I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars. - Raymond Chandler

It's 8 in the morning on a Tuesday when Clint Barton sees his first angel. He's sitting on a train across from a girl, how old, he isn't sure, but she's got the lushest lips and the brightest hair he's ever laid eyes on. The rising sun casts its rays upon her head and it looks like she's wearing a burning halo. Perhaps it's bleeding, Clint thinks, and now he isn't sure whether she's an angel or the devil. His light or his demise.

A bump on the tracks jars Clint from his daze and his eyes focus on the girl's dazzling green ones. He realizes she's caught him staring and he quickly averts his gaze to the old woman sitting a few seats down. Clint's been taking the same train for four years and this is the first time he's seen the young woman. He wonders if she's always taken it as well, just boarded different cars, or if she's just moved to New York.

Clint is taken aback by his overwhelming interest in this girl, but for the first time in years he feels something other than boredom and hollowness. He's curious.

When his stop is next, he lets his eyes travel slowly back towards the girl. He's surprised to see that she's still looking at him, but her expression is not one of fear or disgust. She gazes at him with mild interest, and he finds himself excited when she gives him a once-over, her eyes glinting with something he can't quite get a grip on, but it's the most emotion he's felt in a while.

He looks back as he steps out of the car onto the platform and disappointment washes over Clint when he realizes that the young woman's interest did not hold long enough for her to see him off the train.

She preoccupies his thoughts for the rest of the day and for the first time in years he is not unhappy. He's unsure of whether it's because of her beauty or the way she'd looked at him. Perhaps he had imagined her interest, although he hopes not.

Clint is disappointed again when the girl is not on the evening train and he thinks that the sunset would do her hair even more justice.

As he approaches his apartment building, Clint's good mood recedes as if it knows its departure is inevitable. The smell of lasagna washes over him as the elevator doors slide open and he fights the urge to push the button that makes them close.

"Clint!" Comes a shout from the kitchen. A brunette head pokes out of the doorway and Clint forces his lips into a smile.

"I'm glad you're home!" She says with a grin. "I just took dinner out of the over. Also, my dad called and wants us to visit him and my mom next weekend."

"Great," he replies, a bit too enthusiastically.

In the time it took for him to get from the sidewalk to his apartment, Clint's life has reverted back to bleak and monotonous and he doesn't know how much longer he can stand it.

A/N: I didn't expect to start another chaptered fic so soon after my first one, but I got this idea in my head and it's all I've been able to think of in terms of writing, so I present this to youuu~ I will tell you though, that I'm in college and I have three weeks left until I go on winter break AKA I have finals so I can't promise regular updates. I'll work on it whenever I can though and I already know what's going to happen it all just has to be written. :3 Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Marvel.