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Clint groaned as he came back to consciousness. The room was bright white, and it hurt his eyes like hell. Clint squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stave off the light as much as he could, when he tried to lift his arms, they felt too heavy to move. Clint took a few deep breaths, and he realized that his mouth was packed with something really fucking nasty. He tried to talk, but even his jaw was sluggish, and whatever was in his mouth made it pretty difficult.
After a little while, Clint was finally able to open his eyes again, and he was able to look around. There was a big light above him - off, thankfully - and on the walls were several framed medical certificates. He turned his head to the other side and spotted someone in a white coat with their back to him.
When she turned around, she gave Clint a dazzling smile. “Hello, Clint, how are you feeling?”
Clint only managed a muffled reply, which made the doctor chuckle.
“Sorry, Clint,” she said, stepping forward and taking a seat on the stool beside him. “I’m Dr. Hunt. You had a bit of an… unfortunate accident, and you required some pretty urgent dental reconstruction.” When Clint’s dazed eyes widened, Dr. Hunt smiled. “There’s nothing to worry about, you’re all fixed up, and your partners thought you’d prefer to not be left with a gap smile.”
Clint nodded in agreement.
“Now, let’s check this all out and see if we can get you discharged. Your partners are outside, and I know they are eager to see you.”
Dr. Hunt then stood and leaned over Clint, gently prompting Clint to open his mouth. She removed all of the gauze packing and checked the initial healing of the work carried out. Clint closed his eyes and let the doctor work, not wanting the awkward eye contact that came with her masked face being so close to his.
“Ok, everything is looking good. I’m gonna add a little more packing down the sides because your gums are still a little tender.” Once she had done that, she smiled. “Ok, you sit tight, I’m gonna go and let your guests know that they can take you home once we get the last of the paperwork out of the way.”
Clint smiled. “Thanks, Dr. Hunt.”
Dr. Hunt gave Clint a smile and shook her head at the dreamy look on his face before she left the room. Clint was left alone for a little while, and he hummed tunes to himself while he waited. When the door opened, Clint’s head snapped in its direction, and he couldn’t help the wide smile that spread across his face.
Nat and James walked in behind Dr. Hunt and immediately went to his side.
“Hey, sleepyhead. How are you feeling?” Nat asked, brushing the hair out of his face.
“I feel great!” Clint said, his words slurring. “But where’s Dr. Cho?”
Everyone in the room, other than Clint, frowned in confusion.
“Who’s Dr. Cho?” James asked.
Clint scoffed. “Who’s- What do you mean ‘who’s Dr. Cho’? Only the greatest doctor in history. She’s the one who always patches us up after missions.”
Nat and James shared a confused look. “What missions?” James asked.
Clint gave them a flat look. “What missions,” he muttered. “Have you two hit your heads or something?” When Nat and James didn’t play along, Clint let out an exasperated sigh. “We’re Avengers! We go on missions and save the world. What the hell is wrong with you both?”
James and Nat continued to look on, confused. “Clint, sweetie,” Nat crooned, “I think you’ve been reading too many of those comic books of yours… we’re not… superheroes.”
Dr. Hunt pulled Nat and James aside while Clint started rambling on to himself. “Clint is still coming down from the anaesthesia. That, together with the pain medication, is probably causing some hallucinations. It shouldn’t last too long, don’t worry.”
James looked over to Clint before returning his attention to Nat and Dr. Hunt. “Oh, I’m not worried,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket.
James opened his camera and pressed record, holding it up toward Clint. “Sorry, Clint, I…uh… I think something happened to us on the last mission.” James looked at Nat and winked, trying to stifle his laughter.
Nat, getting the hint, continued. “Oh, yeah, I… uh… I hit my head during the blast. So, we’re Avengers?”
“YES!” Clint exclaimed. “I’m Hawkeye, the world’s greatest archer. You’re Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. You’re a badass, hot as hell, Russian assassin that turned into a good guy.”
“And what about me?” James asked.
“You too?!” Clint let out a big sigh. “You’re James Buchanan Barnes, best friend of Captain America. C’mon, man, you served in WWII… Fell off the train, everyone thought you died... Then 70 years later, we find out you’re the Winter Soldier acting all dark and broody and sexy.” Clint finished it off with a wink, which incidentally was aimed at the camera, due to Clint still being woozy.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember who I am now. So…” James gave Nat a smirk before he resumed. “Since we have this annoying memory loss, why don’t you tell us about some of the stuff we’ve done?”
Clint gave them as big of a smile as he could. “So, things have been a little crazy for a while. So there’s this big purple alien called Thanos. He wanted to get the infinity stones so that he could wipe out half the universe - I did say crazy - and so the Avengers - minus me because I was with my wife and kids on our farm since I was under house arrest - tried to stop him, but they couldn’t!”
Nat looked at James and mouthed, “wife and kids?!” to which James could only shrug.
“So, half of the planet just poofed up into dust. Bucky, you were gone, but Nat and I survived. For five years, I became Ronin and killed loads of bad guys because I was hurt by the loss of my wife and kids - they turned to dust, too. And Nat, you basically became the leader of the Avengers, conversing with aliens and a talking raccoon most of the time… I think.”
Nat and James turned to look at Dr. Hunt, who honestly looked as though she had seen this before.
“Clint, come on, we better get you home,” Nat said, feeling as though they had long overstayed their time there.
“But I haven’t finished the story!” Clint pouted. “Anyway…”
As Clint continued, with James trying not to laugh at the absurdity, Nat turned to Dr. Hunt to apologize. “I’m sorry about this.”
Dr. Hunt smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s my last appointment of the day, and he’s actually pretty funny.”
Nat smiled and turned back to the story.
“...And because of Scott - Ant-Man - coming up with the whole time heist idea, Tony - Iron Man - managed to create time travel!” When he saw the shocked looks on Nat and James’s faces, he added, “I know! It’s wild! Don’t even ask me how he did it. So, we went back in time to get the infinity stones. Nat, you and I went together to get the soul stone, and…” Clint’s eyes started to get misty as tears formed.
“Clint? Are you ok, honey?” James asked quietly.
All of a sudden, Clint burst into tears. “Natasha, you died. It was you or me, and I… I wanted it to be me, but… you’re so goddamn stubborn! You died, and I had to leave your body on an alien planet.”
Clint continued to sob, and James finally turned the camera off, putting his phone back in his pocket. He sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around Clint. “Shhhh, it’s ok, baby.”
“But Nat’s dead!” Clint wailed.
“She’s not dead, Nat’s right here.” James held out his hand to call Nat over, hoping that it would make things better.
It didn’t.
Clint took one look at Nat and started crying even harder. “Am I seeing ghosts?! Why am I seeing a ghost?! Am I that kid? I see dead people!”
James sighed and tossed Nat the keys to his truck. She took them with a nod and left to go get the engine running.
James lifted Clint slightly and placed him into the wheelchair by the bed. “Come on, Clint, let’s get you home and into bed. You’ve had a stressful day.”
Clint sniffed and nodded, sitting back in the chair and allowing himself to be wheeled out. “Thanks again, doctor. Tell Dr. Cho I send my love.”
Dr. Hunt smiled. “I will do that, Clint,” she said. “Make sure you get lots of rest, okay?”
Clint nodded. “I will. Hopefully this doofus gets his memory back soon,” he laughed, pointing up at James.
All James could do was shake his head with a smile. He couldn’t wait to show Clint the video once everything had worn off. Superheroes?! They were a few months away from graduating high school. There’s nothing super about them.