Survival Of the Fittest (Hawkeye Fanfiction)

Chapter 28: Only Friendship (Black Widow)

Meda padded with Fulvus down the sewer. It smelled awful but she was getting a bit used to it. They really didn't have a lot to say so Meda tried to innate the conversation.

"So how long have you been doing er this," she inquired.

Fulvus thought for a heartbeat as he tried to block out the numbing pain that had seeped into his shoulder. "Moons and moons. I mean this is what I made for, literally."

"Were you really made in a lab?"

Fulvus gave another nod, wondering why this was so hard for her to take in. "Yes. I was made out of the DNA of a lion and an eagle. It was really and experiment and it happened to work. I hear they don't work a lot more than they do work."

Meda gave a nod of understanding. "At least you can say no to assignments. Where I was before I could never say no or I was punished."

Fulvus shook his head. "That must be rough. However, I really can't say no either. I suppose I could but that wouldn't go over well with Fury."

"Fury?" Meda twitched her whiskers in surprise. Why did he have to introduce all of these new names?

"He's the leader of the organization that I work for. He's a little rough around the edges but you get used to him. At least I sort of did," Fulvus chuckled as he skipped along. "The mission aren't usually too bad but you don't get a lot of information. They think that you'll leak it everywhere."

Meda gave a nod. "So you said about animal agents too?"

Fulvus nodded his head vigorously. "Oh yeah! There's a lot of them but I only know a few. I don't socialize very well," he confessed as he shook his head. "Crest if Fury's companion. Then there's Todd, who is with Coulson. He's a little jokester sometimes but he means well. Mirrow, now Mirrow is great. She's a healer of sorts and she's very kind."

"It sounds like you fancy her," purred Meda as she pressed her head against Fulvus's shoulder.

"I don't know," he confessed as he looked at his talons of paws. "I never really thought too much about it."

Meda snorted in amusement. "You must have. If you spend a lot of time with her, you must have felt something toward her," Meda pressed, wondering if she was stepping on anyone's talons, so to speak.

Fulvus shook his head. "I never really had two parents so I couldn't tell how someone would go about liking another," he mumbled as he thought of Albus. She had been infused kits so it wasn't even like she had a mate to love.

Meda rolled her eyes. "Just do what I do." She forced Fulvus to look at her. "You would look into her eyes and allow her fur to brush yours and just see how it feels."

Meda leaned forward so that their fur and feathers brushed. Fulvus suddenly leaned in and touched his beak to her muzzle. She leaned in as well and they kissed.

Meda suddenly realized what was happening and she leaped back , shaking her head madly. "We can't do this," she nearly yowled for the whole tunnel to hear her.

Fulvus's eyes widened in shock. "Why not? I did everything that you told me," he pointed out as he lashed his tail. "And I felt something so I thought that was what I was supposed to do."

Meda's eyes softened. "Fulvus, I have to admit that I have some feelings for you but that I can't act on it," she growled sternly as if telling herself that instead of Fulvus.

"And why not," wondered Fulvus as he kinked his tail over his back. "Why can't we act on feelings that we both have?" He didn't understand why she wouldn't just let it happen.

Meda's eyes lit in affection. "Fulvus, I know that you want a family since it was something that you never had but I can't give you that!"

Fulvus didn't understand why. "And why not," he pressed as he curled his talons into his pads. He needed to feel the pain to keep himself awake.

Meda hung her head and felt the pain of her pain coming back. "A lion forced himself to mate with me and after my kits were taken from me they spayed me so that I would never have kits again."

Fulvus sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry, Meda."

Meda shook her head. "It's not your fault but I know that you really love Mirrow. You just have slight feelings for me. We can be friends but that's all we can ever be, okay?"

It wasn't really okay but Fulvus wasn't about to admit it. "Okay," he murmured as he stepped forward and touched his beak between Meda's ears. "I just wanted to do that once when it wasn't friendship."

Meda smiled. She could tell that they'd be friends but never anything more. She couldn't do that to anyone ever again. She couldn't give them offspring or anything else that they wanted as males. She just didn't feel right about it anymore.

Fulvus knew that is true love was for Mirrow. Meda just took him by surprise and he knew that nothing was about to happen between them. However, he knew that they would be very friendly and maybe even best friends in the field. They certainly both had the skill set for it.

"Come on, let's head back and see if our companions have a plan," suggested Meda as she playfully flicked a paw toward his ear.

He snorted in amusement. "They're probably just talking about how many people they took down or Clint's bow and arrows. He loves to show them off." Fulvus remembered how he was sometimes stuck in long conversations about the different types of arrows that he commonly used.

"Race ya," offered Meda playfully as she lowered into a playful crouch and sprang forward.

Fulvus chuckled in amusement and darted after her, not even caring about his shoulder anymore. He just wanted to have a little bit of fun. He passed her easily and Meda wasn't giving up. She was trying but Fulvus was just built more for this. He skidded to a halt when he came up on Clint and Natasha. Meda collided into his haunch and growled a bit in anger.

Meda drew back in embarrassment and shook her paws. "Sorry."

"How's your shoulder," inquired Clint as he drew forward on his knees and pressed a hand against his shoulder. Fulvus wanted to jump but he wasn't about to let Clint know how much that hurt.

Clint gave a nod. "Perhaps you should take a bit of a load off," he suggested since he didn't want to tell Fulvus what do do.

Fulvus sighed heavily. "Alright." He forced himself over to the side of a wall and laid down heavily. His shoulder burned a bit and his beak wrinkled a bit. Clint came over and sat down. Fulvus rested his head on Clint's leg and breathed heavily. Clint began to stroke him and Fulvus closed his eyes.

Natasha motioned for Meda and she strode over. Meda lowered her head and sniffed Natasha's calf. "It's alright, Meda. It's certainly not as bad as Fulvus."

"Fulvus would get through it," assured Meda as he looked over at the griffin. "He's tough, just like us. They're fighters and I think they actually want to help us."

Natasha looked over to Clint who was peering into Fulvus's shoulder. "I do think that they are trying to help up. I just don't know how their organization will take us."

Meda knew that Fulvus would stand up for her and Natasha. She was sure Clint would too. "I don't think that we really need to worry about it. I think what we need to worry about is escaping from here in one piece."