Every year Clint stays up until 12 am so he can see Christmas from the very beginning. The problem is, he doesn't like to do it alone.
Clint bounced up and down on his bed excitedly. 10 minutes to midnight, 10 minutes until Christmas day.
When it came to Christmas Clint was a huge child. He adored the season, so every year he'd stay up so that he could see Christmas day begin. Usually, after that, he was too hyped up to sleep so he'd sit in the kitchen drinking Coffee until the others eventually got up and then would bug the shit out of them because of the caffeine high.
One year he'd made the mistake of waking up Natasha and had barely escaped with his life.
But this year was different. This year he was damned if he was gonna be sat up alone. He knew exactly who he was waking up and he was ninety-nine per cent positive it wouldn't result in his death.
Most people would call him insane but then most people didn't know Bucky the way Clint did.
That's right dear reader you did read that right. Bucky a.k.a James Buchanan Barnes a.k.a The Winter Soldier. You can understand why people questioned Clint's sanity.
The thing they didn't know however was that Clint and said ex-assassin were in a relationship of sorts. They'd never actually admit it out loud and it mostly consisted of soft touches and affections in private and mocking and crude banter in public but for whatever reason, it worked and it gave Clint enough confidence in his plan to not die today.
Five... four... three... two... one...
Clint grinned as he jumped off the bed, adrenaline and excitement running through him. It was time.
He climbed up onto the desk he had in the corner of his room and opened up the vent before climbing up into it and making his way around to Bucky's room.
He reached it easy enough and slowly opened up the vent. He peered slowly down into Bucky's room and smirked at the sleeping ex-assassin. He lowered himself down, landing with a light thud before creeping up to the bed.
He paused for a moment, just watching Bucky sleep. Not in a creepy way, in an 'I'm checking he's actually asleep and not just pretending so that I won't get close and end up getting stabbed because he thought I was a threat' kind of way. Turned out he was genuinely asleep, much to Clint's relief.
After a moment's preparation, Clint pounced, landing on top of Bucky on the bed and yelling "It's Christmas!" As loud as he could. Well, not loud enough to wake everyone else in the tower up, just loud enough to cause Bucky to flail violently as he bolted upright, knocking Clint off of him in the process.
The archer just lay back next to him laughing as Bucky's gaze swept the room for danger. Once he was sure he wasn't under attack, the tension faded from his shoulders and he turned an annoyed glare on Clint.
"What the hell are you playing at Barton?" He groaned, rubbing his metal left hand across his face, pushing hair out of his eyes. Clint just grinned up at him with childlike excitement. "It's Christmas!" He repeated as though it was the answer to everything. "It's twelve oh five!" Bucky whined flopping back on the bed. "I hate you." He told him as Clint continued to grin.
Clint just rested his chin on Barnes' chest, still smiling up at him. Bucky sighed, unable to stay mad at his little archer, especially when he was being so goddamn cute. He ran a hand through Clint's hair affectionately.
"I'm sensing this is a regular thing with you?" Clint laughed, sitting up and staring down at him. "Every year." He beamed proudly. Bucky shook his head.
"So who's normally the unlucky one who gets given a heart attack in the middle of the night?" Clint's face fell slightly.
"No one, I usually just end up sitting drinking coffee all night by myself." He shrugged. The look of pure horror on Bucky's face was comical.
"I tried waking Nat up once. It didn't go very well." Bucky rolled his eyes. "So what, you decided you'd wake me up instead and hope I didn't stab you whilst half asleep?" Clint just grinned, playing with Bucky's fingers absentmindedly. "I knew you wouldn't. You love me too much." He added with a cheeky grin that Bucky missed due to running his free hand over his face again. "You're lucky that's true." He muttered causing Clint to nearly fall off the bed
Never in a million years had he ever expected Bucky to admit that. Especially not after such a flippant, off-hand comment. Hell, he was expecting the usual earful of grade A snark.
He decided to play it cool and just grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Coffee?" He asked, totally not making a big deal out of it. Bucky nodded as he sat up. "Coffee."
