𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒𝐄 ➳ 𝙥𝙟𝙤 // 𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨

vi

"Clint. Fucking. Barton," Nico growled, sprinting towards the man. The son of Apollo's hair was spiked and tattoos covered his neck and arms. 

"Uh, Nico..." Clint stopped in his tracks, turning to stare at the short Italian. "How're you doing?"

Nico shoved his shoulder, hard. "What the Hades?" he yelled, internally apologizing to his father."Where have you been?"

"Uh, haven't you been watching the news?" Clint laughed weakly. Nico stared at him blankly.

"Aliens in New York? The Avengers? Saving the world? Thanos....?" Clint searched Nico's face for any sign of recognition. "Nothing?"

"There's been a lot going on," Nico scowled, painful memories drowning his thoughts. "Wait... the Avengers? Are you... are you with them?"

"How do you even... just hold on. Where's Will?" Clint asked Nico, changing the subject. Nico's deep brown eyes darkened and his lips tightened. A traitorous tear rolled down his cheek. 

"He, uh..." Nico turned away. 

"Snapped," Clint voiced softly. 

Nico looked up. "Is that what they're calling it?" he said hoarsely. 

"Thanos snapped half the population of the multiverse," Clint explained, eyes drifting towards the horizon. "They're all gone."

"The multiverse?" Nico narrowed his eyes. "Thanos? Clint, you better have an explanation for this, or I swear to the gods-" 

"Let's go to camp. I promise you answers," Clint wrapped an arm around Nico and he stiffened, but slowly relaxed into the embrace. It had been a while since the son of Hades had done this.

Nico had to shadow travel the two of them into the Hades cabin so that no one else saw Clint, and the two of them sat on Nico's bunk together.

Clint looked at a Polaroid picture of Nico and Will wearing daisy flower crowns, holding hands in the strawberry field which was sitting on Nico's dresser. 

"What happened?" Nico asked, taking a deep breath.

"Long story short," Clint started with a sigh, "I was recruited for a team called the Avengers. They called themselves the Earth's mightiest heroes, but we know that's not true. A while ago, a Norse god - " Nico's eyes widened. "- Yes, Norse god, brought an army of aliens to New York through a portal in the sky. We won, thank God, but what we didn't know was that the Norse god Loki was working for Thanos. Five years ago, my whole team fought against Thanos, who was collecting the Infinity stones. Thanos' goal was to balance the multiverse, by wiping out half of all life. They almost won, but since Thanos had the power to turn back time, he succeeded in getting all six Infinity stones."

"They?" Nico scowled fiercely. "Where were you?"

"I was on house arrest," Clint said gently, noticing Nico's rising anger. His anger dissipated. 

Clint choked on his next words, "I lost everyone in the snap. Laura, my kids..." 

"Your wife..." Nico looked at Clint, wide-eyed. "Oh, gods, Clint, I'm so sorry."

"I made some mistakes," Clint gulped. "I killed a lot of people I shouldn't have, and it's my understanding that you did too." 

"I wanted justice for Will," Nico's voice was raw. "I know now I was wrong."

"Will wouldn't have wanted you to darken yourself even more, and you know that." Clint pointed to the picture on Nico's dresser. "You two were happy. Don't disrespect him by darkening yourself."

Nico nodded numbly. 

"You promise?" Clint squeezed Nico's hand.

Nico looked Clint in the eyes. "I promise."