^{@alaptopandatonofweirdcrap}

This is what Clint’s used to. The smell of popcorn and hot dogs, the uncomfortableness of this stupid purple costume he was made to wear, the bow in his hand with an arrow knocked back. The quietness of the audience, either watching him with real or faked interest. The worker who they but on the target while it spun, trusting that Clint wouldn’t accidentally shoot them.

Oh, the life of a carnie.

Clint watched as the target spun, the person on it smiling wide as arrows just missed their hands and feet by a fraction of an inch, Clint now aiming for the spot above their head as they did another spin. He focused, taking a deep breath and waiting for one more half spin before releasing the arrow.

Thwack.

The arrow missed their head by a hair. Clint smiled, turning to the thinning audience, some clapping coming when the realized he was done. Okay, maybe they didn’t realize he was missing the person on purpose. He could accept that.

Clint’s eyes landed on one of the people clapping, a dark haired man in a suit and sunglasses. Clint raised his eyebrow, wondering if he was hot in that. it was midsummer in Kansas, after all.

Once the crowd started to disperse themselves, Clint pulled off the hot mask of the costume and put the bow in his quiver, ducking under as many people as he could as he ran out of his tent, heading for the cotton candy booth.

Marlene, the gapped tooth woman who operated the machine, just smiled and handed Clint two already made cotton candys and waved him off. It was like a routine.

Finish the show, get cotton candy, find Skye and spend the rest of the night with her. Anything else felt wrong, honestly.

Clint ran from the booth, running to their usual meeting spot. “ Skye! Hey, Skye! ”

alaptopandatonofweirdcrap:

_{She snorted, rolling her eyes. “If you have to call it a tunic to stay secure in your masculinity, then you do whatever you’ve gotta do. I’m just saying. It was a skirt.” She replied with a roll of her eyes.}

_{Maybe it was stupid, or maybe she was incredibly niave, but when his grip tightened on her hand, she relaxed. There may not be a lot of things that Skye trusted about the world, but on that very short list was Clint. She trusted him more than she’d trusted any other human being in her life. If he said it would be okay, she believed it would be.}

_{When he professed his faith in Phil Coulson, she nodded. The name was familiar, and it took her about a second flat to realize where she’d heard it before. “He was the one who came and… recruited you, right?” She cocked her head slightly, forcefully keeping her tone neutral. She remembered hearing the name when she’d gone around, trying in desperate vain to find Clint when he’d disappeared. One of the vendors had said someone had introduced themselves by the name when asking where to find ‘Hawkeye.’}

Clint rolled his eyes too, letting it drop for now. He had this conversation a lot, and he would have many more with her if he had ti prove it was tunic, not a skirt, but right now wasn’t the time.

Clint turned to her when she seemed to know who Phil was. He hadn’t known how many people really did know that he left that day. He knew that, in a close knit troupe like that, word would get out fast, especially to Skye, but he hadn’t expected Phil’s name to get out too. Clint knew Phil had been asking around for him though, so that must have been it. People put two and two together when Clint left.

He wonder for a moment what it was really like when he left. Were people mad at him? How mad? How mad was Skye? Did they curse his name there, like he’d seen them do now and then with others left, usually for a better circus. He suddenly felt like a kid again, wondering what his family thought of him. He had to let that go though. He needed to drop it.

“ Yeah. Yeah, he was. ”

alaptopandatonofweirdcrap:

_{Part of Skye, the part that was very focused on survival, almost wanted to shrink under his gaze. It was only through forcefully telling herself that it was probably just curiosity that she managed not to. It could still all be a trick, his kindness, she supposed, but hoping it to be genuine didn’t mean she had to unilaterally put her guard down.}

_{When she heard his admission, voice quieting, she swallowed. She understood that tone, even if she didn’t know the story behind it. It was an almost-but-not-quite casual brush off, one she was very, very used to giving.}

_{“Hmm. Don’t think I’m putting Waverly on my vacation list either.” She replied with a nod, letting her eyes flick to meet his and offering a think smile of something like understanding. At least, she hoped that was how it came across, Skye wasn’t overly used to being able to understand others.}

_{She gave a laugh that really just came out as more of a huff of air when he apologized, arching an eyebrow at him. “Don’t be.” She replied, shaking her head, “I was planning on running out soon anyway. Going back and forth from fosters to the orphanage every other month gets old fast.” She grimaced, then shrugged. “Thanks to you, at least I have something.” Not a home, not even a job really, but something. Which was more than Skye’d had in a long time.}

Clint smiled as he watched her, laughing a little when she agreed to not putting Waverly on her list. He shrugged in agreement with her, his smile appearing again when she smiled at him, lowering his head to take a sip from his soda, relaxing a little.

He nodded in understanding when she mentioned how moving around sucked. He and Barney got tired of that, and the homes that were just like their old one, fast.Honestly, he was surprised more kids just didn’t run. Maybe because it was rare that they’d get lucky. Though, not many people would think that the circus was lucky, really, but when the options were the streets doing god knows what to survive, maybe having carnies looking out for you wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

“ Hey, you don’t need to thank me. Us runaways, we gotta stick together, don’t we? ” He asked, smile into a smirk and giving her a playful wink as he took another bite of his hot dog. It was true, someone had to look out for her and he could do that. He could make sure she was treated well here, he could help her. He knew he could.

Clint peeked up over the counter of the booth after a few minutes and smiled. “ Hey, when you’re done, they still have some of the games out. Want to go play some? ” He asked, turning around and flashing Skye a wide smile.

alaptopandatonofweirdcrap:

^{“Still not willing to call it a skirt?” She teased, voice as light as she could make it, even if it was a little bit forced in an attempt to lighten the tension.}

^{When he slowed, she watched him closely. She hadn’t figured he’d had any sort of plan or anything, he’d been as surprised to see her as she’d been to see him. She could all but see the wheels turning in his head as he figured out what to do next, could still see the flicker of uncertainty even as he nodded, and twisted her hand in his slightly to link their fingers, squeezing lightly.} 

^{“You trust them, then, your supervising officer.” It wasn’t even slightly a question, just a confirmation and observation. She swallowed and took a breath, reminding herself that while she may not trust SHIELD, she trusted Clint. And she in no way thought he’d lead her into a situation he believed would hurt her. He never had before.}

“It wasn’t a skirt.” His answer was quick, teasing almost to keep up with the lightness in her voice. Help ease the tension a bit. “Tunic is a better word.”

Clint turned to look at Skye, watching her face when he said he would bring her to his supervising officer, and he squeezed her hand in an attempt to assure her. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He didn’t think SHIELD would do anything to her — — He’d take her away before he let that happen. He would take Skye anywhere else if he thought she ight be in trouble.

But he trusted SHIELD. He trusted Phil, he trusted Maria, he trusted Nick. They were good people.

“He’s a good man.” Clint nodded, pulling her along to the back door. “Phil Coulson. He’s a good person. I would trust him with my life.” Maybe a little dramatic, but frankly, he would.

alaptopandatonofweirdcrap:

_{{ @xclintcn}

_{Okay but like, I’m looking for aesthetic pictures and this picture just screams daisyclint to me and gives me little ideas for our verse bc Skye may not be a headliner act like Clint but she’s damn sure not gonna be a be a roustabout any longer than she has to so she takes any training she can possibly get and once she learns she loves to show off because outside of the occasional fight she’s never been able to actually do anything before and one day she’s teasing him and thinks she’s all funny and then this happens? }}

alaptopandatonofweirdcrap:

^{Okay, so something in her told Skye that that damn smile shouldn’t still get to her that much after all that time, but knowing that didn’t mean it was true. It still got to her. A lot. Damn.} 

^{She laughed when he admitted that they still called him Hawkeye, though she gave an exaggerated frown when he added that at least he didn’t wear the costume anymore. “Aww, The costume was great though! Purple really is your color.”} 

^{Still, her eyes flicked to every corner of the walls as they made their way through, even as she relaxed to Clint’s presence, a lot of the tension lingered in her frame. “So uh- probably should’ve asked this before, but uhm.. what happens when we get out of here?”}

He gave her a playful eye roll — how quick they were to be falling into old routines, as if he never left — and shook his head. “Purple is, I agree. But the tunic… Maybe that was a little much.” He would go to his grave saying that wasn’t a skirt, no matter what anyone said on the matter.

He kept leading her out of the building, not letting go of her hand, almost like his life depended on her being right there. Like letting go might mean he’d wake up from whatever dream this was. At Skye’s question though, Clint slowed down, nearly stopping. What would happen if he brought her in?

Clint had made clear to them the day he was brought in that he had a friend they had to go back for. But, clearly, it wasn’t top priority, ( maybe he should have fought more ) and now here they were. He was sure that Skye could tell he wasn’t sure, but he just nodded, already thinking of ways how to explain who she was and where he found her and what she was doing her. But he had people he could trust there, and that helped.

“ We go to my supervising officer. ”