Divided |2|

prologue

"Dad, I'm eighteen now. You can't keep babying me for all of my life."

With a pointed look towards her father, Victoria Barton continued to pack clothing into her bag. Clint stood at her door, arms crossed as he tried to persuade his daughter to stay at home – rather than go and risk her neck for a personal vendetta of the Captain.

"I'm not trying to baby you, Victoria." He walked to her drawer, where her bows lay, and he picked one up to examine it. "This is new, where'd you get it from?"

She glanced up and rushed to take it back. "I got it for Christmas... From Pietro."

"Oh," he watched as she strapped it onto her bag. "That's a name we haven't heard in a while."

Awkwardly shifting her weight onto the other foot for a moment, Victoria shrugged before replying. "Yeah, it has been a while... Hasn't it?"

Clint felt his heart twist at the crack that was present in her voice as she spoke. He was more than aware of the breakup that occurred between the teenagers. Despite not liking the speedster at first, he grew on the archer. He felt bad for the both of them, but the memory of the night lingers around constantly.

***

New Years

After a blissful first Christmas together, Pietro and Victoria were seated on her bed after Pietro finished packing. The air in the room was thick, and the silence was awkward. Not being able to handle the silence, Victoria spoke up.

"When will I be seeing you again?"

"I am not sure," he sighed. "Steve told Wanda and I that we were going to be training with them non-stop after New Years."

"So... Not any time soon, then."

He turned to her with a sad smile, "You know, you could come and visit—"

"—You know I can't, this is the last stretch of my senior year. I need to do well."

"Why? I thought you are not going to go and study further?"

"That doesn't matter. This is so that my future will always have a back up—"

"—Being an Avenger does not need a back up plan, Victoria."

She sighed, standing up and running her hands through her hair. Pietro felt the pieces in his head click and he understood what they needed to do.

"Maybe it is best if we go on an indefinite break. Figure ourselves out and focus on our job—or school."

Victoria said nothing, not even when he walked over to her and kissed her head. Her heart was pulling itself apart but she couldn't speak. When he realised this, Pietro picked up his bag–uttering four words—before zooming off.

"I'll see you soon."

For the remainder of the day, Victoria locked herself in her room, blasting music and trying her best to concentrate on the study work before her. She just needed to forget him.

***

"You know, if you ever want to talk—"

"—I'm fine, dad. I'm really okay." She swung the bag over her shoulder and make her way out of her room. "My main focus now is the job."

"Which is?"

"Capture this dude and make sure nobody unnecessary gets hurt."

"You sure you are okay with me not being there? I can go with—"

"—No, papa – I'm good. You need to stay and help mum with Coop, Lila and Nate when you guys go to the lake house."

"I'd rather be going with you, to be honest," he laughs and puts an arm around her. "I don't know how she does it!"

"She's female, we always find a way to handle things."

"Ain't that the truth."

"At least you're lucky, when Nate was still an actual baby you just turned your hearing aid off at night. We had to deal with the screaming brat."

"That's not true! I helped... Sometimes."

"Sometimes being the key word there."

They walked downstairs in silence, Victoria skipping off to meet Nate who hobbled towards her in his walking ring. Clint smiled, before his thoughts drifted again.

"You sure you're going to be okay seeing him after a year?"

"Dad, I am not having this conversation with you."

"But I'm your dad—"

"—Exactly."

Clint pouted at that, and Victoria memorised it. After all, who knows when she'd see her father again.

***

COMING SOON.