Nathaniel found a reindeer in the front garden and Clint's having a hard time convincing him it's actually a dog.
When Clint came into his living room the last thing he'd been was to find Nathaniel sat feeding carrots to a dog. "Nate... what are you doing?"
His son looked up to him with a bright grin. He was still rosy-cheeked and wrapped up in his scarf and hat from where he'd been outside. "Daddy look I found a reindeer!"
The dog was large and fluffy and happened to be wearing a Christmas jumper and a pair of antlers on a piece of elastic. Clint could understand the three-year-olds confusion.
"Sweetie that's not a reindeer. It's a dog." Nathaniel shook his head vigorously. "No it's not it's a reindeer and I found him out the front and brought him home to look after him." He did seem to be enjoying the carrot.
"Nate, you can't just keep him. Someone's probably out looking for him right now."
He looked up excitedly then. "Do you think he belongs to Santa?" Clint gave a sigh. "Well if he does belong to Santa then he is very lost indeed."
Before any more could be said there was a knock at his door. Clint opened up to find a tall, broad blonde with blue eyes full of worry and a dog lead curled up in one hand. "Sorry to disturb you but I was wondering if you'd seen my dog around here? I was walking him in the fields around here and he ran off. I can't find him anywhere!"
Clint gave an internal groan. Well, this is gonna be fun.
"About yay big." He said, roughly guessing the height of the dog in his living room. "Wearing a Christmas jumper and antlers?" The stranger's face lit up with relief. "Yes! That's him."
Clint just nodded and indicated towards the living room with his head. "My son found him." He explained, stepping back to let the guy in. He headed straight to the living room but stopped dead in the doorway. "Uh, he thinks he's a reindeer," Clint explained awkwardly as he noticed the total shock and confusion on the guys face.
He cleared his throat catching his son's attention. "Nate. It's time for the reindeer to go home now." His son looked up with instant disappointment as he offered the dog another carrot. Is that even healthy?
He pouted and frowned at the stranger. "You're not Santa." He stated and Clint wished the ground would just swallow him up already. How did he end up with such a crazy family? "No." The stranger agreed. "I'm one of his helpers."
He bent down to Nathaniel's level and the dog instantly ran over, licking his face in excitement and wagging his tail. Nathaniel watched with excitement of his on.
"Really?" He cried excitedly and blondie nodded.
"Yeah. I'm Steve." He offered his hand and Nathaniel rushed over, shaking his hand excitedly. "I'm Nathaniel. Nathaniel Pietro Barton." He said, smiling proudly. Steve laughed.
"Well thank you so much for looking after Comet for me! I'll make sure to tell Santa what a good boy you are and how helpful you were." Nate grinned and nodded excitedly.
Clint escorted the man and his now leashed dog to the door. Not entirely sure what had just happened.
"Uh, thanks." He finally said, grateful for the kind words to his son.
"No, thank you. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him." Clint smirked a little.
"Comet the dog huh?" The guy chuckled.
"Yeah. Comet the dog who's dressed like a reindeer. You can blame my husband for that, he's worse than most kids when it comes to Christmas." Clint just smiled and shook his head lightly.
"Well, uh Merry Christmas I guess." The guy grinned.
"You too."
