A Second [Clint Barton x Reader]

Second Chances

Part 24
***
An illusion. That's all it was. Just the soul stone playing tricks on you. That thing looked into your heart, into your soul, saw your pain, and decided it'd be fun to mess with you. It cast a projection of the man you loved. He wasn't real. Just some sick joke that an infinity stone decided to play on you.

You could reach out and touch him, but your hand would just slip through him. The image would wavier, just playing through the things it thought you wanted to see and hear. The things it knew you wanted to see and hear.

Or so you thought. Because thinking that was easier to wrap your fragile mind around currently. After all you'd been through, another false hope would have destroyed you entirely. So it was only fair you were skeptical and, quite frankly, in a little bit in shock.

When you called out Clint's name, the projection before you followed your voice, the very real looking eyes of your deceased husband locking with your own.

"(Y/n)? Where are we? Where's Nat?" It asks, making your whole body shake.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not real...

"Honey? What's wrong? I... I'm so confused.. Are you ok?" It started moving, crawling toward you, but you can't move. All you can do is stare at the image in disbelief, because damn does it look like an exact copy of Clint.

His face blurs up, and with shaky hands, you reach to cup his cheeks, heart thumping loudly in your chest. You touch his face, his skin is soft and warm under your fingertips.

"Is it really you?" You whisper, blinking your eyes to clear away the tears so you can see clearly. He watches you, confused and concerned.

"What do you mean? Of course it's me. Why are you crying?" One of his hands covers your hand on his cheek while the other cups your cheek. He scoots closer to you, eyes searching you now for any signs of harm. You still didn't want to believe it though. How could he be here? His body was at the bottom of a cliff on a different planet, in a different time.

"What kind of sick joke is this? Just stop it! This can't be real.." You push his hand away from your cheek, holding him at his wrist, and you rip your other hand away from his cheek, setting it on his chest instead. You wanted to completely shove him away, but even then you couldn't bring yourself to do that. Even if he was fake, you couldn't just push him away.

Even though you didn't push him away completely, Clint still gave you a hurt and confused look. But despite you grabbing his wrist and keeping his hands away from you, he doesn't move back.

"You.. you're not real..." You sob softly. "You're dead. You can't be here.." You start to break down all over again, letting go of the illusion completely and sobbing into your hands instead. "The stone is just messing with me..."

"Oh honey..." Clint says softly. "Baby, I... I'm so sorry." You feel his warm hands on you again, one on your thigh and the other on your back. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I don't think I'm dead right now. I-It's me.. as far as I can tell." His hands leave you, causing you to look up. He's check his wrist for a pulse. "Yeah, yep. Got a heartbeat. Here, see for yourself." He reaches out for your hand, bringing it to his chest, holding your palm over his heart. You can feel the faint thumps under your fingertips and let out a shuddery breath. Your eyes meet, and either the soul stone is doing a damn good job at faking Clint, or this is really him.

Letting out a loud sob, you rocket forward and latch onto him, burying your face into his neck and securely wrapping every limb you had around him. Thinking back, it was probably really cringy, but with all the emotions you felt, you really didn't care at that moment. Clint was alive, and you were so relieved it hurt.