Chapter 6
Tony Stark @TonyStark
Daryl Wilson, 28, and Bailey O’Reilly, 34, are suspected of treason and building weapons of mass destruction with intent to commit acts of terror. If you have any information please contact your local police station or The Avengers helpline at 212-903-5678
Steve looked up from the where he’d been scrolling through Tony’s latest tweets at the sound of a door opening. Tony posted frequently now, almost three times a day, and for some reason Steve couldn’t help but read every single one of them. Sam had said something about keeping an eye on things but Steve really didn’t think staring at an aesthetically pleasing picture of an ice cream cone was especially helping him in the fight against the establishment.
“Steve?” Clint’s voice called from the door to his room. “Can I come in?”
Steve’s lips twitched. “You’ve already opened the door Hawkeye. Might as well come on in.”
Steve heard the shuffling as the door closed once again.
“What’s up?” Steve asked as Clint finally rounded the corner of his apartment.
Clint looked…Clint looked awful. His eyes were red-rimmed and sunken, while his body seemed to be trying to curl in on himself. He clutched a satellite phone in his hand pressed to his chest and his other curl into his pant leg.
“What happened.” Steve ordered the archer, easily slipping into Captain America.
Clint shook his head.
“Laura’s mad.”
Steve slowly allowed the tension in his body to drain, deliberately softening his tone for the obviously devastated man.
“Well I mean, you told her you were going didn’t you?”
Clint nodded, turning away from Steve’s scrutiny.
Steve sighed. “Sit down before you fall down Barton.”
Clint consented, falling gracefully into the duvet and still refusing to meet Steve’s eye. Steve pursed his lips and walked the length of the room to settle next to his friend.
“What happened, Clint?”
Clint’s chin trembled just a little bit as he replied, “I shouldn’t have come.”
Steve put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You thought you were doing the right thing.”
Clint gave a wet laugh. “No I didn’t. Not really.”
Steve grip tightened as he peered around at Clint. The archer was flush with shame, his hands shaking ever so slightly where they were clenched in his lap around the phone. Steve turned Clint towards him just a bit to get him to continue.
“I…Steve I didn’t care. I really didn’t give a fuck about the politics and the bullshit. I didn’t care that we were going to be fighting our friends. Fuck, I didn’t even care I was going to fight Nat!”
Clint paused, taking a breath. “I just wanted back in the game. Wandering around a ranch playing catch with my kids was good. More than good. But I was going crazy, Steve. I have these highly advanced skills that make me one of the deadliest people in the world and I was stuck fixing tractors. It…god it sounds so fucked up but after shield fell? After Ultron? I kept waiting to get a call. I kept waiting for you guys to need back-up so I could strap on my bow and go save the world. When you finally called? I didn’t even care. I could not have given less of a shit about whatever drama was going on. I just wanted out Steve.”
Steve dropped his hand and let himself absorb what Clint had said. He didn’t want to be here. Well, none of them wanted to be here but Clint wasn’t here for the right reasons. He had left his family behind for the thrill of being a superhero. Steve swallowed the instinctive revulsion. It sounded awful but even more awful was the realization that Steve could empathise. He can’t imagine his life without the fight. The Soldier Ultron had called him. He knew now that the path of a white picket fence wasn’t for him, but what if he hadn’t? What if he’d found a dame and settled down. Would he be exactly where Clint is?
“Okay.”
Clint jolted. “Okay? What’s ‘okay’ about it Steve?”
Steve breathed deeply, centering himself. “There’s nothing we can do about that now. I…I don’t know how to help you on that front but I can help get you home.”
Clint choked, letting a little giggle through.
“Not even Captain America can change the minds of the governments of the world. We had a whole ‘war’ over it Steve,” he finished, rolling his eyes at the weird-ass name the public had dubbed their brawl in the airport.
Steve grinned, patting Clint on the back before rising to his feet.
“Tony can. That’s something we also proved in this whole mess.”
Clint grimaced. “Did we?”
This time it was Steve who rolled his eyes.
“It’ll be fine Clint. I’ll take care of it. Everything is going to be fine and you can patch things up with the missus when you get home. We’ll talk about your problems then. Maybe a mission a month?”
Clint perked up, but still looked dubious.
“Whatever you say cap.”
Clint left then, and Steve was proud to note the much better posture on his way out. Feeling slightly better to have helped his fellow avengers without violence, Steve reclaimed his abandoned phone and checked the update on Tony’s twitter.
Tony Stark @TonyStark
Forgiveness is like jam. It can be sweet, but mostly it’s just sticky and makes a mess. Why I personally prefer peanut butter. It’s much saltier.
...Okay so that didn’t bode well.