That Time Clint was Naked
When Clint walked out of his bedroom - fully nude and covered in love bites - Natasha was sitting on his couch. Her arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised. He had promised that they were going to speak about it, and then he had fucked off to Brasil for a week after she'd brought him the dossier, and then he had avoided Natasha like the plague for two more weeks.
She was decidedly not okay with that.
It would have been nice to have the conversation when he had clothing on though. And when Bucky Barnes wasn't asleep and equally nude in his bedroom.
'In my defense, I didn't know I was into dudes,' he signed, fully resigned to the fact that he could not escape, 'and then this happened.' He motioned to his chest once he had finished what he wanted to say. She would understand.
'You didn't read the file I brought you.' She had a fantastic skill for coming across as judgmental even through sign language. He was jealous of anyone who could that because he certainly lacked the ability and he’d known how to sign since he was a kid and his father had beaten the hearing out of him. He didn’t think he deserved judgment for wanting to learn about Bucky the normal way.
He spotted Bucky's boxer briefs on the floor of the kitchen and grabbed them. Keeping his eyes locked on Natasha he tugged them up onto his own body. It felt less shameful when he wasn't rocking it with his cock out. 'I'm sleeping with him.' He told her as soon as he was adequately covered.
'Shocking, I had no idea.'
'I'm not ready to talk about it.' He told her, knowing that even though she wouldn't want to, she would respect it. There had been very few things in their relationship they simply didn't want to talk about at the time. Having boundaries was healthy. 'It's new to me too.'
'We're going to talk about it later.' He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that, eventually, he'd have to talk about it. It wasn't the right time yet. 'Are your hearing aids charged? Steve wants you to come to Germany with us today.'
He closed his eyes and tried to remember the status of his hearing aids. He'd been wearing them the night before when Bucky had shown up at his door. Bucky had been the one to remove them before they went to the bedroom. Bucky had put them on the charger. 'Yeah, Buck charged them.' Casually mentioning his burgeoning relationship was the best way to get comfortable, he thought.
Maybe.
Natasha raised an eyebrow again, her eyes moving towards the bedroom. She smirked - never a good sign - and Clint followed her gaze. There in the doorway was stood a nude Bucky Barnes, his one hand over his shoulder as though it could cover the fact that he was missing an arm. Clint felt a pang in his chest knowing that Bucky’s first instinct was to try and cover his scarring rather than his junk.
Natasha waved at him and said something Clint didn't quite catch. Probably something humiliating that would keep Bucky from ever coming back. He grabbed one of his aids and slipped it over his ear, wanting to know at least what was going on around him.
"I should head out," Bucky told him as he backed into the bedroom.
"Let me, um," Clint looked between Natasha and Bucky's retreating form and dashed towards the bedroom. He closed the door behind him and looked at Bucky. The other man had dropped onto the bed and was staring up at him.
Clint tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. "I kinda thought I'd meet your friends while fully dressed," Bucky said, rubbing at the scarring on his shoulder. "She's way scarier up close. Way hotter than I expected."
Clint sat down next to him, resting a hand on Bucky's thigh, "now she's positive that you're out of my league." He could be a good romantic interest, and he could comfort Bucky. Then he could die on the way to Manhattan. He reached over and took Bucky's hand into his, carefully pulling it away from his shoulder. "You don't have to be embarrassed. Of these, or anything else."
"I know." He looked over at Clint, his eyes on their hands, "I'm just used to hiding them."
Clint pressed a palm to Bucky's palm, keeping their eyes locked, "They're just another part of you."
"Not my favorite part," Bucky shrugged his shoulders, the corners of his mouth pressing in. If they continued whatever it was that they were doing, then Clint figured they would address the scar issue. Clint had plenty of things that made him feel inadequate as well. He couldn't criticize Bucky for being self-conscious about his injury.
He wanted to say something sappy, but it would have been embarrassing. He reigned it in and gave Bucky a small smile. "They don't have to be, it's okay."
"What a charmer." Bucky took his hand back from Clint and pressed it against his ear, careful not to jostle the hearing aid.
Clint snorted, "you know, no one has ever said that about me before. Not even the ex-wives."
Bucky frowned at Clint’s words. He knew about Clint’s past romantic failures, but probably didn’t like hearing about them. Especially considering they were all women. They had never specifically addressed Clint’s fully female past, but he thought it would make sense. “I think you’re charming.”
He stood up suddenly, unable to handle the heat rising in his chest. Compliments were terrible things he would never grow used to getting. "I'll call you when I get back from doing arrow shit. You can stay here if you want.” He grabbed the first pair of jeans he saw and a random purple shirt and rushed out of the room.
---
“My little locust.” Natasha mused as she sped down the highway. Clint frowned at her. Why did he have to be a locust of all things? "You remember the last time you didn't read my file?"
"You said he's not a Nazi." He crossed his arms over his chest. Apparently 'I'm not ready to talk about it' only went so far. She shouldn't have changed the rules without telling him.
"He's not right for you."
He shrugged his shoulders, "let me make the mistake then."