The Perk, Saturday Afternoon

[so_hawkward]

The island was starting to fill up with people coming back from spring break, so Clint was enjoying the Perk while it was still quiet. For values of "enjoying" that meant staring at his coffee cup and brooding. One of the baristas had even flirted with him, but it hadn't helped. Eventually he took out his phone to scroll through some news websites, but he ended up not reading most of them. Seriously, someone needed to develop an anti-crazy person radar for him or something.

[Open!]

Comments

[throughaphase]

Kitty had debated whether it was pushy of her to message Clint as soon as she got back, but she'd decided/rationalized that he should at least know that she was there whether he was still away or not. So once she'd gotten a little bit settled at her place, she sent a text.

Just got home. You?

[so_hawkward]

Clint stared at his phone for a minute when Kitty's message popped up. It wasn't like he could avoid her here - the island wasn't that big - but he didn't know where he'd even start if she asked about his trip.

I'm home too. Island home. Did you miss me? he sent back.

[throughaphase]

Kitty didn't know what it meant that he hadn't let her know that he was back, except that things probably didn't go well.

Every day. :) Are you at the house?

So, you might want to start figuring out where to start, Clint.

[so_hawkward]

Ah, the curse of having a supportive girlfriend. Clint thought about saying yes and going back to the house, but he was also hoping she'd yell at him less if they were in a public place.

At the Perk. I decided to try drinking coffee out of a cup again.

Haha, see, he was being funny, clearly nothing was wrong!

[throughaphase]

I have never been prouder. Also I'm coming over.

Of course, since Kitty lived literally down the street from the Perk, she was at the door like a minute after that message got sent.

[so_hawkward]

Clint waved at her when she came in and smiled. He wasn't covered in bandages, so that was a good sign, right? "Hey, welcome back to the cold."

[throughaphase]

And she was totally checking him over for injury, too, so yes, lack of bandages was a good sign! "Yeah, not so happy about that part," she said, leaning in for a hello kiss.

[so_hawkward]

Clint kissed her back, enjoying that moment. "I'm glad you managed to have fun without me," he said. "Did anything exciting happen?"

[throughaphase]

"Nah. It was pretty quiet- if hot- the last few days," she said, taking a seat. "What about you?"

Since that was what she really wanted to hear about.

[so_hawkward]

Yeah, that got Clint's smile to falter a little. "It... really wasn't very good," he admitted.

[throughaphase]

Score one for her for figuring out that much. "What happened?"

[so_hawkward]

"I don't really want to talk about it," Clint said, "but I also don't think I have much of a choice." He knew there was no way he was going to keep her away from Derek, as much as he might have wanted to. "I wasn't with Fury this weekend. I don't even know why I said that, it was stupid."

[throughaphase]

Oh, she had a bad feeling about this. "Where were you?"

[whenshewasnice]

In all honesty, Nathan wasn't sure what he was doing here on the island right now. He didn't want to see Jim. He didn't think he wanted to, anyway. And he would've been better off going home to Montreal if he wanted a mental health day from everyone looking at him funny. So guess it was just a habit. He ended up at the Perk, first thing, and that was habit too.

The wary look on his face when he spotted Clint, though, that was new. Still didn't stop him from taking a seat at Clint's table like he belonged there. "You probably don't recognize this face," went his greeting. Because no one seemed to. "But the last name's Adams."

[so_hawkward]

"Uh, Natalie?" Clint said, perking up a little. "Is the island screwing with you or something? I didn't know you'd be in town."

[whenshewasnice]

"Nathan," he corrected. Flatly, because by now he had a pretty good handle on not letting his exasperation show at getting called someone else's name. "But it's apparently an easy mistake to make."

Okay, that was a little more dry.

"But yes, pretty sure the island is screwing with me."

[so_hawkward]

"Uh, okay," Clint said, before remembering some of the stuff he'd heard on the radio. "I'm sorry? I don't think you're alone, if that's any help. Are you at least doing okay?"

[whenshewasnice]

"My boyfriend essentially broke up with me because I'm not Natalie."

So, there was that.

[so_hawkward]

Clint winced and shook his head. "I'm sorry. That's even worse than normal." And it told Clint that Natalie--Nathan thought he shouldn't be Natalie which... yeah, this was weirder than he'd expected. "Uh, how are things going with Peter?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Better than with Jim," Nathan replied, glancing out the window. "I'm still doing my job, I guess that helps."

[so_hawkward]

"Well, I'm still glad to see you, for what that's worth," Clint said. "Surprised, but it's better than you not being around at all."

[whenshewasnice]

"Thanks." That came out –– not exactly not mild, but maybe a softer kind of mild? He had a tendency to retreat into his neutral ways when he was stressed, and the last week or so had not been kind to him. "How are things?"

[so_hawkward]

"Uh, if I say 'okay' does it sound remotely believable?" Clint asked with a small smile.

[whenshewasnice]

Natahn didn't quite smile. But there was something wry about his expression all the same. It was an N.V. Adams thing, for sure.

"It would've sounded moreso without that preface."

[so_hawkward]

"Spring break was awesome, and then I got manipulated by a psycho lady and lied to Kitty about where I was going, so it's probably good that you're here because this might be the last time you see me," Clint said. "Dealing with your thing might be easier than that."