Stark Crossed Lovers

Chapter Thirty-One

Sam quickly finished her breakfast and made her way towards the elevator. She quickly jumped in and pulled her phone out on the way down to the lab.  She hadn't heard from Peter since the night before and decided it would be a good idea to text the boy. “Hey Pete! I was just wondering how your day was going? I hope school is going well, oh and hows Ned? Anyway I love you and hope to hear from you soon.” She read back over her message. It felt great that she could finally come clean and say those three little words. She smiled as the elevator doors opened and hit send taking a step outside of the elevator. She moved towards the lab, ready for what her dad had planned for her. “So I was thinking,” her dad started off, “that maybe if lover boy isn't too busy, you could train together on Saturdays.” Sam smiled at the thought of her, her dad and Peter all working together to fight crime. But the thought was crushed by a single comment made by her father. “Not that you will be anything more than a honorary Avenger, of course, but the kid can improve on his accuracy.” Though it wasn't exactly what she was hoping for her father to say, she still smiled. This could give her and her dad more time together, but also some more time for her father to really see what kind of person Peter was. Especially what kind of person he was with Sam. This idea could really work in her favor. “That sounds awesome!” Sam exclaimed. “Good, we will start tomorrow then. Until then, I want to work on your aim. I want you to be able to out show Peter tomorrow,” Tony said smirking at his daughter. Sam laughed, taking that as her cue to activate her suit. But before she had a chance her dad put his hand on hers. “We aren't practicing with the suit actually, not yet at least. You need to learn the basics first,” Tony said. Sam stared back at her father looking both confused and disappointed. Tony read her face and answered her before she could say anything, "You need to get a basic understanding of aiming before using the suit." Sam let out a sarcastic laugh and said, “What? You're gonna let me, a seventeen year old, shoot off one of Stark Industries old weapons?” Tony stared at her blankly, then after realizing she may be serious, let out an extremely loud and full laugh and responded, “Are you crazy Sam? Absolutely not. All that stuff is gone anyway. No you'll be practicing with Clint, best shot I know. He should be down any minute now.” Sam scoffed. She had been hoping to use her repulsors today, or as Sam had called them since she were little, blasters.  Sam was about to ask about them when Clint made his way through the doors of the lab. “Alright, you ready kid?” Clints voice was serious but he was unsuccessfully hiding a smirk. Sam just nodded her head. Out of all of her adoptive aunts and uncles she had spent the least amount of time with Clint. Still Clint had always felt strongly about her. He admired the fact that Tony had taken her in as his own, having children of his own made him appreciate the dad that Tony was. He had never once questioned anything Tony had done in regards to Sam, even keeping her true identity from her. When thinking about Sam one thing stuck out in Clints head. There was a moment when she was younger when Sam started asking questions about her mom. Steve insisted that Tony should tell her the truth, but Tony said that he just couldn't do it. There was an argument about what was right and why, and Clint decided to side with Tony. “Why should it matter, Tony has been her father for this long why change that?” With that one simple sentence Clint was able to end the argument, and quietly earned Tony's respect. Sam however, had no knowledge of any of that. It wasn't that she didn't like Clint, she thought he was nice. To Sam he always just kind of seemed out of place compared to the others. Once they finally made their way down the hall to the indoor practice range, Sam spoke up and said, “So I guess finally get to live out my "Hunger Games" fantasy huh?” Tony frowned not finding Sam's obvious jab at Clint funny. “Samantha...” Clint just smiled. “That's okay Stark,” he said cutting Tony off from reprimanding Sam. Clint picked up his bow, and before Sam had time to blink, he had sent three arrows down range at four targets, all hitting the red bullseye. “You can make jokes, as soon as you can hit that fourth red dot. Got it?” Sam just stared back in awe. She thought to herself that maybe she had underestimated him, looking back at his perfectly hit shots. “First things first, stand with your legs shoulder length apart,” Clint spoke very strongly, not at all like the sweet tone of Steve or even her dad. “Then you take the bow, and hold it like this,” Clint said showing her how to hold the bow, watching as she picked it up. “Higher,” Clint stated. Sam rolled her eyes lifting it higher. “Good, now just load the bow, and release.” Sam did just as she was told, thinking that she could do this with ease. But to her surprise, the bow didn't even come close to hitting the bullseye. Sam tried a couple more times with the same result. She angrily stared back at the board, confused as to why this didn't come easy to her. “I suppose you're not Katniss after all,” Clint said, smiling sarcastically back at Sam. “Maybe you lack  motivation,” Clint said. “What do you mean?” Sam questioned. Clint smiled and responded, “You're not putting yourself in a situation where you would need to defend yourself, or someone else.” Sam laughed. “So you want me to use my imagination, in order to hit a target?” Clint walked around to stand next to Tony, “Maybe you don't have to imagine.” Sam and Tony made eye contact with each other, slowly coming to the realization of what Clint was saying. “No,” Tony said strongly. “Yeah I agree, no way am I going to shoot an arrow with my dad standing in the way, are you insane?” Sam spoke the anger clear in her voice. “Maybe,” Clint said looking to Tony. “You wanted her to learn, she isn't going to learn anything standing in a perfectly built shooting range, without any sense of danger.” Tony looked at Clint and took a deep breath. He slowly made his way into the range and stood slightly off to the side of the board. “You can not be serious,” Sam said, watching her dad position himself close to the board. “Anything is worth a shot, just not my life. So aim low,” Tony said trying to joke through the clear fear in his voice. Sam breathed slowly, picked the bow up and breathed out. She aimed up the bow right for the bullseye and released. As soon as she let go of the bow she closed her eyes. She wouldn't be able to handle seeing her dad hit by the arrow, she listened for a scream. But she didn't hear one, all she heard was a thud and Clint. “See, add a sense of danger to a situation and your a natural.” Sam opened her eyes. She stared at her dad, untouched and smiling. Tony stared back, happy to see that the arrow wasn't sticking out of him, and said “I think I deserve a drink after that!”