oh lemme discuss this. It seems like a lot of fics talk about all the mental stress he goes through but Kevin Feige said he didn't really have much issue since he is such a trained agent. I just find this interesting. Although I suppose it would be difficult writing a story about it unless everyone is trying to make him feel better and he is like "am I supposed to feel bad?" And then he might just seem like a sociopath lol

I like the story idea, but I use it as just that. My headcanon is based on behind-the-scenes chatter, that he put it aside, dealt with it, and stayed an active agent. I think it affected him yeah, but in much the same way all the stuff in his life and work did/do, kind of like a torture experience. He's in a work where it wasn't something he was "trained for" but it is something he can find a parallel he was.

That said, I'd love to tackle this fic, but give me a couple days to post. ( :shushes all the promptathon fics waiting to be finished: )

This would be amazing!!

Ah Feige, always spoiling our fun. XD

/unqualified comment from the third row

Oh man I love this and I'd LOVE to tackle it if I can get my head around it. For myself, I tend to write a lot more angst, which is why I personally like exploring the idea of Clint's psyche post Avengers. Because I do think that there was definitely something lingering there, and it's liberating to explore those emotions with Natasha. But, I also love the idea that Clint is, you know, actually mostly fine - with some emotional damage, but not as much as people think - and I think it would be an interesting challenge for a fic.

(not entirely the same thing, but! irnan just did a really long and awesome post Cap2 team!fic that included Clint, and it was basically competent!Clint after all these big events of Avengers/Cap2 and I really enjoyed seeing Clint written like that.)

I love seeing competent Clint! I actually feel bad in fics when people refer to him as "idiot" or whatever, b/c he just seems so smart and capable to me? But then I also think MCU Clint isn't exactly comic-book Clint. But we will see.

Yeah, I've come to realize that there's a fine line between writing Clint as the lovable normal human disaster and also someone who is competent and adjusted. I think a lot of fandom (or at least, from what I see on Tumblr) has fallen into the Fraction-verse of human disaster Clint and while I really do love that to an extent (and have it as part of my own headcanon), it does get taken to an extreme level sometimes. I also think that with so little of MCU!Clint to go off of, it makes it easier to impart comic canon like that without thinking about it.

This. What I take from the Fraction!Clint is social awkwardness, and Clint caring about "the little people". Maybe deaf!Clint (tbd).(Also, let's be honest, that "again with the abs?" thing.) But as for the rest, and as much as I love the series, I find even Fraction has carried the human car crash theme a bit far at times, into sad sack territory -- and that's where it stops.

I do have a lot of room in my head canon for the cool professional competence that we did get to see in the movie. ETA: Something like the Noto Clint -- I'll be interested to see where he takes Hawkeye, if we see more of him.



Edited 2014-09-13 07:41 pm (UTC)

What I took from The Avengers is he is a total badass and gets stuff done. A dynamo. Of course he was posessed but still seemed way more competent than the other Avengers.

And this is totally off-topic but I have noticed a few (or maybe its just one?) meme going around with Renner's description of Clint in Age of Ultron and it drives me crazy b/c Renner said Clint was "irreverent" and on the meme he is quoted as saying Clint is "reverent". :P

Yeah. I've seen that "reverent" thing and corrected it in a reblog, but it persists ... Drives me nuts, especially as it is so patently wrong.

This.

I like Fraction but only to a point, and it's really not my Clint.

Yes to everything you said. It's sometimes hard to juggle all these different Clints, because they're really different. And occasionally, yeah, you kinda wonder how Fraction!Clint would even survive on the Avengers. I just picked up my first issue of Black Widow, and that's a really interesting other Clint - and also gorgeously drawn, my lord.

Maybe not quite what you had in mind, but the best I could come up with on short notice ...



" Are you okay?"

"Whaddya mean, am I okay."

Natasha carefully brushes a handful of rubble off Clint's torn and filthy tac vest. He almost recoils at her touch.

"And you can cut the mother hen routine, too. It's a bit scary, actually."

Her hand pauses over his chest.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm more comfortable when you try to kill me."

She scans his face, trying to find a lie, but all she sees is Clint.

“Still wallowing? Want someone to hit you to make you feel better?”

He frowns, and it’s clear that he’s actually thinking about the answer. Coming from Mr. In-the-Moment, that’s almost evolutionary; in what direction remains to be seen.

"Nah. Remember that time in Medellin?"

How could she not? She'd found him two hours after he'd been taken by the cartel, and the goons hadn't wasted a minute. Seeing what had been done to him, not knowing whether there was still life under all that blood, had been the first time she'd realized that ...

"Yes. I wish I didn't."

"Well, this ... Loki ... this wasn’t like that. No cigarette burns and bike chains, for starters. No time to think about what'd be coming next, whether I’d break, whether I’d see you again, hoping I wouldn’t because that might mean they had you, too. Took me months to get that shit out of my head.“

He shakes his head as if to clear out the memory before it gets the chance to take root.

“And this time?”

Maybe she shouldn’t press, but if there’s another thing she remembers from Medellin, it’s this: That he didn’t stop being silent and withdrawn one moment, exploding the next … not Clint … until he’d started talking.

“This time ... There weren’t any thoughts. None that were mine, anyway. Everything was his. My brain was a fucking blank, with just bits of me trying to fight a way out, like a hamster trying to run out from under a wet blanket."

For all his protest at being coddled, he doesn’t seem to mind being helped out of his tac vest. His back is one large bruise, still pale but bound to be a spectacular purple tomorrow. He could sure use a shower (as can she) but seeing him like this, dirt, scars and all, she can’t help but bury her face in the crook of his neck and breathing him in. Clint responds by pulling her close and putting his chin on top of her head, no doubt to stare off into the distance somewhere.

“You were right when you said that wasn’t me who did all that shit. That was someone else and he’s fading. Not my memories. Yes, I feel like crap about the things he made me do. But the thoughts themselves? They don’t burn.”

He repays the favour and starts pulling down the zippers of her suit, peeling it off her shoulders with sure, strong fingers. (No one who thinks leather cat suits are cool has ever tried to take one off when it’s damp with sweat and blood, and every muscle in your body screams for a hot jacuzzi.)

“Holy shit, Tash. That’s one hell of bruise on your hip. Where’d you get that?”

She scrunches her lips a little as she tries to remember – the fight with him on that catwalk? jump off that Chitauri sled? The memory comes back in a roar of green, and she shudders involuntarily. Clint must have felt something, and circles her waist with his arms, pulling her closer again. The feeling of skin on skin is oddly calming, and Natasha puts her cheek on his chest, feeling for the beat of his heart.

“The Hulk,” she whispers. “On the carrier. Before Banner managed to … sort of control him.” Saying the names out loud almost is a bit like shining a light into a dark corner – maybe there was a ghost there, but now there’s nothing. And so she adds, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. I even forgot the first rule of running, don’t look back.”

She steps back out of his embrace as he starts to chuckle.

“It’s really been a shit few days, hasn’t it?”

It has, it absolutely has. She grins back at him.

“Yeah. But, like Cap said, we won.”

“That we did.”

Clint seems to be becoming aware of something else, something … He lifts his shooting arm, inhales, and grimaces.

“Race you to the shower.”


Edited 2014-09-13 08:33 pm (UTC)

Awwwwww!!!!! This was lovely and painful and perfect. And I love the end lol.

Thank you! :-)

Awwwww!

Love this!

Ah, this is fabulous. Love, love, love it!

:) Thanks!

Such a little gem, so many good bits in this, but these are my favorites:

She scans his face, trying to find a lie, but all she sees is Clint. -- And well, if there's someone who'd know the difference... :D

He could sure use a shower (as can she) but seeing him like this, dirt, scars and all, she can’t help but bury her face in the crook of his neck and breathing him in. -- OMG SWOON

Thank you! *hugs*