A/N: Wow, I can't believe I managed to get this updated so fast! Hopefully I can get the other chapters up just as quickly.

Written for the Five Senses Challenge on The Avengers Challenge Forum.

There were a lot of things that got on Tony's nerves.

Having a whole cluster of superheroes living in his house. Villains attacking on days that Tony was busy doing something for Stark Industries. The fact that Hulk never seemed to remember that the doors to his house opened automatically. Being Fury's 'lapdog' and having to clean up S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mistakes.

That all bothered him. Actually, it all irritated the man to no end. There were a lot more things that could ruffle Tony's feathers too. But on the top of that list, only below Fury, was Clint. Everything about the other Avenger bothered him. From how he would take off on his own for weeks at a time to how he could never just do what he was told to do.

Today, it was that Clint wasn't getting to Stark Manor at a decent time.

Everyone else had gathered in Tony's living room almost ten minutes ago. It was a good thing that they weren't all being called there for anything important. Like a battle of some sort, which was what the Avengers Comm was typically used for announcing. Otherwise, when Clint did show up, the archer would have been off the team like that.

As it was, Tony didn't plan on waiting for much longer before he just told everyone else. If Clint missed it, and missed out on staying on the team, then it was his own fault. At least, that's what he told himself as he dropped down into one of the black leather armchairs scattered about his almost-too-large living room.

Resting his elbow on the arm of the chair and cupping his chin in his hand, Tony let out an annoyed snort. "He'd better get here soon."

"I'm sure he will, Tony. There is probably a good reason that Clint hasn't gotten here yet. Perhaps he ran into trouble?" Steve suggested. It wasn't likely that was the actual case but one never knew.

Tony just wrinkled his nose up, scowl deepening. "It better have been big trouble for him to be this late."

Steve shrugged. Just as he was about to say something, the door to the room they were sitting in opened and Clint meandered his way in. Dressed in his uniform, which Tony had explicitly stated in the call was not needed, and taking his time crossing through the room.

"What the hell took you so long?" Tony snapped, pushing himself out of the chair and glowering at the other man.

Clint didn't answer right away. When he did, he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't in a good mood. "I was busy. I'm still busy. What do you need me for, Tony?"

Obviously, it wasn't because there was a fight somewhere. The fact that everyone was still in the manor told Clint that. He was late enough that if it had been a fight, everyone would have been long gone by now. Probably taking with them any chance that Clint had of finding them and joining in on the fight, too. The fact that he was the only one wearing a uniform was another obvious give-away.

Normally, Clint would have had a snide remark for Tony about calling them together without a fight going on; even if the others didn't, he had things that needed to get done that day. But the archer kept his lips shut tight, leaned against the wall across from where Tony was standing, and tried to concentrate on what was being said.

"I 'need you' because I'm supposed to give you all a briefing on our wonderful little excursion tomorrow." Tony made sure to pile the sarcasm on thick, just to let the others know that he didn't like it anymore than they were going to. But Fury had already decided it was going to happen and, when that man decided on something, it happened. Even when no one else wanted anything to do with the 'grand idea'.

And this was by far one of Fury's most irritating ideas yet. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has decided that we need to get ourselves known in a more...relatable...light. So Fury's set us each up to be interviewed tomorrow morning, bright and early."

Jan let out a loud groan and slouched down in her chair, both arms crossing over her chest. "Why? What's the point of doing that? It's not like anyone will take what we say as the truth!"

That was true. It was also the same point that Tony had brought up in the very first phone call with the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. almost a week ago. Fury hadn't cared then, still didn't care now, and had made it very clear that he wasn't going to care.

"The point is that Fury isn't going to stop calling me until we do this." Tony said. "I've already gotten two calls from him this morning and I'm not going to deal with that every day. So we're doing the interviews."

And that was all Clint was able to get. Tony turned away from him at that point to face Steve, most likely answering some question about what they would have to say in the morning, and that was that.

Normally, the fact that Tony didn't bother to address everyone at the same time wouldn't have bothered Clint in the slightest. It was how their self-proclaimed leader worked; ignoring the members that had gotten on his nerves, and speaking almost directly to Steve and only Steve. And that was fine because everyone else could still hear what was being said.

Except that, this time, Clint couldn't.

The minute that Tony turned away from him, the small connection to what everyone was saying disappeared and Clint found himself trapped once again in nothing but silence. The type of silence that sent shivers down his spine and made his heart clench, simply because it was so horribly and utterly complete.

The breath that Clint forced himself to take was ragged and noisy, though he couldn't tell himself. It didn't help to stop the way his heart had begun to hammer in his chest or slow the small trickle of panic that was drifting threw him. But it got Tony's attention; the older man glared at him, said something too quickly for Clint to catch, and then went back to talking to Steve.

And that was how the rest of the 'meeting' went. Tony didn't give Clint another glance through the whole thing, set on ignoring him for not showing up on time, and Clint wasn't able to make out anything else that was said; and it made Clint so beyond furious, because he hadn't actually been ignoring the call, he just hadn't been able to hear it start buzzing.

Abruptly, at least it was to the archer, Jan and Hank both stood up and left the room. Thor moved to follow them out, though he was grinning where Hank hadn't been, but stopped near the door.

"Are you going to join us, Hawkeye?" Thor asked the other Avenger, making a vague gesture to the hall that Hank and Jan had just disappeared down.

Again, Clint's answer was delayed. Matching words to lips without moving his own and trying to say them himself was difficult. But he'd be damned if he let the others know what was going on just then. Not when he had just really secured himself a place on the team and didn't really know himself. "I already said I'm busy."

The grin slipped from Thor's face and he tilted his head to the side just slightly. "Are you sure? You are not usually one for missing this."

Clint had to bite his tongue before he asked just what he would be missing. Instead he let out what was probably a too-loud 'yes', resisted the urge to lower his eyes, and shoved past Thor so he could leave first.

~X~

If standing through Tony talk to the other members of the Avengers without actually hearing what was said had been bad, then Clint's walk back to his apartment was beyond horrible. Every little thing made him jerk, from someone bumping into him as they passed him on the sidewalk to watching one of the hundreds of pigeons that lived in the city sing and not hearing the tune.

Clint was caught in a world of silence that left him guessing and double-checking everything. What was normally a fifteen minute stroll turned into a forty five minute paranoia filled walk where nothing made sense.

One moment, Clint would be the only one on the sidewalk, the next he was being jostled around and shoved as people rushed about to get to where ever it was that they were headed. No one bothered to duck around him. They just slammed their shoulders into his, scowled in his direction, and kept right on going.

Cars rushed by, fast and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, and Clint wasn't able to hear which direction they were coming from. Crossing the street turned into something difficult. Deadly even.

It was all so strange. Except that 'strange' wasn't a strong enough word. There didn't seem to be a strong enough word to describe what it was like to suddenly be in a world where there was no sound. Where there was nothing to hint at the going-ons around him or hint at things headed towards him. Where, if he wasn't paying the utmost attention to everything then he could have missed just about anything.

By the time Clint finally made it to his apartment, he didn't know if he would be coming out of it again.