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Disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel comics or characters or movies, and am making no money off of this fic.
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Never Say Die by luvsanime02
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Surprisingly, Clint Barton’s never gone through a punk phase. Seems like the kind of thing that everybody not named Steve Rogers does, right? Hell, for all Clint knows, Steve did do the whole punk thing back before the war. Just because it’s kind of hard for Clint to picture doesn’t mean it’s never happened.
Point is, Clint’s never done the whole rebel thing. Oh, he’s never played by the rules. Clint doesn’t belong on any part of the alignment chart listed under lawful. The very idea is ridiculous. No, Clint went from home to the circus to mercenary work to S.H.I.E.L.D. He’s been a performer practically his whole life, but dressing in black and leather and getting cool haircuts and piercings?
That typical part of teenage rebellion is something Clint definitely missed out on. Which brings him to here, now, standing outside of a tattoo and piercing studio and looking over some of their window display. One tattoo in particular, of a mohawked guy screaming “Punk Is Not Dead”, has really captured his attention.
Bucky Barnes has been standing silently beside Clint for the past ten minutes while he’s been looking. He’s not rushing Clint to make a decision, or even asking him what brought about this sudden interest. But then, that’s assassins and snipers for you. They’re all a patient bunch, Clint included, when necessary.
Likely, Bucky isn’t even bored. He never seems to mind the quiet when Clint needs a lack of general noise around him for a while. Clint’s pretty sure that Bucky actually appreciates when the two of them are being quiet together, even when the lack of conversation eventually starts to bug Clint.
Anyway, Clint yanks his thoughts away from Bucky (it’s way too easy to get distracted by all that hotness, really) and back to the tattoo. Clint’s not really sure that he wants one. Probably not this one, anyway. Something about the design is speaking to him, though, and he doesn’t want to just walk away yet. There’s something about the guy’s expression, about the implied freedom, that’s very appealing.
“Think I’d look good with a mohawk?” Clint asks eventually, breaking the silence between them.
Bucky glances over at Clint, and to his credit, gives Clint’s hair a critical look before shrugging. “I’d kind of like to see Stark’s face when you walk into the next meeting with one,” he admits shamelessly.
Well, that decides that. Clint nods and pulls out his phone to check for the nearest place that cuts hair. He starts walking down the street without bothering to look at where he’s going, knowing that he’ll sense anyone in his way and walk around them, and Bucky falls easily into step beside him.
“Too bad,” Bucky says after a minute. “I was kind of hoping that you were going for a piercing instead.”
Clint smirks, thinks the idea over, and then raises a challenging eyebrow at Bucky. “Well, it’s never too late to transform your grunge look into a proper punk one, you know?” he says.
Bucky looks thoughtful all the way to the hair salon, and Clint can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction to Bucky getting something pierced. Unless it’s somewhere a bit more private than Clint’s assuming, of course. In that case, Clint’s the only one who’s going to see that up close and personal, but he’ll definitely make sure to mention how much he enjoys the added stimulus right when the next meeting starts to feel all tense and serious.
Clint’s never really looked forward to one of their Avengers meetings before, but he definitely is now.