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Bucky Barnes was alive. Having died several times himself Clint Barton wasn’t exactly surprised by this turn of events, but there were a whole bunch of other emotions battling for dominance within him.
He felt anger, hurt, and a bit betrayed that this little fact had been kept from him. He had lost so many people in his life that he cared about and every one just made it harder to see the point in what he was doing. Still, considering his own track record he couldn’t really hold a grudge.
He felt joy and relief that his friend wasn’t dead. He and Bucky hadn’t started off on the right foot, and they had certainly had their rough patches, but eventually they had become friends so Clint was definitely happy to hear that the whole ‘being dead’ thing hadn’t stuck. Of course this far overshadowed the hurt.
Unfortunately he also felt some guilt. He had thought Bucky to be dead for quite a while now; how could he have known that he had been secretly alive the whole time? No wonder Natasha had pushed Clint away so forcefully when they had kissed. She hadn’t been thinking of Jess at all but Bucky. She had initiated the kiss, yeah, but looking back now it had just been a simple gesture of gratitude on her part, one that Clint had taken too far. She had kissed him back, sure, but... no, he couldn’t think about that. It had just been a mistake, another mistake among his never ending, always growing list. And to think he had been about to talk to her about giving them another shot. Boy, that would have been a disaster.
This was no time to worry about any of that now, though, because Natasha was in trouble and Bucky needed his help to find her. Bucky, who loved her; Bucky, whom she loved.
He would help, of course he would help. Natasha was Clint’s best friend, he hadn’t been lying when he had told her that. He knew her longer than he had known any of the other Avengers, longer than he had known pretty much anyone else still living. Of course he was in.
He remembered a time many years ago, several lifetimes ago now, when Natasha had been brainwashed before and sent to destroy the Avengers. She had been able to overcome the brainwashing herself then, to shake it off when Clint had been in trouble so she could save him. He had convinced himself then that it was her love for him that had broken the control, and maybe that was true, but it wouldn’t be that way this time.
He had to stop thinking like this.
“Let’s go get your girl,” he said to Bucky, pushing back all the feelings that conflicted within him. Your girl, the words had been so deliberate, a way to make himself feel a bit better, to counteract his guilt, and to remind himself of the truth. She was Bucky’s girl now, but in the end it didn’t really matter because she was Natasha. She would always be Natasha, and he was glad that Bucky had brought him in because no matter what he would always be there when she needed him. In the end Clint would always be there for her, for his best friend, any way he could.