25 Unicorn Street, Thursday Evening

[so_hawkward]

When you made your living running around with a bow and arrow, Valentine's Day ended up being kind of a weird holiday. People at SHIELD had liked to make Cupid jokes to Clint all day, all seemingly thinking they were the first ones to do it, and Clint had to admit that he almost missed the teasing. Tony, of course, hadn't missed out on the opportunity to text remarks to Clint, until Clint had replied that he needed to get ready for his date. Apparently, the surprise that Kitty was still dating him was enough to shut Tony up.

Yeah, Clint was kind of surprised too, shhh.

It wasn't often that Clint had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day and was in the same time zone as her and wanted to actually spend the evening with her, so he figured he was supposed to make this dinner pretty special. Hopefully, ordering in Chinese instead of pizza would count.

[For the girlfriend!]

Comments

[so_hawkward]

"It doesn't seem like he has many friends his own age," Clint said, sitting down and starting to dig food out of one of the boxes onto his plate. "I mean, it was fun to have him at that party. He's a good kid, really. But... I've been there, but at least I had the excuse of not having a lot of kids my own age around. He does."

[throughaphase]

"I was like that. It's not so bad," Kitty said. "I had a few friends my own age, but when they tried to move me to a team full of teenagers rather than the adults, I threw fits." Which was probably proof she shouldn't have been hanging out with the adults, but hey. "I don't know if he prefers it this way, but he seemed to like being included in the group."

[so_hawkward]

"Maybe he just liked being included at all. Especially by people who aren't creepers." Not that Kitty knew any of those around here, surely.

[throughaphase]

"Why do you care so much?" she asked, totally out of curiosity, as she grabbed a plate.

[so_hawkward]

Well, sure Kitty, go ahead and ask him the same question he asked himself sometimes. "I don't care a lot," he said, a little defensively. "But he's your friend and... okay, he never calls me anything but Mr. Barton, he's still kind of my friend too, in the same way Natalie and Alec and Kate are and--I've surrounded myself with teenagers, haven't I?"

[throughaphase]

At least his girlfriend wasn't a teenager anymore!

"Not entirely," she said with a smile, patting his knee. "I will point out that that list makes you sound a little like nega-Stiles there, but as long as you can still hold adult conversations, you're fine."

[so_hawkward]

"Hey, I can hold conversations with you, can't I?" Clint said, shaking his head a little. "I just feel like some of these kids don't have a lot of people looking out for them, you know? I know it sounds stupid."

[throughaphase]

"No, it doesn't," Kitty insisted. "They're here without like any adult supervision, the island throws different kinds of trauma at them at least a couple times a month, and you like to help. It's one of the things I love about you. But it also means they're going to frustrate you while they try to work things out."

[so_hawkward]

"It doesn't seem right to not help. Although yeah, I could probably stand a little less frustration," Clint said. "Which is yet another reason to stick to forks."

[throughaphase]

"But that's the funny kind of frustration," Kitty teased, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "At least for me."

[so_hawkward]

"Stabbing the food with the chopstick doesn't count, right? I just want to understand the boundaries here," Clint said, although he was smiling at that little kiss.

[throughaphase]

"You don't have to," she said, "but I think I've just decided food stabbing is a valid method if that's what works for you."

[so_hawkward]

"You're so nice," Clint teased, taking the chopsticks and at least trying to pick up one of the pieces of chicken on his plate. Oh, the things he was willing to do to impress a woman. "Did you have fun baking with Derek this week?"

[throughaphase]

"I hassled him most of the time, so yes," she said, trying not to look like she was watching him with the chopsticks. "It really wasn a big deal."

[so_hawkward]

"He was doing something human. That's a pretty big deal," Clint said, carefully moving the chopsticks towards his mouth before his grip got too hard and the food fell back onto his plate. Maybe entertaining Kitty would be a good date move.

[throughaphase]

"He does plenty human," Kitty told him, but smiled a little. "You totally meant to do that, right?"

[so_hawkward]

"Absolutely," Clint said quickly. "I don't think you and I see Derek in the same way."

[throughaphase]

"We don't," she agreed, picking up a piece of chicken with chopsticks without any problem. "But he and I have some really awful stuff in common, so I can automatically relate to him, too."

[so_hawkward]

Clint tried to watch Kitty subtly and copy what she was doing with his own piece of food. "You're nothing like him," he said. "You're too nice for that."

[throughaphase]

"We have different personalities, sure. But... getting persecuted because you're different, losing family members because of it, not wanting to deal with people... I know all that," she shrugged. "You haven't had to see me when I've had to deal with that. Meanwhile I don't think Derek ever gets to stop dealing with that."

[so_hawkward]

Clint focused on getting his chicken into his mouth--successfully, thankfully--so he didn't have to try to feel bad for Derek. "If you ever have to deal with that, you know I'll help, right?"

[throughaphase]

"I know," she said with a little smile. Which was only in part due to him managing the chopsticks there. "You got me through the Stryker stuff without a breakdown or me flipping out on you. That means you're a keeper."

[so_hawkward]

"Ooh, I like the sound of that," Clint teased. "The keeper part, not the near breakdown part. I hope you can keep that going."

[throughaphase]

"I'm doing good at that so far," Kitty assured him. "And I like the keeper part a lot, too. I want to keep that going, too."

[so_hawkward]

"You're a keeper too, putting up with all my crap," Clint said. "Sometimes, it seems like everyone here's got crap, and it's just a meter if finding what you're willing to deal with."