Holly and the Archer

SEVEN

"Did you mean it? When he said he would kill me."

They hadn't even turned the radio on. Holly's shins were in agony and her entire body ached, yet she had never felt so alive. Her mind had been racing since they got back in the car and it showed no signs of slowing down. There's so much she wants to do, so many questions she wants to ask, and they're all for Clint. Only for Clint.

"I would rather die before I'd let anyone harm you." She rolls her head onto her shoulder and watches him through her lashes. His gaze was trained on the road but the tension in his forehead seemed to be fighting with itself. Every time he glanced over towards her he relaxed, and then it seemed as though he remembered was his brother had threatened, and he was once again on high alert.

"Clint." He didn't answer, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. "Clint." She sat upright and turned to him. He was far away. Further than she had ever seen him and it terrified her. "Clint!" He blinks and looks over at her before back at the road- they were alone and surrounded by fields and hills. "Clint, pull over." He does.

Running his hands through his hair, he drops his head onto the steering wheel, sounding the horn's wail. Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, Holly takes his head in her hands and pulls him close to her. With the engine off, the two of them sit there in each other's embrace with only their breathing and pounding hearts as the soundtrack to their day.

"I can't lose you, you're the most important person in my life." He looks up at her, revealing the tears in his eyes. She shakes her head and brushes his hair from his face.

"Oh, come on, Barton. You know it will take more than your dumbass brother to get rid of me. After all, I did save you earlier." His mouth drops open and he pushes her hands away.

"You did not!"

"Did too!" He shakes his head, grinning at her as she sticks her tongue out at him. "I took a nun-chuck to the shins, and got blown a few metres through the air, and still managed to make the most damage."

"That's hardly fair, you had an early start."

"I fell out of a tree!" She crosses her arms

"Hardly my fault."

"You pushed m-" Before she knew it, he had kissed her. It was such a quick and surreal moment she sat, stunned and speechless. Did that actually happen? Did Clint kiss her... without prompting? Everything and nothing swarmed her mind, everything mingling together into a mess except for one thing. Clint. She grinned, her eyes lighting up and her heart beat faster than it ever had before. After years of hinting at the academy to the last decade of hopeless adoration, she was just kidding herself. "The shorts worked," she mumbled.

Clint cleared his throat to catch her attention once more, his grin crooked and shoulders tense. Smiling back, Holly finally took her shot and grabbed him by the collar to kiss him as she had only ever dreamt of doing.

Between her peppering of kisses, she grinned and admitted how long she had waited. He commended her patience and then-

"Let's not go home yet." She broke away from the kiss, awaiting his response. "Buy me a drink first, Barton?" With a smirk as his only response, Clint sits back normally and shifts the car back into gear before speeding off to find the nearest motel, hotel or inn.