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Clint’s vision slowly comes back, and he shakes his head to try and fully wake himself.
“You’re alright, Barton,”
“Tasha?”
“I’m here,” her soft voice speaks, and Clint knows she’s close, which comforts him.
Finally, his eyes fully open, and Clint looks down to see that his hands are tied to the bed, and he assumes that it was for Natasha’s and others safety, and Clint can’t blame her for that. He doesn’t know exactly what happened, but he imagined he hurt a lot of people while he was under the power of Loki.
“Welcome back,”
“How many people-?”
“No Clint, don’t do that,” Natasha says. “Don’t do that to yourself.”
Clint looks over at her. “Natasha, I-” He stops, and takes a deep breath. “I didn’t want to…”
“I know, and everyone knows. You can’t be blamed. You were literally brainwashed into doing those things by Loki, and if anyone tries to say otherwise, then they’re going to answer to me,” Natasha warns.
Clint chuckles, and he knows Natasha is trying to make him feel better, but all he can think about is the many people that he killed under Loki’s control. He knows that it wasn’t him, and that Loki’s to blame, but it was still his body that murdered those innocent people.
“Tasha,” Clint breathes. “I need to see him.”
Natasha frowns, and she immediately knows what he means by I need to see him . “Clint-”
“I know. I know we have a lot of shit going on right now, and Rogers doesn’t even know that he’s alive yet, but I need to see him. No one else knows what I’m going through, and I need to see him. Please, take me to him,” Clint begs, and he looks over at Natasha with tears forming in his eyes. “I need Bucky.”
Natasha takes a deep breath. “So, we’ll be one man down. It’ll be okay, we’ll go see him,”
Clint lets out a sob of relief. Normally he'd be a lot stronger at holding in his emotions, but he doesn't know how to deal with himself after everything's that's happened with Loki, and being brainwashed. “Thank you. Thank you, I-”
“Clint, you’re my best friend. You know I’d do absolutely anything for you,” Natasha says. She gently squeezes his shoulder before standing from her spot and pulling out a phone that Clint knows all too well. That’s the phone they use to call Bucky, Clint’s current boyfriend and Captain America’s best friend. Nobody knows that Bucky is alive besides a handful of people. They want to keep it that way for now.
SHIELD found Bucky years ago, and saved him from Hydra. Hydra had been using him as a weapon for years before SHIELD found him and recovered him from his brainwashing. That’s how Clint met him, and after doing quite a few missions together, they fell in love. But now with the Avengers being formed and Loki being on Earth, Bucky has gone into hiding, for his safety. Clint hasn’t seen him in months.
“Barnes,” Natasha speaks softly once she’s in the bathroom, out of earshot from Clint.
“Romanoff,” Bucky replies, his voice quiet. “Why are you calling me? This phone is for-”
“Barton’s been compromised,” she says, cutting him off. “Well, he was compromised. I got him-”
“What do you mean he was compromised?” Bucky growls.
Natasha lets out a sigh. “Loki,” she says. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the bastard. He got a hold of Clint, and he brainwashed him. Clint… he’s okay. I got him out of it, but he wants to see you, and I can’t deny him. He’s right. You’re the only one who really knows what he’s going through.”
“Oh dammit. How many people, Natasha?” Bucky demands.
“Look, I don’t want to focus on the numbers right now, because it’ll upset him even more if he finds out, but I’m just going to say this… it’s not a low number,” she tells him. “Where are you? We need to-”
“Don’t bother. I’ll find you. Where’s your location?” Bucky asks, and Natasha can hear shuffling.
“Bucky, are you sure about this? We’re on a helicarrier with the other Avengers, including Steve Rogers, and if Steve sees you, then-”
“I don’t care. It’s not about Steve right now. If he sees me, then he sees me. Besides, I’ve been hiding long enough, and it sounds like you guys need some extra help. I can make myself useful,”
“We’re in the sky. How are you meant to find out?” Natasha asks, frowning.
“I always find a way, especially if Clint is involved. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Bucky says, before hanging up on Natasha without saying another word.
Natasha sighs, and can’t help but shake her head, before stuffing the phone into her pocket. She turns, and walks out of the bathroom. She looks up, and sees Clint standing from the bed. She uncuffed him, sensing that he was completely back to normal, if only just slightly traumatized.
“Well? Did you talk to him?” Clint asks, looking at Natasha.
“I talked to him,” she says. “He’s coming to us.”
“What?” Clint hisses, his eyes widening in shock. He instantly starts panicking of what could happen if Bucky came onto the helicarrier. Somebody could see him, and by somebody, Clint's worried that Loki will see him. Clint doesn't even want to think about what could happen to Bucky if Loki got his hands on him. Bucky's made so much progress since SHIELD rescued him. “That’s not safe! He’s going to be seen! Th- There’s Rogers, and Loki-”
“He’s ready, Clint. He wants to see you after I told him what happened, and he’s ready to help. Barnes may not be the Winter Soldier anymore but he still has the serum, and he’s strong, and can be useful,”
Clint takes a deep breath. He’s not keen on having Bucky out in the open, where anyone can try and get their hands on him, but Natasha has a point. “He said it himself that he’s ready?”
“Yes, and it’s not like we can do anything at this point. He’s already on his way,”
Bucky shows up at the helicarrier location in less than an hour. It didn’t take him very long to arrive once he got in contact with Fury and knew exactly where he was heading to.
Bucky wastes no time in going to the room where Clint is. Natasha has left, wanting to help out with finding Loki and dealing with Avengers business while Clint needed time to recover.
Bucky instantly pushes open the door to Clint’s room, and he takes a deep breath when he sees him sitting on the bed. “Clint,” he whispers, stepping into the room, allowing the door to close behind him.
Clint looks up, and sighs in relief when he sees Bucky. He stands, and throws his arms around Bucky when Bucky walks over to him. “Thank God you’re here,” he sobs. “Bucky, I-”
“Shh,” Bucky whispers, holding onto Clint. “I know, sweetheart. I know. I’m here now.”
Clint whimpers, and he buries his face in Bucky’s chest, holding onto his boyfriend tightly.
Bucky and Clint have about twenty minutes of peace before there’s knocking on the door, and suddenly the door is being opened. Bucky looks over, though he keeps his arms around Clint protectively.
“Clint, are you-?” The voice stops, and Clint sees that it’s Steve standing in the doorway. He’s shocked, probably because he’s staring at his best friend who’s supposed to be dead.
“Hey Stevie,”
“Bucky?” Steve asks, his eyes widen. “I- holy shit. Am I dreaming?”
Bucky chuckles, and he slowly lets go of Clint, though he stays close. “No, you’re not dreaming. I’m real,”
“B- But… I thought… you’re- you’re supposed to be dead,” Steve chokes out.
“It’s a long story,” Bucky says. “Unfortunately there’s not enough time to tell it. I assume you’re here to tell Clint that it’s time to gear up?” He raises his eyebrows at Steve.
Steve blinks, and he looks over at Clint. “How do you two know each other?”
“Long story short, we met through SHIELD and that’s how Bucky’s still alive,” Clint explains. “I’m sorry that we kept this from you. We did it purely for Bucky’s safety. You know if Loki ever…”
“Yeah. Right,” Steve breathes, nodding. He looks over at Bucky. “I know we’re on a time crunch right now, but I haven’t seen you in seventy years.” He smiles shyly.
Bucky grins, and he walks up to Steve, throwing his arms around him to hug him.
“Hope you’ve been staying out of trouble, punk,”
Steve chuckles, holding onto Bucky tightly. “You know me, Buck, I can never stay out of trouble,”
Clint takes a deep breath as he stares at the two. Things are probably gonna change after this, but Clint thinks that maybe it’ll be good for once, and he can’t complain about that.