Ethan paced back and forth running a hand though his dark purple hair. He was panicking. Why was he panicking? Because, Last night there was a party, And He got a little drunk. Then being who Ethan is, he ended up making out with another drunk person. And who was said drunk person? It was none other than Hawkeye. Yup Clint Barton aka, One of the only Married Men, WITH CHILDREN at The Party. Ethan couldn't believe that he was so stupid.
Ethan had been avoiding Clint all day, staying in his room as much as possible. Even during training he refused to talk to him or even look in Clint's general direction. Ethan hoped that Clint hadn't noticed that he was attempting to ignore him. When what he really wished was that he didn't even remember any of it. But Ethan knew he definitely wasn't going to get off that easy. In fact his luck was about to run out.
Ethan was walking into the kitchen for a drink only to find Clint already there.
"Hey Ethan"
"Bye Clint"
Ethan goes to leave. Clint grabs his hand
"Ethan wait-" Ethan stops letting out a sigh as they turn to face Clint.
"Yes?" he questions, trying to sound casual but ultimately failing. Ethan's nerves started getting to him as he looked at Clint who was a good deal taller than him.
"You've been avoiding me" Clint points out as if it wasn't plainly obvious.
"Whaaat? Me? Avoiding you? noooo. I'd never do that" Ethan says very awkwardly. It was clear he was overselling it. "Ethan" Clint says giving him a look.
"Okay fine. Yes I've been avoiding you. Happy?" he says, pulling his hand away.
"No, I'm not happy. Why have you been avoiding me?"
"You of all people should know the reason." Clint looks down for a sec before looking up at him.
"It's because of last night isn't it?" Ethan just looks away, not having it in him to keep looking at the others blue eyes. He felt so guilty, he didn't want to be a homewrecker.
"Ethan look this doesn't have to be a big deal"
"Yeah, I know. We can just forget about it and move on. It was just a kiss." Ethan says sounding much colder than he meant too. Clint nods, trying not to seem hurt by his friend's tone. "Yeah. That's.. exactly what I was going to say" Except, It wasn't.
A few days later the Avengers were given a mission. A Hydra base had been discovered, and there were prisoners. The goal was to rescue them and stop whatever Hydra was doing at the base. And of course, since no one else knew about the incident. Clint and Ethan were paired up.
The two acted as professionally as possible through the briefing and getting to the mission. It wasn't until they were scouting out the territory in search of the base that there were problems.
"So, you seem to be in a good mood," Clint says, trying to start a conversation.
"Thanks" Ethan grumbles, not in the mood to talk as he leads the way. He had the hood on his uniform up hiding his face from view.
"oh C'mon. You've been like this for days, when are you going to talk to me again?" Clint asks.
Ethan shakes his head, continuing to walk. "When you stop looking at me like you can't stop thinking about what happened that night. I'm not an idiot Clint." Clint shakes his head "No, no you're not"
"I'm not gonna let this become a distraction or a problem for you or for me. So for now it's best to just avoid talking to one another." Ethan says not once looking at the other. Clint hesitates for a moment before giving in with a sigh "Whatever you say".
The two continue their search in silence. The tension between them could be cut with a knife as they walked through the forest alone. Ethan was trying to force himself not to think anything to do with or about what was going on between him and Clint. Not the awkwardness, not the fact he was drifting away from one of his closest friends, all because of a drunken kiss.
He was failing. How could he not think about it? Clint was one of his best friends, and he ruined it. Completely ruined it by acting dumb while drunk. This was all his fault. Would anything ever be the same again?
Ethan was snapped out of his thoughts when something catches his eye. Clint was examining a tree that had some sort of mark on it.
"Hey Ethan-"
"shhhhh"
"Wha-"
Clint turned around as Ethan knelt down to the ground. Clint was confused until he saw it, Tank tracks.
"The tracks are fresh, Hydra was here" Ethan says after examining the tracks
"We found tank tracks, we're following them to the base now" Clint says to the others over the coms.
"Copy, tell us as soon as you find a location on the base" Nat says over coms.
"For the record I'm the one who found it, Clint was being a tree hugger" Ethan says "I was not!" Clint says exasperated.
"Could you two maybe get along for 1 mission?" Steve questions. Ethan rolls his eyes.
"Why don't you focus on the mission and stop playing dad capsicle"
Tony could be heard laughing over the coms
"They got you there cap" Steve's sigh was audible.
"Finish the mission, argue later" Nat says over coms.
"Okay mom" Ethan whines sarcastically.
"Really Ethan? Really?" Nat says. Ethan laughs, he could feel Nat's glare from here.
"Fine, fine. I'll behave" He says, and that was the end of the discussion.
Clint couldn't help but smile. This was the first time he saw Ethan joking and being himself since the mission. Maybe things would get back to normal between the two of them. At least he hoped they would.
Clint and Ethan follow the tracks side by side in an awkward silence.
"Found the base, sending coordinates now" Ethan says as he and Clint had found the entrance to the base that was half underground. Ethan walks up to the door finding a key pad. "Oh fantastic! I get to have some fun" Ethan was a bit of a tech head. Not as literally as Tony though. He simply had a fondness of hacking and breaking locks, and he got really good at it.
"I'll keep a look out for any hydra agents while you work" Clint says. Ethan hums in acknowledgement as they pull up his sleeves revealing the watch-like sleeve of tools under their coat. All sorts of tech being held close to his body for easy access.
"Okay We're in" Ethan says as they press a button the door opening. "Wow that was fast,'' Clint says, surprised. "Normally I would say something snarky but this time I'm agreeing with you. It was fast.. and way too easy. Keep your guard up" Ethan says going to walk in. "Ethan wait, we should wait for the others." Clint says. "Really Clint? really? I think we'll be fine. But whatever" Ethan rolls his eyes. "Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow. I obtained entrance to the base. Do you copy?"
"We're a bit held up right now!" Tony yells though the coms, fighting could be heard from his side.
"We are dealing with Hydra, use this as a diversion while you two get the prisoners." Steve says.
"What Steve said, we'll meet up with you as soon as possible" Natasha says.
Clint and Ethan look at each other before nodding "Copy" They say in unison.
Clint had his bow out and an arrow knocked as he and Ethan walked into the hydra base. Not an agent was in sight as they walked though.
"It's so.. empty?" Clint says, visibly confused.
"Something is wrong. Usually bases like this are crawling with hydra agents" Ethan mutters keeping his guard up.
They were in a hanger now. There was plenty of space for planes, jets, trucks, tanks. But instead it was completely empty.
"Let's just keep looking around, they may be distracted with the others so they aren't here?" Clint suggests.
"I guess, but this still doesn't make any sense" Ethan says before moving on.
The building was eerily quiet and empty as Ethan and Clint ventured further into the base. Besides the lack of agents trying to kill them it seemed relatively normal, Until they went to a lower level. The two hearos expected to find the holding cells where Hydra kept their prisoners, but instead found a hallway with solid metal walls, and dim lighting that came from the bottom of the wall.
"There is definitely something important down here," Clint says.
"Well then, let's find it" Ethan says as he walks down the hallway. Clint follows the lights flickering as they walk. The two came up to a robotic door. Ethan pulled up his sleeves and got to work.
"Whatever is down here they are really protecting it" Clint says examining the door as Ethan worked. Ethan didn't respond focusing on opening the door. Clint was internally beating himself up. He blamed himself for getting drunk, as making out with Ethan. He was married, and had kids. He couldn't be with Ethan. Wait did he want to be with Ethan? No. No he had Lura. His wife. Clint loved her.
"Alright that should do it." Ethan says, and with a click of a button the door opened, triggering a loud alarm. Suddenly there was a low rumble and the room started to get hot. Through the door were many energy coils that started to glow orange.
"Ethan, what's going on? What is that?" Clint asks, trying not to show that he was panicking.
"I- I don't know I'm trying to figure that out" Ethan says in a similar state as they pull up a holographic screen from their arm tech.
"Hawkeye, Scorpion. I'm detecting high levels of radiation from the base. What's going on?" Tony calls over the coms.
"We're not sure, Ethan is trying to figure that out" Clint says.
Ethan's eyes go wide as they stare at the screen.
"It's a bomb."
"..What do you mean 'it's a bomb'?"
"The base, well the lower levels anyway. It's a giant bomb. This whole mission is a trap. They wanted us to come here to meet our demise." Ethan explains.
"Oh my god" Nat says, completely shocked.
"I'm on my way," Tony says.
"No, get as far away as possible, I think I can disarm it or at least mostly contain the blast." Ethan says before going past the door that was almost a foot thick.
"Ethan, if you go in there you could die," Clint says, grabbing him by the arm.
"And if I don't try, all of us will die." Ethan says removing Clint's hand from his arm. He took off a part of his tech handing it to Clint. "If I'm not back in exactly eighty four seconds" Ethan says pressing a button on it for the timer. "Press this button to close the doors and then run."
"you'll be-"
"Locked in yes I know"
"I can't-"
"Clint you have to, it will contain the blast to the main chamber and you can get away" Ethan says. He looks Clint right in the eyes with pure determination. "Promise me you'll close the doors." Clint finally nodded. Ethan nodded back and ran into the main chamber.
78 seconds remaining.
"Hawkeye, do you copy?" Steve says.
"Sorry what?" Clint asks.
"What's going on down there"
"Scorpion is attempting to disarm or at least contain the blast. He said you all need to get as far away as possible" Clint says shaking
60 seconds remaining.
"Copy." Steve says over the coms.
"And what are you doing?" Nat asks. Clint hesitates watching the timer tick down.
"What I have to"
Ethan was going as fast as he could, making sure all the bomb chamber doors would close when Clint pressed the button. IT was getting hotter and hotter by the second sweat starting to fall from his forehead.
50 seconds remaining.
40 seconds remaining.
"C'mon Ethan, C'mon you can do this," Clint mutters, getting worried.
30 seconds remaining.
"We have gotten back to the quinjet. Hawkeye, any updates?" Tony asks
"No, but I'll be on my way soon," Clint responds.
"With Scorpion?" Nat asks. Clint doesn't respond. "Hawkeye, you're coming with Scorpion right?"
"That's the plan" He finally answers.
15 seconds remaining.
Tears started to prick the corners of Clint's eyes.
10
"Ethan!" he called out
9
"Ethan, can you hear me?"
8
7
"Scorpion, do you copy?!"
6
5
Clint didn't look away from the bomb chamber hoping for a glimpse of Ethan's return.
4
"No.. no. Ethan please."
3
"don't make me close this door"
2
"you better be okay.."
1
He pushes the button. The door closes with a loud thud as it locks. Clint starts to run down the hallway to the exit just as Ethan told him. Soon he was back to the empty hangar.
"Can anyone hear me?" Ethan could be heard, panting over the coms.
"Ethan" Clint gasped
"We hear you loud and clear Scorp." Tony says over the coms, thinking Ethan was okay.
"Scorpion, what did you do?" Nat asks.
"Are you okay? Did you get out of there?" Clint asks.
"I redirected the blasts, It won't go out, it will destroy itself instead. And no.. I didn't.. I'm sorry Clint."
"No.."
"What do you mean? Ethan, where are you?" Tony asks.
"I'm inside the bomb. I was trying to disarm it but it was too late. The only option was to block it off." Ethan says
"Please tell me you're kidding" Clint says, sounding as if he was begging. Ethan laughs
"I wish I was Hawk.."
The base/bomb starts to rumble.
"Nat, do me a favor and make sure Clint stays in line for me"
"Will do"
"Tony, see if you can finish any of my projects you can find"
"Only if they're good" Tony says, his pain heard clearly in his voice.
"and Steve. Be there for the team for me"
"It's the least I could do" Steve says.
"Ethan-" Clint starts.
"It's okay. At least we all know I really am a hero. Not just a glorified IT guy" Ethan says with a laugh, tears streaming down his face.
"You were always a hero Ethan.." Steve says.
"Especially to us" Natasha says
"A damn good Avenger too." Tony says.
"I know.. Don't do anything stupid alri-"
But Ethan didn't finish. The bomb went off, his voice going silent. It worked the bomb went off causing the base to collapse. Luckily Clint was far enough away from the center, avoiding the explosion. But he did not move, tears falling without anything to stop them as he stared into the rumble. He didn't even react as the others came up behind him.
No one said a word as they silently looked at the destruction. All of them not wanting to believe the fact they had lost one of their own. An Avenger had fallen. Ethan was gone.