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Kate Bishop completely ruined all of Clint's lone-wolf vigilante plans. He tells her as much, but it's made slightly less effective because he says it while surrounded by a few too many bad guys, and Kate just laughs. She laughs while kicking some idiot in the face, which is probably excessive, but also a little charming.
When there's only one poor schmuck left, Clint defers to Kate – "You can take this one," he says. "I think we're tied."
The guy looks slightly offended at first, then he grins. "You think your sidekick's gonna take me down?"
"I do," Clint says, smirking, and Kate's got the man on the ground before Clint gets both syllables out.
Kate looks at Clint and cocks an eyebrow. "Sidekick?"
Clint shrugs. "Hey, I didn't say it."
"Whatever. I'll be your Robin if I have to." Kate looks thoughtful for a moment. "Although, now that I think about it, you'd probably look better in the scaly green panties."
"Watch it, girly-girl." He tries for a warning tone, but it doesn't work, mostly because he's still grinning. "We've got all these presents for the cops, and we haven't even wrapped them up yet."
"Hey, they're not going anywhere," Kate says. "I'm just saying. They'd show off your legs."
-
Clint doesn't mind dragging Kate along. In fact, he kind of enjoys it, but on another level, it's terrifying. He isn't sure what she hopes to learn, and he isn't sure how to teach her. The scariest thought is that, somewhere under all the teasing, Kate might actually look up to him. He doesn't think he's the best role model, but something about that girl makes him want to be.
Still, Clint would be lying if he said it was all one-sided. He doesn't just let her hang around – she's a valuable partner, a good person to have at his side in a fight. She's fiercely determined, intelligent, and skilled. She doesn't take anyone's shit, not even Clint's, and he loves that about her.
She's not the type of person to let the world kick her while she's down. She doesn't stay down nearly long enough, and she kicks back.
So, yeah, Clint likes her. She's a good kid. He likes her, and he trusts her, but most importantly, he respects her, for the things she's done and the person she is. So if she sees something in him worth looking up to, he must have done something right.
If Kate respects him, he hopes he deserves it.
-
The thing about Kate Bishop is she doesn't compromise, at least not when it comes to herself. So if she wants to go to college, she's going to go to college, and she's also not going to listen to anyone who tells her she can't balance college and Avenging (and volunteering, playing the cello, and generally being the most badass eighteen-year-old in New York and possibly the world). She balances those things with aplomb, but still, sacrifices have to be made.
What college means for Kate is that, while she still manages to save the world on a regular basis, she has to cut down on late-night patrols and sidekicking. She has relatively free weekends, but major earth-threatening events seem to be happening with greater frequency, so really, all the one-on-one time Clint gets with her is limited to training, which is nowhere near as fun as kicking real bad guy ass together.
Clint is surprised by how much he misses it. Although, when he thinks about it, he's not surprised at all.
Still, Kate starts to grow into a hell of a superhero, and Clint's proud of her pretty much all the time. There's no doubt in his mind she deserves the name, and it's not just her skill. He's got all the confidence in the world that she's going to do good things with it – better than he has, maybe.
And he can take some of the credit, right? Maybe they're not really partners anymore, but he's her mentor, and her successes are his successes. Sort of. At least a little bit.
Whatever. Either way, he misses the kid, and it's not like she even went anywhere.
And then she does – the summer after her freshman year, she volunteers for a special assignment that sends her halfway across the world for a month. When she comes back, she's on crutches, and the rest of the Avengers practically have to strap her to her bed to keep her from aggravating her injuries. Even on bed rest, she constantly asks for news, and she glares at Clint when he laughs every time he brings her ice cream. He can't help it; reluctance to submit to medical treatment is pretty much a superhero requirement.
And then, when Kate's a sophomore, the former Young Avengers decide to reform their team for real, which everyone agrees has taken way longer than anyone expected. Kate's clearly excited to be leading her team again. They work as well together as they ever did, and Clint's glad that they have a place where they fit and feel like they're doing the best work they can.
Anyway, Clint has what he wanted to begin with – a chance to work alone, to be a hero and not just an Avenger. So, really, he can't complain.
Well, he's only complaining a little.
-
It's summer again, and blazing hot, which is what Clint blames for being far enough off his game that he lets himself get knocked down. The thug who tripped him up is standing over him with a crowbar raised, and Clint tries to catch his breath and decide which way to move, but before he can do anything, there's a thud and his assailant collapses. Then, in his place, there's only Kate.
"Aw, come on, I was just about to take him down," Clint says.
Kate laughs. "Yeah, I could tell. How'd that even happen? You losing your touch, old man?"
Clint, being a mature adult, sticks his tongue out. "I didn't see him. I was distracted by all the other criminals who were trying to murder me – who, in my defense, I took down –"
"Yeah, yeah." Kate offers him a hand.
Once he's upright, he looks at her for a second. "I probably shouldn't ask how long you've been following me."
"Maybe I was just taking a pleasant stroll and I happened upon my revered mentor about to get his skull bashed in by some two-bit criminal."
"My mistake," he replies, grinning. "I didn't realize you went out on peaceful walks through dark alleys in the middle of the night, you know, armed and suited up."
Kate rolls her eyes and nudges the unconscious thug with her foot.
"Thought you'd outgrown me, Hawkeye," Clint says, and it's a joke, but it's a little quieter than he meant it to be.
Kate goes still and her brow furrows. Then she relaxes, smiles at him and says, "C'mon, Hawkeye. You know better than that."
-
Clint expects a lot of things out of Kate Bishop: impressive displays of skill, impressive displays of stubbornness, perfectly timed responses to all of his mid-battle quips.
He does not expect her to kiss him.
They're on the couch in her apartment, nursing their wounds – she bandages a cut on his arm, and then looks at him, almost like she's studying his face. Then she kisses him. It's not anything serious, nothing she really has to commit to, and she's already pulled away and let go of his arm by the time he really figures out what's happening. And then he's just looking at the side of her head, eyebrow raised, and she's looking straight forward, with an expression that suggests she's as surprised as he is.
"Kate?"
She opens and shuts her mouth without speaking.
"Kate. Katie. Katherine." He nudges her thigh with his knee. "C'mon, girly, talk to me."
She squeezes her eyes shut and exhales slowly. "Sorry," she says. "That was… weird. And inappropriate. And weird."
"Not weird. Not… well, maybe. I've been accused of not knowing the difference between appropriate and inappropriate in the past, so I couldn't say for sure." Clint puzzles over it for a second. God, he thinks, he should be more uncomfortable than he is. Maybe he's more messed up than he thought.
Kate tilts her head and looks at him again. "No, I shouldn't have – dammit, Clint, stop encouraging me. This is – no." She stands up, puts her hands on her hips, paces a few steps left and then right. "This is one of those things that you think about and fantasize about –" (Clint raises his eyebrows) "And never do anything about in the real world, because – because most people are too smart to act on stupid, childish crushes."
After she's quiet for a second, Clint smiles. "You done?"
Kate frowns at him. "Can we just pretend this never happened?"
A normal person, Clint thinks, a reasonable person would say yes. If he was smarter, he'd leave, and then they'd meet up in a few days and fight some crime and pretend they didn't notice the awkward pauses in their witty banter, ignore the elephant in the room. And Kate would move on, and maybe it'd get better. Maybe it wouldn't.
However, Clint is kind of an idiot, and Kate is so pretty, and he's tired of worrying about all the ways he's going to mess her up. She accepted that risk a long time ago, and she's a grown woman – maybe he's bad for her, but that's for her to decide. So, instead, he grabs her hand and pulls her back onto the couch and says, "Nope."
"What?"
"I said no, girly-girl. Cat's out of the bag."
Kate groans. "Clint…"
"Hey, hush for a second."
"God dammit, Clint –"
"Well, I knew that wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot," he says, and he presses his lips to hers. She hesitates for a second before actually returning the kiss, but she does, leaning into him and resting her hands against his chest.
And when she stops kissing him, he smiles, and she says, "This is stupid." (Clint can't help but notice she's smiling a little bit too.)
"Not once in my life has that ever stopped me," Clint says. "You are, without a doubt, one of the only people on this planet who consistently make me feel like I've got something to offer. Like my whole life is maybe good for something. 'Cause I see you, and you're doin' so much good, you're a real hero. You got everything that makes a person a hero, and you use it, and you do that under my name, and I think, maybe, if someone like that's willing to call herself Hawkeye, then maybe Hawkeye's a name that's worth something. You're too good for me, but I care about you, alright? I don’t know if I've made that clear enough, but I do."
Kate blinks.
Clint swallows. "And if you wanna kiss me, then I wanna kiss you, and I don't give a damn if I'm not supposed to."
Kate's expression is an amalgam of amused and bewildered. After another moment, she says, "You done?"
"Think so," he says.
She laughs, resting her head on his shoulder. "Alright, alright. So what am I now – your sidekick or your girlfriend?"
"Why can't you be both?" He drapes his arm around her, pulls her closer, and smiles. It feels right.