You're What?

Hawks Eat Spiders

Meeting Clint was kind of a surprise. Peter had been walking from his room to the kitchen, planning on grabbing a snack then going down to the lab, when he came across the archer burrowed in a nest of blankets and reading a book. Although Peter had jumped in surprise, Clint didn't even look up at him. When Peter asked if he was Hawkeye, the famous Avengers archer, Clint did look up and grinned. His snack and Mr. Stark were forgotten as soon as Clint that he was indeed Hawkeye.

Dropping down to join Clint in the nest in the living room, Peter asked question after question until he finally ended with, "It was so cool to watch you in Leipzig!"

Unfortunately, he had not been intending to say that and froze, watching Clint closely to see how he would react. He hardly blinked.

"You're the Spider-Man then?" Peter nodded dumbly. "Gotta hand it to you, kid, you did good."

"Wait, you aren't gonna freak out?"

All the others had at least acted a bit more concerned or curious. Clint just shrugged.

"I've seen it all," he told Peter, waving a hand around his head. "We have ant men, super soldiers, and otherworldly god things. Besides," he added, "Hawks eat spiders."

Peter grinned.

"What all can you do, Spider-Man?"

Excitedly, Peter began describing his abilities. When he told Clint he could climb walls, Clint demanded that he prove it.

Jumping up from his seat, Peter walked over to a nearby wall then jumped up and stuck to it. He crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling until he was right above Clint. He let go with his hands and dropped down so he was hanging in front of Clint.

"Now that's awesome," Clint said with a wild grin.

Peter grinned back and unstuck himself from the ceiling, promptly falling to the ground. He landed on his head and groaned.

"I can also see, hear, smell, and feel everything better than regular people," Peter said as he rubbed his head and sat up.

Being partially deaf, Clint found that particularly interesting but Peter just shrugged.

"I guess. Sometimes, though, I go into sensory overload and every noise or touch freaks me out."

Clint hummed, nodding in understanding.

Across from Clint, Peter looked down at picked at his nails as he told him, "It's really bad when I'm in public cause I can't tell anyone what's going on. Talking just makes it worse."

"What if you knew sign language?"

Peter looked up at him curiously and Clint smiled.

"Tasha and I know it," he said, but Peter didn't see how that would help him if he didn't know it. "We can teach you."

"Really?" Peter asked excitedly.

Clint nodded and Peter threw himself at Clint, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem, kid," Clint wheezed and patted Peter's back. "If you could let me breathe now, that'd be great."

Peter let go of him immediately and scooted back, apologising profusely.

"Sometimes I forget about the strength thing," Peter said sheepishly, throwing in another apology just to be safe.

Clint just smiled and let out a chuckle. "Don't worry about it. I bet we could even teach Tony, though you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks."

"I'm glad you finally remembered Tony."

Peter and Clint whipped around to see Mr. Stark standing behind the couch smiling at them.

"You ready to go play in the lab, Underoos?"

"Oh yeah!" Peter exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Thanks, Mr. Barton! You're probably the nicest person I've ever met."

"I wouldn't count on it, Peter," Clint said. Raising a hand, he pointed at him sharply and told him, "And it's Clint, not Mr. Barton."

Mr. Stark smirked. "Yeah, good luck with that, Katniss."

Sending Peter down to the lab, Tony turned back to Clint and said a very quiet thank you. "His sensory overloads can be rough."

"It's no big deal," Clint replied, climbing out of his nest to get more coffee.

"It is though," Tony said, stopping Clint. He nodded in the direction Peter had disappeared in. "You're helping my kid out, Clint. I owe you."

"I'll remember that," Clint promised with a wink.

Tony chuckled before turning and following Peter down to the lab while Clint stood by the coffee maker, a little confused and only just now processing the fact that Tony had thanked him. And it had been sincere. Whoever that Peter kid was, maybe Clint had underestimated him.