#ler!clint

The look on his face was glistening with playfulness, his eyes sparkling in the warm light from the lightbulb. Clint was onto something, but you couldn't really tell exactly what it was, you just knew you'll be the one to endure it.

You locked eyes with the archer sitting not far from you, somehow his staring mixed with the smirk he's wearing on his jaw, intimidated you.

"He's onto something." Steve mumbled in your ear, making you jolt out of your focus.

"No shit, Sherlock." You sassed and gave him a look before your attention was led back to Clint. Just that he wasn't there anymore, he was gone.

"Goddamn Barton." You whispered to yourself, looking around anxiously. He could be everywhere, in the vents, under the couch, behind the counter... he's a spy in some way.

"Barton, if this is some sort of a training containing attention on my surroundings, I'll kick your goddamn ass."

Ever since you came to the avengers as a newbie, Clint has become your mentor and personal trainer for upcoming missions. Currently, you don't attend any missions, no matter how easy and small they are, Clint isn't taking any risks, nor are you.

It was quiet. Too quiet for your own liking. You hate this kind of silence, it was so loud knowing there is someone waiting for you in some corner. Though Steve was with you, ready to help out, you wanted to give yourself some accomplishment.

Your eyes scanned the whole area around you, every corner of the room and every small space he could be hiding at, none of them went unseen by you. Yet, you couldn't find him. But he found you.

He appeared behind you and squeezed your sides just once, making you scream in surprise. He scared you, your breath hitched in your lungs and you heard the laughter coming from both men, Rogers and Barton. They walked past each other and high fived, as if they planned this together.

"Try better next time." Clint winked. Your eyes squinted and your hands formed fists, yes you were full of anger and maybe that's exactly what Clint wanted to achieve, because he'll meet the devil now.

"Really?" His arms cross over his chest, "are you grumpy now?" His head tilted now too. He was looking through you, you hated this.

"Maybe we should do a different exercise instead, lets fight." His hands clapped together ready for what's coming next, and whatever that might be, you'll end him - not entirely, but somehow.

You approached him, he was way taller than you, but this did not happen to be a problem after all, fighting him was something you’ve never feared.

“Ready?” You nodded.

“Like never before.” You smirked and instantly pushed him down to ground, a spot he’s seen several times before. Every new day he is surprised by the strength you’re holding within your small and petite body. But once he’s pushing this small button, you’re incapacitated.

“Don’t think this is it.” He growled through gritted teeth, fighting your arms strongly until he was able to roll the both of you over.

His weight was on top of you, your arms pressed to your chest which he held down with one of his hands, a grin adorning his lips. You couldn’t move, nor fight or defend yourself from his obviously unfair move. You used all your strength you’ve got left, a little more and you would get out of it with ease, this was until he played with even more unfair moves.

His hand dug into your side, right at the spot that made you fall weak a few seconds in. Laughter bubbled out of your mouth and all the strength you’ve build up was gone as if it was never there.

“Not so strong anymore, are we, rookie?” When his hand moved further down, to where your sensitive hipbone is placed, you were faced with his mean technique of drilling his thumb in the flesh. The options of rolling over or kicking him in attempt to get out, just flew by and out of reach. Your back arched and loud giggles flowed out without a pause, this made Clint smile stupidly.

The blip which made him lose his family, including all his kids, made him feel miserable. Not having his kids around, not being able to be the dad he wanted to be, not being able to protect them of what has happened. Having you as a teenager now, gave him a bit of the father feeling he’s lost the past year. The way your stone cold heart shattered at this story and how he feels having you, made you be more sensitive around him, more than around others. You wanted him to be happy after all he’s been through, so you happily endure anything he wants to experience alongside and with you.

“BAHARTON!” You shout throughout giggles, your body desperately trying to trash around which is blocked by his hold and weight. As much as you hated his unfair plays, those were the best thing of the days, being free of anything happening around you, the quality time you get to spend.

He soon got bored of the spot at your hip, so he decides to move further on by spidering over your tummy, which gets the adorable giggles out of you he loved to hear - just because you don’t seem adorable at first.

Your stomach twitched at the featherlight touch of his fingertips, those are the tickles you feared the most since they’re unbelievable and funnily enough, extremely ticklish.

“P-plehease! Clihint!” You gasped for air, your cheeks hurting from smiling and your mouth dried up from giggling. But this didn’t make him stop as yet, he needed the assurance that you got rid of the grumpiness.

“Ihim hahappy now! Juhuhust stohop!” You gave in. You hated doing this, but there was no other way out, and you didn’t know how much longer you could go with his torture. He let go of your hands, got off of your body and smiled fondly down at you as you kept on giggling.

“Don’t let your enemies find that out.” He teased with a wink. Your giggling stopped out of nowhere, as if you had pressed a button. Your face went cold again, a smirk plastering on your lips, you weren’t quite done with him yet.

Once started a fight, it’ll evolve into a war- not every time, but in this case… it did.

"Are you ready for the most exciting sporting event in history?!"

You plunked yourself down on the sofa beside Loki, grinning enthusiastically. Your upbeat tone was a stark contrast to your eyes, however. With puffy, darkened circles under your eyelids and a tinge of redness to the once white-colored outer edges of your eyes, it was obvious you were absolutely exhausted.

"Agent... how much sleep did you get last night?" Loki asked knowingly. You scowled at his chastising.

"I got plenty of sleep. I'm fine."

"Really? Because your eyes are telling me otherwise."

"Hey!" You folded your arms indignantly across your chest.

"I know you're not from Earth and all, but that's no way to speak to a lady," Steve chimed in as he and Bucky entered the common room, both taking a seat on an empty sofa. Loki rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I simply mean to say that you appear to be very tired. And I know you have a tendency to overwork yourself into the young hours of the morning."

Your cheeks blossomed with color as your hardened expression faltered. "I went to bed plenty early enough, thank you very much. Plus, I slept in this morning."

"Oh? And what time did you awaken, then?"

"8AM."

"And what time did you go to sleep?"

You hesitated, taking a moment to think. "4AM."

Tony had just walked in at that moment, snorting in amusement. "Wow. That's even later than I went to bed. And that's saying something."

"You're not helping," you muttered, narrowing your eyes at the billionaire. "Anyway... can we please stop harping on my sleeping habits and get ready to watch the first game?"

"Are you certain you'll even be capable of staying awake?" Loki chided.

"For the World Cup? Absolutely. I wouldn't miss this for anything."

"Ten bucks says she falls asleep by halftime," Tony goaded, smirking at you from his armchair across the room. You scoffed, refusing to offer him a verbal response.

"Agent - you are well aware that once you fall asleep, it is nearly impossible to awaken you?" Loki teased.

"I will not fall asleep!"

Loki snickered. "Whatever you say."

You had been ranting about the upcoming World Cup for months now. Most sports were rather boring to you, but soccer games always had you on your feet cheering for your favorite team. Your enjoyment of the sport had rubbed off on your teammates - even Loki found himself interested in watching the games, finding it amusing how little protective gear these Midgardians would wear despite how violent the game could get.

And, perhaps, part of him just enjoyed the sport because you enjoyed it.

As the first game was beginning, Thor burst into the common room with a frantic expression on his face.

"Have I missed the coin toss?!" he fretted.

"Nah, you're just in time, big guy," Steve assured, chuckling as Thor's face melted with relief.

"Where are the others?" he queried as he took the seat on the opposite side of you on the sofa.

"Oh, they'll be in and out I'm sure," Tony responded flippantly.

"Bruce and Clint don't appreciate soccer as much as we do," you griped. "And Nat had a couple errands to run before she could join us."

"Agent!" Thor's attention suddenly turned to you, his brows furrowed with worry. "You appear to be exhausted! Are you alright?"

"Ah-ah - don't mention how tired she looks," Tony warned, whispering loudly enough for you to hear. "She gets grumpy when you talk about it."

"Alright, I'm ignoring all of you." You crossed your arms once again, leaning back against the sofa.

The first game finally began, and the room fell silent as everyone watched the initial kickoff intently. Intermittently, there would be a chorus of shouting as the favored team got close to the opponent's goal. Notably, you suddenly stopped joining in on the hollering about halfway through the first half. Loki hadn't expected you to fall asleep that quickly, but he didn't dare look at you to find out, for fear you'd become sour again.

And then your head suddenly slumped over onto Loki's shoulder.

"Are you awake, darling?" he whispered, turning his head to look down at your face. Your eyes were shut, your breathing slow and steady with a slight raspy snoring undertone. The sight was simply adorable.

"You weren't kidding about her being tired," Bucky observed at the end of the half, gazing at you incredulously as you snored away against Loki's shoulder. Tony clapped his hands together excitedly.

"Where's my ten bucks? I called it!"

"Shh! You'll wake the young maiden, Stark!" Thor scolded in a hushed tone. Loki laughed at that, earning a glare from his brother. "Do you not care that she is clearly exhausted?"

"No, no it isn't that. I just find it amusing that you believe a simple clapping noise would be enough to wake her," Loki chuckled. "The girl sleeps like the dead. It's near impossible to wake her."

"And how would you know that?" Steve asked warily. Loki felt an involuntary wave of heat rush to his face at the implication.

"I've come across her napping in the common areas of the tower before. Believe me - it's very difficult to wake her."

It was true - Loki tended to wander the tower at late hours of the evening, much later than any of the others. On numerous occasions, he'd found you sleeping on the sofa, or napping with your forehead pressed against your forearms at the kitchen table, having attempted to stay up too late to watch a film or get some work done and passed out before you could drag yourself to bed.

At first, he'd simply let you be. What should it matter to him where you slept? Clearly you managed to get yourself to bed eventually, as you were never in the same spot the following morning. Perhaps you enjoyed napping for a bit before heading off to bed for the evening?

Then Loki began to realize that the nights he discovered you sleeping outside of your bedroom were the nights you'd overworked yourself. Hours upon hours in the training room... pouring over blueprints and maps in preparation for a mission... even just completing your paperwork sometimes took precedence over sleep in your list of priorities. So he began to try to wake you whenever he found you sleeping in a position that appeared uncomfortable.

The problem was - nothing would get you to wake up.

It was clear you were still living - you were always breathing (often snoring, in fact) so Loki didn't fear something terrible had happened to you. But nothing he attempted could ever get you to awaken. Eventually, he'd simply taken to just scooping you up in his arms and carrying you to your room to put you to bed.

He imagined you must become confused those mornings that followed, finding yourself tucked into your own sheets despite never having brought yourself there in the first place. So, eventually, he told you the truth. Since then, it'd become a sort of joke between the pair of you - Loki teased you for sleeping like a corpse, and you teased him right back for having so much concern over where you slept. It was enough to make him feel confident that you didn't mind him looking after you on those nights.

"She will surely injure her neck if she sleeps like that for long," Thor worried, observing the way your head was tilted awkwardly to the side.

"Yes... I suppose you're right." Carefully, Loki reached around your back to grasp your shoulders, gently guiding you to lie down properly with your head resting on his leg. Thor followed suit, scooping your legs up off the floor to rest them across his own lap.

"There, now. She must be much more comfortable," Thor declared happily, patting your knee affectionately. Loki hummed in agreement.

You remained asleep through the entire second half of that first game. With a bit of a break between games, the boys began to discuss your exhaustion once again.

"She's probably gonna be really upset that she missed the first game..." Bucky pondered aloud. "We let her sleep for an hour, do you think we should try to wake her up now?"

"Good luck with that, Barnes," Loki snickered. "I'm telling you - nothing will awaken the sleeping beast."

"I don't believe it." Bucky rose to his feet, pacing over to the sofa you were resting on. Loki gazed up at him expectantly, motioning for him to try. He placed a hand on your shoulder and shook you gently for a moment. You didn't even stir.

"Honestly - is that the best you can do?" Loki taunted with a haughty laugh.

"I wanted to go easy on her." He grasped your arm with his metal hand and shook you harder, causing your head to jostle around against Loki's leg a bit.

Nothing.

"Hang on, let me try," Tony interjected, wandering over to stand beside Bucky. He knelt down in front of you, holding his hands up in front of your face before suddenly clapping them together loudly in rapid succession. "HEY! WAKE UP! GAME'S GONNA START SOON!"

Not even a flinch.

"Wow. You weren't kidding, Ice Age." Loki scowled at Tony's nickname.

"Ah, I have a thought," Thor announced with a sly grin, gaining everyone's attention. He grabbed hold of one of your ankles in his lap and swiped a finger down the sole of your socked foot. Your toes curled in response, egging him on to start scratching with all five fingers up and down your sole.

Loki watched your face intently. Your brow furrowed, a slight smile tugging at the corner of your mouth in the most adorable way. Still, your eyes remained shut, chest rising and falling rhythmically with your steady breaths.

"You might be on to something, Thor," Bucky noted as Thor relented in his attempt. He brought his fingers to your neck and fluttered them along the skin where your shoulder met your collarbone. Your shoulder shrugged up reflexively, and Bucky pulled his hand away to watch you expectantly, assuming you were waking.

Then, you turned over onto your other side, letting out a deep breathy sigh. Still asleep.

"What are you guys doing?"

The group collectively glanced up toward the sound of Nat's voice in the doorway, finding her standing with her hands on her hips accusingly. Beside her stood Clint - looking less than enthused to be watching the game; as well as Bruce - looking quite enthused about being there with Nat.

"Don't worry, Romanoff - she's been sleeping for over an hour. We just don't want her to miss all the games today," Steve assured.

"Alright. I'll allow it." She wandered into the room, standing over your sleeping form while Clint and Bruce found seats. "Hmm..." Glancing around, she suddenly walked over to Tony's seat, reaching over to the side table and plucking an ice cube from his drink.

"Hey! Do you make it a habit of taking things that aren't yours?" Tony griped. Nat merely grinned, carrying the ice cube over and dropping it down the back of your shirt.

"Oh, that's gotta work," Steve declared, watching intently to see if you'd wake.

The sudden chill of the ice certainly wasn't welcome, as evidenced by the grimace that formed on your face. Still, you didn't open your eyes even once, only shifting a bit in your sleep.

"Alright, clearly that didn't work," Loki muttered, sliding his hand down your back to guide the ice cube out from under your shirt and chucking it in Nat's direction. She shrugged, unfazed.

"Hey, I tried."

"I suggest we reserve further attempts for halftime," Thor announced. "The next game is beginning!"

Loki was genuinely torn as you continued to snore away with your head resting comfortably in his lap. He knew very well that you needed the rest, despite the fact you'd never admit it. And you looked simply adorable as you slept, which didn't help matters. But he also knew how angry you'd be with yourself if you awoke later that evening to find you'd missed the entire first day of the tournament.

Yes, perhaps at halftime they could try to wake you once again. For now, he decided to let you sleep a little longer, absently twirling strands of your hair around his fingers. A happy sigh puffed out of your nose, making his heart swell.

When the first half of the game had finished, the attention of the group turned from the television to your sleeping form once again.

"How long has she been sleeping like that?" Clint whispered.

"Don't worry about keeping your voice down - she's slept like a log since partway through the first half of the first game," Bucky explained with an incredulous laugh. "Thor, Tony and I tried to wake her up before you guys walked in."

"And she hasn't even moved?" Bruce asked.

"Not really. Thor tickled her foot and that seemed to sort of work, so I tickled her neck, and still nothing."

"Maybe you haven't found her tickle spot," Clint suggested. Nat glanced at him with raised brows. "What? It's what I call it with the kids."

"That's pretty darn adorable," she hummed affectionately. Clint's cheeks turned slightly red.

"A-anyway... here, let an expert give it a shot." He meandered over to your sofa, gazing down at you in thought. "Lila nearly wets herself laughing when I get her here..." He gently lifted your arm so he could slot his fingers into your armpit, wriggling his fingertips deep into the hollow space. A huffy breath escaped your nose as your brows knit together once again, a full-fledged smile now growing on your face. Astonishingly, you remained undeniably asleep.

"I don't think it's working," Thor stated, watching your face with a fondness in his eyes. Clint groaned disappointedly, removing his hand from under your arm.

"Damn. That always gets the kids to wake up when they're being a pain."

"Let me try, then," Nat suggested, approaching from behind Clint and giving him a teasing poke in the side. He yelped and twisted, glaring at the assassin as he returned to his own seat. Nat brought both hands down on your stomach, clawing at the soft skin through your T-shirt. The ticklish smile returned to your face, but still you did not wake. It didn't matter whether she attempted a firm scratching or a light tracing motion, you were simply too sound asleep.

"Ok, obviously she's only ticklish when she's awake," Steve observed jokingly. "What else haven't we tried? We're running out of halftime."

"Oh, oh, hang on-" Tony swiped Nat's glass of water from the table in front of her, clearly feeling he needed revenge for her theft of his ice cube. Loki gave him a fierce look as he approached you with the water glass.

"I certainly hope you aren't planning to pour that on her," he stated warningly, shooting daggers at Tony with his eyes. He shrunk back just slightly under Loki's gaze.

"No, of course not... who would do something that cruel?" He dipped his fingers into the glass of water (earning an annoyed shout from its owner) and then flicked the water at your forehead. A few cold droplets stuck to the bridge of your nose, again making you grimace slightly in your sleep. Tony sighed. "Alright, can I dump it on her now?"

"Not unless you'd like my boot up your-"

"Alright! Alright, I get it, Jack Frost!" Tony rolled his eyes, placing the glass down on the table where he'd found it before returning to your side. "Ok, kid - how about this?" His fingers dug into your ribs, kneading between the bones. It was clearly tickling you quite a bit, as your eyes and nose scrunched up in the most adorable way. And yet - you stubborn thing - you still remained asleep. Tony threw his hands up in the air in frustration after a few moments, stomping back to his seat. "I thought I had her there!"

"I'm afraid we must abandon our efforts once again - the second half is starting!" Thor announced excitedly.

"No, she's gonna be pretty mad if she wakes up to find she missed two full games," Steve groaned. "Let me try."

"Please do it quickly, soldier - I must see who wins this game!" Thor insisted. Steve paced over to the sofa where you lay, wasting no time in digging into your ribs as he'd seen Tony attempt. He squeezed your side with his other hand, clearly hoping two spots would be more effective than one.

You adorable creature - you buried your face in Loki's stomach, hiding the huge grin that had taken shape on your face. Surely you must be awake now, he assumed.

And yet, when Steve relented in his attack, your breathing returned right back to the rhythmic, steady rise and fall of deep sleep.

"Alright! I give up!" Steve declared with a laugh. "She can't complain when she wakes up - every one of us has tried."

"Bruce hasn't," Tony reminded him.

"Me?!" Bruce appeared frazzled at the suggestion. "But if you guys haven't been able to, what makes you think I could wake her up?"

"Worth a shot at least," Bucky concurred. "Any genius ideas in that big brain of yours, Banner?"

"Well, I... You guys haven't tried pinching her yet?"

Bruce withered a bit under Loki's angry glare at the suggestion.

"Relax! I wouldn't hurt her!" he assured quickly, "Physicians do it to assess neurologic function."

He rose to his feet as Loki's glare softened a bit. If it worked, at least you'd get to watch the remainder of the game. But he'd be damned if Banner would actually hurt you in any way. His eyes never left Bruce's as he knelt down beside you, taking your hand in his and pulling a pen from his pocket.

"See, this doesn't hurt that badly," he assured, pinching one of your fingers between the pen and his own thumb, careful not to apply enough pressure to earn the wrath of the god watching over you. No matter how hard he pressed, you didn't even flinch. You tenacious little thing.

Bruce slipped the pen back in his shirt pocket when he recognized it wasn't going to work.

"Uh... well, that wasn't helpful," he chuckled nervously. "Have you tried behind the knees?" He reached over and scratched at the back of your knee gently. You sleepily bent your knees to block out his access to the sensitive spot, that little smile tugging at your lips once again.

"I must request that we cease this until the game has finished," Thor insisted. "Clearly, the young agent requires additional sleep."

"You just want them to stop interrupting the game," Loki accused.

"I... yes, that would also be nice, thank you."

In a way, Loki was quite impressed that you'd managed to remain asleep throughout all of this. Even he, the God of Mischief, couldn't come up with another method to try to wake you that wasn't too cruel for him to care to attempt.

He decided to keep trying to wake you while the others watched the second half. He wasn't all too interested in the game anyhow, and Thor couldn't complain that he was interrupting his viewing time.

Loki was sure that he could wake you if he could just find the the spot that you were simply too ticklish to sleep through. While awake, you were devastatingly ticklish - barely a solitary squeeze to the side and you'd be giggling like mad. How your mind was able to block out the ticklish sensations only whilst you slept was beyond him.

He scratched his fingers along your belly just above your waistline as he began his mission to locate your weak spot. His fingertips traveled gently up the side of your stomach, around your side, down to squeeze at your hipbone for a moment. Your ribs, he knew, would have you howling with laughter if you were awake, and yet no matter how meticulously he searched along each rib for a trigger spot to wake you, you simply buried your face deeper into his stomach in your sleep. Loki had to abandon that spot, mostly because you'd begun to tickle him with your gentle breathy laughter against his thin shirt overlaying his belly. You infuriating little creature.

Tickling fingers traveled up to your neck, flitting lightly against the soft, silky skin. Curiously, he fluttered his fingers under your chin, chuckling fondly under his breath as you ducked your head and let out a breath of a laugh - still in your sleep, of course. Perhaps your back would do it?

Before shifting to try there, he scratched ever so gently just below your jawline, selfishly enjoying the adorable smile it brought to your face. His fingertips grazed along the thin skin just behind your ear unintentionally.

Suddenly, you squeaked.

It was barely audible over the noise of the game and the cheering of the others in the room, but it was undeniable - you had squeaked. A sly grin spread across Loki's face as he averted his full attention to that spot, ghosting his fingertips around and behind your ear. Your face scrunched up into a huge smile, then slowly, your eyes cracked open.

"What..."

"Ah, she awakens at last." Loki caught your wrist before you could block his tickling fingers with your hand, continuing to flit the fingertips of his free hand around the hypersensitive shell of your ear. Rapid, squeaky giggles bubbled from your mouth as you tried shrugging your shoulder up to block him.

"Hehey!! You wahanted me to slee-heep, and then yohou tickle mehe??" you whined sleepily.

"Darling, you've been asleep for nearly two hours," Loki informed you, pausing his torment as your mouth dropped open.

"Two hours?? But then I... I missed two games??"

"A game and a half, actually," Bucky called from his seat. The room had now realized you were awake. "But the end of this one has been a nail-biter!"

Scowling, you shifted to sit up so you could watch the television. Loki couldn't hold back from pinching your side once, drawing your attention just long enough for him to say I told you so. You returned the favor by poking him in the stomach, earning a jolt and a glare from the god that he didn't truly mean.

With the added rest, you returned right back to your usual ways. You were on your feet with every goal, screaming at the referee on the screen for every penalty as though he could hear you, cheering when the opposing team missed a score. You were rambunctious, loud, and vicious. All traits Loki had come to love about you.

But if there was one thing he'd learned today, it was this:

Clint assured you that he wasn’t hard on you because he thought you were bad, it was only to make you better and your subconscious knew that, but as you kept hitting the arrow just outside of the target time and time again, you couldn’t help the surge of disappointment.

“What am I doing wrong?” You shook your head, turning to Clint. Your bow was gripped tight in your hand to keep yourself from throwing it across the room. “I feel like everything I do here is wrong and that you think I’m shitty at archery or something.”

Clint chuckled a little—more out of pity than out of genuine amusement. “I don’t think you’re shitty. I’ve seen what you can do in and out of this room. You’re a force to be reckoned with and if you tell Kate I said any of this, I’ll kick your ass, but you’re better than her. You’re stronger and you’re sharp-witted and you have an amazing work ethic. Square up and start again.”

He pointed to the target and grinned slightly when you blushed at his compliments before sighing and turning back around. You planted your feet firmly on the ground and pulled the arrow back with vigor.

“Don’t move!” You heard Clint shout as he footsteps marched up behind you. You were caught off guard, flinching a little before registering what he’d said and pausing exactly where you needed to.

“Why?” You asked.

“It’s your hips. They’re not squared off,” He replied, gruffly placing his hands on your hips to put them in the right place. He squeezed them a bit when you resisted out of habit, causing you to squeak and buckle away from his touch. “I said don’t move!”

“I’m sorry! You surprised me!”

Clint took his hands off of you and backed away. “Reset and go back to your stance.”

Sighing, you relaxed your shoulders, dropping them and letting the tension in your body release. Again, you put your feet where they were supposed to be and got into position.

“Good. Now, don’t move,” He ordered. You nodded and held your breath to ensure you wouldn’t move even an inch. He nudged your back foot, silently telling you to shift it to the right. You did it without hesitation.

You heard him hum just before gripping your hips again, pushing them into the correct position. He accidentally squeezed them again, a giggle slipping from your lips this time. You tried to stay still, but Clint moved his hands a little higher to turn your torso and you weren’t able to stop yourself arching away from him.

“What about ‘don’t move’ do you not understand?”

“You keep tickling me! It’s instinct!” You yelled back at him. “Be more careful!”

Clint pinched at your sides rapidly, smiling when he heard the bubbly laughter come from your throat. “That’s very cute, but you need to be more professional.”

“PROHOFESSIONAHAL? You’re the ohone tihickling me!” You squealed, stepping away from his hands and turning to face him. “I’m pretty sure I’m the mature one in this scenario.”

“Watch it! I know you’re ticklish now and can use it against you,” Clink winked at you, your face heating up at the thought of it. “But seriously, reset one more time, I’ll be more careful.” He held his hands up in surrender to show that he was true to his word.

You did as you were told, setting up for the third time, mentally preparing yourself for his hands on your hips. Only they never touched you.

“Nice. Now twist your hips a bit to the left so that they’re facing the target head on while keeping your shoulders exactly where they are,” Clint instructed. You followed his words to a T, grinning when you heard him praise you. “Perfect. Now, shoot.”

You let the arrow fly, surprised to see that it was mere inches away from the bullseye. You gasped in delight, turning to Clint with a toothy smile.

“Do that every time. Turn your hips to the target and you’ll hit it every time.”

“Thank you, Clint, for not giving up on me,” You said shyly, dropping the bow so you could wrap your arms around him. He slowly reciprocated the hug, chuckling in response.

A few days later, Steve suggested that you should all try and play, the competition would be playful and fun, everyone seemed up to it, and agreed to split into the typical ‘Team Cap’ and ‘Team Iron Man’ groups.

Before long, there was thirty seconds left of the game, Tony’s team was winning by one point. So even if you made this shot, it would be a draw. But you still felt an overwhelming amount of pressure when Steve threw you the ball.

You bit your lip and caught the ball with ease, bouncing it towards the hoop as you saw Peter running in front of you, making it harder for you to concentrate.

“Quick Y/N!” Bucky exclaimed, bouncing up and down in anticipation as Tony’s team was counting down the final 15 seconds.

You bit your lip, clearly a little panicked as you quickly took your shot. A brief silence filled the air as everyone had their eyes on the ball, which just bounced off the rim and back onto the ground.

You heard groans from your team, not even realising that Peter had caught the ball after and passed it to the other side, where Nat had managed to shoot successfully.

You looked over and bit your lip, feeling like you had let down your entire team. Sighing, you slumped over to the bench and sat down, ignoring the cheers from the other team. Their sore winnings made you feel even more awful, you held your head in shame and sighed.

Whilst Tony’s team went inside to celebrate with drinks, you felt people surround you, probably to tell you how bad you were at the game. You braced yourself for whatever they were about to say.

“Hey, don’t feel bad kiddo, you did great.” Steve told you as he sat down next to you and wrapped an arm around you. Bucky sat in the other side of you, putting a hand on your knee with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, Steve put way too much pressure on you.” Bucky told you, smirking a little in Steve’s direction, which made the Super Soldier roll his eyes.

Wanda then hugged you from behind. “Actually, it was the other team, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate if they were counting down either, so don’t feel bad about yourself, you got the most shots anyway, you did great!” She smiled, knowingly skittering her fingers in your neck, causing you to squeal and scrunch your shoulders up.

“I still made us lose.” You muttered afterwards, clearly beating yourself up as you kept your shoulders scrunched up in case of a further attack.

What you didn’t know however, was that your reaction made the others smirk at each other, knowing exactly how to cheer you up.

“It’s just a silly game, Y/N, the only reason we’d need to punish you is because you’re being a grumpy butt.” Steve told you before gently drilling his fingers into your ribs, making Bucky grin evilly and squeeze into your knee.

You squealed in surprise and burst into giggles, trying to wriggle away as you shook your head. It didn’t help that the second you put your shoulder down, Wanda started skittering into your neck again, which caused you to giggle louder.

“Yeah Y/N, cheer up!” Wanda cooed in your ear as she lightly dragged her fingers up and down your neck, smiling as she heard you let out high pitched giggles.

“Aw Y/N! There’s those giggles we missed!” Bucky teased as he rapidly squeezed into the spot just above your knee, knowing that would make you shriek and kick out.

You blushed and kept giggling, eventually taking the opportunity to stand up and go to run away. However, you were caught by Clint, who quickly held your arms above your head to scribble under your arm with his free hand whilst Scott came along and squeezed into your sides.

“I think Y/N should be player of the match!” Scott announced as Steve, Bucky and Wanda came towards you with fond smiles on their faces, nodding in agreement.

“I think we all figured that out the second they made that amazing shot just after half time!” Steve agreed, poking teasingly under your other arm as Wanda stood in front of you with a fond smile and continued her gentle neck torture.

“Oh yes, Y/N is definitely player of the match!” She commented with a teasing smile, knowing you couldn’t look anywhere else but at her. She smirked and continued to get you.

Bucky even squeezed into your hips, causing you the shriek and thrash even more, secretly loving the fact that the team were willing to cheer you up like this. Eventually, you did accept the fact that it was just a game, at the cost of your breath, as you fell into silent laughter.

Clint chuckled as he let you go, the sudden freedom causing you to fall into Wanda’s arms. She smiled and pulled you into a hug as you felt the feathery sensations melt away in her arms. You felt Steve smile and gently rub your back to help calm you down. “You did great Y/N, really, Peter’s going to have a great teacher when you feel up for teaching him.” He reassured you, poking your cheek fondly which made you crack another smile.

Just as you had relaxed and went to go back in, you saw Sam walk over, he had to leave halfway through the game to deal with a family situation, but he game back beaming, so it wasn’t anything serious.

“So, did we kick ass?” He asked eagerly, making you sigh again and squeeze Wanda a little tighter. Steve gave Sam the signal to go over to you and pat your shoulder, giving your sides a cheeky squeeze. “Hey, if that Parker kid was one of the reasons you missed, I know the perfect way you can get revenge.” Sam told you with a smirk, briefly digging into your ribs which caused you to squeal and elbow him away, turning around with a smile.

“Sign me up.” You replied with a cheeky grin, causing Bucky to also walk over with an eager smile. “Make that two of us. I can never say no to getting the kid back.”

Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes as you all walked inside, the three of you discussing how you were going to get your own back on Peter.

So, when Wanda had swept Bucky’s feet from under him, you poked Clint’s side to get his attention. What you weren’t prepared for was the yelp that shot from his lips and the incredulous look he gave you while his hand covered the place you had just touched.

You didn’t expect Clint’s cheeks to turn fire-engine red, either. You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. It was a kneejerk reaction because, oh my God… Clint Barton was ticklish.

“Something you wanna tell me, Barton?” You chuckled, winking at him before turning your focus back to the sparring match. You heard him scoff from beside you.

“Yeah. Don’t do that again,” Clint ordered in a tone so serious you almost obeyed him. You nodded in response, but clearly did not heed his advice because the second time it happened, it was most definitely on purpose.

You waited approximately 2 days before trying it again. Clint was in the kitchen—alone, thankfully—making himself breakfast when you walked past. Smirking to yourself, you redirected yourself to swerve into the room as quietly as possible to sneak up behind him. You waited until he put the utensils down before reaching out and squeezing at his ribs rapidly.

Clint screamed. He screamed so loud that you flinched and wondered why none of your teammates came looking for him. A cackle broke through your lips at his surprised reaction, having to bend over and support yourself on the counter just so you didn’t fall to the floor.

“You’re lucky Natasha was the one to train you. Otherwise, I’d kick your ass,” He grumbled before turning back to his eggs to season them. You laughed louder at his response, wiping a stray tear off your cheek.

“That made my entire week,” You said through your laughter, standing up and shaking your head. “Hawkeye—ticklish. Who would have thought?”

“You should leave now before I decide to kick your ass anyway,” He spoke firmly. You took the hint, still giggling as you evacuated the kitchen and started heading back to your original destination.

The third time it happened was on purpose, too, but what came to fruition afterwards was not.

A few days after the kitchen incident, you came upon Clint in the common room. He was reading a book, which was surprising in and of itself, so you plopped down on the couch next to him since he obviously wasn’t doing anything important.

“Hey, arrow-man,” You greeted him with your own nickname for him, grinning as he glared at you from his side of the sofa.

“Were you born for the sole purpose of getting on my last nerve?” He asked sarcastically. You snickered and shrugged, turning your body more towards him.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t you hear? My parents could see the future and knew you’d need someone to help you have fun. So, they had me.” You gave him a toothy grin along with a wink. “Anyways, Whatcha doing?”

Clint turned his attention back to his book after rolling his eyes at you. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Being an old grump. Come on, don’t you do anything fun anymore?” You pushed on his shoulder, sending him into the arm of the couch. You heard him huff as he sat back upright, scooting over to put more distance between you.

“I had fun before you joined the team.”

“Don’t be like that…” You drawled out, punctuating the last word with a harsh squeeze to the archer’s knee. Clint’s leg involuntarily kicked out as he let out one single laugh, his hands dropping the book to grab tight onto yours. “Ooh, that’s the first time I got you to laugh. Is that your tickle spot?”

Clint suddenly turned the tables, wrenching your hands off of him and wrestling you down so that your back was flat on the couch. With gritted teeth, he seethed, “I’ll show you a tickle spot.”

He wasted absolutely no time in getting revenge, his hands searching for each and every spot that turned you into a pile of giggles. He dug his fingers into your sides as his thumbs wiggled into your belly, smirking down as you fell limp against his touch.

“CLIHIHINT!”

Oh, don’t act all surprised as if you didn’t know this would happen someday!” He taunted, shifting his hands higher to scratch at your ribcage. “Plus, you asked if I did anything fun. This is fun.”

“NOHOT FOR MEHEHEE!” You squealed, your eyes shut tight by the force of how wide your ticklish smile was. “COHOME ON! Thihis was wahahay worse than I-hi got yohou!”

“Are you gonna stop tickling me?” Clint questioned you, lightening up his attack to let you speak properly. “Because if you don’t stop, I won’t stop and we’ll just go around in circles and trust me, I’ll win whatever this is.”

“That’s nohot fair! I’m wahay more ticklish than yohohou!”

“Then, I suggest you stop trying to tickle me.”

Clint redoubled his efforts back at your sides, pinching quickly to pitch your laughter back up to prove his point.

OKAY, YEHEHES! I-HI’LL STOHOP!” You batted at his hands as you squirmed under him. Clint chuckled, obviously boasting about his win, and moved off of you. You groaned before sitting up, this time sliding to the opposite side of the couch away from him. “You’re evil.”

“Hey! You only got the payback you deserved. Think about that next time you decide to be a little shit,” He reached forward to grab his book, reopening it back up to the page he was on before the scuffle. You scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I am not a little shit.”