katie kate hawkeye

“There’s been a lot going on. Been busy. If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.”

Felicia snorted at the younger girl’s attempt at a threatening tone as she slowly turned on her heel to face the shorter wannabe-Hawkeye. “Did you just say Avengee in training? God, you’re a dork. Word of advice, don’t use that one again. It kinda takes away all of your credibility.” Felicia insisted as she continued to open the chips and popped one into her mouth. Chewing, she continued. “Still, it was a cute try.”

“Yes, Avenger stuff.” Clint repeated back, rolling his eyes at Kate’s mocking tone as he shook his head at her. God, how old was she to be mimicking him, six? He watched her touch the butterfly bandage and sighed softly. “Try not to touch it, you could get the cut infected.” His tone was softened now as he sat up and turned towards her as she tried to justify her obvious awkwardness at the meeting. It hadn’t been the worst thing that happened during the entire exchange, at least. “I get it, just… Things are complicated right now. And tense.” Tense wasn’t even enough to describe it. 

“You’ve got more balls than most people do, though, I’ll give you that. You said your name’s Kate?”

“How is it so far? Everything you hoped it would be and more? That thing at Rockefeller Center was nuts.”

“Totally lame.” Clint snorted as he shook his head at her.

“It’s cold out— you should be wearing gloves!”

“Can I ask why you’d like to know about my business partners?”

“So the Avengers are recruiting children now? Good to know.”

“..was I supposed to be listening? If you haven’t noticed, there are more important things currently keeping me occupied.”

“I was in a ship, in space, and it exploded. Not sure how I’m supposed to just move on from that and go be a doctor again.”

“—sorry! Didn’t mean to land so close to you! Are you alright? I didn’t step on you did I?”

“No, you can’t pet Amazing Baby. He’s working.”

Cindy couldn’t even hide her facial expression as she stared at Kate, almost waiting for her to give more names. But.. oh, that was it. “Definitely not gendered. We’re way past all of that. You need something standalone. Something recognizable.”

“Oh, very much so. But it’s kind of cute, even if your thoughts are a bit annoying.” Heather tried her best to focus on not hearing everything around her most of the time, but this girl was clearly very excited.

“are you some kind of idiot or somethin’?! don’t touch my stuff!”

There was no question that Kate was invited to the Barton family Christmas after what they’d pulled off in New York. He knew how difficult it must be for her to have to watch her mom get hauled away in a police car, but unfortunately that was probably going to be the least of her troubles as she got more involved with this lifestyle. And he’d warned her, but it was another thing to live through it. And after her help, he was going to be there for her however he could.

Whether that meant inviting her to his ranch for Christmas, or continuing to mentor her. According to Linda, he was doing something right at least. 

“Yeah?” He responded, messing around with his quiver as he reorganized everything, adding some more labels per Kate’s advice. It honestly helped a lot, but he wouldn’t say that out loud. At her question, he found himself hesitating as he took a deep breath and let out a soft chuckle. 

“Honestly? I kept my family as out of it and far away as I possibly could. It wasn’t enough when Thanos happened, though.” He admitted, shaking his head slightly. No amount of distance would have prevented them from being snapped out of existence for those long five years. “Contrary to popular belief, work life balance is a very real thing. It takes time. Things don’t have to be over with your mom forever, you know.”

No one could deny that Thanos had changed the world. You either lived through it, or you didn’t. Kate had been one of the lucky ones: lucky meaning, in this instance, she hadn’t been reduced to ash. She had lived in the gray world in her fancy apartment with her fancy mother. As far as it went, she had been one of the fortunate ones. Clint hadn’t. 

“Your family got blipped.” Kate spoke softly as she set her completed arrowhead down. “I can’t even begin to imagine what that was like.” Losing people you loved and not knowing if you’d get them back? Absolutely heartbreaking. Clint had lost his way, but he had found it again. It was one of the big reasons why Kate respected him so much.