Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 8: The Return of the Department

Clint was starting to really enjoy himself now that he got to see both sides of his newfound little family more often.

He hadn't really thought about it before, because it had been so normal for the Avengers and the X-Men to be separate. He was with one team for school and the other for summer vacation, and that had only reinforced the separation. But it was way more fun to get to see Storm over the weekend and hang out with the friends he'd made at the school even while he was at the tower.

He hadn't actually said it out loud, but the fear had always been in the back of his mind that the heroes would forget about him with how long he was gone. Even if the Avengers had only spent a few months with him last summer and then welcomed him back with open arms this summer, he had spent just enough time in the foster system getting sent back with Barney and bouncing to the next place that he kept wondering when the next door would close.

So it was definitely nice to know that he'd see his X-Men friends at the tower and his Avenger friends in the mansion.

But even with everyone coming and going and all of Clint's friends starting to become friends with each other — which was always really fun, especially because Kitty and Jubilee both had really obvious crushes on Thor — Clint was glad when he got a chance to spend some time alone with his mom.

He appreciated that she was trying to do that more often, especially as they got closer to the end of summer and therefore closer to the wedding. He thought it might also maybe be a way to get away from everyone that was overly excited about the big day, too.

The nice part, at least, was that Logan definitely wasn't being as pushy as the others were.

Clint was really warming up to the idea of Logan being his step-dad, because he seemed to be the only person who wasn't going totally insane lately. Even Barney seemed overly excited — but Clint thought that was maybe because Barney didn't really live with them except for about a third of the year when he wasn't on tour, so he didn't have the same worries Clint did about losing their mom.

But what Clint liked most about Logan was that he didn't get jealous or anything when he and K would go out and have some time just the two of them. The closer they got to the wedding, the more K seemed to make it a point to do that with him, and Clint really, really appreciated it. He didn't want to get forgotten, and this was the best reassurance she could give him.

So they headed out that weekend to go camping. Not camping like they had been doing before, where it was sort of on the run, wherever they could find a good place. This time, they brought s'mores materials and they knew where they'd be going and they had plenty of fun snack food and a fishing rod because Clint wanted to learn how to do that too. It was camping for fun, and he was pretty excited about it.

"Jubilee was telling me about how she makes her s'mores in the microwave with Cheeps and that's just a lot," Clint said, his eyes wide as he followed K to where they'd be setting up their campsite.

"Wrong," K said. "It's just wrong. Like she needs more sugar."

"She says she does," Clint insisted. "She says it's totally a requirement."

"Of course she says she does," K said, shaking her head. "She also acts like a toddler when facing vegetables."

Clint giggled. "Yeah, well, even I'm not that bad," he said, tipping his chin up. "I mean, I still think that squash tastes like mashed up gross, but I'll eat it. I'll eat just about anything!"

"Squash is nasty," K agreed. "But if you cover it with enough spices, it's tolerable. Or ... put it into a good ratatouille."

"One time, I ate squash and zucchini, like, every day for forever when I was at a foster home," Clint said, scrunching up his nose.