Chilly Boulder- Saturday afternoon

[throughaphase]

This was probably the last time Clint and Kitty would see Barney before the baby showed up, so she wanted this weekend to be about bonding. (And probably ganging up on Clint.)

And today that bonding was taking place at the ice cream parlor because nothing at home sounded right, and here they knew better to question her order. So when they brought her peanut butter/strawberry/mango abomination out to the table she thanked them and grabbed a spoon.

"Anyone else want to try this?" she asked.


[For two but open for your ice creamery needs!]

Comments

[so_tricky]

Subtlety wasn't Barney's finest skill, so he couldn't hide his horror at the combination of flavors in front of Kitty. "No, I'm good," he said with a wave of his hand. "I wouldn't want to deprive my niece of any sugar."

[throughaphase]

"You sure? Because trust me, she's getting more than enough," Kitty told him. "She takes after Clint."

This was why those AU kids weekend's meals were all sugar.

[so_hawkward]

"Hey, that's not true," Clint said, around a mouthful of peanut butter-mango combination. "I eat real food too, you know."

[so_tricky]

"Yeah, and I'm sure being married to an actual adult has nothing to do with that at all," Barney said.

[throughaphase]

"I try," Kitty said. "I have to, because otherwise we'd live on cereal and frozen pizza."

Which, for the record, was a valid way to live. Sort of.

[so_hawkward]

"Frozen pizza has vegetables, I'm just throwing that out there," Clint said, glaring at Barney. "Did you just come to team up with Kitty against me?"

[so_tricky]

"It's a nice bonus, you have to admit," Barney said. "I mostly wanted to check on you and see if this whole baby thing was really still happening." Glancing at Kitty, he asked, "Are you... okay? I don't really know what I'm supposed to ask."

[throughaphase]

"You can ask whatever you want. I might not answer everything," she added, and shrugged. "I'm fine. Tired and achy, and looking forward to seeing my feet again. But everything's fine, no problems, just got a few more weeks to go."

And she needed to stop Googling things.

[so_tricky]

"And you've... met your kid? Kind of?" He was never going to understand this place, or why Clint stayed here. "And she was okay?"

Look, Barton DNA wasn't exactly stellar, he'd be the first to admit it.

[throughaphase]

The fun thing was, Kitty's world wasn't any less weird than Fandom.

"Oh, she's the best," she assured him. "Be excited, she's probably gonna rule the world someday."

...Hopefully not literally.

[so_hawkward]

Clint laughed. "Yeah, meeting her is what makes this whole thing less scary," he said. "It's proof she's gonna turn out to be a great kid."

[so_tricky]

Barney looked at Clint for a long moment, and then glanced to Kitty with a smirk. "Don't let him lie to you, he's still terrified," he said.

[throughaphase]

"With good reason! It is terrifying," Kitty said, nodding emphatically as she tried to make sure to get all three flavors on her spoon. "I'm still ready to get to the scary part, though."

[so_tricky]

"Do you have a good relationship with your family?" Barney asked, before wincing. "Sorry, that's probably on the 'don't want to answer' list, huh?"

[throughaphase]

"Oh, no, that's fine," she assured him. She wasn't surprised he'd think it was a bad question, either. "It's just me and my mom, and she's excited, but she's in Chicago so we're not super close. But I've got a lot of people back home who might as well be family that I've got a great relationship with."

Mostly. It depended on who'd tried to kill who recently.