Snapped Strings

Dinner

"Clint should be here in a while," Nat mumbled nervously. It was going to be the first time she saw Clint since she came to live with me. I came out of the kitchen and she was sat on the arm of the sofa. I held her close to me. "Don't worry about anything; I'm going to be with you every step of the way." I kissed her gently on the top of her face and she held my hands in hers. Neither of us were prepared for the loud knocking at our door.

I opened the door and Clint fell in, onto the floor. Bruce was stood behind him looking unimpressed. "This guy was asking for you guys. I'm in the middle of packing my kit away so have fun." As soon as he'd arrived, Bruce was gone. I sighed and picked Clint up, helping him onto the sofa. Nat had a hand to her mouth in shock as she sat beside him. "I'll go get some drinks," I said. I kept the kitchen door open so Nat didn't feel alone. I don't know what I expected but I thought she would have spoken to him. Instead, they sat in silence.

When I came back into the living room, I put a glass of water in front of Clint and gave a smoothie to Nat. "Haven't you got anything stronger?" Clint muttered. I ignored his idiocy and pretended we were going to have a normal conversation. "Water is a liquid so it's all you need. Do you mind me asking the name of your ex-wife?" Nat gasped and Clint dropped his arrogant facade. "Pepper. Pepper Potts." He spat the name like it burnt his tongue to speak her name. I thanked him and got my phone up, ready to look her up on social media. 

"I'd like to say also that your sister is scared to come home because of your anger. I can help you find a support group and get you the help you need if you want me to. At the moment, you risk losing your sister as well as your health." I don't know if it was the light, but it looked for a moment as if Clint was going to start crying. I took the opportunity to leave and let the siblings talk. Before I left, I placed a kiss on Nat's cheek. "I'll be just round the corner if you need me," I whispered into her ear. She nodded her head and thanked me.

As their awkward conversation began, I searched for Clint's love on all of the social media I had. I almost dropped my phone when I saw Bruce was mutual friends with her. I sent him a text about it.

"Do you know Pepper Potts?"

"Yeah - we went to high school together. We're like brother and sister."

I took a deep breath and plunged into the murky waters of trying to fix someone else's heart.

"Do you know who her new boyfriend is?"

"I think he's Tony Stark You know, the guy on the mechanical magazine covers?"

I laughed to myself. Since when did Bruce read those types of magazines? He was into music and the odd bit of science.

"If you say so.... ;) Do you think you could arrange them to come round for coffee tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sure. There's no harm in asking. And for the record, Stark won 'sexiest man alive' earlier this year so my opinion on his looks is irrelevant."

I was about to reply when I heard Nat started to raise her voice to Clint. I went round the corner into the living room and saw Clint very close to Nat's face. He looked like he was about to boil over. "Clint, calm down." I said slowly, very aware that his emotions were shredded. He stood up and came over to me. "Since when did you get to decide how I feel? Or how I should live my life? Back off and leave my sister alone! She's not one of you." His last words hit my stomach like a fist.

I glanced at Nat and she was starting to cry. Clint's words had hurt her as well. "If you just calm down and rest, we can talk about this tomorrow. You have too much alcohol in your system to think properly at the moment." I could smell the pure chemical of ethanol on his breath. Clint growled and walked me backwards against the wall. He looked me up and down before spitting on my shoes. That was the last straw for me.

In a flash, my military training kicked in and I had his body against the wall, his arm locked behind his back so he could move. "Oh shit. What the hell are you doing?" His voice was strained as he tried to resist the force on his arm. I pushed his hand higher up his back and he winced at the pain. "I don't want to have to defend myself in my own house. You're a guest. Your sister is my girlfriend. You need to rest, even sleep if you have to. Just clear your head and we'll talk tomorrow. You scare your own sister Clint. Just think about that."

Still restraining his arms, I walked him into the bedroom and I locked the door. Nat was in a flood of tears as she fell into my arms, a heap of apologies. "Shh," I said, stroking her soft ginger hair. "It's not your fault at all. He just needs to calm down and everything will be ok." She nodded and wiped her eyes. We lay on the sofa in silence. I knew she was listening to Clint yelling and breaking stuff in the bedroom but it was for his own good. There was a glass of water in there if he needed it, but he seemed mostly sleep deprived. I was starting to feel tired myself so I let my head rest on the back of the sofa, and fell into a light sleep.