Hello, Who is this?

8) Not a kid

Clint made his way to the designated area that Friday claimed Riley was and was surprised to find himself pinned down in his own vents. "man, I really am getting old." 

"Oh shit! I am so sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone and I... my head... I just. I am so so sorry Mr Barton."

"Kid, it's alright. It actually speaks volumes that you pinned me that easily. Do you want to talk about what had  you hiding up here?"

"My silly stuff shouldn't be on your shoulders Mr Barton. Thank you for asking though." 

"Hmm... alright kid, I'll drop it for now but we will circle back to this at some point. How about an easy question?" 

Riley knew she was going to have to talk to someone at some point but couldn't just yet. "Ask away, I suppose."

"Why am I arrowhead in the meeting room and Mr Barton when alone?"

"Oh, I just try not to show my nerves in front of groups so I hide behind sarcasm and bad humor. When alone, I don't feel as threatened so I tend to show my colors. Maze always says she knows I am uncomfortable based on which personality traits are most prominent. Hell, I was calling Mr Stark, Mister Mobster for almost two days. Talk about stupid."

"Uh, kid, I am fairly certain that Tony would rather you call him Tony than Mr Stark. He is your soulmate after all." 

"To be fair, I called Sam Mister Falcon-Sir last night in the bar and Mister Stark nearly bit my head off. He was claiming that I couldn't talk to other people like that and that I was being rude. He might actually prefer I call him Mister Stark at this point." Riley was blushing and hiding her face in her hands by the end of her statement.

Clint was open mouth staring at her in shock before barking out a short laugh that he attempted to cover with a cough. "Wow, had no idea that Tony had a kinky side, makes sense though. Steve would probably be the most vanilla of the four."

This time, it was Riley who was gawking but ended up laughing as well. They continued to chat about how Clint's soul group worked and how they were working on Thor and Nat having a child using Bruce and Dr Cho's science stuff with Laura's egg. "So, basically, you wipe out Laura's DNA and put Nat's in? Then introduce the would be father's DNA before implanting it back in Laura? Yeah, that isn't confusing at all. How does Laura feel about none of the kids having her DNA?"

As they continued chatting, Riley got a text from Jack. He had hacked the company's server and got her info that way. She smiled at his antics before looking at the time. "Shit, shit, shit. I am so dead. I have to go. Thank you arrowhead, I needed this more than I knew apparently."

"Any time kid."

"Can we not with the kid thing. Technically most of my soulmates are older than you and how do you think they will want to keep me if all they see is a kid?" 

Her face fell as she realized that they may very well decide to reject her based on her age, or how broken she was. 

Clint saw her expression change and could guess the direction but never had a chance to talk to her as she dropped out of the vent and landed softly in an empty room. He was almost envious of how easy she made it look. He smiled at the thought of her continuing to surprise everyone as he dropped from the vent to, landing with a dull thud as his foot slid out from under him. 

Nat saw the pair leave the office and raised a brow. "consider yourselves lucky I'm not the jealous type." Clint smiled at her laughing as he saw the smirk she was trying to keep hidden before turning to see Riley's skin darkening with embarrassment.