Chapter Three
When Steven and Tony strolled into the tower not even half an hour later Bucky still had Clint confined to the couch but had grudgingly agreed to let him challenge Bucky to Halo after he managed to keep down most of a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Buck wasn't sure who did the shopping for the team exactly but he wanted to tell them that condensed cans of soup weren't healthy and that they needed a better selection. Something to worry about much later.
Clint, in his amusement, had agreed to do whatever Bucky told him to after he got over the shock of Barnes apparently trying to take care of him. That 'care' came in the form of two cups of hot tea, a bowl of pretty decently prepared chicken noodle soup and being cocooned in as many blankets as Bucky could find within eye sight of Barton and the couch. Clint couldn't remember the last time that someone showed him that much care and it was just a stupid little chill he had gotten while doing a routine case for SHIELD. It was.. dare he say it, nice. No one had bothered to make sure he was taken care of outside of Coulson and Natasha. It made him oddly warm inside.
The fact that it was the Winter Solider that was apparently taking care of him was just utterly mind blowing. In fact shortly after being wrapped up on the couch and having a cup of tea shoved into his hand his brain went offline. To be fair it had something to do with sitting in a crouched position on a uncovered roof top for hours on end. No one human came out of that without a couple sniffles at best. But they had needed his eyes and he wasn't one to say no. So long as Barnes didn't flip out and try and kill him he was completely fine with the treatment. Tony was going to have kittens when he saw the couch. Barnes didn't know where replacement clothing was and refused to let Clint walk anywhere under his own steam. He also refused to let Clint out of his sight.
Clint naturally read stories about Steven and his best buddy growing up so he knew that Steve could get sick at the drop of a hat before Project Rebirth so he was willing to assume that whatever it was that Barnes was doing was left over from those days. Better to have an overprotect assassin then well, death. And he was surprisingly good at Halo. He wondered how long Bucky had been sitting on the couch playing before Clint had wandered in after his miserable mission.
Clint's thoughts were brought back to present day when he heard Tony and Steve, arguing about something or another yet again, come into the room. Several things happened at once.
Steve stared at Bucky and Clint on the couch, his jaw dropping comically as he stared at the two. Naturally whatever argument he was having with Tony vanished from his mind.
Tony however took a few more seconds to notice the two. It took Steven not replying back for him to stop actually talking. Once he spotted Clint in muddy clothing, wrapped up in a blanket with empty dishes on one side and the Winter Solider on other side his mind caught up and then his mouth caught up.
"OH MY GOD. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY COUCH! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I'VE REPLACED THAT COUCH THANKS TO THOR??"
Naturally Tony would remark on the couch first and not the fact that Hawkeye and Winter Solider, respectively, were hanging out casually in the living room. Clint shrugged and sniffed before aiming a kill shot at Bucky's avatar on screen. "By now you should have everything insured Shell-head." His voice sounded strange due to being stuffed up but the smugness was there none the less.
".. you shot me? What the hell?"
The smugness went up to a level ten when Barnes noticed what he had just done. He could sense a glare being sent his way before Bucky glanced back in Stark's direction and winced when he saw Steve just staring at him. ".. oh hey Steve. I bet you were wondering what I was doing here huh?"