LET ME TRY THIS AGAIN! I had to take down the original posting due to a critical error(thank you to wdanser on tumblr for pointing it out!) sorry it took so long to get back up.


Summary: During house arrest, Clint is visited by a familiar face.


"Hon, how much longer are you going to be?" Laura called from outside of the front porch.

Clint peeked his head over the edge of the roof, sweat dripping off of his nose.

"One more section."

"Good, dinner is almost ready," she walked up the steps, then hollered, "and take a shower before you come to the table!"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off and went back to hammering in the new shingles, only three more rows until he reached the top.

Just as he was about to set the next nail, a loud crackle electrified the air. Out of nowhere, a man in a white and red jumpsuit nearly landed on top of him.

Clint swung the hammer at the stranger but they ducked out of the way. He went for a tackle until the intruder unsheathed his helmet (more like it completely disappeared) and the face staring back at him was his own.

The hammer slipped from his grip, both hands clenching into fists.

"Fuck you, Loki."

"I am not Loki, I swear," the slightly older Barton held his hands up and begged, "just listen, there's no time."

"If you think..."

"Nat's going to die."

Clint's eyes narrowed.

"Loki would know to use her against me."

"I know, but I also know the one thing you were able to keep from him and everyone else."

It wasn't possible. Clint looked around, hoping Laura and the kids wouldn't come out.

"A particular hourglass tattoo," the elder Hawkeye continued, tapping his left foot on the side of the chimney, "on the inside of your middle toe."

Clint swayed. No one knew about that, not Laura, not Natasha.

"Believe me now?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Good. We have less than a minute. In the future, you and Nat will be sent on a mission to another planet. When you get there, make sure she doesn't jump."

"Nat and I aren't even talking." Hawkeye shot him a look and Clint shut up.

"You'll be assigned to retrieve some sort of fucking magical stone. When you get there, Do Not Let Her Jump. Shoot her in the leg, pin her with an arrow. Do whatever the fuck you have to do. Understand?"

Clint nodded even though he didn't.

"I've tried everything." His older self became desperate. "This is our last hope."

What did he mean? Clint dreaded who else may be dead.

"Can you tell me if Laura and the kids are ok?"

"They're all fine."

Those words should have brought him comfort, but the haunted misery reflected in his own eyes told Clint what his life would be without Nat.

"I won't fail her."

"You won't like it if you do."

And he was gone.

Clint jumped off the roof and ran to the barn, scrambling under the old tractor for his stash phone. A future mission meant he and Natasha would be together again, a hope he'd lost after the Accords.

He sent a code and waited.

And waited.

Hours went by.

At 3 AM his phone bleeped. Clint quietly got out of bed and took it down to the kitchen.

He'd sent a target symbol to let her know he was okay. She sent a spider to tell him the same.

He responded back with a spiderweb made of arrows, her special design representing their lives forever entwined, created in a small air vent in Budapest.

A few minutes passed. He told himself it would be okay if she didn't reply, her being alive was enough. If she didn't feel the same anymore, it was his fault.

The phone chirped. Clint held his breath.

A lump welled in his throat when he opened the message. Her response was the most beautiful thing he'd seen since her departure...his red and purple infinity sign.

the end


an: apologies, I tried to insert an infinity image but tech hates me