"This here is a Youkai," Tony showed him the ball of a white fur on his right hand. The...Youkai smiled at him, blushing and wiggling his butt cutely, "and this is the Ghost," then pulled a transparent person with a chain dangling from his chest to him, grinning happily. The ghost in question looked scared at the sudden attention and sweat himself.
Clint nodded, still speechless.
After the shock of knowing one of Tony's kid was a ghost (like, seriously, Stark? Can you at least adopted one that is still alive?) the brunette immediately brought him into his underground lab. He showed him to the kids lounging around with so much pride, Clint felt like he was some kind of a prize. Everyone present gave him various stares—happy (the dark-blue haired teen, his pet, and Ichigo's brown-haired sister), curious (the platinum-blonde haired and the blonde with kimono teens), suspicious (the trio that helped them ended the invasion, Ichigo's black-haired sister, and the...tubby cat?)—and Clint felt self-conscious all of the sudden.
Hope he didn't give that bad of an impression; he only wear a black T-shirt and a worn out jeans.
The first one who voiced their opinion was the goth girl. Her purple orbs stared at him accusingly, hands fingering her small weapon that was strapped like a bracelet on her wrist, "what if he was only pretending? He said he quit SHIELD but he didn't have any proof."
Well, she was right. It was not like Clint could just copy his resignation form and brought the paper with him as the evidence. The moment the letter was in Director Fury's hand, he must've shredded it into pieces; to erased the fact that Clint was ever the member of the secret agency. He nodded in satisfaction despite himself though. That means the kid will not swallow the words of a stranger just like that. A must trait in the world they were living in right now.
"Don't worry, the Mistress didn't say anything about him," Tony swiveled his attention to the skeleton ghost and tilted his head, "right?"
"He's going to be a great addition to your circle of friend, Tony." Her voice reverberated inside the closed lab, Clint unconsciously shivered.
"Oh," the goth girl rose one of her eyebrows at that before she shrugged, "okay then, if the Mistress said so."
"Wait, what?" Clint instantly spoke. That was...an incredible change of heart, it was incredulous, "that's it? You believe me just like that? Because of her?"
"Boy, that her you're talking about is not a mere woman," the cat on the blonde-platinum kid's head spoke, startling Clint. He must be one of the Youkai then. That was why a supposed normal cat stared at him so suspiciously, "that woman over there is the Mistress of Death. The very leader of all Shinigami in the world. Basically, she's a God."
Clint's brain went to a halt at that.
A God.
A God of Death at that.
On Tony's shoulder.
"You just fried him, Nyan-Nyan," Tony whined, shaking the archer's shoulder, "it's funny tho' so I appreciate it~"
"Wait, hold up. Hold the fuck up!" Clint, finally awake, pointed his trembling finger to the skeleton, "you said that you have a Shinigami on your shoulder—"
"For two years~"
"For two years!" he shrilled. Almost, "And you haven't...dead yet?"
Silence.
Shit.
"Ah, sorry! I-I didn't mean to imply that Tony should be dead or something!" God, he fucked up so bad! Goodbye, his potential job. It was nice knowing you even though Tony hasn't told him what kind of job he'll get, "Just—"
"Ah, don't worry, Clint-san," the platinum-blonde finally spoke—Japanese. Clint was glad he took a mission in that country once. He smiled, hands in the air as a silent gesture to calm down, "you're not the only one who thought that. We were just surprised because nobody said that anymore. Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves, even after the battle, haven't we? My name's Takashi Natsume. And this fat cat" ('hey!') "is Nyanko-sensei. Nice to meet you."
"Name's Haruitsuki Abeno," the blonde in kimono drawled, smirking amusedly, "don't be so jumpy, Clint-san. We already have a jumpy kid here, we don't need another one."
"Are you talking about me, Abeno-san? You're cruel!" the dark-blue haired boy exclaimed, tears started flowing. When Haruitsuki didn't even deign him exist, he just sighed in frustration before he turned to the archer and smiled, "my name's Hanae Ashiya. And this is Fuzzy," he introduced himself and the Youkai on his hand, "nice to meet another one who can See!"
"I'm Karin and this is Yuzu," the tomboy of the smallest kids said, "you may not believe us, but we're twins."
Clint nodded. They were different, though at closer looks, he could spot a resemblance; mainly the shape of their jaw and mouth.
"As you already know from the invasion, I'm Danny Fenton," the black-haired American kids said, "and this is my friends. Tucker Foley and Sam Manson."
"And you know my name already," Ichigo smirked, leaning on the wall and still wearing the black Hakama, "by the way, Danny. You owe me one. Don't forget that~"
"Goddangit! I should've known not to make a bet with him!" Danny grumbled.
"So, how did you get your Sight, Clint-san?" Hanae asked, his onyx eyes glinted excitedly, "I got one after I was possessed by Fuzzy! Abeno-san helped me exorcised him—"
"No, I don't. You still have to pay me."
"—but Fuzzy decided to come with us when we met again at the Youkai world!" he kept pushing on, ignoring the grumbled of Haruitsuki.
"Youkai world?"
"Yeah! We—"
"Wait a second, stupid Ashiya." This time, Haruitsuki succeed in stopping his tirade, hand clamping his classmate's mouth. He stepped to the front, gaze cold, "I know the Mistress gave an a-okay to you. But do you swear...that you'll never, ever share our secret to anyone outside this circle? Because if Tony accepted you as one and expected you to come here more often, you have to know about our purpose and zip your mouth shut."
Secrets? That sounded...kind of worrying.
They are just normal teenagers, right?
But everyone was serious, even the bright Hanae. Whatever secrets they were talking about, it must be a big deal for them. So, as Clint was not a heartless jerk, he nodded.
And then the story started. About Takashi's grandmother's heirloom that was taboo in the exorcist circle. About Haruitsuki is a master Mononokean and Hanae is the employee. About Ichigo is a half-shinigami (he brought his flailing body—possessed by Kon—as the evidence. Clint balked at the sight). And about Danny being half-dead and was actually the famous Danny Phantom.
"Wait, what?" Clint vaguely thought that was the only words he could say this entire day, "Phantom? You're that Danny Phantom?!"
"Yup!" he chirped, transformed into his second persona with a cheeky grin, "I think I win this round, Ichigo. He is more shocked knowing about my second persona than yours~"
"That doesn't mean you win any bet. 'cuz we never had a bet for this."
"Goddangit!"
Clint took a long breath.
"You know..." he slowly started, "if I don't have this sight from birth and saw all this weird creature since my childhood, I think that I'm going crazy. Except I can and I'm not crazy."
Takashi laughed bitterly at that sentiment.
That was how he was in this situation right now, sitting on the couch and listening to Tony's explanation about the difference between Youkai and Ghost. It was fascinating, to say the least. All this time, he categorized those who was invisible to other people as ghosts and ghosts only; because sometimes they took an appearance of a human, sometimes a monster, so he couldn't really tell the difference. They never bug him if he didn't provoke them, so he never minds their existence. And the nice one helped him too. Or actually, the one who often helped him was the victim of the target he was ordered to slay. So, rather than nice, you could say they were...the vengeful one? They tend to move on after the perpetrator of their demise was also gone, however. He was lucky they didn't turn into a Hollow, Ichigo said, or he'll be dead in a spot.
"Where did you find that Ghost, Tony?" Ichigo grumbled and approached the apparition with his big, butcher knife; the trembling ghost became more and more frightened. Before the ghost could even scream, Ichigo taps his forehead with the hilt of his sword. And slowly, the ghost unfurled—like a piece of papers or a rain of snowflakes—let out a bright shine and disappear, expression serene, "if you find another one, tell me. Rukia will kill me if I don't do my job. She already asked someone to watch over my post, I should at least work here."
So, that was how the Shinigami sent the spirit to the afterlife, Clint mussed, as he watched Ichigo scolded Tony while the brunette himself whistled innocently. That was...kind of beautiful.
(He hoped Coulson arrived at the afterlife safely too)
"By the way, Tony. Did you forget already?" Ichigo folded his arms, gaze stern, "Clint came here in the first place because he wanted to apply for a job."
Tony did. And, he admitted with embarrassment, Clint also forgot his primary reason. Don't blame him. Other people's mind will just short-circuit when someone told you Youkai and Ghost exist. Let alone half-shinigami and half-ghost; both of them are still teenagers too. (now he knew how a mere human and a ghost hunter could defeat someone as strong as Loki. Because they themselves were included in the 'out of the world' category)
"Right! A job! Uuuh...hhmmm..." Tony thought for a while as Clint sat there in trepidation. He knew the man now welcomed himself in his inner circle but he was still worried the genius didn't have any job that suits him.
And really? Bringing a stranger into his inner circle of friends just because Clint could see the Creatures?! What if he was still in the SHIELD and was actually here to spy on them? Alas, if he was some double-faced bastard, he was sure the Mistress will never let him be this close or even step inside the tower. Tony could just order one of his employees to kicked him out for whatever reason. But still! He was lucky he had these overprotective kids, judging from how Ichigo loomed over him when they first met. Or Danny cocked his Fenton Gun in the background when Tony brought him to the lab earlier; it was safe for a human, he said. But the green gunk will stick on him like a jelly, making it difficult to clean. He was also sure Takashi was ready to launch Nyanko into the air and—from what he told them about the Youkai—asked him to turn into his real form a.k.a big, humongous wolf with a long tail that could eat you in one swallow, he winced at the imagination alone.
The real Tony was so different from how the media portrayed him be; childish, easy to excited, reckless. If he didn't start to, at least, stop acting like a child in sugar rush—
"What about your SP?" Clint suddenly said, breaking Tony's from his thought, "Protector? Bodyguard? Whatever title you wanted to call it. I know you're the Iron Man. And you have the Mistress to help you get away from the dangerous situation within a blink, literally too. But I think you should only use her assistance as your last resort. Don't want other people to think you have magic or something. When you create that armor, people already tried to cauterize you for creating a, what they called, 'weapon of mass destruction'. Besides, no matter what you think, you're still a civilian, Tony. I can guard you when you're out of your armor."
The room went into another silence. And, Clint sweat, maybe he crossed some invisible line there. However, he still thought his opinion was right. So he didn't back down, posture straight and eyes determined; even though he wanted to take that back so badly if he really did cross a boundary.
"I agree." He was started at the sudden voice. Surprisingly, it was Takashi who spoke first, "you should hire him as your SP, Tony-san. Happy-san is a Head of Security now, he's more of Pepper's-san bodyguard. It'll be good if Clint-san becomes your private guard."
"Eh—what?" Tony exclaimed, he started whining, "b-but Takashi-chan! I'm an ex-weapon designer! Even if I don't have my armor, I can defend myself just fine! I can bring my gun or something."
"I'm with Natsume-san in this," Haruitsuki said, "yes, you have your own experience wielding a weapon. You also trained in Muay-Thai with Happy-san. But that doesn't mean you can escape every problem you will face someday in the future. What if they come at you as a group? What if they catch you off guard? What if they succeed in kidnapping you?" everyone recoiled at that, Clint included.
He knew about the Afghanistan fiasco, it was in the file of the promising member of the Avenger Director's Fury told them to read. It was...disturbing, enough said. He knew a couple of his friends from the Agency who was tortured before. Watched, as they tried to mask their fear with a smile but it looked brittle anyway. They become jumpy. Paranoid. Clint was glad SHIELD chose him to be on the reconnaissance team, be their sniper to finish the job from afar. He never had to experience one (mind control was bad. But Loki didn't outright physically hurt him) and he sure wished don't want to ever experience one. Or other people too, for that matter.
Now after that little information, he could finally see. That, under those goofy and cocky masks Tony wear, he showed the same symptoms he saw from his friends. That he was trying to keep himself up or he'll fall apart without him even noticing.
"But with Clint-san at your side, you can lessen the probability," Haruitsuki continued, face still a little disturbed, "Clint-san is an ex-SHIELD, he knows how to get out from a crisis. He's an archer too, right? Pretty sure he can aim better than you."
"Hey, that was so mean, Itsuki-chan!" Tony ('s mask was back) complained, "my Iron Man's laser beam need precision too, you know!"
"Tony..." the warning tone from Ichigo halted the genius whine, "just accept it. Everyone needs help. Nobody can do the impossible thing alone," his brown eyes suddenly turned blank. Like he was trying to reign the bad memories from coming out. Like he was trapped inside his own nightmare. Ichigo let the words flowed out. But it was so quiet, he almost whispered it, "take it from someone who had to fight in a war. Twice."
Another recoil went around everyone who was present in the room.
(War?! Clint jolted at that, alarmed)
(Wait, what?! But...he stammered, he is only a teenager. How could—)
(A teenager that lived his life as a Shinigami, he realized with horror. Who fought a monster that basically the size of Tony's tower. Or even bigger than that)
(And what about Danny? He knew from the news, that he fought multiple ghosts by himself before, battered and exhausted)
(He didn't dare to turn around and see what kind of expression Danny had right now)
(God! They are not even that older from Copper!)
"Besides," Ichigo's usual grin was back (though no one was fooled by that) he smirked, "Clint may prefer a bow and arrow as his main weapon, but I'm sure he can wield any guns. Can you even wield a rifle, Tony?"
Tony pouted, shoulder sagged and posture slouched, he mumbled, "using a rifle is boring. I have to aim properly before I can shoot. How?! How can someone stay so still for that long?!" he patted his own back, "it's bad for your back! For your waist! Rifle is the worst!"
"Hey, I resent that," Clint, after the shock of knowing the truth about two of Tony's kids, finally joined. (He hoped his voice didn't tremble that much, he was still in shock at the fact that a teenager like them fought just as much as a member of SHIELD was. And still have the ability to smile and joke around, basking at the little happiness they could get from their dark, dark experiences), "I love rifle! Not as much as bow and arrow, but rifle is awesome! Can you see how sexy she look? That long barrel, how smooth the front handguard was, how intricate that operating rod, and especially the flat but beautiful thing that was the butt plate~"
"Really, Clint? Really?" Tony stood with his hands on his waist, not impressed, "Submachine gun is much, much better. It's bigger, sturdier, sexier! Look at her muzzle, look at her elegant barrel, look at that nasty magazine! You can even use the gun without needing to sit on your ass for far too long! Just stand up and ratatatatata!"
"Oh, Stark. You don't have any taste," Clint tsked, "I bet you used service pistol as your backup, right?"
"What's wrong with service pistol? She's cute! She's so small, you have to handle her with care! She'll teach you how to be a good gentleman!"
"No no no! If you have to choose a handgun, use the machine pistol. She's cuter! With her slick design and comfortable handgrip. You can even put a silencer on it to add her charm points!"
"Gosh, hearing them talking about guns sounds like a porn," Danny made a puke gesture, "disgusting."
"Have you watch porn before, Danny-san?" Hanae, the ever innocent he was, asked. Pink-dust colored his pale cheeks.
"Nope. But Tucker had."
"I did not!"
"You did too~"
"Oh, come on, Sam!"
"I've already registered Clint Barton as sir's SP," JARVIS's voice echoed inside the lab. Didn't really deter the gun maniac from their debate though, but the others heard the news just fine, "Clint Barton has a good reputation for his reconnaissance skill. An adept in Brazillian Ju-jitsu, Karate and Mixed Martial Arts. He may be the smallest person in SHIELD, but he is also the fastest. And more importantly, when he targets someone, he never miss."
They couldn't see it. Yet judging from his tone, JARVIS was happy; practically glowing.
"I'm sure he'll be a good bodyguard for sir."
OMAKE
"You know..." Tucker typed on his PDA, eyebrows united into one, "this superhero has been super active lately..."
"Hm? Which superhero?" Tony lean away from his workbench to Tucker's gadget, mouth full with donut Clint bought from the shop across the street. Tucker duplicate his screen to JARVIS hologram so the other could also see the aforementioned Hero, "oh, him. Yeah. He became famous like...two or three months ago, I think? I haven't paid much attention to him because he appeared at odd hours. Sometimes at noon, sometimes at night, sometimes missing a whole day. I don't really know the pattern so I can't really keep an eye on him."
"Maybe he's just like Danny-san?" Hanae suggested, snatching another donut from the brunette's counter, "maybe he needs to attend the school first and do his Hero activity after that?"
"His voice is a little too pitch for an adult too," Takashi hummed, dumping his donut to the hot chocolate before he eats it. Nyanko-sensei, perched on Takashi's head, practically inhaled his share of donut, "pretty sure he's a high-schooler just like us. Maybe that was also the reason he became more active lately? Because it's summer holidays. He didn't need to worry about being late or skipping the class."
"Did you just make a jab at me, Takashi?" Danny squinted his eyes.
Takashi's lack of response was enough answer and Danny grumbled.
"Hm? Tucker, can you rewind it a bit?" Tucker did. Haruitsuki told him to stop at the particular screen, "can you see that? Okay, play it from here."
Everyone was silent as they watch the re-run of the video.
And Tony's smile widened.
"Oh God, really?" Ichigo groaned, "what are you going to do to him now, Tony?"
"What do you think, dear Mistress?"
"He'll be an excellent addition~"
After that clear acceptance from their trusted 'informant', the genius swiveled his head so fast, the half-Shinigami was worried he had a whiplash, to Clint who was enjoying his donut with black coffee. When that brown orbs full of stars landed on him, he knew whatever he wants to say is going to be a pain.
"Clint," he purred.
.
"I want you to catch a spider for me~"