Via IRC fundraiser - Steve & Clint bonding - Steve took Clint at his word immediately after Clint shook loose of Loki's spell - Clint will never forget that.
Steve discovered, his second week in Wakanda, that the fishing there was amazing, and TâChalla had said he could fish so long as he threw the little ones back unharmed and brought his catch to the palace kitchen to be cooked. Nothing was wasted in Wakanda, and hunting was for food, not for sport. (Though TâChalla admitted with a grin that you could have good sport from hunting for food.)Â
To Steveâs shock, after the jailbreak, Clint actually took Steve up on his invitation to go fishing with him. He wasnât bad at it, either; by the time the sun was up Clint had landed a big catfish-looking creature, and had helped Steve pull up a second.Â
âCan I ask you something?â Steve said, as Clint re-baited his line and tossed it out after losing his bait to a fish smarter than either of the ones theyâd caught so far.Â
âSure,â Clint replied, leaning back in the boat, sipping from a canteen.Â
âI get why you retired,â Steve said. âGood neutral response to the Accords, and you had a family to think about. But whyâd you come down on my side when I called? You didnât have to.â
âNo, I suppose not,â Clint agreed.Â
âBut you didnât even object. You just saddled up and rode in.â
Clint smiled. âI like that image, me riding in on a horse like the Rohirrim at dawn.â
âToo nerdy?â Clint asked.Â
âShockingly nerdy,â Steve agreed.
âI mean...â Clint felt a tug on his line, tested it, then shrugged it off as a current. âI owed you one.â
âFrom when?â Steve asked, brow furrowed.
âWell, maybe not...â Clint glanced away. âI didnât owe you one, like, you did me a solid and youâve got credit. Itâs more...you put your trust in me, and I owed you that back again. When Natasha pulled me back from Loki. I said I could pilot a plane. You said okay. You didnât know me from Adam.â
âNatasha trusted you, that was enough for me,â Steve said.Â
âThatâs what it looked like from your angle, sure. From my angle, Captain America just told me that despite all the terrible shit Iâd done, he knew it wasnât me who did it, and he knew I could saddle up.â Clint smiled at him. âWhen someone trusts you like that once, you owe it to âem to be worthy of the trust somewhere down the line.âÂ
âHuh,â Steve said. âGot you in a hell of a pickle, Clint.â
âBah, I been in worse,â Clint replied. âItâll all sort out. In the meantime...â he reached over and hooked a finger on Steveâs line, testing it, âI think you got a bite. Give it a reel, see if we can get one more before we pack it in.â