Pay the Piper | Clint, Steve
"The perks of being a super soldier." Steve said with a small shrug, thanking the waitress for his plate and looking over at Barton with an amused smile appearing on his face. "You know, I actually want to have a drinking competition with Thor. He looks like a fun fella when he’s drunk." Steve said with a chuckle. "It’d be fun to drink the Norse god of thunder under the table."
"Don’t sound so eager to fight me." His eyebrows rose curiously as he took a couple of fries in his mouth and chewed on them. "We can spar, but if I don’t have my shield, you don’t get to have your arrows, it’s only fair." Although from the look on Barton’s face, Steve assumed that the archer had something less conventional in mind. His interest was piqued, but he didn’t ask further questions, instead choosing to take a bite of his burger.
"I can be a wise guy, you’ll see." Not bragging, simply stating facts, Steve shrugged his shoulders and spoke in a somewhat ominous voice. Everyone assumed that he was serious and brooding all of the time. Truth be told, there were moments and people who managed to relax him enough to bring out the old Steve to the surface. The Steve that picked fights with bullies in Brooklyn, who shot Sargent James Buchanan Barnes in the ass and lived to tease the said Sargent whenever he was given a chance. Not a lot of people knew Steve the way he truly was; sometimes he wondered if he himself forgot about him, but he was still there, under all the years and troubles that weighed on his shoulders.
Watching after the waitress as she moved through the diner and served coffee and water to the guests that required a refill, Steve shrugged. He had come to realize that he was rather easy on the eyes for the opposite sex, and he was a man, it wasn’t like he didn’t notice women or have needs of his own. He was just still… looking for the right partner. For a moment he thought that maybe he had found her, but… Shaking the thoughts off, Steve focused back on Barton.
"I don’t think you can be what we are if you haven’t experienced tragedy firsthand." Steve frowned thoughtfully and snorted at Barton’s suggestion. As if Hydra was the safer topic, ha, good one. "You know Coulson is trying to rebuild SHIELD and weed out all the double agents. For now, we’re taking it a step at a time. Well, most of us." Steve shrugged. Everyone knew he would not be one to sit and wait for Coulson’s directives when it came to Hydra. This was personal and he was doing more than he was ordered to, but could anyone really blame him?
"Holy hell could you imagine it? A drunk, slurring Thor going on about midguard and stuff. Watch out though I bet you he's the touchy feely sort and super soldier or no I bet he'll flatten you if he falls and lands on you. Also god of thunder so there's a chance he might end up frying all the electronics in the room." Clint pointed a fry at Steve. "I'd be willing to place bets but you're the one whose going to have to pay for that. Especially if it happens at Tony's. The guy would be weeping over his babies." He had to break out into an actual laugh for that one.
Clint picked up his burger and took a bite. He almost started to speak with his mouth full but mindful of his company he swallowed it first. "Well I do have to say who wouldn't want to play around with a legend. Though if you only knew what I've done and what I've learned to do. Most of it isn't exactly giving your target a fair chance though." The archer didn't even think of himself as someone good. He was just on what his government considered was the good side. Now wasn't that a dark place to be? There was to much blood on his hands to ever be considered anything but a murderer. Flashbacks of Afghanistan appeared and he had to repress a shiver and suddenly the burger didn't quite look as appetizing.
"Hmm I can hardly wait to see the extents of your sense of humor. Do you chase balls and play fetch too? Before you know it I'm going to start hiding rubber ducks in random rooms at your new apartment when you get it and any other building you're in. Don't think I can't get in and out undetected." Steve had far to much responsibility resting on his shoulders. Clint was more than happy to help relieve that and have some fun of his own at the same time.
Braving another bite of burger, Clint thought on Steve's words a bit. "The world's a dark place. People just choose to ignore it most of the time. That's why television and the internet are so much fun." Clint really hadn't seen much of Coulson. It was shocking enough not to learn until recently he hadn't set about Coulson's death by helping Loki onto that Hellcarrier. The guilt was still there but Clint was just as ready to follow orders as he had been when the man was his handler years ago. "I haven't been back to HQ just yet. I always seem to show up late to all the important stuff anyway. I swear I walked in with starbucks and you had already exploded everything and agents were cleaning up. Like you and Nat couldn't have waited for me to run to starbucks and back honestly."
Clint was gripping but had a smile on his face to soften his words. Things were getting dark again and he had to get things back to happy. Steve looked to much like a kicked puppy when he was upset. Well that or ready to go out and kick someone's ass and Clint preferred that it wasn't his.
