Avengers Preferences and Imagines

Something New: Clint Barton (Part One)

I let out a sigh and allowed my head to settle against the cool window of the car. "I shouldn't be here...I don't want to be here...I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for-" A voice broke through my self-destructive train of thought just in time to save me. I snapped my head around to face her. "A change of scenery will do you some good you know" Natasha yelled over the noise from the open sunroof and windows. Despite the shouting, her tone was neutral and held no hint of judgment, pity, or whatever it was people used with me these days. Her consistency was something I appreciated about her, especially in light of everything that had happened.

Word had spread quickly at work and it hadn't taken long for everybody to start treating me differently. Looking at me differently. Whispers followed me around like ghosts, and there were sidelong glances everywhere I went. The worst were the ones who avoided me all together. That bothered me the most. But Natasha never followed suit, she was the same as she had always been.

Natasha and I were...unlikely friends. For somebody who claimed "making friends wasn't her style" she had sure gone through enough effort to get me to be hers. I wasn't the friend making type either. I lived alone, I worked alone, I liked being alone. People were complicated and they overwhelmed me. I didn't mind them per-say, but I had always been more comfortable by myself. That's where Natasha surprised me. Although she was persistent in her efforts to befriend me, she managed to do it in a way that never made me uneasy. She just understood me in a way that others had always struggled too. It was because of that understanding I had allowed her to be my friend, and there hadn't yet been a moment where I regretted my decision. The operative word being "yet" because after her stunt today I was growing doubtful.

But as much as she understood me and my comfort zones, she also knew how to push me to my limits...far outside of those comfort zones. Which is exactly how we ended up in this situation. "This is really unnecessary" I grumbled, as I began to fidget with the radio. She smacked my hand away. "It's been almost three months (Y/n). You barley leave your apartment, you're on leave indefinitely, you're a shell of yourself. We've tried it your way and I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but... it's not working. Something's gotta give. Consider this a friendly intervention." She gave a nonchalant shrug but the look in her eye said everything that she wasn't saying: "This is my last ditch effort to save you. Please don't fight me on this. I can't and won't lose my friend".

I rolled my eyes at her and grumbled "More like a hostile intervention" under my breath before popping in an AirPod and turning my attention back to the scenery that was passing us by. I watched the city getting smaller, and smaller behind us until eventually buildings became scarce, and then non-existent. I watched the city turn to forest before my eyes. Something in it comforted me. I had been living in the city for far too many years now that I had almost forgotten how serene the forest was. For the first time in months a gentle smile crossed my lips as I listened to the far off sounds of nature, watched the leaves fall from the trees, felt the crisp autumn air on my face and through my hair, and beheld the marvellous colours of summer collapsing into fall.

My serenity was soon interrupted by the jarring feeling of the car flying onto a gravel road, sending us veering towards the ditch. "SHIT!" Natasha said with a laugh as she cranked the wheel hard to the left to correct our course. "Have you never driven on gravel before?!?" I questioned, my eyebrows raised in concern. She shook her head no and shrugged, no longer concerned about nearly killing us both. "Any country kid could tell you that driving on gravel is like driving on marbles and going over a certain speed is sure to get you killed" I informed her, my hand still on my chest from the shock. "Didn't know you grew up in the country (y/n/n)" she said casually but it caused my skin to grow clammy nonetheless. I was somehow burning up and sweating at the same time.