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Mandatory Fun Day #3
Bucky hurried down the street toward the apartment he shared with Clint. He had been gone for a month and wanted to get home and see his partner. The noise hit Bucky like a brick to the head as he opened the front door to the building. By the time he was at the door to the apartment, he was sure his ears were bleeding. He opened the door to one of the strangest sights he had ever seen, Clint was throwing himself around the living room, banging his head, and howling words that Bucky could barely hear over the racket coming out of speakers of an old time stereo. Bucky felt like he was fighting against the tide as he made his way over to the stereo and turned the volume down.
“London is calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared and battle come down”
“Come outta’ the…” Clint stopped mid lyric as his head come up and he saw Bucky standing there.
“Are you trying to make everybody in the neighborhood deaf with that noise” Bucky asked.
“Hey, don’t dis one of the greatest punk bands ever.” Clint growled.
“That was supposed to be a band?” Bucky demanded.
“Just because you’re a fossil who doesn’t get modern music doesn’t mean you get to put it down.” Clint snapped.
“That was not music. That was a bunch of banging and screaming.” Bucky told him.
Clint stomped over to him, getting right in his face.
“Are you putting down the Clash?” he demanded.
“The Clash, that’s a good name for a bunch of clashing noise.” Bucky snorted.
The punch Clint threw came as a surprise. Bucky blocked it easily, catching Clint’s fist in his hand. Clint growled and tried to pull away, Bucky held on, confused by the anger radiating off of Clint. He looked at his partner, seeing the tension in every muscle, the open rage all over his face, the dark circles under his eyes.
“What happen?” he asked, stroking Clint’s fist with his thumb.
Clint tried to pull free again. Bucky wrapped his arm around his waist and held on, waiting. After a minute, Clint huffed and sagged against Bucky.
“Nat and I got sent on a mission while you were gone.” He mumbled against Bucky’s chest.
Bucky let go of his fist so he could wrap both arms around him.
“It was supposed to be in and out. It wasn’t.” Clint continued. “Nat got shot, people who shouldn’t got dead.”
“Is Nat ok?” Bucky asked.
“Yeah, it was just a graze to her arm, pissed her off,” Clint told him. “but it shouldn’t have happened, none of it should have happened.”
Now it all made sense, the rage, the loud noise, Bucky refused to call it music, Clint was blaming himself, as usual. Bucky hugged him, running a hand down his back. He knew there was nothing he could say to make Clint stop blaming himself, he just needed to work through it before he could move on. He held Clint for a few minutes, then gave him a squeeze and let go. He went into the second bedroom they used for storage and hunted around until he found the noise canceling headphones Steve had given him. He put them on, then went back to the living room. Clint stared at him as he turned the volume back up, then flopped down on the couch.
“Have at it.” He said, waving a hand at Clint.
Clint looked at him, looked at the stereo, then at him again. He grinned as he turned the volume down and dropped down beside Bucky. He pulled the headphones off of his head as he leaned in.
“I’d rather have you.” He said, stealing a quick kiss.
“That can be arranged,” Bucky told him, grabbing him and flipping him on to his back, leaning over him with a smirk, “if you promise to keep that noise down.”
“I’ll agree to keep the music down,” Clint told him, “if we make some noise of our own.”
Later, Bucky briefly wondered which noise the neighbors preferred, then decided he didn’t really care, he knew which one he liked and that was all that mattered.