Um. Excuse me, you were unfortunate enough to have him drag you off to play Wolvie bait. Twice now. You are so in the club."

"Jubilee thinks she's the president," Kitty said.

"And if you didn't think it went by seniority and just admitted that I'm right …" Jubilee said, looking exasperated.

"If that was the case, neither one of you'd be on the board," Logan said as he shouldered K's bag.

"You're all nuts, aren't you?" Barney whispered, though he was smirking Clint's way as his little brother nodded and mouthed out 'yep'.

"Whatever, Wolvie," Kitty said as she reached over to take Barney's wrist. "Come on, might as well get started. You have to say hi to Cyclops first. He'll let you know what the story is with your classes."

"Ooh, I want to come to that," Clint said. "I want to know where I can find Barney when I wanna bug him."

"Okay, great! Come on," Kitty said, still grinning. "He'll get to pick if he wants to split that room with you in your mom's suite or if he wants to go get a roomie with the regulars."

"Oh. Um." Clint bit his lip and looked toward Barney, who straightened up a bit.

"I'm sticking with Clint," Barney said quickly. He leaned in toward Kitty seriously. "He needs someone to look out for him."

"That's the smarter move anyhow," Kitty said. "The dorms don't have TVs in them, and I know for a fact that your mom and Logan watch movies almost as much as Clint does. In the suite."

Barney grinned crookedly. "That sounds nice," he said with a nod. "I really want to catch up on some movies I've been missing on the tour. Not like we have much time for TV… or space for a TV…"

"Oooh, then you'll love the movie room," Kitty said. "The whole student body has our own theatre? So we do marathons on the weekend. But … that's in the tour."

Barney gave Kitty a grin and a showman's bow. "Lead on!"

Logan didn't try to hide the smirk, and K outright grinned. "Oh, yeah — make sure that Scott puts him in drama," K said.

"Hey, I'm training to be a ringmaster one day," Barney said. "I can handle little stages too."

K laughed at him and waved him off. "Have fun — and make sure he knows how to get 'home', huh?"

"Will do," Kitty said with a little salute. "Oh, and it's Scott's night tonight … so you've been warned."

"So we're eating whatever Jean wants, right?" Clint said with a smirk.

"Got it in one," Logan said.

"She's the one who's having a baby, right?" Barney said.

"Like that has a bearing on it," Logan chuckled.

Clint giggled. "C'mon, Barney. You'll meet everyone real soon. I'm pretty sure Miss Jean will be with Scott… or with Mr. Professor Xavier. He's probably gonna want to talk to you too."

"Totally standard," Jubilee said, then blew a massive bubble — silently offering Barney a piece of gum.

Barney smiled at Jubilee as he snagged the piece of gum, and the boys followed the girls up to where Scott was, in fact, waiting to go over Barney's compressed school schedule — with a very pregnant Jean.

"Wow, you're — you're just about gonna have a Christmas baby, huh?" Barney blurted out, getting Clint to elbow him in the stomach.

"That would be wonderful," Jean said, though she was smiling warmly at them both.

Clint grinned Jean's way and waved. "Hi, Jean. How's Rachel?"

"For now, pretty quiet," Jean said. "Stretching, but the kicking has more or less backed off. Thanks for asking." She leaned forward just a bit. "How was the cottage — once the trash was taken out?"

"Pretty good," Clint said with a shrug. "We had cake for Logan's birthday." He paused. "It was… it was really quiet," he admitted, and Jean didn't have to try hard to know he was still upset at losing Sicem.

She let out a little sound and crossed the room to pull him into a hug. "It'll all be better soon, I'm sure."

Clint nodded and positively snuggled into the hug, which had Barney raising his eyebrows. "I guess… they're pretty close?" he whispered to Kitty.

"Jean is like that with everyone," Kitty said. "Especially if you're close to one of the teachers. It's like a big family."

Barney nodded. "Yeah, that's how the circus is. Everyone is real tight."

Kitty smiled at him. "You know, the teachers all make sure the kids that live here get real Christmases too," she said. "Everyone gets spoiled a little bit' no one is left out. Of course … you have your mom here …"

Barney grinned and nodded. "Yeah, we had Christmas together last year, and it was pretty great," he said. "I got presents for her this year too."

She nodded. "The professor gives the kids an allowance to do that if they want. Family that didn't disown them … close friends, favorite teachers … even girlfriends and boyfriends if they have them. It's really good for everyone.

"Oooh, Barney, did you get a present for your girlfriend?" Clint asked with a massive grin.

"Shut up, Clint."

"You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up, Clint. She's not my girlfriend," Barney insisted, turning even pinker around the edges as he said it.

"You were sure kissing her like she was," Clint said with a grin.

"Shut up, Clint."

"Nothing wrong with having a girlfriend," Kitty said, bumping his shoulder.

Barney turned even pinker. "She's not — we're not—"

Clint giggled. "It's okay, Barn. You can go back to kissing her come springtime."

"Aw, no one asked you," Barney grumbled.

"Just think," Jubilee said, almost singing it out. "She'll have alll winter to pine for you … she'll be missing those kisses, I'm sure."

Barney turned pinker still until Scott finally took mercy on the kid and at least tried to bring the conversation back around to Barney's classes — which he'd be taking on the same schedule as the other kids in the school when school was in session, at least for the classes like combat that he wasn't behind in… but he'd be getting extra assignments on the side and doing some tutoring classes.

It sounded like a lot to Barney at first, but then seeing how Clint was grinning and curled up with Jean and asking her questions about her little girl on the way, it was hard not to feel like this was a good place to be…

"This isn't so bad," he said at last when he looked down at his schedule.

"And we get to play when we're not doing classes and stuff," Clint said. "I'll help you if you want."

"Your mom is prepping to teach, too," Scott said. "If all goes well, there should be enough for a riding class next fall."

"Ooh, right. Mom said she'd show us how to shoot on horseback!"

"That … probably isn't going to be an offered class," Scott said.

"Well, that's okay. She'll teach us anyway because we're her kids," Clint said, still perfectly proud of that fact.

Scott couldn't help but smirk. "Of course," he agreed.

"Can I show him our room now — or do we gotta talk to Mr. Professor X?" Clint asked.

"The professor can speak with you tomorrow," Scott said. "Go ahead and get settled in. He'll have Christmas break to get used to the layout."

Clint grinned at that and gave Jean one more hug before he slid over to Barney. "Come on. I'll show you which bed is mine."