Broken Flock (12/12)
Summary: It’s been two years since you uprooted your life and left to figure out who you really are, leaving behind Bucky and Clint with little more than a note as a warning. Now, New York is calling your name and it’s time to go home. How will Clint and Bucky react to your return, and how will the time have affected your relationship?
A/N: We’ve reached the end! It’s a little bittersweet to close out this story because I’ve fallen so in love with it and these characterizations. All I can say is that I’m so grateful to have had all of you on this journey with me, and I hope you enjoy the finale!
Page dividers by @carryonmyswansong
Pairing: WinterhawkxReader
Word Count: 4.2k
Warnings: None
Part 11
"Has (Y/N) seemed off lately?"
Bucky briefly looks up from his work. "A little. Why?"
"Dunno," Clint leans back in his seat. "I guess I'm just worried. She went through a lot in that barn. What if it's still messing with her head?"
"It might be." Bucky sighs and moves around the table to sit next to Clint. "We're here for her, right? She can come to us with anything."
"I know, but she doesn't like asking for help. You know that. What if she doesn't feel like she can talk to us? I don't wanna sit by and watch this eat her alive, Buck."
"Y'know, you're a little too empathetic for your own good." Bucky smiles and brushes the back of his fingers against Clint's cheek. "We'll be there for her when she's ready."
Clint nods. "You're right. I just…"
"You worry."
"Yeah. Of course I worry. You saw what she looked like when we found her. That shit broke my heart."
"I know. I felt it too. But we do what we have to for the people we love, right? And… and we love her."
"Yeah?"
"Well, I know that I do. And we're the same with her as we are when we're alone, all tangled up together like we're one person. I don't know about you, but I don't really do that shit with people who're just my friends." Clint chuckles and Bucky squeezes his hand. "When she's not with us, you complain that something's missin', and we both know it's (Y/N)."
Clint hums. "You're right."
Bucky cracks a smile. “I know I am.”
“Maybe we should tell her how we feel.” Clint searches Bucky’s face for any sign of reservation. “After everything we’ve been through together, and the way things are without her, I don’t think I can compartmentalize this.”
“I know.” Bucky scoots closer and Clint bumps his shoulder against Bucky’s. “I mean, we’re already pretty much together in every sense except the title.”
“Exactly.”
“We’re not going anywhere, ‘n she said she’s here to stay.” Bucky sighs. “Maybe we should tell her.”
Clint nods and they fall silent. Bucky can’t stop his mind from racing now, thinking about how (Y/N) will react when they tell her. Will she feel the same? Will she want both of them? The questions keep coming and his anxiety begins to spike, just as Clint starts to fidget beside him. He bounces his leg and bites at his lip, and Bucky can’t help feeling a little more calm knowing that Clint’s anxious too.
“How should we tell her?” Clint asks. “When should we tell her?”
Bucky shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“How do you not know? You’re the one who makes the plans!”
“Clint, all of this is new to us. But what we’ve got with (Y/N) is good-”
“It’s great, actually,” Clint mumbles.
“Exactly. That’s the point. We can tell her when it feels right.”
Clint nods. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Bucky pecks him on the lips and pushes him away from the desk. “Now get outta here, I have paperwork I gotta finish before we can go home.”
Clint grins lopsidedly, and leans forward on his knees. “You kissed me.”
“Sure did.” Bucky looks him over and smiles before he turns back to his work. “Dunno why you’re surprised, we’ve done it before.”
“It’s just that you don’t do it all that often.” Clint shrugs. “It’s kinda nice.”
“You could’ve told me. I’d do it more often.”
“I know.”
“You could kiss me too, y’know.”
“I know, it’s just…” Clint shakes his head and gets up from his chair. “I’ll leave so you can concentrate.”
Bucky sighs. “Clint, c’mere.”
Clint shuffles closer to Bucky, eyebrows raised. Bucky gestures for Clint to lean down and tips his head back, carefully pressing his lips to Clints. Clint slowly responds, moving his hand to the back of Bucky’s neck and humming softly. Bucky pulls back and Clint quickly kisses him once more.
“What was that for?” Clint asks.
“I love (Y/N), but I also love you,” Bucky murmurs.
“I know. I love you too.” Clint combs his fingers through Bucky’s hair. “We don’t say that enough, do we?”
“No, we don’t.”
Clint smiles and heads for the door. “I’ll be at the range. Come get me when you’re done.”
Someone knocks at the door, and I’m momentarily pulled away from my work. I poke my head out of the bedroom and stare at the front door, waiting to see if they’ll just go away. They don’t immediately knock again, so I take my seat and settle back into working.
Unfortunately, they knock again.
I sigh, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and calm myself before getting up and going to the door.
“If you’re selling something, I don’t want it,” I call. “I still have Thin Mints in the freezer from five years ago that I haven’t eaten.”
I open the door and freeze where I stand.
Kate stands in the hallway, purple duffel slung over her shoulder. She smiles and waves.
“Hey.”
“Kate?” My brows pull together. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard from a friend in the Avengers that you were kidnapped-”
“Wait, what friend?” I ask. “Clint didn’t tell anyone what happened.”
“I went to school with someone on staff, they overheard something and passed it on to me.” She waves her hand. “Specifics don’t matter-”
“They kind of do, Kate. That’s confidential information. The fact that they told you is a massive breach of the contract they signed when they were hired.”
“You didn’t tell me what happened to you, (Y/N)!” She plants her hands on her hips. “Do you know how fucking worried I was about you?”
“I’m sorry, Kate. I know it must’ve been stressful. I should’ve been in better contact.”
“Yeah, you should’ve.”
“I’m sorry, Katie, I don’t know what else to say.”
Her bottom lip wobbles and she launches herself at me, arms wrapping around my shoulders, her nose pressed to my neck. I stumble back into the entryway and my muscles immediately scream under the strain of holding her up. I wrap my arms around her to try and lessen the strain, but I’m still not back to my full strength. I can’t keep this up for long.
“I was so scared for you!” she cries.
I sigh and rub my hand up and down her back. “I know.” I try to set her down, but she just tightens her hold. “Katie, you gotta let go. I can’t hold you up like I used to.”
She promptly lets go and drops to the floor. She holds my shoulders and looks me dead in the eye. “What happened to you?”
“Lots of poking, prodding, and needles, with some torture added for flavor.” Her expression morphs into one of horror and I carefully move around her to close the door. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine-”
“I am fine. I’m home and I’m recovering. Clint and Bucky make sure that I don’t push myself too hard.” I walk out to the living room and Kate follows. “I’m not saying I’m healthy or better by any means, but I really am fine.”
“Are you sure?” Kate drops her bag by the coat rack and takes a seat at the kitchen island. “What about your strength?”
“It’s slowly coming back, but I was there for a little over a week before the guys found me. I’ve had just under a week to really recover.” I pass her a bottle of water. “It’s a process.”
“How’d Clint take it?”
“Well, Clint was pretty calm, but Bucky apparently tore through just about every thug that got in his way.”
“Oh?”
“As soon as we got back to the compound everything pretty much went back to normal. Took them a few days to clear me to go home, but things’ve been good since.” I smile to myself and lean against the kitchen counter. “It’s good to be home.”
Kate smiles. “So. Both of them?”
“Hm?”
“Clint and Bucky and you.” She links her hands. “Both of them and you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, what’s going on there?”
“We’re really close. We always have been, but we’ve gotten closer since I got back.”
“Mhm, likely story.”
“There’s nothing more to it than that. You’re just looking for gossip.”
She rolls her eyes. “No I’m not.”
“Uh-huh, likely story.” I push off the counter and head back to the bedroom. “You’re welcome to stay, but I have to get back to work.”
“Oh?” Kate trails along after me and plops down on my bed when I sit at the desk. “You’re still employed?”
“Yeah, my clients were super understanding about the whole thing. The only problem lies in the fact that I’ve got two weeks of work piled up because of my little impromptu getaway.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Mhm.”
“How about I make dinner tonight?”
I stop typing and turn around to face her. “Excuse me?”
“I’ll make you dinner!”
“Please don’t.”
“I’ll go get groceries and make dinner when I get back. It’ll be great!”
“Kate, I love you, but you’re a shit cook.”
“I am not.”
“You can’t manage to cook a frozen pizza.”
She scowls. “I’ve gotten better since you left, and I’ll prove it to you.”
I sigh. “Fine.”
“I’ll be back before you know it, and the whole place is gonna smell amazing.”
I don’t say anything, and she hurries from the room and the front door opens and closes shortly after. I go back to work and barely notice when she gets back an hour later. I do what I can to ignore her as she rummages through my cabinets and drawers, but there’s only so much banging and clattering that I can block out.
Forty-five excruciatingly long minutes later, the front door opens again and I can finally relax a little.
I meet Clint and Bucky in the entryway and immediately wrap my arms around Clint’s middle.
Clint laughs and loops his arms around my shoulders. “Hello to you, too.”
I bury my face in his chest and mumble, “Please make it stop.”
“What?”
“Kate randomly showed up and decided she was gonna make dinner.”
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s destroyed half the kitchen already.”
Clint kisses the top of my head and rubs the space between my wings. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” He moves around me and heads towards the kitchen. “Better figure out where we’re getting takeout from tonight, though.”
Bucky quickly takes Clint’s place and wraps me up in his arms.
“Sounds like you’ve had a rough day,” he says.
I nod. “I don’t really appreciate surprise visits.”
“I know you don’t.” He moves one hand to run his fingers up and down my neck, applying just enough pressure to relieve some of the tension. He hums softly when I relax against his chest. “You seem tense.”
“Because I am,” I mumble.
“Talk to me?”
“I… I’ve been working all day, and I was hoping I could try and get caught up, but then Kate showed up. She was upset that I didn’t tell her about what happened and then she was sad and she just launched herself at me and hugged me.” I shake my head. “If it’d just been a hug, I would’ve been fine, but I’m still too sore for that shit.”
“Is this okay, though?”
“Yeah, this is perfect. You know where and what to avoid.” I sigh. “I just wish my back would stop hurting.”
“Maybe I can help with that.”
“Would you?”
“Of course. Clint’s got Kate covered, it’s only fair that you get a back rub outta the deal.”
“I dunno if that’s how that works.”
“Well I’m not just gonna give you some Tylenol and call it a day. That’d be rude.” He takes my hand and leads me to the living room. “And also the barest fuckin minimum someone could do.”
Bucky takes a seat on the couch and has me sit on the floor between his legs. I lean forward on the coffee table and he starts moving his hands over my back, pressing his thumbs under my shoulderblades, and over the base of my wings before moving on to the small of my back. He works his way back up to my neck and I groan when he moves back between my wings. I push back against his hands and he obligingly digs his fingers in, earning a hum of approval from me.
“That good, huh?” I can hear the smile in his voice.
“Mhm.” I stretch my wings and he laughs. “‘S really nice, Buck.”
There’s a shout from the kitchen before something crashes to the floor. Bucky stops and I cover my face with my hands. Footsteps approach and stop just short of the coffee table.
“The hell was that, Clint?”
“I’m gonna lose my fuckin’ mind before this day is over,” I mumble.
“We’re definitely having takeout tonight,” Clint says.
He drops a bunch of takeout menus on the table, but I refuse to look at them and look up at Clint instead.
“We’re having Thai food.”
“What?!” Kate rushes over to join us. “I don’t like Thai food, though.”
“Kate, you fucked up dinner.”
“Yeah, but-”
“We’re having Thai. End of discussion.” I sigh and scrub my hands over my face. “What broke.”
“That white casserole dish you got from Tony a few years back,” Clint answers.
I squeeze my eyes shut and rub my temples. “I really liked that dish.”
“I know, (Y/N), I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Kate says. “I’ll go clean everything up.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Bucky mutters.
Bucky hands me his phone and tells me to order dinner while he gets me some Tylenol. As long as he’s known me, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could see the headache slowly spreading through my head. I quietly thank him and dial the number of the Thai place we used to regularly order from. I give them Clint’s name and they ask if I want the regular order.
“No, tonight we’re gonna need three chicken Pud See Ew, two seafood Pud Kee Mao, one chicken Pud Thai, all of those two stars, and then one order of fried rice with tofu.”
“Lots of company tonight?”
“No, we just want leftovers.”
They laugh and I ask them to deliver the food to my apartment instead of Clint’s. They oblige and let me know the food will be here in about half an hour. They promptly hang up and Bucky is back with the Tylenol and a glass of water before I can even put the phone down.
“You’re the best, you know that, right?”
Bucky laughs and hands the medication and water over. “I didn’t, but thanks.”
I hum and take the pills before hauling myself to my feet. “I’m gonna go back to work till the food gets here.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah, I’m still up to my eyeballs in first drafts. I’ll drown, if I’m not careful.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“I’ll try not to.”
I work until Clint pokes his head into my room to say the food’s arrived. It’s a little later than promised, but still hot enough to eat regardless. Everyone gathers around the coffee table to share each dish, but Kate sticks to the fried rice, as I thought she would.
When I finish my meal, I get up, kiss Clint and Bucky’s cheeks, and let them know I’ll be working for a while longer. Clint complains, but doesn’t do anything to stop me.
After almost an hour, the sounds of their conversation fade into white noise, and I barely even register them as I work. I wish I could be out there with them, but I know that there’s no way that I can reasonably expect to relax until I’ve made some kind of dent in my inbox.
It’s totally dark when Clint comes into the bedroom and drags me and my chair away from the desk. I protest, but he just closes my laptop and picks me up under my armpits.
“This is ridiculous,” I mutter. “I can walk by myself.”
“I don’t trust you not to go right back to work.”
“But there’s so much of it… Can you please just put me down?”
“Nope.” He tosses me over his shoulder. “Hurry up, Buck!”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Bathroom. You’re gonna get ready for bed.”
“But my pajamas-”
“On the bathroom floor, where you leave them every single morning when you get dressed.”
I sigh. “Sometimes it’s annoying that you know me so well.”
"Comes with the territory, sweetheart."
"I know… still." I whap him with my wing and he laughs. "Annoying."
Clint deposits me in the bathroom and leaves to check on Bucky. I shut myself in and get ready for bed, taking my time brushing my teeth and washing my face. When I'm done, Clint and Bucky are cuddled up in bed. They shuffle away from each other when I approach and I hold up a hand to stop them.
"I can spoon Clint tonight," I say. "I don't need to be between you."
"But we want you between us," Bucky says.
"I… why? I've been in the middle for a week. Don't you miss getting close to Clint?"
"We can switch things up some other night. But right now, I like knowing that you're safe."
"And we know that you're safe when you're sandwiched between the two of us," Clint adds.
"But one of you always wakes up with a mouthful of feathers. Wouldn't it just be easier-"
Bucky cuts me off. "Please don't fight us on this, (Y/N). We just wanna be close to you."
I nod and climb into the bed and lay between with my back to Clint. I fold my wings tight against my back, but Clint doesn't move closer. Slowly, I roll onto my stomach and extend my right wing to cover him. He shuffles across the mattress and presses his chest to my back. He relaxes when I settle against him and Bucky then moves closer and wraps his arm and Clint and I.
“Where’d Kate go?” I ask.
“She called America for a portal home,” Clint says.
“I didn’t mean to chase her off,” I mumble.
“You didn’t.” Bucky kisses my forehead. “She thought you needed someone to stick around with you for a couple of days, but didn’t realize that you’ve already got us.”
“I’m sensing something else happened.”
Clint laughs. “We gently explained that she stressed you the fuck out showing up like she did. She doesn’t always think before she does stuff like that, so she didn’t see it at first.”
“I did kind of ignore her though. Probably shouldn’t’ve done that.”
“You didn’t ignore her. You kind of go into your own little world when you’re working.” He pauses for a moment and presses his forehead to the back of my neck. “Kind of worries us sometimes.”
“Oh.” Clint’s arms tighten around me and I look at Bucky to see if he feels the same. He just nods. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Bucky murmurs.
“But I do. And I’m sorry if I’ve been distant since we got back home, and I’m sure I have. I talked to my clients, and they were really understanding about the situation, but I’m still almost three weeks behind on my workload.” I sigh. “That’s not a good excuse, but I’ve just been so swamped that I’ve barely had any room to think about anything else.”
Bucky closes his eyes, and sighs. I can see the tension leave his body, and Clint’s hold on me relaxes. I reach back with my left hand and gently comb my fingers through Clint’s hair and take Bucky’s hand with my right. Bucky meets my eyes and I silently ask him to explain.
“We were worried that something about the barn was still messing with your head,” Bucky says. He squeezes my hand and holds it to his chest. “I know what that’s like, and I’d never want you to go through that alone.”
“Oh, Buck…” Clint mumbles something much to the same effect against my neck. “I didn’t mean to worry you. Either of you.”
“We’re always gonna worry about you, (Y/N),” Clint says. “We-I…”
Bucky finishes Clint’s sentence, saying, “We’re always gonna worry about you, because we love you.”
“You… me?” Bucky nods and I quickly sit up and look between both of them. “Both of you?”
“Yeah,” Clint rolls onto his back and looks up at me. “Both of us.”
“Oh.”
“We were literally talking about how to tell you when we were at the tower earlier.”
“We weren’t expecting an opportunity so soon, though,” Bucky adds.
“What about you two?” I ask, voice small.
They look at each other and smile.
“We love each other,” Bucky says. “And we have for a long time, but we’re not complete if our relationship doesn’t include you.”
“You’re our missing piece.” Clint shrugs. “I don’t know if there’s much to say past that.”
“Oh.” They’re quick to reassure me that they don’t want to pressure me into anything. I just laugh and shush them. “No, that’s not it. I’m just surprised.”
Clint frowns. “Really?”
“I mean… I didn’t doubt that you two loved me before, I guess I just didn’t want to assume that it was more than what we’d already expressed.” I sit back on my heels and sigh. “But more than that I just… when we were leaving the compound, it really hit me how much I love you two. How much being with you and having you in my life means to me, after everything we’ve been through.”
Bucky nods. “We just don’t wanna be quiet about it anymore.”
“I don’t either. But ever since I met the two of you, you’ve been my closest friends, and I…” I fiddle with the hem of my shirt. “I guess, I-I just don’t want any of this to change our relationship.”
Bucky props himself up on one elbow and covers my hands with his. “Nothing needs to change. Things are perfect the way they are.”
“I mean… it’d be kind of be nice to kiss you,” Clint mumbles.
“I think that kind of goes without saying,” Bucky says.
I laugh. “I dunno, that’s a pretty big change.” Both men freeze and I laugh harder. “I never said no.”
Clint grins and quickly sits up. He looks between Bucky and I and Bucky just shakes his head.
“Don’t look at me,” he says. “You gotta ask her.”
Clint shakes his head. “Right, I know.”
I reached out and ran the back of my finger over his cheek before cupping his jaw in my hand. His expression softens and he slowly leans in and presses his forehead to mine. Bucky laces his fingers with mine and I tilt my head to the side to press my lips to Clint’s. He readily responds, gently kissing me back, almost as if he’s worried he’ll scare me off. I pull away and peck him once more on the lips. Clint wraps his arm around my middle and ducks his head to kiss my neck. I laugh and shiver at the feeling of his stubble against my skin.
“How was it?” Bucky asks.
“It felt right,” I answer. I meet his eyes and he smiles. “Kind of like we’ve been doing it the whole time.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm.” I wiggle my eyebrows at him and he laughs. “You want a turn?”
He sits up fully and places his hand on the back of my neck. “Of course.”
He traces his thumb along my jaw and I lean into his touch. Bucky leans in and bumps his nose against mine before brushing our lips together. I let out a shaky breath when he does it again and tip my head up to kiss him. He smiles against my lips and I hum softly. When he pulls away, he brushes his thumb over my cheek and smiles in the way that makes his eyes crinkle at the corner.
“That was nice,” I murmur.
“It was.”
“Definitely looked like it,” Clint says.
I laugh and Bucky wraps his arms around Clint and I. Somehow, they manage to comfortably situate me on both of their laps. I enclose the three of us in my wings and slowly relax into the warmth of their arms. Clint and Bucky figure out a way to kiss me at the same time, which only results in the three of us laughing.
Eventually we get too tired to stay upright and we collapse in a pile on the bed. Bucky pulls the covers up over us and slips his hand under my shirt to splay across the small of my back, just under Clint’s.
“I love you,” Clint mumbles.
“Me too,” Bucky says. “Both of you.”
My heart swells and I blanket them with my wings. “I love you, too.”
“G’night, (Y/N).”
“G’night,” I murmur.
My eyes grow too heavy to keep open and I drift off to sleep, wrapped up in Clint and Bucky’s arms.
I promised a happy ending, and here we are! I won’t lie, I’m kind of in love with this chapter, and I feel like it ends the series really nicely.
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