Metal Birds?

6: Coloring Books

~The Next Day~

Clint stood in the kitchen of his house twirling darts between his fingers. Seated at the dining table in the next room were Natasha, Pietro, Lila, and Cooper. They were coloring pictures Natasha ripped out of some coloring books she had found and a giant pile of crayons and colored pencils were placed in the middle of the table. Lila was coloring a cat, Cooper was coloring a fox, Natasha was coloring a spider, and Pietro was drawing. It was a bird from what Clint could make out, but he wasn't sure what kind.

The sound of Nathaniel's crying came around noon and Natasha put her coloring stuff down to go handle the baby. She went to the nursery room and lifted him out of his little bed, holding him in her arms gently.

"Hello, traitor," she joked, kissing him on the head. He was silenced for a moment but then his crying just got louder. "I know buddy, you don't like being awake. I don't either, but you can't sleep forever. Your mom's gone for now, but we can go get uncle Clint and he'll feed you and then you can come color with us, okay?" Nathaniel did not respond and just kept crying. Natasha sighed and nodded in sympathy and carried him to the kitchen.

"What does he need?" Clint asked, already ready with a bottle full of warm milk.

"He's hungry. You feed him this time. I'm coloring with the children," she stated simply, handing him the baby. Clint rolled his eyes and brought Nathaniel over to the couch.

"Pietro, what are you drawing?" Cooper asked, leaning over the table to peek at his sketch.

"It's a bird," Pietro replied, glancing up slightly.

"Yes, but what kind, you dumbo?" questioned Natasha.

"Oh. It's a hawk."

"Like uncle Clint!" Lila exclaimed happily.

"Right, Li, just like uncle Clint," Natasha agreed, eyeing Pietro suspiciously.

"What about uncle Clint?" Clint called from the couch.

"Pietro drew a hawk," Cooper informed his uncle.

"A hawk? Interesting." Pietro turned pink and hung his head low, continuing his sketch.

He soon finished and grabbed a pen sharpie to trace over it so he could color. The body of the bird as well as it's wings were colored a lighter-to-darker fade of brown with little hints of purple. Pietro made the eyes a mixture of colors, resulting in a beautiful blueish-green color with a golden hue near the iris of the hawk's eyes.

~

By dinner, the rain had started. It began as a light drizzle but soon developed into pouring rain. Clint's radio was playing music and Clint himself was at the stove making grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone. Natasha was perched on the counter near him and Pietro was making things out of Legos with Lila and Cooper.

"How odd that he drew a hawk, right?" Natasha commented quietly as Clint finished up with the second sandwich. He shook his head.

"Not really. Hawks are cool. Why?" Natasha shrugged.

"Nothing, it's just odd that he drew a hawk. Plus how he colored it, it's a bit... Different, you could say."

"What, is it pink or something?" asked Clint with a laugh. Natasha chuckled and hopped off the counter, walking to the table to fetch the picture. She handed it to Clint and regained her spot on the counter, watching him look at it. "What's wrong with it? It looks fine."

"No, you idiot. Nothing's wrong with it. It just looks like the bird version of you."

"What?"

"Your hair is brown. The bird is brown. You wear purple all the time, plus it's on your suit. The hawk has purple. Plus, your eyes match those of the bird nearly exactly. Stuff like that doesn't just happen, Francis." Clint set the paper on the counter and shrugged.

"That doesn't mean anything, Nat. Here, bring the children their food." He handed her a plate with three sandwiches on it and two paper plates as well, and began on the last two sandwiches. She rolled her eyes and took the plates to the living room, taking a seat next to Pietro.

"Here you go guys," she said happily as she handed the kids their sandwiches. She joined them and their Legos and made a very successful Lego cat, which was roughly the size of an actual kitten. Clint sat on the couch and listened to music from his radio while he watched them play with Legos, chuckling at how big Natasha and Pietro were compared to the kids.

The time eventually changed to 9:00 and Clint decided it was time for bed. He had the two kids clean up their mess of Legos and made them promise to take showers the next day. Natasha cleaned up the coloring stuff before going to check on Nathaniel and Pietro went to lay on the couch. Clint put the dishes by the sink and began washing them.

"I'm heading up," Natasha called to him as she passed by.

He spun around, looking at her through tired eyes. "Hmm?" He blinked. "Oh, okay. See you in the morning."

"Alright. Get some sleep, Clint. You look tired. By the way, tomorrow's haircut day," she reminded him. He nodded and turned back to the sink, trying to focus. He heard Natasha go up the stairs and decided to call it quits. He drained the sink and rinsed the soap off the dishes, dried his hands, and shut the kitchen lights off.

"Pietro? You still awake?" he called quietly, walking into the living room.

"Huh?" The Sokovian's head shot up and Clint chuckled. Pietro's silver hair was a mess and his clothes were slightly deshevled. He yawned loudly and smiled, saying, "Hi."

"Hi. You can sleep upstairs, c'mon. We have a ton of rooms in this place." Pietro nodded and pushed himself off the couch, yawning again as he stumbled toward Clint. He nearly fell but Clint caught him and laughed. "You're tired, huh?" Pietro nodded sleepily and Clint helped him stand. "Let's get you upstairs then." Pietro nodded and regained his balance, following Clint upstairs.

"Where do I sleep?" he questioned. Clint shrugged.

"There's Lila's room, there's Cooper's room, that's where Nat's sleeping, that's where I'm sleeping, that's Nate's room, and you can sleep in there," he directed, pointing out each room as he talked.

"Alright. Thank you. Goodnight, Barton." He gave Clint a smile and walked into the empty room.

"Night, buddy." Clint went into the room he was to be staying in, which was Laura's room, and pulled his shirt off. He slipped off his shoes and set them next to the bed before changing into pajama pants. He crawled into the bed and fell asleep within seconds.

***

Hi! I'm back with an update, as you can see.

Hawksilver coming soon. Do you have any questions?

Shoutout to @LinIsAfOX for commenting and voting on this story and my other one (Here We Go, go read it).

I'm thinking of publishing a Destiel story. Who of you would want to read it? Please let me know so I can give you what you want to read so you can enjoy it.

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Peace out, my nuggets,

-MBAD