InsaneJournal

Who: Clint Barton (Hawkeye) and Kate Bishop (Hawkeye)
When: September
Where: Clint’s place
What: Coffee Delivery
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete


Kate showed up on Clint’s doorstep. It wasn’t unusual for her to be there, but it was unusual that she rang the bell and waited for him to answer. Normally she just let herself into his place, and put on a pot of coffee. Or she’d read the newspaper, or spend time with Lucky if Clint was busy or out or whatever. She was finding that making herself at home at his place was becoming easier and easier now-a-days. Whatever that meant.

So she rang the bell. She was carrying a drink tray in one hand and a box of donuts in the other, and her purse was slipping down off her shoulder, so she was leaning in the opposite direction, trying to counteract gravity’s pull on the bag. It was precarious, and she felt awkward, but she didn’t have a hand to let herself in today.

Lucky was already sitting by the door by the time Clint was getting to the door, which indicated that it was either Lucy from downstairs asking to please, please, please take Lucky out with her or it was Kate, those were the only two people he practically went through the door to see. “Would you get out of the way, you dork.” Pushing him back so that he could get the door open, Clint just smirked at Kate before leaning out to take the drink tray from her before she toppled trying to save her purse.

“Easy there, c’mon, what’s with?” Clint was a total coffee fiend, it wasn’t a secret, he’d get it mainlined into his system if he could, but he rarely really bothering going out for it when he could just fire up the coffee pot. “Careful, the fluffy lug is probably gonna pounce.” God, even more so if he smelled baked goods.

“I was hungry,” Kate explained, almost sheepishly, as he took the tray from her. She was able to save her purse and not topple the box of donuts to the ground. But then Lucky couldn’t stand it anymore, and he practically knocked her over pouncing up onto her to try and lick her face. Not that Kate minded, really. Lucky was one of her favorite beings in the world--and definitely her favorite dog. She could handle being pounced upon. She just had to lift the donut box up and over her head.

Laughing, she added, “I missed you, too, pooch,” then bent over to let Lucky get his tongue all over her face.

Clint just shook his head with a smile, by-passing the kitchen to head over to the couch, placing the takeaway cups on the table. Lucky was just exceptionally excitable, especially with people he was fond of. “C’mon Lucky, let her actually get in.” Giving a sharp whistle, Clint nodded his head towards the couch to get Lucky to back off for a minute and let Kate get in and settled at least.

“Here, you want a hand?” With Lucky getting out of the way it would at least mean Kate could breathe for a second or two.

Hopefully Clint didn’t mind that Kate was so fond of his dog. He was a big part of the reason that she came over. (Okay, not really. Clint was the reason she came over. But Lucky was definitely a perk.) “Thanks, pup.” She said, and finally moved through the threshold far enough that she could close the door behind herself.

“Thanks.” She stepped over to Clint, lowering one arm to wrap around his waist. Now that the dog and the donuts and the coffees weren’t between them, Kate could press herself up against him and give him a proper kiss in greeting. “Oh, and hi.”

“Well hey there,” Clint let his stupid, slight drawl slip out, something that usually only happened when he was tired or drunk, but sometimes it just happened. Wrapping his arms around her to return the kiss with a smile, “Surprise visits with coffee and baked goods, are you trying to bribe me for something, Miss Bishop?”

Not that it would take much, really. Just asking usually worked.

Kate liked his stupid, slight drawl. Seriously. Made her toes curl just a little. Being in his arms felt good. It was the place she wanted to be. Pretty much always. She turned to nuzzle her nose into his jaw. “I dunno. Should I be?”

Lucky took that moment to jump up and place his paws on their hips, a sopping, dirty, old tennis ball wedged between his jaws. His tail was wagging back and forth, sweeping the kitchen floor.

Clint just rolled his eyes at the dog, “You know, you didn’t want attention ten minutes ago. In fact you were ignoring me ten minutes ago.” With one arm still around Kate’s waist, Clint took the ball from Lucky to give it a throw down the hall. As usual the big lug went darting after it, feet sliding on the floor before he barrelled into a door somewhere. “He’s the reason my contents insurance is so high.”

Giving Kate a squeeze, Clint grabbed the paper towels and plates, leading Kate into the living room to sit with their coffees. “He’ll be back in about five minutes, there’s like twelve balls down there, he gets distracted.” Between that and chewing Clint’s shoes.

Kate smirked as she watched the dog go chasing off after the ball, then she followed Clint into the living room to sit. “Ooh, so we’ve got five whole minutes to ourselves?” She teased. “We’ll have to think of some way to make the best out of the time.” Besides… eating pastries and drinking coffee, anyway. Kate plopped down on the couch and folded her legs underneath her.

“He has the attention span of a goldfish.” Lucky liked attention, and once he was acknowledged and suitably petted, he’d leave it well enough alone until he grew bored with whatever it was that had his attention. Then he’d find someone to amuse him. Usually by pouncing on Clint. “How’s work going? You still enjoying it?”

Clint had, sadly, not been down to the archery range in a while, between the crazy things happening and his dreams. It’d just slipped by the wayside.

Kate gave a little laugh. Poor Lucky and his short attention span. She could relate sometimes, though. She felt like she had the Squirrel! disease at times. “It’s fine.” She said, and then scootched over on the sofa to cuddle up against him, re-tucking her feet under her once she was closer against his side. “I’ve missed you at the Range.”

Clint was fine with just using one arm, the other sliding around Kate’s shoulders while he sipped at his coffee. “I keep meaning to stop by but then disaster strikes or … I end up at the bar.” Which was basically the dreams screwing with him, since he seemed to have a bunch of bad shit happen all together at the same time. It was somewhat exhausting and he hadn’t actually picked up a bow -never mind his new bow from the dreams that just arrived. Which basically meant he’d really need to get his butt in gear.

“I’ll need to fix that, come by and see you. Try out the new hardware.” At the very least get back into the swing of things.

Kate chuckled. “That sounds so familiar.” Only replace ‘bar’ with ‘club.’ Kate wasn’t big for sitting inside when she wasn’t working or spending time with friends. She lifted her coffee for a sip, thoughtfully. “Yes, you do. You need to spend more time with me, I demand it.” It was a very playful demand.

“So pushy,” he was teasing, and he knew she was too, but Clint just grinned and nudged her with his shoulder a little, “Okay, okay, tomorrow. I’ll come out to the range, we’ll shoot a few things, and maybe after your shift you wanna come on a hike with me and Lucky?” There weren’t mountains to go trailing through here, but there were some nice trails and what not to go stomping through. Lucky getting a decent stretch and Clint not turning into a vampire inside, it was good all around, and Kate coming along would just be a fun addition.

Kate simply broke into a brighter grin at the nudge to her shoulder. Then nodded. “Sounds like a romantic day.” There was a hint of teasing in her voice. She didn’t really know Clint to be that romantic. Not that she was, either. And she didn’t really need it from the person she was… with. Whatever that entailed.

“I’ll just bring a change of clothes so I don’t smell like the range when we’re out on the trail.” She was imagining they could pack dinner, too, and make an evening out of it. Wow, that thought was fairly girly. It caught Kate off guard.

“Well, it’s not too bad a hike, it’s pretty tame all things considered,” like where Clint had been hiking over seas, but Lucky wasn’t the sort to enjoy scaling mountains anyway. “But you’ll probably be more comfortable in something else.” Whatever was comfortable, right.

“Hey, if you want it to be really romantic I could find us a sunset, I’m sure.” Actually, there probably would be a pretty good view if they got there soon enough to see it.

"I can do tame. I wouldn't want poor Lucky to get left behind in the dust." Kate said, playfully. She thought that Lucky could probably leave them in the dust, actually. The guy was a big, ole lug, but he had a lot of energy. "Comfortable and sexy. Got it." Kate added. She decided to translate his words. Besides, a good hiking outfit might be stretchy, jogging pants and a tight tank top. All the more exciting for Clint, anyway.

"I wouldn't say no to a sunset," Kate wrapped one arm around his so she could hug it against her chest. Really, so long as the pair of them were together, she didn't care what the view was.

“We’ll see what we can do.” There were a few trails in mind, since Clint tended to have long days to himself now, it wasn’t that far out there that he’d just take Lucky on an exceptionally long walk to tire them both out. It at least meant they were both getting their exercise.

Kate’s phone chimed. She had to shift around on the sofa to dig it out of her pocket, then frowned as she read the text message. “...I should probably get going. I’ve got a lesson coming up. And this student is never late.” She clicked the screen off and turned to face Clint once more. “But we’re on for tomorrow?”

“No worries,” it was a nice surprise either way, and they’d have plenty of time tomorrow. “Definitely, I’ll stop by at some point. Text me and let me know what times you’ve got free.” Might as well get a little shooting in, try out the new bow at least. “I’ll even figure out what the hell to pack for some food.” Picnics, or whatever, something for humans that wasn’t Clint’s usual two beers and some chips.

“I will.” Kate turned and leaned in to kiss him. She’d meant for it to be a quick peck, but it turned into something a little more full. Something with a little meaning behind it. She cared about him, she desired him, she wanted to be around him. “Don’t worry too much about food. We can always eat something when we get home, or whatever.” She added after the kiss, then climbed up to her feet.

Following Kate up, Clint went with her to the door, “Well thanks for dropping by, and the coffee,” since Kate knew she was welcome any time anyway, coffee or not, “And I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Hanging out with Kate was always good, and it tended to be really easy going and relaxing, so he was pretty sure he could rustle something along the lines of a picnic up and make a day of it after her shift finished.

Picnic and a sunset, totally counted as romantic stuff, right.