Entry tags:

!complete, !partner thread, clint barton (hawkeye), echo

Who: Clint Barton and Echo Ash Jackson
What: Coffee
When: Recent weekday morning
Warnings: Nah
Status: Closed, Complete

One of the biggest problems with not having a ‘legitimate’ job was the hours. Sure, Clint could deal most of the time, but coming off a dream cycle of the highlights of the worst points in his dream life, then having to complete a job on very little sleep, going through the night, because who did illegal shit during the day? Well, he was running his tank on very, very empty by the time he got to 8am.

He wanted to just go and fall into bed again. But at this point, Lucky had been stuck inside as long as Clint had been awake, and he knew the poor little guy needed some fresh air.

So it was a stop for coffee first -god, coffee, he’d live on that- and then he’d work out how the hell to get enough energy to take Lucky to the beach, and then he’d collapse in bed.

Hopefully nothing fell on him from above in the meantime.

Too bad that when he got to the coffee place closest to his place the line was out the door. “Aw coffee,” he was not waiting in that, he’d find another place, even if it was overpriced and burnt, he just couldn’t stand in that line.

---

Ash had the same idea, and the same reaction Clint had. Coffee would be a god send right then, to help her get through the day, but there was no way she was waiting in that line. She’d been headed toward the shop from the other direction, and approached at roughly the same time as him.

“Well, that’s disappointing,” she said. Because it was. “I’ve been thinking about how good this coffee would be all morning.” She was set to just turn back to her car and maybe figure out another coffee joint she could hit, but she stopped short.

“Hey. I think I know you. From the network.”

---

“It’s always just right, they don’t burn it, it doesn’t cool too fast, it’s not gritty.” It was hard to find good coffee sometimes, most of the time coffee was just decent but this place made it good. “Man, that’s just…” He had to agree, it was disappointing.

Her comment about the network had him looking over properly, raising a hand to rub at the back of his neck, “Yeah, that’s probably right,” not that he could place her right then, but he wasn’t so great at names, just conversations and what came up. “I’m Clint, yeah.”

And it was a little worrying if she did know him from the network, because he was pretty sure his every disaster was actually on that network. “Hi.”

---

“Hi. I’m Ash.” She wouldn’t be surprised, or offended if he didn’t recognise her. The network was a fairly fast paced beast. She’d had a bit more time to soak it all in over the summer when she wasn’t working. Now that school was back in session she didn’t have as much time.

“Pretty sure we talked about coffee.” It was easy to feel comfortable with someone on the network. Text based conversations lacked that face to face component that made a lot of interactions awkward in this age of social media. Ash actually felt sorry for kids today, growing up with social media. Life was simpler before everyone carried mini computers in their pockets.

---

It clicked a little better from there -Clint did talk to a lot of people about coffee, it was definitely one of his great loves, but then who didn’t love coffee. “Right, yeah. And now we’ve been foiled in our search of it.” Another glance told him that the line for coffee was not going to magically vanish.

“I know another place, it’s kind just around the corner, might be less insane and quicker?” Because if he needed his fix, he’d bet she needed a fix, and there had to be karma points in helping someone else find coffee, right?

He could do with some bonus karma in his life.

---

“”I am all for finding a new place,” Ash agreed. She definitely needed her coffee fix. And needing that fix, and standing in line did not go well together. Not that she’d cause a scene or anything, but she’d get grumpier by the second, and that wasn’t good for her or anyone around her.

“Which is to say, lead the way,” she said with a sweep of her hand. She would follow him anywhere, at the moment, in the quest for coffee.

---

“This your first fix of the day? Or just a top up?” Really, Clint fully supported numerous top ups, all through the day. It was important to keep the tank full after all.

The walk around the block wasn’t exactly difficult or far, the trip to find good coffee was always worth it to Clint though. Anything that got coffee into his system was worth it -he’d go out during the crazy that was Orange County just to get coffee.

He didn’t have a set place to go for that exact reason.

“I have a personal preference for having at least twelve coffees in one day.” And that was a slow day.

---

“My coffee maker at home is on the fritz,” she told him. She knew that was tragic, even scandalous information. “So until I can get a new one, which is high priority, I have to get my fix out,” she laughed a little laugh.

“Otherwise I have to drink the sludge in the teacher’s lounge at work.” She made a face, complete with sticking out her tongue a little bit to show the coffee at school was sub par, at best.

---

“That’s devastating to hear.” Coffee was the be all and end all, and a coffee maker that didn’t make coffee was on the scale of a world ending event in Clint’s opinion.

The comment and reaction to teachers lounge coffee got a laugh out of Clint. He’d never worked in an office setting that had that kind of set up, although when he’d lived with Buck the man didn’t know what decent coffee was. “Does this mean someone should bring up to the area that the school could use a donation of a decent machine?”

Not that he knew if schools were allowed to accept stuff like that. Fancy private schools totally did, but he doubted they’d have sludge in the first place.

---

“Probably!” Echo laughed. The only problem was that someone would probably break it within the first week. People were just idiots that way. Especially in a group setting, there was always one bumbling idiot who didn’t have a clue.

She shrugged. “But for now, this will work.” She could smell coffee on the air. It was divine. Now she just needed to get some in her belly, and in her veins.

---

If there was a will, there was a way. And that totally counted for breaking decent things too. Or even just random items. “The joys of communal areas.” Again, not really a setting that Clint was in regularly, but vague memories from his childhood in the dreams meant he knew a little about it from the dreams.

The other place was pretty close from there, didn’t have a line out the door and the smell was just flowing out the open windows. “Blessed coffee. It’s pretty much the same price as round the corner too, so it’s a win/win.”

Without the soul destroying wait.

---

“This is perfect.” The line wasn’t horrendous. There was actually just one person waiting. “You’re amazing, for introducing me to this place, I didn’t even know it was here,” Ash said. She had no idea there was a hidden gem right around the corner from the other place.

“Let me buy you a cup, just to say thanks.” It seemed like the least she could do.

---

Clint made it a point in knowing where places were, so that if things like this happened, or if he just couldn’t make his ass walk to those places, he had a backup. Or three.

“You ever need a recommendation on a coffee place anywhere in OC, I know it.” If it wasn’t alcohol he was drinking, it was coffee.

He thought about turning down the offer, since he was literally going to be coming here anyway once he saw the line at the other place, but why turn down an offer for coffee, and it was just a cup of coffee, “Thanks, I appreciate it. Just a regular black is fine.”

---

“Perfect,” Ash said with a nod. She could handle that. She liked flavor in her coffee, but she could respect a straight black coffee. “Coming right up,” she added, as she moved up to the counter to place the order for them both.