Romanova [COMPLETED STORY]

31

FINALE PART ONE
-CLINT-

I walked down to the gym and there he was. Shooting arrows and stuff. I remember on my first day here, I kicked his ass. Man, that felt so good. He's Natalia's best friend, saying goodbye to him wouldn't be easy for her.

I walked over to him and he turned and looked at me before putting his bow down and taking his quiver off. Okay, this was happening now whether I liked it or not.

"Hey kid, everything okay?"

"Um, yeah. I just came to say goodbye."

"You're leaving?"

"I'm going to Brazil for six months. I might not make it back, so, goodbye."

"Why are you going to Brazil?"

"It's my assignment, I don't know. Fury stationed me there. Can't really get out of it."

"Oh my god," he reached out and pulled me into a hug. "You're going to make it back, I'll be here waiting for you."

"Thanks. You don't have one?"

"I'm going to Hungary. Only for three months now though. I'm going for the other three next year."

"Oh, okay. You be careful too."

"Of course. When are you leaving?"

"Next week."

"Wow, that's soon."

"I know."

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I sniffed.

"Wanna shoot some stuff?"

"Yeah."

He grabbed me a bow off of the wall and a quiver full of arrows. I set up a target and we both walked behind the line on the floor. I haven't used a bow in a little while, this might be embarrassing.

I drew the string back to my ear and stared at the target. We both let our arrows fly at the same time and they both hit the centre of the target.

"Nice."

"Yeah."

We kept shooting our poor targets in silence. We decided to move on to the moving targets on the other side of the gym, so we grabbed our arrows and bows and headed over there.

This is what I like about Clint. He doesn't have to talk. He understands that I don't want to talk right now. He's okay with silence. He doesn't try to make small talk to avoid it, but he embraces it. God, if I don't make it out of there, I'm gonna miss him.

"Wanna get some pizza?" He asked.

"More than anything."

"Pepperoni?"

"Duh."

"I assume I'm paying?"

"Tony can."

"Sounds good. You have his credit card?"

"I have his cash."

"Well what are you waiting for? Go get it and I'll place our order."

"Dominos?"

"What did you think I was going to get?"

"I don't know, something gross?"

"Get the cash!"

"Sorry!"

I ran out of the gym and into the elevator. I have a secret stash of Tony's cash in my room in an empty tampon box. Nobody would ever look in there. I grabbed a handful of bills and stuffed them into my pocket before running back downstairs.

About 20 minutes later, Friday told us the pizza was upstairs, so I went to go grab it. Large pepperoni pizza, our favourite. I'm getting really in shape running around this building today, burning off all the calories I'm about to eat.

We ate our pizza in silence for a few moments before Clint spoke up.

"I'm gonna miss you kid."

"You're calling me kid now too?"

"You're a kid."

"I'm 76."

  "You're 17."

  "I've been alive for 76 years, Barton, I'm old enough to be your mom."

  "Never thought of it that way."

  "I look like a kid though, I guess it's okay."

  "Well, I'm gonna miss you, mom."

  "That's so much worse! I'm not going anywhere, don't worry."

  "I know. You're tough for being a grandma."

  "Stop making fun of me!"

  "It's true!"

  We laughed and made fun of each other all night. I wish I spent more time like this. He's my only friend here. I really hope I don't get killed, I need to have another night like this with my best friend.