Avengers Texts

Bruce's Room

Clint had been sitting on the edge of Bruce's bed for about ten minutes, watching quietly and playing Angry Birds as Bruce slept. Steve had left after setting him gently in the bed, but Clint had stayed, as always. He knew Bruce would wake up, of course, but in the back of his mind there was always the small but persistent voice that said Bruce wouldn't wake up. Or that he'd suffocate or fall over or hurt himself in his sleep somehow. So Clint stayed and waited until Bruce woke up every time.

"Guh," Bruce mumbled, shifting his body and lifting his head a little. Clint set his phone down and crawled across the bed to prop up next to him.

"Hey, grumpy," he said softly, and Bruce turned to him. Clint laughed.

"What?" Bruce asked groggily, noting the very dull pain in his side.

"Your hair is all..." Clint reached over and brushed it off his face. "There."

"Did I fall?"

"Oh, yeah, you were on the staircase and you fell asleep, so I had to kinda push you in the direction of the floor. Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," he sat up, and Clint nodded. "Um. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not letting me- Kill people. Or Steve. Or break the stairs. Or break my back on the stairs."

"Hey, no problem."

"So..." Bruce trailed off awkwardly, rubbing his neck. "You wanna talk?"

"Talk? Talk about what? Whatever would we possibly need to talk about?" Clint said sarcastically. Bruce rolled his eyes, and Clint huffed. "Yeah, you know, I don't think I want to talk."

"Clint, please. Just... Talk to me. What's the issue?"

"The iss- The issue is you spend all day making shit, holed up in your lab, and you barely even talk to me. You treat me like I'm annoying. Which, granted, I am, but you're supposed to find that cute."

"I do. I do. Wait, no, I mean, you're cute but you're not annoying. It's just that I get distracted a lot. And my lab is very dangerous, I know you lay around there all day so I don't worry, because you know what you're doing, but just as a side-note, don't leave anyone unattended in there."

"Yeah, I know. And I'm glad you don't worry. But..."

"Hey, no. I do worry. Because you do scary shit. Like, hang off of staircases and try to fight Matt Murdock. But you can take care of yourself, I know you. You're a big boy."

Clint grinned.

"What?" Bruce asked, and Clint kissed him on the nose. "What?" He repeated.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Good. That's good. We can be boyfriends again."

"I'm sure Natasha is cheering somewhere."

"Yeah. I love Nat."

"Hey, so do I."

"What a coincidence."

"You think she'd date us?"

"Mmmm, y'know, I think she would?" Clint nodded, and Bruce snickered. "We're all so deliciously, scandalously queer."

"Is there anyone we're not involved with?" Bruce questioned. "We're dating, and we're dating Natasha..."

"And Natasha should be dating Maria as well, but Fury sucks."

"True. Tony'll fix that soon enough, he's a meddler. Oh, Tony, we're not- Well. He's my queerplatonic. And he's dating Steve and Rhodey. And then there's Sam-"

"That's my queerplatonic. And he's queerplatonic with Natasha. And they're both queerplatonic with Steve. We need a link to Thor and Loki."

"I think we can stick with what we've got for now?"

"Yeah. That's probably wisest."

"I am wise."