Fated Marks

At some point during the night I had put my arms around Nat’s waist and clung to her like she was keeping me from drowning. Normally she’d find a way to get out of it and I’d wake up alone hugging a pillow or hugging Clint. This time I actually woke up.

“Nat?” I said as I saw he try to slip out of bed.

“Go back to sleep.” She whispered. “It’s still early.”

“Where are you going?” I whispered.

“I have to go. Target’s on the move.” She said. “Clint’s on leave for a while so he’ll stick around.” With that she leaned over and kissed me before pulling away.

“Be careful.” I said.

“I will.” She said as she walked out of the room.

“She’ll be okay.” Clint sleepily whispered. “She does this all the time.”

“I know.” I said turning over and hugging him. “It’s still early.”

“Mhm.” He hummed as he started dozing off. I closed my eyes and did the same.

The next time I woke up it was later and it was because my phone started ringing.

“No…” Clint whined.

“Sh, I got it” I said reaching over him and grabbing it. “Hello.” I answered.

“So I had an interesting conversation this morning with Demitri.” Rebekah started.

“You let him stay the night?” I asked.

“Oh Hayley, The night still isn’t over yet.” She said proudly. “Anyway he gave me the location of pretty much anyone in Bucharest that can smuggle anyone in and out without being noticed.” Rebekah started.

“That’s good, text me the names and I’ll do some digging later.” I said.

“Later? It’s almost noon, I was thinking we could grab some brunch.” Rebekah said.

“I have company.” I said.

“Oh, nevermind then. Call me when you find something.” She said before hanging up.

I threw my phone to the chair across the room and cuddled into Clint’s side. I looked up started rubbing his patchy beard.

“That feels good.” He said.

“Never seen you with a beard before.” I said.

“It itches like crazy.” He complained.

“It looks good on you.” I said. “Gives you an edgy look.”

“Edgy?” He asked. “You know what I do for a living right?”

“Pretend I didn’t say anything then.” I said.

“I missed you.” He said kissing down my neck. I couldn’t help but laugh as his stubble tickled me.

“Missed you too.” I said.

“Where were you yesterday? I called a few times.” He said.

“Went to a derby to gather some intel.” I said. “You should have seen the hat Rebekah was wearing. You would have gotten some good target practice shooting through it’s loop.”

“I know, that thing was huge.” He said chuckling.

“How do you know that? You weren’t there” I said getting suspicious.

“The target Natasha’s tailing, the Czech arms dealer was at the derby.” Clint said.

“You guys were there?” I asked.

“Nat was, I was watching through my binoculars.” He said.

“You were spying on me?” I said annoyed.

“Pause.” Clint said.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s too early, we haven’t seen each other in months, and I’m hungry.” He said. “And for the record I was on a mission where you just happened to be. What were you thinking going into a mob meeting?”

“I thought we were in pause?” I said.

“We are.” He said.

I sat up and moved to straddle his waist.

“Since we’re not fighting,” I started. “I’m just going to say it was a neutral gathering with security everywhere and the only illegal thing that happened was a horse getting doped.”

“You know about Lady Liberty?” Clint asked.

“I thought his name was Champion?” I asked.

“I think more than one horse got doped.” He said.

“Point is that after Barcelona Rebekah’s trying to ease me back into things…” I started.

“What happened in Barcelona?” Clint said sitting up.

“You don’t know about Barcelona?” I asked.

“I’ve been out of reach for the past six weeks. What happened in Barcelona?” Clint asked.

“Uh… you know you’re hungry how about I go whip us up some pancakes?” I said.

“Oh no you don’t.” He said wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me in place. “What happened in Barcelona?”

“Clint…” I started.

“Hayley,” Clint said giving me a stern look.

“For the record I did send you a text and left you a drunk sobbing voicemail when I was in the shower that I later deleted by hacking into your phone.” I said.

“I saw the text. Really helped when I felt lonely.” He said giving me a cheeky smirk. I couldn’t help but blush at that comment. “Tell me what happened.”

I sighed and told him everything.

“And I know how reckless and stupid I was, I mean hindsight’s twenty twenty, and it won’t happen again.” I said. “Yesterday’s derby was to get intel and get used to being around people in the business. Besides a close run in with an IRA king it went pretty well. Rebekah even got some productive pillow talk with the Bratva’s top interrogator.”

“That’s all I missed in the past six weeks?” Clint said.

“Tony came by for while, that was nice.” I said.

“Damn that’s… I can’t believe you went through that.” Clint said.

“Yeah, shit got real really fast.” I said. “But I’ve had a couple of weeks to you know deal with it and I’m ready to get back out there.” Clint didn’t say anything just held me.

“Shouldn’t we get up?” I asked when I heard his stomach growl.

“How about we go out, you can show me the best spots in London.” He said.

“You sure, you look pretty beat?” I said.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks. Constantly on the move, sleeping in shifts, and not having any razors.” Clint said.

“How about you go shower, and use one of the razors Tony left to shave off your adorable peach fuzz while I go make us some breakfast? London isn’t going anywhere and you’re going to be here for a few days. Let’s stay in and catch up on some movies.” I said.

“I thought you had homework?” Clint said.

“I’ll turn it in late. Most of Europe hates Delilah, she’s not going anywhere without raising any flags or getting caught on any cameras.” I said.

“I have a feeling there’s a story between the two of you.” Clint said.

“No story, she’s the person standing in the way of a life without my brother trying to kill me.” I said.

“Hales there’s one major flaw in your plan. She’s a master assassin who doesn’t want to be found. When you do find her, what’s to stop her from trying to kill you?” Clint asked.

“My job’s to find her, I don’t actually have to talk to her. I just text her location and a photo and I’m free.” I said.

“You have your brother’s phone number?” Clint asked.

“No I cloned his phone.” I said.

“And you did that when you met him at brunch right?” He said tightening his grip on me.

“Yup.” I said kissing his neck. “I’m going to get started on breakfast.”

“Mhm.” He hummed as he started kissing along my jaw.

“Pancakes with some eggs and bacon sound good?” I asked.

“Mhm.” He said starting to kiss down my neck.

“Okay.” I said giving him a peck on the lips before getting off of him. I thought about getting dressed but I was comfy in my slip and it wasn’t like we were going out anyway.

I walked into the kitchen and got to work on some pancakes.

“Jarvis can you start my cooking playlist?” I asked.

“Of course Miss Adams. May I say you are looking very cheerful this morning?” Jarvis said.

“I finally got a good night’s rest and had some great company.” I said not being able to keep the smile off my face.

I started flipping pancakes and cooking up some bacon. I was in the zone humming along to some music and as much as I hate to admit, dancing.

I was singing and dancing along to a Rum shakers remix when I heard a chuckle. I looked behind me and saw Clint leaning against the wall.

“Oh don’t stop for me, that was hilarious.” He said laughing.

“Well I’m normally alone when that song comes on…” I said. “Fresh coffee’s on the table and food’s done.”

“Mh, smells good.” He said swiping a piece of bacon off the plate.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“That steam shower is amazing.” Clint said.

“After a long run coming back to that thing brings me back to life. Best naps ever.” I said.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a home cooked meal. They don’t have paved roads in the Congo but they have KFC.” Clint said.

“Good to know.” I said. “Sit.”

“Need a hand with the…” He started.

“No just sit down and relax.” I said setting the plates down. I grabbed the French press and poured him some coffee.

We sat down and dug right in.

“You know when I told you about Barcelona I started getting this weird feeling like I had forgotten something.” I said.

“You’ll remember it later.” He said.

“Miss Adams, Captain Rogers is requesting a video call.” Jarvis said.

“Put him through.” I said.

“Hayley!” He said looking visibly relieved.

“Hey Steve, what’s up?” I asked.

“You got kidnapped in Barcelona?!” He shouted.

“How do you know about that?” I asked.

“You told me. You left me a message where you were crying and freaking out.” Steve said.

“Fuck I thought I only called you.” I told Clint.

“I’m going to check in with Nat.” Clint said grabbing his phone.

“Steve sweetie I know it sounded pretty bad and it was pretty bad but I was just shaken up. I’m totally okay.” I said.

“You got kidnapped.” He said.

“And they let me go.” I said leaving out the part where Jack got shot or that I even ran into Jack.

“Just like that?” Steve asked.

“More or less.” I answered.

“Is there more or are you making it less?” Steve asked.

“Bit of both. Look I know I owe you an explanation but I think I need to go do some damage control and make sure Nat doesn’t find out from a voicemail. I also need to see who else I called that night. Stupid Prozac Rebekah gave me was a lot stronger than I thought it was. Just know I’m okay and it all worked out.” I said.

“Hayley.” Steve said in his patented Captain America look.

“Steve.” I said giving him a small smile. “It all worked out and I was just out of practice. It won’t happen again.”

“Are you going to tell me exactly what happened?” Steve asked.

“Flirted with a guy for intel. He turned out to be my mom’s ex boyfriend Jack. He owed people money and we all got kidnapped. Ended up at a vineyard talked to a mob boss. Got some intel and they killed Jack.” I said. “End of story.”

“Jack as in the guy that…” Steve started.

“Yeah that ass. I’m over it and after taking some time off I’m ready to get back to work.” I said. “And now I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

“Just be careful.” Steve said.

“I will.” I said ending the call.

“You gave him the short version.” Clint said.

“I didn’t want to worry him, also I don’t think he needs all the gory details of how I flirted with my mom’s ex.” I said.

“Might be a good idea.” He said. “Nat hasn’t seen it and I had to tell her. She’s not exactly happy with Rebekah but she’s too busy to hunt her down and strangle her at the moment. “

“Well catastrophe averted.” I said. “Bruce knows because Tony knows not to mention we have our bi weekly skype date.”

“Skype date?” Clint asked.

“We talk about our days, vent and talk about books and science.” I said.

“Sounds nice. How often do you talk to Stark?” Clint asked.

“Twice a day.” I said.

“Seriously?” Clint asked.

“Yeah, I call to say good morning and before going to bed. We fall asleep on the phone. I’m surprised I don’t have nag him long distance, he’s been doing a really good job staying on top of things.” I said.

“So long distance is actually working out for you guys.” Clint asked.

“Pretty good. It’s a lot easier with the whole honesty thing.” I said. “You should really finish your eggs before they get cold.”

“Uhuh.” He said awkwardly.

“So movies.” I asked. “I’m going to say right now as a heads up Rebekah crashed here for a week and added some things to my queue that I never in a million years would ever consider watching.”

“Rom Coms?” Clint asked.

“The Notebook may be on there.” I said.

“If you want to watch it we could…” He said obviously dreading it.

“Oh hell no, give me explosions all the way.” I said.

“You have no idea how much I love you right now.” Clint said.

“I’ll load the dishwasher and we can go watch a movie.” I said.

Clint ended up picking ‘Going the Distance’. I was fairly sure it was a rom com but he insisted that someone had recommended it to him as an action movie. It was about half way through when he realized he was wrong but didn’t say anything. It also didn’t help that the movie was hitting a little close to home.

It got to the part where Justin Long and Drew Barrymore’s broke up that he shut off the TV.

“Movie’s not over yet.” I said.

“I fucked up.” Clint said.

“It’s okay you can just turn the TV back on.” I said.

“I meant us.” He said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked confused about what he was talking about.

“I haven’t so much as talked to you since you get here.” Clint said.

“You were on a mission for most of that time.” I pointed out.

“That didn’t stop Natasha from texting Rebekah for updates.” Clint said.

“She does that? Aw.” I awed.

“See what I mean. Stark calls you twice a day.” Clint said.

“He needs someone to keep him in check who isn’t afraid of him.” I said. “Plus he’s used to spending most of the day with me it’s an adjustment for him and me.”

“Hales tell me you haven’t noticed how much I’ve messed up lately?” He said.

“Clint calm down. You have not screwed up.” I said.

“I haven’t spoken to you in months.” He said raising his voice. I could feel all his anxiety bubbling up along with how scared he was.

“Hey, Clint look at me.” I said rubbing his shoulders. He looked at me and I could see how the exhaustion and stress of the past few weeks was wearing him down. “You’re tired and stressed. I knew what I was getting into when we started this and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Honestly I haven’t exactly made this easy with all my baggage but we’re managing. I could have called more but I didn’t want to distract you when you were on a mission. I know how crazy things can get and I don’t want you to get hurt because you were distracted. I’d rather not hear from you in weeks but know you’re coming back in one piece than hear from you constantly and find out you were distracted and got hurt.”

“It’s not fair to you.” He argued.

“Sweetie I have five other soulmates to keep me company when you can’t. Tony skypes and visits. Bruce skypes. Steve sent me a hand written heartfelt letter two weeks after I got here. Nat is apparently in cahoots with Rebekah to get regular updates without me knowing. And you watch everyone’s backs when they’re on missions and still manage to find the time to stop by when you can. We’re making it work, it’s hard but we’re doing it.” I said putting a hand on his cheek. “And if you ever start to have doubt about how this is going remember that I haven’t seen Thor in months and he doesn’t know about everything you all do. Trust me that’s going to be an awkward reunion but I don’t hold it against him. His honorable sense of duty just like yours is one of the things I adore about you guys.”

“So we’re okay?” Clint asked.

“We’re okay.” I confirmed giving him a smile. Clint pulled me over to sit on his lap and he held me. I needed to talk with Nat, something big must’ve happened on that mission to shake him up as much as it did. “Want to pick another movie?”

“Yeah. Something with a lot of explosions.” He said.

“Jarvis you heard him.” I said. Clint didn’t let me go so I just curled up in his lap and held onto him. About half way through the movie we started making out and things got heated. I was pinned under him on the couch when my phone started ringing.

“Don’t answer.” Clint groaned as he started kissing down my neck.

“It’s probably Tony.” I said grabbing my phone.

“Send it to voicemail.” Clint said.

“I don’t answer he’ll suit up and fly over here.” I said pressing the green answer button. “Hello.”

“Sunshine, how’s my favorite person in the entire world doing today?” Tony said oddly cheerful.

“I’m good, what did you break?” I asked. As Clint started kissing up behind my ear.

“What me? No.” He said playing it cool. “Can’t a guy just call his beautiful soulmate like he does everyday?”

“Ah!” I gasped as Clint sucked on just the right spot on my neck.

“What was that?” Tony asked.

“What was what?” I asked really fast as I felt Clint smirk against my skin.

“That gasp.” He asked.

“Oh just cooking, water started boiling and it splashed on me a bit.” I answered quickly.

“What are you making?” He asked.

“Pasta.” I said.

“Aw the creamy chicken pesto?” He said with a groan.

“Yeah.” I said as Clint started moving his hands up my thighs. I bit my lip to stop myself from gasping. “So what’s up?”

“What do you think about bullet proof, soundproof and basically everything proof glass as partitions for the lab?” Tony asked.

“I’d say it’s a waste of money considering you just remodeled.” I said.

“Right…” He said awkwardly.

“AH-are you sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?” I said hiding a gasp as Clint moved his hand under my panties.

“So I may have tried to tweak the collapsible suit with the new alloy and it may have gone wrong.” Tony said.

“FU- dge Tony.” I said hiding a moan as Clint rubbed the right spot. “I-I Uh don’t know what to say to that.”

“I already have the clean up crew cleaning everything out.” He said.

“That’s go-Ohd.” I started.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Tony asked.

“Yeah AH!” I moaned as Clint moved the bottom of my slip up and ground his hips up against me. “Shit.”

“What’s going on?” Tony asked.

Fuck I said that out loud. “Nothing just a movie playing in the background.” I said making Clint laugh.

“Are you watching porn?” Tony asked out of nowhere. Making me blush and stutter. Clint couldn’t stop laughing.

“Wh-Why.. No!” I said.

“Well those are some very obvious moans.” Tony said.

“You know I’m kind of in the middle of something. How about we talk tomorrow morning?” I asked. “Kay great bye.” With that I hung up and threw my phone to the other couch. “That was unfair.” I told Clint.

“Call it payback for sending me to voicemail yesterday.” He said kissing me.

“I was busy eavesdropping.” I said kissing him.

“Uhuh and getting drooled on by Russian assassins.” He said.

“That’s just how they say hi.” I said pulling him in for a kiss. “Are you jealous?”

“Nope, just wish I could have been there with you.” Clint said.

“You’re here now and that’s way better.” I said putting my legs around his waist. “Now you tease is there something you were trying to tell me while I was on the phone?” I said grounding my hips against his.

“Mh.” He moaned before bending down and kissing me again. He didn’t waste any time pulling my panties down just like I didn’t hesitate to pull his sweats and boxers down. “Someone’s in a rush.”

“You teased me a lot and it’s been a while.” I said kissing his chest.

“Well in that case.” He said putting his hand on my hip as he lined himself up and pushed in.

“Ah.” I moaned as I rocked my hips. Clint didn’t hold back either and started moving in and out of me at a fast pace. There wasn’t anything slow about this.

“Fuck Hales, I missed you.” Clint said.

“I missed you too.” I said pulling him closer.

“You’re tight, shit.” He groaned.

“Clint!” I gasped as he hit the right spot.

“I got you Hales.” He said snapping his hips into mine.

“Shit!” I cried digging my nails into his back.

“Hayley!” He shouted.

“Clint!” I shouted as we both came.

“Shit,” Clint said with a chuckle.

“Damn.” I said chuckling a bit. “Forgot how good that was.”

“Yeah, sorry it was kind of fast.” He said with a slight blush.

“That’s what happens when you tease your girlfriend for so long.” I said kissing his neck.

“Stark thought you were watching porn.” He said laughing.

“I think he broke the lab again.” I said laughing.

“How many labs is that now?” Clint teased.

“I’m losing track.” I said. “I’m kind of hungry, pizza?”

“Do you even have to ask?” he said.

“Jarvis the usual order.” I said.