Morning After: A/B/O AU

[cfbhawkeye]

It's nearly a week before either Clint or Steve regain some sanity and sobriety. The archer is up and about, cleaning away what remains of the water and snacks. He hits the shower for a hot soak before finally heading for the kitchen.

He's positive that Steve will be ravenous. He starts in on mi\aking some pancake batter and frying bacon and eggs while the coffee brews in the machine.

He calls in to SHIELD to let them know the situation, then checks in with the team. Natasha's kind enough to take over handling the explanations to everyone else in the Tower and Clint promises her a dinner of her favorite pasta and garlic bread in return for the help.

He fills a mug of coffee and then pours the first puddles of batter onto the griddle to cook.

Comments

[doesntrunaway]

Steve was only a little slower in getting moving, mostly he felt like he was recovering from a week-long illness, just a little light-headed and not entirely sure his senses were working like they should be quite yet, but all in all feeling much better than he had.

He went to take a shower of his own once Clint had moved to the kitchen, emerging once he'd finished, wearing Clint's clothes once again, and still a little amused that they were close enough to the same size for that to work.

"Smells good in here." He said, hanging back in the doorway so that he wasn't getting in the way, "You need help with anything?"

[cfbhawkeye]

Clint looked up and smiled a little before nodding his head towards the fridge. "I think there's a weeks worth of fruit in their about ready to rot after being ignored. Wanna chop it up in a bowl or something?"

It was all ridiculously domestic. Quiet and controlled and intimate in a weird homemaker kind of way. But in Clint's opinion that was preferable to awkward morning after weird kind of way.

It helped that he kind of felt... well smug...

[doesntrunaway]

"I can manage that." He replied, smiling easily as he went about getting the fruit out and washing, working in companionable silence for a while.

But being as how he was Steve, and not in a habit of beating around the bush, he asked: "Did you mean it, what you said about making me yours?" There was no hesitation in the question, but at the same time he was more focused on chopping an apple without adding his fingers to the mix than he was on Clint.

It was a definite, intent focus, honestly not sure what answer would surprise him more, or if it would actually hurt if it had just been the heat talking.

[cfbhawkeye]

Clint doesn't answer for a moment. Turning over pancakes and slicesof bacon. He must have been exceptionally high on his own rut and pheremones.

He took a deep breath and twisted a bit to look over at Steve, he managed a bit of a smile. He normally was plenty happy with beating around the bush but not on matters this serious. "I did... might... kinda have a crush on ya for a while..."

[doesntrunaway]

That was enough to have him stop cutting and actually look up at the other man, brow creasing just slightly, trying to wrap his brain around that, and finally what he said was: "It's the uniform, isn't it? Everybody loves the uniform."

It was almost a tease, but there was an edge of something else there, a kind of wariness that spoke to the fact that Steve wasn't used to people liking him as much as they liked Captain America.

[cfbhawkeye]

It was Clint's turn to keep his eyes focused on the food while he worked. He smiled a little. "Well, more like your eyes and smile, and the drawings, and that you like coffee as much as I do and that you still laugh easily, that you wait for everyone else to sleep and look around the tower one last time to make sure its safe... but the uniform? I guess its easy on the eyes. "

Clint was an observer. He watched and saw and soaked up the things other people didn't.

[doesntrunaway]

That was clearly not the response he'd been expecting, it was thoughtful in a way that Steve knew most people didn't get to see from Clint, not unless there was a situation that required it, though he supposed this counted as such a situation.

Clint watched things, people, it was why he was good at what he did, and Steve was reminding himself that he really should have thought of that.

What he finally said, sliding the apple into the bowl along with everything else was: "You're the only one who's never asked to see them. The drawings, I mean." Even Natasha had, once, and Bruce.

[cfbhawkeye]

"I always figured that they were kinda private. And that if you wanted to show me you would... I just never wanted to pry. Some people don't like it... but I liked watching you draw. You do it without looking. Same way that I shoot." Clint's cheeks might have flushed a little at that.

[doesntrunaway]

"Sometimes I do." He replied, smiling again, "Sometimes I look too hard because there's some detail I can't get right." The amusement in Clint's eyes, for instance, or the particular line of Natasha's back when she was winning at their semi-regular poker games, and while he could get the corner of Bruce's smile, he couldn't quite manage the same wry edge there.

The team often ended up the subjects even just of his quick sketches, mostly because they were there, and no one had raised any objections to it, and he knew they all had no problems letting it be known when they didn't like something.

"This is just about done." He added, belatedly, "How are things looking over there?"

[cfbhawkeye]

"Damn good timing." Clint scooped the bacon and eggs onto a platter and stacked the pancakes onto plates. He pushed the platters onto the breakfast bar, before grabbing the coffee pot and setting it on a oven mitt. He grabbed the milk and a half drunk carton of juice and dropped them next to the food. It was quite the little buffet.

Clint went for a set of glasses and some silverware. He let the quiet hang for a long while... he was actually into his first few bites of pancakes before clearing his throat. "So... what do you think of it?... All of it?"

[doesntrunaway]

Steve, on the other hand, had already polished off half of his bacon and half of his glass of milk by then. He'd gotten good at eating quickly without making a mess of things, and considering how much more he at than everyone else, he'd gotten quick so that he wasn't always the last one at the table.

"I think..." His brow creased, just a little, actually giving it some thought. The same reasons he'd asked for Clint to help him through the heat in the first place were all the reasons he thought it could work - they already knew each other, trusted each other, neither of them would really have to relocate since they mostly lived at the tower, neither of them would have to keep it secret what missions they were going on as they were on the same team and had the same security clearance. But those were all practical, sensible reasons.

On a personal level, he'd be one of the first to admit that Clint was definitely easy on the eyes, and the fact that he'd been quietly, unobtrusively catching Steve up on pop culture was something else Steve liked about him, both the cause and that he was thoughtful enough to do so.

What he finally said was: "I think you're not the only one who might be harboring a crush. And the only problem I can see arising is protecting each other in the field regardless of orders. Instincts like that are hard to fight."

[cfbhawkeye]

Its... not the answer that Clint was expecting or hoping for. It sounded... clinical. It made his heart sink a little.

But he let an easy smile cross his face, and masked any small grimace he had by popping a cut of pancake into his mouth and hummed a little.

"Got a point really. I figure we're both messed up enough we can fight it for the most part but I'm not above going out of my way o put myself between you and the villian of the say. Gotta ask who else has been battin' their eyes at you though. Morbid curiosity."

More like trying to size up the competition.Clint's sense of self was in the toilet, it had been since he was a child, anyone that made for a good competitor would put him on edge... to put it nicely...

[doesntrunaway]

Whatever response he'd had for the first statement evaporated at the question, brow furrowing as he studied Clint intently for a moment. It didn't take him long to realize how that must have sounded, and he shook his head, "Let me rephrase: you're not the only one of us who's probably been harboring a crush."

He shrugged one shoulder then, "At least I think that's what this is, I am a little out of practice. It's about what I remember though; any excuse to watch you work, occasionally getting distracted by your arms, I don't think you've caught me staring yet, caught myself doing it a couple times, though."

He shook his head, "That said, infatuation isn't... really the best basis for a bond." His brow furrowed, trying to work out what he wanted to say more clearly than he'd done before, "I enjoyed this, not just because of the heat, but because it was you, but I don't want us to jump into this and then find out weeks or months from now that we can only stand each other when biology demands it. You know? I want to get to know you first."

[cfbhawkeye]

Clint blushed and ducked his head at his own stupidity, but he couldn't help a smile, if it wasn't a little self-depreciating. He fidgeted a hand with his shirt sleeve, a little overly conscious of his biceps with the present conversation.

He decides now it not the best time to make any sly or sarcastic remarks about what Steve said, instead soaking it in in pleasure. His throat gave a little hum at the idea that an omega like Steve had been admiring him a bit.

His heart thumped in hope and shaking his head to try and get rid of the flush across his cheeks. The archer gave a little nod and a smile, "I'd like to give that a try."

[doesntrunaway]

The fidget drew Steve's attention, but he didn't let it linger, smiling instead and nodding in turn, "Okay." He gave an easy shrug then, digging back into his breakfast for a few more bites before he said: "You pick a movie, something you think I need to see, and I'll make lunch, say... Thursday? Is that too soon? Too far away?"

Both brows had lifted, looking just a little concerned, but mostly that was simply because it was yet another thing he hadn't had a whole lot of practice at, and especially in this case didn't want to take too quickly.

[cfbhawkeye]

Clint smiled reassuringly and gave the super soldier's shoulder a little nudge with his own.

"Thursday's fine. Got another triology in mind if you can give up the whole evening. Nothing like Lord of the Rings marathon I got you to sit through. I don't think you could remember your name at the end of that round. Jurassic Park I, II and III. Dinosaurs and everything. Classic from the nineties."

Talking movies was easy, it would relax away any tension left from the few moments of sharing they'd just had.

[doesntrunaway]

"People still like dinosaurs?" He asked, brow still creased, though for a different reason, now.

He shook his head, "I mean, archaeology was still popular in my time because it was still fairly new and novel. I was a kid when they found Tut's Tomb, I was young enough that I got to watch the whole treasure-hunting craze evolve, and that was after people had exhausted the giant lizards craze, that was back in the 1800s."

He had still been on ice during the so-called Dinosaur Renaissance of the 70s.

[cfbhawkeye]

Clint smiled warmly and wiggled excitedly, "Are you kidding? Dinosaurs are right up there with cowboys, comic heroes and pirates."

Clint launched into a LONG discussion about why Triceratops was the best dino and then into an even longer rant about ice age species and how he was still waiting for scientists to clone a Smilidon from what they found in the tar pits in LA... then prodding Steve into possibly joining him to go to La Brea and the Natural History Museum for a tour.

[doesntrunaway]

That kind of enthusiasm was heartening, and more than that it was infectious, and Steve didn't have enough technical knowledge, or even that much general knowledge to refute anything Clint was saying, though he did know enough to take it all with a grain of salt.

Though he did agree that the next time they had a mission or a press conference in the area, they should take a day for themselves to go on a tour, because why not? It seemed like a fun time.

[cfbhawkeye]

The rest of their brunch went by with easy conversation and light topics. When the last of the food had been tucked away, Clint started to clear the plates away. "Guess we have to head into HQ to get you checked out before going to your apartment or the Tower, huh?"

[doesntrunaway]

He nodded, moving to help with the dishes, because it wasn't in his nature to leave something like that undone, or to make someone else do all the work, "Probably the best plan. They were supposed to have a dose worked out for me that would work but wouldn't knock me out for three days, or worse."

He didn't hold much faith in that belief himself, but he knew better than to argue when R&D said they could come up with something.

[cfbhawkeye]

Clint looked at him sympathetically. "Its sucks going on the stuff the first time. Makes your moods go all wonky. At least you don't have to register or anything stupid like that. They probably did everything already for you. Nosy rats."

Clint took the dishes from Steve one by one, scrubbing them clean then setting them aside to dry. "I put your clothes in the wash, they're probably done by now."

[doesntrunaway]

He just nodded, "Medic said that SHIELD's got their own registry, not connected to the national one except for numbers, all SHIELD has to do is report how many unbonded Alphas and Omegas they have working for them, don't have to say who." A small smile, shaking his head, "Which you probably already know."

He realized it was going to be a little strange, going back to his own clothes after this long without any, or with Clint's when he did, but he didn't say so, just nodded again, "Thanks."

[cfbhawkeye]

"Would be a little hard to be secret agents and stuff if the whole world had access to our medical files. Not to mention the gender switch ops some of us have to do."

Clint smiled and nodded reassuringly. "I'll grab a shower then we'll head out. I've got my Dodge here if you wanna drive the suv and I'll follow. "

[doesntrunaway]

He huffed a soft laugh at the first, shaking his head, "Suppose that's true, and probably why they've got it set up that way."

A nod followed at the rest, "Sounds like a plan." He preferred his bike, or one of the smaller vehicles, but he wouldn't have any trouble with the SUV.