MARVEL IMAGINES

CLINT BARTON - BOW & ARROW

Although you and Clint had been married for a almost a year now, he had never taught you how to use a bow and arrow. Surprising, right? He always claimed there was no reason for you to learn. "If you don't need to learn, why bother?" He would always say, raising his eyebrows at you.

You and Clint sat on the porch of your house, watching the sunrise together. It was one of the things that you two did every morning, after getting coffee. "Clint," you said abruptly, turning to face him. "Teach me how, or I'll steal your bow and teach myself. And we both know that won't be pretty." He sighed and rested his head on his elbow, gazing thoughtfully at the horizon. It was a few moments later when he finally turned to look at you, his voice soft. "Y/N, I've never wanted to teach you because it means that you may need to use it someday. And I can't bear the thought of you being danger, let alone having to defending yourself to stay alive. That terrifies me. I never want that to happen."

You reached over to grab his hand, intertwining your fingers. "Clint, do you really think that not teaching me how to shoot a bow will prevent anything bad from happening?" He glanced over at you but said nothing, only squeezing your hand. "I know you're trying to protect me, but let's say something bad did happen and no one else was around. Wouldn't you rather I knew how to defend myself than know nothing at all?"

"Damn," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You really know how to make an argument."

"So you'll teach me?" You said, brightening. When Clint didn't reply, you jutted out your lower lip and gave him your puppy eyes. "Please?"

He shook his head again, this time in defeat. "Alright, alright," he sighed. "But it's not fair, you know I can't resist those eyes."

You grinned and stood up, kissing him on the cheek before grabbing both of your breakfast dishes and empty coffee mugs. "What, that's all I get? After finally saying yes, I get one lousy kiss on the cheek?"

You rolled your eyes and stepped towards him, planting a kiss on his lips. "Better?"

"Much," he said, giving you a knowing grin. "We'll go down to the field today, Y/N. I'll set up some targets."

__________

You and Clint stood in the empty field, a slight wind blowing through your hair. Clint, true to his word, had set up some targets- three bales of hay sat a few hundred feet away, fat red targets painted on them.

"Okay, Y/N, the first step is to set your stance," Clint said, gently grabbing your shoulders and turning you so that your body was angled slightly towards the target. "Now you have to nock your arrow- that means you place it on the bowstring." He came up behind you and placed one of your hands on the back on the bow. "This is your draw hand." He placed your other hand on the lower front of the bow next. "And this is your grip hand. So just get a feel for it, this is what it's like to be holding the bow."

"When can I shoot arrows at things?" You asked excitedly. He looked at you, his eyes bright in amusement before gently lifting your arms to lift the bow. "Right about now. First you have to do a pre-draw, which is what you're doing right now. You hold the bow up, but don't pull the string back. After that is the draw, which leads to shooting stuff." He rolled his eyes as you broke into a smile. "Pull the arrow back slowly, and then do the shot set-up. So rotate your hips back, and then aim and shoot." You did exactly as he said, and took a deep breath as your aimed at one of the targets before letting go of the bowstring. You watched in amazement as the arrow flew towards the target and ... kept flying past it, into the trees. Clint broke into a fit of laughter. "Oh, that was so cute. You were so serious, and ..." he trailed off and started laughing again. Upon seeing your frustrated expression, he regained his composure and cleared his throat. "Try again, Y/N. You won't get it right away."