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

𝐗𝐗

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘: 𝐢 𝐚𝐦 𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭)

The bus ride between us was quiet, with a very confused Kate, a Clint who needs to get a Russian off his back, and a me who needed to break this on-going tension with the Russian.

Turning to Kate, I squeezed her hand for her to look back at me. "You know, I'm really sorry how this has all happened... and worked out for you." I tell her, trying to give her soft little smile.

"Well..." She murmured, leaning the top of her head on mine. "I can't really think about it right now." I nodded. "We just need to focus on tonight."

I groaned at the reminder. "You're right." Clint said from his seat, and I couldn't tell if he was agreeing to the groan or the pointer of tonight. "We need... a ton of gear." I smirked.

"What? Like- a whole batch of those way-too-dangerous trick arrows?" I asked him, and the man smiled a bit.

Her head snapped up at that, glancing between the two of us like she's just been told the best news ever. "You can make more?" I smirked as I looked at Clint, before back at Kate.

"Well..." I began. "There is a way you can make more."

"You're such liars!" The archer told the two of us, punching my arm playfully as I continued to smile at her.

"What?! It was funny to see you think that trick arrows were so rare!" I tried to defend me and Clint, but there really was no saving either of our assess now.

We didn't hang around when it came to the building, either. Although she was keen on helping with the building, Clint was less keen on Kate helping on the more... explosive arrows.

"That's way too much solder." I tell him, already burning it off as he handed it to me with the iron. The man gave me a look. "Do you want it to work or not?" I asked him before adding it to the pile for Kate to name.

"Hey, Kate, have you seen that pepper spray?" He asked her as she walked back into where we were. She placed it on the side next to him as he put another arrow together. Soldering together another, Clint gave me a look as I did so, and I instead put the iron down so I could show him my middle finger before carrying on.

"What is this one?" Kate asked, holding one of the arrow tips.

I smirked as I looked back down. "Way too dangerous." I tell her.

"What she said." Clint confirmed before going back to his work. She continued to label the arrows, while I tried to find my happy place making the magnetic arrows. Not my strong point, I can't lie.

Ten arrows a quiver, quickly became twenty, and so on and on before we were just filling up the darts. She was seeming to have a problem with working out how the bottle worked, but I also new after trying to help her with the other arrows, she didn't need help, and I think that was her stubbornness talking.

"So, this, uh... this holiday party tonight," Clint began. "is it... is it a fancy thing?"

Kate looked up at him. "Yeah. Formal" She confirmed.

"We don't... we don't do that much formal stuff." I tell her, explaining why he was pulling such a face at this. She only nodded for a moment before going back to the dart. I gave Clint a look, telling him to give us a minute, and he didn't really need to be told twice, thankfully.

"You know, you don't have to do this." I say. "It is... part of the job. Always inconvenient. You can... get hurt. Sometimes you can be in a team, and still feel alone. Heroes will make these tough decisions and the public will seem to never know. And, I know- you're getting this super-cool, but at the same time, not super-cool backstory right now- but I need know that you're ready for whatever the hell is going to happen."

There was a moment of silence again as I looked over at the girl. "When I was younger... aliens invaded. And, I was alone, and I was terrified." I still had the nightmare or two about the Chitauri. Glad to still know they're ugly in my sleep, though. "But then, I saw you. You and Clint, fighting aliens with a stick and a string. You both jumped from that building in harmony, even if you can't fly, even though you don't have superpowers. And somehow, you were only two years older than me. And I thought- if she could do that, and if he could do that, then I didn't have to be scared." It was dead silent between us as I listened to everything she had to say. "You and Clint? You showed me that being a hero isn't just for people who can fly, or shoot lasers out of their hands, it's for anyone, who's brave enough to do what is right.... no matter the costs."

I smiled. "You know, I was terrified, too." I tell Kate. "At any moment, one of us could've died. And, the Avengers- were basically second family. I was thirteen." I heavily sighed. "And now, I'm a twenty-four year-old, most likely with PTSD, and I have this really beautiful girl next to me," I said, making her smile. "of who seems to have a really big crush on me. And can be a huge dork." I added. "But, she's cute, really cute."

"And, I'm a twenty-two year-old, with a mom who turned out to be a liar, and I'm also next to a really beautiful girl." Kate said, mocking me slightly. "Difference is she's been my celebrity crush for years." I chuckled a little at what she'd said. Teasing material for later...? I think so "I'm ready." The girl told me, making me nod.

"I mean, really, you have pretty good standards if I'm your celebrity crush-" I began, making her slap my hand, while I smirked. 

"You're gonna make me regret saying that, aren't you?" Kate said, and I smiled at her, taking in every detail of her. Her face, every delicate and intricate detail about her, how her hair fell in the way it did. She really was beautiful. "Stop staring, it's weird." She told me, but I shrugged.

"Can't help it." I murmured. "You're too pretty."

↣

"Shit, this is formal." I muttered as we walked. Some were dressed so nice I felt as though I'd missed the invitation to one of Tony's parties, again. I kept messing with the sleeve on the blazer I was wearing, as it felt anything but my size.

"You need to calm down." Kate tells me, now suddenly holding my hand so I couldn't fiddle with the blazer. 

"Taylor Swift references are my thing." I told her in return as we walked into the building, with Kate smirking at me. 

"I hope you're done, because.... people are... in danger." Dad says from behind us, making me roll my eyes. "Awww, you're holding hands-" 

"Shove it, CB-One."

a/n- another chapter later today :D