Everett’s Finale
“I’m beginning to think your boyfriends aren’t coming back!” Bucky yelled between bursts of his rifle.
“I called them before the fighting started! They said they had Scott and they were on the way!”
“Well, they’re certainly taking their sweet time about it!”
By the time the Quinjet carrying Clint, Everett, and Scott arrived, you had managed to work your way into the very middle of the fight. It seemed to last for an eternity. Every time you’d shoot one of those four-armed bastards, three more would pop up. But, eventually, the numbers were whittled down until there were none left. Once the dust began to settle, you rushed around looking for your loved ones. From a distance, you saw a group of them huddled close together so you started running towards them. As you drew near, only mere feet away from your destination, you were intercepted by Everett. He was dirty from the fight and looked visibly shaken.
“Don’t, Y/n!” he said, grabbing you and not letting you move. “You don’t need to see!”
Scanning the group in front of you, there was one person you couldn’t find.
“Everett, where’s Clint?” You asked as the sick feeling of panic began to grow inside of you. “Where is he?”
“Y/n, you don’t need to see. Believe me,” was all he managed.
You started to fight against his hold on you, and when you finally managed to slip free, you punched him hard in the face so he wouldn’t have a chance to grab you again. Running forward so quickly you almost tripped, you shoved your way into the middle of the circle.
“Clint,” you whimpered as you looked down at him. His entire midsection was a complete mess, with gaping holes so large you could see inside them. When your eyes fell on his face, you saw that he was still alive.
“Clint!” You screamed as you dropped down beside him and took ahold of his head. “Clint, hold on! We’re going to get you all fixed up. I promise. T’Challa’s people are really good. They’ll have you better in no time.”
“It’s too late,” he said quietly. “More of me is missing than there is left.”
“Don’t say that!” you yelled at him as you started sobbing. “I can’t lose you! I need you!”
“I need to tell you something,” he said, reaching up and caressing your cheek with his fingers. “My eyesight isn’t as good as we thought it was.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t see what was always right in front of me. I love you, baby. I was going to come back and ask you to marry me. If I had gotten to, what would you have said?”
“I would have said ‘yes.’”
He gave you a sad smile before saying, “I guess we aren’t going to have a chance to be everything we were meant to be.”
“Haven’t we already been?” You said as you stroked his hair. “Maybe I never got to be Mrs. Y/n Barton, but nothing in this world could have made me love you more than I already do....more than I always have.”
You leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, pouring all your love and all your agony into it as you did so. If you were going to lose him, you didn’t want there to be any more doubts between you...no more hidden feelings. When you stopped, you lingered near his face, not wanting to leave him.
“Time for me to trust someone else to have your back, partner,” he whispered. You opened your eyes to see that his were no longer looking back at you.
“Clint?” You pleaded. “Clint!”
“There’s a second wave coming,” Steve said somewhere behind you. “She can’t stay here.”
Amidst your frantic sobbing, you became aware of a pair of arms wrapping around you and lifting you up off the ground.
“No! I can’t leave him here!” You begged. “Let me go! I can’t leave him!”
As his body faded out of sight, the last thing you were fully conscious of was the bloodcurdling scream of heartbreak you left behind you.
———————-
After the crying finally subsided, all you could do was lay on the bench and stare at the wall in front of you. Ever since Bucky grabbed you off the battlefield, he had stayed close by, keeping a watchful eye on you. Now, he sat at your feet standing guard.
“I don’t know how to live without him,” you finally muttered. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, and you will,” Bucky said. “It will hurt like hell, and it will probably be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do, but you will do it. You’ll do it because he would have wanted you to. You won’t be alone. You’ll have me, Steve, Natasha, Wanda...all of us. We’ll help you.”
You sat up and rested your head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders to comfort you and the pair of you stayed like that, much as you had on the first day you met. Neither of you stirred until Everett entered the room. When you saw him, you averted your gaze, although you didn’t know why.
“Could you excuse us a minute?” Everett asked Bucky. Bucky looked at you and you nodded your head slightly.
“I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
Once you were alone, Everett took Bucky’s spot next to you.
“I’m sorry,” he said after awhile. “Anything you need, I’m here for you...”
He reached out for you and, without thinking, you scooted away from him. Glancing up, you saw the hurt in his eyes, but all you knew was that you couldn’t stand to look at him. Just being near him was causing you additional pain. There had been too many years with the two of them. Too many years of balancing one with the other. You didn’t know if you’d ever be able to look at Everett again without thinking of Clint.
“Please,” you whispered, “go away.”
He lingered for a moment before he quietly got up and walked away. When he was gone, you laid back down on the bench and wept all over again.
——————
TWO YEARS LATER
“Alright, tell me what you see,” Steve’s voice said in your earpiece.
“Bodyguards...two...no, three of them. Lightly armed,” you said as you made your way across the casino floor.
“Outside is a slightly different story,” you heard Bucky say. “Same number of guards, but these aren’t shy about what they’re carrying. I see some serious firepower.”
“Well, we’d like to get out of here without engaging,” Natasha said.
“Now, what would be the fun in that?” Sam chimed in.
Trying to look inconspicuous, you leaned against one of the tables and started playing with the chips in your hand. You shifted slightly as you felt someone squeeze in beside you, but you froze in place when they whispered, “You know, you still don’t know how to look like you’re having fun at this.”
Keeping up your cover, you turned casually, as if you were simply taking in your surroundings, to find Everett standing there. This was the first time you’d seen him since the day...you shook your head to banish those images. You thought about Clint often, but you chose to only focus on the happy memories.
“I didn’t know the CIA was going to be involved in this,” You said.
“And I didn’t know the Avengers were going to try to steal my mark. We called dibs on him first.”
“If we thought anyone else could handle him, we wouldn’t be here. I’d be at home sipping on a glass of wine while continuing to familiarize Bucky with modern cinema.”
“I heard you and Barnes had grown rather close,” he said with a distasteful tone.
“We understand each other. He’s been a good friend to me.”
“Y/n, have we been compromised?” Steve asked.
You looked at Everett and asked, “Steve wants to know if we’ve been compromised. What should I tell him?”
“If the Avengers want him that bad, you can have him. He’s going to get hell either way, right?” He said with a smile.
You smiled back at him and said, “We’re good, Cap. Clear to proceed.”
Slipping his hands in his pants pockets, Everett looked down at the floor and said, “I’ll let you get back to work. It was wonderful seeing you, y/n.”
As he turned to walk away, you grabbed him by the arm and said, “Ev, wait. I’m sorry about the way I acted the day...the last time I saw you. I just couldn’t be around you without thinking of him and...it hurt so much. I didn’t mean to hurt you in return.”
He placed his hand on top of yours where it rested on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. Then he turned and walked away.
“Well, are you going to go after him or what?” Bucky asked in your ear.
“What?” You said in disbelief.
“Bucky’s right on this one,” Natasha said. “You should definitely go after him.”
“Natasha, I—“
“We’ll take care of this,” Sam said. “Don’t let him get away.”
“Guys, I really don’t think—“
“Y/n,” Steve said, cutting you off, “Clint said it was time for him to trust someone else to take care of you. I think this is what he meant.”
You suddenly became aware of a stray tear making its way down your face. Wiping it away, you stared in the direction that Everett had left before pulling your earpiece out and hurrying through the crowded casino.
“Ev!” You yelled out when you finally caught up to him outside. He stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around to face you.
Taking a deep breath, you realized you wished you had planned out what you were going to say. You finally decided that there was only one thing worth saying, and that was the truth.
“I’ve only ever known how to be one man’s partner. But, if you haven’t given up on me yet...I’d like to try to learn how to be yours.”
You watched as he turned around and looked at you. He started moving towards you, slowly and deliberately, never increasing his pace. When he got to you, he gently pushed a strand of your hair back behind your ear before he pulled you in for a kiss. It was powerful and passionate and said everything that needed to be said.
After he finished, he held you tight and whispered in your ear, “How many times do I have to tell you? I’ll never give up on you.”