Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all began because Clint fell into a dumpster. Again. And honestly that wasn’t even the worst park of his week. After a few minutes of sulking and feeling sorry for himself he finally gathered his will and tumbled onto the pavement with a groan. He lay there for a moment, contemplating what choices in his life had led him to this moment, before jumping to his feet and settling to a defensive position as he heard rustling from beside him. He was prepared for anything: a mugger, a killer robot, a rabid raccoon; but what he wasn’t prepared for was a quick flash of the pelt of an animal darting behind his dumpster that immediately made the wires in his brain scream dog!

Putting his hands down and forcing himself to relax, he took a step forward and peered behind the dumpster before being interrupted with a quiet growl. Not enough to be aggressive, but enough to let him know to back off.

“Hey now, buddy,” Clint cooed at the scared dog hiding behind the dumpster, “I ain’t gonna hurt ya, c’mere.” He crouched low to the ground, uncaring of the various stains seeping into his favorite pair of pants, and wiggled his fingers invitingly to the scared pup. Slowly, a white face began to creep from behind where it was hiding. A grin crept onto his face as the dog slowly began to reveal itself, first showing brown doe eyes, then floppy, pizza wedge ears set up on a broad, wide face, and a bright pink nose with a black spot on it.

“See? I’m not so scary, you can come out” Clint urged, offering his hand palm up to the dog. At first he was sure the dog was going to bolt, but it took a slow step forward, and then another. As the dog fully revealed itself, his eyes widened.

“Oh. Oh. You’re a Mama dog.”

No sooner than he had spoken, he heard the telltale grunts and whines of a puppy coming from behind the dumpster. While his heart began to race and his thoughts turned into an endless stream of ohmygodshehaspuppiesohmygodohmygod, he felt a cool wet nose press into his palm. With more care than he thought himself capable of, he gently brought his hand underneath the dog's head and began to gently pet her chin. The dog let out a huff and closed its eyes, soaking up any scrap of attention it could get. Clint himself almost melted into a puddle right then and there, but years of training allowed him to keep his composure. Barely. 

“Oh god you’re the cutest thing holy shit- sorry, I mean- you’re a mama! What are you doing out here all alone mama?” Clint slowly raised his second hand to join his first in petting the dog. Her tail was a blur as it wagged with renewed vigor. She had her eyes closed and was leaning into Clint’s embrace now. He could have cried. Before those first (many, EXTREMELY manly) tears could fall however, a wiggly gray mass emerged from behind the dumpster as well.

His petting slowed and the mama dog turned to look at her pup before turning with a proud glint in her eyes as if to say “ I made these!” With a soft huff of laughter Clint carefully wiped the dirt off Mama dogs face with his sleeve.

“Did some mean ole boy get you all knocked up? Huh? Left you on the street full of babies? Look at them mama, they’re perfect!” He babytalked, anything to keep that tail wagging.

With slow movements he scooted himself closer to the wall the dumpster was pressed up against, trying not to spook the mother and her brave pup. As he craned his neck to see behind the dumpster, the gray puppy stood his ground bravely and gave the most pitiful baby woof that Clint had ever heard. The Mama dog, now truly dubbed Mama dog, turned to her baby and swiped her pink and gray speckled tongue over her pup's head. Clint took this as an invitation and offered his hand to the puppy, startling it back into its nest behind the dumpster. He waited patiently with one hand stretched out into the darkness and the other gently rubbing Mama dog’s soft ears. Slowly, a small gray head emerged, with an even smaller brindle one beside it. 

“Awe hell Mama, you’ve got twins!” Clint whispered to the dog excitedly, “Look at you go Mama, good job!” he praised. The gray puppy, larger than its brindle twin, bravely approached his hand and gave it an experimental lick. If Clint weren’t a puddle at the moment, he surely was by now. The gray pup, encouraged by its mother, came closer, butt wiggling with all the excitement only a puppy could have. He tried not to be too heartbroken by the small amount of rib showing on both mother and pup, he was going to fix that. The smaller, more skittish brindle puppy was encouraged by the rest of its little dog family being loved on by Clint, and crept forwards as well. 

“Oh baby…” Clint whispered. No wonder it took its time coming out into the open, one of its front legs was covered in dirt and muck and sporting a heavy limp. The pup hopped towards Clint. His heart, broken already as it was, broke into a million more pieces. Anger quickly filled him. Who leaves a hurt puppy out on the streets like this? Hell, who leaves any animal out to fend for itself?! With a deep breath he calmed himself and began to formulate a plan. Man, Stark was not going to like this.

—

“Shh, shh it’s ok Mama,” Clint reassured the dog as he carefully led her into the chrome elevator of Avengers tower. In his arms he held a slightly damp cardboard box full of puppy. At his side was Mama Dog, his belt carefully looped around her neck to be able to gently lead her.

“It looks scary but it’s ok, see?” He made a big show of stepping into the elevator, going so far as to kneel on the ground and pat the floor. With that thin tail wagging, she carefully stepped over the entrance of the elevator and stuck her head in the box to snuffle her puppies. Clint slid all the way to the floor, leaning his back against the wall of the elevator.

“Jarvis?” he called.

“Yes, Mr. Barton? How can I be of assistance to you and your… guests?” The AI replied. Wow, Stark really didn’t need to make an artificial intelligence sound so judgmental.

“Yeah about that,” the archer began, “do you think that we could keep this between us? For now at least? Just until I can get her settled and then I’ll figure out a better plan.”

Jarvis hesitated. 

“It is against my programming to lie to Sir, but I suppose if he doesn’t ask then there is no need for me to inform him of your company.”

Clint hissed out a victory and pumped his fist in the air.

“Yes! Jarvis, you’re the best man. Mind taking us to my floor?” He asked.

“Already underway Mr. Barton.” The AI responded, the elevator smoothly ascending the tower.

Now that step one: bring Mama Dog home was complete, he really needed to figure out what step two and three were. Fast. Obviously they all needed to go see a vet, and he needed to get dog food and blankets and a place for Mama to sleep and… Oh god. This really was his dog now, wasn’t it?

Before he could fully spiral into a panicked haze, the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open. Instead of the entrance to his room greeting him, it was the common floor with the remaining Avengers staring at him with a lap full of dog. Stark was the first to gather himself.

“...Whatcha got there Katniss?” 

“Um… a box.” He replied dumbly.

“Yeah, I can see that. I’m talking about what’s inside the box and what the heck a dog is doing in my tower.” Stark asked with raised eyebrows. Shit, this was going south quick.

With a quick curse to Jarvis (not tell Tony his ass, what a lying piece of scrap metal he was) he tried to piece together how to plead his case. Before he could even begin, Natash stalked forwards. This was it, they were going to make him send her to the pound and leave her to get separated from her puppies.

Natasha leaned down a couple paces away and, to Clint’s surprise, slowly held her hand out to Mama Dog, waiting for the dog to make the first move.

“What’s their names?” She questioned, softly.

Clint blinked. “Uh, this is Mama Dog,” he patted her on the side, giving her permission to leave the elevator. “And I’ve been calling these two Dip and Dot,” he motioned to the two puppies in the box resting in his lap, “You know, like dippin dots? Love that stuff,” he muttered to himself before snapping his jaws closed as he watched the scene in front of him.

Mama Dog had taken a tentative step towards Natasha before licking her hand and allowing the spy to pet her. The tiniest smile appeared on the corners of her mouth. God, she was just as whipped as he was.

The puppies, finally having enough of being contained, tried to topple out of the box, only being saved by Clint’s fast reflexes. He gently sat the gray puppy, Dip, on the ground next to his (yes, he checked, it was a him and a her) mother, allowing it to totter forward on unstable puppy legs. He carefully held the brindle pup, Dot, to his chest, careful not to jostle her injured leg- he still wasn’t too sure what was wrong with it, he really needed to clean the grime off of it and get a better look. Well, he really needed to give them all a bath, living in dumpster juices really hasn’t done the dogs any favors.

Slowly, the rest of the Avengers had crept forward. Mama Dog gave a nervous glance behind her at Clint, and he gave her a comforting nod. “Go on, girlie,” he urged, “they won’t hurt you.”

Hesitantly, Mama Dog took careful steps forward, head bowed and tail wagging behind her. Bruce leaned down and gave her a gentle caress on her head. She closed her eyes and leaned into his hands, desperate for more attention. Dip was gnawing on Tony’s fingers and Steve covered his grin with a hand, overwhelmed by the cuteness. Clint let out a sigh of relief, at least they didn’t absolutely hate the dogs.

“Clint,”

He really does have a bad habit of speaking too soon. He lifted his eyes to meet Tony’s. It didn’t matter how much everyone else liked the dogs, Tony was the big man, the boss, the landlord. His word was law when it came to the tower.

“You know we live in a skyscraper, right?” Tony began slowly, “and not that I hate dogs or anything, but how happy will she be on the 90th floor of Avengers Tower?”

Damn. He really hadn’t gotten that far yet.

“Aww, come on Stark, just for a little while, at least until her pups get a little older,” Steve spoke up from where he sat on the floor with a lap full of puppy. Dip’s tail was wagging faster than a helicopter blade, butt wiggling with the force of it. A pink tongue swiped its way over Steve’s face as the pup showed his affections to the super-soldier.

“Oh no, I know how this starts, you say it’ll be temporary and then all of a sudden you get attached to it and ‘temporary’ becomes ‘permanent’” Tony said with finality, “That’s literally how I ended up with you guys living in Avengers tower, trust me, I’m an expert in this.”

Tony was suddenly on the receiving end of not just one, but seven puppy eyed looks from hero and canine alike. It didn’t take long for him to break.

Tony threw his hands up, “seriously! I don’t hate dogs or anything! Arg, you’re making me sound like I’m evil or something, I just want them to have a good home,” he crossed his arms with a huff.

A good home. Clint wanted nothing more than to pamper this dog for the rest of her life, but somewhere inside him he knew that the Avengers tower was no home for a pet, she deserved to have wide open spaces to smell and explore with her puppies. A gentle hand was laid on his shoulder, courtesy of Natasha.

“We’ll find them a good home,” she assured him, “one close by where you can still visit.”

While still deeply hurt that he didn’t have the time nor the room to keep the dogs himself, Clint knew that it was for the best. How did that quote go? If you truly love them, you would let them go, or whatever bullshit. Whatever.

He looked to the rest of the team, still enamored by the three dogs, and smiled softly to himself.

“Yeah,” he whispered, “I know.”

—

Giving the dogs a bath was an Avengers level mission. The team was crammed into the bathroom on Clint’s personal floor, which was now covered with water and dog hair. The pups were small enough to bathe in the sink, which was a task being done by Bruce and Steve, while Mama Dog had to be coerced into the tub and scrubbed down by a tag team of Natasha and Clint. Tony waited outside with a stack of fresh towels that were now dedicated dog towels (“I don’t want my guests stinking of dog, Clint” Tony explained, “your pooch can just keep these ones.”).

Once clean, Bruce and Tony carefully looked at Dot’s front foot, which had previously been covered in grime. Bruce gently poked and prodded at it while vehemently insisting that if he wasn’t a human doctor he sure as hell wasn’t a veterinarian either. Tony was rapidly searching on his Starkpad for both medical conditions and veterinarians in the area alike. A quick phone call later to a local veterinarian and a short car ride brought Clint and Bruce to a nearby veterinary practice.

Despite the wide eyed looks they got from its current customers, the two of them led their trio of dogs into an empty examination room. Mama Dog, still with no collar and just a simple slip on leash the team had been able to scrounge up, was shaking like a leaf. Clint sat on the floor next to her, petting her down the length of her back to try and calm her.

As the veterinarian came in, he was determined to soak up any and all information given to them from the examination of the dogs. While most of the medical jargon flew over his head, he was sure that Bruce was able to catch what he couldn’t. Mama Dog, while incredibly nervous, was doing an excellent job of being a kind patient given the fact that she had lived in a dumpster earlier in the day. She gave gentle licks to the veterinarians hands and carefully took treats that were offered to her for behaving. 

The two of them left the practice with a sheaf of papers to review, detailing the examination and future directions for caring for two growing puppies. It was revealed that Dot, while scaring the shit out of Clint with her limping and crusted over leg, was a simple sprain, probably acquired from roughhousing too much with her larger brother (“It’ll be fine,” the doctor explained, “babies and puppies are mostly water, they bounce back from things like this fast.” Clint liked her.).

Collars and leashes were bought (blue for Dip, green for Dot, and pink for Mama Dog), dog food was distributed in careful quantities to the hungry dogs, and lots of naps were taken by human and canine alike. For a few days, everything was fine. The dogs were settling into a daily routine along with the rest of the team, but Clint knew it wouldn’t last. They would eventually be called away to a mission and wouldn’t have anyone to watch the dogs. With their line of work, there was no telling when they would be home from a mission either, and it wasn’t fair to the dogs to be left with a stranger watching them more often than not. No, he was going to make sure that Mama Dog and her babies found the best home in the entirety of New York.

Not long after the initial arrival of Mama Dog and her pups, the golden opportunity revealed itself in one Pepper Potts.

Pepper, in her usual fashion, dropped the solution to their problem in their laps without a second glance.

“Why not let Coulson take it? He’s still on forced medical leave from being injured during Loki’s fight and frankly, I think he could use a distraction from being cooped up inside all the time.”

If Pepper wasn’t with Tony at the moment, Clint could have kissed her.

A few phone calls later, Clint was sitting in the backseat of one of Tony’s cars with Mama Dog, Dip, and Dot seated next to him. Natasha sat in the driver's seat, effortlessly guiding the car through the New York traffic, leading them further and further from the center of the city and closer to upstate New York. The rest of the team had offered to come along, but Clint didn’t want to make a big deal out of this, despite it meaning a lot to him, which is why Natasha invited herself along anyways.

Sooner than he would have liked, they were parking in the driveway of a small modern house seated within the neighborhood, fit with a bright green front lawn and fenced in backyard that peeked out from behind the house. As the two of them let the dogs out of the car, the front door opened and out stepped one Phil Coulson, inviting them inside.

—

Mama Dog roamed around the interior of Coulson’s house, never straying too far from Clint, but growing bolder as time passed. By the time the sun was beginning to cast its golden rays as it set, she was laying on the dog bed Clint had brought along with them, placed in the corner of the living room where the three of them had been sitting and chatting for the past few hours. Her puppies had long since worn themselves, with Dip sprawled across the bed with his mother and Dot carefully curled in Coulson’t warm lap, content with being gently pet by the man.

Yeah, Pepper had the best ideas. Despite how perfect their new home was for them, Clint found it hard for him to stand as it came time for the two Avengers to return to the tower. Natasha had enough foresight to take Coulson, who placed Dot with her mother and sibling, to the kitchen to ask about silverware, leaving Clint alone in the living room with the dogs.

He carefully knelt down next to the dog family, listening to the soft snores coming from the puppies. At his approach, Mama Dog opened her tired eyes and thumped her tail on the ground. He couldn’t help the small well of tears that filled his eyes. Stupid eyes.

He gently held her soft white face and planted a kiss in the middle of her forehead. With a final rub of her ears, he stood, leaving her to lay with her puppies. As he took his first steps towards the kitchen where Coulson and Natasha were waiting, he risked a glance behind him. The scene that met him was of Mama Dog, white coat gleaming in the sun’s setting rays and her two puppies curled up together at her side, resting peacefully. Mama Dog gave one last tail-wag as their eyes met, but she was content to stay down and not follow him as he walked away.

“...By Mama,” he whispered, turning and exiting the room. 

—

Clint sat in the passenger seat of the car, head resting against the cool glass of the window, feeling the vibrations of the road as Natasha drove them back home after saying their lengthy goodbyes to Coulson and promising to come back and visit.

“Hey,” she began quietly, interrupting the silence, “you’re a good guy, Clint Barton.”

Clint remained silent, but he felt his heart fill with gratitude. Natasha was good like that, sneaking underneath your defenses to leave heartwrenching compliments like that in your time of need.

“Nah,” he replied.

“She was just a really good girl.”

Chapter Text

I would die for them, your honor