i'm breaking through to you

[barton_me]

It had been a couple of weeks since his birthday. God he was old.

Well, not really, he supposed; he was in peak physical condition. Being scrawny as a kid did that to you; after he hit puberty, all he wanted was to be big and strong. He got over it eventually, but he kept himself in the peak of health for the sake of his job and his own survival. But emotionally, he felt worn down, and it wasn't pleasant.

Natasha, for a woman who disliked something so acceptable as Christmas, had deemed his birthday worthy of celebration. That was one of the cute things about her, normally hidden underneath the very thick layer that was prowling seductress and living weapon, and he was grateful to have her around. He didn't see what was so important about a birthday and he had more or less grown out of it after he'd turned twenty-one and could legally drink. Even though it had been strange for him, he'd celebrated with her. It was the least he could do.

Forty-two years old. Good lord. He should be older, technically, since Natasha was in the future; did his age, right then in the hotel, even really matter? Things were getting mixed up, so he did his best to ignore it and just continue on as if nothing weird was happening. He'd worked out in the gym for a good hour before showering it off and then wandering outside. There was some sort of carnival going on, which he wasn't hugely interested in; but parts of the lawn were nice and chilly, and good to cool down in. Also good to cool down the piping hot pizza he'd ordered. He didn't work out to lose weight, so the idea of not eating terrible food only occurred to him when he considered heart health (and, to be frank, he never survived longer than a week on vegetables).

He sat on the edge of a part of the lawn that had a cool, chilly breeze on one side and a sultry heat on the other - it was pretty cool how strange the weather was here - and relaxed, enjoying the fact he got to lounge around beside an entire pizza and not feel like he ought to be doing something else. It was weird being jobless, but not unpleasant. It was also kind of nice to not have the pressure of the fate of the world hovering over his head; he just had to worry whether or not Natasha was glum, and as far as he knew she was in high spirits these days.

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[barton_me]

Good, it wasn't one of those strange cases of mistaken identity that he'd heard was common around this place. "I used to," he said, when she asked about SHIELD. Not shockingly, telling just anyone who knew what SHIELD was that it had been torn down by some friends of his was not high on his list of priorities.

"Right now I'm just hanging out here," he said, with a vague wave at the hotel, and beyond. "It's less stressful. I was working in New Mexico, though, when Thor was there. It was quite the show." He hadn't been present in the town when the Destroyer had laid waste to it - he had still been at the base, monitoring the hammer. Of course, it randomly ripping up out of the ground had made his position there rather superfluous.

"Hey, trust me, when it comes to SHIELD you really don't want to be noticed for doing much else," he said, good-naturedly. He threw his lot in with them, sure, but he knew what the organization was. "You still tagging around after Foster, then?"

[sixsciencecredits]

Darcy ate as he explained that he used to work for SHIELD, but made no further explanation as to why he had left. She didn’t know him well enough to press further, though she supposed she was curious in the way minds like hers were always curious. Darcy usually noticed small details, and therefore she liked to collect them in any story. She doubted an exit from SHIELD and all it stood for was ever “small” by any definition and she supposed that was what niggled at her curiosity. It would be an interesting story, no doubt. But, she wouldn’t ask until at least she’d eaten another slice.

“That was one hell of a show,” she said, sighing. “You know at first I was optimistic, like big, golden hunky dudes were just going to fall out of the sky all the time from then on because, you know, I’m a glass half-full kinda girl. But then his weird family started fucking with things, and a whole town almost got demolished and it was a real shitshow.” She took another bite, chewed, and then said, “Nice guy, though. Thor, I mean. Jane seems to like him well enough, and he’s apparently moved on past his whole abandonment thing, so that’s cool.”

She lightly bounced one foot as her bites took her nearer and nearer to the crust of the pizza, at which point she’d be required to turn the slice sideways to get the proper ratio of bread, cheese, and sauce. As she did so she continued to look at her new acquaintance, and only then did the light click. “Hey, you were in New York, weren’t you? I saw you on some of the news footage.”

[barton_me]

"Yeah, well. I mean personally Thor isn't my type but I can definitely see the appeal. His great sense of humour, clearly, has the ladies flocking to him in droves." He offered her a bit of a teasing grin, then shook his head. Clint himself was not a man that stood out, and he was perfectly fine with that. Even before he'd become a spy he had been more comfortable with blending in.

What went on with Thor and Jane definitely wasn't his business (well, it technically was in the SHIELD sense, but not in the personal sense, and at the moment he was certainly not a model employee) but he was sure Darcy was hip deep in it. "How long do you have to work for her until you get your credits, anyway?" he asked. "Or is she finally going to start paying you at some point for your invaluable services?"

He reached over and picked up a slice for himself, working around the gooey cheese conundrum that was a part of all good pizzas. "Yeah, I was in New York," he said, before taking a bite. He had a much better time discussing New York than, say, the stuff that happened before it.

[sixsciencecredits]

“Now see, he’s not my type either,” Darcy said, grinning. “Not now, anyway. Can’t cross the streams on that one, you know what I mean? There’s men, and then there’s men your friends have dated, and the latter category is simply off limits.” She pulled one finger away from her pizza long enough to point it at him. “Listen, personality and a sense of humor can take a guy far,” Darcy said. “Though admittedly I didn’t hear much of what Thor was saying at first over his biceps. You’re right.”

At his question as to when Jane was going to start paying her, Darcy lifted her free hand in a ‘hallelujah’ motion and chewed faster on the bite of pizza she’d taken just before he spoke, swallowing thickly before she replied. “Right?! Oh my God,” she said with a shake of her head. “I mean, don’t get me wrong – I love Jane and the travel and adventures and all that shit are sweet, but I also love having some money in the ass pocket of my jeans, if you know what I mean.” She sighed and shook her head slightly. “I mean, I’m cool now here at the hotel. I’m having a blast. But if I ever get sent back into the real world? Ho-lee shit, my student loans are going to eat me alive.”

That he was in New York meant that she’d been right in her assessment, and her smile reappeared, as she did like that she’d gotten that one right. “I’ve seen other people from New York here, too,” she said. “Though I guess you probably already know about them. Are you guys all pen pals and stuff, or do you generally wait for the shit to hit the fan before you start hanging out again?”

[barton_me]

"He's a nice guy," Clint asserted, though that opinion definitely had more to do with his recent experiences with the god than it had to do with what occurred in New York. "I'm sure you've found that out on your own, though. Dr Foster certainly found herself a keeper. I mean... if that sort of thing works in this day and age. I don't know how Asgard works but I wouldn't be surprised if it's super Jane-Austen-y."

At the fact that Darcy was still unpaid help, he had to laugh and shake his head. "You could probably get work here, if you want," he said. "And they'd pay you money. I mean - after New York, I kind of wanted to take a break, so I'm not doing much. And I've actually got a sick amount of money in the bank account which only ever gets spent on pizza and beer, so. But if you wanted to work I'm sure you could. Hanging out here is fun enough.

He shook his head again. "I don't really talk to the others from New York, except for the cute little redhead, not sure if you ever saw her. It does make it easier, though, to be here. I don't have a lot of friends, normally."