Bartoned

Chapter 6

"What the fuck do you three idiots think you're doing?" Clint yelled.

You dropped your gaze. You had been so excited about starting training as an Avengers agent. The number of times you'd already worked with them, you knew you had what it took. You liked working with them. You liked hanging out with them. With Clint especially. Now here you were being screamed at by him because you couldn't handle being picked on by a couple of the other recruits and you'd decided to get into an actual honest-to-god sword fight with them.

You dropped your eyes as Clint looked between you and the two other recruits who had broken the rules so badly. "You're supposed to be learning fighting techniques, not killing each other!" he fumed.

The lights in the room dimmed and a screen started to play a video of the fight you were just in. Clint looked up at it with his arms folded over his chest as you rubbed your side when you'd been hit with the blade.

When the video ended Clint wheeled back on the three of you. "The captain gets the final say, but my decision right now is that you, Jones are going out for three months," he said to the woman, before turning to the guy. "Carson, you get four months, for compounding the issue." He finally turned back to you and the look on his face was a bewildering mix of anger and hurt. "I don't even know what to do with you."

"What a surprise," Jones muttered. "It's amazing what sex can get you out of."

"Are you angling to be fired?" Clint roared. You jumped, actually legitimately scared of how strongly he was reacting to this. He was always so mellow. Even in the middle of a battle.

Jones muttered something under her breath and Clint narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm sorry, Agent Barton," you said quietly. "I'll do whatever Captain Rogers decides when he gets here."

"Captain Rogers is here now." Steve barked, striding into the room. "What exactly happened here? I don't wanna hear anything, I've already watched the playback. Jones, Carson, you do not have what it takes to be SHIELD agents, pack up your stuff and get the hell out of here."

"What?" Carson argued. "She's the one who can't hack it!"

"I will decide that, thank you," Steve snarled. "Now get out."

The two of them narrowed their eyes at you and stalked out. You turned to look at Steve and Clint, your heart racing. They stood shoulder to shoulder arms folded both looking down at you, jaws set.

"You need to grow up," Steve snapped. "It shouldn't matter what other people say to you. You need to be rational when you're fighting."

You heard a huff to the side of the room and you saw Bucky trying to stifle a laugh. You would have laughed too, but you were still terrified this whole thing was over before it began. You turned back to Steve who was still glaring at you.

"You're going to have to take an anger management class, and you're going to be on probation for a month. That means not a single hair out of line," Steve said.

You nodded. "Yes, sir. I have just made things ten times harder for me, haven't I? None of them are going to trust me now if those two got kicked out and I'm just on probation."

"Damn straight, you've absolutely fucked yourself," Clint said, before promptly receiving a smack on the back of the head from Steve.

"You were willing to stand up for yourself, albeit recklessly," Steve said and gently touched your arm. "You can't let what other people say get to you like that. People will talk because you are friends with us. That's not why you're here. We don't give friends special treatment because that gets them killed. If anything we're going to be harder on you than anyone else. Remember that."