Trouble Worth Waiting For
t was a lot of little things that led Pietro here, here being sat in front of his STARK pad, sticky with sweat, breathing heavily, flushing with guilt at the soiled tissue paper in his hand and mind filled with nothing but Clint Barton (not that the last part was that unusual).
Little thing #1: The way Tony jokingly referred to Clint as Sheriff. While it wasn't unusual for Tony to call all of them by nicknames (Pietro was still trying to talk him out of Sonic the Hedgehog), they were normally centred on a theme. For Clint, it was usually archery. Legolas, Katniss, Merida, Kili, Cupid. All of those names made sense but nothing got Clint more wound up than when Tony called him Sheriff.
Little thing #2: The banner celebrating Clint finally moving into the Avengers HQ permanently saying “Welcome to Sharktown” and the scowl on Clint's face when he saw it.
Little thing #3: The way every other Avenger broke out into peals of laughter over the comms, that time they were all fighting those damn turquoise aliens, when Clint had said they looked like trouble.
Little thing #4: The full body flinch that Clint had pulled at breakfast this morning when Wanda came in from her morning workout, still humming the P!nk song that she had been listening to in the gym.
All these little things led Pietro to google, and to the wonder that was the music video for “Trouble”.
Pietro hadn't been sure what he was seeing at first. The first fleeting glimpse of a lean, cowboy-hat wearing figure had made him pause.
That looked a little bit like....it can't be, can it? Jesus Christ, it is.
And so it was, twenty watches later, Pietro finds himself getting rid of the evidence that shows just how good he thinks Clint looks in leather pants, eyeliner and cowboy-hat.
Oh crap, he realises, he's never going to be able to look Clint in the eye again.
*
That damn video was going to haunt Clint for the rest of his life.
It had been an assignment, he had been undercover and it's not his damn fault that the damn casting director had fallen for his act.
He can always tell when someone finds out. It's obvious from the way they can't quite meet his eyes for a while without laughing, the constant knowing smirk that they suddenly takes up residence on their face or the second-hand embarrassment that meant they couldn't stay in a room with him for a few days.
It was only a matter of time before the newbies knew. Sam had found out first (obnoxious laughter), followed shortly by Rhodey (embarrassed eye-avoidance). Vision had congratulated him on a moving performance and Wanda had secretly admitted to him that she recognised him as soon as she saw him.
That had left Pietro as the only person in the damn building that didn't know.
Until today. When Pietro had gone rigid, cereal-filled spoon frozen halfway to his mouth as Clint went about his morning search for coffee.
It was to be second-hand embarrassment, then.
Except, there's something slightly different about the flush in Pietro's cheek, in the way that he breathes sharply through his nose, in the stiffening of his spine, in the dilating of his pupils, in the - - he liked it, Pietro had watched that stupid video and actually liked it.
Well, Clint could definitely work with this.
Forcing a bland look on his face, Clint casually went about his morning ritual, making sure to pick the breakfast stool next to Pietro.
Reaching out, making sure that his arm brushed against Pietro as much as possible, for the milk, he leans forward and whispers in Pietro's ear. “Y'know, I still have the outfit.”
As he sits back with his Lucky Charms and watches Pietro try to will away his growing arousal, Clint feels deeply satisfied.
He'd always hoped that damn video would make it up to him one of these days.