Inell's Fanfiction Archive

There isn’t a whole lot to pack and move. Clint’s never been able to keep much stuff; he spent his younger years on the road with the circus then he made the transition to soldier and mercenary before becoming an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D., which meant his adult life has also been spent on the road or living on the base. It’s been nearly a year since things changed, and he’s managed to collect more personal belongings now that he’s remaining in one place. It just doesn’t equate to many boxes when he packs it all up for the move downstairs.

The other thing about packing is finding stuff that’s been forgotten or stored away for safe keeping. Clint knows he’s had the box of Phil’s belongings, since Fury gave him and Natasha the opportunity to select some things for remembrance, but he’d put the box in a closet and hidden it away because it had taken a while before he was ready to accept everything. It still hurts to not have Phil around, especially when there have been so many positive changes in his life, but it isn’t as raw and tender as it used to be.

“Why are you sitting instead of packing?” Nat comes up behind him and punches his shoulder. “Your captain is working faster than you.”

“I’ve got most of it done.” Clint looks up at her and shows her the box. He sees the moment of understanding when she purses her lips and sits beside him. “Found this, though, and it distracted me.”

“Somewhere, he’s proud of you,” she says simply. She leans her cheek against his bicep and sighs. “I miss him.” She speaks quietly, barely a whisper, and the words are an accusation against Phil for dying.

“Me too.” Clint gently ruffles her hair. “He’s proud of both of us. You’re playing well with others, and I’m moving in with Captain America. Who would have thought that was possible a year ago?”

“Open the box.” Nat reaches out to do it before Clint can. He looks down at the contents and sees miscellaneous things that meant something to him when he’d been too numb to even think about what he was doing. There’s a paperweight that he bought Phil when he was in Florence, a tie that was one of Phil’s favorite, some Cap memorabilia, a couple of other random things, and his dog tags. He knows Nat took a couple of weapons that Phil always used and a few other things, but he’s not sure what happened to the rest. Phil didn’t have any family outside of them and Fury, but he’s confident that Fury took care of everything.

“I should do something with this besides just box it up and stick it in a closet,” he murmurs, rubbing his thumb over the dog tags. “It still hurts, but not as much.”

“He’d like that.” Nat strokes her fingers over the silk tie before kissing Clint’s cheek. “We should finish packing before your captain sends out a search party.”

“I know you can say Steve. I’ve heard you say it before.” Clint rubs his eyes with the back of his hand before he puts the lid back on the box and gets up.

“Your Steve,” she says sweetly. “He is nearly finished, so you know they will come to help you if you aren’t ready.”

Clint appreciates that Steve took the volunteers from the beginning when he saw that Clint was hesitant about having people pack his things. Even if they’re family, it’s something he wanted to do on his own because this feels like an important step. Moving in with Steve, officially, is a serious thing, and it makes their relationship shift to an entirely different level. It’s only been a few months since they started dating, and he’s still got some self-doubt about maintaining a successful relationship, so he knew he needed some time on his own while he worked through some of his issues.

“I’ll go run interference,” Nat decides, standing and kissing the top of his head. “He loves you. You glow when you are with him. That’s all you should think about, Clint.” She smacks his shoulder and gives him a warning look. “But stop thinking so much.”

“I don’t glow.” Clint rolls his eyes but he’s grateful for her support. After she leaves, he rubs a hand over his face and gets back to packing. He’s only got his clothes left, and he decides to just keep those on the hangers and dump them in a couple of boxes. Once he’s done with that, he checks the closet and dresser to make sure nothing got missed. The bedside tables are empty, the bed’s been stripped down, everything in the bathroom’s boxed up, and he knows the living room’s done because he did it first.

Clint kneels down to look under the bed, making sure he did actually get the box of porn and sex toys that he’d stashed under there months ago when his sex life consisted of nothing more than his own hand. Since getting together with Steve, he hasn’t watched porn or used a sex toy, but he figures they’ll try those things out at some point, so he’s keeping the stuff just in case. There’s nothing else under the bed, but he hears footsteps behind him before he can stand up.

“If I’d known this is the view I was missing, I’d have let the others pack for me,” Steve says. “I’m starting to understand why your butt has its own social media appreciation sites.”

“What do you mean starting to? You’ve always liked my ass, babe.” Clint wiggles it a little and makes sure to give a show as he stands up. Turning to face Steve, he smirks. “Eyes up here or I might start to feel objectified.”

Steve moves his arms and flexes, which is an unnecessary distraction. Clint looks at his muscles and licks his lips, which causes Steve to laugh. “Is this an appropriate time to say pot meet kettle?” He deliberately raises his arms and shows off a flash of bare skin at his belly.

“It’s an appropriate time to kiss me, asshole.” Clint thrusts his lower lip out. “No fair teasing me when we can’t follow through right now. You owe me later.”

“We can christen one of the rooms in our new place,” Steve promises. He leans in to kiss Clint’s neck. “I want to lay you out on that bar and suck you until you’re hoarse from screaming my name.”

“Fuck, Steve.” Clint grips Steve’s shoulders and presses closer to him. It was only yesterday that he’d received his medical clearance and could have sex again, so Steve still hasn’t sucked him. Maybe that can change tonight. He’s ready to hop on that bar and make Steve’s fantasy a reality. The fact that this is obviously something Steve’s been fantasizing about since seeing the bar last night is a huge turn on.

“You like that?” Steve licks his throat before sucking at the skin beneath his ear. Clint doesn’t need to look in a mirror to know he’s left a mark when he pulls back. Steve’s smiling smugly and rubbing his thumb across the wet spot as he says, “Are you ready to do this?”

“Yeah,” he says, knowing that he is. If he didn’t want to move in together, he’d never have agreed, after all. It’s not like Steve’s going to pressure him. If anything, he’s a little worried that Steve felt as if he’d been forced into it with the whole team there showing off the space they’d helped get prepared for them. Sure, Steve had said he intended to bring it up, but what if he just said that to make things easier?

“You’re going to get frown lines.” Steve traces Clint’s lips with his finger. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nat accused me of thinking too much.” Clint smiles sheepishly. “I just don’t want you to feel pressured about this. If you’d rather not--“

“I want to live with you, sweetheart. Whether it’s here or the new place or a sleeping bag on the beach, I want to share my life with you. I want to wake up every morning with you snuggled behind me and go to sleep with you in my arms every night.”

“I think we’d probably hurt Tony’s feelings if we moved into a sleeping bag.” Clint smiles up at Steve. “I want those things, too. You know, I remember when you couldn’t even tell me that you wanted a date. Now, you’re all smooth and romantic and saying things that make me feel like I’ve got butterflies in my stomach.”

“I don’t know how smooth I am, but it’s nice to know I’m getting better with words. You’re not so bad yourself,” he says. “Butterflies, huh?”

“It’s that or nausea,” Clint deadpans. He laughs when Steve mock glares at him, swatting at his hands when he tries to grab him. They end up falling on the mattress, and Steve straddles him, tickling him and blowing a raspberry against his collarbone.

The sound of a throat clearing interrupts their laughter. Clint looks over to see Bruce standing awkwardly in the doorway. “If I were Tony, I’m sure I’d think of a quip that could be laced with sexual innuendo. As it is, I’m more concerned about Clint’s ribs and that tickling.”

Clint groans and buries his face in Steve’s neck. This is one time he’d prefer Tony to have found them because Bruce’s words make Steve’s body tense up. “My ribs are fine, Doc. We’re just playing around.”

“Are they in bed? If they’re naked, it’s only fair to let the rest of us know!” Tony’s voice calls out from somewhere in the other room.

“They’re not naked,” Bruce replies, smiling wryly. “You probably have a minute, tops, before Tony and Thor are in here making a dogpile on the bed. They realized Natasha was stalling us, which is like holding up a red flag to a bull.”

“We should start moving everything downstairs anyway.” Steve gets up and holds a hand out to Clint. “I didn’t intend to get sidetracked.”

“My ass distracted you, not me,” Clint points out, getting to his feet and grinning at Bruce. “I was kneeling to look under the bed. Nothing dirty at all. This time.”

“I don’t care nor do I ever want details of anything involving either of your asses.” Bruce runs his fingers through his hair. “Sometimes, it’s like I’m living in a funhouse with a bunch of oversexed teenagers.”

“Like we’re the only ones who think about sex?” Clint snorts and leans in close to Bruce as they walk up to him. “Speaking of, where’s Nat?”

Bruce blinks at him and there’s a faint blush spreading up from the base of his neck. “I wouldn’t even begin to want to know what you’re thinking,” he mutters, glaring at Clint as he straightens his shoulders and walks into the other room.

“What’s that about?” Steve asks curiously.

Clint just shakes his head. “Nothing really. Just observing people and being suspicious, you know?” He’s not sure if he’s seeing what he thinks he’s seeing anyway so there’s no point in poking a sleeping monster, which is actually a pretty accurate analogy he realizes.

“If it becomes something, you’ll tell me then.” It’s not a question since Steve knows that Clint’s not keep anything important from him.

“Bruce and Thor are taking boxes from the living room,” Tony says as he walks into the bedroom. “The lovely ladies are finishing up with Cap’s room, so all we have left is your stuff, Katniss. I’m thinking about sending Happy for burgers once we get everything downstairs. We can start unpacking then eat without having to worry about cooking. You’ve ruined us, Cap. All the delivery lately is making me miss the home cooked meals.”

Steve beams. “Tomorrow night, I’ll make dinner for everyone. I owe Clint mac and cheese, and I think everyone deserves steaks for all the help moving.”

“Just tell Happy what you need, and he’ll get it for you tomorrow.” Tony nods towards a stack of boxes. “We should probably get those moved before I remember that I have enough money to pay other people to do the hard labor while I tinker in the lab. In fact, why am I doing this?”

“Because I’m your favorite,” Clint says, winking at him as he grabs a box and hands it to Tony.

“Shh. You’re not supposed to tell the others.” Tony blows him a kiss as he takes the box. “They’ll be jealous.”

“No, we won’t, since your favorite constantly changes.” Steve frowns and wraps an arm around Clint. “And keep your air kisses for Pepper.”

“Green isn’t a good color on you, Cap.” Tony laughs as he walks out of the room with the boxes.

Clint shakes his head and steals another kiss before he starts moving the boxes into piles. He knows there’s a dolly somewhere, and that’ll be easier for taking most of these. Or they can just use Thor, who comes into the room with a big grin and picks up four boxes as if they weigh nothing. He exchanges a look with Steve who just smiles and shrugs a shoulder. They work well together, and it doesn’t take long before his suite is empty. It feels a little weird to stand there and look around, but he doesn’t have much time to do it because Steve takes his hand and leads him to the elevator.

When they reach their new place, it’s full of people unpacking the boxes labeled living room. He heads to their room and looks around. He sees that the bedroom boxes are piled neatly by the bed, while Jane and Thor hang their clothes up in the closet. He appreciates everyone staying out of any box marked personal, and he starts helping Nat arrange the bathroom. There’s more than enough room for everything, and they quickly have the boxes emptied.

They go back into the living space to find Steve putting knick knacks on a shelf. He looks at them and smiles. “Bruce and Tony are shelving books in the office slash library. Pepper’s taking care of linens. Thor and Jane are handling the bedroom. I figured I’d fuss over these things.” He leans in for a kiss when Clint walks over to join him. “Buddy’s got his own shelf, so he can have room to be comfortable.”

“No Thor! Put that back and go in the other room,” Jane says, squeaking loud enough for them to hear as she appears in the doorway. She’s pushing Thor out of the room, and she blushes bright red when she spots them watching her.

“I do not understand, my lady,” Thor says. “I was simply opening the boxes that did not say private. What was that odd device?”

“I’ll tell you later. It’s something very private that shouldn’t be discussed in public.” Jane looks at Clint. “You should have properly labeled your boxes, Barton.”

“Um okay.” Clint frowns as he thinks about what he packed and then he blinks as he realizes there were only two boxes not labeled. One was full of Phil mementos, but the other one was sex stuff. He starts to laugh and has to bite his lip, hard, to stop when Jane glares at him. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about other people unpacking my stuff.”

“What’s she talking about?” Steve asks. He looks at Clint and frowns in confusion.

“I’ll tell you later. It’s not for discussion in polite company.” Clint arches a brow and watches Steve’s eyes widen.

“Understood.” Steve now looks curious, though, which means there’s probably going to be a show and tell lesson later. That could be fun, he realizes, and he totally isn’t thinking about introducing Steve to the thin dildo he’s got in the box. No, not at all.

“Stop with the sex eyes,” Nat mutters. “When you two start that, it’s like no one else is here, and I don’t like being ignored.”

“I could never ignore you, sweetcheeks,” Clint says, leaning over to place a sloppy kiss on her cheek. She growls at him and slaps his ass, but she snuggles closer even as she hits him. “You’re still my bestest friend, that I’m not fucking, in the whole wide world,” he whispers against her hair.

“And don’t you forget it,” she says emphatically.

“Sorry it took so long. There was a wreck so traffic was diverted,” Happy says, entering the apartment and carrying several bags full of food. “Oh wow. This place is awesome. Is that a trapeze? A real one, not one of those kinky sex ones?”

“There are kinky trapezes?” Steve asks. “Is that something I should add to the list?”

“No, I don’t think so. Not our style, babe.” Clint steals a kiss while the others drift towards the tables set up in the café area. “When we eat, I want you facing the bar so you can think about what’s going to happen when they all leave. I’ll be sitting on it naked with you between my legs, sucking me so hard I can’t stop screaming, right?”

Steve clears his throat. “Right.” He kisses Clint hard and squeezes his ass. “Who’s the tease now, sweetheart?”

“Pot, kettle.” Clint waves his hand in the air and winks. “Come on. If we don’t get over there, Tony’s going to start making sex jokes, and I also don’t want to give Thor a chance to ramble on about what he found in our bedroom. There are some things the kids just don’t need to know about Mom and Dad.”