MHA #10, Monday Evening

[so_hawkward]

When Kitty had asked if Clint wanted to come over to her place tonight, there'd been no hesitation in Clint saying yes. The fact that she was even talking to him, let alone still telling him she loved him was seriously surprising, and Clint wasn't going to do anything to mess that up again.

You know, relatively soon.

The flowers had gone over well, but Clint still had some cupcakes with him as he let himself into the apartment, just in case. "Kitty?" he called out, making sure to make enough noise that she'd know he was there.

[For the girlfriend!]

Comments

[throughaphase]

Apparently sincere apologies plus unexpected gestures plus perspective of "Is it better or worse than that time my ex beat up my boyfriend in a fit of jealous rage and I forgave him and we all had to be on a team together?" made things easier. Who knew.

"Right here," Kitty called from where she was putting things away in the kitchen.

[so_hawkward]

"Hey. I come bearing chocolate," Clint said, peeking into the kitchen. "This is a good time, right?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeah, just cleaning up a little," she said, closing the cabinet and turning back towards him. "You brought chocolate?"

[so_hawkward]

"Cupcakes," he said, holding out the box. "Just a few. A little spoiling seemed like a nice idea."

[throughaphase]

"...You're doing good," she decided, taking the box to check them out. Here she thought the flowers on her coffee table would be all for today. "The spoiling is definitely appreciated. Thank you."

[so_hawkward]

"Thank you," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Did your class go okay?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeah. I put them to work prepping for speeches, so it was pretty quiet," she said, offering him a cupcake. "And then I got flowers, so overall it was better than expected."

[so_hawkward]

Clint took the cupcake and tried to take a bite without getting frosting all over his face. "You said pretty. Purple flowers are pretty."

[throughaphase]

"They really are," Kitty agreed. "You really didn't have to do all this, you know. I mean, I love that you did..."

[so_hawkward]

"I wanted to. I wanted to thank you for still trusting me," Clint said. "You didn't have to do that either."

[throughaphase]

"I'm not going to say there's not still work to do," she said, "but you were upfront about it. And when you're as sorry as I know you are, I don't exactly expect you to make the same mistake again."

The way he made up for screwing up tended to say as much as him never screwing up at all, she figured.

[so_hawkward]

"I don't plan on it. I talked to Jack. He gave me some werewolf 411," Clint said. "It's been a good few days of people being nicer to me than they probably should have been."

[throughaphase]

"It's Fandom. We're freakish like that here," Kitty said, licking off some of the frosting from her cupcake. "You got a crash course in werewolf?"

[so_hawkward]

"Something like that, yeah. Turns out they're probably not as scary as I thought."

Sorry for the shocker, Kitty, hope you were sitting down.

"And I don't think Jack completely hates me so, you know, that's nice."

[throughaphase]

Aww. Did she look proud of him? Because she really was.

"That's definitely good," she agreed. "And really, they're not bad. Would I want to tangle with one on a bad day in the middle of a fight? No, but they're really just people."

[so_hawkward]

"I'm still not sure if I believe they're all decent, especially considering what Derek's uncle did," Clint said, "but I'm becoming more aware of how I might have been slightly off about some of the others." Ugh, admitting you'd been wrong was so painful. "I don't think there's anything I can do to apologize to Derek though."

[throughaphase]

"They're not all decent. But neither is every mutant or normal human," Kitty said. "Derek... I don't know. When he and I get into it, usually it gets left alone until he's ready to act like nothing happened. I'm not sure how long that would even take here."

Especially when she had no idea how long Derek was going to be mad at her even.

[so_hawkward]

"I don't know if he can act like nothing happened. I mean, even if he pretends he didn't do anything, which I can sort of understand, he's more powerful now," Clint said. "I don't know how easy that'll be to ignore. And I don't know if he'll want to act like nothing happened with me."

Clint certainly didn't expect forgiveness. He didn't deserve it at all.

[throughaphase]

"At the very least, maybe avoid each other till he's figured out the adjusting to being an alpha thing? Give him some time to calm down," Kitty suggested. "What do you mean about him pretending he didn't do anything? About Peter?"

[so_hawkward]

"Yeah. Even someone who's used to killing can be jarred by killing someone new." Not that he was speaking from experience, of course. "If Derek doesn't have much experience, which is what people keep telling me, killing someone--a family member, no less... it's gotta suck."

[throughaphase]

"That's what I'm guessing. And Derek doesn't rally have much in the way of family these days, even before that." Thanks, Kate. "It's a terrible situation all around."

[so_hawkward]

"At least he's got you?" And Stiles, but Clint was trying not to think about that too much. "And the others here who are like him. Maybe that'll help?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeah. Though he doesn't really seem to want to deal with me right now, so I'm going to steer clear for a little while," she said. "I don't want to make things worse."

[so_hawkward]

"How could he not want to deal with you? You're his friend." Said the man notorious for running away at the slightest sign of personal conflict.

[throughaphase]

"I went to see how he was and he apparently thinks I only went because of my own guilty conscience and to make excuses for you," Kitty shrugged. "I didn't go there to fight, so I left."

[so_hawkward]

Clint scowled at that and tried not to look too angry. "I'm sorry. He should have known you were sincere. I can make my own excuses, thank you."

[throughaphase]

"I mean, I don't think I was making excuses, but I can see where it'd come off that way," she said. "But it's not like I haven't tried to be there for him every time there was a problem for like a year and a half, so."

[so_hawkward]

"Exactly. You're his friend and he should... I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to trust you," Clint said. He knew how much trusting people sucked sometimes, but Kitty was different.

[throughaphase]

"I try on that front," Kitty admitted. She really didn't like the experiences where she'd made someone not trust her, so it was best to avoid them. "He was coming off a rough time, though, and I don't know how much the alpha thing plays in. We'll see what happens."

[so_hawkward]

This seemed like an appropriate time for a hug, so that's what Clint did. "I'm sorry. He'll probably come around. You're kind of hard to stay away from."

[throughaphase]

"Call me crazy, but I think you might be slightly biased," Kitty said, hugging him back. They probably both needed it, really.

[so_hawkward]

Yeah, Kitty should enjoy this hugging moment because Clint probably wasn't going to accept one of these any time soon again. "I'm only a little biased. I also know how awesome you are better than a lot of people here. That makes me knowledgeable."

[throughaphase]

"Are you claiming to be an expert in Kitty?" she teased, looking up at him.

[so_hawkward]

"Maybe not an expert. What's slightly less than an expert but still experienced?" he asked. "There's a lot I have left to learn still."

[throughaphase]

"An adept?" Kitty said after a moment of thought. "Is it bad I can't think offhand of what you still need to learn?"

[so_hawkward]

"I'm sure there's stuff about your past that I don't know, 'cause it's not time for me to know yet," he said. "Things I do that piss you off that I haven't figured out. That kind of stuff."

[throughaphase]

"There's not really anything you do that pisses me off," Kitty admitted. "There's stuff I don't get, like the coffee pot thing- I know, I know, fewer dishes- but that's not the same thing. Stuff in my past might take a while, though. Just because there's some weird stuff that doesn't come up that much."

[so_hawkward]

"And that's fine. We've got time." As terrifying as that was to think about sometimes. "As for the coffee pot, I just don't see the point in making more of a mess than I need to."

[throughaphase]

"I know, but I don't understand how you're not constantly burning your mouth on hot glass," she said. "I'm pretty invested there."

[so_hawkward]

Clint snickered. "My lips are not in danger, I promise. I don't know, I guess I have a strong tolerance? And I don't drink it right from when it's brewed. I'm not totally crazy, I promise."

[throughaphase]

"That's what I like to hear," she said with a smile. "I'll get used to it. At some point. ...Probably."