Clint—MAY CONTAIN AVENGERS ENDGAME SPOILERS

[nola_beast]

Because Zach's salary was tony, his apartment was tiny. In turn, so was his bedroom, and much of it was taken up by the bed itself, which was a modest full that didn't leave a ton of extra space.

So he definitely, definitely noticed when someone climbed in with him in the middle of the night.

"Clint?" he sleep-mumbled, because if it wasn't Clint, he was going to be extremely alarmed.

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[nola_clint]

Clint mumbled something low, more a sound that fully-formed words--and burrowed in closer. He wrapped an arm around Zach's waist and pressed his face against his shoulder, knees drawing up.

He felt...hurt. Bruised. Broken a little, though he couldn't even say why. It was just a fucking movie. But the tears had come right from the first few minutes and hadn't stopped since, and he was tired of feeling like he'd been hollowed out by a rusty ice cream scoop.

So, Zach. Zach always made even the worst things feel bearable.

[nola_beast]

The tone alarmed Zach, and while he was used to occasional drunk cuddling from Clint, the body language was completely wrong for that. He came fully awake quickly, reaching around to clasp Clint's shoulder. "Hey, hey? What's wrong?"

[nola_clint]

Clint just shook his head and burrowed in closer, shoulders giving a little jerk. He'd mastered the art of the silent cry when he was a kid; only the faintest tremor and the spreading wet patch on Zach's shirt gave him away.

[nola_beast]

A sudden, terrible thought hit Zach. "Did you get a call from home?" He meant his own home, his family, the one that had absorbed Clint as one of his own. Had he left his phone off, missed a crucial call?

[nola_clint]

Clint shook his head, feeling like such a shit suddenly for scaring Zach. Jesus, what was wrong with him? "No," he said, voice muffled. "Everything's fine."

Everything was not fine. He just couldn't put his finger on why.

[nola_beast]

Zach relaxed just the smallest bit. "Nothing's fine," he told Clint, because clearly something was very wrong. "How can I help?"

[nola_clint]

God, Zach was the best. "Just keep doing that."

[nola_beast]

"I'm not doing anything." He did turn onto his side, though, so they could look each other in the face, if Clint wanted to. The shoulder was fine too, of course.

[nola_clint]

"Yes you are. You're being very Zach." He wound his fingers in Zach's shirt and held on tight. After a long silence, he sighed. "This is so stupid."

[nola_beast]

"I'm certain it's not stupid," Zach told him, using his sleeve to wipe at Clint's cheeks.

[nola_clint]

"It's a fucking movie. It's stupid, I promise."

[nola_beast]

Zach went very still. "Avengers?"

[nola_clint]

He let out a long, huffing breath. "What a stupid movie."

[nola_beast]

"You didn't mention you were going to see it." Zach would have gone with him! Or tried to talk him out of seeing it, at the very least.

[nola_clint]

"I wasn't," he said, looking up finally. His eyes were glassy with tears, and he scrubbed at his cheek in annoyance. "But someone asked me to be their +1, so I figured, why not? And--" He shook his head, shoulders rounding forward protectively. "And I can't figure out why I care so fucking much."

[nola_beast]

"I've heard it's very emotional," Zach said carefully, rubbing Clint's back. "Intentionally so."

[nola_clint]

"I never even saw stupid part one," he grumbled, wriggling closer.

[nola_beast]

"But you're a very empathetic person," Zach pointed out, which was true. "It's natural you'd feel for the characters."

[nola_clint]

"Whatever," he grumbled, growing more irate at that thought.

[nola_beast]

"Should we distract you?" He took a quick mental inventory of his table-top games (too many), as well as video games (fewer).

[nola_clint]

Clint was silent for a long, long minute. Then he nodded once. "Yeah," he said, deciding recklessly before leaning in to catch Zach's mouth in a kiss.

[nola_beast]

Zach went still with surprise, not pulling back, but not kissing back either. "Clint?"

[nola_clint]

He slid his fingers up to frame Zach's face, thumbs brushing his cheeks, lips softly moving--small, gentle, warm kisses melting together one after the other.

He'd always imagined this was how Zach would want to be kissed. (And he'd imagined it a lot more than he ever would admit, even to himself.)

[nola_beast]

The unmistakable curl of arousal low in his belly was what startled Zach out of his surprise. He pulled away enough to break the kiss, though his arms stayed around Clint. "Because of the movie?" What had happened in this film?

[nola_clint]

Clint wet his bottom lip, tasting Zach. "No. Yeah. I don't know. You feel good."