“Your not-boyfriend is monopolising my not-boyfriend’s time,” Natasha informs him calmly.
Steve blinks up at her. Natasha takes the opportunity to steal his coffee.
“Get your own,” he protests half-heartedly.
Natasha rolls her eyes.
“I did have my own, that’s the point,” she says, downing his drink – Steve’s heart breaks just a little, because coffee, no – “until Barnes came along and started enabling him.”
Clint doesn’t attend the academy. Not yet, anyway; there’s a strict no-pets-on-campus-ground policy, but Fury is considering amendments. Until then, Clint lives off-campus in a little apartment with Lucky, his rescue dog. He visits on the weekend, and when he’s needed for missions, and that’s about it.
Steve remembers the day Clint met Bucky.
Their guitars rest on the same stand now. Clint’s is purple.
His ears will never be the same.
“I would love to support Clint in his musical endeavours,” says Natasha, “but only if you convince him to play with his hearing aids in, for once.”