[Bobbi Morse rarely feels safe. She rarely has any sign of being content. Lord knows that Clint Barton is one of the things in her life that drives her up the wall at times.
In this moment however, Clint's arms around her and his big frame bring peace. Her hand fists at his t-shirt just holding onto it. It's rare that she'd do this. Hold him like this.
Sure, she's dropped by his apartment and jumped him a million times. Kissed him, had wild throwing clothes and breaking lamps sort of sex. But that's not wat this is. It's some sort of offering to just be there. Tonight it's not just that she doesn't wanna be a lone. It's that she wants to be with him. ]
Good. Because I'm so glad you're you that I don't want to let you go right now okay?
( vulnerability is something neither of them are great at expressing, but xmint's always afforded himself more vulnerability than bobbi ever has. it's not that she doesn't feel, of course, its that clont — in his own opinion of himself — feels too much and is rarely able to keep himself even-keeled in quite the same way.
they haven't always succeeded, but when it works, it means they bring a sense of balance to the other, with bobbi uniquely capable of tempering clint's tendency to be over-dramatic when things are hard.
she says she's glad he's him and he moves his head just a touch. she doesn't know the half of it, and there's a part of him that knows she'll find out eventually that this other him has a whole family with someone that isn't her. has not even the one kid they'd been so excited for hut fucking three of them, and he thinks there's a chance she'd take it better hearing it from him, but he doesn't want to ruin this. for now, he thinks he'll prefer to take whatever the consequences are of bobbi finding out later if they can just stay like this for a while. )
You have no idea.
( it's murmured into her hair, soft and quiet and muffled. she probably feels him speaking the words more than hears them, but that's fine. it's fine.
[The truth of the matter was when Bobbi took the apartment across the hall from him she'd been assuming it would be for hookups, but this is a really good option too.
It's not that she's cold or soulless, she just buries her emotions deep and it's rare for anyone to actually dig them up. Except the man who is with her in this moment. They're constantly in a balancing act but it's moments like this that make it feel worth it.
When she feels him talk against her hair it's hard to imagine Clint being short. Or whatever it was he's said. He's her big giant fella even when he's not hers exactly. ]
Good, cause the feeling is mutual. [She mutters against him fondly back. It's about as good of an admission that she could make in this moment. If she thought about it it'd be odd. It's been what? Barely a week since they fought? They've gone weeks before without talking and she's never felt that but why is it so intense here. Those are thoughts for another day, and another time.
( in recent years, they've been better at hook-ups than they have been anything else, simply because it didn't mean trying to untangle the mess of their emotions, the mess thay they'd managed to make of what they are to each other. in theory, it should be simple, but in practice, it's anything but, and sometimes clint thinks they used up all their simplicity in the early days, when they'd jumped from knowing each other to jumping each other to getting married.
not everything that'd happened since then has been their fault, not really. some of it's just part and parcel of the job, the lifestyle, but none of it's anything either of them are willing to give up. it'd taken clint longer than he'd like to admit that bobbi had sacrificed just as much, if not more than he had for her life. after all, he hadn't really had anything when he'd become an avenger, didn't really have anyone else even now, at least not anyone that isn't a part of that life already.
bobbi did, once upon a time. )
I know. ( or at least, he knows that he's one of the only people that bobbi lets hold her like this. he doesn't know if it's about the quality of his hugs or if it's about him, but the difference doesn't much matter. ) But there's a couch over there— ( he turns his head in lieu of indicating with a hand. ) If you get tired of standing near my door.
[He's not wrong in his assumption that she doesn't let other people hold her. She's never even really let the people's she dated hold her like this. Intimacy outside of sex is something she's only ever really developed with him. Hell, she doesn't even let anyone outside of Clint snuggle post sex.
Mostly because of the timing of it all. Since Bobbi came back she's never been truly able to bond with someone the way she was before it all. Clint benefited from being the love of her life before all the trauma and he's always been comfortable because of that.
He suggests the move to the couch and it takes every fiber of her being to not ask to be carried. That's not a level of neediness she's willing to get to tonight though so she nods and untangles herself from him. ]
You know I'm very fond of this particular door... [A joke of some sort as she takes his hand and leads him over to the couch. ]
( in almost but not quite every relationship, it's clint who's the needy one, who's clingy and overly familiar. it's not often that the roles are reversed, not often that clint gets to experience the other side of it, which mostly means that when it happens, when it's bobbi, it hits that little bit harder. equally, it means that when it's the status quo, when it's business as usual, clint doesn't think anything of it. it doesn't strike him as weird or unusual when bobbi frees herself from his embrace, doesn't quite look up at him, and tells him (lies) that she likes his door — even as she pulls him over to his sofa.
he steps around her to slide onto the sofa first, stretched out enough to pull her alongside him. he ignores the quiet voice that says he could probably fall asleep with her resting against him, ignores that it'd probably be the best night's sleep he'd had in the entire month he's been here. )
[She let's herself be pulled along side him and leans into him, tucking her legs up onto the couch with her. Bobbi Morse isn't actually a small woman but Clint is large enough to make her feel small and feminine in ways that she rarely does. ]
Can confirm, this is nicer. [Her voice is soft and fond, a tone that's saved for just him. Is this what this could be if they just chose to put away the arguments and leave them up on the shelf for a little bit and just be with each other.
It's hard to believe because it's a fantasy. You can't just ignore everything forever but just for this night she's ready to. Words are on the tip of her tongue, a desire to tell him just how happy he makes her, but they don't come out instead she just let's a content hum escape lips pressed together for a moment.
Her mind wanders to remember sleeping against his chest on a nightly basis. How one morning not long after they'd been married she remembered waking to him just watching her sleep and it was the first time in her life she truly felt loved.]
Thanks for having me. [For letting her in his place. For having her as a friend. For having her as a lover. For having her as a wife back then. There's so many words that can't be said hiding behind it. She's never grateful enough to him but it's a little bit of a start.]
( is this as nice as it is because they don't let themselves do this very often? their life has always been excitement and drama after excitement and drama, with rare moments of normality interspersed.
thanks for having me, she says, and he laughs. it's a sudden exhale, a short exclamation from his chest that says the comment's taken him by surprise and that he's unsure whether she means for now, or for—. no, she means for now, because anything else would be him reading into it. making up stories. )
I can never say no to you, Bobbi-bird. ( a murmur, sat somewhere between present and distracted. it's not as true as he wants it to be — they've both been ugly to each other, none of it far enough in the past for it to be forgiven and smoothed over in all the ways they both want to. but it is still true, and they both know it's true in the worst ways, too. for now, he's choosing not to acknowledge that, choosing not to put it into words, and he hopes that bobbi will do the same. thinks she will, because why else would she be here?
(no, he knows why. she's here because he's him and she's her. they're awkward at times, painful reminders of their own mistakes, but they're mistakes they've experienced together. they're not having to reconsider who they are in the face of someone who knows them-but-different — a different past, a different set of relationships, a different set of mistakes.)
he shifts his weight, shifts bobbi with him because the couch isn't large enough for him to move without moving her too, and he rests one hand against her hair. he's quiet for a second, then two, and then apropos seemingly nothing — except it's not because it's where this whole evening had started — he says— ) Hey, you wanna know something funny? ( funny as in funny, not ha-ha funny. or, maybe a little ha-ha funny because it's absurd. ) Apparently the other Clint was SHIELD before he was an Avenger.
[If she was in a different mood she might fight that comment. So many things about them over the years could be argued about that. The truth of the matter is she knows he means it in his own way. She knows that there are absolutely things that he puts up with from her because she is his Bobbi-bird.
The pet name makes her go all soft and gooey in a way that only Clint can do to her. When he shifts a bit she shifts with him, moving to lay her head on his shoulder and drape a leg across his, arm wrapping around his wide torso. Isn't this what life is supposed to be like? This easy bit. Clint and Bobbi like Ken and Barbie, things that just come in pairs.
When did she come to view this as a weakness? Sometime after being angry for a very long time. She's not even sure and right now isn't the time to think about it. Then he brings up the other Clint and she's even more confused.
She'd assumed if other Bobbi and Daisy knew each other it would be through SHIELD. But Daisy didn't know Clint and now that makes it all the weirder. ]
That's... [She huffs out a little bit of a laugh against his chest. Short, SHIELD rules following Clint Barton sounds insane. Not like the kind of man she'd fall for at all.]
If your new friend Natasha was anything like ours I'd suggest that she was just fucking with you, trying to come up with the least Clint Barton stereotype should could do it and sell you on it.
No. She wasn't. I—. ( he halts himself. he knows it's not news to bobbi that he has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, and he knows that she knows he's argued with their nat more than once — sometimes his fault, the result of clint's emotions and perspective getting in the way of things.
but crucially, bobbi knows how he's felt about shield, about all of that, even when he's worked adjacent and alongside any number of acronym-based agencies. it's never thrilled him, and he's never been shy about expressing just where they can shove any expectations that involve crossing clint's carefully drawn lines, even if he's stumbled over them here and there. ) Might've been indelicate in expressing my opinion of SHIELD. ( he hadn't quite meant it how nat had interpreted it, but that's nothing new, clint barton not articulating himself especially well. )
I dunno if she was more upset about that or the fact that I was judging myself.
( and that's not touching on the "killed as ronin" bombshell she'd dropped. )
[She knows just how hard he can be on everyone. Because even if she gets a pass, she's pretty sure she also gets the double sided hard ass that is Clint Barton in some ways. Mrs. Barton was expected to stick strictly by him, support him to the group, and then also get held to the insane standards he held himself to.
Bobbi knows how hard Clint is on himself. A lot of people don't realize it until they get near him. They just see the loud mouthed guy and assume there's nothing beneath the surface there but truly he runs deep. It doesn't surprise her at all that he'd be hard on any other version of himself.
She shifts her head a bit so she can look up at him, even if she's only really seeing the side of his face and brings a hand up to stroke through his hair. It'd be so easy to just roll on top of him, try to kiss it all away, but they're talking for once and it's good and she's not going to waste that progress.]
If someone who wasn't you showed up with the name Clint Barton and started talking smack about you I'd probably have punched them in the face.
[She leaves out the fact that she did kill someone who had his face for imitating him at one point.]
( he turns his head into her hand, his lips curling up into a small, involuntary small as she runs her fingers through his hair. it's nice and just for a moment, he finds himself almost wishing he still had the slightly longer hair he'd had a while ago. he doesn't doubt that bobbi would — if the roles were reversed and someone turned up talking shit about her, any version of her, clint knows charming would be about the last thing he'd be.
they might have their difficulties, their disagreements, but they're also uniquely, intimately familiar with each other's flaws — not that it'd change anything. he knows that bobbi would defend him even if she disagreed, even if she thought he was an asshole. she'd defend him, and then she'd give him shit in private, just like she's done a thousand times before.
it's more than what he's ever deserved — getting called out in public a couple more times would've served him right. wouldn't have necessarily changed his mind, but it might have tempered him a little. )
[Clint and Bobbi have earned their rights to give each other shit. They've put in the work for years. She still loves him, even though she hasn't voiced those words for years. She's pretty sure he still loves her too.
Her fingers slow over his scalp while she's clearly thinking of a reply before picking up again. Tangling and untangling in the short hair they have. She misses his longer hair on occasion, but this also is a great look on him. Really though, any look is great on Clint Barton in her eyes. ]
Maybe. If he's as special to her as you are to me... [She doubts it though because he'd said it right. That they hadn't been romantic like that. It's hard for Bobbi to imagine any relationship with anyone could be as deep and layered as theirs is. Some large part of that is not thanks to the fact that she purposefully doesn't let anyone close. Because she's afraid of getting hurt? Because she doesn't want anyone but him? Who knows.]
No one knows me like you. You've always got "punching people who insult Bobbi Morse" rights in my book. [He legally is still her next of kin in all that mess like they'd talked about before, so surely this also includes punching people in he honor.]
( he shifts a little under her weight, both her physical weight and the weight of her answer. there's a lot of him that wants this to stay a light conversation, cosy and familiar, one that sticks to how important they still are to one another because they've danced around it enough times. they both know they still care about each other, even if clint would say it's inconvenient, even if he'd say it'd be easier if she didn't still care about him because it'd make the amount of times he's fucked up since they broke up (again, and again) a little easier to deal with.
he hums, then, thoughts sliding a little sideways at her answer, and he tells her, idle and a little distracted— ) I'd be just as happy to watch you punching them, Birdie. ( because she's hot and she can be terrifying, and she's hot when she's terrifying.
—but how does he say he hadn't been able to shut his mouth when natasha had said (not)he'd dressed as ronin, had run around killing? it's not like it's out of the realm of possibility, not like he doesn't know what he'd be capable of doing if circumstances were just wrong enough. not like he doesn't know what he'd planned on doing when he'd run off to confront norman osborn. what he'd do if anyone, anything hurt bobbi. it's not that skrulls don't count (they do), it's that he knows he'd have done the same thing if it hadn't been skrulls.
so he doesn't. )
—Even though I don't think I'd be waiting to ask your permission.
[They dance on the edge of emotion often, probably because both of them are exactly the type to be filled with it even if they express it in other ways. She doesn't let it overflow tonight though.
Instead she just gives his chest an affectionate nuzzle.]
Of course you want to watch me fight, Hawky. I am gorgeous when I punch people.
[She's gorgeous all the times of course, so punching people also is included on that. At least that's what she tells herself. She considers the fact that Clint wouldn't wait for permission and thinks it's probably good that maybe none of these people know her.
Because she can be a lot sometimes so she could only imagine how other hers might be. She searches for a topic to help keep the conversation light and settles on oe that she thinks Clint might get some amusement out of.]
Rogers asked me how I knew him in our world. I told him I helped break him out of prison once. [She says very pleased with herself, cryptic bullshit is exactly the stuff she likes to mess around with and getting a go to give Steve Rogers some shit is absolutely rare. Hell, it's not anything she's ever gotten to do with their own Steve really.]
( not just when she punches people, he thinks, but he hums in agreement to her statement nevertheless. she's not wrong, is she? )
Yeah, and I like it when you put on a show.
( bucky had mentioned steve, had mentioned how he hadn't been sure if he was from bucky's world or a different one which, now that clint's met a couple of their counterparts, he think it probably speaks to bucky and steve as being from the same-or-similar worlds. there were aspects of natasha that were the same as far as appearances went, but she'd been (a lot) shorter. the hair had been similar, but there's a lot of people out there with red hair, and it's not the sort of thing to hinge recognising a whole entire person on.
if steve looked familiar enough to bucky to recognise on sight, that probably meant something.
(whatever.)
she's not wrong, though — her response earns a laugh. it's vague and it's unhelpful, and it's exactly the sort of thing that bobbi would get amusement out of, especially with someone like steve. he can't blame her for giving him shit, he'd do exactly the same thing—. )
[Her hand slows in his hair and slips back down to just settle on his shoulder. They've snuggled like this a million times, but in recent years it's always been after sex. There's something about this that makes it different that crawls up under her ribcage in a weird feeling of contentment that she's afraid to break.]
He was mostly concerned about the concept of having multiple hulks when I said Red Hulk.
[ She shrugs as much as she can with her face still on his chest. It's kind of a weird way to do it but whatever works. That jailbreak was fun though, a whole group of badass women, it made Bobbi think that maybe teams weren't really so bad again.]
I thought it might be a little much to ask if him if was a member of Hydra on first meeting but let's hope not.
( for a few moments, he's not really listening to her. sure, the words are there and they half-register — concern, multiple, hulks — but his attention is more on her, the shape of her mouth as she speaks, the feeling of her voice, the warmth of her breath. )
You'll give the old man a heart attack if you ask that and he's not. ( a pause, lingering and contemplative. that whole PERIOD OF TIME hadn't been especially fun, but— ) So when you do it, you've gotta promise to only do it when I'm around to see it, please.
( because it's a slightly better topic than, say, bruce or cho. given everything. )
[Let's be honest. No time in their lives has been especially fun and Bobbi realizes they're dodging landmines left and right no matter where they move the conversation to. Which is probably why they mostly just fuck anyways. She gives him a soft laugh at the last comment though.]
Pinky promise. [She tells him sweetly even though she knows she will absolutely not be being the one broaching that topic. No, no, that's all to be left for Sharon because let's be honest that's her fish to fry. She hums softly for a moment, her mind clearly flashing through some of their own relationship before asking.]
You think if we ask Aurora we can get a bigger bathtub? These ones are stupid tiny.
( he knows, ultimately, that neither of them are likely going to be the ones to broach that whole topic. even if sharon wasn't here, it's not what clint would lead with, and now he's met nat, it's definitely not what clint would lead with. at this point, he's not sure what he'd start with, if the myriad of differences are anything to go by.
maybe it's a conversation just better not had at all. (he knows that's not true.) (but he knows enough, too, to not expect anything.)
it's autopilot, then — more-or-less, at any rate — that has him sliding back on the sofa to sit not quite up, but enough to be looking down at bobbi more than he had. ) —Mm? ( light, questioning, teasing. ) Who's this 'we', Birdie?
[She shifts a little bit so that she can look up at him from his chest and gives him a smile.]
Well I sure as hell am not wanting to crawl into a bath with anyone else here. [She says all fond at him and brings her hand up to paw a bit as his cheek fondly, teasing him right back.]
But I'm impartial as to whose apartment gets the upgrade. Can make use of either yours or mine.
[In some ways it feels like she's doing the wrong thing. Making the attention distinctly more flirtatious then it should be. Like they were trying so good to just cuddle and be normal. Yet there's nothing normal about either of them, and that quadruples when you put them together as a couple.
As long as Clint lets her cuddle with him, she's going to be taking him up on it because let's be honest. This is the closest she's felt to being real person since she's been here.]
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In this moment however, Clint's arms around her and his big frame bring peace. Her hand fists at his t-shirt just holding onto it. It's rare that she'd do this. Hold him like this.
Sure, she's dropped by his apartment and jumped him a million times. Kissed him, had wild throwing clothes and breaking lamps sort of sex. But that's not wat this is. It's some sort of offering to just be there. Tonight it's not just that she doesn't wanna be a lone. It's that she wants to be with him. ]
Good. Because I'm so glad you're you that I don't want to let you go right now okay?
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they haven't always succeeded, but when it works, it means they bring a sense of balance to the other, with bobbi uniquely capable of tempering clint's tendency to be over-dramatic when things are hard.
she says she's glad he's him and he moves his head just a touch. she doesn't know the half of it, and there's a part of him that knows she'll find out eventually that this other him has a whole family with someone that isn't her. has not even the one kid they'd been so excited for hut fucking three of them, and he thinks there's a chance she'd take it better hearing it from him, but he doesn't want to ruin this. for now, he thinks he'll prefer to take whatever the consequences are of bobbi finding out later if they can just stay like this for a while. )
You have no idea.
( it's murmured into her hair, soft and quiet and muffled. she probably feels him speaking the words more than hears them, but that's fine. it's fine.
then— )
I missed you.
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It's not that she's cold or soulless, she just buries her emotions deep and it's rare for anyone to actually dig them up. Except the man who is with her in this moment. They're constantly in a balancing act but it's moments like this that make it feel worth it.
When she feels him talk against her hair it's hard to imagine Clint being short. Or whatever it was he's said. He's her big giant fella even when he's not hers exactly. ]
Good, cause the feeling is mutual. [She mutters against him fondly back. It's about as good of an admission that she could make in this moment. If she thought about it it'd be odd. It's been what? Barely a week since they fought? They've gone weeks before without talking and she's never felt that but why is it so intense here. Those are thoughts for another day, and another time.
Instead she just adds.]
You give the best hugs too.
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not everything that'd happened since then has been their fault, not really. some of it's just part and parcel of the job, the lifestyle, but none of it's anything either of them are willing to give up. it'd taken clint longer than he'd like to admit that bobbi had sacrificed just as much, if not more than he had for her life. after all, he hadn't really had anything when he'd become an avenger, didn't really have anyone else even now, at least not anyone that isn't a part of that life already.
bobbi did, once upon a time. )
I know. ( or at least, he knows that he's one of the only people that bobbi lets hold her like this. he doesn't know if it's about the quality of his hugs or if it's about him, but the difference doesn't much matter. ) But there's a couch over there— ( he turns his head in lieu of indicating with a hand. ) If you get tired of standing near my door.
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Mostly because of the timing of it all. Since Bobbi came back she's never been truly able to bond with someone the way she was before it all. Clint benefited from being the love of her life before all the trauma and he's always been comfortable because of that.
He suggests the move to the couch and it takes every fiber of her being to not ask to be carried. That's not a level of neediness she's willing to get to tonight though so she nods and untangles herself from him. ]
You know I'm very fond of this particular door... [A joke of some sort as she takes his hand and leads him over to the couch. ]
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he steps around her to slide onto the sofa first, stretched out enough to pull her alongside him. he ignores the quiet voice that says he could probably fall asleep with her resting against him, ignores that it'd probably be the best night's sleep he'd had in the entire month he's been here. )
The door's nice, but I promise this is nicer.
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Can confirm, this is nicer. [Her voice is soft and fond, a tone that's saved for just him. Is this what this could be if they just chose to put away the arguments and leave them up on the shelf for a little bit and just be with each other.
It's hard to believe because it's a fantasy. You can't just ignore everything forever but just for this night she's ready to. Words are on the tip of her tongue, a desire to tell him just how happy he makes her, but they don't come out instead she just let's a content hum escape lips pressed together for a moment.
Her mind wanders to remember sleeping against his chest on a nightly basis. How one morning not long after they'd been married she remembered waking to him just watching her sleep and it was the first time in her life she truly felt loved.]
Thanks for having me. [For letting her in his place. For having her as a friend. For having her as a lover. For having her as a wife back then. There's so many words that can't be said hiding behind it. She's never grateful enough to him but it's a little bit of a start.]
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thanks for having me, she says, and he laughs. it's a sudden exhale, a short exclamation from his chest that says the comment's taken him by surprise and that he's unsure whether she means for now, or for—. no, she means for now, because anything else would be him reading into it. making up stories. )
I can never say no to you, Bobbi-bird. ( a murmur, sat somewhere between present and distracted. it's not as true as he wants it to be — they've both been ugly to each other, none of it far enough in the past for it to be forgiven and smoothed over in all the ways they both want to. but it is still true, and they both know it's true in the worst ways, too. for now, he's choosing not to acknowledge that, choosing not to put it into words, and he hopes that bobbi will do the same. thinks she will, because why else would she be here?
(no, he knows why. she's here because he's him and she's her. they're awkward at times, painful reminders of their own mistakes, but they're mistakes they've experienced together. they're not having to reconsider who they are in the face of someone who knows them-but-different — a different past, a different set of relationships, a different set of mistakes.)
he shifts his weight, shifts bobbi with him because the couch isn't large enough for him to move without moving her too, and he rests one hand against her hair. he's quiet for a second, then two, and then apropos seemingly nothing — except it's not because it's where this whole evening had started — he says— ) Hey, you wanna know something funny? ( funny as in funny, not ha-ha funny. or, maybe a little ha-ha funny because it's absurd. ) Apparently the other Clint was SHIELD before he was an Avenger.
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The pet name makes her go all soft and gooey in a way that only Clint can do to her. When he shifts a bit she shifts with him, moving to lay her head on his shoulder and drape a leg across his, arm wrapping around his wide torso. Isn't this what life is supposed to be like? This easy bit. Clint and Bobbi like Ken and Barbie, things that just come in pairs.
When did she come to view this as a weakness? Sometime after being angry for a very long time. She's not even sure and right now isn't the time to think about it. Then he brings up the other Clint and she's even more confused.
She'd assumed if other Bobbi and Daisy knew each other it would be through SHIELD. But Daisy didn't know Clint and now that makes it all the weirder. ]
That's... [She huffs out a little bit of a laugh against his chest. Short, SHIELD rules following Clint Barton sounds insane. Not like the kind of man she'd fall for at all.]
If your new friend Natasha was anything like ours I'd suggest that she was just fucking with you, trying to come up with the least Clint Barton stereotype should could do it and sell you on it.
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but crucially, bobbi knows how he's felt about shield, about all of that, even when he's worked adjacent and alongside any number of acronym-based agencies. it's never thrilled him, and he's never been shy about expressing just where they can shove any expectations that involve crossing clint's carefully drawn lines, even if he's stumbled over them here and there. ) Might've been indelicate in expressing my opinion of SHIELD. ( he hadn't quite meant it how nat had interpreted it, but that's nothing new, clint barton not articulating himself especially well. )
I dunno if she was more upset about that or the fact that I was judging myself.
( and that's not touching on the "killed as ronin" bombshell she'd dropped. )
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Bobbi knows how hard Clint is on himself. A lot of people don't realize it until they get near him. They just see the loud mouthed guy and assume there's nothing beneath the surface there but truly he runs deep. It doesn't surprise her at all that he'd be hard on any other version of himself.
She shifts her head a bit so she can look up at him, even if she's only really seeing the side of his face and brings a hand up to stroke through his hair. It'd be so easy to just roll on top of him, try to kiss it all away, but they're talking for once and it's good and she's not going to waste that progress.]
If someone who wasn't you showed up with the name Clint Barton and started talking smack about you I'd probably have punched them in the face.
[She leaves out the fact that she did kill someone who had his face for imitating him at one point.]
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they might have their difficulties, their disagreements, but they're also uniquely, intimately familiar with each other's flaws — not that it'd change anything. he knows that bobbi would defend him even if she disagreed, even if she thought he was an asshole. she'd defend him, and then she'd give him shit in private, just like she's done a thousand times before.
it's more than what he's ever deserved — getting called out in public a couple more times would've served him right. wouldn't have necessarily changed his mind, but it might have tempered him a little. )
—You saying I deserve to get punched in the face?
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Her fingers slow over his scalp while she's clearly thinking of a reply before picking up again. Tangling and untangling in the short hair they have. She misses his longer hair on occasion, but this also is a great look on him. Really though, any look is great on Clint Barton in her eyes. ]
Maybe. If he's as special to her as you are to me... [She doubts it though because he'd said it right. That they hadn't been romantic like that. It's hard for Bobbi to imagine any relationship with anyone could be as deep and layered as theirs is. Some large part of that is not thanks to the fact that she purposefully doesn't let anyone close. Because she's afraid of getting hurt? Because she doesn't want anyone but him? Who knows.]
No one knows me like you. You've always got "punching people who insult Bobbi Morse" rights in my book. [He legally is still her next of kin in all that mess like they'd talked about before, so surely this also includes punching people in he honor.]
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he hums, then, thoughts sliding a little sideways at her answer, and he tells her, idle and a little distracted— ) I'd be just as happy to watch you punching them, Birdie. ( because she's hot and she can be terrifying, and she's hot when she's terrifying.
—but how does he say he hadn't been able to shut his mouth when natasha had said (not)he'd dressed as ronin, had run around killing? it's not like it's out of the realm of possibility, not like he doesn't know what he'd be capable of doing if circumstances were just wrong enough. not like he doesn't know what he'd planned on doing when he'd run off to confront norman osborn. what he'd do if anyone, anything hurt bobbi. it's not that skrulls don't count (they do), it's that he knows he'd have done the same thing if it hadn't been skrulls.
so he doesn't. )
—Even though I don't think I'd be waiting to ask your permission.
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Instead she just gives his chest an affectionate nuzzle.]
Of course you want to watch me fight, Hawky. I am gorgeous when I punch people.
[She's gorgeous all the times of course, so punching people also is included on that. At least that's what she tells herself. She considers the fact that Clint wouldn't wait for permission and thinks it's probably good that maybe none of these people know her.
Because she can be a lot sometimes so she could only imagine how other hers might be. She searches for a topic to help keep the conversation light and settles on oe that she thinks Clint might get some amusement out of.]
Rogers asked me how I knew him in our world. I told him I helped break him out of prison once. [She says very pleased with herself, cryptic bullshit is exactly the stuff she likes to mess around with and getting a go to give Steve Rogers some shit is absolutely rare. Hell, it's not anything she's ever gotten to do with their own Steve really.]
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Yeah, and I like it when you put on a show.
( bucky had mentioned steve, had mentioned how he hadn't been sure if he was from bucky's world or a different one which, now that clint's met a couple of their counterparts, he think it probably speaks to bucky and steve as being from the same-or-similar worlds. there were aspects of natasha that were the same as far as appearances went, but she'd been (a lot) shorter. the hair had been similar, but there's a lot of people out there with red hair, and it's not the sort of thing to hinge recognising a whole entire person on.
if steve looked familiar enough to bucky to recognise on sight, that probably meant something.
(whatever.)
she's not wrong, though — her response earns a laugh. it's vague and it's unhelpful, and it's exactly the sort of thing that bobbi would get amusement out of, especially with someone like steve. he can't blame her for giving him shit, he'd do exactly the same thing—. )
How'd he take that?
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He was mostly concerned about the concept of having multiple hulks when I said Red Hulk.
[ She shrugs as much as she can with her face still on his chest. It's kind of a weird way to do it but whatever works. That jailbreak was fun though, a whole group of badass women, it made Bobbi think that maybe teams weren't really so bad again.]
I thought it might be a little much to ask if him if was a member of Hydra on first meeting but let's hope not.
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You'll give the old man a heart attack if you ask that and he's not. ( a pause, lingering and contemplative. that whole PERIOD OF TIME hadn't been especially fun, but— ) So when you do it, you've gotta promise to only do it when I'm around to see it, please.
( because it's a slightly better topic than, say, bruce or cho. given everything. )
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Pinky promise. [She tells him sweetly even though she knows she will absolutely not be being the one broaching that topic. No, no, that's all to be left for Sharon because let's be honest that's her fish to fry. She hums softly for a moment, her mind clearly flashing through some of their own relationship before asking.]
You think if we ask Aurora we can get a bigger bathtub? These ones are stupid tiny.
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maybe it's a conversation just better not had at all.
(he knows that's not true.)
(but he knows enough, too, to not expect anything.)
it's autopilot, then — more-or-less, at any rate — that has him sliding back on the sofa to sit not quite up, but enough to be looking down at bobbi more than he had. ) —Mm? ( light, questioning, teasing. ) Who's this 'we', Birdie?
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Well I sure as hell am not wanting to crawl into a bath with anyone else here. [She says all fond at him and brings her hand up to paw a bit as his cheek fondly, teasing him right back.]
But I'm impartial as to whose apartment gets the upgrade. Can make use of either yours or mine.
[In some ways it feels like she's doing the wrong thing. Making the attention distinctly more flirtatious then it should be. Like they were trying so good to just cuddle and be normal. Yet there's nothing normal about either of them, and that quadruples when you put them together as a couple.
As long as Clint lets her cuddle with him, she's going to be taking him up on it because let's be honest. This is the closest she's felt to being real person since she's been here.]