The Perk, Saturday Afternoon

[so_hawkward]

So, Clint had spent the better part of the week being a teenager. He'd embarrassed himself in front of his minions mentee-types with his complete inability to not be whiny at an age when he didn't have anything to complain about yet, he'd been nice to Derek, and he didn't even want to think about the sorts of apologies he'd have to make to Kitty. The good news was, he'd managed to make it back to his own home last night, so he'd woken up alone (well, except for Natasha being around, but that was another embarrassing conversation to try to avoid).

Clint had gotten dressed and headed straight for the Perk, hoping coffee might combat the edges of his wtf-hotel-room-party-wtf hangover... and realized after he'd sat down and shaken himself off a little that the "snow" outside was, in fact, powdered sugar.

At least his hair was back to normal?

[Open!]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

The powdered sugar was doing nothing to Natalie's already unsteady mood. But, coming into the Perk, ordering a hot chocolate and then noticing Clint at least distracted her enough.

"Grown up enough to remember even foreigners speak English as a first language?"

That was a hello.

[so_hawkward]

"Oui. Je suis désolé," Clint said, because he wasn't moping enough to not still be a smartass. "And thank you for not kicking me even when I might have deserved it."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Ce n'est pas grave. Rest assured, though, I could have taken you down. But you weren't that bad."

[so_hawkward]

"You definitely could have taken me down. It would have been embarrassing but probably pretty easy for you," Clint said. "I was definitely not a badass at 16."

[whenshewasnice]

"Few people are." Natalie didn't think she herself was a badass, really. Just came from a weird world. The barista gave her the hot chocolate. "So, was it an educational experience, or just annoying and awkward?"

[so_hawkward]

"Mostly annoying and awkward, slightly educational. I learned my girlfriend's willing to be around me even when I'm awkward and in need of a haircut," Clint said. "But I talked too much and... I'm just really glad to be older and wiser and capable of taking care of myself, you know?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I guess." She may have been one of the world's best put-together teenagers, so she couldn't really imagine it from any kind of personal experience, but she could imagine. "Was still interesting to see."

She was an analytical observer by nature, she couldn't help these things.

[so_hawkward]

"I think I liked being a little kid better. At least that hit more people," Clint complained.

[whenshewasnice]

"Most of us are teenagers to begin with," Natalie pointed out, wandering over to finally take a seat at th next table over. "And even as an adult, I think I'd prefer the teen version rather than the kid thing."

But she had personal reasons for that.

[throughaphase]

After four days of this, Kitty was actually prepared to settle in for day five of worrying that she'd completely screwed things up and hating on parties, and figured she'd get hot chocolate to take back home, because when life gave you powdered sugar falling from the sky, you took the lid off your drink and added on a ton more calories.

So it made her kind of really happy to see Clint, as she knew him, there when she came in. "Welcome back."

They could have awkward in a second. First there were smiles.

[so_hawkward]

Clint smiled back since she seemed happy to see him, although he still ducked his head a little. "It's good to be back. Not that I was technically gone, but, you know."

[throughaphase]

"Mind if I sit?" Shh, she was still worried that he wouldn't want her to.

[so_hawkward]

"Of course not," Clint said, giving the empty chair across from him a nudge with his foot so she could grab it. "You must have had a fun week, all things considered. You know, overall, being yourself and everything."

[throughaphase]

"It got old kind of fast," Kitty admitted, grabbing the chair and sitting. "There may have been tequila last night."

[so_hawkward]

"Really? I had beer at what I can only describe as teenagers attempting to party when they don't know what parties are supposed to be like," Clint said, laughing softly.

[throughaphase]

"Beer and Spin the Bottle. I don't know, that sounds like a sophisticated party to me," she said lightly.

[so_hawkward]

"Thankfully, there was no Spin the Bottle." At least, that he'd noticed. "I think I did enough embarrassing things with my body earlier in the week." And surely Kitty would agree because oh god, the embarrassment.

[nottrivial]

"You're back to normal," Alec observed as he entered the Perk, offering Clint a small, almost apologetic smile. "I can get you a refill on that coffee, if you need it."

He didn't need to know Clint that well to suspect that he might be Issueing it up today.

[so_hawkward]

"Nah, I've still got some left. But thanks for the offer. It's nice to be able to see you," Clint said, smiling a little as he ran a hand over his hair.

What, you didn't expect him to be projecting his issues, did you Alec?

[nottrivial]

"You too," Alec said, taking a seat at a nearby table. He paused, then asked, "Did you ever wind up finding the range?"

[so_hawkward]

"No, but that's probably a good thing. I might have broken something valuable at that age," Clint said. "I mostly bummed around and explored the island. Actually managed to find a few nice places I hadn't seen before. So I guess the week wasn't a total loss." After a moment, he added, "I'm sorry about getting all mopey at you. I shouldn't have done that."

[nottrivial]

"No, no, it's not a problem," Alec assured Clint hastily like a million hours later because whoops, that's why. "I probably shouldn't have let you since it was all because of the island messing with you."

[so_hawkward]

"I don't think you could have stopped me, really. But I appreciate that you'd try," Clint said. "I just hope, you know, you don't think any less of me now."

[nottrivial]

That... wasn't the concern Alec had expected him to have. Since Clint's story had mostly made him seem stronger and all that.

"I don't," he promised. "Can I-- do you mind if I ask what happened with your brother?"

[so_hawkward]

"I don't mind if you ask, but it's not exactly a nice story. We're... very much estranged, I guess," Clint said.