“You know,” Natasha begins as she walks beside Clint, startling the archer out of his thoughts. “Staring at him isn’t going to do anything. When are you going to pluck up the courage to ask him out?”
“What?” Clint asks, his eyes widen as he looks over at Natasha. “I can’t-!”
“And why not?” Natasha demands. “I don’t see a problem here.”
“Natasha, are you crazy? I can’t just go and ask him out. That’s insane. What if he says no, and then he never talks to me again because he thinks I’m a freak? I can’t risk ruining our friendship.”
Natasha frowns. “Sam would not think you’re a freak. He’s very open-minded. He’s bisexual himself!”
“Sam’s bisexual?” Clint asks, blinking a few times.
“Oh, honestly, do you even pay attention to anything at all, Clint? This is the man you have a crush on, for Christ sake,” Natasha says, shaking her head.
“Who are we talking about?” Steve asks curiously, walking up to the two.
“Clint has a crush on Sam, and is too scared to do anything about it,” Natasha says without hesitation.
“Natasha!” Clint exclaims, glaring at her. “Quit telling my secrets to everyone!”
“Wait, seriously?” Steve asks, looking over at Clint with raised eyebrows. “Sam literally never shuts up about you. Pretty sure the feelings are mutual, but he’s too scared to do anything about it.”
“Well, I guess you two have more in common than you think,” Natasha smirks at Clint.
Clint continues glaring at her. “I can’t just go over there and ask him out!”
“Oh, yes you can, Clint, and you will. I’m tired of watching you mope around and not doing anything about your crush on birdbrain over there. You’re a grown ass adult. There’s no time for these little games,” Natasha warns, though her tone isn’t harsh at all. She grabs Clint and shoves him towards Sam.
Steve raised his eyebrows as he looks at Natasha. “Clint’s going to kill you, you know that, right?”
“Maybe, or he’ll think me later when things work out between him and Sam,”
“You really think he’s actually going to ask Sam out? They’ve been pining over each other for like a year,” Steve frowns. “I’ve been trying to convince Sam to ask Clint out, but he’s worried about being rejected.”
“So is Clint. Well, it’s mostly about ruining their friendship. But, I have faith in our bird bros,” Natasha says.
Steve chuckles at the bird nicknames. “Nat, you spend far too much time on social media,”
Clint takes a deep breath as he hesitantly makes his way over to Sam, who’s just finished working out. They were just finishing up their team training, something they’ve started doing every Wednesday since the Avengers got together. Surprisingly, the team bonding helps. They’ve gotten better doing missions.
“Hey,” Sam greets, shaking Clint out of his thoughts. “What’s up?”
“Um,” Clint nervously scratches the back of his neck as he tries to think of how to go about this, because it’s been too long since he’s asked anyone out, always using his job as an excuse for not dating anyone. He looks over and glares when he sees Natasha and Steve watching him closely. He sighs and then he looks back over at Sam. “Look, I wasn’t planning on doing this, but Nat seriously won’t leave me alone, and she’s right. I am getting too old to be waiting around for shit like this, and I-”
“Clint, you’re rambling. What’s going on, man?” Sam asks worriedly.
“Okay, here’s the thing. I sort of, well… maybe have a small- no, scratch that, major crush on you, and would kind of like to take you out sometime on a date? I mean, you can say no. You’re probably not interested in me like that anyways despite what Steve said, but I just thought-”
Sam’s eyes widen slightly as he stares at Clint. “You want to take me out?”
“Yes?” Clint replies, suddenly unsure of himself. He wishes he could run, but he has a feeling Natasha and Steve wouldn’t let him leave if he tried. “I mean, yes. I- I would like to take you out. On a date.”
Sam smiles. “Okay,” he says, taking a deep breath “Okay. Yeah, wow. I’ve- I’ve actually been wanting to ask you out for a long time now, but I’ve got this thing with rejection. I had no idea-” He clears his throat. “My answer is yes. I’ll go on a date with you.”
Clint grins. “Great! How does Friday sound? There’s that new pizza place Thor has been raving about,”
“That sounds perfect,” Sam chuckles. “Pick me up at six?”
“Six o’ clock.” Clint confirms with a nod, trying to ignore his heart beating fast in his chest.
“Alright. I’ll see you in two days then,” Sam says, smiling at Clint one last time before walking away.
Clint lets out a breath he’s been holding in. He looks over when Natasha starts cheering for him, and glares at her once again. “I don’t want to hear a word from either of you”
Steve smirks. “Yeah, right. We’re never going to shut up about this. Wait until Tony hears about this!”
Clint groans, running a hand over his face. “Why am I friends with these people?”