Imagine If You Assembled The Avengers: Volume 2

You're Not the Boss of Me (Barton x reader)

It was a terrible thought that kept running through your head. Sure, staring at a casket for the last hour had been messing with your mind, and you were an emotional wreck, but you couldn't allow that to be an excuse for the repetitive mantra that wouldn't give you even a moment of reprieve.

Why couldn't it have been the other one?

Why did it have to be the brother who worked for SHIELD and not the brother who worked for HYDRA? It had crossed your mind more than a few times during the service that it easily could have been one brother who murdered the other, but you may never know for sure. You silently cursed them both for putting you in this position, leaving you without any other family to help, and now you were left with the brother you despised and ultimately feared to try to take control of your life. You knew it was just a matter of time.

"You okay?"

Clint's voice jarred you from your thoughts, his hand on your shoulder but not giving you the comfort you needed. "Always," you replied in a broken whisper. "Not much else for choices, is there?"

"Yeah, there are choices. You can cry, you know? It's okay."

"Don't want to." You shrugged his hand away and turned, searching for your guest but not seeing him readily. "Have you seen Pete?"

"Stark hauled him off somewhere. They were throwing big tech words at each other and I lost interest. It's like he has a new pet or something."

"That's just perfect," you mumbled under your breath, reaching into your bag to retrieve your phone, hoping that you could pull Spider-Boy away from Iron Man long enough to get him to take you home. "I just want to get out of here, and he's my ride."

Clint turned and waved his hands in front of you, tipping his head to try to get your eye contact, "um, hello? I could take you home. I do know how to drive, and happen to have a car right over there." He pointed his thumb back and behind him with a faint smile, waiting patiently for you to decide if you would take him up on the offer.

"Yeah, okay, thanks. I suppose if he's gonna bail on me at my own brother's funeral, he can't rely on me to save him from Tony."

It was an unexpected comfort when Clint's hand slid into yours, gripping it tightly to lead you away. Something about the gentleness behind his hold, or maybe it was the knowing silence as he walked at your side, or it could have been the understanding in his eyes when you finally looked at him, but your emotions suddenly got the best of you and you started to break.

"Oh, hey, (Y/N), come here," he said quietly, stopping and turning to bring you closer and wrapping his arms around you. "You're not alone, okay? You know that I'm not going anywhere."

"I've heard that before," you panted between cries, "and look where we are."

"Okay, so my timing sucks, but I still mean it. I'm never going to let him come for you, and if he tries, I happen to know a pretty tough group of people that he'll have to get through. Besides, I think I have a plan."

~~~

"Do you think he'll show up?"

"Clint's lawyer said that he sent a notice, and if he doesn't then there's nothing to stop us." You grabbed your phone and scrolled through the latest messages from Clint as you waited for Peter to put on his shoes, painstakingly tying each one with slow precision that made you want to scream at him to move faster. You were ready to get this day over with, and he was just making it drag on. "We could switch you to Velcro shoes if that would speed things up..."

"No need to get snippy, (Y/N). I'm nervous too."

"I'm not nervous," you sighed, dropping your phone into your bag, "I just want to get life back to normal, you know? As normal as it's ever gonna be, anyway. Clint's taking a big risk with trying to get this adoption to go through, just to keep the evil brother off my back."