I Thought You Were Different

Closure

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want you here? Are you so conceited to think that I can't do this without you? You walked away, Barton, so do us all a favor and just keep walking."

Clint looked as if he had been punched in the gut; his face paled and his mouth hung open in shock. This wasn't what he expected. You had wanted him to stay, so he expected you to welcome him back with open arms. To his own detriment, he had never once considered this. "Is that what you really want?" he asked quietly, in sharp contrast to his attitude only moments ago. "Do you really want me to go?"

You wanted to scream at him; you wanted to push him away, and make him feel the pain that he had caused you, but you knew that he had been feeling it too. Your emotions were mixing together, heightened by the fatigue that ravaged your body. You looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes, and the longing, and it caught your breath in your chest. He really did love you and you hadn't truly believed it until this moment.

"No," you whispered, lowering your gaze to the floor.

Clint took a deep breath and let out a shaky laugh that stung his throat with a surge of emotion at your acceptance of him. Rational thought was all but gone. He reached out and pulled you up, pressing his lips to yours.

~~~

Natasha ran from room to room to find Steve, relieved when she finally saw him leaving the conference room and turning to rejoin you in the gym. "Hey, Cap," she called out in a soft tone, jogging up to meet him.

"Romanoff."

"Where you headed?"

He gave her a skeptical look and replied slowly, "to the gym...to finish (Y/N)'s session...why?"

"No reason," she smiled, taking a hold of his arm to make him pause, "how's that going?"

"As well as could be expected," he sighed. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

Natasha shifted her feet slightly, conveying to him a nervousness that was so far out of character for her that he immediately knew what was happening. His spine straightened and his jaw set; she knew right away that she had failed her mission. "Steve...maybe don't go just yet..."

"I don't believe this," he growled, taking long strides towards the gym. He was moving so quickly that she struggled to keep up.

"FRIDAY," she called out as she ran, "summon backup to the gym!"

~~~

You didn't pull yourself from him right away, frozen in place by your confusion and shock at what was happening. His kiss wasn't forceful or desperate as you first thought it might be, but rather as if he had found home after being lost for too long. His hands held you tightly but not so much that you couldn't break free if you had wanted, and you didn't. Why hadn't you? Why didn't this feel wrong?

You heard your therapist gasp and whisper your name, finally thrusting you back to reality, pulling yourself away from him. When your eyes opened, Clint was looking at you with as much shock as you were feeling; shock that turned into cold fear at the sight of the man standing in the doorway behind him.

"Clint, run."

"Wha-" he began but was immediately pulled away from you by the back of his shirt, Steve throwing him into the wall with a loud thud and the sounds of crashing equipment as Clint slid to the ground. He lay still for a few seconds, then sat up and shook his head as if to straighten his mind after what had just happened.

"Steve, don't do this," you begged, "he didn't mean to."

"What, he tripped and his lips just landed on yours? He thought he was kissing someone else's fiancé?" he yelled, his face red with rage, his voice booming throughout the room in a volume that made you wince from it's strength. "Please, (Y/N), explain to me how he didn't mean to!"