Archive of Our Own

“Ready to face some teenagers?”

“You say it like it’s my first time around kids.” Clint answered Natasha with a crooked smile. He stretched his arms and pushed the plate of food away from him, ready to start his day. For real this time. Sure, he’s spent the last hour drinking coffee, eating waffles and talking about random things with Nat, but he didn’t really think anyone could consider that actually starting the day. It was one hell of a breakfast… but nothing more.

Originally, he was supposed to go back home today and be with Laura and the kids. He hasn’t seen them in almost a month thanks to the attacks at New York. Honestly, Clint had to stay because Fury ordered him to, but if he was being completely honest, he figured this vigilante, Spider-man, had it all under control. Especially with Tony keeping a close eye on the guy – they were capable of handling all of this without his help, he was certain. But Fury told him to stay, so he did.

And now that he was going to finally see his family, Laura called to say that she’s taking the kids out of the country on a trip to visit some distant relatives of her. And since he didn’t really want to be sized by her demanding family, he decided to stay behind and wait for them to come back home before going on his vacation.

Which meant Tony decided he could use him as his Avenger on the Job with the next tour group. A high-school tour. Unlike little kids, teenager knew how to be annoying. They weren’t naturally annoying, with dumb questions and random things to say – teenager had this talent of knowing exactly what to say to hit a man’s nerve. God, he hoped Lila would never become a teenager. Groups of adults were better as well since adults weren’t as enthusiastic and didn’t TRY to be annoying. They just wanted to finish their tours so they could go back home, sit on the couch and watch Netflix while eating ice-cream with a spoon straight from the can.

Of course, ever since Tony found out Clint had his own family, he decided Clint would be great with kids. “You’re a father. How could you NOT know how to deal with tour groups?” He said when Clint complained about it. And that’s how Clint got stuck with plenty of the tours, despite Steve being right there, in the building, most of the time and Nat actually feeling bored in between assignments.

“What are you going to do today, then?” He mumbled while standing up.

Nat waved her hand around in a dismissing sort of way. “I have a couple of things to discuss with Stark about my little ward. Nothing as flashy and amazing as showing off to a bunch of sweaty teenagers, I promise you that.”

He gave her an unamused look before turning away. “Well, you do that, then. Wish me luck with the devils.” And he exited the room, hearing Nat’s farewell coming from behind him. His legs took him towards the elevator leading downstairs, to the training area where he would meet the group. It was already a couple of minutes too late for him to show up. Oops. Although he was pretty sure Tony wouldn’t mind, seeing as he was busy nowadays with Spider-man.

Honestly, he still couldn’t believe the man spent so much money on that guy. First he made him a suit. Then he bought a house for him and his little group of mutants so they wouldn’t live on the streets anymore. What next? Would he enroll them in school as well? Nah, why send them to school when you can get private teachers to come to their new house in Queens?

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

And it wasn’t like Clint didn’t like Spidey – he really did. Sure, he was still sore about the fact the kid managed to take him and Steve and Nat while being mostly out of it and without actually trying back when they first met, but other than that, the vigilante was cool.

It’s a shame HE never had to show up and entertain a bunch of teens for an hour. Clint bet Spider-man would be great with kids. The guy got along with everyone if given the chance. Of course, he was still thought of as a mutant, which made people stay away from him. Yeah, mutants weren’t very popular. But the people who didn’t care or who knew Spidey wasn’t actually a mutant but simply enhanced… those people liked Spider-man. And mutants almost adored him, seeing as he started his career helping out the chased mutants of New York.

The elevator dinged, alerting Clint, before the doors slid open and he got off. A couple of people passed him, nodding in acknowledgement but not saying much. Which was actually great because Clint really couldn’t deal with anything beyond that right now. Not when he needed to keep his energy for this net hour.

And then he pushed the door of the training room open and stepped inside to be greeted by enthusiastic calls of wonder and awe coming from about ten teenagers and their teacher. Yup. The teacher was just as enthusiastic as them, apparently. Maybe even more.

“So cool!”

“It’s really him! I can’t believe it.”

“Oh my Gosh, Liz, that’s Hawkeye…”

“Do you think it would be weird to ask him for an autograph?”

“Maybe a photo.”

“He looks so casual with those cloths.”

“Yeah, where’s his bow?”

“I think he’s cooler than Black Widow.”

“No way, Flash! Black Widow is waaaaaaay more awesome!”

“I heard they were, like, a thing.”

“Hold up, what’s his actual name, though? It was something like Clay, right? Like… it was boring and really not cool.”

“Caleb? Maybe Chris?”

“Don’t we already know enough Chris’s, Betty?”

“Pinch me. I think I’m dreaming.”

“You’re not dreaming, Ned.”

“Then how can you explain the presence of an Avenger right in front of me?”

“You get used to it after a while.”

“Really?”

“No.”

Clint squeezed his eyes and turned towards the two boys talking near the back of the group. One of them was Asian and clearly freaked out, while the other seemed calm and itchy. A little nervous maybe, but not like the rest of the teenagers. He didn’t look at Clint with stars in his eyes. Instead, he gave him a look that almost looked apologetic, like he was feeling Clint’s pain of being the center of attention.

Ugh, teenagers were weird.

Eventually, the teacher stepped up, clapping his hands together and drawing his students’ attention. “Alright, team. Let’s all calm down and let Hawkeye speak, alright? We don’t want to waste his time, right?” Then he turned around and the adoration in the teacher’s eyes aimed at Clint was almost too much.

Rolling his eyes, Clint cleared his throat and took a step towards his bow, leaning against the wall. “Umm… Good morning to you all.” They gave him strange looks, but it WAS morning. One PM is still morning. “As you all know, I’m Hawkeye. A team member of the Avenger. My name is Clint Barton.” He gave three of them a look and they blushed awkwardly after trying to remember it earlier. “Right, umm… we’re going to use this hour to train our archery skills together. Isn’t that exciting?” He said dryly.

The teenagers cheered, clapping their hands and looking around to try and guess how exactly it’s going to work. To be honest, Clint wasn’t very into teaching kids how to shoot a bow and arrow. He thought at first it would be fine, but after a couple of tour groups he understood most people were really awful with this weapon of choice. They couldn’t aim, they couldn’t stretch the string enough, they weren’t careful with the sharp end of the arrow… yeah, he hated babysitting these groups. But Tony said it was going fairly well so… he had to keep on doing that. Although he wasn’t sure how much more of it he would be willing to take. HE was already getting a headache from this.

Without saying much, he made the kids stand in a line in front of the far wall which was decorated with seven targets. Most of the kids stood alone in front of their targets except for two girls who sticked together and a trio, huddled in front of the furthest target, their heads joined together while they were having a quiet conversation away from the rest of the group.

“Alright, you can just… pick yourself a bow and a couple of arrows and try hitting the targets.” He said dismissively, waving his hand around like Nat had done earlier. “Just be careful and try not to poke your eyes by accident, yeah?”

The chatter in the room grew immediately and Clint sighed and leaned against the wall, watching from the side as a boy with dark skin and hair ran, held up a bow and four arrows, and quickly aimed them at his target. His stance was all wrong and he barely even stretched the string, but Clint decided to let him realize his failure on his own. The expression on the boy’s face when the arrow landed not even close to his target was worth it, to be honest.

“Yeah, maybe try and hit YOUR target.” Clint said and a couple of kids snickered which the boy grumbled to himself, getting ready to shoot again, his time his shoulders even tenser.

And so, began his torture. Clint started walking around the room, adjusting the kids’ postures and giving them tips. A girl named Cindy wasn’t too bad. She hit her target a couple of times, mainly by accident. She never hit the red circle, but it was still impressive. The first boy shooting was still very unimpressive. No matter how many times Clint tried to help him, the kid managed to find something else to mess up. He hit the target only once, and it wasn’t his target anyway, so… yeah.

A girl named Betty took some time but eventually hit her target near the sidelines. And after that she seemed to think that was enough because she started celebrating, jumping excitedly around a tall girl named Liz who shared the target with her. Clint decided not to tell her how average her success was and just moved past them, muttering a tip to Liz.

Their teacher – Mr. Harrington, they called him – apparently was the worst. He almost took some kid’s eyes out before he even adjusted his bow (luckily, the student ducked out of the way just in time), he held the arrow the wrong way, almost killing himself, he moved in mid-shot, which meant his arrow nearly hit a student and when he finally did shoot an arrow right he went out to retrieve it with his students still shooting that way.

All in all, he was lucky to still be alive.

The kid named Flash eventually gave up. “This is impossible. Something must be wrong with my bow. Maybe the arrow is bent.”

A kid named Abe snorted. “You’re just terrible at it.” He said and a couple of other kids joined in on the laughter. Flash sent them all a look.

“Well, I’m hardly the worst in this room. I bet Puny Parker can’t hit the target even if it’s in his face.” And he glared at the group of three kids huddled near the end. The Asian boy was holding the bow, aiming towards their target, but at the sound of Flash’s insult he turned around, lowering the weapon and giving his curly-haired friend a sympathetic look.

Come to think of it, Clint hasn’t seen the boy trying to shoot an arrow even once. The girl sitting on the ground beside him with a book in her hand had at least one – she wasn’t bad. But this kid was just standing there, chatting with his friends and not bothering to even try.

Instead of defending himself or finally trying, the Parker kid just pulled his shoulders and cuddled closer to the girl, peeking over her shoulder to read her book with her. The look she gave him meant she knew he was trying to hide but didn’t have the energy to say anything about it. And, with the kid’s refusal to reply to the taunt, Flash and the other teens went back to their own little worlds.

“So how good are you really?” The Asian kid – Ned, Clint reminded himself – asked Parker the moment the entire group was out of the room, ready for their next point in the tour. The girl – they called her MJ, but that couldn’t have been her birth name – was still sitting on the floor, her book open. Although she let her eyes scan the two boys after the sentence, as if intrigued herself.

Clint was somewhat hiding behind a couple of mattresses, waiting for them to leave. He didn’t want to run into them and have to answer awkward, annoying questions. He was pretty sure the trio had no idea he was still in the room with them.

“I dunno.” The other boy finally spoke up. He let his fingers graze the frame of the bow in front of them, his face thoughtful. “I’ve never shot an arrow. I’m used to shooting…” He looked around and Clint ducked. “You-know-what.”

For some reason, that didn’t sound sanitary. Clint twitched and peeked over the mattresses again, narrowing his eyes at the sight of the kids all standing up now, facing their target with the Parker boy in the middle, his bow steady in his hands. He looked relaxed. Sure. His form was close to perfect. Who was that kid?

MJ slammed her book shut. “Well, I guess no matter what, you’ll be better than Flash.” And the ghost of a smile grazed her lips. The Parker boy gave her a wide grin in return.

Then he turned towards the target, breathed in and out and let go of the arrow. Clint’s jaw hit the floor at the sight of the arrow stuck right in the middle. Ned whistled and the girl nodded her head subtly, appreciating the sight. Clint was speechless.

“Wow, Peter… I wish Flash was here to see this.”

Peter. That was his name. Peter Parker. The boy smiled at Ned and then picked up another arrow and went towards the next target. “I always wanted to do this.” He mumbled, took aim and shot. The arrow split the one already stuck in the target in half. With a happy smile, the kid kept on going from target to target, hitting the other arrows without so much as blinking an eye. And for some reason his friends didn’t seem to care that much about his new skill. Eventually he put down the bow and shrugged. “I guess tat bite did more than I’d originally thought.” He turned to his friends and gestured towards the door with his head. “We should go back.”

And without missing a beat, the trio left the room, leaving Clint gaping at the targets and all the split arrows, his mind racing and his eyelids marked by the image of the boy standing tall and steady with the bow and arrows in his hands.

Who was that kid??

It took Clint an entire week before he gave up trying to look up this Peter Parker guy on his own. He knew how to look for a random kid by himself, of course. But it was like the kid, this one specifically, was trying to hide himself from people just like Clint, who wanted more information about him for no apparent reason and without his consent.

But it wasn’t like Clint could just randomly walk up to a teenager and trust him without any background check first, right? He had to make sure the kid was clean and on the right path. Not some lunatic who managed to slip into a high-school by chance and against all odds.

Unfortunately, this path led him all the way back to Tony. And that took him another whole week to get to, because the man was always busy with Spider-man, or with Nat’s new obsession with her ward. At least, that’s what she called him. Clint never really caught the name of the kid Nat thought was worthy enough to learn from her, but he figured he was probably a good kid. Plus, Clint finally had his short vacation with his family.

Anyway, Tony had this weird thing about keeping his eye out when Nat’s kid was in the building. Clint, personally, hasn’t met the guy, but Tony refused to let her stay with him all alone at first. So he tagged along all the time. Now he just stayed close most of the time, probably realizing everything was under control. Which was still weird, but Clint decided to let it go for now.

“Tony, I need your help with something – “ Clint froze in his place at the sight of Tony dressed in his Iron-man armor covered in glitter in the middle of the training room. On the ground next to him was Spider-man, rolling on the floor with laughter. “Do I even want to know?”

Tony glared at him – although through the mask Clint couldn’t really see anything. It was more like an intense feeling that told him the man wasn’t pleased under the armor. “What is it, Barton? I’m trying to decide how to get even with the kid.”

Spidey scoffed, although he was also still laughing, so the sound he made was a bit weird and a lot entertaining. “Excuse me, this was ME getting even. You started this whole thing when you painted my webs PINK. Do you know how much fun the Daily Bugle made of me because of it? The webs dissolved after waaaaaaay too long! It was super embarrassing!” He whined.

Alright, this was definitely not something Clint wanted to get involved in. “Yeah, this all sounds fascinating, but as much as I’d love to listen to you two bicker, I’d love it even more if you’d actually lend me a hand here, Tony.” He took a step towards Tony and gave Spider-man a hesitant look. Did he trust the guy? Not entirely. How can you trust someone when they don’t trust you with their secret? Heck, Clint didn’t even know who was under Spidey’s mask. It was all a little weird. But Tony assured the team that they could trust the vigilante with their lives, so… maybe he was alright. Plus, he idolized Tony and yet put him in place more than once, which was excellent according to Clint’s book. “I need you to look into a kid called Peter Parker for me.”

The reaction of Spider-man to the name was immediate. He stopped laughing and instead froze in place, his lenses now focused on Clint. There was something unnerving about it, but Clint would never admit that he was scared of a masked vigilante. Although, how could anyone blame him? He beat the crap out of all of them (minus Tony) in no time. It was alarming. Sure, they weren’t putting much of a fight, but it was still… concerning.

When Clint looked back at Tony, the man wasn’t looking at him. He was facing Spidey, his face now revealed. He had some glitter in his hair, but not much. His lips were quirked and he eyed the masked hero with curiosity and hopelessness. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“Peter Parker? Why do you want to look him up?” Tony asked. “Did you run into him or something?”

“Yeah, remember the tour group I had two weeks ago? It was from his school.” Clint gave Spidey another look but the kid just sat there, on the floor, his lenses focused on him. “Anyway, after they all left I stayed behind because you know I don’t like to be around the tour groups… and he and his friends stayed behind too. And suddenly he was shooting arrows like it was in his blood and I’m telling you, this kid is GOOD.”

Tony just gave him a deadpan look. “So… what? What do you want from him? Train him too?” When clint gave him a funny look Spider-man jumped to his feet and punched the man’s armored shoulder lightly, his lenses wide and his head shaking. Tony flinched. “B-because he’s my intern, you see? So I’m already training him… teaching him science and all that fun stuff.”

That didn’t sound suspicious at all. “I thought you barely know the names of your employees. How come you recognize this random intern?”

“He’s my personal intern.” Tony said without blinking an eye. Then he turned towards Spidey, the back of his head facing Clint, and whispered something. The boy whispered right back before looking over Tony’s shoulder for a moment to wave at Clint. He didn’t wave back. Eventually they both turned to face Clint. Tony was still unnerved, but Spidey hopped between his legs as if the floor was on fire.

“Umm… I’m gonna go. I promised Wild Mutants I’ll visit them today. So… yeah. Bye Mr. Stark. Bye Mr. Barton.” And he ran out of there, his presence taking all the nervous, anxious feelings with it.

Clint frowned. “What was that about?”

Sniffing, Tony shook his head. “Nothing you need to worry about. Anyway, I’m gonna get some of the kid’s info printed for you by the end of the day, alright? Just… do me a favor and don’t get the kid into any trouble? He’s already dealing with a lot. I don’t want him to have anything else to worry about and this new… thing you want from him is exactly the kind of thing that would get him in trouble.”

“Yeah, okay.”

This wasn’t going to get the kid in trouble, right? Showing up at his school like that? A famous Avenger just chilling out here without a care in the world? He could just stand here and pretend everything was alright while scanning teenagers in the search for one Peter Parker.

Yeah, this was a great plan.

Alright, maybe it was horrible. The looks he got from the teenagers coming out of the building made him self conscious in a way that made him realize maybe sunglasses and a hat weren’t that great of a disguise after all. Damn all the movies that lied to him! Apparently, Avengers were recognizable almost by anyone, anytime and anyplace, no matter what they had to wear at the moment.

A couple of kids actually stopped to ask him what he was doing there, gaping at him like fish. Only, for some reason, fish were cuter than these little guys. And quieter. For a moment Clint tried imagining his own daughter getting along with these little devils, but he couldn’t. Lila is better than them. She’s cute and adorable and everyone would love her. These kids… no, he didn’t like them.

Luckily, it didn’t take long before the familiar trio walked out of the school building, talking between themselves. The first one to notice him out of all of them was the girl. What was her name again? According to Tony’s data about Peter, the boy was named Edward Leeds. But the girl wasn’t really in there. Leeds was friends with Peter for years now while the girl was probably a new addition to their group. Tony himself didn’t have much to tell about her, claiming Peter almost never brought her up.

But she was the one who saw him and nudged Peter Parker. The boy looked at her questionably before finally looking over to Clint. His eyes widened a little, as if it was a surprise to see Clint, but not THAT much. Maybe Tony told him about this little thing beforehand. Turning back to his friends, Peter said something, got replies from the girl and Leeds and then ran towards Clint, his bag swinging behind his back from his shoulder.

“H-hi Mr. Barton.” He greeted, his eyes looking sideways at the people watching them. “What are you… what are you doing here?”

“Tony didn’t tell you?”

“N-no no, he did. I just mean… what are you doing at my SCHOOL?” He flinched under the gazes locked on the two of them. “I… I don’t really like people’s attention on me.” He explained, so Clint put his hand on the kid’s shoulders and started leading him away from the curious eyes of the teenagers. Luckily, Peter didn’t fight him and just went along. Could this mean he would just accept the offer? No problem? Just like that?

Away from the eyes of the students at Peter’s school, the teen relaxed a bit, looking calmer and more collected, his eyes scanning their surroundings less than before. There was still something tense about the kid, though. Like he was expecting something bad – or something at all – to happen. Which wasn’t really uncalled for, seeing as he was walking around with an Avenger by his side. But still.

Clint cleared his throat eventually and looked down at the kid. “So… I saw you shooting those arrows the other day at the tower.” He began and Peter smiled nervously, his head tilted slightly to the side. “It was really impressive. Where’d you learn how to do that?”

“Oh, umm… I guess it’s just a talent? I’ve never tried it before, to be honest.”

Yeah, that sounded far-fetched, but Clint decided to let it go. He wasn’t stupid – scaring the kid away wouldn’t be smart here. He wanted Peter to want to train with him, not run away. “Well, you still were amazing.” He didn’t let the kid finish his stammered gratitude. “How do you feel about sharpening this skill of yours?”

“S-sharpening it?”

“Yeah, with me.”

The kid didn’t quite look shocked, but he still gave Clint a disbelieving look, like he couldn’t comprehend what was happening and why Clint chose to mentor him. Honestly, Clint felt a little out of character, deciding to train someone like that only based on one lucky day. But hey, if the kid had talent like that, someone needed to help him develop it.

Peter chuckled awkwardly. “I… my schedule is really tight, though.”

“So I’ve heard. Stark told me to be careful about it.” Clint said and the kid smiled fondly at the mention of Tony. “Anyway, how about three hours once a week? That doesn’t sound like much, does it?”

“Make that two hours.”

“Do you know who has the best student out of all of us?” Clint entered the kitchen with his head held high and a spring in his step. Tony, Nat and Steve were already there, eating leftovers and mostly just keeping quiet. But they all looked up at the voice of Clint.

To be honest, Steve didn’t have a kid to teach, so Clint didn’t really refer to him that much, but the man was there so he might as well know he should aim high in case he wants a student as well. Tony and Nat, his actual target, looked at him with raised brows, as if not impressed by his declaration.

Tony yawned and leaned back in his chair, a glass of coffee in his hand. “Don’t tell me – It’s Capsicle here? Since he doesn’t really have to look after a little gremlin, unlike us.” He took a sip from his coffee. “No kid, no mess. The good, peaceful life.”

A smirk appeared on Nat’s face but she didn’t say anything. Clint pointed his thumb at his chest and sat down beside Steve. “Nope. Me. I have the best one. This kid is PERFECT.” He took a bite from some kind of pie before smugly eyeing Tony and Nat. “He’s talented.”

“Mine’s too.” They both said.

“He adores me.”

“Mine too.” Tony no longer bothered looking at him.

Nat frowned. “I think my little ward is mostly scared of me, but yeah – he definitely adores me. I’m the coolest Avenger.” She ignored Tony’s cough and poured herself a glass of water. “Clint, I don’t think you’re kid is as special and unique as you might think.”

He ignored her. Because obviously, Peter WAS better than any other kid they might have found. “He’s smart, quick, obedient.”

The expression on Nat’s face was smug. “Mine too.” She looked at Tony. “Spidey’s not like that, though. No.” It was obvious she enjoyed taunting Tony although the man didn’t seem to care, for some reason. He just smirked right back at her and drank his coffee. “I bet my ward would take yours in a fight.”

Alright, Clint wasn’t ready to go as far as to say THAT. He was confident in Peter, of course, because the kid’s shown great promise, but they’ve only met a couple of times for their lessons, so he didn’t want to take a leap with this one just yet. Maybe in a little while… although from Nat’s stories, her little prodigy was amazing, so… yeah, he should probably meet Nat’s kid before betting against him.

When Clint looked aside he felt annoyed. Sure, it made sense Steve would stay passive about this conversation because he didn’t have anything to do with it. But Tony’s knowing glint… it was weird. Why would the man look so confident after Nat and him showed the guy his choice in mentoring Spider-man wasn’t the best there was out there?

Spider-man was arrogant, stupid, disobedient and just plain annoying. Sure, he cared about people and risked his neck for them, especially mutants. But he wasn’t much more than a guy going out to fight bad guys for the sake of it. There was nothing more to him. At the end of the day, the guy was a mask.

Peter Parker, though. This teenager was nothing like Clint’s ever seen before. He was a natural. Clint already had kids and yet he found himself warming up to the kid as if he was related to him someway or another. He was funny, smart, quick to action… and he respected Clint and didn’t look down at him as one of the useless, forgotten Avengers. No, he treated him like he was someone worth looking up to.

When Tony finished drinking his coffee and got up he gave Nat and Clint a thoughtful look. “I want you two to remember this conversation because one day you’re going to look back to it and realize how absolutely STUPID it was.” And just like that, he left.

Clint looked at Nat. “You know what he’s talking about?”

“I don’t even listen to what he has to say half the time.” She rolled her eyes and picked up the newspaper resting on the table beside her. She peeked over it at Clint. “But if you ever have any trouble with your kid – Tony’s actually rather helpful.”

That was probably the hardest thing Clint’s ever had to believe.

Making his way to Tony’s personal lab felt like breaking the rules and Clint LOVED it. Normally, Tony snapped at the others if they so much as breathed in the direction of his lab, claiming it was his place, and his place alone. A private area where he could be without having the other Avengers breathing down his neck.

And normally, Clint would respect that.

But today he got a message from Peter telling him he would be with Tony before their session to discuss something about his internship, so he told Clint to come and take him for their lesson since Tony would probably hold onto him until the very last minute.

When he reached Tony’s lab he stopped outside and listened. The door was closed but Clint could still hear the voices coming from inside the room. Mainly Tony’s and Peter’s, but also Nat’s from time to time, commenting about something. That was weird, sure. Nat usually listened to Tony’s rule and stayed away from his lab. But this time she was inside, listening to Peter’s and Tony’s conversation as if it was completely normal of her. Which… yeah, maybe it was.

But what took him off guard was Peter’s annoyed voice. He sounded mad and angry and from what Clint could tell, it was rather hard truly pissing the kid off. He was always so composed and relaxed. Even Clint’s most annoying moments couldn’t drive him crazy. And trust him, he tried.

“Stop moving, Peter!” Nat scolded the boy and the next thing Clint heard was the boy’s sharp inhale and then a hiss. “Good, now stay still. Let’s finish this quickly.”

Peter groaned. “It was such a stupid thing to do. Remind me to NEVER do that again. People get picked on in high school – big deal. Every one goes through this thing, right? I should just not meddle.” And then he hissed again. “It’s not like it’s the real world. It’s high-school. People don’t need heroes in high-school.”

“People love heroes, kid.” Tony’s voice came along, sounding almost sympathetic.

A bitter laugh echoed around and Clint furrowed his brows. Peter was usually so nice and cheerful. What happened to him today that made him so… moody? It was like finally seeing Peter Parker as a real teenager and Clint didn’t know what to think about it. He liked the kid… would he still like a shitty, sarcastic Peter just as much?

“No, people don’t love heroes. They love watching their heroes get punched in the face. The like it when they lose. People love cheering for people to fight or to fail or to mess things up just so they can rise and claim their heroes are worthless.”

Tony sniffed. “So people don’t love heroes?”

There was a moment of silence where Nat muttered something and Peter hissed again. He sounded like he was in pain. “No,” He replied eventually. “But they need them.” And at that his voice turned calmer, quieter. He spoke like himself again.

The lesson of that day god canceled. Clint claimed he had a mission to go out and complete and texted Peter about it. The kid wished him luck and promised to try and arrive on time the next week. But the moment the kid left Tony’s lab, Clint entered the room and sat on one of the tables, ignoring Tony’s glare and instead looking at Nat.

“What happened to him today?” He asked, swinging his legs back and forth, not caring about the things he knocked that way ‘accidentally’. Tony’s glare intensified.

Nat was busy putting away a first aid kit. Her expression was as unreadable as ever, but Clint thought he saw a glint of anger in her eyes. “The kid stood up to a bully to protect someone else and got beat up pretty badly for it.” She pursed her lips. “He’s just upset that no one else thought to come and help the kid he protected.” She shook her head solemnly. “But not everyone has as good a heart as him.”

“No one’s like Peter.” Tony corrected her and then slapped Clint’s shoulder. “Get out of here, Bird-brain. I don’t need you in my lab too. Thank you for letting the kid go and all, but now just get out and do something useful with your time.” And he started shoving him towards the door.

Huffing, Clint relented and walked through the door, soon accompanied by Nat who held onto the kit with trembling hands. She almost looked murderous. He didn’t really get it – why would Nat be upset because something happened to the kid HE trained? She didn’t even know him. Although she did take care of his bruises so maybe… she did know him? Maybe she ran into him when he came from time to time because of his internship. Yeah, that must be it.

She looked down at her hands and Clint noticed a drop of blood on her finger. She didn’t bother wiping it. “I wish I could come up to this kid and slap some sense into him.” She hissed.

“Yeah, me too.”

In all honesty, Clint had no idea how he ended up trapped in the vents with none other than Spider-man. It was supposed to be only Clint’s job. He was supposed to complete his task, go back to the tower and eat a bagel or something. Relax. Have some fun.

Instead, he found himself in something more complicated than Fury let on and an annoying, young superhero stuck right with him, for no reason whatsoever. Honestly, Clint had no idea what the kid was even doing in the vents in the first place. Why would he EVER climb into a random vent the same day as Clint?? Why would he insist on staying to help?

Ugh, Clint just couldn’t stand this guy. He was cool and nice and sometimes funny but he was a masked guy who didn’t even trust Clint so how could Clint trust him? Especially with a mission given to him directly by Fury. The guy probably kept secrets from himself. Clint was pretty sure he wasn’t allowed to reveal his mission to Spider-man seeing as the guy wasn’t a part of their group. According to Fury, they’ve never even interacted before once. Tony was the closest person to the kid and it felt weird, trusting him blindly just like that because Tony knew him. Obviously, Clint trusted Tony, but the guy was able of making awful mistakes. Just look at Ultron.

“Budge up a bit. I can’t see a thing.” Spidey complained, pushing Clint a little to move past him and look down through the ceiling. Clint target was right down there, getting ready to make some sort of deal SHIELD couldn’t let them make. Enter: Clint. The guy who was supposed to stop this.

Fury gave him a chip that Clint only needed to put in the computer. That was the entire mission. Get inside, slide the chip into the computer and leave. Piece of cake. But of course they were ready for him. So Clint walked right into a trap, fought a couple of people, won, fought more people, got his wrist broken, and then ran away.

He was all beat up already. He could usually use his special arrows to slide the chip from afar. With his aim, it would have been easy. But with his broken hand he couldn’t use his bow and arrows, and so he was going to have to fight his way to the computer, put the chip and get out without getting caught or killed in the process.

It was complicated enough without Spider-man with him, but now he had this guy to worry about too. Sure, he could ask the kid to fight alongside him and cover for him, but he didn’t particularly feel like fighting more people. Not when his wrist sent waves of pain to his entire body.

Stupid mission.

Stupid Nick Fury.

And to think he had to cancel another lesson with Peter to do this. This was so not worth it.

“Come on, scootch over.” Spider-man mumbled and kept on pushing.

Clint shoved him back. “This isn’t any of your business, Web-head. Go home. Go to Tony. Go SOMEWHERE THAT’S NOT HERE. Just let me handle this.” He squinted his eyes at the people surrounding the computer down below. “What are you even doing here in the first place, for God’s sake.” He added under his breath.

The way Spidey seemed to flinch made Clint aware of the kid’s enhanced senses. Right, he could clearly hear him. “S-sorry. I was only trying to help.” He whispered and backed up a little and then turned upside down so his was crawling inside the vent with his limbs stuck to the ceiling, like… like a spider. “I was just… I saw you sneaking in and I figured you might need some help and…” He sighed. “Sorry. Sorry, I’m gonna leave.”

There was an agonizing silence the next moment and Clint tried focusing solely on the people below and strategizing his next moves, but the tip-tap of Spidey’s steps made him grind his teeth. “Oh, for the love of – ALRIGHT.” He motioned for the vigilante to join him again. “fine, you win. Just… don’t mess things up, alright? I’m done with Fury yelling at me.” He warned Spidey who didn’t even hesitate before nodding his head in agreement. “See that?” He held up the chip. “This needs to go there.” He pointed towards the computer. “But for that, we need to pass those idiots who already managed to bust my hand. So just… distract them or something?”

Spider-man kept on nodding until he turned his eyes towards Clint’s, his lenses wide and reminding a little bit of innocent, large eyes belonging to a kid who just doesn’t know any better.

“Umm… Mr. Barton, I’m totally on board with all of that, but… wouldn’t it be easier to just use one of your arrows to get the chip there? Saves us the trouble, you know.”

“How do you know about my arrows?” And the vigilante went quiet at that, his head bowed down to look at his gloved fingers. Clint observed him for a moment and then decided to overlook this little bump in the road. For now, at least. “Well, I can’t really shoot anything without both my hands, kid.” He muttered and then turned towards the ground again. “Alright, I’m gonna bust this thing open and we’re gonna just drop on them and take them all down as quickly as possible, alright? One – “

The vigilante hummed. “I could shoot the arrow with the chip if that would help you with your top-secret mission for SHIELD. Which, by the way, is super lame. Putting a chip in a computer? I’d expect more from them, you know? Something actually chaotic and cool. This is just… it’s awkward that you got to do this.”

The kid was getting on his nerves again. Clint closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then stared at him. “I’m not letting you touch my bow.”

“But – “

“No. Because if you fail, this whole thing gets even harder, because then we don’t even have the chip – they would. So no. Not risking it and not giving you my bow.” He narrowed his eyes at Spider-man who seemed to glare at him through the lenses of his mask.

Eventually the kid huffed and looked aside. “I won’t MISS.” He grumbled. “But thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Oh, that was just perfect. He got to hang around a moody, young vigilante. Just PERFECT. Just what he needed – another person Clint couldn’t stand for much longer. Sure, the kid had good intentions – probably – but he was annoying and too chatty and he freaked Clint out whenever he had the chance to only because it was fun and he was close to Tony, which couldn’t be good. Tony ruined people. Not that Clint wasn’t close to Tony, but Clint wasn’t an impressionable child who could be damaged by Tony’s personality that much.

Pursing his lips, Clint inhaled sharply through his nose. “Okay, you want the truth? The truth is that I can’t let you do this because for me to give you this chip and hope for the best… I need to trust you. And frankly, I don’t trust you right now. The only other vigilante out there who I trust even less is Daredevil and that’s because he has something fishy going on behind that weird-ass mask of his.” Clint balled his right hand – the one that wasn’t bruised – and tensed.

It took the kid a few moments, but eventually he replied. “Y-you don’t trust me?”

Clint gave him a look. “Would you trust someone who doesn’t reveal who he is to you?” He shook his head. “I get trying to keep things secret. Trust me, I have enough things I keep from the entire world because I’m scared people might get to them and…” He breathed. “But if you want your own teammates to trust you, you need to trust them too.” He pointed down. “Now choose what you’re going to do. You can leave or you can stay and help me take these guys down so we can get to the computer. Your call.”

For a few agonizing moments Spider-man didn’t do anything. He just stayed there, beside Clint, and stared at his hands. But then he breathed deeply and with his exhale, his hand got up and slipped the mask off his face, revealing a face Clint did NOT expect to see in a random vent with him.

“PETER??” His eyes widened and his jaw almost hit the floor. He was dumbfounded. He was confused. He was surprised. He was… he didn’t know how to feel about this revelation. Was he supposed to guess it was him all along? Was this a dream? Was he just hoping Spidey is Peter or was this the real world where Spider-man was, in fact, his own student. The kid he’s been training?

Suddenly it made sense that Peter was so good at archery without ever trying it before. He wasn’t a Spider-man expert but seeing as the kid could swing around on webs he had to connect to buildings quickly… and in the right momentum… the kid probably had good instincts.

It also explained the way Peter easily pulled out the arrows after training, not struggling at all while setting them free from the targets. He had superstrength. He was quick and sneaky and his jokes… God, the jokes Clint hated coming out of Spidey were the same kind of jokes Peter kept on telling him, and he LOVED them.

The kid bored his brown eyes into him, determination in his stance. “Please, Mr. Barton – I know I can do this.” He held out his hand for Clint to hand him hos bow and the right arrow. And for a moment the man still hesitated. But then he relented and handed him everything he needed, including the chip.

He trusted Peter. He… he knew the kid would be able to do it with his mad skills. Honestly, Clint didn’t have much to teach him at all. And now it made sense why that was. God, Peter was Spider-man. Peter Parker was freaking Spider-man! The sweet kid Clint’s been getting to know was non other than the nuance that was Spider-man.

Ugh, and he was awful towards him!

Peter didn’t seem to mind at the moment. He just smiled, put the chip in place and then got ready. He was steady and fluent and Clint couldn’t help but smile with pride. This was his student. Spider-man was his student. Spider-man was a fifteen-year-old punk from Queens.

Wow, that was just a whole thing to think about, wasn’t it?

When Peter furrowed his brows in concentration, Clint nodded at him, careful not to move him. “You can do this, Pete.” He said with confidence. “They don’t even stand a chance. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

This wasn’t enough. Not in the least. Not after all the negative thoughts he had swirling in his head about Spidey, but the smile Peter gave him was genuine and frankly, Clint didn’t deserve that from him.

Then the kid sent the arrow flying and it hit exactly in place. Without wasting a moment, the two got moving after Peter pulled his mask back down, crawling towards the exit while people shouted below them. Clint didn’t pay them any mind. He was busy listening to Peter’s enthusiasm after making it. He sounded like a child celebrating a win. Which… he was. But for once it didn’t bother Clint. He was just glad the kid didn’t seem to hold any resentment towards him.

For now, at least.

“I know who Spider-man is. What, don’t I win a medal or something for knowing first after Tony? Really?”

“Yeah, good for you. Just one detail wrong there. Romanoff found out first.”

“You KNOW???”

“Yeah. A couple of weeks ago during a fight he passed out and needed me to check he didn’t have a concussion. Had to take off the mask.”

“Well, he TOLD me who he was without getting hit in the head. I think that’s better.”

“Sure, Bird-brain. Whatever you say. I just want you to remember that he was my kid before you two decided to hop on and train him too. So everything he knew when you got him is my doing.”

“Pretty sure he learned most of it himself, Stark.”

“Wait, Nat trains him too???”

“I wonder how long it would take for Capsicle to figure out his little wonder-boy is also the same one.”

“Steve too??”