Work Text:
Clint finds it strange how comfortable he’s becoming around Bruce. Ever since their first nighttime encounter, he’s been growing fond of what type of jokes they’ll play next. Clint’s head is filled with so many ideas of what he’d find funny, and he tries to gauge just exactly what Bruce would also find funny.
Their friendship is a joke.
Clint finds a book about quilting on the table one night and laughs out loud. He hates domestic activities, even cooking and cleaning (Natasha got on him about the latter, so he makes small attempts), and it seems Bruce has discovered this.
“Alright, Banner. Let’s see how serious you are about this.”
Clint goes to bed early so that he can be awake earlier during the day.
----
Bruce finds Clint sitting on the sofa, and it startles him briefly because he’s not used to seeing Clint awake at 11am or even in the tower if he is. Still, he smiles.
“I trust you got my latest gift,” Bruce says lightly.
Clint nods. “I decided that if I take up quilting, maybe you should join me as well.” He pulls out two bags of sewing needles, thread, stuffing, and various fabrics. Then he pulls out another bag of clothes.
Bruce looks through the bag of clothes and recognizes some of the shredded shirts and pants.
“These are my –”
“Yeah, I know. But quilts are supposed to be personal, so I figured we might as well keep with the tradition, right?”
Bruce doesn’t say anything for a moment as his fingers rub a piece of torn purple shirt.
“This is the shirt I wore on the helicarrier.” He doesn’t say that it was the shirt he tried to kill Natasha in.
Clint is quiet and understanding. “Then I guess we better start.”
They sit in the den with the book open between them. They’re relatively quiet, occasionally speaking about what each piece means to them.
“This is the shirt Tony lent me after we fought Loki.”
“I wore this shirt in Budapest.”
“These are the pants that guard gave me when I crashed into an empty warehouse.”
“This is part of my jacket I found when I was hypnotized by Loki.”
“I wore these pants when I caught Tony from the sky.”
“I was wearing these pants when I was ordered to take out Thor and didn’t.”
They share stories, and ruin perfectly good articles of clothing, but as the quilt grows, so does their understanding of each other. Neither says it out loud, and neither has to for the other to understand. They have regrets and things that keep them up at night. Like anyone, they have fears and hopes that no one else knows about except for maybe one person in their respective lives.
Bruce has Tony and Clint has Natasha.
Now they have each other.
When the quilt is done, it’s almost 10pm, and they realize they haven’t stopped for food. Clint groans quietly at the sudden pang of hunger and stands.
“We should cook something, you know?” Clint can barely recognize the words coming out of his mouth, but as he offers a hand to Bruce to help him stand, he decides maybe it’s not a bad thing.
“Sure. I can make us some udon noodles if you want,” Bruce offers.
Clint silently thanks him, because all he knows how to cook are MREs and those 10 cent ramen noodles from the store.