𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 | ᴋᴀᴛᴇ ʙɪꜱʜᴏᴘ x ᴏᴄ

𝐈𝐗

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄: 𝐏𝐢𝐳𝐳𝐚 𝐃𝐨𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧

After our epic escape, I did eventually fall asleep on the couch. In Kate's lap. Which I did not plan on doing, however there was no way I was just gonna sleep on the armchair when such a comfortable human being like Kate was around. Did I mention she's very comfy to lay my head on? Because she is very comfy to lay on.

When I did wake up, though, it wasn't some cliché bullshit where Kate was playing with my hair or, the TV was on playing a Christmas movie. No, Kate was now up from the couch, and I could hear someone else's voice on the phone. Nate.

I sprung my head up from the couch, glancing both ways before nearly being attacked by the dog with licks. If it wasn't for the fact I'd picked up on Clint's phone call, I may have shouted at the dog. 

"She's still asleep." I saw Kate scribbling down on paper before showing Clint I groaned, leaning my head on the couch's pillow. "I'm so bored." He said. The dog continued to jump around on the couch as I got up. 

"Look, there's a.... there might be a little delay, buddy-" Dad told him as he read from Kate's paper. "It's kinda a bad connection..." He read as if he was an old man, which he was, before chuckling. "Oh- uh- you're uh- you're bored..." I chuckled. "You're the early bird. Hey, bud, I miss you." He chuckled, making me smile as I practically crawled my way to the kitchen. "Why don't you go get some breakfast, and read a book or somethin' 'till Mama wakes up?"

"What's the point of even reading a book?" The boy asks. Before Kate could finish writing it down, the boy asked something else. "Are you both coming home tonight? It's Christmas movie marathon." I had a sudden interest at the ceiling as Kate wrote it down for Clint. 

"Uh... yeah, it's uh- tonight is movie marathon night, that's right... uh-" Lila's activity, and we were going to miss it. Fuck sake. "I really wish we could be there with you, buddy. Uh, you know how much Rob would love to see you guys, and me too.... But... uh, we're not gonna make it. But, I think we'll be back in the next day or so. Yeah,  we'll be in time for Cooper's Christmas sweater night with the board games Robyn loves. You ready for that?" He asks, but it was hard for me to even really listen to the call. I was about to leave, when there was no reply from Nate for a moment. "Nathaniel?" Kate shrugged. "Buddy?" 

"It's okay if you two can't come home for Christmas, Daddy. We understand." Nathaniel said eventually, making me sigh as Kate wrote that, too. 

"Oh, boy, I'm telling you, I miss you so much-" Clint went on, waiting for Kate to write it. When she showed it to him, a little bit of Dad broke the same way it did in me. The problem of the Barton gene is pretty simple: We care too much. And I'm not even blood related...

"Hey, buddy." I called out suddenly, while dad tried to find himself in that moment. "We're gonna be back home, as soon as. We're gonna be there for Christmas, okay?" I tell him. "I promised your sister, and I'm sticking to it, right?" I walked over to the phone on the table top as I spoke. "I'm speaking for both me and dad when I say we're happy to hear your voice... but, we gotta go, okay?" I could practically hear the little boy's heart break through the phone. "I love you, Nate." 

"Love you, Robbie." He said, much quieter. "Love you, Daddy." I nudged dad and Kate showed another piece of paper. 

"I love you more, buddy." The man next to me said. We said our goodbyes before the three of us stood there for a moment, not a word being exchanged. Eventually, I looked up at Kate. 

"Thank you." I told her, walking away back to the couch. Most of the reason for walking to the couch was so she didn't see how close I was to crying. 

"Yeah..." I heard her say, but it was hard to get a conversation flowing after that. Fuck being a Barton, it's too hard.