Owner	Pose
Clint Barton	They had been silent since they left the living room signing to each other. No that wasn't true, they had not been silent, but they had been wordless through everything that happened. Communicating with signs, eyes, touches and all their other unspoken languages until they lay sated and spent on the bed next to each other, enclosed in silence, and each other's arms. Clint lingers there like that for a time, his hand shaped into the sign for I love you which he idly drags, along Skye's body, a silent declaration of what he felt for her. Though the time for silences, was coming to an end. There were still things they had to discuss, things that both their hands had not the words for. Still, Clint was loathe to break the silence and the spell it cast over them. At least, not without Skye's agreement. He captures her eyes with his own, then mouths the words ~Talk now~ his expression making it a question.
Skye Johnson	They hadn't really gotten to talk about Lara's offer before romance had interrupted them, and words had fallen away to signs, and things only bodies could say. And now? Now they had the luxury to speak quietly of the matter. She nods at his mouthed question, taking a long, unsteady breath, still not sure how to break the silence. Settling, finally, on, "That was.." Skye didn't have words to fill the rest of her hushed sentence, instead, reaching for Clint's face, to brush a hand along his jaw. "I remember when we couldn't talk to each other." She seems to want to say so much more, but leaves it at that, letting him have words back as well.
Clint Barton	Skye's words, though soft, are jarring in the silence that preceded them. For a moment, Clint had forgotten he'd been healed. Not, fully, if you'd asked him he'd have known, but it had been so close to how he was before he'd just stopped remembering. He remembers now, and after a momentary adjustment, he nods, "Yeah," he's voice sounds strange, almost alien. "It was" their lexicons failed them here as well. "We should do it again," he resolves as he closes his eyes to accept the caress of his cheek. "Sometime." His eyes open and he smiles at the memory, "That was different, we were scared then-" the smile tilts. "-and stupid. I don't know what we were afraid of." That was untrue. He knew and so did she, they'd feared themselves and they'd feared each other and what would happen if their words were to stumble and reveal too much; how that could shatter what they had only just begun to build. "Well," Clint says quietly upon reflection. "Maybe not stupid, just wrong."
Skye Johnson	That he closes his eyes at her touch makes her smile. It's always made her smile. Even before she knew why it did. ~yes~ she signs when he looks at her again, that gesture one she knows. "It was good," she adds, speaking softly now, signing the 'good'as well as speaking it. "I understood you," Skye speaks, but signs ~I know~ - she hasn't the right words, but she's trying. "Everything was so different. And so the same. If we'd tried this then I think.. I don't want to know what would have happened, but I wonder if any of the rest would have come to pass. Even if it seems weird to have had to nearly mess it up out of not knowing what we were doing just to make it to the other side." All those minefields they'd had to walk across.. "It was a kind of stupid. But we were wrong." There's a moment of quiet contemplation from her. "Would we be stupid to not think about Lara's offer? I mean, I know isn't how we see ourselves, but would we regret it?" She cant shake the feeling that maybe they would. While she couldn't see them there, it had hurt to acknowledge that, and not just because the system kid in her still ached to belong. There had been something more to the emptiness of it.
Clint Barton	Even with his eyes closed he can feel her smile, "What?" he asks, his eyes opening to watch her sign to him. That made him smile too, to see her do that, he no longer needed the language, not like he had, but it was still part of him and to see Skye take it up touched his heart. "It was," he agrees simply. He pulls back a little after the ~I know~ and signs it correctly, slow and twice over. His eyes lift to hers, to see if she understood before he shifts back over to her, and encloses her in his arms again. "This? With the silence, back then?" he asks. "Wouldn't have happened, remember? I didn't tell you I was deaf until I'd taken out my ears for the shower." By ears, he meant his hearing aids. "Almost left them in, didn't want you to think less of me." That admission too would have been impossible then. One more mine in a field of them that they had woven through in those early days. Speaking of mines. The house. "We are thinking about it aren't we?" Clint asks. "I mean, we're talking about it." He lets out a sigh. "I'm on the fence, I mean, I want to try, but it's our home, where we come to relax. I'm not sure I can really take feeling like a stranger there. Like I don't fit in," he smiles to soften things. "I get that enough around work."
Skye Johnson	"Think less of you? Why would I have thought less of you?" Of course she did call him an asshole and wasn't the soul of kindness when they'd met. It was easy enough to see how he might have worried a little. Skye was prickly on the outside at times, especially when people got too close to hurting her. Even as she could be so much more. People liked her; she just didn't always like people. The correction is watch, and she repeats it, fingers working to try and match his - not executing it perfectly, but coming close enough. With practice, she'd get it. ~I understood~ she gestures, both to correct her first attempt, and now to show she understands what he was showing her with his hands. "I'm on the fence, too," she admits. "Just what are we gonna get for that kind of money anywhere else? Only thing somewhere else has is.. it's not here. And for that, we could go live at your place in Brooklyn."
Clint Barton	It wasn't so much the prickly. He understood it, hell, he used it often enough and was much the same when it came to people. "I liked you, a lot," Clint says. "And I dunno, maybe because of who I roll with in my other job, I just don't want to show weakness, makes me feel, less than. I didn't want you to think that of me. I probably wouldn't have said anything but we didn't get much sleep that night, and I was on autopilot so I removed my ears before I thought about it," he says making a face. "Anyhow, obviously I didn't have anything to worry about." He signs ~good~ in response to her new sign, smiling again, she learned quickly. "That's the thing, I mean we'd be paying close to the same money for less, and my place in Brooklyn? Way too far," he lets out a long slow breath to consider it. "Could you see us living there?" he asks. When he thought about it, he sort of did. Something occurs to him and he smiles, "We could pretend we're at the Avengers mansion. Might as well be with all that fancy wood and stuff." Fancy as the mansion was, for Clint it was as much a home as he'd ever known.
Skye Johnson	"It never even occurred to me to think anything you did was a weakness." She does grin at him, though. "Maybe a little more thinking you were full of yourself than that." Skye has to nod, though, looking thoughtful. "I was too busy trying not to let you see all the things I was afraid of. Kept thinking you'd see me for what I really was, and all I really was was a fake. Pretending to fit in. Sometimes It still feels that way. You know?" Of course he knew. "I guess that's why the house.. out there in the livingroom it felt like all that other shit all over again. Like who the hell was I thinking I could live somewhere like that. My brain keeps thinking people like me live in vans." Skye closes her eyes a moment. "I couldn't see us there at first. But maybe all that's missing is our friends." One eye peeks open, then the other. "We do have friends, right? Like people who will want to visit us?" He has to have. She might be lacking so many, but surely he has some. He's been with his teams a lot longer than she.
Clint Barton	Listening Clint nods, "The full of myself thing, is mostly an act, but you know that," he says. There wasn't much they didn't know of each other but details. "And I was doing the same thing as you, trying to hide the ugly parts of myself. I didn't feel ashamed that I was deaf, but I did feel ashamed of the part of my life that let me get that way and I didn't want you to see it. To think being that kid and taking what I took from my folks was who I was," he says, then, smiles and kisses her briefly on the lips. "I know what you mean," he confirms softly. Clint knew all too well what Skye was talking about and so he nods, "Yeah, felt like the place was judging me." He thinks about it, "Friends help. That definitely helped with the Avengers mansion. And yeah, I have them, so do you. You've got Tony," he makes a face at that. "Darcy. May, sort of, when she's not bossing you around. You'll get others. Your good people, once people figure that out you should be alright."
Skye Johnson	"Mmm" her words are interrupted by that kiss. Yeah. It was all details. Like how he'd become deaf in the first place. "I'm not sure you ever told me what happened." She hadn't told him too much about her past, either. It wasn't just the hiding of self, much of it had to do with not wanting to relive that. Or, how did you tell someone those things? It helped that Clint understood more than most ever would. Still, they hadn't talked about it much. "Maybe we were judging the place as much as it was judging us. Kinda like how we always expect people to look down on us. Maybe we looked down on it." Reverse snobs, in a way. "And I don't think Tony is my friend. We joke around. Though that must strike you as funny. He's like one of the few members of your team I actually knew. Darce, sure. Lara. Obviously." She cants her head at him, "You think May? Really?"
Clint Barton	"The short version? Ear infection," Clint says. "The long version, I got the shit kicked out of me, my ears got infected and nobody took me to the doctor until it was too late." He says it all, with his emotions behind lock and key. To say it was bad enough, to tear up, unforgivable. He wouldn't let his father have that victory. He new the dirt and pain in Skye's past was a different sort from his own, but it was close enough that he could talk about his knowing that even if she hadn't lived it, she understood. It gave him comfort. "Reverse snobs?" Clint says, with that slanted smile of his. "I like that. And yeah that might be part of it." The friends thing gets a nod, "I've know Tony for years and you seem about as much of his friend as I am. Really, unless you're Pepper, Happy or Rhodes, there's distance. Probably even with them." Clint makes a face again, he both liked and disliked Stark at the same time it was weird. "Yeah, definitely May. I knew her a little before, you know, Bahrain, and so I've got a little different perspective than most. If she didn't give a shit about you she wouldn't still be hanging around. I mean you're level two now, do you see anyone else's training officer hanging around?" Clint explains with a smile before something else occurs to him. "Close your eyes," he tells her. "Remember when we met? At May's dinner, Darcy, May, you, me and well let's swap out Drew for Lara. Can you see that happening at Lara's place?"
Skye Johnson	Skye's heart breaks a little when he relays the story of how he lost his hearing. And she understood that flat look on his features too. Even if it were herself he was talking to. Even if he knew she'd understand. She'd had too many tears she wouldn't cry in her life, too. "That sucks," is all she says, but her expression says all the things her words can't and dont. Like how it hurts her too. And how she wishes she could make it better, even though she knows she can't. And maybe a little of she'd personally kick the shit out of whoever it was if she ever met up with them... "I just got tired of waiting. Tired of never being good enough. Nevver being what someone else wanted." Her expression is a like morror to his own quiet admission of his past. "Same kinda shit kicked out of me, only, you know. Nobody's boots did it. Just their words. Or, you know. The fact they could turn and walk away." It still hurt. Still coloured her life. "I don't know. Maybe Tony. I mean, we can invite him.." And even she has to admit that, no, nobody else's SO hung around after they weren't agents-in-training. It might actually mean something. - Skye refused to let the brain weasels tell her it was because even now she wasn't good enough for SHIELD... Obediantly she closes her eyes when he tells her, even though she wants to peek. Little protests on Skye's lips until he explains why. "Drew? That the guy who brought the couch over?" She tries to envision it, though. The thought causing her to laugh suddenly, eyes flying open. Skye kisses him. "You're brilliant."
Clint Barton	Clint can see Skye's heart breaking and he flinches inwardly. He hated putting his pain on people, Skye most of all. "It does," he agrees reading the rest in her face. He caresses he cheek lightly, a thanks, written in touch. "And its alright. It's in the past." It was a lie but a needful one, they both knew these things were marks that never came off, but there was no point in dwelling on it. Skye's own story is met with a sympathetic look and some of that same anger towards the people who had done her wrong. Her wounds were no less deep, only different. He kisses her forehead. "Those last ones are idiots. Didn't know what they had." "No!" Clint says suddenly and involuntarily at the suggestion Tony be invited to their home. "I mean, if you want, but, don't do it for my sake. I mean, the guy's saved my life and I've saved his so we've got that, but we're not really friends, we annoy each other too much for that I think." He can see what's going on in her brain, it shows in her face and eyes, and he says, "Trust me," looking her in her eyes. It was what he could do to tame the brain weasels. Clint laughs kindly, and says no, "That's Vison, Drew is Spider-Woman she was at May's dinner with us," Clint explains before adding with a grin Skye can't see but comes through in his voice "Though I am totally calling him Drew now, no explanation, I'm just going to make him wonder." It's clear while Clint is ambivalent about Tony he does like Vision. "But shh, close your eyes and en-" His words are wiped away by the kiss, he lets it linger, a slow, heartfelt thing, before he can't help it and breaks away to ask: "I am?"
Skye Johnson	Skye knows it's a lie. She'd tell the same lie. Maybe if it were dark enough that neither could see one another clearly they might not lie so much about that particular thing. But even now, was it truly a lie when they both knew the truth? When both knew the other well enough to read that story for what was unwritte, or placed in the margins in uneven scrawls of pencil and ink? "I know," she says quietly, giving him a smile that says she knows all the things. Even that it's in the past. "Idiots or not..." But what else can Skye say to that. Instead, she wraps her arms about him and curls in closer. "I kinda like Tony. He makes me laugh. And I don't know. He doesn't treat me like I'm a waste of space. Not sure he gets serious like that often." And even if it isn't as special as she regards it, to her it was one of the first times she felt accepted for who she was at SHIELD. It mattered to her. When Clint doesn't understand her declaration of his brilliance, or her kiss, she explains, "Totally see you out in the back firing up the grill, and Darce ferrying brews between the folks in the kitchen or in the yard. And May shaking her head at us all as she just keeps on chopping vegetables and gives directions..." Skye gives him a helpless little smile. "Can't you see it?"
Clint Barton	When they could reach each other's scrawl in the margins of their words there weren't many lies to be spoken and in the case of this type, no hurt to be had of them. They were a needed thing, a way to keep from what they knew to be true from becoming real and drowning them. "Good," he murmurs at her smiled 'I know' and then wraps her in his arms when she cuddles closer. "Yeah, he doesn't do that with me," Clint says, "Take me seriously, so, you've got a one up there on me." Clint's lips twitch towards a frown. It bothered him, he knew it, but for now he could put it aside, he could tell whatever passed between Skye and Tony was different and it mattered to her. Clint laughs when she describes the scene, he can see it, and it only makes him smile wider for it. "Yeah, I see it. So, guess we know what we're doing for a house warming party."
Skye Johnson	Skye's toes find Clint's shin, not in a kic, but a gentle nudge. Even without him saying it, or seeing it, she knew. "Don't love him, Hotshot. Not even sure we'd have lasted past the first fuck. He's.." How could she explain it to him. "He's.. weird. Me and Tony, we click about the geek. It's all this mind games and mental smackdowns. It's like he's my computer Avenger. You know? I don't have so many people I can do that with. Nat hates me. Everyone else I meet on that level is wanted. So Tony and I do that. It's not a threat?" Only now she sounds worried. "We don't have to invite him. Though you know him bitching about a barbecue in January would almost be worth it." Yeah, she knows what they'll be doing: Throwing an Aloha party in the middle of winter, complete with a barbecue out on the deck. Not that she knows where they'll get barbecue supplies at this time of year.. "Say, Hotshot? I know I've got all this work to do, but think we could grab a few days away in the middle of this? Do that Starling thing?"
Clint Barton	"What?" Clint says blinking. "Yeah, maybe at first I thought that's what you two were about, but, now, no, I get it. My problem isn't that, it's just, like I said, I don't like him that much, he doesn't take me seriously. And he's always offering me stuff, like I couldn't get it on my own if not for the great and powerful Tony Stark giving me a helping hand." Clint looks at Skye, then, "Maybe you're right and I am jealous, but, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just me and the things I think about when I'm not at my best. Anyhow, it doesn't matter. I'll deal with it." "A barbeque, in January?" he seizes on that for a change of subject. "Sounds like our sort of house warming party," he says, he grins, but not widely, the other things still clinging to his mind. The offer of time away though, that gets a nod, "I'd love to. When do you want to go?"
Skye Johnson	Skye ahs with sudden understanding when Clint spells it out with regards to Tony. "I don't think Tony takes himself seriously." She's not really sure he takes her seriously. They've just had cause to be serious about a couple of matters. It's not really the same thing at all. "And yeah, he's an asshole about the stuff. I still have his $1000." She's amused for a moment. "Could use that to pay for the party. Though he'd likely ask for the money back." Skye understands where Clint is coming from. She wasn't good at gift recieving herself. From most people it got her back up. "Say, I never meant when I bought you.. it was different then, right?" The barbecue offers all the opportunities to not talk about the other. Skye grinning as she nods. "Well, provided we can work out the details with Lara and make the move. But it could be fun. Maybe get some of those coloured patio lights. Drive the neighbours batty." Said, this time, without any hints of concern. Even if she has to think about the other, some. "You know? I hate Christmas.. God, Hotshot, we didn't really talk about that, did we? How do we celebrate Christmas?" Which isn't an answer to his question, but is a question that came of it.
Clint Barton	Clint nods, "Yeah, know that too," he says about Tony. "That's part of the problem to. You can't hit back at a guy like that, he doesn't care." The thing about the $1000, gets a wrinkle of his nose. "I can pay for my own party," he says flatly. "Yeah it's different, you and me, we're the same, it's not pity coming from you, you wanted to make me happy," Clint says, his expression softening. "We're together, we can get each other gifts." He leans in to kiss her softly to tell her things were okay. "Yeah, if Lara's good and we make the move, let's do that," he says about the barbeque, the idea bringing a smile to his lips. Christmas though, that was the question. "I know you don't like it much," Clint said. "I thought I might drop in on the Avengers over the holiday for my fix of Christmas and do what you want to do for the rest of the time."
Skye Johnson	The nose wrinkle gets a kiss from Skye. Well, not on the nose, but she might if she could reach it easily. No, just an ordinary quick quick on the lips. "It was a joke. You know? Like how I bought all that stupid stuff and gave him bagels first? Just the kind of asshole thing I'd do. Buy the party stuff and invite him and tell him thanks.." But she knows that's a line she can't cross with Clint. Even if it would be funny to her, and totally her relationship with Tony. "We'll pay for our own Party, Hotshot. Don't worry. And it will be exactly what we want it to be. M'kay?" She watches his face, waiting till she knows it's okay, then carries on. "So, we talk to Lara, then?" Still slightly bemused by how they'd come around from maybe, to NO, to yeah we can do this in such a short time. Really, it had been the dinner party in their kitchen that had sealed it. She's still smiling to herself when Clint talks about Christmas and the Avengers. Her face crumpling somewhat. Eyes looking slightly hurt. "Oh."
Clint Barton	Clint lets out a little, sigh, as much at himself than at anyone. "I get it," he says about the joke. And we can do that if you want, I mean, if it's a joke then I don't mind taking his money." Though despite the words he's struggling with it. "We talk to Lara," he confirms smiling. "I dunno, I'm beginning to think we can make it work. Also, as soon as Lara is out the door, I'm sliding down that bannister," he says, because yeah, Clint can be such a kid sometimes. The smiling stops though when he sees her expression crumple. "What?" he asks.
Skye Johnson	Skye crinkles her nose a little, shaking her head at the suggestion. "No. It's okay. It's supposed to be fun for both of us, not just me. Besides, it would ruin the whole party. Especially if he didn't take it as a joke." She was pretty sure he would, but it was an easy way to let Clint save face. "Yeah, we talk to Lara," she agrees, suddenly getting comfortable and home feels from the idea. Which might be why the other bothers her when she neved expected it to. Leaving her to shrug, lips pursed together as she tries not to look as hurt as she's feeling. "I don't know. I guess.. I guess I didn't think it would hurt, the thought of you having holidays with someone else and not me." She's not sure what else to say about that.
Clint Barton	"I know, but it's our home, yours and mine, so we should be able to invite the people we want to invite," Clint says, before he leting things go, and saying, "We can decide the guest list later, we still have to get the place." Though given he'd just called it theirs, it was certain what they'd be telling Lara when they saw her. Clint frowns, then gives a little sigh, "I didn't mean it like that. I meant I'd stop in, have some egg nog, open some presents, then I'd come right back to you. I can skip it entirely, it's no big deal we can do Christmas in Starling just me and you."
Skye Johnson	Skye shrugs. "You didn't mean it like anything. It doesn't change the fact that I don't actually have anyone to do that with. I guess I just didn't think that you would. Hearing you say you'd go off and have fun with your friends made me realize I didn't have anyone to do that with. It hurt. I wasn't expecting that."
Clint Barton	Clint flnches inwardly, he could understand where Skye's coming from. He'd been there, having no one but yourself. Not true, she had him, and he was leaving her alone. Stupid, he chides himself. "I am sorry," he says. "I didn't think about what that'd be like for you, me going and leaving you alone. So this year, we'll do Christmas just me and you, we'll find out what it looks like for us, what we're good with." He looks at her then, seeking out her eyes, while he put his hand on hers. "Okay?"
Skye Johnson	Skye shakes her head, shrugging, not even trying to look up. "I don't even know what that looks like, Hotshot. And you shouldn't have to give up your friends. This isn't your problem. Just probably need some time to figure out how to deal with it." In fact, if she could find a graceful way to extricate herself now, she'd likely use the time out rule. Only when she'd said it before that the person she most wwanted to talk to when things were bad was him. And this one she couldn't talk to him. Trouble with having a room mate? You can't go home and cry in your shower alone.
Clint Barton	"Skye," Clint says, "I don't know what that looks like either, but I want to find out. And I can see my friends any time. I'm not giving them up if I miss Christmas so I can be with you." He looks at her and when her eyes don't rise to meet him, his face crumples, "I only said I'd go alone because I know how you felt about Christmas, or, I thought I did, I was just trying help." When she says she needs time, he lingers a moment then, asking, "If you want me to take the walk this time I can, or I can stay, we don't have to talk about it or anything. We can work this out later."
Skye Johnson	"I thought I knew how I felt too." She sounds both hurt and disgusted at the same time. "I guess I was wrong. Maybe it was just something I told myself because I didn't have anyone so it wouldn't feel like this." She refuses to say 'hurts' anymore. "I want to figure out what it's like with us. Just.." Her shoulders rise and fall. "I kinda wish I had someone else too."
Clint Barton	Gently stroking her back, "I can get that last part," Clint says, "Wanting there to be someone else beyond me to celebrate with. There are, those people, the same people we talked about inviting to the house, Lara, May, Darcy. We just, need to let them know we want them there, or here, to celebrate." He takes a breath, and if she lets him, he hugs her close. "We don't even have to decide tonight. We want to ask them, we will, if we don't we go to Starling and figure out our Christmas. We can even cancel the whole damn thing, and pretend its just another day. I am okay with all of it."
Skye Johnson	The hug is welcomed. Especially in her unhappiness. "I don't want you to cancel," she whispers quietly. "I just don't know how to do the other."
Clint Barton	Clint's relieved when Skye welcomes the hug, he pulls her close, wrapping her firmly in his arms, "Then we won't cancel, and the rest, we can figure it out as we go," he promises in a whisper as he holds her close.
Skye Johnson	Skye relaxes into the hug, even if she doesn't sound much less miserable. "I guess this is one of those things. How our past screws us up. Only you got over it. How'd you do that?" Her eyes close and she lays her cheek to his chest. "I'd still like to go to Starling. But maybe we can figure out a way to do the other. Only, it's kind of late isn't it? To figure it out. What's it like, anyway? Celebrating with them."
Clint Barton	Clint thinks about it. "Yeah it is, I mean Christmas was never good for me even before the system. But I dunno, it was the Avengers." That answer rolls into the answer for her other question. "Spending Christmas with them, is," he searches for an example, and smiles when he finds the right one, "Sort of like us, they're all a mess, they've all got pain, issues, maybe not like ours exactly, but they've got them. When you put them all together on the holidays, it just sort of works, the broken pieces fit, and while there may be friction and yelling, in the end I never felt like I was the fucked up one who didn't belong. I felt safe, I think its what got me over my whole holiday thing. After the Avengers, I knew it didn't have to feel bad." He looks at her then, "Am I making any sense?" "As for the plans, we might be cutting it close for Christmas, but we could go to Starling for Christmas and do New Years with our friends here?" he suggests.
Skye Johnson	His words are listened to, her fingers picking lightly at his chest, just idle touches for something to do with her hands. "Makes a lot of sense. I think I'm jealous." Which makes her laugh slightly. Just enough to show things aren't as bad as they were. She lifts her head to look at him. "I'm definitely jealous. And we can have any kind of party you want."
Clint Barton	The laughter helps, and some of the tension fades in Clint, "New Year party it is," he says. "And yeah, the Avengers are pretty great and I'd love to take you to one of our Christmas' some year, when you want to go. In the meantime, if we're looking to replicate the recipe, I think our SHIELD friends have the right amount of issues." He smiles then as he looks at her. "Maybe not Lara, she might be too British to have those."
Skye Johnson	Skye grins before kissing his chest. "I'd like that. Meeting your friends, that is. And I'm not sure Darcy has all that many issues. Unless no brain to mouth filter counts."
Clint Barton	"Alright, we can make that happen," Clint says about meeting the Avengers. "Wanna do it this year? Or we can go to Starling over Christmas and do the next big holiday bash, it's all good by me," he smirks then considering the Darcy issue. "Not an issue for her? More an issue for everyone else?" he suggests on that score.
Skye Johnson	"We'll figure it out. I'm not sure it's fair to worry about it this year. I don't know." Skye gives him a crooked little twist of lips as she actually meets his eyes again. "I really don't know. But going away doesn't mean you have to miss spending time with your friends. I survived last year. I'm sure I'll survive again. And.." She stops herself and shakes her head. "That's bullshit. I wasn't happy about it last year either. I just don't think it's right to make you drag someone along with you. So I'll probably be unhappy, but I won't be unhappy with you."
Clint Barton	Lured in by the twist of her lips, Clint puts a kiss there briefly, before moving back to meet her eyes again. "Let me take you to Starling over Christmas. I want to do it and with you and me together, I won't miss my friends," he says with a smile. "Next year, and the years after that, we can figure out if you want to go to the Mansion with me or not, but let me give you this year, alright?"
Skye Johnson	Skye nods. "Sure." She smiles when he talks about years to come. "You really mean that, don't you? The years after that part. Like you can see it, can't you? Us."
Clint Barton	Clint nods, glad that it's settled. He nods again afterwards too. "Yeah, I did. I see it, us but what I don't see is ever giving you up."
Skye Johnson	She nods in return. Smiling some. "Yeah. Me too. Just the way you said it was nice. Like, you know, looking down the road and still seeing me there. Seeing us there." She giggles softly. "Probably still living in Lara's house. Inviting our friends over for barbecues. Watching them hook up with one another. Being us and loving one another."
Clint Barton	Clint nods, "Well I meant it, I can definitely see you with me like that, seeing us still be us." He chuckles though about the house. "Yes, we'll be famous for those barbecues, and I guess we'll have spare rooms for those hook ups, though, if we're there that long and start going native, you're in charge of buying the floofy white dog," he smiles.
Skye Johnson	Skye snorts. "We are not getting a floofy white dog. You want a cat, we can have a cat, but I am not picking up dog shit for nobody. Even if I love you. Besides, can you imagine us going native?" He's given a soft kiss. "Just don't do something stupid along the way and get killed or something on me, huh? Kinda looking forward to getting old with you." There's a blossom of a smile from her. "I guess the frou-frou beer already fits. Who knew it would come in handy."
Clint Barton	Clint grins, "You still have to scoop cat shit," Clint reasons, though truth be told he'd never had a pet of any kind. "And nah, I don't see it. We don't think like those kinds of people." The kiss? It's returned before he says, "I'll try not to. I kinda like the idea of getting old with you too." The beer gets a laugh "Fits what? Fiiting in or getting old?" he asks with a smile.
Skye Johnson	Skye scoffs. "Fitting in. Not sure what goes with getting old. I guess we'll find out. And I'd rather scoop a box than stand out front with all the jet set watching me. Even if wagging a bag of shit in their faces might be fun." "And good. See that you don't do something stupid."
Clint Barton	"I guess we will," Clint smiles about getting old, he did like that idea, the two of them spending a lifetime together. It should be scary but it wasn't. "See? Definite benefits to having a dog, though if we got one, nothing floofy, dogs should be big. Plus, more shit to wave at people." "I'll try not to," he repeats, the job though did have it's requirements. "Anyhow," Clint says giving Skye, a lazy smile. "If we're going to get old together, we should probably make use of our youth right?" he says ever so transparently as he drinks her in with his eyes.
Skye Johnson	"No dog," Skye repeats. But not nearly as firmly as one might expect. So much wiggle room. The other, though? "I see. And I couldn't agree more." Which is to say she returns the look with equal consideration. And, really, there aren't many better ways to celebrate the possibility of your first real place together... (we'll let them do their thing. ftb)