Hey all! Sorry for the wait, things have been insane and the first time I tried to put up this chapter it doesn't work :(. Fair warning, this chapter is synched up to what's currently happening in the MCU, so there is a spoiler for TWS. Its also a kind of bro-y chapter, so if that's not your cup of tea...maybe I'll do a Simmons-and Natasha one soon if something pops into my head. I OWN NOTHING, and without further ado, here's chapter 4!
"Hmph." Fitz jumped about a foot in the air and then looked over his shoulder to see Clint Barton. With so many people crammed into the small bunker where Fury was recovering, he shouldn't have been surprised that there was someone next to him, but the archer had managed to sneak up.
"What are you glaring at?"
"Nothing."
"Riiiiiight." Clint followed Fitz's glare to where Simmons and Triplett were standing and talking. Simmons giggled a little and ducked her head and Triplett grinned. "Yeah. Sure. Nothing."
"Will you leave me alone." Fitz snapped, turning away.
"Look. I get it."
"Right"
"I'll prove it to you"
"How?" Fitz demanded. Clint sighed.
"Ok, here's the story kid. For years it was just Nat and I. Coulson handled us, we reported to Hill and Fury, but mostly it was just the two of us. And then suddenly there's this whole team thing going on. And now this, when we don't have anyone to trust, so we have to trust everyone we can." Clint said, waving his hand first at the clump where the Avengers were standing, then at the agents around the room."
"Your point?" Fitz prompted.
"First rule of this job, brains, patience. Or you're definitely in the wrong business. So anyways, all those years when it was just the two of us, kicking butt and taking names so to speak, I discovered that Nat has gets night terrors. Not often, but with all that's happened to her you really can't blame her. She's gonna kill me for telling you this, by the way, so be grateful." Fitz snickered and Clint continued. "Anyways, she would wake up screaming at the top of her lungs, get a bottle of her favorite vodka, and go back to bed. That would be the end of it. After a while, I decided to try a bit of an experiment. The next time she woke herself up screaming, I handed her a bottle. That became what happened, and we still never talked about it in the morning."
"Still not seeing the point here" Fitz interjected.
"Second rule kid, never rush an assassin. Eventually, she had a terror on an Avengers mission, and they all saw me give her the bottle. When it happened on a movie night a while later, everyone else had a bottle too. It had been a bit weird working with so many people in the first place, and for a second there, I was giving them the same look you're giving Triplett right now."
"So what happened?"
"She took the bottle from me and went to her room. Didn't spare a glance at the others. They've never tried again, and we still don't talk about it the morning after."
"Oh. Ok."