Darcy had given Clint a flimsy excuse as to why she couldn't join him for lunch today. Something about deadlines and science extravaganzas…

When he got the text message, his stomach dropped. Normally, he'd not think much of it but his instinct told him shit was about to hit the fan. So, he decided to get the opinions of the two women he trusted with his life. He was starting to regret it.

Sitting across from him at the table of an empty meeting room, Kate Bishop was laughing so hard that tears were starting to form in the corners of her eyes. Natasha sat next to her, snickering. That, for her, was the about the same as laughing until she cried.

"She almost caught you and the best you came up with was that you were jerking off?" Kate finally gasped once the largest laughing fit ended.

"Yeah, it sounds bad. But I stopped her from finding out, didn't I?"

Kate cocked her head to the side and squinted at Clint. "Yeah, I'm still confused. How are you not dead yet? As my mentor, you're not teaching me much in the 'thinking on your feet' category other than do something stupid and hope it works."

"The amount of times I seem to be saying this has grown exponentially since you started dating Darcy- but Clint, you're an idiot. I think Wade is rubbing off on you. Maybe you should stop going on missions with him. I've seen you distract killers at the drop of a hat and now I'm doubting your abilities," smirked Natasha.

"This is not the same thing! It's not like I want to lie to her."

"Maybe not but the best you could do to prevent your girlfriend from finding out you're planning a weekend trip is by telling her you're masturbating," Natasha said.

"A long weekend. I'm trying to be romantic," Clint even frowned at that lame excuse. Normally he was sharper than this. He hated it. More and more he wasn't meeting his own standards. But he had been telling the truth. He didn't like lying to Darcy. They'd promised not to lie to each other unless an NDA was involved.

"You're taking her to Montreal. How romantic can that be?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Hey, Canada is for lovers," Clint insisted, waiting a moment but only getting blank looks. "Whatever, inside joke. I've been stressed. You know, I'm gonna have lunch alone with her parents to explain my intentions. Like a gentleman."

"That must be really hard for you," Natasha deadpanned.

"It is. This takes a lot of delicate planning if I don't want her to find out. Darcy said her dad's been more overprotective since her last boyfriend so he already doesn't like me. I haven't even figured out how to convince her parents I'm not a cradle robber."

"But you are," Kate joked, earning a seething glare from Clint. She quickly shifted the subject. "Would it really have been the end of the world if she saw you talking to your neighbour in your apartment? Like a normal human being?"

"In hindsight probably not but Michelle had all these pamphlets and she's French Canadian and...a woman. Shoving her into my room and slamming the door when I heard Darcy was kind of a reflex."

"That's the reflex of a liar," Natasha pointed out.

"I wasn't expecting Michelle to stop by till later," Clint said, voice rising slightly. He paused to let out an angry breath when Natasha raised her brow in amusement at the shift in volume. "On missions I'm always on high alert. This time-"

"Stop with the excuses," Natasha balled up a napkin and threw it at Clint's head. She hated excuses, he was well aware of that. Actually, he even had a small scar on his left foot to prove it. The lesson had yet to stick.

"Fine, I'll try to do better next time," said Clint.

"We both know you won't. Though, I think it's actually kind of...sweet," Natasha said the last word with a hint of mischief, exchanging a knowing look with Kate.

"What is?" asked Clint suspiciously, not sure where she was headed. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms waiting for her to continue.

"The fact that you're a complete idiot when it comes to Darcy. She makes you stupid. I've never seen a girl do that to you. Obviously, you've done stupid things for a girl more times than I can count but this is different. You're like a helpless little puppy," Natasha smiled fondly and before Clint could try to defend his manliness in, she continued. "You love her, don't you?"

"Love...is such a strong word," winced Clint, laying his hands on the table.

"You mean a scary word," Kate said, using a rogue tomato as a means to punctuate her statement. Having to label his ever-growing feelings for Darcy was something he probably shouldn't continue to ignore. It was starting to get even more pathetically obvious. While he would insist vehemently that he didn't know why it was so difficult, deep down, he knew. No matter how he tried to ignore it, the feeling was firmly lodged in his chest like a seed in the dirt that sprouted without his knowledge. Then other people noticed and called him out and it changed things. He started to question the what and whys of his actions but it kept growing. And the more it grew, the more it scared the shit out of him.

"Clint, I know soon, very soon, you're going to have the urge to run away and mess this up but please, fight it. For everyone's sanity and your own happiness," urged Natasha. Her words made Clint frown.

It was true. And normally he'd have fucked things up beyond repair at his point but something was stopping him from crossing that line. This time, Clint didn't want to run even if the relationship was starting to feel more and more like an uphill battle. He knew why he tried so hard to do little romantic gestures when it wasn't necessarily in his nature. It embarrassed him because he wanted to do stupid things. Things like travel all the way across the city just to buy one cupcake from her favourite bakery during lunch. Or stay up till she got home if she worked late in the lab just to kiss her goodnight. Or write her short, crappy poems (though he liked to think he was getting a little better at it).

The way her face lit up every time was the best reward he could ever hope for. He knew why he tried so hard. He just wasn't sure if he was ready to face how much power she had over him.

"I think I already messed it up," confessed Clint, staring at his hands that were now balled into tight fists.

"How?"

"She sort of told me she loved me."

"And you didn't say it back." Natasha stated, disappointment lacing her words.

"Well," Clint huffed. "I just haven't got around to actually saying it. I mean, I have, except not. It's really hard. I've been trying really hard with her. She's...different. You said so! She has to be. If it doesn't work out with her then...there must be something more fucked up about me than I thought."

"What are you talking about?"

"I want it to be special. She likes all that romantic crap and I wanted to wait 'til the trip. Wait for a candlelight dinner or sunset or something."

"Kinda makes sense," Katie shrugged, popping the tomato into her mouth.

"The only small problem- tiny problem really, is that she said it to me a couple times and I didn't really respond in the way she wanted."

The only thing Natasha needed to do to show her disapproval this time was raise her eyebrow and slightly tilt her head. It made him feel more shame than any of her words could have.

"I was there one time. He shot finger guns at her. It was embarrassing," Kate put in rather unhelpfully. Leave it to Kate to continue to prove that he was still not a fully functioning adult.

"And I might have said it during sex the other night and pretended to fall asleep right after so I didn't have to talk about it."

"How many times has she said it and how many times have you fucked it up?" Natasha rubbed at her temple in aggravation.

"Five and uh, seven. Well, okay eight."

At this point, Natasha no longer needed words to show her absolute frustration towards Clint. All she needed was an eye roll, exasperated sigh and kick to his shin.

"A badly written poem isn't going to fix this, is it?" asked Clint pitifully.

"No. This is the first real problem in the relationship and some flowers aren't going to make it go away. Though you haven't run away yet. I'm a little impressed actually," Natasha admitted and Clint smiled, perking up. Darcy was different. She had to be. For his sake.

"Can we keep it that way? I actually like Darcy," Kate said, the statement sounding more like a blessing than anything.

Clint was determined to not fuck this up anymore than he had.

"Okay, so what do I do?"

"Honestly? I'd say wait till it blows over. She thinks you jerked off. It's not the worst thing you've ever done. And yeah, I'm talking about the pictures," smirked Kate.

"Would you stop mentioning that? It's done and over," Clint whined.

"Really? Cause I found them along with pocket sized versions in your new hiding spot."

"Stop going through my stuff."

"You still have them?" Natasha glared at Clint, amazed at the new depths of his idiocy. A final straw had been broken.

"She's my girlfriend now," Clint gave as a weak argument.

"Not for long," said Kate.

"I don't carry them with me all the time. Just...on the easy recon missions. Sometimes I get bored."

"TMI," Kate grimaced.

"You know what? I'm tired of always fixing your problems with Darcy. You're an adult. You love her. You fix it. Any advice you want from now on, you can get from Kate," Natasha said.

"But-"

"End of discussion," Natasha ordered before pointedly ignoring him and eating her pasta salad aggressively.

"You already got my opinion," shrugged Kate. With a large, self-pitying sigh, Clint laid his head on the table. The table muffled his next whine.

"What am I gonna say to her parents?"

"Read them some of your poems? If her dad's overprotective he won't like you no matter what you do," Kate offered and Clint groaned.

End Note: Couldn't help but add Katie-Kate to the cast :) Hope you enjoyed the character addition.