"You're sure, you're okay with this?" Barney asked for what seemed like the millionth time.
Clint stared at him, long and hard, saying nothing. Being ignored was better than the strange text he'd received from Fury. What the hell had he meant by 'dibs'?
"Dude, he wouldn't be your best man, if you asked him," Kate said from her seat at the other end of the room.
Barney frowned, looking over at her and probably wondering how she'd gotten on the guest list again. He looked back at Clint. "You wouldn't?"
Clint opened his mouth to deny it.
"Oh he'd accept and then you two would butt heads and well, Natasha would be able to carry out her dibs on making sure you never hurt Clint again."
Barney twitched at the mention of Natasha, but then she'd put him through the ringer to ensure that he had in fact reformed and he was committed to Zinnia. Clint was fairly sure that Kate had been used for that mission, but he had not been privy to know the details.
"I don't like your friends," Barney said, softly.
Clint snorted. "I think the feeling is mutual."
"Which begs the question, why are they at my wedding?"
"Well, Phil is giving away Zinnia," Clint reminded him. Since her father had already passed, Zinnia had turned to her favorite cousin. "And I do believe that Natasha insinuated herself into Zinnia's life as a way to get close to you."
"To try and get me to cheat on Zin," Barney growled.
Clint shrugged, though he would be impressed if Barney had resisted Natasha if she pulled out all the seduction stops. He'd have to find out how far she'd taken it.
"That doesn't explain her," Barney said, gesturing to Kate.
"I'm here to keep Clint company while Phil is busy," Kate replied, smiling. "I have an invitation, it's even addressed to me."
Barney stared at her, eyes narrowing, before looking back at Clint. "I'm like 100% sure that the invitation is fake."
"And yet, she's on the seating chart," Clint pointed out.
Barney looked at him and stared for a moment. "How would you…? Fucking spies!"
Kate snort-laughed as Barney's groomsmen entered the room. Clint stood. "I think that's my cue. You'll do fine, you love her. What could go wrong?"
"She could leave me at the altar," Barney pointed out.
"True," Clint said with a nod. "And Steve is still single, so is Sam."
"Jane broke up with Thor," Kate added.
"Oh, Thor would be a good one to set Zinnia up with if she ditches Barney." Clint glanced over his shoulder to see Barney glaring at him. Clint gave him a wide grin and exited the room.
"She's totally not going to leave him," Kate pointed out once they were out of the room.
"Course not, those two work," Clint agreed.
"Think we should head to the sanctuary?" Kate asked. She glanced at her watch. "We've got like… thirty minutes?" She groaned.
Clint chuckled, and paused as he rounded the corner to find Phil and Natasha speaking. He frowned, taking in the body language and fuck, something was up. "What's the matter?"
The two looked at him, before looking back at one another. Phil nodded slightly and Natasha turned on one elegant heel and walked off.
Clint arched his eyebrow as he looked at Phil.
"Don't worry about it, it's being handled," Phil said.
Clint's eyes narrowed.
"I promise, everything is under control," Phil replied, leaning in to give Clint a quick kiss.
"If it's under control, then why won't you tell me?" Clint murmured.
"Because there's a chance nothing will happen," Phil said. He sighed. "I promise to tell you after the wedding, but before the reception."
Clint sighed. "Fine." He looked over at Kate. "Guess, we should find our seats then."
Clint scanned the vestibule as he entered, noting the stairs to the balcony and well, he only knew one blonde that wore her hair in amazing braids and she was carrying something up into the balcony. Phil had called in a reserve player. Clint mentally went over the wedding plan that he'd listened to and no one was supposed to be up in the balcony, except the videographer and the organist.
Clint escorted Kate into the sanctuary and Clint knew they were expected to be closer to the front, but he pulled Kate into the first row without the balcony above. He figured it would make things easier for Yelena after all. Zeke spotted him from up front and arched an eyebrow and Clint smiled at him. The Palmers were still nervous about him, especially Hannah and Charlie.
Clint scanned the area, noting possible points of entry and twitched that the main entry was behind him. There were multiple upfront near the altar. He blinked and yes, there were a few of Tony's mini-cameras spread throughout the sanctuary. He tilted his head up, but he hadn't positioned himself to see who else might be in the balcony, but he had a feeling that Yelena wasn't alone up there. Five minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, Natasha slid in next to Clint. He scanned her over, but nothing looked different.
The groom and the groomsmen entered the church and lined up. Next came the Maids of Honor and the Flower Girl, Little Gracia. Zinnia and Barney's son was just learning to walk and was being taken care of by Zinnia's mother. Then the Wedding March began and they all stood as Zinnia walked down the aisle on Phil's arm. The wedding progressed and dear Lord, Clint had no idea how long these things actually were.
"If anyone has an objection…" the priest started to say.
"I do," a voice came from the back. "More because I don't think the bride wants to be a widow so soon."
"Duquesne," Clint hissed softly. The man had one sword out with more strapped to his side. In his off-hand, he carried a dagger. The sword he was flourishing in a threatening manner.
"Yes," Natasha hissed, darting away from Clint and into the aisle.
"Well, Barney, it appears your time is up." Duquesne said as he started walking down the aisle. "I intend to… Who the hell are you?"
"Someone who has wanted to meet you for a long time, but you've been safely behind prison bars."
Duquesne stared at her, clearly unsure of how to progress. "You're going to defend Barton?"
"I intend to do exactly what you did to him."
"My dear girl, Barney betrayed me," Duquesne said, in a patronizing tone.
"Didn't say it was Barney," Natasha said.
"Hey asshole," Clint yelled and launched a hymnal at him. Duquesne had to dodge, which gave Natasha the distraction she needed to get in under his guard. She bounced, thighs wrapping around his head and taking him down. Clint winced as Natasha twisted to grab his sword arm and then yanked. Clint heard the pop and Natasha moved to the other arm, only then did she tumble away, popping up and pulling out a hand gun.
Jacques stared at her from where he lay on the floor.
"Arms good enough Clint?" Natasha asked. "I know he broke your legs, but…"
"Fine with me."
"Good," Natasha said. "Give me a reason, Jacques, and I'd be happy to also repay the concussion you gave Clint."
"That was Barney," Jacques groaned.
"But you put him up to it," Natasha replied. "Time for you to go back to prison."
"Wait, I do have a message for the bride from her cousin," Jacques said as Yelena was there to help him to his feet and… Where the fuck had Triplett come from?
"My cousins are here," Zinnia said, voice cold.
"All of them?" Jacques asked. "Because, I'm pretty sure poor Allan was most upset to learn that he wasn't invited to your nuptials."
It was Zeke that stepped out into the aisle. "You know where Allan is?"
"I know where he was. He says to enjoy the day as best you can, though I suppose I'll be leaving the part about the groom's death off of his message. He says the next time you'll be gathering will be at his dear brother's fun.."
His body slumped as Natasha fired the Icer at him.
"He's just stunned," Natasha said, letting Trip and Yelena pull him from the room and no doubt to an awaiting van outside the church. "I apologize for the interruption. Shall we continue?"
Zeke stared at her as she moved next to Clint and sat down. He glanced back toward Zinnia and Barney, who shared a look before nodding. Zeke took his seat again.
The priest nervously stepped forward again. "I… where were we?"
"You were asking if there were any objections," Zinnia said. "And I'd remind those gathered that she's on my side and I do very much want to marry Chuck."
"I'm pretty sure 'dibs' would start being called on me, if I tried to leave now," Barney said. "And well, I'm pretty sure Phil had dibs on taking care of Duquesne, so we know what happens when Natasha doesn't have dibs, so…"
"Actually, I ceded them for the ceremony," Phil said from his seat.
Barney and Zinnia turned to look at him and Clint could just see him shrug. Barney shook his head. "That doesn't actually make me feel better."
The priest nodded. "How about we just skip over that part then…" With that he continued on with the wedding.
*
It was late at the reception when most of the guests had retired to their hotel rooms, because the Palmers had learned long ago to have a wedding at a hotel, so that they could drink and not worry about driving home. Clint had danced with Phil, Natasha, Kate, Yelena, and even snagged a few of the catering staff that he knew, since they'd been replaced with Shield Agents between the start of the wedding and the beginning of the reception. For now he was content to watch the festivities with Phil leaning against him.
Of course, he spotted the Palmer brothers making their way over to their empty table before Phil and nudged him alert. The brothers each grabbed a chair and sat across from them forming a little tribunal.
"So, we'd like to know who that was," Zeke said, opening up.
"Jacques Duquesne," Clint said. "One of my old mentors, I became more disillusioned and Barney worshiped. He was there when Barney pushed me down a flight of stairs, broke both my legs, and gave me a concussion. He was in jail."
"There was a jailbreak, which I was not informed about until just before the wedding," Phil said. "We figured Jacques might make an appearance."
"He mentioned Allan," Patrick said.
"Allan was in the same jail," Phil answered. "Allan is not a good person."
"Can confirm," Clint said. "Bastard led us on a not-so-merry chase through Reykjavik."
Phil hummed.
"It sounds like he's coming for you," Charlie pointed out.
"He can try," Phil said. "But he's going to have to get through a lot of people to get to me."
"Just wait until Tony finds out," Clint said.
Phil groaned, but he knew that StarkNet would be following him everywhere.
"Tony Stark?" Patrick repeated.
"Yeah, the guy that paid for all the catering staff to go have the night off, so that Shield Agents could take their place," Clint said.
Zeke nodded. "Wait, what?"
"Hi," Daisy said, turning from where she was cleaning the table. "I'm Daisy, Phil is like my mentor and I'm glad at least the reception has been mostly quiet."
"Mostly?" Patrick said.
"Well the good thing about having some Shield Agents on staff is we're able to get to the drunks a lot quicker and quieter than usual. Don't worry, they're all safe in their hotel room, sleeping it off." With that Daisy lifted her tray and slipped away toward the kitchen.
"I think I liked it better when we didn't know Phil was a secret agent," Patrick said, looking after Daisy.
"Hard to hide it when he's dating an Avenger," Charlie pointed out, giving Clint a side eye.
"Married to," Clint corrected.
"What?" All three heads turned to look at them. Zeke was curious, Charlie was glaring, and Pat looked sad.
"He asked," Clint said. "I wasn't going to give him a chance to change his mind. Are you kidding me? I dragged him right down to City Hall."
"But… why didn't you tell us?" Pat asked. "We would have come."
"I know," Phil said. "But if I invited you, then I'd have to invite the Avengers and way too many Shield Agents and then it would be a target…" He made a little hand motion. "I had Daisy and Melinda."
"I had Kate and Natasha," Clint said.
"Chuck know?" Charlie asked.
Clint shook his head. "I was saving it as a distraction for if he started panicking. I'll tell him when he gets back. Might fudge when we actually did it."
"Make it sound like they inspired us?" Phil asked.
"Yeah," Clint agreed. "Besides Pepper is going to throw a surprise reception sometime. Probably make us do a whole renewal ceremony."
"Will we get invited to that?" Pat asked.
"Definitely," Phil said with a nod.
"So Allan…?" Zeke said.
"I'll make sure you all have emergency contact buttons for if you see him," Phil said. "He's dangerous."
"What…?" Pat asked.
"Bombs, so many bombs… small ones, big ones," Clint sighed. "Mostly for hire though."
"You'll let us know," Charlie asked. "When you've got him?"
Phil nodded. "I will."
"I'm sure you did this to protect us, but… I don't like being kept in the dark about any of it," Charlie said and then stood and walked away.
"I'm just sad that you didn't trust us," Pat said and also got up to walk away.
Zeke looked at them. "Your lives are too chaotic to wait, so I can forgive you for the wedding." He sighed. "Allan…"
"Allan had cut contact, long before I arrested him," Phil pointed out. "I could have solved the mystery, but I didn't. He didn't disappear, because Shield disappeared him. He disappeared, because he wanted to."
Zeke stared at Phil, before nodding. "Thank you for sharing that. It makes things easier."
"Phil didn't tell me that Duquesne might be free and showing up at the wedding," Clint replied. "We deal in secrets."
"You still did what you needed to do," Phil said. "Gave Natasha the opening she needed. I would have had weapons stashed under your table. You would have been able to do more here."
Clint smiled. "You told Tasha?"
"She needed to take over my dibs, I had other responsibilities, and honestly, I wasn't completely sure that he wasn't going to come in with a gun."
Clint snorted. "Dude, has a hard on for swords. He was totally coming with a sword."
"Still… I needed someone closer to the door and that would be Natasha."
"You brought Yelena in as well," Clint pointed out.
"Yelena, Trip, and Yoyo," Phil admitted. "Trip was a surprisingly good organist."
"Yo Yo took the video?" Clint asked.
Phil snorted. "No, I released some of Tony's mini-cams to record everything." He looked over at Zeke. "Our people will edit the film and do what they can to lessen Duquesne's interruptions."
"Great," Zeke said, getting up with a shake of his head. "You two are crazy, you know that?"
"Yep," Phil agreed with a nod of his head.
That left Clint and Phil alone again. Well not truly alone, Clint spotted Kate and Yelena talking near the dessert table. Natasha was speaking with Melinda and Daisy was moving through the tables as well.
"Do you want an actual wedding?" Clint asked. "With friends and family?"
"We had friends and family at ours," Phil pointed out.
"Yeah, but…" Clint started. "Zeke and…"
"Clint," Phil said, shifting to look at him. "If I wanted something bigger, I would have said something. I like what we had. We'll let Pepper organize a big party though and Tony'll pay for it as his wedding gift."
"I thought you told them," Clint admitted.
"Nope," Phil said. "I was about to when Aunt Odette had her stroke and then we had to deal with the Skrulls and then the Kree and then both… It just didn't happen."
Clint hummed as Phil turned toward him and kissed him softly on the lips.
"I will deal with my cousins," Phil said, softly.
"Our cousins."
"I will deal with our cousins tomorrow, let's go upstairs and get some sleep, okay?"
"Okay," Clint agreed and let Phil haul him to his feet. He wasn't too surprised when Natasha and Melinda joined them in the hallway. Phil's life had been threatened and none of them were going to take that lightly.
"Fitz and Simmons said, no one has been near the room or inside it," Melinda said as they headed up the stairs. No way were they going to trust an elevator tonight. "They'll cut the active monitoring once you're in. Anyone opening the door or the windows will trigger it again. Code words to activate and reactivate are here." She passed them a piece of paper.
"Thank you," Phil said, holding the paper to Clint, so that he could catch a glimpse of it. It was handed back to Melinda who would no doubt destroy it.
"Fury is moving you to the Tower," Natasha said.
"Lovely," Phil muttered.
"You should be glad he's not trying to relocate you to Wakanda," Melinda pointed out. "Allan wouldn't be able to touch you there."
"We could honeymoon in Wakanda," Clint pointed out. "We haven't taken a honeymoon yet."
"Don't encourage them," Phil said with a soft sigh.
"Maria, Bucky, Steve, and Sam are already looking for Allan," Natasha added.
Phil paused and looked at all three of them. "Am I not in charge of this operation?"
"No." Three voices chorused in the stairwell.
Phil frowned, looking at Clint.
"Fury called dibs," Clint stated. "And I'd actually like a honeymoon in Wakanda, I've never been."
Phil groaned. "Can I make that decision tomorrow?"
"Yes," Melinda said. They exited the stairwell and Phil and Clint were made to wait outside while Melinda and Natasha scanned the room and only then were they allowed inside.
Clint turned as he entered, looking back at the two women and signed 'thank you'. Barney might be his only blood relative, but Clint definitely had a family that would protect him and everything and everyone he cared about.