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quietlyimplode · 7 months

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the language of flowers and silent things

Whumptober 2023: day 7 - Radio Silence

Warnings: character death

Word Count: 1.9k (gif not mine)

Summary: Tony can find anyone, unless they really don’t want to be found, or they can’t be.

A/N: (character death pertains to none of the core team or associated, but to me feels just as tragic. There was no other way this could go.)

Masterlist

Whumptober Masterlist

2013

NEW YORK

Tony sits staring at the computer. There’s a video recording of his friend in police interrogation, being accused of killing a man.

He watches closely and still can’t work out how he gets out of hand cuffs, but the most interesting part of the interrogation is when Agent Coulson arrives.

Tony watches in interest as Clint all but ignores the offer to join Shield and stalks off.

He’s so young.

Not that Clint is an old man now, but he just looks so small as a teenager, maybe early twenties. Likely by the stamp date he should know how old.

The video recording stops, and Tony turns to the next one.

Clint is older. It’s obvious by his demeanor and posture.

More like a military man.

Tony doesn’t like it.

He seems sadder, more serious and adult even though there’s only a year between videos.

He wonders what happened after that first one, because clearly something did.

Turning them off, he returns to the picture of Barney.

Steve had done a good job, given Clint’s description, and the picture had bounced across databases.

There had been exactly three hits.

One police record.

One military record.

And one picture he found out in Wichita Falls with a man matching his description as a drivers license.

It meant one of two things.

Barney was dead.

Or…

Barney really didn’t want to be found.

Natasha finds Pepper sitting at the window.

The expanse of it, makes it ones of Natasha’s favourite places.

She knows it’s one of Pepper’s as well.

They’d had many conversations at it, and she almost walks away as she sees Pepper reading.

Sometimes peace is hard won, especially for Pepper who seems to always be pulled in a thousand directions.

“Hey,” Pepper greets her and Natasha nods in responses

Apart from Maria, Pepper lends herself to be one of Natasha’s closest friends, even though she’s sure the red head does not feel the same.

It’s okay though, Natasha never feels like she expects the relationships to be equal.

“You look deep in thought,” Pepper comments, moving over and placing her book away.

Natasha sits as offered; and thinks for a moment.

She sought her out, and now… she wasn’t sure.

But who else to have this conversation with?

“I. Clint and I,” she starts, “we want to get married.”

Peppers face morphs into one of sheer delight and happiness, and she hugs her spontaneously.

“Nat! That’s great news. Seriously? And you said yes? And he asked?”

Pepper smiles, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

Natasha sits, just far enough away, so that she doesn’t get another hug.

“Yeah, he asked, and I said yes, but we have to do some things before we can, you know.”

“Tie the knot?” Pepper supplies.

Natasha cocks her head.

“What?”

Pepper laughs.

“Sorry, euphemism for getting married. Continue, forget I said anything.”

Natasha nods.

“What’s the conditions?”

“Family,” Natasha says quietly.

“I have a sister, and Clint has a brother,” she confesses.

“Oh, I didn’t… I didn’t know.”

“We want to see if we can find them,” she says quietly, “maybe they can come.”

Pepper seems to understand, her quietness gentle as Natasha looks up.

“Where are they?”

Shrugging again, Natasha finds herself wanting to talk about Yelena. It seems safe here, and she rarely allows herself the luxury.

“Do you think people can be forgiven?”

The question is cryptic, deliberately so.

Pepper doesn’t answer.

“Do you think that there are things that are unforgivable?”

Unsure how to answer, she waits for Natasha to elaborate.

It’s a safe bet.

In the silence, Natasha tells her a story; a story of two girls in a strange land, learning how to be Americans. That she, in all her grief had made herself forget, forget the time they spent with each other, to make it through, lest it be held against her.

Pepper is sure she’s leaving out details.

But when she takes her hand and assures her that survival demands something else of people, Natasha looks grateful for the words.

“She’s alive,” Natasha says as though it’s the first time she’s allowed herself to say the words out loud.

“I just want to help her,” she whispers.

Pepper’s eyes well at the confession.

“Do you know where she is?”

Natasha shakes her head, hands in her lap.

“She’s alive though.”

“What about Clint’s brother?”

“We don’t know.”

Pepper frowns and bites her lip.

“Nat, you do realise you’ve set yourself an impossible task, or set of tasks?”

“Why?”

“You don’t know if they’re alive, let alone how to find them, and well, what if you can’t? Does that mean you can’t follow your own path? Get married?”

Natasha doesn’t answer.

“Tony’s looking for them, if he can’t find them, we’ll make a different plan,” she pauses.

“It is my path though, to find her, and for Clint to find him. Now anyway; and after the last year, there’s no time like the present, and if they can be; I want them to be there.”

She looks to Pepper.

“And you too, if you’ll come.”

Pepper grins and nods.

“I’ll be there, and I’ll help too, in anyway I can.”

They both look out the window, Natasha unsure what to say. They both know though, that if Tony can’t find them; no one can.

Tony finds him in the gym, he watches as he punches the speed ball, his agility his friend displays is mesmerizing.

The rattatatta of the bag is repetitive and Tony tries to wait with the information he’s holding.

“Clint?” he calls.

Nothing.

“Clint? Can you hear me?”

The speed ball stops and Clint turns around.

An easy smile greets him.

“News?” he asks, grabbing a water bottle.

There’s blood on his hand wraps.

Tony wonders just how long Clint has been punching the bag for.

He holds up the folder.

“Depending on how you look at it.”

Clint sits and opens the file.

Disappointment passes over his face, hope fading, as there’s no clear location.

“You couldn’t find him?”

Tony knows when to admit defeat. There was no leads no matter how much he searched over the last four days.

“I can’t find him, but I have a last known location, somewhere I think he was.”

Clint doesn’t say anything.

“Clint?”

Tony feels he knows. He’d had hope and now it was fading.

“Where is it?”

Clint asks.

“Wichita Falls,” Tony laughs. “A town that has many people and none at all.”

Clint nods, “yeah he would go there, he’d be invisible but there’s enough space for him to do his own thing.”

Tony points to the picture he found, and Steve’s sketch.

Clint is silent, deep in thought.

“Are you going to go?” Tony asks.

“How can I not?” Clint replies.

“The world almost ends, and I don’t know if my brother is dead or alive. Maybe it’s about time I go see if I can find him.”

Tony sees the serious soldier, and it’s at odds of his friend the joking archer.

Whatever this is for Clint, it changes him.

“I can go with you?”

Tony offers it, trying to add conviction. He knows it’s not his place.

Clint looks through the pages again, almost desperate. Tony wishes there were more.

“No, I think, it’ll be okay, Nat will be there, we can.. We got this,” Clint replies, scattered as he gathers the pages.

He looks up, face serious and guarded.

“Thanks Tony, for all of this.”

He stands.

“Any news on Yelena?”

Tony shakes his head.

“That’s going to take me a bit longer I think, there’s a server that keeps making the information bounce. I’ll catch it though, and maybe when you’re back, I’ll have more information.”

Clint nods.

“Our plane is fueled up and ready to go, you can fly right?”

The generosity isn’t lost on Clint, and he stares at his friend, he’s lent him a plane and called it “ours”.

“Why?”

Tony shrugs.

“It’s what I’d want someone to do for me, I guess.”

Clint holds his hand out to shake Tony’s and when Tony clasps it, he pulls him into a hug.

“Thanks, man,” he whispers.

It takes Tony a second, but he hugs him back

“Uh, no problem.”

2013

WICHITA FALLS

Clint sits pilot seat, staring as the plane is moved into the hanger.

Natasha hands him a water and they sit in a comfortable silence.

“Do we have somewhere to stay?” she asks finally.

Clint takes a second.

“Barney used to sneak candy into the house to give to me when I couldn’t stop crying. He’d tell me to suck on it because it would stop my sobbing.”

He pauses.

“My sobbing would aggravate my father to follow me and tell me he’d give me something to cry about. I grew up with Barney, and loved him, and then we just… never saw each other again.”

He stares, and bites hard on his lip.

Natasha watches, as she’s so good at doing.

“What if his radio silence was better for the both of us? Together we were chaos. Alone; maybe we had more of a chance. Do you think he knew that?”

He doesn’t wait for Natasha to answer rhetorical questions.

“Maybe that’s why he didn’t come back for me.”

Natasha feels the stab.

“Maybe he just couldn’t,” she responds, slightly defensive.

He softens, feeling the blow he’s landed on her.

“Yeah, maybe he just couldn’t.”

There’s a small pub out on the edge of town.

It turns out they knew Barney.

The bartender is an older, wisened man whose beard is as long as his arms.

Natasha stands back, as Clint asks the question, and they both hold their breath.

“Why do you want to know about Barney?” the man asks, suspiciously.

Clint swallows.

“He’s my brother,” he responds.

The man softens.

“Oh.”

He stops wiping the bar.

“You’re Clint?”

The man talks of Barney as a friend, and throws the keys to a woman, Natasha assumes to be his wife.

“I’ll be back,” he tells her.

He takes them on a walk to a small apartment on the outskirts of town, he has sadness in his eyes, and he tells him Barney was here. That this, the little apartment on the first floor, was where he lived.

“We served together,” the man tells him, “I convinced him to come here… some difficulties with memory, some impulse issues… he needed someone to watch his back, until… you know.”

Up until his death.

A quiet death, and a loud life.

He tells them stories of Barney’s ability to drink anyone under the table, and laughs as he reminisces on how they stayed up one night and just threw darts.

“I lost so much money that night, did you know he had good aim?”

Clint swallows and nods, trying to take on the information.

His brother.

He wasn’t a good man, but he wasn’t a bad one.

Bachelor for life and a contradiction at that - someone who spent all his time gambling and smoking; but also taught basic martial arts to kids at the local YMCA.

No children. No partner.

But a legacy all the same.

There are no words for panic and grief Clint feels.

His brother.

His protector.

It’s too late.

He’s gone.

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hawkzeyes · 3 months

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“Passed Alger Brook Road, I’m over the bridge. A minute from home, but I feel so far from it.”

Hawkeye: Blindspot (2011)

#idk if I like it but I did it and it’s been a minute since I’ve made one #Clint Barton #Barney Barton #Hawkeye #marvel #marvel comics #comic panels #Hawkeye edit #comic edit #marvel edit #noah kahan

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innkeepercore · 9 months

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barney taught me… hit them until they stop. barney taught me hurting

Barney is the single most important person in Clint’s life and the fact that he never got a mention in the MCU is both infuriating and a relief

#barney barton #I am THE barney fan #digital illustration #marvel fanart #clint barton #hawkeye fanart #hawkeye #barney barton matt fraction #Charles Bernard Barton #David Aja #barney barton fanart #matt fraction hawkeye #mcu #murdocksdameron #char 2023

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joezy27 · 3 months

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HAWKEYE - "We're going to Hawkeye their asses."

All-New Hawkeye by Jeff Lemire & Ramón Pérez

#Hawkeye #Clint Barton #Kate Bishop #Barney Barton #All New Hawkeye #Jeff Lemire #Ramon Perez #Marvel Comics

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thegoldenarcher · 3 months

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my brain is so fucking rotted i can't consume any other media without thinking abt clint

started watching the bear,,, carmy and richie?? mf that is just clint and barney to me. the inflatable hot dog scene good GOD those are the barton boys. it's the way they talk to each other and just. carmy is easily clint and richie is so fucking barney.

#this is just one specific example #i think about clint on chopped or master chef all the fucking time #and i've thought about clint being a cook/chef way before i watched the bear #anyway i do it with books #and music #and tv shows/movies #everything is your blorbo if you try hard enough #clint barton #barney barton

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bish-0-p · 17 hours

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im feeling so sad about the bartons tonight

i can imagine clint back when he was like nineteen, when he'd first joined the avengers. and being so jealous of the maximoff twins for having something he'd lost. they didn't see each other for like fifteen years, and when they finally did see each other again barney tried to kill him

i just think there's something so tragic about that. even if it wasn't barney's fault (because he'd been manipulated by baron zemo). everyone that clint has every considered family has hurt him in some way. his parents, jacques and buck, the maximoffs and steve... augh

its obvious to anyone who cares enough to look that clint never stopped loving barney. but when barney came back, he tried to kill clint. and then years later when he came to crash at clint's when clint was going through the worst depressive episode of his life, barney stole all his money

clint loves barney. but he'll never trust him

#clint barton #barney barton #the bartons #marvel comics #marvel #marvel 616 #hawkeye #trickshot #it also speaks to how clint loves and is friendlt with so many people but doesnt trust them. learned behavior

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melaclintbartoncorner · 17 days

Note

So I asked someone else the same question: where’s Barney in your head canon. How little or well does he know adult Clint?

He is definitely in my head canon. When Barney left Clint to the „wolfes“, they obviously had no idea where the other was. Clint absolutely hates him for leaving him. When the events of the Lokigeddon happened afterwards eventually also Clint became worldwide known as a member of the Avengers. Since that day on Barney basically followed every step of his brother. Even tho they separated on bad terms, he is pretty proud of Clint. After the Shield files were leaked by Nat he was able to take a look of the entire career of Clint. He couldn’t understand how his back then tiny brother could evolve into such a beast of a man. I believe after some time he finally got the heart to contact him to try to heal their childhood trauma together. As they are meeting, Nat is always there tho. In the beginning she obviously doesn’t trust him a minute. So she does everything to protect her Clint. At some point Barney made himself worthy of her trust and the three of them sort of became a family.

Thank you for your ask. 😁💜

#clint barton #clintasha #hawkeye #black widow #natasha romanoff #barney barton #ask answered

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scavengerssuccotash · 17 days

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Where is Barney in your head canon? How well or how little does he know about adult Clint?

My headcanon backstory for the Barton brothers isn’t exactly canon so it’s different but still has a lot of the same beats just jumbled around a bit.

Basically I wanted to keep the major elements ie Circus, abusive childhood, and tumultuous sibling relationship and play around with others. So the basic rundown is this:

Barney is older by about four years, the pair were orphaned when Barney was four to Carson and his traveling circus and remained with them until the cops busted Carson’s money laundering business when Clint was nine in what they refer to as “The Big Bust.” After that they were placed in foster care and adopted by a widowed man that hit the bottle hard and the boys harder. Barney unable to stand the abuse quickly turned to numbing himself with illicit substances and a life of petty crime. The hairline fracture in their relationship happened when Barney fell asleep at the wheel and Clint had to guide the car into a ditch. First full on fracture happened when Barney woke a thirteen year old Clint up in the middle of the night with a backpack slung over his shoulders and six hundred dollars buried at the junkyard down the road.

Barney didn’t want to abandon his brother but a criminal venture/position opened up in Hell’s Kitchen. (What Clint later figures out, the real reason though is like soooooo much worse). With Barney out of the picture the abuse at home got so bad Clint ran off to the military at sixteen (his recruiter fudged the birthdate when he saw the bruises). Clint fucks around in the military and then gets recruited for SHIELD because he’s just that fucking good.

In Hell’s Kitchen Barney rises in the ranks, and eventually meets Laura who he later marries in a Las Vegas wedding drive thru. He also meets [REDACTED] and in turn catches Phil’s/SHIELD eyes and they send Clint.

Finally the pair meet after nearly a decade of not speaking or seeing each other and it’s not under happy circumstances.

Due to his influence with [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]’s criminal empire Clint’s forced to choose between old family and his new place with SHIELD. Ultimately Clint chooses SHIELD.

Barney would understand, at least that is what Clint tells himself when he’s too racked with guilt to sleep.

Now I can’t reveal much after this point as what I’ve planned would contain spoilers for future installments in the Sightline Universe (?)

But I will leave you with this line…

“Hey Clint.”

As for how little or how much Barney knows about Clint’s adulthood after the military, I would say he only knew the bare basics. He really only knew that last he heard his baby brother was making a man out of himself by joining the military. He didn’t know Clint had joined Shield until they reunited. He figured Clint was on the right path, no sense in his useless druggie brother fucking that up when he was the one to abandon him.

Eventually (possibly in the future, wink wink) they reunite again, maybe they are able to salvage some of their relationship over a couple beers and a trade of fists. Maybe Barney joins one of the alphabet agencies, and maybe they have to revisit that fateful night so long ago and reveal the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Who knows! The world is a crazy place and fate is fickle.

(Oh! And totally fancasting Daniel Craig as Barney Barton, credit to whoever came up with that first because it’s brilliant)

#ask me anything #ask me #headcanons #barney barton #clint barton #hawkeye #clintasha #fandom

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clintandhisfriends · 1 year

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Can we talk about how the movies completey tricked us on clintasha. The first Avengers it seemed like they were gonna have this chemistry, loki implied that he saw it too. But then in aou they lazily throw brutasha in, then clints farm which honestly was well put in. They keep using nat in all these ships that she doesn't even get into fully. Maybe it was because she never really experienced love before being in the Red Room and all BUT clintasha would have made that better, Clint was there since the beginning. He showed her love and that she was a human not weapon. They didn't do winterwidow backstory either which destroys the chance of that ship. Romanogers felt awkward too, very rushed into CATWS in my opinion. Another reason why I didn't like Laura and Clint together (even tho they were dating goals and the healthiest relationship in all mcu) is because they could have easily made her barney's wife then his kids. Clint being the little brother he is he crashes there sometimes etc. Clint and nat had too deep of a connection to throw away, their backstory was great for a romance. In the end she didn't end up with the love of her life and instead died for him to have a great life with his family. They could have even made her an independent woman and not branch off trying to find some connection with all of them, she doesn't NEED a man. Just wish we could have got these glances between them

#clint barton and laura #clint barton #natasha romanoff #clintasha #barney barton

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jackfrombaskinrobbins · 1 year

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clint barton as your older brother headcanons :)

type of writing: headcanons / scenario

word count: 685

request: yes / no

original request: "Hi! I love your teen avenger series so far, it's amazing! Do you think you could do headcanons for being Clint Barton's younger sibling? Thanks ❤"

dynamic: clint barton x younger sibling!reader

characters: clint barton, a little barney barton as well, maybe some kate bishop, lucky the pizza dog ofc

a/n: THIS TOOK ME SO LONG IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY IM SORRY :( but tysm for it!! gotta love clint barton :D also, requests are open, so send an ask any time!

taglist: @thecloudedmind @nutellani

(fill out this form if you'd like to be on my taglist!!)

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having clint barton as a big brother really prepared you for anything

and when i say anything i mean anything

he once snuck up on you while you were at the grocery store

IT WAS SO MEAN OMG

like he literally hid behind one of those displays of chips

and then jumped out when you passed him

he was fr laughing so hard

then this old lady told him that he was rude so he got what he deserved

when it was just clint and barney, barney made clint learn sign language so that he would communicate with him

and so when you were born, barney was determined to have you learn it too

little did he know, clint had discovered bad words.

one thing led to another, and let’s just say the sign language clint taught you didn’t exactly mean what he told you it meant

barney was so mad omg but it was so funny

i feel like clint likes to invite you and barney over for dinner

not that barney comes bc that man is out doing who knows what

but he always gets pizza

like every single time he gets pizza

and he buys way too much

you once asked if he could get something else

and then once you got to his place, there was pizza on the table

smh

an important part of your relationship is that whenever you’re around, lucky ignores clint and only listens to you

and he gets super annoyed

like he’ll try EVERYTHING to get his dog back

but it doesn’t work :)

you also have a really good relationship with kate

the two of you meet for coffee every once in a while just to gossip about clint

because let’s face it, the only person who has more blackmail on that guy is barney

i think clint would be a pretty protective older brother

he definitely calls just to check in on you

except sometimes he’ll call and do voices

i feel like clint would do a lot of voices

like celebrity impressions or accents

and so you’ll answer the phone and he’ll be trying to sound like bruce springsteen or something

and it’s always a really bad impression too

but he’ll try to have you guess and then he’ll tell you what it was after

and you always go “oh ok. i definitely heard that. yep.”

and then he just hangs up.

but he always calls back don’t worry :)

clint also frequents antique shops.

but he doesn’t buy stuff for himself because he knows he’ll break it

so he swings by your place a lot with the most random stuff

sometimes it’s cool

like one time he gave you this lamp that looked like a taxi sign

but then once he gave you one of those really creepy baby dolls

from like the forties or something

and he just dropped it off by your door and ran away

and then he sent you a text like “check the front door…”

IT SCARED YOU SO BAD

you called him to yell at him but he wasn’t listening because he was laughing so hard

you have a lot of eating competitions

barney used to take the two of you out to eat when you were younger, and you would both get four ice cream sundaes

and barney would just roll his eyes because he knew what was coming

you’d try to eat them as fast as possible

it usually ended with someone getting sick or with ice cream all over their clothes

and barney would just be sitting there, eyes closed, wishing he didn’t have such weird younger siblings

but don’t worry, he secretly loved the two of you :)

i like to think you knit and crochet stuff for clint a lot

and at the time he won’t look that excited but then he’ll wear it every chance he gets

you made him this purple hat thing and he literally won’t take it off

but he has to find something wrong with it, so he says it’s not warm enough

but you know that’s a lie!!

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#clint barton #clint barton x sibling!reader #barney barton #barney barton x sibling!reader #kate bishop #kate bishop x barton!reader #marvel #mcu #marvel headcanons #mcu headcanons #avengers #avengers headcanons #hawkeye #hawkeye headcanons #hawkeye x sibling!reader #lucky the pizza dog #lucky the dog

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sunny-rants · 1 year

Text

Sometimes before it gets better

The darkness gets bigger

The person that you’d take a bullet for

is behind the trigger

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quietlyimplode · 7 months

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the language of flowers and silent things

Whumptober 2023: Day 3 - Make it stop

Warnings: child abuse, domestic violence, brief touch on car accident that killed Clint’s parents and CPS

Word Count: 1.8k (Image not mine)

Summary: Clint Barton didn’t have an easy childhood, but one safe person made all the difference.

A/N: please read warnings attached to the chapter. There’s a reason there’s not too much before the cut starts, as it starts heavy and stays that way. Please take care of yourself.

Masterlist

Whumptober Masterlist

1984

IOWA

“Make it stop,” he whispers to Barney.

Drunken footsteps are loud as his father shouts for more.

Clint can hear his mother opening and closing the fridge and the tirade of abuse continues.

“We can’t, okay?” Barney’s fists clench, his black eye from the week before still not healed and Clint knows it’s an unfair request.

“Not tonight, Mum will have to deal with him,” Barney looks scared and Clint doesn’t understand.

“Why?”

Barney looks down at his little brother and sighs.

“He’s not going to work tomorrow. He got fired.”

Fear and adrenaline dumps it’s poison into Clint’s veins.

“But…”

“Yeah; he’ll be here all day now.”

Barney finishes Clint’s thought.

A slap reverberates through the house and both boys cringe.

Clint can’t take it, he hates the thought of anyone touching his mother.

He’s at the door before Barney can stop him.

Opening it, he finds his father standing over his mother and they both turn to look at the movement and noise. His mothers face is red, hands touching the swelling of her cheek.

“Stop it,” he growls, smelling the alcohol and poison on his father.

The laugh of derision and dangerous smile that follows, makes Clint take two steps back, almost regretting his bravery.

“Stop it?” his father laughs as he repeats Clint’s words, picking him up and throwing him to the side.

“Fine,” he smirks dangerously, “I’ll ‘stop it’ but you need to go get me more beer, okay boy? She says we’ve run out.”

Clint feels like he’s been thrown a lifeline, a chance to get out of the house and away from danger; even if it’s at the expense of his mother.

He scrambles, Barney close behind him.

“We don’t have any money?” Clint asks.

His father raises a hand and Barney pulls him away.

“It’s fine,” he yells, as he pushes Clint out the door.

They run, only stopping when Clint pus his hands on his knees, out of breath.

“If he doesn’t go to work, he’s going to be at home with Mom,” Clint mutters, dragging his feet.

Barney grabs his hand.

“It’ll be okay, he’ll get bored and go out to the pub.”

Clint can’t see how that’s better, using their money to buy a drink that only leads to raised voices and sharp hits.

The shopkeeper stares at the two boys as they enter.

“Go distract him,” Barney urges, “and I’ll go get the beer.”

Nervously, Clint walks to the front of the shop.

“Can I help you?”

Clint nods and tries to smile.

“I.. uhhh.. Need something,” he starts, unsure what to say.

“You need something,” the man asks, suspiciously.

“Yeah,” Clint looks around, “I need those,” he points.

The man chuckles.

Clint shrugs.

“Do you know what I should buy?”

He knows nothing of the product he’s pointed too, knows that he’s seen it in his bathroom before, and there’s many types on the shelf; so the stab he’s taken doesn’t seem like a bad one.

“You need.. Pads?” The man questions, still smiling at Clint’s ignorance.

“Yeah?”

Clint thinks he can keep it going, make the man distracted enough; until…

There’s a clink and a crash and Barney swears as the man moves to back, Clint hot on his heels.

Spilled beer cascades and Barney looks up, guiltily.

Standing frozen, Clint doesn’t know what to do. The man takes a step forward.

Clint weaves in and stands between his brother and the shopkeeper protectively.

“You’re the Barton brothers aren’t you?”

They both look at the floor, and Barney speaks for the both of them.

“Yes sir,” he says softly, “please don’t call the police.”

The man shakes his head.

“Your father is not a good man, is he? Hmm? He send you out here?”

“He hit our mum because we ran out of beer,” Clint tells him, only to get shoved by Barney.

“Is that so?”

The man motions for them to move out of the glass.

“It shouldn’t be like that,” he tells them, handing a beer to Barney.

“You didn’t get that from me, okay?”

Clint’s relief is palpable, and Barney can’t stop staring at the gift they’ve been given.

“Thank.. Thank you,” he stutters, stuck on the spot.

Clint smiles, “yeah, thank you,” he repeats.

The shopkeeper it seems isn’t done in his generosity.

He hands them each a chocolate bar, and then on a whim throws Clint a box of pads.

“Give them to your mother,” he smiles, “she’ll be thankful you got something for her too.”

Gus the shopkeeper is wirey, thinning hair with dark eyebrows.

Clint finds him funny and kind and when walking home from school, he always gives him a piece of fruit to munch on.

Barney doesn’t like it.

“People don’t do things out of the goodness of their hearts, baby brother.”

Clint ignores the warning, trusting his own instinct of people. He doesn’t agree.

He does things out of the goodness within him, why wouldn’t others?

He tries not to impose on the man’s friendship, wanting to always be around Gus but knowing he probably shouldn’t be.

Sometimes his piece of fruit is all he gets for dinner.

The summer comes too quickly, and Barney gets a job delivering papers. It leaves Clint with too much free time, which he inevitably spends at the shop.

His mother encourages it.

She kisses his forehead and tells him to remember their code.

If his father is on a bender then she’ll put flowers in the window, if he’s not the window will be clear.

It’s a system that’s saved both boys a black eye or concussion a few times. Sometimes though, no amount of code words and secrets saves them from the wrath.

Gus seems to understand.

In the heat of the summer, he finds Clint sitting on the side walk, and invites him in.

Cold drink in hand, Clint grins at the pictures on the wall.

“You used to be in the circus?”

Gus nods, a wistful look on his face.

“Acrobat,” he comments, pointing to picture.

Clint looks in awe

“Those days are long gone now.”

“Can you show me something?”

Gus laughs.

“Something acrobatic?”

He shakes his head, “no, but I can show you something useful.”

Suddenly, there’s a coin in his hand and then it’s gone.

“Magic?” Clint scoffs.

“It’s a skill,” he defends.

Clint’s wallet is suddenly in his hand and Clint’s brain almost short circuits in how useful learning pick pocketing might be.

“You have to teach me,” he exclaims.

“Please!?”

Gus laughs.

“Okay, fine, come back tomorrow.”

They start easily.

The summer nights pass quickly with Gus.

Barney notices it, and he seems glad that Clint has somewhere to go.

He rubs his little brothers head and encourages it.

“Hey Barney,” Clint asks, one night, “teach me how to fight like you?”

Barney shakes his head, “nah, little bro, you’ll fight like someone different. But I can teach you the basics.”

Clint’s heart leaps.

He hugs him spontaneously and Barney pushes him back.

“I’ll catch you later okay?”

Clint nods, his smile big.

“Try again,” Gus tells him.

The watch sits on his wrist and he holds it out.

“It’s harder if you know it’s coming,” Clint complains.

Gus laughs.

“Fine take it, you need the practice anyway.”

Clint nods, taking it off his friend’s wrist.

“Same time tomorrow?”

Gus nods.

“You better practice,” he waves, and Clint nods.

Clint walks off, heading home, playing with the watch on his wrist, the clasp coming away easier.

He walks to the door and hears it, his mother shouting, his fathers fists hitting wood.

He cringes as he opens the door and tries to sneak in.

He forgets the second stair squeaks in his haste and the sound of footsteps makes him freeze.

“Boy,” his father bellows, “where have you been?”

Before he can even answer, he’s back handed into the stairs.

“Where’s your brother?”

Clint grabs at his face.

He’s better now at not letting the tears fall, even when he wants them too.

“I don’t..I don’t..” he stutters.

“You don’t know?”

Harold seems to grow twice as large as he points to the garage.

“Get in the car, we’re going to go find him.”

Clint can smell the toxicity of his breath, but is powerless to say no, as his mother gathers him up, kisses his cheek and tells him it will be okay.

It’s not though.

The red light.

The other car.

Screams.

Blood.

His head hurts.

He thinks there’s a bright light coming for him.

“They’re dead,” he opens, the shop doors opening for him as he stares through Gus.

The older man runs to him, and gathers him in a hug.

“Where’s Barney?”

Clint holds the watch in his hand.

“They’re taking us, but I stopped them because I needed to give you this.”

He holds it out.

“Oh Clint,” he holds him at arms lengths, sees the kindly lady step out of the car, and Barney deliberately not looking towards them.

“Keep it, borrow it, and when we see each other again, you can give it back to me.”

Clint’s eyes well up with tears and hugs Gus again.

“Can you take us?” he asks.

Gus shakes his head.

“Not yet,” he whispers.

“But this is not the end of our friendship, okay?”

Clint steps back, unable to look at him, disappointment radiating off him.

“Keep practicing and come back when you can.”

The woman calls for Clint to come and he backs up slowly.

“Goodbye,” he whispers.

“Good luck,” Gus whispers back.

Gus growls.

“I tell you, he’s got potential, get him out of foster care and you’ll see.”

Swordsman hums, contemplating his words.

“And you’d vouch for him?”

Gus swallows, knowing the heaviness of his words.

“And his brother, yes.”

He pauses.

“Clint has aim like I’ve never seen it, has a reason to fight and his brother just needs a mentor to channel all his rage.”

“Aim huh?”

Gus nods into the phone.

“Trickshot would do wonders with him.”

He wonders as the words come out of his mouth if he’s further dooming the Barton brothers.

Swordsman thinks on his words.

“Fine, but he’s in foster care now, how do you propose we find him?”

He shrugs.

“He’ll find me again.”

“Okay, then keep him with you and we’ll come to you, it can’t be now, we still have the operation to finish here, give us a year, and then, if he’s willing and able and maybe can add to the crew, then we will take him.”

“Thanks,” Gus sighs in relief.

Clint has his watch. He’ll come back.

“Oh and Gus,” Swordsman counters, “don’t forget to send the money through.”

He swallows, “uh. Yeah. Of course.”

Swordsman laughs, “you have to pay to stay out, otherwise we’ll welcome you back when we welcome the two boys you so desperately want us to save.”

“I’ll have your money, when you come get them.”

Gus hangs up, deal done, and gets the deposit ready in savings.

A year.

Clint just has to survive the year.

#whumptober2023 #no. 3 #make it stop #clint barton #child abuse #domestic violence #Clint barton fic #my fic #hawkeye #clintasha #clintasha fanfiction #Barney barton #Clint barton family

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