Folly Beach, South Carolina - Wednesday

[so_hawkward]

With the island being all gross and weird, and with everything Kitty had been through recently, Clint had jumped at the chance to get out of town, and was using work as an excuse. Specifically, he was checking up on one of the safehouses he had through SHIELD that just so happened to be in a warm state within walking distance of a beach. He'd learned early on that hiding out didn't always have to suck.

There'd been some cobwebs and dust in the place when he and Kitty first arrived, but the electricity and water worked without a hitch, and that was all Clint could ask for. Now, he was relaxing in a chair in the sand, watching Lucky and Rook approach the water while he waited for Kitty to come down from the house. There were definitely worse ways to spend a few days, that was for sure.

[For the ladyfriend!]

Comments

[throughaphase]

Kitty came out of the house with a couple towels and drinks for her and Clint, one of which she offered him when she got to him.

"If the dogs start playing in the water, I might die of cute," she said. "Just warning you."

[so_hawkward]

"If you could try to avoid dying so I don't have to deal with that paperwork, I'd really appreciate it," Clint said, taking the drink. "I think right now, they're trying to figure out why the water keeps leaving and coming back."

[throughaphase]

"Paperwork? You romantic," she said, taking a seat. "Obviously the ocean is playing with them."

[so_hawkward]

"I'd miss you too," Clint insisted. "Do you like the place well enough?"

[throughaphase]

"This was the best idea. Why have we not been coming here all the time?"

So that would be a yes.

[so_hawkward]

"Well, it's supposed to be for emergencies, and not girlfriend-impressing, but I figured no one's going to notice this time," Clint said, scooting closer to Kitty. "It's always nice to get away with you."

[throughaphase]

"Right back atcha," Kitty smiled, reaching for his hand. "And not just because I get you all to myself with no responsibilities to get in the way. ...Though that is most of the reason."

[so_hawkward]

"You have me all to yourself whenever you want, for the record," Clint said, reaching to rub Kitty's shoulder. "Although the lack of people bugging you for stuff is nice too. I thought my life was stressful, but you kind of beat me."

[throughaphase]

"I hold out hope that someday it'll calm down," Kitty told him. "I mean, that day might be when I'm too old and creaky to put on spandex anymore, but still."

[so_hawkward]

"Believe me when I say, you may be in your 70s and I bet you'll still be able to rock the spandex," Clint said with a solemn nod. "I hope things calm down long before then though."

[throughaphase]

"I really hope so. A normal life would be nice," Kitty said wistfully. "We could go on vacation all the time and not come back to any crises. We could raise the dogs without drama..."

[so_hawkward]

Clint laughed. "Oh yeah, right up until Lexi shows up, and then there'll be a whole other set of drama," he said. "Do you think you could actually be satisfied with a normal, mundane life?"

[throughaphase]

Aww, she still liked hearing things like "when."

"I think so," she said, but did give it some thought. "I kind of figure someone or another would drag me into something once in a while to give me my adventure fix, but normal's been my goal for a long time. I'd love to not have to worry about all the stuff I have to worry about. What about you? Think you could settle down like that?"

[so_hawkward]

Clint settled back in his chair and thought about it before shrugging. "I don't know. I mean, I do what I do because I can't hear about this stuff on the news and not do something, you know? You have to deal with a lot of crap because of who you are, but it's more of a choice for me. I think settling down would be... kind of like what I'm doing now, where I help when I'm needed but kind of stay out of the way when I'm not."

[throughaphase]

"That doesn't sound bad. Though I'm definitely imagining a lot of 'No, you saved the world last time, I'll handle it this time and you make sure Lexi gets to school,'" Kitty admitted.

[so_hawkward]

"My first thought was that Lexi would be walking herself to school. Do you think we'd be those parents that would take her to school? She'd probably be safer that way." Don't mind Clint as he worried about the safety of a child they might not even have.

[throughaphase]

"It probably depends on where we end up living by then," Kitty mused. "If we're in a city, no way is she going off by herself until high school. Someplace like Westchester or a suburb, she could probably walk by herself or with friends and it'd be fine. Or we just make Logan her bodyguard."

[so_hawkward]

"Okay, that's officially the best idea. Lexi will be safe, and Logan will have to deal with a child. Possibly multiple children," Clint said, cracking up. "I guess I don't know much about safe walking to school. I--well, there'll be a lot of research if that ever happens."

[throughaphase]

"You'd research the safety of walking for our potential future children?" Kitty smiled. "You're so cute."

[so_hawkward]

"Walking to school! Without getting kidnapped or Loki-napped or anyone-else-evil-napped," he insisted. "It's a requirement for people with our kind of lives, not something extra."

[throughaphase]

"Start her with self-defense classes early," Kitty said. "Again, Logan's good for that. She'd be the biggest badass on the block."

[so_hawkward]

"Or we could homeschool her. Or not send her to school. I mean, I've done okay without a diploma, right?" Clint said with a nod.

[throughaphase]

"You have," she agreed. "But she seems to be an only child and she should be able to be around kids her own age. I had problems with that growing up and it made things really rough. She should have it better."

[so_hawkward]

"She should have it better than both of us. That's one of the points of parenting, right?" Clint asked.

[throughaphase]

"Yup. And I think that's realistic," Kitty said, thinking about it. "We're in a pretty good place, I think, and she's not even happening yet."

[so_hawkward]

"Yeah, that's true. I'm definitely not worrying about it." Thinking about it didn't count. "Hey, look, Lucky's trying to catch the water."

Thank you, Lucky, for being a good distraction.

[throughaphase]

"See, and now's the point where I die of cute," Kitty said, looking over at the dogs. "He is gonna figure out real quick this isn't gonna work."

Or not, because dogs would actually chase their own tails, but she gave him credit.

[so_hawkward]

She might have given Lucky too much credit, because he veered too close to the water, got splashed, and began barking at the waves. Rook, for whatever reason, started barking as well.

"It's a good thing they're cute," Clint said.

[throughaphase]

"You can't say they're not entertaining," Kitty said. "They're really giving the ocean a talking to."

[so_hawkward]

Clint laughed, and slipped his arm around Kitty. "So, this was a good idea?" It was always exciting when he had ideas that worked!

[throughaphase]

"This was such a good idea the next time things are terrible I might ask which safehouse is next on your list," Kitty teased, leaning against him.

[so_hawkward]

Clint laughed at that. "Not all of them are as nice as this one. Some of them are kind of out in the middle of nowhere. Some of them don't even have heat or electricity."

[throughaphase]

"Middle of nowhere doesn't sound terrible. No heat or electricity is only acceptable if you're camping or in Skyrim," Kitty said. "Or in Fandom when it decides to knock out the power in the winter."

[so_hawkward]

"Mmm, and there are blankets and fireplaces," Clint said, wrapping his arm a little tighter around Kitty. "And nice company."

[throughaphase]

"Next you're gonna tell me we have to figure out ways to keep ourselves occupied," Kitty said, grinning at him