Chapter 2
Nothing much changed after the Signing of the Papers, other than the fact that instead of forging her father’s signature on things, she had to forge Clint’s instead. Which was a whole lot easier seeing as Clint just kind of scribbled on the paper and called it good job.
Clint’s friends, the Avengers, all found out after Tony Stark stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and unearthed the guardianship papers. And Stark couldn’t keep a secret to savehis life, not that it was really a secret.
Stark had sent them a fruit basket and about a million little pink ‘It’s a Girl!’ balloons; Dr. Banner had tacked on a more modest congratulations, sneaking in an apology for Tony’s antics, as well. Captain America hadn’t said much out loud, but the one time he had visited when Kate was home he had kept giving her these soft, nostalgic looks. Which was incredibly awkward seeing as they hadn’t really interacted much before all of this. Clint’s best friend (the freaking Black Widow) had smirked at Barton when she heard, before giving Kate a once over and nodding in approval. That little nod had made Kate’s month. The Black Widow thought she was satisfactory.
Other than all of that, things pretty much went on as usual. They dealt with the Tracksuit Mafia together whenever Clint wasn’t busy Avenger-ing and Kate wasn’t busy punching bad guys with her friends. She still had school, though, and that was where she was having the most difficulties, surprisingly. You would think aliens and mad scientists would cause more problems than annoying teenage girls.
She was currently sitting in the principal’s office with a split lip and a nose bleed that just would not stop. The little jerks that had started all of this were huddled on the other side of the office, glaring at her like it was her fault they had gotten caught.
The door handle jiggled and Kate could hear someone grumbling at it before the door swung open all the way, and she sighed, arms crossed over her chest. Clint stood there, looking around the office in confusion, before he spotted her against the wall and made his way to her.
“Katie-Kate!” he shouted happily, like he hadn’t just been called to pick her up from school for fighting. Kate rolled her eyes at him but dragged a chair closer to her with her ankle so he could sit down. He was going to have to be in her corner for this, she might as well be nice about it.
“So, what happened, kid? The call just said you got caught fighting.” The girls on the other side of the room started giggling, hiding their faces in their hands like they were ten and thought no one would notice their pink faces if they hid behind their fingers.
Kate glared at them before she grumbled out a response. “Those idiots started it.”
Clint chuckled, turning to size up the group of girls giggling and staring at them. “Was it worth it?” he asked out of the side of his mouth, sounding curious and not angry at all.
“Pfft. Of course. They were being jerks.”
“Alright. I can get behind that. But, Kate, why’d you have to get caught?” he whined, crossing his arms and flopping back in his chair, pouting up at her.
“It’s not like I set out to get in a fight. Or get caught. A teacher heard us from the hallway and broke us up. Somehow, since I’m the one with the least amount of injuries, it was automatically my fault.”
Clint sighed but nodded. “I know how that goes,” he commiserated, and Kate had to remind herself that Clint had grown up first as poor kid, then as a poor foster kid, and then as a poor carnie kid. He was probably always getting blamed for things he didn’t do.
“Well,” he said abruptly, slapping his hands on his thighs and grinning, “I already talked to the principal. We’re free to leave. No suspension or anything, you’re all good to go.” He clapped a hand on her shoulder, smirking at her shocked face. “I knew you wouldn’t have started this shit. I sweet talked the lady in charge, it’s all good. Them, on the other hand,” Clint whispered, waggling his eyebrows towards the group of girls.
Kate couldn’t hold back the unattractive cackle that broke through her lips, absolutely loving the fact that Clint was her guardian now. Her father would have just thrown money at the problem, if he had even shown up at all. It was nice to know that Clint had her back, even in something as stupid as this.
Kate stood up and followed Clint to the door, a smirk on her face as they passed the other girls. Kate stuck her tongue out at them and held her head high as she sashayed out of the room, trying to channel her inner Natasha and inspire the fear of scary Russian spies in the souls of those girls. It seemed to work because the smiles on their faces faltered and once Clint and Kate had made it out the door, the stern faced principal stomped into her office, her face a stormy thundercloud of anger. Just as the door clicked shut, they heard her start in on them with her lecturing voice.
Kate shivered at the thought; if Clint hadn’t shown up, that would have been her in there. Clint grinned at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, squeezing them tight before letting her go. Just a little reminder that he was with her, no matter what. It warmed something hard and jagged in her chest, because she had been on her own for so long now. It was really, reallynice to finally have some backup she could count on.