Clint and Steve talk about Coulson
Steve stops in the kitchen doorway when he sees Clint sitting rather morosely at the kitchen table. He's about to turn and go back when Clint looks up and sees him, so he smiles faintly and goes for a cup of coffee. "Surprised anyone else is up," he says casually, leaning against the counter.
Clint shrugs, looking back at his own cup. "I can't sleep."
"Something wrong?"
"I'm kind of worried about Coulson, I guess." He wishes that he could talk to someone without being so vague, but nobody really knows about them.
"This is a little extreme for 'kind of worried', you know."
That earns him a short, pointed glare. "Look, man, it's a little more complicated than you think, all right? I can't really talk about it."
"I understand, you know," Steve says softly, "what it feels like to lose someone who's important to you."
"He's not gone," Clint mutters, getting up to refill his cup.
Steve throws an arm around his shoulders. "No, he's not. But he almost was, and that's worry enough on its own. We still don't know how things are looking, even, but I have faith that he'll pull through." To his surprise, Clint leans against him instead of pushing him away.
"He has to. He's made it through other unlikely scenarios. But I can't find anything out about what things are looking like right now. They aren't letting any of us in."
Suddenly, he gets an idea. "You think they'd really turn down Captain America?"
Clint laughs, then. "As much as Coulson idolizes that guy? I doubt it."