Owner	Pose
Clint Barton	May had gone home taking the truck with her. Clint had to laugh, the douche with the Mercedes had left a nasty note on it. If the douche knew May, Clint doubted he'd have dared. It kept him chuckling through the run to the recycling bins at the back to drop off the pizza box and the cans from dinner. That job done, Clint comes through the back door and shivers. In retrospect, grabbing a coat would have been a good idea, but too late now. "Getting cold out there," Clint calls to Skye. "Hope you figured out the fire place!" Clint tugs off his boots and drops them in the foyer on the way to the living room. The modest pile of boxes and the randomly placed furniture made the room far less intimidating. Especially the broken couch. He smiled crookedly at the thing and gave it a nudge with his foot chuckling. Glancing up to check on the progress Clint asks, "So where are we at with that fire?"
Skye Johnson	Skye had remained on the couch, toes tucked underneath the nearest cushion. When Clint returns, asking about the fireplace, she makes a face. "Oh. I was supposed to figure that out? And no. Is there a switch, or do we throw fire at it?" Yeah. Add fire and fireplace making skills to the list of things Skye is not good at. Domestic goddess she is not. And apparently not someone you'd want to take camping, either.
Clint Barton	Clint raises a brow at Skye, "Guess you never took Gretel to a camp site huh?" he asks before making his way to the fireplace and checking it out. It looked like an honest to god fireplace not one of the gas ones with a switch. He'd always wanted one of those but then it did beg the question, where does one get firewood in Greenwich Village? He doesn't have an easy answer for that one and while Lara had been generous there didn't seem to be any logs laying around for them to use, or newspapers for kindling. He hehs, at the whole situation and standing again he makes his way over to one of the boxes and liberates a heavy woolen blanket. He flops down on the opposite end of the couch from Skye, blatantly hording the blanket as he pulls it around himself.
Skye Johnson	Clint gets an askance look, "Camp sites? We have camp sites in New York?" Yeah. Camping, not so much. Though she frowns as he mentions Gretel. Noting that he, too, doesn't light a fire. "So, we kinda need wood for that, don't we? A fireplace, I mean. Where do we get stuff like that?" She grins, giving the broken couch a look. "You know, I'd be tempted, but we don't have a way to chop it up, and it's probably toxic to boot." Mentally she wonders just who does one call to find out about fireplaces. Though she could just do a websearch... Except there's Clint. Hogging the blanket. At the other end of the couch.
Clint Barton	"You spent your whole time here in New York?" Clint asks, see, he didn't really know too much about that time of Skye's life. "I just assumed you roamed around on the open road or whatever." Which is what he did in the circus and then later with Trickshot. "And yeah, no camp sites in New York, or easy places to find firewood." He smiles when she considers the couch as kindling. "Yeah, no axes, but I am pretty sure she'd burn with all the beer we spilled on her over the last couple of months." Jesus, had it only been a couple of months? That was sort of shocking, it'd felt like a lifetime already, but in a good way. When Skye eyes him hogging the blanket, he smirks at her. "Something wrong?" he asks, a clear provocation, which was what the hording was too. All just a teasing way to suggest a cuddle.
Skye Johnson	"No," Skye says quietly. "No camping. It's not like I was living out of my van because it was fun, Hotshot. It sucked. Having to mmove to avoid tickets or being towed away. Avoiding people trying to steal it - with me in it. Or you know, just trying to jack parts off of it." She hasn't followed his logic from blanket hoarding to come cuddle. It might have been more obvious on any other night, but tonight, her thoughts dwell in darker places, and those thoughts colour her answer to his question. "She was the only home I had. The only thing I could call my own, really. You made it sound like she was a piece of shit to be laughed at. Sometimes you can be a real ass, you know?"
Clint Barton	"It's not like we moved around for the fun of it either," Clint said of him and Trickshot. "I just asked because I figured you'd moved around more. I mean pretty much have to camp if you go cross country. I know living out of a van couldn't be much fun. I know living in a circus trailer wasn't." He frowns when she doesn't get the message of his hording, they were usually so good at that. The talking without talking. Her answer takes him by surprise even though it probably shouldn't. "Wait, I was talking about the blanket thing," he says. "And I didn't say your van was shit, I was making a joke about the name. I've never even seen your van, so how could I judge?"
Skye Johnson	Any other day she would have followed. Any other day.. when she wasn't mired deep in thoughts dredged in system kid insecurities and the sting of his teasing about the only home she'd ever known. She should have laughed it off. Instead, she'd felt like she'd been slapped. And while most of the feeling had gone while May was there, no small amount of the hurt had returned with where their talk had wandered. No, she hadn't camped. No, she hadn't gone cross country. No, she hadn't... too many things. "Blanket thing?" Too distracted to even come up with a good comeback. "And it wasn't.. no, it was. All that crap about leaking and leaving a trail and stuff. I don't know. It just hit hard." Kinda like his stupid joke in the break room those months ago. One of those sucker punches you don't see coming, but knocks you out anyway.
Clint Barton	Clint could see the hurt in Skye, he knew he'd stepped on some raw nerves, but he'd also apologized. And to be honest, her secret errand on moving day had stung him a little too. The job was a shadow that hung over them, seeped into their most private moments and even here in their new refuge it found a way into their life. And he knew deep down it always would. Still, sting or no sting, he said the words again, because what was the alternative? "I'm sorry," he says. "Though while I will cop to the leaking joke I never said anything about it leaving a trial," though in a better situation, he'd have thought that was pretty funny given she'd named the van Gretel. "Anyhow, Skye, it was just a joke, I mean you do it to me all the time, hell one of our first in jokes was about the size of my dick." He still sounds a little annoyed, but he also says, "And the blanket thing, it's an invite to come over and cuddle with me."
Skye Johnson	Skys sits there, silent for long moments. Not their usuall silence - she's not making eye contact. Or any of the other things she, or they, usually do. It's similar to one of her work silences. Her body is there, but the wheels are working away on some other level. Finally, she nods, and sighs. "I know. I do that. I make jokes. I deflect. And all that then was different. I mean I guess I was flirting but not flirting. Or some stupid shit. Just.." There's a sigh and a shrug. "I know you didn't mean it. It doesn't mean it didn't hurt. Or that I'm not angry. And I'm sorry too. I never really thought about what I do. You're right. And I guess it's kinda us the joking sometimes. Not angry enough to really make you sleep on the couch." Which she'd initially threatened, however jokingly - and that, too, was telling, that it had been joking, even in the flash of hurt anger. Her lips slip around an apologetic twist. "Forgive me?" And to make her apology better, more equal, she moves, crawling across the couch to come for that offered cuddle.
Clint Barton	Clint's quiet too, it's a pensive thing, his eyes watching her through out until she speaks. When she does, he frowns a little, his expression thoughtful until she's done. "Just so we're clear I don't want us to stop teasing each other. I love that about us, but I just think we need to forgive one another if that sometimes strays into places we don't want to joke about. I mean, make it clear it's a no go zone, but forgive each other. Does that make sense?" he asks. Apparently it does, because in the next breath she forgives him, after a fashion, and asks forgiveness in return. "None needed," he says earnestly. "And I am sorry I made fun of Gretel. I really hope we can get her back for us. I'd like to meet her," he says with a smile. He shifts over to make room for her on his end of the couch and lifts the blanket.
Skye Johnson	Skye crawls over him and snuggles into the space he's made, tugging the blanket back close over the two of them. "I thought I was done hurting over the home thing when you moved in. I guess I wasn't as done as I thought." She nods, though. "I was overly touchy. I guess I saw her like you did, or like your joke sounded like you did, and.. and anyway, it was stupid. I like when we joke. I like that you think of new and inventive ways to dis me. I mean, you wouldn't bother if you didn't care about me." Which might strike others as weird, but when she says it, he knows she means it. Feels it. "So..Gretel's not off the table." She shifts position so that she can watch his face and take in his reaction.
Clint Barton	Clint lets her into the space the covers them both up with the blanket. His hoodie is still a little chill from being outside, as are his hands, one of which he brushes against her own. "I understand," he says. "Issues are like icebergs, you really don't know how big they are until you hit them, it's fine. I'm sure I've got a few of my own floating out there too. Even if I can't see them just now." "It was normal, or well, normal for us. We hurt about strange things. And yeah, I tease because I love you, I think that's why I always have, even the early stupid stuff, was a little bit of the middle school pulling girl's hair to say you like them shit." He smiled at the comparison, but doesn't shy away from it. "And shit yeah, Gretel is still on the table. Coulson was the one who grabbed you up out of Gretel right? We can hit him up about where it got stashed," he says. "And, I know I was sort of shitty the last time we talked about that time of your life, when you were with the Rising Tide. I figure it's got to be on your mind since New Years, so, if you want to talk about it, you can. I promise not to be more of an asshole than normal about it."
Skye Johnson	And there it was: the other reason his joke had hit home so hard. That time in her life wasn't just a distant memory. Tonight, that time in her life was knocking on her front door, in the hands of a flash drive that was sitting in Mile's hand, just waiting to be spilled into the public eye. It didn't matter if her name had been handed over along with whatever Lotus had stolen from SHIELD, what mattered was that it was dangling over her head. All their heads.. and until she talked to Fury there was just too much she couldn't tell Clint. "There's just too much shit in my head, Hotshot. That vid just... brought it all back. I guess your joke just got caught up with everything else." She clasps one of her hands to his cold one. "Just.. I know I ditched you earlier. Feel pretty shitty about that, too. Don't ask, okay? Not yet." Which was as close as she could get to saying all the things she couldn't say about that meeting. At least not until she knew it wasn't going to put him in danger.
Clint Barton	Clint was clueless about all the whys and wherefores of what weighed on Skye's mind, he just saw that something did, and he guessed it had to do with her old life with the Rising Tide. When that's confirmed, he slides his arm around her shoulder and kisses her cheek. "I get it, it's the job," he says about her ditching him. He doesn't sound happy, but it does sound his understanding is genuine. "And I won't ask. Just know, if you can talk, and want to, I'm here, alright?" He'd been here before, with Nat and Bobbi both and was familiar with the walls SHIELD forced them to put up for the sake of the job. He hated those walls, and yet, for the third time in his life he was in love with an agent of SHIELD. "Think we'll ever do anything else with our lives?" he muses aloud.
Skye Johnson	Skye brushes a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for, you know, not pushing it. It's just something I have to figure out." She shrugs and settles back against him. "Not sure what else I'd do," she admits. "I mean, I thought Rising Tide was it. I was going to change the world. Only they're not what I thought they were either."
Clint Barton	The return of the kiss makes Clint smile. "Hey, I've been here before, and there's going to be things I can't talk about either, most of the missions they send Nat and I on are pretty hush-hush." He shifts as she settles against him and he holds her close, happy for the comfort of her being close by, and to leach a little warmth off of her as well. "Yeah, SHIELD is good for that, world changing, or at least world saving," he says. "And it's not like there are a lot of other places to do it either. So, guess this is us then, you and me and SHIELD."
Skye Johnson	"You're an Avenger, too," Skye points out, perhaps unhelpfully, as she snuggles in and wraps an arm over his chest, laying her cheek there as well. "And yeah. I guess I never thought about it. You going off on missions. I mean, it's not like they'll be sending me undercover." She gives a soft laugh. "Baker, huh?" Nodding to herself over the example May provided earlier, all unknowing.
Clint Barton	"Yeah, I'm that too," Clint agrees, though he'd meant options for her more than for him. He knew, if things got bad, he could just leave SHIELD and be an Avenger full-time. It'd be a pay hit, and he'd miss a lot of people, but it could be done. Skye on the other hand couldn't. Not unless she really wanted to be the Avengers IT girl, or *shudder* work for Stark. "Yeah, between angelic healings and being blasted into another dimension, I've been on the sick list for awhile now, eventually, they're going to want me out in the field again." He chuckles when the bakery job is brought up. "Yeah, most of the details of that one are classified, but, I can tell you, working baker's hours suck, and I had to double up my PT for a couple of weeks after that to drop some pounds," he smiles. "Anyhow, six weeks in Nice, was sort of the exception rather than the rule with my ops, I tend to mostly get tactical stuff, in and out in a couple of days. No long drawn out stuff." "Either way, I am glad you're not likely to get any undercover gigs, not that I don't think you can handle it, but they can be rough. Lonely. But like I said, likely not a problem you'll have to deal with."
Skye Johnson	It's a good thing Skye isn't able to read his mind - the thought of herself as an *actual* IT girl... And Tony? He'd be all fine and well for a time, and then it would be... well, not the challenge she was used to. Not the thing she'd come to love, not only about her work, but about herself. Boring on a level that wouldn't sustain her. Clint was right, Skye really didn't have many other options but SHIELD. Not legitimate ones, at any rate. And since finding her niche, she was enjoying what that meant. Doing good, being near the best at what she did, on the side of good. "Yeah. I never really thought about it. You being back in the field, I mean. Or what that was going to mean to us. Not like you can talk about where they'll send you." That whole level 7 versus level 2 thing. "So what do we do? What's it look like when you go and come back?" They'd not spent more than an evening apart since that first night, even then then, it had never been a full 24 hours away from one another. Things would be lonely in this big old house without him.
Clint Barton	Even if Skye can't read Clint's mind, he knew hers well enough to know she wouldn't like any life she wasn't challenged by and any job where she didn't make a difference in. So, it looked like SHIELD was it. Clint told himself he could live with it. SHIELD being the third party in their relationship. "Yeah, most of the stuff they send me on is pretty black bag," and also incredibly dangerous. "We do what we're doing now, we say what we can, and we just live with the questions we can't ask. It sucks, but, for now it's what we've got." The rest, well he had answers for that cribbed from his life with Bobbi. "We keep in touch as best we can, details will be scarce and they'll be times I need to go silent, but, when I can call or text I will. Then, when I come back, I make you my priority. I won't lie, it'll probably suck some times, especially near the start, but it can work if we want it to." He glances around the big old place, as he considers her being lonely, "I dunno, we can get you a Darcy?" he offers with a grin.
Skye Johnson	Clint gets a playful swat over the suggestion of a Darcy. "Are you saying I need a babysitter?" Of course, she's the one who would still be living on ramen in a mug if it weren't for him. It's debatable if she even walked herself to the cafeteria more than once a day for a meal. She laughs softly and nods. "Yeah. I know. I'm hopeless. But where was I going to learn? And besides, until now I did alright." For some value of alright. "It will just be.." Skye sighs. "I'll miss you. it won't be like control room nights. You'll be out there getting shot at. And I'll be back here helpless to do anything about it." Even if he can sneak out word to her. In some ways, she's not sure if getting word would be better or worse. Only, when she thinks about it, she decides better. She might be on edge knowing he's in danger, but at least she'd know he was alive. "Our job sucks," she declares with soft finality. Even as she knows she kind of loves the job. Not that she'd admit it to many. And fewer still might guess. Hell, most of SHIELD still thought she /was/ an IT girl.
Clint Barton	Clint laughs, "Only if you have to code something," he answers after the swat. "I don't want to come home from who knows where and find you starved to death in front of your laptop." He chuckles when she more or less agrees with him. "And you did do alright, all joking aside, I figured it might be good for you to have some company though. I know it helped me when I had to do the waiting thing." It had been for Bobbi mostly. When they were dating as they were now, when it came to missions Nat and Clint were joined at the hip. "I'll miss you too," he says. "All the time. As for worrying, I wish I had an answer for that one, I really do, danger is going to happen, it always does, but just trust that I am going to do everything I can to get back you, no matter what It takes," he says. He looks at her then, so she can see his conviction. He meant those words and he wanted her to know it. His expression softens and he laughs, "It definitely does," he agrees. He leans in to kiss her then, a gesture of reassurance when so many things were uncertain for them.
Skye Johnson	"Oh, you are soooooo dead for that comment," Skye laughs when he suggests she's not fit to be left alone with herself while coding. "I ate before I met you." She had a drawer of ramen noodles to prove it. Ramen noodles Clint, to this day, didn't know he'd eaten instead of pasta. Her cooking had improved since that day. Even if it was still only the one meal. She kisses him back, ever so gently. Her trepidation lingering in the kiss. "I know. It's what you do. And it's part of you. Even if you weren't with SHIELD, it would still be who you are. I'll deal."
Clint Barton	Clint laughs when she threatens him for his remarks. "Uh-huh, killing me won't make it less true," he says with a laugh. "And maybe you did, but like I said, there's also the company thing to consider. I mean, if Darcy doesn't work, I could always ask May. She can cook at least," he teases. Though to be fair, he was a whole lot less worried about her eating now than he had been when they'd met. And hey, if nothing else, Gino could be counted on to send a pizza her way every once in a while. He feels the trepidation and he does his best to smooth it away, assuring her through the meeting of their lips that they'd be alright. Her words are met with a smile that reaches his eyes and softens their edges. "Thanks," he says. "And I'll deal with SHIELD being part of who you are now too. I'm glad you found yourself a place that let's you do what you do and feel good about it even if it means sharing you with it."
Skye Johnson	Her head is lain back on his chest. "Fine. You go on some long mission, we'll see about getting me some company." She deliberately avoid the word 'caretaker'. "And I promise to eat real food. Even if I have to put in a standing order with Gino." Or, you know, ask May to come stay. May might.. "Thanks. I know how you feel about it. SHIELD, I mean. Even if you do work with us, I know you're really more an Avenger at heart." She'd been the one to suggest this neutral ground for living space because of it, as a way to embrace all their friends and all the facets of their lives. It meant a lot to her to hear that he could accept her place in things, too.
Clint Barton	"Good," Clint says as she lays her head against his chest. He toys with a strand of her hair as she does so. "And good about the food too," he says. "I mean, I know you'll be okay and everything all jokes aside, but it makes me feel better to know you're not alone and working yourself into starvation," he says, the last offered with a little smile. "Yeah, I'm not its biggest fan, but I get what it means to you, I feel the same way about the Avengers," Clint says with a fond smile that turns into a yawn. "Though you'd think it'd take more than a bit of furniture and a few boxes to knock an Avenger out," he jokes. "Enjoying the cuddle though, what do you say? Continue it upstairs while we figure out how many football fields can fit inside the bed up there?"
Skye Johnson	"I won't starve. Promise." At least she'd try not to. She was sure she'd manage somehow. How long could he go away for anyway? "Clint? If you don't like SHIELD, why don't you just leave? Go be an Avenger fulltime? It's where your heart is, so why with the other?" Though she thinks about it quietly, then murmurs, "Nat? Not being jealous here, just curious, is she why you stay?" Nodding, "Yeah, we can head up to bed. It's going to be weird without the fake morning.. oh god, Hotshot, there will be *real* morning." Skye practically groans.
Clint Barton	That was the question wasn't it? How long could he be away? As he said, his missions were mostly short term, but another six week stint wasn't impossible. Longer if SHIELD got really desperate for people to work undercover. Fortunately there were plenty of specialists for that. "It's not entirely Nat. It's also Phil, May you, and some of the others. My relationship with SHIELD is weird, I hate what the organization makes me do, but I love the people. And so far, the people win out. Might be a day when they don't and I can't take it anymore. If it comes, then I'll quit." He gives it all a shrug. Getting up, Clint tosses off the blanket, and then offers Skye a hand up. "Real morning's not so bad, we used to go to bed around then when you slept over at my old place," he says with a grin. "Though the real birds, harder to code out of existance," he adds.
Skye Johnson	Skye presses a kiss to his chest before letting him help her up for the walk to bed. "I love you, Hotshot. Not for being with SHIELD, or being an Avenger. Do what makes you happy. Though gotta say, I like the sound of that, being one of the people you do it for." She frowns, stopping to look at him. "Actually, maybe not. I mean, I don't ever want you to feel you have to because of me. I don't want to be that person, Clint." But she understands some of what he means about what they make him do. She's not been in his shoes, and for the most part her portions of the job are what they are and would be regardless of what else was going on. His, however, took him other places. Made him make life or death decisions. Things she'd never have to face in all likelihood. And she understood what that took out of him. What that did to him. She'd seen all his darkness and insecurity and knew exactly how every little thing SHIELD asked him to do played along those feelings of unworthiness. Of being broken beyond redemption. They'd joked about SHIELD recruiting tactics. They both were living examples of it: I'm already too far gone for anyone to accept, so make it me who does this thing so that someone else doesn't have to sully themselves. The greater good as seen through the eyes of the unbroken.
Clint Barton	"I love you too, Keyboard," Clint replies after the kiss is pressed to his chest. He smiles when he first hears her words, but then like her sees the darker side of them. Even if he did not feel that way, there were implications. "It's not like that. I don't blame you or the others for me staying and doing what I've done. I made those choices whatever my reasons for making them." It was true though, his was a much darker path, a bloodier one, where he not only made life and death decisions for himself, which he could live with, but others as well, which was harder to take. Sometimes, the worst times, the choice was taken out of his hands and he was left feeling raw and powerless. It took it's toll. But if he didn't do it, someone else had to, so why put them through the pain? He'd already made plenty of bad choices, what was one more? SHIELD totally had his number. Helping Skye up, he pulls her to him, giving her a tight squeeze of a hug, before glancing up the stairs. "Let's go to bed," it was a deflection, another putting off thinking about the darkness SHIELD put him through, but for now, it was a welcome one.
Skye Johnson	She hadn't meant to imply that he blamed her. She just didn't want him to have that obligation, either. To ever have it be a non-choice. Even if he'd made most of these decisions long before her. They were both right, though, SHIELD had their numbers and was ruthless about using them. But like Clint, for Skye there was a certain element of she could do this where someone else couldn't. Wouldn't have to. The blood on her hands was different, but like Clint, she just wanted a place to belong. A place where redemption could be had. A place where being herself was enough. Smiling crookedly, she nods, agreeing. "Let's go to bed."