Clint Barton x Reader [Practise]

Clint was wandering around the building known as Stark Tower, seeking for what seemed to be the most precious thing to him in life. His bow. The tower, being as big as it is, could make it take hours before you could find anything that you'd lost. One time you lost an earring and didn't find it until three months later.

"Hey, 'Tasha?" He asked with a slight annoyance in his tone upon entering the main living room, searching through every drawer and every cupboard he could find. His clear assumption being that someone had moved it as a joke or prank of some kind.

She tore her eyes away from the television screen to look at the brunet man practically tearing the room apart. "Yes?" She asked. Her eyebrows furrowed when she noticed his strange behaviour, seemingly curious.

"Have you seen my bow? I can't find it anywhere..." He trailed off when lifting one of the panels to the vents and peeking through, maybe he left it there? Nope.

Natasha stifled a giggle as she replied, "Have you checked the training room?" She kept a straight face and Clint nodded, partially confused. "You might want to check it again, I think it made it's way back there somehow."

Clint mumbled a quick 'thanks' before he headed back towards the training room. His pace quickened the more he thought about the red-head's words. What did she mean 'it made it's way back somehow'? He strode through the corridor towards the elevator before pressing the button that would take him to the training level.

~~~~~

When the lift doors opened, he saw a familiar head of (H/C) hair. "(Y/N)? What are you doing here?"

You squeaked in surprise, not noticing the presence of another person in the room. As you did so, you jumped, causing misdirection in the bow and the arrow hit the ceiling. It was a rare occurrence for you to be in the training room, usually you just sat in your room and read a book.

Clint narrowed his eyes at you. One the other hand, you didn't even turn to look at him. Just froze. "Is that my...?" He trailed off, running toward you to scan the item in your hands. "That's my bow! I've been looking for that all morning."

"Sorry." You mumbled, finally eyeing him as he took the bow from your grasp, examining it for any scratches or faults.

"Why did you have it?" He questioned, putting his bow down with a sigh of relief when he saw it was in perfect shape. He looked up at you with those piercing blue eyes of his, patiently waiting for your answer.

"I wanted to... Uh," You paused, unable to find the right words. "Learn how to use it?" You tried to finish your statement but it came out more like a question. You grinned sheepishly at the male, hoping he wouldn't use the string of his bow to strangle you. He never let anyone touch it. Ever. Or at least, not when he's there to prevent it. His bow was like a wife to him. And you wouldn't dare tell him that the real reason you wanted to learn how to use it was to impress him.

Preparing for the worst, you faced the ground, unable to look at him in silence for much longer.

"How? By shooting it at the ceiling?" He chuckled.

You lifted your head in surprise. "That wasn't my fault, you frightened me!" You argued in defence.

"Whatever." He tried to hide the smile on his face. He glanced at his bow for a second and then back at you, he had an idea. "Do you want me to teach you?"

"Teach me what?" You raised an eyebrow, your little 'argument' had made you forget all about the incident with the bow.

He lifted his bow toward you and you immediately knew what he meant. You nodded your head eagerly with a small smile.

~~~~~~

"Alright, so first." He stood right behind you, adjusting your grip on the bow with his hands atop yours. "It might help to know how to hold a bow properly," He chuckled and you could feel his warm breath on your neck. You held your head down in embarrassment before he lifted your chin up with his slender fingers. "Second, never take your eyes off of the target." Crap you thought, All I'm doing is embarrassing myself...

You weren't actually sure why he was teaching you, never mind why he was letting you lay a finger on his bow. Maybe he reciprocated your feelings? Nah, it  was probably just your eagerness to learn. Or the fact that someone else seemed to be as interested in archery as he was. Which was quite rare, everyone else had superpowers and therefore had no use for arrows in battle. So common interests it was settled.

You were snapped out of your thoughts when you realised you would need to keep your concentration.

Clint's hand shadowed yours as you picked up an arrow and he guided you on where to put it and how to hold it correctly. He shifted the position of the bow to aim it, "Then you just pull back and..." He pulled his hand back, along with yours, "Release." Almost as immediately as he told you, you let go and the arrow flew off toward the target. You squeezed your eyes shut as it did so, not wanting to see how terrible you had gotten it.

When you opened your eyes you were happy to see that it hit the bulls-eye. Yes! You spun around and cheered with the biggest grin on your face. "I did it!" You sounded overly-excited and hugged Clint in your burst of adrenaline.

He laughed in amusement with a faint trace of red on his cheeks. "I think you mean we did it."

You looked at him and pouted. "Alright, fine. We did it." You liked that. We. It felt right

"Now try it on your own." He stepped away to give you space. As much as you missed the feeling of his arms around yours already, you nodded.

As you got into your stance, you tried to position the bow just as he had done before. You glanced at him in question, asking without words whether or not you were holding it correctly and he nodded with a smile plastered upon his face.

You took aim before stretching the string of the bow and letting go. It wasn't perfect. But it still landed on the target whether it was right at the edge or not. You spun around to look at Clint with one of the happiest expressions you'd had on your face in a while and he laughed softly at your bliss.

"Am I allowed to keep practising?" You asked, hoping he wouldn't refuse.

He pondered over the thought for a moment before replying, "Yes." You looked so joyful and he didn't want to be the one to take that away from you. "I'm going to head downstairs, Bruce said earlier that he needed help with something in the lab."

"Alright."

"Don't break her!" He yelled back as he was entering the elevator. You giggled at the use of his pronoun. 'Her'. If it was legal he'd probably be married to that thing.

~~~~~

After Clint left, you resumed your training. Pulling back on the string once more, almost ready to release it. It snapped.

Shit.