Chapter Text
“Hey, you’re staying?” Tony looked at Clint. “We’re thinking of having pizza.”
They were just back from a mission, and everyone looked tired and a bit bruised. Clint, himself, had an impressive black eye and some superficial cuts in his skin that looked worse than they actually were, and a bad ankle that needed at least a week to heal fully. He was tired, and could only think of going home to his bed and his girl.
“Nah, I’m heading home.” He put on his jacket.
Tony frowned.
“Really? You’re gonna refuse pizza?”
Clint chuckled. Yeah, he really did like pizza. But he couldn’t stay, not in the situation you two were right now, even if that meant no pizza for him.
“I kind of…” He cleared his throat. “I kind of have someone one waiting for me.”
The information got them by surprise. Honestly, there was a lot the Avengers didn’t know about each other. Some aspects of the past or what one did when alone were two of them. Clint having someone was definitely one of them.
“Someone?” Tony arched his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I’m… I’m married.” Clint let out.
Steve’s eyes widened.
“Well, that’s a surprise. “ Bucky exclaimed.
“And you never told us about her?” Tony looked and sounded offended. “That’s not really nice from you. How have you two been together?”
“About six years.”
Natasha smirked at them. Of course, she knew about you, she knew ever since the beginning.
“How is she?” The Russian agent looked at her friend.
“Probably tired. We talked in the morning, she was bound to have a long day.”
Tony looked from him to her, and then at him again.
“So, are we meeting the lady any time soon?” He inquired.
Clint looked at him for a moment, unsure. You’ve been discussing this for some months now, and you were pretty excited about meeting the famous Avengers, especially being married to one of them.
“I can talk to her about lunch or something.” He decided.
“Good then. See you Sunday.”
Clint gave him a surprised look but decided not to protest before leaving the place.
He reached home ten minutes later, open the door silently in order not to bring attention to his arrival. He walked to the room that he shared with you and took off his jacket and shoes, kissing your forehead and smiling when you opened your eyes weakly.
“Hello, princess.” He smiled.
You raised your hand to rub your eyes for a moment and then sign for him.
<Hello, Bird.> She signed in front of her face, smiling.
Clint smiled. He loved the way your eyes sparkled when you looked at him, and the sign you had given to him many years ago. You were the reason he called himself Hawkeye. Just like each person has a name, each person also has a sign name, given by someone. When you and Clint met – many years before you started dating –, you had sign named him Bird. You were his Princess.
With a genuine smile, Clint closed the distance between you two and gave you a long and gentle kiss, one you craved for days since he left.
“How was your day?” He then sat on the bed by your side, caressing your face and giving the clock at your side a glance. 2 a.m..
<Tiring.> You made a face for a moment. <Snuggle was fuzzy and cried a lot. I think he misses his daddy.>
He nodded, taking off his hearing aids and placing them beside the alarm clock. Just like you were <Princess> and Clint was <Bird>, your baby had been sign-named just as well. He was very attached to both of you, so Clint just sign-named him as Snuggles when he was weeks old, and it stuck with the family.
<I missed you. > You signed.
<I missed you too.> He undressed, looking for his flannel pants and noticing how you were wearing one of his shirts. <I missed seeing you wearing my clothes. >
You blushed. When Clint was away, the only comfort you had from him was stealing clothes from his closet, clinging to his smell.
<I need to ask you a question.> He told you after you yawned. <The guys want to come here and have lunch Sunday. You think it’s okay? >
You took a moment to think. You really wanted to meet the Avengers. It was a good opportunity.
<Sure .> You yawned. <You coming to bed now? >
Clint smiled, finding his usual spot beside you and quickly pulling you under his body. It was something he always did to you and was happy to finally be able to do it again. When you were pregnant – up until four months earlier – he couldn’t do it. At the beginning, you would complain about him being too heavy, but quickly got used to it. Now, it was a comfort to have him pressed against you.
You were deeply asleep when you heard the cry, and poked Clint in the face to wake him up.
“What?” He muttered, his eyes close.
Rolling your eyes, you raised your right hand and made circles with a <B> against your husband’s cheek. It was your personal sign to warn him that Nathaniel was awake.
Clint sighed, pushing himself up and rolling off the bed.
When he got into the room, your son had his mouth open and an angry look on his face.
<Someone doesn’t smell good.> Clint signed when the little boy looked at him.
You son wasn’t deaf or mute, but you had set the goal of teaching him how to sign as soon as possible. Because Clint couldn’t hear him if he wasn’t wearing the hearing aids, and because you couldn’t communicate verbally, it was really important to the both of you.
According to doctors, Nathaniel would be able to sign back when he was about seven months old, not complete sentences, but just enough for him to communicate with Clint without depending on his father’s hearing, and he could already detect the signs as patterns and actual communication. He seemed to understand when you signed <bath> and <change> to him. He would be able to sign before speaking.
Walking over the kid, Clint signed <change> to him before moving Nathanael to the changing table and discarding his dirty diaper. If someone told him years ago that he would be coming back from missions to clean dirty bums in the middle of the night instead of sleep, he wouldn’t believe them
<Done.> He signed, quickly signing <Sleep> before putting him to bed again.
He hesitated when he reached the door, turning to look at the baby again, and whispering a soft “I love you” under his breath, with the equivalent sign, before walking back to the room your shared.
Slowly and trying not to wake you up, he went back to is position, shielding you with his body and smiling when your hand rested on his back. Quickly, he fell asleep again, inhaling your scent and with a smile on his lips.