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.

Comments

[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."

[nola_beast]

Zach felt a mix of flattered arousal and offense and confusion. "After more than ten years of friendship, that's why you suddenly decide to kiss me?"

[nola_clint]

"Yes," he said. Then he pulled back, hunching a little into himself. "No."

[nola_beast]

Zach immediately curled around him. "It's okay, Clint. You're emotional." That could be the only explanation, right?

[nola_clint]

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just--you feel good, you always feel good, and I wanted to feel good too."

[nola_beast]

"Are you mixing up your senses of 'good?'" Zach asked, unsure.

[nola_clint]

"You feel both kinds of good," he amended. "But it's not like it's a secret you're ridiculously hot so that part's a given."

[nola_beast]

"What?" It had been a secret to Zach!

[nola_clint]

Clint just gave him a look.

This felt a hell of a lot better than before. It was keeping his thoughts engaged on Zach and away from everything else.

[nola_beast]

"I look normal!" Zach protested. "You've always been the hot one."

[nola_clint]

That was practically an invitation, right? Clint shifted his weight to one knee and straddled Zach's hips, settling over him. It wasn't even an unusual pose for them--Clint was always clamboring on Zach or perching on him. But it sure felt different now. "You think I'm hot?" he asked, voice dropping low as he leaned in, hands braced on either side of Zach's head.

[nola_beast]

"It's common knowledge," Zach said, trying to sound unaffected. He was very much affected, though, and since he'd never really considered this for them before this very encounter, it was overwhelming.

[nola_clint]

"But somehow you don't realize you're hot?" He shifted over Zach, eyes studying his face. The air was supercharged between them--hot itself, and incredibly dangerous.

[nola_beast]

He couldn't do this. He wanted to do this.

Clint didn't know he was Hawkeye. Would knowing Zach was jocular old Beast, everyone's favorite blue short-time Avenger, change Clint course here?

Zach couldn't do this.

So he tried to slam his hand on the kill switch. "Maybe it's the resemblance to Esther."