I Thought You Were Different

Bargaining

"I'm taking (Y/N) home, you two can take the other jet," Steve said with a complacent smile, waiting for the inevitable argument from either Tony or Clint as to why that was a terrible idea. When it didn't come from either, he was surprised; when it came from you, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I think you should take Tony. I can ride with Clint."

"Why can't Tony take (Y/N), and I can ride with Steve?" Clint protested.

The opposition was loud and came from all three, only solidifying your resolve that your way was how it was going to be. "I am going with Clint, and that's final," you snapped. "Oh, don't you all look at me like that. I know exactly what happened in this hallway, and I'm shutting it down once and for all. This is the only way that I can be sure that Barton will make it home alive."

"(Y/N), come on, we wouldn't-" Tony said but you cut him off almost immediately.

"Tony, I might not be able to stand on my own just yet, but don't think for one second that I can't still kick your ass."

~~~

Tony had designed the quinjets to be completely silent, both inside and out. They were the ultimate advancement in stealth technology. But now as he looked out the window, the last hour being a wordless trip with Steve at the controls, the sounds of the jet were deafening to him.

"Steve, what are you going to do?"

"With what?" he replied, his eyes never leaving the empty sky ahead of him.

"Ha!' Tony scoffed, "you can't be serious? Cap, please tell me that you're not ignoring this."

"I'm not worried, Tony. It takes two people to make this an issue, and by my count there's only one." Steve glanced to him for just a second, but his gaze quickly returned to straight ahead, "I trust her."

~~~

"Clint?"

"Clint."

"Barton, are you gonna ignore me for the entire flight?"

"I'm not ignoring you," he whispered, "I just don't know what to say."

"That's new." You sighed and turned back to look out the window, now deciding that you didn't really know what to say either. A palpable tension hung between you, and it was almost physically uncomfortable to be next to him. You had to find a way to move past this. "What do we do now?"

"I told you, I don't know what to say." His voice was quiet but had a coldness to it, as if he were already starting to distance himself from you. Whatever Steve and Tony had said or done to him, it was clearly working. "Do we really have to talk about this right now?"

"If not now, when? We're stuck together with no one else here, so I don't really foresee a better time, do you?"

Clint reached out to the control panel and changed a few settings with a firm snap of his hand, releasing the handles and turning the chair towards you. To anyone else he would look nearly expressionless, but to you he looked so sad that it brought a sting to your eyes. "Fine. You want to talk, let's talk. Apparently I'm not able to get you to shut up about it."

~~~

"Are you still gonna let her work with him? That's really what got this whole thing started."

Steve openly laughed at this, looking at Tony like he had completely lost his mind. "Am I going to let her work with him? I think you and I are talking about two different people. I don't let her do anything. I've learned a hard lesson about things like that, Tony. You were there. I lost her for a long time, and I'm not about to do anything to risk that again."