Unconditional, an avengers fanfic

AN: This was inspired by a few things: one of my other fics, Man Vs. Beast; the previews for Hawkeye #19 (and just generally that whole series); and this adorable picture of Lucky protecting kid!Clint. You might be a little confused if you haven't read/aren't aware of the format of Hawkeye #11 - which is a genius comic book that you just have to read even without the previous issues - but it's not too hard to follow... I don't think... I hope. And, while I have included 'translations', please read it through without them first time? This is from a dog's perspective (which is so hard to capture, not being a dog!) so I wanted to give a similar 'experience' for the reader. In other words, you're meant to be confused/not understanding properly. Lastly, this also goes out to my 100 followers on Tumblr, because today you went from 99 people I don't know to 100 people I don't know, and that made me happy, so here have a dedication ^_^

Really hope you guys like this - I loved writing it, frustrations/other-fic-interruptions aside!

Unconditional

Lucky has the rabbit in his sight. It's a fast little thing, sandy brown with a flick of white at the tail, but he knows he's gaining on it as their chase continues. It twists and turns, trying to outmanoeuvre him, but there's nowhere for it to hide and Lucky knows he's almost got it, he just has to stretch a –

A loud musical tone startles him out of the dream, and Lucky jerks up from the floor. It's light, morning by the sounds of things, and Clint is wrapped up in blankets on the long chair. It's his talking box that's making the loud noise from the low table. Lucky gets up off the floor, gives the noisy thing a sniff, looks at Clint, then wonders if there's any food in his bowl. There isn't, and he thinks back to the rabbit he'd almost nabbed in his dream when Clint's brother passes by in his rolling chair, coming to a halt at Clint's back. He shakes Clint's shoulders until he turns to blink at him, points at the talking box, and sighs loudly when Clint just turns back over. He reaches for the box, wincing a little, and puts it to his ear. "Clint's #####... ### brother, ###'# ####?… ##. ##, what'# ##?… #####... Not ######... '##### he'# ######. You #### me ## #### # #######?... #######, #'## #### him." (1)

Barney tosses the talking box back onto the low table. Lucky doesn't know what to make of him – he's Clint's brother, but they're very different. Barney smells of dirt and that icky fizzy water, and his hair's a different shade to Clint's. He's bigger, which worried Lucky at first, and he doesn't talk as much as the other humans Lucky knows. His tone is gruff, he sits down nearly all the time – more so now that he has a rolling chair – and he doesn't pay much attention to Lucky at all, really.

Now is one of those rare moments where he does, though; Barney looks at the paper on the kitchen side table, then at the dog sat by his bowl. "Fetch?" Confused, Lucky looks around. Nothing's been thrown, and he thought he left his last stick outside. If he's supposed to get the paper, he won't do it because last time he did that Clint wasn't happy. He blinks at Barney, who shakes his head and mutters under his breath before moving his chair to the kitchen. Turns out it was the paper. Lucky thinks Barney needs to learn what 'fetch' means.

The sound of the door opening catches his attention, and when Kate walks in he bounds over happily, tail wagging, tongue out, and Kate smiles and rubs his head. "Hey Lucky." She looks at the kitchen, and her happy face goes away. "#### # ####?"

"##### ##." (2) Barney slumps in his chair as Kate goes to hand him the paper. Lucky follows her, hoping she'll notice he hasn't been fed yet. "Stark call##."

"Yeah?"

"#### he found # ### ### Clint ## ### #### ##### #####."

"###?"

"#####, #'# ######## ## get him ## #### #### #### he ##### ##." (3)

Lucky whines as Kate nods, and she finally turns back to him. "What, Lucky?" He turns to his food bowl. "You #### breakfast?" She smiles again as he wags his tail, opens the door where his food is kept and scoops up his bowl. "##'## ## ### # walk #####, okay?" Yes, that does indeed sound okay! Quickly chowing down on his food, sad that it doesn't taste as good as a rabbit would have, he wonders what smells he'll find outside as Barney rolls out of the kitchen and Kate gazes sadly at Clint.

When they get back from the walk, Lucky's pleased to see Clint is up. Padding over for a stroke, he decides to forgive his master for his misunderstanding of collars again, blaming overtiredness (one day, he'll realise they go around his neck, not his head, and that he only needs one, not two). He wags his tail really hard, but Clint only moves the corner of his mouth and barely tickles him behind the ear. It must be the tiredness, Lucky thinks, and wonders if he's had his funny brown water yet.

Clint's talking box is in his hands. Going to take a drink, Lucky hears it burst into life again, but when he next looks up Clint is scowling at the screen and Kate's watching him in confusion. "What'# he #####?"

Barney answers her; "##'# Stark'# ### ########. #### #### ## ##### call #### subtitles."

"####'# # good ####."

"Don't ### ### point."

"You ####'# ##### he'# now ### # ### ## ###########?"

"He ##### ## ##### #### ####." (4)

Kate doesn't look happy with Barney, but before she can say anything else Clint drops the talking box on the table and slumps back against the couch. His brother nudges his leg with his foot, and when Clint tips his head his way, Lucky's surprised to see him wave his hands about in front of him. Whatever he's doing, Clint must understand it, because he shakes his head glumly, gets up and goes to the funny water machine.

"What ### you ### him?"

"## he'# okay."

Kate looks sad again. She smiles when Clint looks at her, presses buttons on her own talking box and hands it over. Clint shrugs, hands it back, and Lucky realises Kate is still sad when she leaves without saying goodbye.

They stand at the bottom of the stairs. Looking back at Clint, Lucky doesn't understand why they aren't going for a walk anymore. For some reason, his master's scared – his gaze is fixed on the door, and Lucky's lead is shaking slightly, and before long Clint is trying to pull him back up the steps. Lucky tries the plant-your-paws technique, but it's no use. They go home, and Kate comes a few minutes later.

One day, there's a funny sound at the door. Lucky recognises that sound: it's normally an indicator that someone's come home, either Clint or Kate or Bucky, Clint's mate. And Lucky gets a little excited, because it's not Kate's coming home sound, and it can't be Clint's coming home sound, which means it's Bucky who's coming home, at last. Springing to his paws, he turns excitedly to Clint, who only looks after prompting from Barney.

Sure enough, Bucky steps through the door, and instantly Lucky thinks something is off. Normally, Bucky's all grins and happy eyes and chuckles – but today, he pauses, deep sorrow on his face as he stares at Clint; and Clint doesn't smile either: he ducks his head slightly, shuffles his feet, scratches one of his head collars, and doesn't say a thing.

"Clint…"

Dropping his bag, Bucky is across the room in three strides and wrapping his arms tightly around Clint (Lucky remembers being hugged like that once, in the very early hours of the morning, after a lot of shouting). He whispers something a few times as Clint gradually hugs him back, and Lucky hangs back, unsure why a gesture so loving is often so sad when Bucky does it.

"Where ### #### #### you ####?"

Bucky opens his eyes – which look a bit funny – and glares. "Now, Barney?" he says in his bad-dream voice.

"Yes, now. What #### you ## ####?"

Clint steps away, looking at Barney in confusion, who waves his hands as Bucky speaks; "# ####'# know ##### # ### ####. There ### # debrief, #### Bobbi #### ### #### me ### ####." Clint waves at Barney, looking cross. "What ## ##?"

"#'# ####### him what you'## ######." (5) Barney makes some gestures with his fingers. Bucky doesn't look as confused as Lucky feels. Why won't Clint talk to Barney like Bucky and Kate? Why won't he talk to anyone?

Some more hand waves are exchanged, then Clint drops his arms and turns to Bucky. Bucky squeezes his hand. "You ##### give ## # ######?"

"##, you'## # tele#### now?" Even Lucky cowers slightly at the expression on Bucky's face. "Jesus, #######." Barney starts to roll himself away. "#'# good ###, thank# ### ######." (6)

Once Barney disappears into the bedroom, Clint and Bucky embrace again. Lucky lies down, sensing he won't get any attention any time soon. He just watches sadly, head on his paws, as Clint now gives Bucky the too-tight hug, face pressed into the crook of his neck. Wagging his tail, he realises, isn't going to make his master feel better.

The home stays quiet, even with Bucky back. The only conversation passes, short and tense, between him and Barney, and Lucky dislikes Barney a little more for that (true, he had a hard time accepting Bucky as Clint's mate – Clint clearly wasn't thinking about puppies, he'd eventually realised – but he is still Clint's mate, and deserves the appropriate respect. He is also much more fun). The picture box now has writing on it, and only Bucky laughs. Some evenings, Clint just sits in the kitchen with his funny brown water, and Lucky catches Bucky watching him with an expression that makes the dog feel sad again. He doesn't like all this sadness.

Bucky walks him now. The first time he tried to take Clint with them, but when they got to the bottom of the stairs Clint stopped again. "##'# okay," Bucky said, extending his free hand. "#'# here." Clint shook his head and went back up. The walk wasn't much fun after that. When they returned, Lucky went straight over to Clint and put his head on his thigh, tail wagging softly as Bucky sat at the high table too. He held Clint's hand, passed over his talking box – although none of these talking boxes had been talked to lately – and Clint sighed, rubbed Lucky's head, and went over to the long chair. "What ## # ##, Lucky?" Bucky said.

This evening is a little different – and it's good. Clint and Bucky went out earlier, and now Clint doesn't have his head collars anymore. Barney's already gone to bed, and Lucky is on the long chair with his master and his master's mate, head resting on Clint's thigh while he dozes with his head on Bucky's shoulder, one arm draped over Lucky's back. It's comfortable, just like the days when Clint talked, and talking boxes worked, and the picture box didn't have writing on it. He falls asleep soon enough, and dreams of playing Frisbee with a happy, smiling Clint.

Lucky, Kate and Bucky see some of Lucky's old masters on a walk one morning. One of them approaches, saying "Bro!", but as soon as Lucky starts growling and Bucky glares at him he stops. "##... #### good ###, bro. No worry, yes?"

"#'# ### ## bow ##'# their ##### Clint ### ####," Kate says as they carry on.

"# ########## #####."

"###### #### me you'## ##### ## get ####?"

"#### questions #### ###### first, ### ###, # #### ## ### #### know #### #### never ##### him #####." (7)

"Good."

Part of the reason Lucky eventually accepted Bucky into the pack for good was that he was skilled at scaring away the "Bro!"-men. He was protecting them all, which Lucky couldn't always do when it came to humans, so where would be the sense in challenging him for Clint's affections? Besides – lack of puppy possibility aside – Bucky made Clint happy. Happier. Normally.

The scents on today's walk aren't very interesting, and even though he returns well exercised he doesn't feel very satisfied. He heads straight to his bed, flops down with a sigh, and watches Barney wave at an unresponsive Clint, wondering who, if none of them, can make his master smile again. They talk that evening, the three of them, while Lucky's drifting asleep and Clint has retreated behind his door. "# worry ##### him," Kate says, and the other two nod. "# know he ### ## # ###... '#####', ### #'## never #### him #### bad."

"# ####," Barney grunts.

"####?"

"#### ## first ########."

There's a moment of silence, then Bucky speaks up, quiet and unhappy. "He ####'# #### #### #### ##### Loki."

Another long silence follows, and, despite being so very bored of home being quiet all the time, it's enough to almost send Lucky chasing dream-rabbits again until Kate says: "## #### ## ## #########."

"#### what? Clint #####'# #### ### help. ###### ### ## #### out #### he'# strong ###### ## ###### ## ## #######."

"Thank you ### #### brother## #######."

"Barney'# #####, Kate. There'# ###### not #### ## ### ##..." As Bucky trails off, Lucky sighs, relieved that they'd finally decided to stop talking and let – "######, ## don't ######## ######## help ###?"

"Go ##?" (8)

Their big talk picks up again, their quiet voices sounding excited and eager, and Lucky thinks they might be planning a hunt of some kind – though he's never seen a human hunt a rabbit or a squirrel before – but whatever it is they're doing, it goes on too long for him, and he's chasing his own rabbit before too long.

"#'# ###### out."

Bucky looks surprised, and Lucky forgets about cleaning himself for a moment to watch what unfolds. "### you?"

"Yeah."

"####?" Barney shrugs. "###?"

"#'## ### no place here, ### you ### Kate ### #### ##### Clint ####### me."

After staring for a bit, Bucky nods. "### ######### ## stay?"

"##### ##."

"You #### Clint?"

He not-laughs. "# ###. ####'# #### he ### ### ##### ##### when you #### #### before."

"# don't ##### him."

Barney looks puzzled now. "What?"

Lucky recognises the way Bucky's hands curl tightly, and quickly slinks over to his bed. "You'## #######. You, ### brother, ### ######### ### #### ###### he ### #### # conversation ####, ### #######. Don't you know what ####'## ## ## ###? What that'## ## ## me ### Kate? You #### #### ## #### ########## #### #####! You ### ####### #####! Came ## #### #### ## #### great ####! You #### #### you ##### teach ## –" Bucky stops suddenly, his lack of sound making Lucky – and Barney – nervous. "You'# ####### ####### you #####'# ##### stay." Clint's brother drops his head, similarly to how Lucky lowers his nose when Kate catches him trying to sneak some pizza from the big table in the morning sometimes. "You know what?" The wooden chair makes an unpleasant yowl as Bucky stands up, tense. "####. Go run #### ### ####### Hawkeye ####," he spits, then turns and stalks off. (9)

In the wake of his departure, Barney glances at Lucky as if he isn't sure what to do, but if he doesn't even know what 'fetch' means Lucky doesn't hold out much hope for Clint's brother. He looks to the not-kitchen, where Clint is sat on the long chair, eyes still fixed on the picture box.

It's been a few days since Barney left, and home is even more quiet – Lucky hadn't realised how often Clint's brother actually spoke to Bucky and Kate when they were around, but now the only people Bucky talks to are Lucky and Kate, whenever she's around. Clint is still silent, but the two of them have developed an intense interest in the now-not-a-talking box. One of them'll pull his out of his leg pouch, press it a few times, then pass it over. The receiver sometimes presses it too before passing it back, and they might do this just once or quite a few times before the now-not-a-talking box (maybe a passing box?) is put away or left on the low table. Nobody waves their hands anymore, either.

"Stay here, Lucky," Bucky tells him one morning. "#'## ## #### ####." (10) He gives Clint a worried look, then slips out of the door. Lucky does as he's told, padding over to the long chair and hopping up, lying down so his nose rests on Clint's knee. His master manages a tiny twitch of his lips before turning his attention back to the picture box, which doesn't have dogs on it like it sometimes does, and Lucky doesn't know where that human writing came from but it's a bit in the way of the picture. If he were human, he thinks it might annoy him, but although he doesn't remember Clint having it before he seems to be able to put up with the stuff. He's smelly, too, and has some icky fizzy water in his hand.

Lucky tries to think where Bucky might have gone. He'd noticed, this morning whilst being fed, that there weren't any tins left behind the food door – so maybe Bucky had gone hunting for tins. Tins were strange animals; they didn't have heads or legs or tails or faces, no bones, no paws, not even any fur or hair, and they weren't easy to bite despite being full of tasty meat. Obviously they were easier to catch than rabbits, which probably explained why they didn't taste as good too (even squirrels were preferable to tins, but humans never looked interested in chasing them), but even so – the only creature Lucky knew with metal skin was Bucky, and even he wasn't covered in it.

He is brought out of his musings by the not-a-talking box. People may not be talking to it anymore, but the small machine could still make a very loud noise for a very long time. Ears forward to hear better, Lucky spots it on the high table. Clint remains oblivious. Lucky whines, pushing his nose against his master's chest, but Clint just scratches between his shoulders. As nice as the sensation is, Lucky knows he'll have to get the not-a-talking box for him – it's been important to him of late, and he might get sad if he knew it had wanted attention and he'd missed it, and sad Clint meant sad Bucky, which could mean sad Kate, and there are too many sad humans in Lucky's life right now; therefore, to make sure nobody is sad, he wriggles off the long chair, trots over to the high table, and checks to see Clint isn't looking before pushing up to rest his paws on the wood's edge. The box is loud, and buzzes unpleasantly in his mouth as he carries it back, but Clint doesn't notice it until Lucky drops it in his lap.

Rewarded with a pat on his head, Lucky wags his tail happily as Clint makes the noise stop, and jumps back into his spot, giving it a few circles to make sure it's the right level. The not-a-talking box stays in Clint's hands until Bucky comes home (with tins! And a paper block, but priorities), when it gets passed between them like normal. At one point, Bucky grins at him and rubs his ears. "### you help Clint #####?" Enjoying the attention, Lucky sticks his tongue out and flops his tail a bit. "Good boy, Lucky! Good boy!" Well, if he insists.

Lucky helps Clint with his not-a-talking box more often after that, particularly when Kate and Bucky aren't around (it's been a while since he saw Barney). Like he thought, it does make people a bit happier, Clint especially; he smiles whenever Lucky brings the box to him now, and strokes his head or tickles his chin. There's still no talking, but smiling is nice. He wants Bucky to smile more now too – Clint's mate has been spending a lot of time frowning at that paper block he brought home with him, making funny shapes with his fingers and hands and running them through his hair like he does when he's cross or unhappy. It's funny – whenever Clint used to do that, stroked Bucky's hair, the two of them were smiling and snuggling. Maybe Bucky has an itchy head.

Lucky isn't as good at making Bucky smile as he is Clint sometimes – especially when Bucky has bad dreams. It's easy to tell when he's having them: there's a lot of shouting from behind their door, and after a short while they'll both come out and do something in the kitchen. If Bucky gets water, it means they're going to go back to bed; if he gets funny brown water, it means just Clint is going back to bed; if they get food, it means neither of them are going back to bed. Things are a little different when Clint isn't home, but… Well, Lucky heard the shouting, and he saw the door open, and he saw Bucky come out, and yet there's no sign of Clint; Bucky hasn't gone for food or drink, and has instead slumped down right beside Lucky and wrapped his arms around him. It's quite uncomfortable, because his not-meat arm is squeezing too hard and his face is making Lucky's neck wet, but Lucky remembers that this makes him better when Clint's not here.

Only, Clint is here… and yet his mate is still clinging to the dog like his life depends on it, and he's crying and shaking and saying over and over again: "##'# not #### – ## me, ## him, ##'# #### – ##'# not ####!" (11) Feeling a bit helpless, Lucky cranes his neck as best he can and tries to give Bucky a lick. Sometime later, it seems to be working; Bucky stays with him for the rest of the night.

There are a lot of people at home right now – well, a lot of females (ladies, Kate calls them). They sit at the high table and listen as Kate explains something to them, their faces a mixture of anxious caring and something a little bit scary that Lucky doesn't like looking at.

"####### ## ### want## Clint'# – ## #######'# – attention," the lady with a slightly strange voice says. "#### ##### #### out##### ###### him #########."

"#### want## ## #### ## example," the dark-haired lady says. "## their #### ### attention, #### ##### #### #### ### his brother, ## you Kate."

The lady with similar hair to Clint speaks next; "Barney ### their #######. You #### ### ####### ###### #########, Jess – # don't ##### #### #### he ### there." She smiles. It's not nice. "### # #### ###### ## forensics."

"### you trace #### ### #### ### #######, Bobbi?" Kate asks.

"# ### damn-#### ###."

"#'## ##### #### #####-collar ##### ########," dark-hair says. "##### guys ###### know #########."

"### #'## keep ## eye ## ### ######## tracksuit mafia."

Kate nods. "Okay. ###'# #### out ### ##### #######..." (12) They talk for what seems like a very long time, but each one is gone before Bucky and Clint come back from wherever it is they've been.

Each morning, Bucky clips Lucky's lead to his collar then leads him over to Clint and holds it up. Each morning, Clint blinks at them both, sighs, and shakes his head. Each morning, Lucky wonders if he's done something wrong to make Clint not want to walk him. One morning, he resolves to do more than fetch the not-a-talking box whenever his master needs it. The perfect opportunity happens a couple of days later, when both Bucky and Kate are gone again, and Clint's door makes a noise – the kind of noise that means somebody wants to come in but can't. The kind of noise that means guests.

Lucky pads to the door, nose angled down to the little gap at the bottom. He picks up three scents: one is fake and reminds him of flowers, one is like new shoes, and the other is slightly pooey… His ears perk up and he starts wagging his tail happily, because it's Simone and her puppies! He likes Simone's puppies, even if they smell a little and the youngest one pulls on his ears or tail too hard, because they give him special treats that are very sweet and make his tail wag a little faster if they give him a lot. Simone is nice too, even if she does have a funny, not totally real scent. Lucky thought she might be a good mate for Clint until he found out she already had puppies to look after. If things hadn't worked out with Clint and Kate, he'd planned on getting Clint to have puppies with Simone once hers were all grown up. Bucky ruined that plan.

Eager to play with the pups, Lucky waits for Clint to open the door. And waits. And waits. And gets impatient and looks over his shoulder; as he should have expected, Clint is just watching the picture box, completely ignoring the fact that someone wants to say hello to him, and that's very not-Clint-like. The door makes a noise again, and when Clint fails to act Lucky bounds over and barks. Once he's got Clint's attention, he hops around to face the door, then hops back again, tail swinging urgently as he puts on his best 'excited' expression, tongue out and ears forward, head slightly tilted to one side (that's the move that gets him almost anything with Clint – pizza, tins, walks, a scratch behind the ear, anything). He has to make one more move towards the door before Clint follows him, looking confused even as Lucky skitters about with anticipation.

"Doggy!"

The bigger puppy runs in first, drops to his knees and promptly wraps himself around Lucky. It's a pretty great hug, and Lucky tries to show his appreciation and joy by wagging his tail extra hard and moving to lick the little human's head, making him squeal with laughter. His sibling is in Simone's arms, making grabby motions with her hands that Simone hasn't noticed because she's talking to Clint; and, to Lucky's distracted disbelief, Clint says nothing back. He just scratches the back of his head, waves her inside, and shuffles over to his low table where the not-talking box sits. He presses it, passes it to Simone, and watches her, looking miserable.

"##, Clint," she says. "# ### no idea…" She presses the not-talking box and hands it back. Clint shrugs, waves at the long comfy chair, and they both sit down. Simone's smaller puppy slides out of her grasp and toddles over to join in petting Lucky, and he lets them both fuss over him as he mulls over what he's seen, because it's strange that Clint first didn't open the door for Simone – one of his favourite humans, Lucky knows – and then wouldn't talk to her, either. He's starting to wonder if Clint can talk at all. Maybe because the talking box is broken…?

Deciding not to worry, Lucky concentrates on playing with the puppies until they get bored and Simone leaves with them both (no treats this time, sadly). After the door is closed, he and Clint look at it for a moment, then when Lucky looks up at Clint to see what he'll do next, his master smiles, bends down and gives him a long, very satisfying stroke. He licks Clint's hand in return, happy that he's done something right even if Simone now looks a bit sad, too.

Though it isn't immediately obvious to him, Lucky eventually notices that Kate and Bucky aren't at home as often as they usually are. Simone and the other humans who have homes here, however, they do come around more frequently, and Lucky takes it upon himself to announce their arrival to Clint each and every time. It brings about a subtle transformation in his master – he still doesn't talk, but he smiles, chuckles sometimes, cuddles with Lucky a bit more, and looks happier around Bucky and Kate. There's even one evening when Bucky comes home and Clint doesn't stop kissing him, so much so that they stumble behind their door and close it loudly; sighing from his bed, Lucky drapes a paw over his nose, exasperated yet again by the fact that Clint hasn't worked out that puppies are not happening with Bucky, no matter how many times (or how long) they try. He hopes they'll be quiet and tries to sleep.

On the few occasions they're in the same room, Bucky and Kate talk in that intense way again. They disagree on a lot of things, it seems, and Kate keeps mentioning her bow and those four females – ladies – who were here not so long ago. The mafia also crops up as the topic a lot. They haven't been seen on the morning walks too much these days, for which Lucky's glad. He's not scared of them, not anymore, but in his bad dreams they take him away from Clint and start hurting everyone again. Maybe, he works out, Bucky and Kate have scared the "Bro!"-men off for good.

At least, until they go missing. Lucky goes to sleep one evening waiting for Bucky with Clint, but when he wakes up it's still just Clint. Kate never arrives either, and Lucky worries until Clint appears from behind his door in normal smelling clothes, picks Lucky's lead up and beckons him over. It can only mean one thing: Clint wants to take Lucky on a walk. His wags his tail as hard as he can, pants excitedly and jumps around a little because he needs Clint to know just how much this means to him – he has so much to show him! There are all this smells that Clint's missed since he stopped walking Lucky, some that may have even disappeared altogether by now, and he tries to catalogue the most important ones on their way downstairs. They stop at the last door, and Lucky feels a slight tremor where his lead brushes his shoulder. Looking up, he sees that Clint has one hand on the door, and that he's holding it very tightly, an odd expression on his face. He's uncomfortable.

Thinking Clint could use a lick, Lucky does just that, lapping gently at the shaky fingers holding the end of his lead. Clint strokes his head, leaving his hand there a little longer until finally he opens the door and they step outside. There are far too many places to take him, so Lucky chooses the route based on what smells Clint might like – the best ones, the most interesting, and some old familiars too, and the new ones he discovers, few though they are, are made even more exciting for the fact that Clint is with him when he finds them. All the while, he makes sure Clint is okay, that he doesn't need another lick to get him to move again. Best of all, there are no "Bro!"-men anywhere.

Lucky's exhausted when they finally get back home, but he stays on his feet a little longer while Clint gives him a lot of love in the form of hugs and rubbing – head, ears, back, chest, even his belly when he flops down and asks for one. There is, he realises as he trudges over to his bed, still no sign of Bucky or Kate – not even Barney – but he's too tired to worry about them right now. Besides, they're not puppies: Kate has a bow and Bucky is a protector. Perhaps they're even looking for Barney.

Days go by like this. Clint takes him for walks more easily, feeds him pizza in the evenings – getting just as excited as Lucky when the dog tells him that it's here – and spends a lot of time pressing the not-talking box. Simone and other humans take a turn to visit him most days with amazing food, but their visits are short and Clint doesn't always share the amazing food, though he doesn't say why. It's the one problem with his master Lucky doesn't know how to fix, the not-talking, and though it bothers him a bit he eventually accepts that Clint can't talk anymore. He still loves Lucky, and shows him as much with strokes and smiles and pizza, but it's not the same when he's not telling Lucky he's a good boy. After seeing sad quiet Clint for so long though, Lucky likes happy quiet Clint much better.

Things suddenly get noisy again with the return of Bucky and Kate and even Barney. It's the middle of the day, and Clint is doing something with his arrows, when a frantic coming-home sound comes from the door. Lucky is instantly alert, but he can't work out who it is, and has enough time to alert Clint before the door is flung open and Bucky practically falls in. He's out of breath, he smells, his clothes are rumpled, his hair's a mess, and there's a lot of dirt on his skin, and Lucky briefly wonders if he's been rolling around in the park (he's pretty sure only human puppies do that) but he's grinning as soon as he lays eyes on them both. "## did ##!" he says. "## ### ### bad guy, Clint!" And then, to both their surprise, he waves his hands in the manner that Barney used to when he was around.

Speaking of the devil, Lucky peeks between Bucky's legs and sees Kate and Barney in the doorway, both looking as worn-out as Bucky, Kate with her bow in her hand, and Barney on his own two feet like a regular human. They're both grinning too, and all the happiness must be infectious because now Lucky wants to jump around and bark – but after running to say hello to Kate, and even Barney, he turns to see that Clint is staring straight at Bucky. Then comes surprise number two.

"What ## you #### you ### ### bad guy?"

Everyone's grins vanish. Lucky freezes on the spot, not daring to move in case he imagined it. He checks the humans' faces, just to make sure they heard it to (because sometimes they miss some very interesting – and annoying – noises), and finds that both Bucky and Kate look shocked whereas Barney looks… cross?

"You ##### me?" Bucky asks.

Pulling a funny face, Clint rubs the back of his head. "Lip #######," he mumbles, and his voice sounds a bit funny but it's definitely him talking, actually speaking human words, and Lucky would be jumping up and down in delight if it weren't for the not-so-delighted humans.

Bucky turns sharply to the figures in the door. "You never #### he ##### lip ####!"

Barney holds up his hands. "# ####'# know he ### ##### ##! He #### #### ### ### ####!"

"#####," Kate says, folding her arms (now it's her and Bucky who are cross), "### don't you ##### ## ##### #### #### # good #### ## ####### ##?" (13) Barney shrugs.

Worried that the happiness of his pack is slipping away, Lucky tries to bring it back with a bark, and once everyone's looking at him he wags his tail, letting his tongue out. It works; Bucky is the first to smile, shaking his head as he says "You know what? ## #####'# ######," and wraps Clint up in a hug. Kate and Barney come in all the way then, and share hugs with Clint too. He and Barney exchange a wavy conversation of sorts, then Kate goes to the cold door and takes some icky fizzy water bottles out, hands one to each of them, and they drink after clinking them together. Bucky beams down at Lucky, gives him a scratch behind the ear, then gives Clint a kiss, and Lucky wonders if this means the old days are back, when humans talked to each other without waving their hands, the picture box didn't have writing on it, and the talking box was talked to and not passed around like a Frisbee.

It doesn't stay quiet after that; lots of people turn up some time later – the ladies that Kate talked to, Bucky's friend Steve, the flying man with the clever bird (not actually with the bird, though), Clint's always-smartly-dressed friend, the talkative man who fixes the picture box, a lot of Kate's friends, even some of the same-building humans like Simone and her puppies, and everyone's talking and smiling and laughing and Lucky feels so very happy that he doesn't think the day could possibly get any better. Okay – when Bucky gives him pizza, then it can't possibly get any better.

"### ####'# you ### you ##### lip #### ##### now?" (14)

Everybody left once it was very dark. Lucky had crashed onto the long comfy chair, feeling as though he'd chased fifty rabbits through fifty fields non-stop. It was a nice feeling though. Satisfying. Now, it was just him, Clint, and Bucky, with the two humans snuggled together at one end, Lucky curled up at the other, his shoulder pressed against Clint's thigh. He and Bucky were having a quiet conversation in a mixture of speech and hand waving, and once or twice the not-talking box was passed between them. Lucky didn't care that it was a strange way to communicate with each other (humans, he'd accepted, were beyond strange anyway) – he was just so incredibly happy that Clint was talking and smiling again, that Kate had been laughing her beautiful laugh with one of her friends – a potential mate, Lucky was thinking – and nobody seemed sad anymore. Even Barney had been acting like a normal talking human. It had been, all in all, a pretty great gathering. The pizza had been amazing.

Clint scratches the back of Lucky's neck, and the deeply content dog lets out a long sigh of… well, contentment. Everything feels good, even if Clint and Bucky's conversation seems a bit tense, but he knows things are okay when they stop talking altogether and kiss. And don't stop kissing. He puts up with it for a short while before deciding to move to his bed before they start trying for puppies then and there (it has happened). He settles down with his head on his paw, closes his eye, and drifts off with the thought that just one thing would have made today that little bit better: a rabbit. Or maybe a cat, he hasn't chased one of them in a while – not since that moody black one that smelled like the funny-sounding lady Kate knows almost got the better of him. A squirrel would have been okay, but they're too fast sometimes. Not like rabbits. Or Frisbees. Like the one he's chasing now, flying high in the air, and he's so close he knows he's almost got it, he just has to stretch…

AN: What Lucky didn't understand:

1. Clint's phone… His brother, who's this?... Oh. Uh, what's up?... Right… Not really… 'Cause he's asleep. You want me to take a message?... Alright, I'll tell him.

2. Need a hand? | Guess so.

3. Said he found a way for Clint to use that fancy phone. | How? | Dunno, I'm supposed to get him to text back when he wakes up.

5. Where the hell have you been?... What took you so long? | I didn't know until I got back. There was a debrief, then Bobbi came and told me the news. | What is it? | I'm telling him what you're saying.

gonna give us a moment? | Oh, you're a telepath now? | Jesus, alright. | I'm good too, thanks for asking.

7. Uh… Have good day, bro. | I'd bet my bow it's their fault Clint got hurt. | I completely agree. | Please tell me you're going to get even? | Some questions need asking first, but yes, I plan to let them know they will never touch him again.

9. I'm moving out. | Are you? | When? | Why? | I've got no place here, and you and Kate can look after Clint without me. | Got somewhere to stay? | Might do. | You told Clint? | I did. That's what he was all pissy about when you came back before. | I don't blame him. | You're leaving. You, his brother, and currently the only person he can have a conversation with, are leaving. Don't you know what that'll do to him? What that'll do to me and Kate? You were part of that discussion last night! You put forward ideas! Came up with part of that great plan! You even said you could teach us – | You'd already decided you weren't gonna stay. | You know what? Fine. Go run your own fucking Hawkeye show.

10. I'll be back soon.

11. It's not fair – to me, to him, it's just – it's not fair!

12. Whoever it was wanted Clint's – or someone's – attention. | They would have outright killed him otherwise. | They wanted to make an example. | If their goal was attention, they would have gone for his brother, or you Kate. | Barney was their mistake. You said the shooter looked surprised, Jess – I don't think they knew he was there. | And I have access to forensics. | Can you trace this guy from the bullets, Bobbi? | I can damn-well try. | I'll knock some white-collar heads together. | Those guys always know something. | And I'll keep an eye on our resident tracksuit mafia. | Okay. Let's work out the finer details…

13. You never said he could lip read! | I didn't know he was doing it! He used sign all the time! | Maybe, but don't you think it might have been a good idea to mention it?

14. Why didn't you say you could lip read until now?

I haven't translated everything because some bits I think you can easily get the gist of. Any other questions about anything, don't be afraid to ask! ;-)