Dearest Anon; thank you for your kind gift of no ads. I can’t quiet articulate on what it means but know I’ll try and find a way to pass it forward.
Whilst you mentioned it wasn’t needed, I wanted some way to say thank you. So, what follows is some Clint/Nat hurt/comfort and them taking care of each other. I hope the rest of the week greets you kindly. And if it doesn’t know that I’m rooting for you. 💜💜
secret languages.
Word count: 1.8k
Warnings: blood/dissociation
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“Tash,” Clint whispers, “come on, we’re almost there, one foot in front of the other.”
Blood drops from her fingers and she focuses on his words.
“Yeah. That’s it,” his words dutifully guiding her forward.
“Come on, two more steps.”
She takes the final step to his loft and looks balefully at him.
He knows words won’t come easily and even following instructions need to be broken down into manageable components.
His body feels so heavy.
Clint feels like if it wasn’t for her, he would be just crashing on the couch with the fallout from the mission.
The bruise on his left cheek darkening and gravel rash on his thigh smarting.
He leads the way, unlocking the door and guiding her inside.
She stops once through the threshold, unsure of her movements.
Grabbing a towel from the pile of washing he’d never put away, he lays it strategically to cover the sofa.
“Sit,” he commands softly.
She doesn’t even watch as he moves around; her vision tunnelled as she drops blood onto the wooden floorboards.
Taking her hand, he guides her to sit on the couch.
He doesn’t think it’s a concussion, likely not anything permanent.
Clint hopes not anyway.
Squatting next to her, he unzips her top.
There’s a moment where he thinks she might resist, instead she closes her eyes, and blocks him out.
“Sorry, I should have said,” he tells her, and helps her take her suit off her shoulders down to her waist.
She shivers.
Clint stands and puts the heater on, grabbing a blanket to place over her legs, another towel and the suture kit.
“Nat, I need you to tell me when it hurts okay?”
Even as he says it, he knows she won’t.
She looks at him, but he thinks it’s only because he’s spoken.
Only in a bra, she shivers again, and he apologises, placing the blanket over her lap.
The cut runs from her shoulder to her elbow, weeps; the bruising on her face is accompanied by swelling, just like his.
Clint wants a shower, and wonders if she wants one too. He feels sticky and can smell his sweat when he moves.
“I smell,” he comments on a whim, hoping for something, anything other than unfocused eyes.
He hates it; but he understands it.
“Okay,” he says under his breath, “we’ve got this, just some stitches and maybe some painkillers, then a shower and bed, okay?”
He says it like a checklist himself, like it’s that easy, but he knows that it’s not.
The small kit for stitching is ready next to the sofa, and he reaches for it.
Poor fine motor skills and a tremor in his hands makes it crash to the floor and Natasha flinches.
“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, picking it up.
He focuses on her, trying to gauge what and how’s she’s feeling but apart from being nonverbal, her body language gives nothing away.
“Okay, Nat, I’m going to wipe the blood okay? The towel is scratchy.”
Clint wipes it down, the wound not too deep but almost instantly refilling with blood.
“Now, this will sting, it’s the alcohol wipe,” he says as he dabs a small bit then looks up.
No reaction.
Eyes watch the wall.
He tries to give as much information as he can, and likewise it almost helps to ground him.
The piercing of her skin with the hooked needle makes his face contort; and even though it’s met by no reaction, he still hates that it’s him that’s hurting her.
“Okay, it’s started,” he narrates.
“Hook… tie… snip,” he tells himself, doing the action and then looking up to check again.
She’s watching now.
It must hurt.
Or at the very least pierced her subconscious.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, and then looks back down the the wound.
“Maybe four to go,” he tells her.
“Nat? Does it hurt?”
Clint glances at her back, his gravel rash from being dragged by a motor bike seems nothing to the staircase fall down a fire escape.
He’d watched in horror, but she’d just gotten up and ran, motioning for him to do the same.
Gas in the building, their escape had been quick.
Hers had been frantic.
He’s not even sure if it touched her, but the fear was real.
“Nat, does it hurt?” he asks again, three stitches to go.
On the last stitch, he ties it off, wipes it down again, then stands to get an ice pack.
As he stands, she vomits everywhere, just missing Clint.
“Fuck,” he swears.
He grabs her and pushes her to the bathroom, the smell overpowering, as he wonders just what was left in her from their meal the night before.
He sits her on the toilet, handing her a bin.
“Do you still feel sick?” he asks.
“Nauseous?”
She stares into the bottom of the bucket.
There’s an increase, only slightly, in her breathing.
Clint catches it, hoping it doesn’t escalate to a panic attack. He wonders if it means she’s going to vomit again.
Was it the gas? Or holding it together whilst he stitched her arm?
He turns the heater on.
“H..” the word doesn’t pass her lips, but the attempt does.
He nods at her her attempt.
“Yeah?”
Eyes searching, she finds his and breathes forcefully through her nose.
“Hurts,” she huffs, and looks down at the bucket, vomiting again.
“Okay.”
He leaves the room briefly, and finds the painkillers, the little packet holding big promises.
Taking it to her, he punches one out into her hand, and then gives a glass of water.
She shakes her head.
Clint knows.
He always knows.
“Watch me.”
He pushes out another tiny tablet into his own hand and downs it with the water.
He hands it back, and motions for her to do the same.
In a state like this, he gets it, and his effort is rewarded by her copying his actions.
He just hopes she doesn’t throw it up.
Two tasks down, it’s just the shower and bed.
They can do this.
He can do this.
Removing the puke bucket from her hands, he tells her to stand.
She does without thinking.
He wants to get ice on her face to decrease the bruises, he wants to be in pyjamas, he wants this day to have never have happened.
“Does anywhere else hurt?”
The question is redundant, as she doesn’t answer or even acknowledge it.
“Okay, shower,” he murmurs.
“Socks off, pants off.”
He almost doesn’t expect anything to happen, but she moves at his request.
Clint nods.
He turns the shower on, the hottest it can go, hoping it can help heat the room.
Undressing alongside her, he winces at his his own wounds, the drop of gravel onto the floor makes him think he should probably clean it, just like he did for Natasha.
He ignores it.
The shower will help.
Steam fills the bathroom.
He doesn’t think.
She grabs him, breath caught in his throat.
“No,” she squeaks, “not…”
Gas
Her words get lost again, as scared childlike eyes stare at him to help.
Clint can’t move quickly, his muscles sore and tired. He gets to the fan, and switches it on, sucking up the steam and making the room loud.
“It’s okay,” he assures, “it’s nothing, it’s the shower.”
She sits back down, breathing heavily.
“It’s okay,” he says again, “it’s the shower.”
He gives her the glass of water, thinking maybe it will help to ground her, but this time, she can’t take it, hands gripping her thighs.
“Come on,” he sighs, “quick shower.”
She shakes her head.
“I can’t.”
Torn between pushing her and honouring her request, Clint sighs and gets in the shower, watching her through the glass.
He sees her, holding herself together, and he hurries himself as much as he can.
Feeling like he can’t move quickly enough, he hurts himself in his roughness.
He swears.
It’s enough for Natasha to stand and come to the glass to check on him.
Attempting a smile, he tries to reassure her.
He opens the door, to say something and she follows him in.
She looks at him.
Really looks this time, and raises her hand to his bruised face.
Water hits her arm and pink water streams down the skink.
“Such dangerous lives we lead,” he says softly.
She avoids water on her head and he lowers the shower head so he can control it.
He washes her gently, then she takes it off him and does the same.
Clint is thankful she’s coming back.
He sighs heavily, feeling the pain pulse in his leg, as she gently cleans it.
“Think it’s time for bed,” he murmurs.
She nods, switching off the shower.
He moves to open the door.
Pulling him into a hug, Natasha hopes she conveys everything in it.
For taking care of her.
For getting her home.
She leaves first, passing him a towel, and then one for herself.
It’s slow, the descent to bed.
Natasha cleans her vomit.
Clint wraps his leg.
He passes her some juice and she takes it gratefully.
Finally, bed.
He crawls in after her and feels himself sink into the mattress.
“Mm’sorry,” Natasha says into the darkness.
He moves his body closer to hers, and touches his feet to hers.
“What happened, Nat?” he wonders out loud.
“What made you… go?”
There’s nothing for a while.
She sucks in a breath.
“It hasn’t been like that in a while… I thought… I was worried,” he finishes.
She’s silent, trying to find the words.
“There’s a room, in the Red Room, I think it’s what it’s named for. They use it and release red gas; it makes you hallucinate your greatest fears. Today...” she pauses.
“It smelt the same.”
His body stiffens.
The gas, whilst not red, had been visible, the smell permeating the world as they escaped.
He understands.
“I get lost,” she whispers. “But I know what’s happening, it’s like words are too hard and even telling myself what I need to do takes all the brain power and focus, but the alternative is worse, if I let go, if I just give in and don’t do anything, I lose time.”
Clint reaches for her hand.
“Trauma changes shape, but doesn’t really leave, huh?”
Natasha scoffs, a low release of air.
“Isn’t that just the story of my life.”
She rolls to the side.
“Thanks for stitching my arm, and getting me home,” she whispers,
“I got you,” he whispers back.
He shuffles closer to her.
“Wake me, okay? When the dreams… arrive?”
Neither of them are stupid enough to believe that that dreams won’t come.
Natasha rests her head on his chest.
“Yeah,” she yawns.
“I’ll try.”
.
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Rodeo Man
She sat in the plastic chair by the window, skimming absentmindedly through some lifestyle magazine while she waited for him to wake up.
By the time he did, she knew everything there was to know about how to make the perfect cup of coffee and all about the latest fashion trends for the season.
He stirred and opened his eyes, squinting in the bright fluorescent light. She thought that served him right; this time she felt much less pity than usual.
Pushing away her reading material, she drug the seat across the room to where he lay and took considerable pleasure in seeing him cringe as the chair legs screeched loudly across tile.
Was her anger justified? Maybe not, but it surely didn't come close to making up for his idiocy.
"Good morning, cowboy," she said cheerfully as she sat back down where he could see her.
"Ugh," Clint mumbled in response, not at his most articulate. He tried to move a little, but the wave of pain that came along with it made him give up and revert to moaning. Natasha waited.
"I... where... you?" he asked weakly.
She gave him a stern look. "Are you coherent enough for me to lecture you, or do you need me to tie off your morphine drip first?"
Clint managed a cross between a laugh and another groan. "What are you even doing here?"
"Well, I was in bed when they told me what you were doing. Now that I’m here, I’m thinking that maybe I should have stayed there."
"I should have," Clint conceded. "That was a really bad idea."
"At least we agree on something. What on earth made you do it?"
There was a short pause, and Natasha couldn't tell if it was due to his concussion or just straight-out embarrassment. "Sitwell dared me."
"Ah," she said sarcastically. No news to her; the video had spread through HQ like wildfire.
"You seriously thought you could pull it off?"
Clint rolled his eyes. "Obviously."
"Have you ever even ridden a horse before?" she asked, her voice laced with a mix of humor and frustration. Mostly the latter.
"I've tamed wilder beasts," came his confident reply.
Natasha gave him an incredulous look. "If you weren't drugged to the gills right now, I'd take major offense at that statement." She picked up the patient file from where it was clipped to his bed and glanced over his medical chart. "Well, this wild beast did quite a number on you. Broke some ribs, sprained your ankle, and gave you a hell of a concussion. Congratulations."
"How did it look?"
"What?"
"My ride. Did I make the 8 seconds?"
At this, Natasha sighed and tenderly took Clint's bruised hand in hers, patting it gently.
"That bronc threw you off faster than a jackrabbit on a hot tin roof, Clint," she said affectionately. "But you know what? You looked pretty damn good getting your ass kicked. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a natural."
Clint smiled and closed his eyes. "Thanks, Nat. You always know how to make me feel better."
Or, A Story About How Clint Barton Takes The Worst Dares.
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