ax_main | Clint, Wanda, and Pietro

Clint and Wanda make up, but her brother happens to butt in.

Wearing a t-shirt with a logo of Life Defies Probability and a pair of jean shorts that barely peeked out from beneath the hem, Wanda sat on a Central Park bench near one of the bus stops, reading through posts on her newsfeed. Senator Kelly was on the rampage about them, again, and she scowled at the screen before forwarding the link to Lance and Pietro. The former would scowl too, but with any luck Pietro'd come up with some way to counter it.

In any case, thinking about that was a lot easier than wondering whether or not Clint would change his mind about showing up.

Clint hadn't really liked the idea of Central Park. For all that it was very park, it was also very central, and that was the part that didn't sit quite well with him. Still, Wanda wanted to see him again, and if he'd said no, she probably would have taken it the wrong way. So he'd agreed, and had managed the agonizingly long and paranoid bus ride into the city, cursing Pam the entire way for her bullshit about keeping her own powers to herself. Every other mile or so had him looking over his shoulder, which meant for a very long trip, and even when he disembarked at the Wanda's bench, the sight of her looking really cute like that couldn't quite wipe the anxious frown off of his face.

Aaaand maybe this hadn't been a great idea. Wanda got to her feet, eyeing Clint with concern. "Everything ok?" she asked.

"Yeah," Clint breathed, taking a look around them. "Just wish your friend Pam hadn't laid claim to all teleporting rights, is all. The bus rides are killing me."

"I really need to introduce you to Billy," Wanda said, dodging the subject of Pam for the moment. She quirked a half smile and reached up to squeeze his arm. "I mean, you have to listen to him mutter what he's wishing for over and over, but it beats the hell out of the bus."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to find this kid," Clint agreed as he stepped in closer, brushing her arm with the backs of his fingers.

"Mmmm, maybe I can call him when we're done, see if he can give you a ride back." She stroked her fingers slowly over the spot she'd squeezed, soothing it, and leaned in and brushed her lips over his. "He's here in the city for the summer anyway, I doubt he's doing much."

"City that boring? That why I'm here?" Clint quirked a smile at her, blue eyes twinkling briefly at the tease.

Wanda grinned. "Well, gotta admit, you would make a pretty good cure for boredom." She shook her head, though, and smiled crookedy. "But mostly, I know things were kinda shit last time I saw you. I didn't want it to end there. Unless that's what you want?"

"I don't want it to end," he agreed. "I'm just a little uneasy about the Brotherhood in general, I gotta admit."

"Well, it's not like I've been making a huge effort to recruit you," Wanda pointed out. "Pretty sure I haven't mentioned it once."

"And normally, I wouldn't worry about it if it didn't have anything to do with me, but lately, it has." Clint replied quietly. "I just want to make sure that the people I care about are safe. I'm not trying to judge what you're doing. I'm not really, you know, judgey."

"If the people you care about are mutants, I can guarantee we're not targetting them," Wanda replied levelly. "We're not quite the terrorists people at the school make us out to be. If this is a dig about Magik being stupid, all I can say is we talked to her, and she's sorry. Cal wasn't in any actual danger. She's got the tower site locked down, and she was there just seconds after he was. It's not like she was going to leave him there, she was just pissed because she thought he was making fun of her."

"Hey, it wasn't a dig," Clint sighed. "You and me, we're both trying to protect our own people. I'm just a little on edge after some bad run-in's."

"And I get that," Wanda conceded. "I'm not sure what you want me to do, though."

"I didn't say I wanted you to do anything," he pointed out. "I was just, you know, explaining."

Wanda studied his face for a moment, then relaxed her shoulders and offered a faint smile. "Okay. Sorry, I get defensive, but...they're my teammates. To the Brotherhood, that means...well, pretty much everything. We're all we've got, y'know?"

"Yeah," he quirked a knowing smile at her. The Brotherhood had nothing on the kids who'd survived the Right. "I know.

"Yeah." Wanda smiled back, then jerked her head towards the north side of the park. "So, you wanta go see a castle? I figured it goes with the whole Robin Hood archery thing. Or it should, anyway."

Clint gave an amused shake of his head, but fell into step beside her. "Robin Hood, huh?"

"Hey, I could see it. You have the archery thing covered, and you seem like you'd be cool with robbing the rich to give to the poor. And," she smirked, "you look like you could pull off the tights."

"I could totally pull off the tights," Clint confirmed. "You should have seen the costume they had me in for the stunt show. Best part about it was that it was purple. Less fun was the part where I didn't really have a shirt, and if something went wrong with the bow, I could get some really ugly marks in a really sensitive spot."

"Ouch." Wanda winced in sympathy, then glanced at him sidelong and grinned. "I wish I'd seen it, though. Any promo pics online you could print out?" Because snooping, while tempting, was off the table. She'd never tried to dig up info on any of her teammates (no matter how tempted she'd been), she wasn't about to start with Clint.

Clint shrugged. "I've never looked. I mean, I guess it's possible there's something still hanging around."

"You should check sometime." Wanda brushed her fingers against his in invitation. "I'm definitely sensing a trend with the purple, though." Not that she could talk, she had to admit. Especially considering better than half her wardrobe was red, including the t-shirt she was wearing.

Wrapping her fingers up in his, he flashed a grin in her direction. "Picked up on that, did you?" He sighed at the trees ahead of them. "My mom. It was her favorite color. Except my brother used to say she only liked purple because it matched her bruises. I hated it when he said shit like that."

"Seems more likely she'd have gone the other direction with it if it was related. Wanda squeezed his hand. "Did he say shit like that a lot?"

"Yeah, but, that's Barney. He'd bullshit around, you know, but I think it was really just his way of showing concern. Without the feelings involved. Feelings were a weakness, if you asked him. I think maybe that's why he left me in that hospital. Maybe he thought I'd be better off," he shrugged slightly.

"What happened? That landed you in the hospital, I mean?" Wanda grimaced. "Also, if I ask anything that's none of my business, just let me know?"

Clint was quiet for a moment. He hadn't really meant to let all of that drop, but it wasn't like he needed to keep secrets from Wanda. She was probably the one person who should know about his past. He sucked a breath, then glanced over at her. "I found out that my foster parents weren't nice people. They were into some really bad stuff, and when I tried to go to the cops, they tried to make sure I wouldn't make it there. My healing was what saved my life. But they dumped me in the hospital and took off with my brother before I could get my bearings."

"Fuck." Okay, yeah, that wasn't exactly sympathetic, but it was the first thing that came to mind, and if nothing else, it was expressive. Wanda brushed her thumb over the back of Clint's hand. "Have you heard anything from any of them since?"

"I was picked up by the Right in the hospital," Clint told her with a slight shake of his head. "I haven't heard anything in two years. Probably for the best. Maybe they think I'm dead."

"Maybe. Two years..." Wanda looked up at him. "Have you tried to find out where Barney is? Or do you not want to know?"

"What would I tell him, even if I did find him?" he asked, looking back at the path ahead of them.

"I don't know. What would you want to tell him?" Wanda countered.

"That was rhetorical," he smirked. "I don't have anything to say to him."

Wanda smiled, but shook her head. "That seems so weird. I mean, I get it?" she disclaimed before he could take it the wrong way. "But I can't imagine not having anything to say to Pietro." She grinned. "Sometimes the something is along the lines of Fuck off, but there's always something."

"Look," Clint sighed. "Barney left me to die. "He didn't even try to help me when Jacques was coming after me. Hell, he might have been the one to tell him I was going to the cops. I don't know why he left me in that hospital two years ago, but whatever the reason, I'm just not sure we're on the same page anymore."

"Yeeaah, that puts a different spin on things." Wanda winced and shook her head. "That sucks. I'm sorry."

He quirked a small smile. "Maybe we could talk about you instead."

"I'm not all that interesting," Wanda disclaimed, and returned his smile with one that was no larger.

"Bullshit," Clint smiled at her. "I may not have known who your father was when we met, but you can bet I've looked him up by now."

"Really not fair," Wanda complained with absolutely no conviction whatsoever. "If you're going to look my family up online, I'm going looking for shirtless purple costumed pictures."

He snorted softly. "You find them, you let me know."

"That's fair." Wanda nodded approval, then smiled and shrugged. "Anyway, what'd you want to know about me?"

"There you are!" Pietro appeared in a sudden gust of wind, frowning at his sister... and then at The Blond. "And... you. Who are you?"

As soon as Clint had caught movement - which was pretty much as the guy appeared in front of them - he shoved Wanda behind him, a knife flipping open from his back pocket, his gaze dark and focused. "Who are you?"

Her eyebrows climbing at both the sudden appearance and the push, Wanda cleared her throat and looked from one to the other of them, clearly unimpressed. "He's my brother. Pietro, this is Clint. Who's going to put the knife away now, please?"

Pietro had watched the knife draw in his own slow mo, but hadn't made a move--he was waiting to see what Wanda said, since she obviously had something to say. Had she done anything else, Pietro would've disarmed this dork in no time flat, he was sure. But instead he just put his hands on his hips and stared the guy down. "Wow. Nice to meet you, too, jumpy guy wandering Central Park with my sister and a knife in his pocket."

Actually, Pietro kind of liked that this Clint guy had pulled the knife, in a way. That he was willing to do that rather than let a stranger approach Wanda was.. good.

But also, pulling a knife on him was bad, so it kind of evened out.

Clint visibly relaxed at the word 'brother', remembering that she'd said that he was a speedster. He flipped the knife closed and stepped aside to let Wanda in on things, giving 'Pietro' a nod of apology. "Sorry."

"So, you wanted something?" Wanda asked Pietro, with a look he'd hopefully interpret as "accept the apology and behave".

"I need ideas on how to convince Pyro of..." He looked at Clint with suspicion. "Something. Apology accepted. Are you an Xavier's kid or something? I don't know you." And Wanda wouldn't hang out with a flatscan, not like this, not for no good reason. largely because how would she even know one?

Clint's eyebrows went up at the secrecy around whoever Pyro was. "I guess the definition fits. I'm living there for now. Was a Right kid up until a few months ago. Not that I'm a kid."

Which he wasn't, obviously - though Wanda realized she actually wasn't sure how old he was. "What are you trying to convince Pyro of?" Wanda asked, in an attempt to get Pietro steered back to his original topic.

"We can talk about it later," Pietro said pointedly. He had no intention of letting Xavier's kids, no matter how reluctant or un-kid-like they proclaimed to be, know about his YouTube campaign before it went life, thanks very much. "That sucks, about the Right. One of Wanda's kinda-kids was in one of those places. Guess that explains the jumpiness.

"What are you guys doing? Is this a date or something?"

Clint glanced at Wanda. He wasn't sure what they were doing at the moment. Apologizing? He probably should have done that first. You know, before he'd related his life story to her. Course, she'd wanted to go see a castle, so maybe that counted as a date. Fuck if he knew what a real date was supposed to be like.

Wanda sighed. "Yes, it's a date," she supplied. It was nice of Clint to let her break the news to Pietro, she supposed, but she'd been actively trying to not break the news for the past month. In retrospect, she'd have been better off to just get it overwith. "We're just taking a walk, okay? What's Lance up to?"

Pietro had been frowning even more deeply at the admission, but that made him suddenly go deadpan. "I see what you did there."

"Mentioned your boyfriend?" Wanda countered. She arched an eyebrow in challenge.

"Obviously." Pietro made a face, then turned back to Clint with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Clint. We'll have to hang out. Soon."

"Uh?" Clint answered eloquently, blinking back at him.

Pietro narrowly avoided facepalming. Instead he looked at his sister as if to say Really? This guy?

Wanda reached for Clint's hand and squeezed it. Yes. This guy. Behave. "Soon. But not now, because, y'know, on a date. Goodbye, Pietro."

"It was good to, uh, meet you," Clint told him, squeezing Wanda's hand in return. Meanwhile, he was trying to subtly stuff the knife back into his pocket with the other hand. Nothing to see here. I'm not a weapon-wielding madman or anything. Just dating your sister.

Pietro couldn't resist making the 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture once, just slow enough to be seen, before he said, "Later, nerds," and disappeared in another gust of wind.

Wanda sighed. Again. It was turning into a sighing-sort-of-afternoon. "Well, that could have gone worse," she observed. Not much worse? But there hadn't been any shouting. Or bloodshed.

"Sure? I guess. Does he always stalk you through the city?" Clint asked.

"No, he probably did just think of something he forgot to ask me," Wanda admitted, smiling a little. "It comes of having a twin who's a speedster."

"Kind of terrifying if you ask me," Clint mumbled. He saw how quickly Pietro appeared. He didn't want to think about what he could have done to him if he'd wanted to.

"I don't scare you, but Pietro does?" Wanda asked, bemused by his reaction. "It's usually the other way around."

"Well I guess I just don't think about what you can do," Clint admitted. "Pietro's dangerous - that's clear. He could do whatever he wants before you even know it's coming. That's part of why they were training snipers at the Right - to take people like him out before they knew to get out of the way."

Wanda grimaced. "Yeah. They did that, the last time we fought the FoH." She shook her head. "All the powers in the world can't seem to stop a bullet."

"Not if you don't see it coming," he agreed.

"Sometimes even if you do." Wanda shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. "Sorry. I watched both my brother and my father get shot in the past year. Both times, it happened too fast to do anything."

"Sorry," Clint grimaced. "I didn't know."

"Nothing to be sorry for." Wanda offered a faint smile meant to be reassuring and stroked her fingers over the back of his hand. "Not unless you signed up with the FoH, anyway."

"Not that I know of," he smirked slightly.

"Well then, I guess we're okay." Wanda shifted closer and leaned her head in against his shoulder, then grinned a little. "So long as you don't push me behind you again. Because seriously." Granted, it'd been nice of him to try to protect her. But she really didn't need protecting.

"Sorry," he grimaced, squeezing her hand. "I'll be more gentle next time."

"Ugggh." Wanda raised her free hand and facepalmed. "You and Pietro are going to get along wonderfully, aren't you?" And then they'd both be in the same place for her to hex them into oblivion. It was probably some kind of win/win.

He just glanced sideways at her, not sure what that was supposed to mean, or what he said wrong, but he just smiled instead. "That going to be a problem?"

"Only if you insist on casting me as the damsel in distress, Robin Hood." Wanda dropped her hand to reveal and amused but somewhat frustrated expression.

Oh, so that's what she meant. Clint wanted to kick himself. Of course she could take care of herself. Then again, he had to wonder if Pietro coddled her if she was associating him with her brother. "You know, Maid Marian could hold her own," he pointed out.

"I mostly remember Cary Elwes in tights," Wanda admitted.

Clint froze in his tracks and looked at her, aghast. "Hold up. You're comparing me to Men in Tights?"

"No, I'm comparing you to Robin Hood. With the archery contest and the rob from the rich thing," Wanda hedged. "It's just I only remember the rest of the characters from Men in Tights. And Star Trek. And then not a whole lot."

"You need to see more movies," Clint informed her with a shake of his head, but he kept moving, a small, amused smile on his lips.

"So, we can get one from Redbox later if you want." Wanda grinned and shrugged. Pietro knew, now, which meant everyone else would stop pretending they didn't. She was surprised it'd lasted as long as it had, because there was no way Eileen had kept it to herself. "We might end up watching it with half the team if we want to use the actual TV, but if we don't, I've got a laptop." She peered up at him. "So Marian was kick-ass?"

"Always," he agreed solemnly. At least, in every movie he'd ever seen. (And he and Barney had snuck into a lot of them.) "More than any other history chick I've seen, anyway."

"What'd she do?" Now she was legitimately curious. She'd always figured Marian was just in the story to get rescued. It seemed like that was normally how it worked.

Clint shrugged. "It depends on how they're telling the story, you know? Sometimes she kicks the sheriff's ass. Sometimes she fights for the townspeople. Sometimes she just trips the bad guys up so Robin can get away."

Wanda considered that and nodded. By medieval standards, that was pretty kick ass. "Cool." A smile spread and she gestured ahead of them. "So, there's a castle in there, right?" she asked, gesturing towards the one ahead of them.

As Clint looked up, his eyebrows raised. "Who built it?"

"Some guy named Calvert Vaux. He co-designed the park." Wanda smiled. "Not as big as it looks from a distance, but still pretty cool. They use it as a visitor's center. Or you can climb up on it and take pictures."

"So it's just fake?" Clint asked curiously, looking over the walls and turret. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen a real castle before, not that he was sure this thing really counted. He'd thought Xavier's was a castle when he arrived, and maybe it was, but it felt different, being inside it. It was all...school-like.

"Pretty much," Wanda admitted. "I mean, it's still huge, it's just not a fully functional castle or anything. But it looks cool, anyway." She grinned, just a little sheepishly. "I thought it was a real castle as a kid. Loved the place. You can see the whole park from the top."

Squeezing her hand, he gaze her a sideways smile. "Let's go."