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"Working the Steps"
Avengers
Bruce Banner/Clint Barton; 14,411 words
Rated PG-13 for language; vague spoilers for Avengers.
He wants to tell Clint off, to—chase him away, somehow, but doing that admits . . . What, exactly? Secrecy, maybe. A guilty conscience. Telling Clint to leave implies he’s doing wrong, and he’s not.
Not exactly.
It’s—hard to explain, and he doesn’t want to.
Instead, he says, “I know you’re following me.” He doesn’t twist around, he doesn’t rush ahead, he just—says it to the air.
“I know,” Clint replies casually. “Gonna ask why?”
The question catches Bruce off guard. He falters a step, and teeters between potential answers before he says, “No.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
In which Bruce discovers that everyone has secrets, and everyone still suffers.
--
( The first time, it's three weeks after--well. ) --
Author's Note: The organization that is featured heavily in this story, as well as the backstories of both Bruce and Clint, come from my online research and my own small changes. Any errors in the actual organization's structure (as well as its materials) or the characters' canon is my own. And possibly intentional in some small measure, because after all, this is fiction.
Avengers
Bruce Banner/Clint Barton; 14,411 words
Rated PG-13 for language; vague spoilers for Avengers.
He wants to tell Clint off, to—chase him away, somehow, but doing that admits . . . What, exactly? Secrecy, maybe. A guilty conscience. Telling Clint to leave implies he’s doing wrong, and he’s not.
Not exactly.
It’s—hard to explain, and he doesn’t want to.
Instead, he says, “I know you’re following me.” He doesn’t twist around, he doesn’t rush ahead, he just—says it to the air.
“I know,” Clint replies casually. “Gonna ask why?”
The question catches Bruce off guard. He falters a step, and teeters between potential answers before he says, “No.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
In which Bruce discovers that everyone has secrets, and everyone still suffers.
--
( The first time, it's three weeks after--well. ) --
Author's Note: The organization that is featured heavily in this story, as well as the backstories of both Bruce and Clint, come from my online research and my own small changes. Any errors in the actual organization's structure (as well as its materials) or the characters' canon is my own. And possibly intentional in some small measure, because after all, this is fiction.
