Clint Barton does not exist.
Instead, a man broken and remade, a tool, a weapon with no name has taken his place.
To those who knew him, he simply vanished, disappeared without a trace. No explanation, no reason, he was just gone.
What Natasha Romanov and Phil Coulson did not know was that Clint Barton had been meeting someone in secret, he’d been doing it for years.
That someone was the Winter Soldier.
They’d encountered once on a mission, Clint had taken the Soldier’s kill.
The next time the Soldier had taken Clint’s.
Clint had only seen his arm the second time and come to the conclusion of who he was, they now had a bit of a grudge against one another.
So whenever Clint caught wind of a ghost he always made sure to leave him messages, after awhile, he started getting them back. They were rarely words, usually something only snipers could pick out, signs or misplaced markers. Something that only they seemed to get.
It was like a game.
Clint didn’t tell anyone, he was kind of worried of it stopping if he did, he wanted to do something to get this guy on their side. He figured the Winter Soldier was on the wrong side for a reason, Clint wanted to give him a good reason to come to the right side. Like he had Natasha.
But then things got a little out of his control.
The first time Clint encountered the man in person, it was an accident. But they stand there and stare at each other, the room is dark, there’s a table in the corner, the light from the streets flash over them each in turn. Finally the Winter Soldier speaks, muffled by the mask.
"You are Hawkeye." It’s not a question.
"Yeah," he replies, "I got your last-" he started a bit slowly, but then he was interrupted by a hand over his mouth.
"No," the soldier says, and then he was moving, tying to pull off Clint’s kevlar, Clint gets the hand off of him to gasp.
"What are you doing?" because that was not something he expected, he wouldn’t deny that he was maybe a little bit attracted to the guy, even though e had never actually seen his face. But the way he moved was enough to make his pants a little uncomfortably tight. But still.
There is a long pause, he can see the soldiers eyes, he’s not wearing the goggles today, too dark out. His eyes are blue, bright blue, and in them is something Clint didn’t expect.
"Please," is all the soldier says and Clint helps him take off his own clothes and then starts on the soldiers. It’s hurried, rushed, too quick. It wasn’t enough, but all they could do. Soon they were dressed again and separating as if nothing had happened.
He’s looked so desperate for something, anything other than what he’s used to, he needed Clint. Clint couldn’t deny him. He figured the soldier was kept on a tight leash. This was his act of defiance.
But it happened more and more, and more. Clint got so caught up, he wanted the other man so much, he barely knew him, but he felt like he should.
They have a few close calls, but Clint saved the soldier, and the soldier saved him, they make a decent team in more ways than one, if only they had the same insignia.
He always forgot to ask, that was until Natasha saw one of the bruises that damn -Clint actually really liked- metal hand had left on his hip. It was hard to miss, it was purple, and hand shaped.
He was able to tell her it was something he was working on, it wasn’t a lie, he was going to try and bring him in. For SHIELD, work for the good guys.
The last time Clint met him, he was going to offer him the chance, he’d seen him in the corner of the room, sitting, waiting, face neutral. Clint knew what that meant, he’d had something done to him that made it harder for him to remember. They still managed to make it through though. Clint must have been memorable. That was a lot of things Clint wasn’t willing to admit.
Looked a little worse this time though if the way his eyes stayed on him like he was a threat, but that wasn’t anything new. He stepped in, putting his bow and quiver on the table, easy, telegraphing his movements he stepped over to the other man and then slowly sinks to his knees, lets him know who is in control at that moment.
"Hey, soldier," he said easily, he didn’t have a name, so that was what Clint called him. There was a long pause, Clint worried for a moment but then there was a metal hand on his cheek, he smiled and then leaned up a little bit, mirroring the move gently, then he pulled him forward into a soft questioning kiss, it takes less as long this time for a reaction.
Lips moved against each other, it was slow and gentle, Clint pulls back to ask a question, but doesn’t get the chance as suddenly something is stuck in his neck, it works fast, and Clint can only look at the soldiers face in shock as he blacked out.
Clint disappeared after that. Natasha can’t find him. Coulson can’t get anything. He is simply gone.
The truth however was that they had been found out by the wrong people and it had to be fixed. However, Clint Barton was too valuable to simply kill, so he was put to use by Hydra.
Clint Barton was wiped away, in a cold and damp underground, his memories were taken, all of them; of Natasha and Coulson; of Barney and the circus; of SHIELD and Fury; of his soldier and their time spent together, it was all gone. His personality. His free will. Every piece of Clint Barton was striped away to create another asset.
He had no name, nothing to be tracked. Nothing to be documented.
They were kept separated, they never saw each other. One in cryo while the other was carrying out a mission. They were never let out at the same time until things became more difficult.
SHIELD was no longer a secret, Hydra had to work twice as hard to carry out its’ missions undetected. They needed both of their assets taking care of their problems.
It was only meant for them to meet again.
At first there is no recognition, only that they both work for the same person.
But the sniper notices a scar on the soldiers neck, it looked familiar, like he had seen it many times before. The soldier knows of the sniper, knows he uses bows and arrows to carry out his missions. He’s never seen them before and seeing them now, it makes him thing that he’s not only seen them, he’s held them.
It is a very long stand off as neither of them move a muscle but slowly, the sniper takes off his quiver and bow and put them off to the side, like it was something he was used to doing.
The soldier removed his mask, he stepped forward and then placed his hand on the sniper’s cheek, like his body was telling him to, the other man relaxed immediately.
It only took their eyes connecting for the kiss to start. The rest that follows is only natural, something they need.
They make a perfect team and nothing can keep them apart.