Why Cayden Finally Got To Say I Love You

Chapter 10

"…it's a point in your favour," he murmured against Cayden's lips, stealing another kiss before the doctor could retort. As the two pulled apart, Cayden glanced around the room, his eyes settling on a box on a chest of drawers to the left.

"I have something for you," he said, stepping backwards and turning towards the box. Clint's brow furrowed slightly.

"You gave me so much this morning!" he objected. Cayden returned and stood in front of the smaller man, offering a small shrug.

"This is more… sentimental," he replied, holding up the box. "Tony helped me out."

"Oh did he now?" Clint took the box from Cayden gently. "And how were you going to explain that if Thor hadn't let the cat out the bag?"

Cayden screwed up his nose and shrugged, shifting his weight anxiously as Clint opened the box. The archer blinked in surprise as he pulled out two sets of identical dog tags, each with two metal tags made of different types and shades of metal, the darker marked with CB and the lighter with CP, all four tags marked with an identical date on the other side. Clint opened his mouth to comment but as he ran a thumb over the engraving of the date that marked the day the two men had met he found the words stuck in his throat. Although the archer could not remember the exact date he had wound up in SHIELD medical with a huge gash in his chest he could remember the month and the date on the tags seemed to fit…

"I was torn between getting the day we met or the day you first agreed to go out with me," Cayden admitted quietly. "I wanted something personal like dates of birth or codenames or something but I thought it was best to make sure it wasn't anything easily traceable. Just in case."

Clint nodded slowly, lifting out the two chains and throwing the now empty box (carefully) onto the nearby bed.

"No that's… that's perfect," he agreed, holding the tags up for a moment before quickly slipping one set over his neck. With his eyes fixed on the tags he reached up and hung the second set around Cayden's neck.

"The darker ones are made from your old arrow-heads," Cayden informed him quietly, pointing at the darker tag on Clint's set. "The other is eh… it came from what they pulled out my leg."

Clint blinked rapidly, looking up at Cayden in surprise.

"What?" the archer continued quickly, reaching out to put a hand on Cayden's arm as the doctor screwed his face up. "No it's not… I just…" Clint frowned and exhaled heavily as he tried to find the words to convince Cayden he was not horrified or disgusted by the idea as the other man's reaction seemed to suggest he thought. "Do you really want to see that around my neck every day? A reminder of… that? A reminder of why you had to leave the Navy before you were ready?"

Cayden's anxious expression melted away into a smile.

"It reminds me of what I survived," he replied quietly, leaning closer to the smaller man in front of him. "And yeah I sometimes miss the Navy and sometimes I wish I could go back but…" a soft laugh escaped Cayden's lips as he slipped his arms around Clint's shoulders. "If I was still in the Navy I never would have met you."

Clint's concern also dissolved into a smile. The archer opened his mouth to reply but all that came out was a soft contented sigh. Leaning up he captured Cayden's lips in a languid, lingering kiss.

"Hmmm…I love you."

Cayden blinked his eyes open at the soft voice, quickly looking down at Clint as he tried to decide if he had really just heard what he thought he had just heard. The doctor snapped out of his surprise as he watched Clint's eyes widen, panic flickering across the other man's face. Quickly Cayden tightened his grip around Clint.

"Don't you dare take that back," he ordered, leaning down and stealing another kiss, smiling warmly as he pulled back. "I love you too darlin'," Cayden could not help the quiet laugh that escaped him at the relief that took over Clint's face. Running a hand through Clint's hair he tilted his head inquisitively, his brows furrowing slightly. "Did you really think I wouldn't say it back?"

"Well… no… I..." Clint laughed uneasily, burying his head in Cayden's chest and letting out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry," he pulled his head back and looked up earnestly. "I should have said that a long time ago. I know I haven't always been the easiest to deal with and I freak out over stupid things and…"

"Hey…" Cayden interrupted, bowing his head down to look Clint straight in the eyes. "I've told you before, it's ok. And it's not stupid things. Well…" he screwed up his nose. "Most of the time."

Clint laughed and nodded his agreement.

"Well for what it's worth I'm now going to have everyone nagging me if I have a freak out not just Natasha so…"

Cayden chuckled as Clint scrunched up his nose although he did take a quick, apprehensive breath in.

"So… would now be a good time to ask you to move in with me?"

To Cayden's surprise Clint let out another laugh.

"You can ask but eh…" Clint bit his lip sheepishly, looking up at the taller man from behind his eyelashes. "I kinda already have."

Cayden blinked. Then frowned.

"…what?"

A slightly uneasy laugh escaped Clint as he shrugged one shoulder.

"I really don't have that much stuff. What I do have is either here or… it's at your apartment," he continued quickly, dropping his gaze as Cayden continued to simply blink in confusion. "I guessed that maybe you were about to ask and I'll admit I was starting to freak out a bit… a lot… but then when I came back from that mission and found out you were sick – found out you were really sick – I…" Clint exhaled heavily, daring to look back up. He could not help but smile as he found Cayden's surprise morphing slowly into a smile. "I realised that not having you around was way more scary than just moving my last couple of boxes of stuff over," another small shrug. "So when you were being kept in for observation I took over the last of my stuff and cancelled the lease on my apartment."

For a moment both men were silent.

"You moved in?"

A short burst of laughter burst from Clint at the dopey grin that broke on Cayden's lips.

"I moved in," he confirmed. "I've been putting money in that box you used to keep your spare key in," the archer pursed his lips teasingly. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever notice."

Cayden smiled sheepishly.

"Well I was trying not to think about how long you'd been staying over after I got sick in case you decided to stop," he admitted. Clint screwed up his face apologetically but Cayden prevented any vocal apologies with a kiss, laughing quietly as they parted. "I can't believe you moved in without telling me."

Clint laughed too.

"You know you were talking about decorating?" he smirked as Cayden nodded. "I was thinking purple for the bedroom."

Cayden chuckled.

"I do like purple," he murmured, leaning forward again and capturing Clint's lips, the kiss quickly becoming more heated. "So… birthday boy," Cayden nuzzled his nose against Clint's before inclining his head toward the nearby bed. "Your wish is my command darlin'..."

x-x-x

Author's Note: The end! Which means the end of this story and the end of the series. It has been fun to write (mostly! Damn writers block…) and I want to thank everyone so much who has stuck with the whole series – it has been nice both to see the same names popping into my inbox as the stories are loaded with favourites and follows as well as logging into my emails to find someone has been working their way through the series to date in one go and has just favourited the lot. I hope this ending has satisfied you all.

I know OCs are risky and I am so glad that most of you seem to have really warmed to Cayden. I admit I do have a couple of ideas that may utilise him again, one of which involves a love triangle with a closeted fellow Avenger but I know for a fact that story would grow arms and legs (my X-Men Pyro/Iceman Pyro/Multiple Man did!) and I make no promises of posting anymore – gone are the days when I could write and post 82 almost 2000 word chapters in a year, that's pretty much one every four and a half days, how did I manage it?

Once again thank you for reading and I hope it has been a satisfying conclusion.