Gently

7. Out of Sight

If anyone from the Avengers was to organise a team-bonding exercise, Tony Stark would be the last guess of anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. But when he ended up cajoling the other members into agreeing to meet up in the Tower's Virtual Scenario room for such an event, the rest of the team tried not to imagine what horrors they were in store for.

"A night wire?"

Tony nodded happily as Steve and Bucky frowned at each other. "What, they didn't do night wires back in the day?"

"Not that I can remember," Steve said.

"Excellent – then allow me to explain." He gestured to the empty scenario room. "In a few moments JARVIS is going to turn this beautiful blank canvas into a physical work of art for us to traverse."

"You mean like an assault course?"

"Yes, but with a twist."

Bucky eyed him warily. "What kind of twist?"

"You'll be blindfolded. Hence the 'night' part of the game's name."

"Blindfolded?" Steve echoed.

"It's not as bad as it sounds, Steve," Bruce assured him.

"Yeah," Sam agreed on his other side. "You hold onto a wire all the time. That's why it's called night wire."

"Flyboy's right," Tony continued, "except we don't have a wire, we have this." In his palm lay a small, cylindrical object with lights at either end. "This is a laser-guided guide. Whoever's in front will have one hand on this, and JARVIS will construct a laser path for it to follow. So sort of like a wire without the wire." He turned to Steve and Bucky. "Any questions? No? Then what are we waiting for?"

Feeling apprehensive, Clint swallowed, trying to catch Bucky's eye before his sight was taken away from him. He fidgeted with his hearing aids, making sure they were working as well as possible, and tried not to let anyone see how nervous he was.

Pepper made an appearance to help with the blindfolds. Tony declared he'd already thought of the order in which people would stand, and was quickly guiding people into place once everyone was visually impaired. "Okay Barton, time to step up. Not literally, of course. Gimme your hands. Come on. Hands. Just hold them out. Seriously, I'm not gonna – thank you. Right, now one foot in front of the other."

"I know how to walk, Stark."

"I'm sure you do, but you know how people get when they're blind."

"No, I don't. I'm pretty sure that'd offend –"

"Alright, we're nearly there. That's it, few more steps. Barnes, don't freak out, this is just Barton coming up behind you – as usual, I'm sure."

"Excuse me?"

"Barton, he's right there. Forward a little more, and – yep, you got him."

Clint froze. Tony had guided his hands onto Bucky for him, and now he was holding onto Bucky's ass. If Clint hadn't been blindfolded, he'd have rolled his eyes. "Very funny Tony," he said, moving his hands to Bucky's shoulders instead.

"You mean that's not how you two normally –"

"No," Bucky growled, and Clint squeezed him lightly in reassurance. Thankfully, Tony said no more, and Pepper led him to the back of the group to be blindfolded himself. Moments later, JARVIS announced that the course was about to begin, and Clint listened hard as the scenario room came to life around them, failing to pinpoint what was happening and where. It was a few minutes before silence settled again.

"Mr Wilson," JARVIS said, "you may begin."

"Okay guys – here we go."

It was a couple seconds before Clint felt Bucky take a step forward, and he tentatively followed suit, trying to quickly form a mental image in his head. He knew that Sam was at the front with Steve behind him, and that Carol was between Bucky and Steve. Behind him was Bruce, which meant that Natasha was in front of Tony (or behind him, if Pepper had been smart). He heard Steve and Carol muttering to each other up ahead, then Bucky was quietly warning him they were about to cross some tyres. "Put your feet in the holes."

"Right," he whispered back, and when he felt Bucky's body shift under his hands (not distracting at all – nope, no way) he hesitantly raised his leg, feeling around until he could make out the shape of a tyre on its side. Stepping through them was hard, and when it seemed like the others were moving faster than he was, Clint panicked.

"Sam, slow down a bit," Bucky called.

"Everything alright?" Carol asked.

Clint took a breath before answering. "We're good."

"Are you sure?" Bruce asked almost too softly.

"Yeah." If the doctor sensed he was lying, he didn't say anything; which was good, because the last thing Clint wanted to do was explain how much he hated not being able to see. Being deaf was one thing, but he could handle it. He didn't rely on his ears as much as he did his eyes, and having that power stripped away from him made him feel helpless. It wasn't a fear of the dark – he could still see things in the dark – but when all there was in front of him was darkness, there was no denying that fear did begin to twist its way to his heart. Take out his hearing aids, and Clint knew he would freeze. It was this that made him focus on Bucky in front of him, on what he could feel rather than hear: the sensation of firm metal and soft muscle beneath the t-shirt under his left hand, of Bruce's hands, warm and heavy on his own shoulders, and as the minutes rolled by and Sam led them up and down and around whatever was in their way, Clint began – minutely – to feel at ease.

Until he lost his balance; in his attempt to stay on his feet, he let go of Bucky. Stumbling forwards he felt Bruce's hands disappear from his body, and that was it: he was alone and blind. Part of him knew he could just remove the blindfold, but he remembered JARVIS saying he'd turned off the lights – his eyes would take ages to adjust, and by then he'd be out of the exercise, and Bruce wouldn't be able to find Bucky to reconnect, and he'd have let his team down, all because of some stupid, irrational sense of –

"Clint?"

He swallowed. "Bucky?" His heart was beating fast, the blood pounding in his ears. It made hearing even harder. He reached out, straining to hear anything that might give him a clue about the location of the others, but the sounds of shuffling feet and quiet murmurs were echoing, and he dared not fiddle with his aids lest those sounds disappeared altogether. Stretching his arms out, his stomach flipped as his fingers found nought but thin air. "Bucky!"

A metal hand suddenly bumped against his and Clint grabbed it, moving closer until he could feel the solid, familiar shape of a body he knew well against his chest. He rested his forehead against the nape of a neck, breathing deeply as he held on tight. "I've got you," Bucky murmured, thumb stroking the back of Clint's knuckles gently.

Despite the reassurance, Clint still flinched when Bruce found him again, and remained tense throughout the course until the moment JARVIS told them they could remove their blindfolds. He couldn't get the damn thing off fast enough, but once he did, the tension rushed out of him, and he turned to view the course like everyone else. The team was congratulating each other behind him, Sam talking about the difficulty of coming across obstacles first, and Clint shuddered. Where he'd had his little freak-out he couldn't tell, but looking at the simple blocks and slopes and small bridges they'd been guided over, it was hard to see why he'd panicked at all.

"Hey." Bucky stepped around him, features set in concern. "What happened back there?"

"I…" Blinking, Clint looked down at the black cloth in his hands. Bucky knew about his insecurity. This would've been the first time he'd witnessed it – well, as much as one can witness something blindfolded. Would it change his opinion of him? Would he think Clint stupid for freaking out over something so trivial? What if he didn't understand? What if nobody understood? What if they laughed at him? Coulson might tell Fury, and then –

Bucky pulled Clint against him, one arm around his shoulders, the other round his waist. Face buried in his chest, Clint automatically returned the gesture before he worked out what was happening: Bucky was hugging him in front of the Avengers. Bucky, whose public displays of affection rarely went beyond holding hands on the sofa, a quick squeeze of the arm or a brief nuzzle, was holding him intimately before the other members of their team, not to mention Pepper and maybe even Coulson.

Finally relaxing, Clint closed his eyes, knowing that the one place he could be blind and safe was in Bucky's embrace.

AN: Prompt: "Awkward but sweet incident at a 'team-bonding exercise' by the one and only Tony Stark!"
Maybe not so awkward, but definitely sweet, no?