25 Unicorn Street, Tuesday

[so_hawkward]

Early in the morning, Clint made his way back to his and Natasha's place in a much better mood than someone covered in bandages probably should have been. He'd finally gotten sent on a mission, and sure, it was a pretty simple affair, but he'd been useful, and that felt awesome. Plus, it had been a hell of a lot warmer out in the desert than it was on the island. He was a little sore from crashing through a rooftop as part of his escape route, but he'd had a fairly soft landing and he didn't break anything and he didn't need any kind of blood transfusion, so surely he'd kept his promise that he'd be safe while he was gone?

Clint had barely gotten his shoes off before collapsing onto his bed - okay, it was cold here, but he had a warm place to sleep, so maybe the desert wasn't that much better - and he got even more comfortable as Lucky jumped up onto the bed and licked his face.

"Hey buddy, I missed you too," he said, pulling his phone out and nudging Lucky to lay next to him. He thought about leaving a message for Kitty, to let her know he was back, but he'd had to shoot off a sonic arrow a little too close in range, and his ears were still ringing. The nurse who'd looked him over had said he'd probably be fine in a few days, but he knew he was still probably talking too loudly. So, Clint settled for texting Kitty instead, and stretching out on his bed to relax. Hopefully, no one would need him to get up for the next little while.

[Open!]

Comments

[throughaphase]

Oh, Clint. "Wait, really?"

[so_hawkward]

"Well the ringing part's new, but it's not the first time it's happened." Sigh, sonic arrows. "Did I uh, mention my hearing's not all that great?" He thought he'd at least implied it, although he might not have outright admitted it.

[throughaphase]

"Yeah, but it didn't sound like it was an ongoing issue," she said, realizing it was possible she'd assumed that since he seemed fine the rest of the time.

[so_hawkward]

Clint shrugged, like maybe if he acted like it wasn't a big deal, Kitty wouldn't think it was a big deal. "It's been ongoing since I was a kid. It's not that bad or anything, and people keep saying it's why I can see so well, but... it's just how things are."

[throughaphase]

"Do you know what caused it?" Kitty wondered. She knew he might not tell her, but she couldn't help but be curious.

[so_hawkward]

Oh, right, that was why he hadn't told her about this. "I have a pretty good idea, yeah," he said, perfectly content to leave it at that. He didn't like the way people in general looked at him when they found out about his dad; he certainly didn't want to give Kitty any more reason to pity him. "I was like, eight at the time, so I've had plenty of time to adjust."

[throughaphase]

"Don't want to get into it?" she guessed, not sounding bothered.

[so_hawkward]

"It's probably exactly what you're thinking," Clint muttered. "I don't really want to talk about it, if that's okay."

[throughaphase]

"You don't have to," Kitty said, but she put her arm around him again. "So other than this, did you have fun out there?" She'd even change the subject and everything.

[so_hawkward]

Having Kitty's arm over him was enough like getting a hug that Clint felt comforted, but not enough that he felt bad about accepting it. "It was awesome," he said, breaking into a smile. "It was a lot of sitting around and waiting at first, but it just felt good to get back out there and be useful, you know?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeah, I know," she said, smiling because he was. "You look so happy about it."

[so_hawkward]

"I am. It's like, maybe I didn't completely screw things up with Loki," he said. "Maybe I really can earn back everyone's trust." Because of course no one trusted him or anything.

[throughaphase]

"I doubt they'd have called you back at all if they didn't trust you," Kitty pointed out.

[so_hawkward]

"I think Fury still trusts me. I want to win everyone back though," Clint said. "Is that a stupid idea?"

[throughaphase]

"I don't think it's stupid. Just don't stress yourself out too much if some people are jerks," Kitty said. "And don't do it do fast that they pull you back in too soon." Not that she was selfishly worried about that or anything.

[so_hawkward]

"Aww, are you worried I'm going to leave? 'Cause that's a long way away, as weird as it is to think about," Clint said. "I've gotten way too attached to this place, hamsters and all."

[throughaphase]

"It did cross my mind," she admitted.

[so_hawkward]

Now it was Clint's turn to slip his arm over Kitty. "Hey, no. I'm not going anywhere. This was like a test run, to make sure I'm mission ready. I may go on more missions, but I'll keep coming back here."

[throughaphase]

"Good," she said, hugging him a little. "Because I am nooowhere near ready for that."

[so_hawkward]

"Neither am I. Not at all," Clint said. "That's why it's not going to happen."

[throughaphase]

Kitty gave him another kiss for that. "Best thing I could hear all day."