Chapter 5
Clint Coulson was nervously bouncing his knee when Maria entered the interrogation room which immediately got her attention. She also noticed the hearing aid and the scratches and scars all over his face and arms.
“My name is Detective Maria Hill. Do you need an interpreter or are we good to speak like this?”
“No. I mean, yes. I mean, we’re good.”
“Clint…” she began and sat down, “One of your friends told me that you had an argument with Sharon Carter not so long ago. What did you argue about, Clint?”
The boy’s eyes grew wide and his cheeks flushed red as he stuttered, “Well…I mean…it wasn’t…” He blinked. Once. Twice. Took a deep breath, and started anew, “Sharon saw something and jumped to the wrong conclusions…”
It was a few days after Steve’s party…it had been a good party, albeit a bit blurry after that fifth shot of Tequila...
Anyway…it was a few days after Steve’s party, and Steve was actually pretty sound, Clint had to admit, so were the twins, especially Pietro, even though he would never –
“Pay attention, Clint.”
He had walked straight into a glass door. Again.
“Ouch.”
Natasha let out a rather undignified snort and shook her head, but there was affection in her eyes and softness in her touch.
“You’re hopeless,” she whispered as she inspected Clint’s face.
“But you wouldn’t have me any other way…”
“True.”
It wasn’t often that Natasha showed this side of her in public. The caring side. The side that Clint felt so protective of, possessive even…not many people got to see that but he was one of them…
“Come on,” Natasha was all business again as she stepped back, “We’re late for lunch.”
And they were.
They usually avoided eating in the cafeteria. It was too crowded and the food was more like cardboard than anything else but today they had particular bad weather and no one really felt like leaving the warm safety of the building, so here they were.
The rest of the group was already sitting at the largest table right in the middle of the room – Tony being the centre of attention, as always, flanked by Pepper and Bruce, Sam was talking to Sharon, and Peggy was staring at something behind Clint’s back.
“Coulson! Fury!” Tony called out, pointing at two seats next to Pepper, at the same time, Peggy waved her hand and Clint turned around to see Steve, Wanda and Pietro approaching carefully.
“Eh, you can join too if you want.”
“How generous of you, Stark,” Steve bit out and for a second the whole table held its breath, waiting for the explosion…
It didn’t come.
Steve set down his tray as far away from Tony as possible and that was it. No problem.
The twins ended up opposite from Clint and Natasha and…well…that could very well be a problem.
Why?
Easy. Clint’s memories of the party might have been hazy but they very much existed and he could remember stormy eyes tracking their movements, a cheeky grin, hot skin and the taste of sweat. Clint gulped, tearing his eyes away from the mischievous glint in Pietro’s eyes and towards the sandwich in front of him.
“Do you mind if I try some?” a slightly accented voice asked and before Clint could protest, the blond had snatched one half of the sandwich off Clint’s plate and taken a generous bite, moaning obscenely. “Delicious.”
I’m hopeless…
Lunch was torture. Pietro kept eating in ways that should definitely not be allowed in public, and Natasha shamelessly joined in, biting the straw of her drink and winking when she caught him watching.
Lunch was torture but somehow he survived without anyone noticing his constant blush…or so he’d though –
“What’s going on between you and Pietro?” Sharon asked blatantly after she had dragged him behind a corner and all but pushed him against the wall.
“What?”
“You and Pietro,” she repeated, “What’s going on there?”
“Wh – what are you talking about?”
“I’m not stupid Clint, and Natasha is my friend, if you do anything to hurt her…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on…what?”
“I saw the way you two looked at each other just now,” the blond clarified and despite her small figure she was towering over Clint right now, intimidating and dangerous.
“Listen, Sharon, I don’t know what you’re thinking but I would never cheat on Nat.” he told her truthfully.
“Then maybe you should stop eye-fucking other people over your lunch.”
Clint wanted to reply something, anything, but nothing came to mind, and then there were steps approaching and one Peggy Carter rounding the corner.
“Sharon?” she asked, sounding confused and worried, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Sharon replied quickly and took a step back, “Let’s go, Peg.”
And go they did, leaving a highly confused and slightly scared Clint behind.
Clint was wringing his hands now, shifting in his seat, his knee moving the whole table.
“Was there something going on between you, Natasha and Pietro?” Maria asked.
“Kind of?”
“So you lied to Sharon.”
“No,” Clint shook his head, “I said I would never cheat on Nat, and I didn’t. Besides…It’s nobody’s business what we do with our relationship.”
“And what did you do with it?” Maria probed further, leaning forward.
“Nat and I decided to include Pietro in our sex life. He was up to it. It was fun and no one did anything without everyone’s consent.”
“Did anyone know about arrangement?”
“Eh…Wanda might have?” It sounded more like a question than an answer. “She gave us the cold shoulder and I know she and Pietro had a pretty big fight but…I don’t know…It was none of my business.”
“Clint…One of your friends disclosed that you and Natasha had a fight very recently.”
“I wouldn’t call it a fight.”
“What would you call it?”
“A disagreement,” he answered, “Natasha’s tough. Always acting like nothing gets to her, but really, she’s a big marshmallow. She gets insecure…and please don’t tell her I said that. She’d kill me. Anyway…a lot of things changed during the last few months and she doesn’t do well with change, y’know? Sets her on edge. Nat likes to know things. We worked it out though.”
“And Sharon? Did she confront you again after that first time?”
“Not like that, no. She kept watching me. I kept telling her to mind her own business.” The teenager shrugged.
“Thank you, Clint.”