Who Needs Powers?

Chapter 12: Clint's First Crush

Carol and K had disappeared together on their "girls trip," and the Avengers as a whole couldn't seem to decide if that was a good thing or not ... or if they wanted to join them.

But in the meantime, Kurt came over that weekend as promised so he and Clint could practice fencing, and they found themselves attracting an audience of interested and bored Avengers - with Jan bringing popcorn to share with Wanda and Thor while Thor called out encouragement, spurred on by Katie, who was sitting on his lap and being the best possible cheerleader.

"Do you do this every weekend?" Wanda asked, genuinely curious, since she hadn't been around the last time Clint and his family had stayed the summer.

Clint nodded, drawing himself up a little taller with a faint blush high on his cheeks that had Jan smirking hard to herself. "I didn't want to lose all the good work I did on fencing, especially because my brother's so good at it and he's doing a solo weapons master act in the circus this year, so I can't let him outdo me, you know?"

"Oh, I didn't know that," Wanda said. "How much older is he?"

"Not that much older," Clint said almost defensively.

Wanda smiled at him. "Then he must be very good."

"I can outshoot him," Clint said quickly, turning somehow redder.

"You certainly can," Kurt said, smiling as he put a hand on Clint's shoulder and then giving Wanda a little bow. "And of course, with a fencing teacher like me..."

"And I'm learning how to fight from my dad," Clint put in. "Cap let me run a sim so I could show him. I could show you!"

"Oh, I'm already so impressed with your fencing," Wanda said, obviously enchanted with the little boy.

Clint grinned and stood a little taller. "Yeah, well, I'm pretty awesome," he said, too caught up in trying not to blush too hard to notice that Carol and K had come back until K came to sit by Wanda.

Are you going to let me meet your girlfriend? K signed to Clint.

Clint blinked at K and then turned an even brighter red. What? No... I was... Swords?

Uh huh. You're just as puffed up as Barney around acrobats.

I'm not that bad!

You so are.

Clint turned redder, rubbing a hand in his hair even as Kurt smiled and waved at the two women. "Did you have a nice excursion?" Kurt asked.

"Lovely," Carol said. "Regular girl's night out."

"Didja take down Hydra?" Clint asked, glad for the subject change and trying hard not to look over at Wanda at that point — even if she was pretty and he liked her accent.

"I don't know what you're talking about," K said.

"C'mon, Mom," Clint said. "At least tell me if you got the Red Skull or not!"

"If we had, it would have been on the news," K replied. "No news that's newsworthy, right?"

"Mo-o-o-o-o-m. Please? I wanna know!"

"She's tellin' you to pay attention to the news," Logan said as he and James caught up to the group. "Or you won't have clue one as to what they were up to. Ever. She likes to leave mysterious headlines."

"But the headline never tells the whole story."

"Which is why she likes 'em," Logan said before he stole a kiss and let James lean over to maul K.