Clint sighs as he looks out at the New York skyline from the roof of Avengers Tower. “You okay Birdbrain?” Clint turns his head slightly and sees Tony walking over to him. Clint shrugs in response than turns his gaze back to the skyline. Tony sits next to him, “Jarvis told me you’ve been up here since noon.” Clint shrugs again. Tony sighs, “What’s wrong Clint?” Clint glances down and sighs, “I miss some people.”
Tony raises an eyebrow, knowing Clint would never admit anything without some pushing. Tony looks Clint over. The archer has never told the team anything personal, “Who?” Clint looks up, meeting Tony’s gaze, “I’m in a three way relationship. Both guys are people I met on the job. I love them both so much and they love me back.” “What’s the problem then?” Tony asks gently.
Clint sighs again, “Fury frowns upon it. He doesn’t like me having connections to past cases. So, whenever I try to see them, Fury sends me on a mission. One lives in Los Angeles, the other in DC. Natasha tries to help but there’s only so much she can do.” Tony growls in frustration, “That’s not right. How long have you guys been together?” “Jim, who lives in LA, about 12 years, Ethan, who lives in DC, 4 years and three way for 4 years. Ethan and Jim surprisingly love each other too.” Clint says as he holds the rings on the chain around his neck. Tony smiles softly, “Can I see?” Clint thinks for a second, then reaches behind his neck, unclasping the chain and holding it out to Tony. The chain contains three rings and two pairs of dog tags.
Tony accepts the chain and looks at the rings, reading the names, “You three really love each other, don’t you?” Clint smiles, “As much as you, Pepper, and Steve love each other.” Tony blushes slightly, handing the chain back to Clint. Clint takes it and puts it back on. “I’m going back in, it’s freezing out here.” Tony says, getting up and turns towards Clint, “You coming?” “I’m going to stay up here for a while.” Tony nods, “Don’t stay up here too long Tweety.” Clint shakes his head at the nickname as he watches Tony disappear through the door. Clint gets up an hour later and heads inside for sleep.
The Next Morning
Clint wakes up after a sleepless night. Another nightmare about Croatia. He thought those dreams had stopped. Clint glances at his clock, reading 7:06 am. He sighs, realizing the date. 5 years, he has been with Jim and Ethan. Clint gets up and heads to his bathroom for a shower.
After his shower, Clint gets dressed and heads to the kitchen. As soon as Clint arrives, he heads straight for the coffee pot. Noticing the note, Clint picks it up and reads,
‘Merida, go to the common room. I have a surprise. Surprise first, coffee later. Love, Tony’
Clint groans but follows Tony’s instructions and walks into the common room. He is met with the Avengers standing in a line, blocking something. Clint raises an eyebrow, “Not freaky at all.” Tony glances at the other Avengers before speaking, “We have a surprise for you.” “I know, you said that in the note.” Clint retorts, stretching his arms. Tony glances around again, “We hope you like it.” He says as him and the Avengers step aside, revealing Jim Street and Ethan Hunt.
Clint stood still, in complete shock than snaps out of it, running and jumping on Jim, who was closer to Clint. Jim catches him and laughs. Ethan puts an arm around Jim to keep his lovers from falling over. Clint kisses Jim softly, not paying attention to his teammates as they disappear from the common room, trying to give them space. Clint pulls away and leans over and kisses Ethan just as softly. When Clint pulls back, he has a big smile plastered on his face.
“What are you guys doing here?” Jim and Ethan smile. “Happy anniversary.” They whispered. Clint nuzzles into Jim’s neck and mumbles it back.
“Tony called us and said that you were depressed.” Ethan tells Clint, resting his hand on Clint’s back. “I’ve been having nightmares of Croatia again.” Clint whispers. Ethan and Jim look at each other, worried. Jim tightens his grip on Clint while Ethan moves his hand to grasp Clint’s. Clint smiles.
The three stay like this for a few minutes until Tony walks in hesitantly, “Sorry to interrupt but Fury is here.” Clint tightens his grip on both his lovers, worried about the impending doom. The rest of the Avengers including Coulson walk in, and stands in front of the three as Fury walks in.
Jim sets Clint down and wraps his arms around Clint’s waist. Clint smiles as both his lovers kiss his head. Natasha looks at her partner, worried, knowing Ethan and Jim have never seen Clint being yelled at and sees Clint sharing the same look.
Clint turns his head to look at Fury. “Why are you here?” Tony asks, not even trying to cover up his irritation. Fury looks around at the Avengers, his eye landing on Clint, who was huddled against Jim’s chest. “I was coming to get our snarky, loudmouth archer for a mission.”
Natasha glares at the man standing in front of her. Bruce takes a deep breath, trying to remain calm. “Mission my ass.” Tony scoffs. Clint looks up at his lovers and sees anger in their eyes. “After what happened yesterday, Clint can’t go out on a mission.” Steve argued.
“Why do you have against today? I mean you always send Barton out on this day.” Coulson says. Fury shrugs in response.
“I think he has a problem with what today represents.” Natasha says, stepping so she’s in Fury’s face. “I thought SHIELD was okay with gay relationships.” Bruce says. “We are.” Coulson responds.
Clint closes his eyes and focuses on the feel of his lovers. “Barton, we need to go.” Fury growls. Clint tightens his grip on Ethan, who was pressing his body against Clint’s left side, shaking his head. Fury lets out a huff of breath in annoyance.
Natasha and Tony step in front of the three. “What do you have against them being together?” Tony asks, finally getting to the point. Fury looks at Natasha, who has a murderous glare on her face. “I don’t.” Fury replies, trying to stay calm.
At that response, Clint glances around, looking at his teammates reactions. “Sure you don’t. We’ll go with that.” Tony says, turning slightly to look at Clint. He smiles softly as he sees how happy the archer is. “We really need to go.” Fury says, looking directly at Clint.
“No. I want to know why you always send me away on my anniversary.” Clint says, glaring defiantly up at Fury. “You know why Clint.” Tony growled, knowing the answer. “”Actually I don’t. He has never said it aloud, just implied it.” Clint retorts, with irritation dripping into his voice.
“No ties to past cases.” Fury finally responds with. Tony cleared his throat, “After my talk last night with Clint, I went and hacked SHIELD records and found that about 35 of your agents are romantically involved with people from past cases. Interesting enough Clint was a part of the only gay pairing. So, I don’t know what to make of that.”
“That sounds like you aren’t okay with gay relationships to me.” Ethan says, speaking for the first time. Fury turns to Ethan, “I don’t believe we’ve met.” Also looking at Jim, who still had Clint in his arms. Jim glares, when Fury catches his eye. “No, I don’t believe we have.” Ethan responds coldly. Fury raises his good eyebrow.
“Director Fury.” Holding out his hand. Ethan stares at his hand before reaching out and shaking it. “Ethan Hunt.” “IMF’s golden boy.” Clint mumbles. Jim chuckles and kisses Clint’s head. Ethan smirks at Clint’s remark.
Fury turns and looks at Jim, “And you are?” Jim raises an eyebrow, “Jim Street.” Jim doesn’t take the hand that is offered. Fury drops his hand, then turns back to Ethan, “I don’t have a problem with same-sex relationships.” “Then you have an issue with Ethan and I.” Jim retorts. Fury sighs in defeat. When glancing around, Fury notices that the Avengers are all in defense mode.
“Why do you have a problem with them?” Coulson asks, coming forward to stand in front of his boss. “None of your business.” Fury responds with as he heads back to the elevator. Fury was gone before Tony could say anything.
Ethan looks at Jim and Clint and smiles. Jim lets go of Clint as he goes to cling to Ethan. Clint looks up at his teammates, “Thank you so much.” Tony smiles and kneels down in front of Clint, “You deserve to be happy, just like the rest of us.”