CLINT BARTON AKA MY DAD I DECIDED HES MY DAD OK I LOVE HIM SM AGH ASDFGHJKL RAHHHHH
I like to call him genderdad :3
Thank you so much for over 6k reads!!
Content warnings: you might get sad??? I'm getting really bad at these oml. They gotta talk about Tasha for pLoT and I said so
Clint's expression goes through a few changes after Yelena tumbles out onto the floor of his basically-daughter/partner's apartment. First, he looks exactly like the hero Kate grew up idolizing- calm and calculated, ready to fight and defend as needed. Second, when he realizes that neither Kate nor Yelena are looking threatened or hostile, his face morphs into a weary confusion. And third, when he notices the familiar, nervous glances they trade each other, something in his mind clicks, and he just gives a tired sigh, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm gonna make myself a cup of coffee," he mumbles, shuffling back into the kitchen and rummaging through a cupboard for a second to find the espresso machine. "You two figure yourselves out."
If only it were that easy.
Kate clears her throat and offers Yelena a hand up, her second adrenaline rush of the day slowly fading. The assassin stands and brushes herself off.
"I'm sorry, Kate Bishop," she says quietly for only the younger archer to hear. "It was very cramped in there and my hand slipped on the door." She spares a glance at Clint, who is leaning with his forehead on the cupboards in front of him as the coffee brews itself, looking very much like a tired dad. "Do you know why Barton is here?"
Kate shakes her head and runs a hand through her loose hair. "Apparently I missed some texts from him this morning."
"Typical Kate Bishop." Yelena's tone is teasing, and a soft smile is tugging at the corners of her mouth, melting the quip that Kate wanted to jab back at her.
"Um- do you promise you're not gonna try to kill him?" Kate mumbles, gently grabbing Yelena's elbow nervously.
The blonde frowns. "I promise, Kate Bishop."
"Okay. Okay- sorry, I just... yeah. Please don't kill each other." Yelena gives her a reserved nod, and Kate suddenly remembers their morning of sledding when the blonde winces slightly at the movement. "Oh shit- we still need to get you an ice pack." She hurries to her fridge and digs around for a moment in the freezer until she comes up with the best she can find- a bag of frozen peas. It'll do.
Yelena takes it with a grateful smile and ushers Kate up into her loft bedroom. "Go get changed into dry clothes, Kate Bishop," she instructs softly. The archer hesitates a moment, her eyes darting nervously between the two other people in her apartment. Yelena sighs and grabs Kate's hand, tugging her arm to make the other woman lean down so that she can press a swift kiss to her cheek.
"Go, Kate Bishop. It will be fine. You'll be back in only a minute."
Kate blinks furiously, eyes wide and cheeks blazing. She squeaks an okay and obeys without further comment, heading upstairs. Yelena watches her go, Lucky following her while Fanny stays dutifully with her mama, and then turns to see Clint watching her with shining eyes.
"Hello, Yelena," he says roughly, leaning back against the counter with a steaming mug in hand. He picks another one up from the bar and offers it to her. "Plain black, right?"
She watches him for a moment before accepting the drink, nodding slowly. "I hate black." Clint stiffens. "Thank you. It's my favorite. Reminds me of my papa." His shoulders sink back down.
"Have you seen your parents recently?" he asks carefully, taking a sip of his coffee and watching her with keen eyes over the rim of the mug.
"Not since Natasha."
He nods and looks down at his boots, lips pressed into a thin line. "Right."
"How is your family?"
Clint gives a tight smile, a stress dimple popping out on one side of his mouth. "They're good. They're really good. Very happy to have their dad home in time for Christmas." His eyes are bright with unshed tears and a deep gratitude that Yelena doesn't feel worthy of. "Thank you."
Yelena doesn't know how to respond, only how to take another gulp of the bitter coffee. Just how Alexei likes it.
"I'm surprised you're still in New York." Clint sets his mug down and folds his arms over his chest, clearing his throat. "I guess I figured you might try to find your employer and get a new job right away. Natasha always liked to stay busy."
"She was better than me," Yelena responds roughly, swallowing down the lump in her throat.
Clint coughs and wipes at his eyes. "She was better than all of us."
The assassin sucks in a deep breath and presses the pack of frozen peas to the back of her head, hissing at the cold on her tender skin. Clint watches her carefully, shifting on his feet but staying where he is.
"Head alright?"
"Kate Bishop and I went sledding this morning," she says simply by way of explanation.
"Ah."
"Hm."
Kate clambers down the stairs in a new set of sweats at that moment, Lucky hot on her heels. She lets out a silent sigh of relief when she spots both Clint and Yelena in one piece, but a tiny sliver of her feels guilty for even worrying that her assassin would turn on the Avenger now.
"Hey," she greets, checking that the peas Yelena is holding to her head are still cold before wrapping Clint in a tight hug.
"Hey, kiddo," he says gruffly. Clint pats her shoulder and motions to a third cup of coffee. "Had your caffeine yet?"
Kate takes it eagerly and downs half of it in one go, humming with contentment at the overwhelming sweetness. "Thanks, old man."
The Avenger huffs and waggles a finger at her. "Don't be like that."
Kaye only shrugs with a small smile.
Clint clears his throat and shifts on his feet, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "So. Who wants to explain this to me?"
The anxious feeling of being confronted by a parent returns to Kate's chest, and she rubs at her sternum absently, darting a glance at Yelena. The assassin returns it, her eyes seeming to say 'I am just as lost as you are, Kate Bishop.'
Well. That's helpful.
"Um. Well."
"We became acquainted with each other well enough at Eleanor Bishop's charity gala before I tried to kill you," Yelena says rather bluntly, her eyes staying focused on Clint. "I had one of Kate's trick arrows and thought I might try to return it to her once she got back from spending the holidays with your family. We both could use a friend, so I came back around a few more times for sledding and hot chocolate."
Kate can only marvel at how well the lie comes out of Yelena's mouth, so smooth and nonchalant that she almost finds herself believing it too. She supposes that it shouldn't surprise her that Yelena is capable of having perfect diction, either- she's just used to the heavier accent and more broken up English.
Formal Yelena has an appeal too, though.
Clint mulls over her words for a moment before nodding, taking another gulp from his coffee. "So I'm gonna assume neither of you are being held hostage by the other."
Yelena barks a laugh, but it isn't cruel. "I would like to see Kate Bishop try."
Kate's stomach twists. She'd genuinely like to see Yelena try. And not in a she-doesn't-think-she-could-do-it way.
In a gay way, honestly.
Her mentor seems to see right through the entire situation, however, because he pins her down with a stare after looking suggestively between the two women and raising an eyebrow.
Kate's face burns hot.
Clint chuckles to himself and downs the rest of his coffee. "Well, alright then. Kate, did you check the messages I sent you yet?"
She just shakes her head sheepishly.
The Avenger gives a tired sigh but shrugs it off, moving back over to where he set his bow and quiver down. "I made a fresh batch of trick arrows and wanted to surprise you with them as a late Christmas present," he explains, picking his quiver up and showing the feathered ends to Kate, tapping carefully at the red labels.
Kate perks up quickly. "Yo, what?!" She grins wide and takes the quiver from him, using her fingers to pick through the different arrows. "Oh my god, lightning?"
Clint chuckles, his own nerdy excitement shining through. "Crazy conductive and perfect in thunderstorms. I'm working on improving them, but these ones are still really stable and pack a nice punch." He gingerly pulls a different one out, holding it out to her. "This is a pyromechanical arrow- it can link up to a sensor on your bow and release bursts of flame on your own command."
Kate 'oohs' and 'ahhs' over the weaponized sticks, brushing a thumb through the fletching delicately. "These are amazing, Clint."
Yelena watches her archer fondly, moving to the table to sit and keep icing her head. Originally when Clint's voice had sounded from the other side of the door, a cold panic had seized in her throat, but now as she watched the two of them talking so amicably over the thing that brought them together, she couldn't help but smile.
"Can we go try them out?"
Yelena perked up at this. She'd always been intrigued by learning archery, but they'd never been taught in the Red Room. When the Widows could wield guns and batons and Widow Bites, what use was a bow to them?
Kate sees Yelena's interest out of the corner of her eye and turns to her fully, smiling with excitement. "I could teach you how to shoot!"
Clint rubs his eyes and sighs, but ultimately gives in pretty much right away. "Yeah, kid- let's go try 'em out. I know a place."
————
Kate's screams of delight are sending Yelena into fit after fit of giggles as she watches the two archers test out some of the new trick arrows in a private archery range, and she's nearly clutching her stomach as tears start pricking her eyes. The other woman pulls out a particularly deadly looking arrow, notching it a bit more gently before pulling back, breathing in and out, and letting it fly.
The arrow strikes dead center on the target well over 100 feet away, and immediately explodes into a giant cloud of glitter. Kate's jaw drops and she whirls around to look at Clint, and her expression is so beyond wild that Yelena just starts laughing all over again, leaning against the dogs as they sit with her obediently.
Clint starts to explain that the glitter is just a distraction, but Kate is distracted by something else entirely- she looks over to Yelena to see the assassin sitting with Lucky and Fanny and giggling so hard she's almost falling over, and her insides glow at the sight.
The glitter suddenly explodes, revealing that it's actually just tiny, shimmery pieces of dynamite. Kate shrieks happily and starts jumping around, grabbing Clint's shoulder. "These are so cool!"
Clint's grin is just as wide. "I know, right? That one was Laura's idea."
Kate immediately whips out her phone and starts tapping at it furiously. "I'm texting her right now- she's an angel."
While Kate is still busy with her phone, Yelena pats the dogs' heads and stands up, heading over to Clint. He smiles kindly at her and nods at Kate. "She's getting good."
"She is," the assassin agrees, copying his stance of loose legs and arms folded over her chest. "Think you... would like to teach me how to use a bow?" she asks hesitantly, bumping her shoulder against his.
His brow raises in surprise, but his smile is genuine and homesick. "I would love to, Yelena."
It's Kate's turn to watch after that, as she hands over her bow more than happily when Clint explains that Yelena asked him for a lesson. The blonde picks up on rather quickly, of course- she's a Black Widow, after all. Their voices are calm and intrigued, so different from the fighting they had experienced over the holidays and even the start of their interaction an hour ago back at Kate's apartment.
"I think Natasha would be really happy to see this," Clint said gently, appraising Yelena after a particularly good shot. "She would be proud of you."
She notches another normal arrow and makes a bullseye, to which Kate cheers. "Thank you, Clint Barton," Yelena says, turning to him with misty eyes. "That means a lot to me."
His smile is tight-lipped but still happy nonetheless.
Kate can see the weariness building on Yelena's face, so she walks back over to the two of them and brushes a hand down her spine. "Any other business here in New York, Clint? Surely you didn't fly all the way here just to give me some arrows."
Yelena shivers and melts into Kate's touch, shuffling her feet a little closer to the archer.
Clint shrugs. "No, I have some other things I could do and check up on, but the arrows were the main thing."
"Do you wanna come and hang out with me and Yelena for a few hours?" Kate asks excitedly, face beaming. She knows there might not be a whole ton of fun in two young adult women for a tired dad of three in his 40's, but Clint is still a good presence and she'd be lying if she said she hasn't missed him in the short time since he had dropped her off at her apartment.
"You know what, why not? Let's go get steak. I promised Nate I would find the biggest one I could and tell him all about it."
I have lots and lots and LOTS of feelings about this chapter, but I would love to hear about yours as well :)))
The girls are getting possessive yall I like it a lotttt
ALSO THEY ARE SO GAY HAVE YOU NOTICED??? I can't oml
Hey everyone, question for you- I posted about it on my mb yesterday but I need some help with a chapter. How interested would y'all be in seeing the details of Kate and Clint going LARPing with the NYC gang?
Translations: none
Kate Bishop counter: 8
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