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

[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."

[throughaphase]

"I think that's pretty much true anywhere you go." At least, it was where she came from. "Though yours really hasn't been hard to deal with. This is by far the easiest relationship I've ever had."

Which, she knew, might be at least partially because people weren't constantly trying to kill them both here. Imagine that.

[so_hawkward]

"Oh good, I'm not the only one finding this to be deceptively easy," Clint said with a smirk. "I thought relationships were supposed to be harder."

[throughaphase]

"Not supposed to be. I think you're supposed to be with people where it can be easy. But we work, and we don't have all this horrible stuff happening constantly to stress us out and cause fights..." Hello to that insight into her previous relationships... "I take it as a good sign."

[so_hawkward]

"The island definitely stresses me out sometimes," Clint admitted. "I think it also helps that you tell me stuff. Which I know makes me a huge hypocrite since I don't like to talk, but..."

[throughaphase]

"You don't like to, but you do it," Kitty pointed out. "You've never refused to tell me anything when I've asked."

[so_hawkward]

Clint hadn't thought about it that way. "Well I don't want to lie to you. What'd be the point?"

[throughaphase]

"I appreciate that, too," Kitty said. "A lot of the time people just say they don't want to talk about it or everything's fine and it doesn't help anything."

[so_hawkward]

"I don't necessarily want to talk about things, but you also don't judge me for my answers," Clint said. "It's easier to talk to you about some stuff."

[throughaphase]

"I'd never judge you for being honest. And you know I'd never make you talk about anything you didn't want to, right?" She didn't want him to feel obligated or anything.