Chapter 7
"A kind of silent night"
(I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) - Oscar Peterson)
Day 4: Monday, December 14.
CLINT
Clint Barton was a very observant person. Not prying, not nosy, just observant. He could see there was something going on between Tony “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist (asshole)” Stark, and Steve “America’s righteous man” Rogers, even if they didn’t. He could see Natasha was concern about something that had to do with Bruce and that Pietro Maximoff disliked the Vision. This was because the android was in love with his sister, and vice versa.
He had ordered a cup of hot chocolate to the old man from the icerink a few minutes earlier, before he continued reading the book Wanda had lend him. He stared at Pietro for a few seconds, the young man smiled at him and continued skating.
“Here you go, Sir” the old man that worked at the icerink put a cup of hot chocolate in front of him.
“Thank you” He said.
“You’re welcome” the man was about to leave when Clint frowned, “Something wrong?”
Clint shook his head, “You seem familiar… Nevermind”
The old man nodded and then left. Clint took another sip from the chocolate and got back to his book. At least he tried to. He felt a stab of guilt when he just noticed that Vision was gone. He had flown away without telling anyone.
“Hey, old man” Pietro said behind him, when he turned he smiled, “You are not skating anymore?”
“It’s fine, I'm too caught up on this book” he said lifting his copy of An Invisible Man.
“Sure?” Pietro asked.
“Yes, honey” Clint said mockingly and Pietro rolled his eyes, a faint blush on his cheeks, “Also, if your sister and I don’t discuss it by the end of the week, I think she’ll explode”
Wanda and him started their own little book club when Clint joked about books being for whimps, turns out he actually ended up enjoying reading a lot.
“Well, then, I’ll stay with you” Pietro entered the booth area and sat next to him, “I’m starving”
“There’s fried pickles today” Clint smiled.
“Yummy” Pietro took his skates off, “Do you think Wanda is hungry?”
Clint searched for Wanda with his eyes, she was holding to Thor’s hips and he was skating fast around the icerink.
“I think they are busy having fun” he said, “Thor, please be careful, I want Wanda in one piece when we leave” he yelled at Thor.
“Do not worry, Barton! I am being careful” he answered with a smile.
Clint gave him a thumbs up and went back to his book.
Pietro was eating some fried pickles when he looked around like searching for something. Or someone. He huffed to himself and licked his thumb. Clint chuckled offering him a napkin.
Pietro took it embarrassed, “Sorry”
Clint shrugged, “Vision left a few minutes ago”
“So?” Pietro frowned.
“Just saying”
Clint winked at him Pietro shrugged indifferent, “Maybe he had something to do”
“Mm, poor Wanda” Clint sighed, “She was looking forward to spend some time with him”
Pietro muttered something in sokovian then looked at Wanda, the woman had noticed Vision was missing and was now skating with Steve, who was telling her something, probably trying to cheer her up. Pietro huffed and looked at Clint.
“She looks upset” Clint mentioned.
“Wanda’s fine” Pietro said and kept eating. Clint stared at him for a while then huffed loudly.
Two times.
Three.
He finally hit Pietro’s shoulder with the book.
“Hey!” Pietro frowned, “What happend? Why did you do that?”
“No reason in particular” Clint grinned, Pietro glared playfully and punched him softly, “You dare to mistreat a poor old man like me?” he added making Pietro laugh.
“You are not that old” Pietro said after a few seconds.
Clint stared at him for a few seconds, “Yes, I am” Pietro didn’t look at him and continued eating in silence.
Clint nodded more to himself and went back to the book.
Hawkeye was a nickname he earned. He was a very observant person, but he rarely commented on what he saw, he would play dumb about it but in reality he was aware of everything surrounding him. The first time he noticed Natasha was in love with Bruce he kept quiet about it.
He also noticed that there was something troubling his best friend, and that things were different now for Tony and Steve. Of course he had noticed when Pietro started showing interest in him. Now, they had this thing going on, it wasn’t… It wasn’t dating, he didn’t want Pietro to feel too committed at such a young age.
About that Clint thought a lot.
Pietro was young, very easy on the eyes. He liked the way the man smiled at him, he enjoyed stealing small kisses whenever they were training, the way he blushed lightly when he caught him staring.
If Clint didn’t know better he would say it was love. But Clint knew better. Right?
He then looked at Wanda, skating peacefully on the icerink, and even thought she was a smart woman he still saw a fragile person, so full of fears and doubts. Love was a new thing for her.
Love, actually, was a scary thing.
“Do you think they will do anything about it?” Pietro asked quietly, not looking at him.
Clint stared at him and after a few seconds he understood Pietro was aware of his sister’s feeling towards Vision, Clint shrugged, “Only time will tell” he said, “Don’t worry about it”
Pietro nodded and sighed.
Clint smiled soflty and put his hand on the younger’s man knee squeezing soflty. In the beginning, it was hard for him to face the fact that he enjoyed being with Pietro, to be near him, to touch him. Now, he tried to touch him as much as he could, Pietro for him was electric, magnetic. He couldn’t stay away for too long.
Pietro smiled softly, knowingly.
“Hey” Tony was out of the icerink, Clint took his hand away from Pietro as if he was on fire.
“Tony” He said, he cleared his throat ignoring the way Pietro snorted.
“We are going to eat so we can leave”
“Yeah, okay” Clint nodded, “Wanda, there’s pretzels”
“Coming mom!” Wanda yelled.
When the food was ready, Thor offered to help with the trays of food. They joined the rest of the team and sat to eat.
“It’s freezing” Bruce mentioned, Natasha gave him her gloves, “I’ll bring mine next time, I promise”
Natasha nodded and smiled, “Don’t worry about it”
Wanda smiled looking between Natasha and Bruce.
“Hey, Tony” Pietro asked, “do you think we can watch a movie today at the theater?” Pietro gave Wanda’s shoulder a nudge, “Wanda wants to watch A Christmas Carol” Tony looked at Wanda, and she nodded shyly.
“I got a better idea” Tony winked at her, “We can use my home theater” he said.
“It’s amazing” Steve added, “Tony has every film ever made, and it looks just like an actual movie theater”
“Awesome” Pietro said, Wanda smiled widely.
“We even have a popcorn machine, like the ones in movie theaters” Tony added.
Clint didn’t miss the way Steve looked at Tony when the man said “we”. How oddly domestic of his part to talk in plural, he wanted to say. He opted not to when Natasha glared at him.
“It’s an official movie night then” Natasha said.
“I am in the mood for a popcorns!” Thor said grabbing one of the burgers in the tray.
“You are always in a mood for food, Thor” Steve chuckled.
“That’s my secret, Cap” Thor took a bite off of the burger, “I’m always hungry”
They all laughed loudly, Clint gave Bruce’s shoulder a nudge, who was smiling softly.
When they arrived they all left to their rooms to change. In his room Clint took a shower. He turn off the shower and heard footsteps in his room. Pietro was probably outside waiting for him.
He tied a towel around his waist and took a smaller one to dry his hair. He stepped out of the room with a smile on his face.
“You can’t wait-“ he stopped mid-sentence when and found Wanda sitting on his bed, she had a small box on her lap, a few days after Pepper sent them the invitations Wanda had started making something for all of them, “Wanda” he said, and he cursed mentally when he sounded a little bit disappointed it wasn’t her brother.
“Hey” She smiled showing him the box.
“Steve is going to love that” he said.
The woman smiled widely. “Oh, he said everyone is meeting at the floor twelve” she mentioned.
“I’ll dress and then go” he nodded.
“Pietro’s saving you a seat” Wanda answered before she left the room with a grin on her face.
He dressed as fast as he could and left his room. He hopped on the elevator and pressed the number 12.
When he arrived to the theater room everyone was already there, even Vision, Tony was explaining him how the projector worked. Steve was right, it did look just like an actual movie theater, except there were fewer seats and they were bigger. Bruce was giving away blankets while Natasha and Steve served popcorn, Thor was in charge of the drinks.
“Clint! There’s a machine that makes Churios” Pietro exclaimed.
“Churros” Wanda corrected doing her best to roll her tongue.
“Precisely, my dear Wanda” Tony grinned, Wanda smiled widely while her brother stuck his tongue out to her.
“I have had like ten of these delicious treats” Thor said.
“Let’s watch a movie, folks!” Tony said, clapping his hands. They all sat and waited for Tony to put the movie.
“Let’s watch the Muppets version” Clint yelled.
“Nuh huh” Tony shook his head, “Scrooged” he said, “Bill Murray is the man”
“No, let’s watch the musical version” Natasha suggested.
They all started arguing which one to play, Thor, Vision, Wanda and Pietro just looking at each other and shrugging. Bruce watching them quietly. It wasn’t until Steve spoke that the room fell silent.
“What about the George C. Scott one” he said.
They all looked at each other and then at Steve, “Agree, Cap!”
They were all watching the movie in silence. Clint noticed that Tony was throwing glaces at Steve every now and then, Wanda, instead of watching the movie, was looking at Vision, fascination imprinted on his features. Thor was as absolutely captured by the images in front of him. Whenever he laughed loudly Natasha and Bruce would chuckle.
Pietro was next to him watching it in silence. He nudged his shoulder softly and Pietro smiled at him, intertwining their pinkies together.
When the movie ended Thor clapped and Wanda followed. Pietro was the last to join and Vision looked thoughtful.
“What a marvellous film” he said.
“Indeed, my friend” Thor exclaimed.
“Let’s watch another film tomorrow, Yes?” Pietro suggested.
“Yes” Wanda nodded.
“Absolutely” Steve added, “This was fun” Bruce and Natasha nodded in agreement.
One by one they were standing up, ready to leave.
Clint didn’t miss Tony had remained quiet during the movie, like it reminded him of something or someone, maybe his father. He had fallen asleep a few minutes before it ended and Steve put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed softly waking him up.
“I am awake!” Tony said, “And yes we can watch a movie tomorrow”
“Wait, wait” Wanda said, “Clint, bring the stuff”
Clint nodded and left the room.
“What stuff?” Tony asked.
“It’s a surprise” she grinned.
“My favorites” Natasha added, smirking at Steve, who blushed.
Clint entered the room with a box in his arms.
“But” Thor looked confused, “there is just one present”
“Rock, Paper, Scissors, Spock?” Tony said looking around the room, “No? Okay”
Wanda chuckled and opened the box, she took a several giant socks out.
“Christmas Stockings!” Steve exclaimed.
“I have heard of these” Thor told Vision, “You hang them above the cheminee and Father Christmas leaves you candy or coins”
“Fascinating” Vision said.
“There’s one for each of you, so” Wanda said, “Steve, this one is yours”
She handed Steve a half blue, half red stocking with a white star, his name was embroidered on the corner of the stocking in golden thread. He hugged Wanda and whispered a thank you. Clint saw Tony with the corner of her eye, the man seemed lost in thought.
“Tony, this one is for you” She said, giving him a red and yellow stocking, the Iron Man colors.
Thor’s was red and grey, he accepted it and kissed Wanda’s hand soflty, Natasha’s was purple, her favorite color, Bruce’s was green, Clint smirked when the man took it, Bruce glared at him playfully and then smiled, Wanda’s was the brightest shade of red and Pietro’s was sky blue.
Finally, she gave Vision a magenta one, a color similar to the android’s skin.
“Thank you, Wanda” he said, admiring the embroidery.
“Let’s hang them above the fireplace” Steve said.
After they hanged the stocking they all called it a night, Steve left with Tony, reminding him of his promise of getting more sleep and pointing at his bandaged hand.
Bruce and Natasha left in silence, while Thor yawned loudly before heading to his room. Wanda kissed Vision’s cheek and said goodnight, Vision left after giving the rest a nod. Her brother muttered something.
“Goodnight, Brother” Wanda said, “Sleep well, Clint” She then left.
“I’m not liking this whole Vision obsession” Pietro huffed.
“Pietro” Clint warned.
“But” Pietro said, “It’s just-“
“Please” Clint said.
“Sorry” the young man said.
“Goodnight, Pietro” Clint smiled at him.
“Goodnight” he said quietly before leaving to his room.
Clint went back to his room after a few minutes and waited. He knew the younger (Much younger than his forty four years) would wait for all the lights in the house to be off so he could sneak out of his room and into Clint’s. After ten minutes his door opened and Pietro entered the room.
“Finally” Clint smiled, the younger man laid next to him, “Are you tired?”
“I guess” Pietro nodded, “Still, I can’t sleep”
“Nightmares?” Clint asked.
“Nightmares” Pietro confirmed.
They laid in silence for a while. Clint didn’t have a name for this, this thing Pietro and him had going on, but since the very first time he saw the man he felt curiosity for him. And when Pietro showed interest in him he couldn’t help but to let him in.
No one except for Natasha knew about their relationship, not even Wanda by Pietro’s decision, but everytime they had alone was the best part of Clint’s day.
Pietro kissed him first. A small peck that Clint accepted gladly.
They undressed slowly between kisses, Clint feeling the pale skin with the tip of his fingers. He liked the way Pietro whimpered when he kissed and bit his neck delicately and when he squeezed his hard butt not so much. Pietro would hold from his shoulders and occasionally run his nails on his back, trying and failing miserably not to moan.
He enjoyed the way Pietro fisted the sheets when he fingered him, like he was pulling him apart with just three fingers. He liked when he finally entered him and Pietro asked him to go slow, to take his time, and he did. He tortured him so sweetly whispering into his ear.
“Yes” Clint panted, “So good”
“Clint, Clint” Pietro nodded, “Yes, good, good”
“Ask me for more”
“Please, please”
And that did it for him.
He fucked Pietro long and deep all through his orgasm and then he would come inside of him kissing him softly in that spot behind his ear that made Pietro shiver. Pietro moved closer to him with his eyes close, hugging Clint by the waist, inhaling the smell of his neck.
Clint ran his fingers through the silver hair and kissed it. Pietro always had trouble sleeping, since the day he woke up from his comma and when he finally fell asleep he had nightmares, he started sleeping with Clint saying that it was the only way he could sleep in peace.
“It’s like drowning” Pietro closed his eyes and whispered, close to Clint’s ear.
Clint frowned, he never really talked about his nightmares, “It’s not real” he whispered back.
“No matter… It feels real” Pietro continued, “I think… It was” he said, “Where they had me, I don’t remember it, but I think it is what it was” Clint nodded.
“I could hear her” he added, “Wanda” He stared at the ceiling, Pietro’s head resting on his chest.
He held him closer and tighter, making sure Pietro knew he was there for him.
“Even before the experiments we had a special connection” Pietro swallowed, “Like I could see inside her head and she could see inside mine”
“She felt it” Clint said, “When you… when you…” he sighed heavily, “I heard her”
“It is like that with her” Pietro nodded, “Wanda talked to me often” he said, and Clint knew he meant when he was under, “You too” Clint had never told anyone about the times he visited Pietro at the facility.
He used to tell himself it was the guilt of him almost dying because of him, sometimes he just sat there and looked at Pietro, the pale face peacefully sleeping on the craddle. Other times, when Clint felt angry he scolded Pietro, he was just an old man he had met a few days before. Still Pietro almost gave his life for him. Stupidly enough.
“Thanks for that” Pietro said, and then yawned.
“Anytime” Clint said and kissed the top of Pietro’s head,
“Goodnight, Pietro” Clint said.
“Goodnight, Clint” he answered. After a few minutes Clint felt the man’s breathing slow down.
He laid then caressing his back softly. Something inside of him then told him this was alright, it couldn’t be bad if he felt so good. He kissed the top of Pietro’s head and smiled softly.
"My poor heart is so sentimental, Not made of wood"