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Bobbi sat down on the stool, waving to catch the bar tender's attention and calling over the crowd of those growing tispy or already well into their cups. She grinned, and ordered herself a scotch, glancing over to Carol and nodding to the bar tender after. At least the blonde seemed to be relaxed tonight. She wore a simple red tank and jeans, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"So, funny thing, chatted with Rogers for a bit. We hit up that bar across the way from headquarters. Pretty swanky place. They had mutants openly on staff. So kudos to them." She took her drink as soon as it was set before her and sipped at it, "Gossiped a bit. Did you know the man is just as bad a gossip as you 'n me?"
Carol is in an Air Force Academy T-shirt and jeans, looking wryly at Bobbi, "What? Straight and narrow gossipping? About what?" She gives Bobbi a grin, "Oh, please say it's about me, please please please." She has a Coke in front of her, with ice, and nothing else. Carol's own hair is pulled back into a ponytail as well, the two almost looking like sisters, really.
Tuesday evening in New York in a bar, there is a depressing amount of people actually there, which goes to tell you just the state of the city at any point in time. But the ladies of SHIELD aren't the only ones present from the agency. Off along one side of the bar the tables have been moved aside for a game of darts already in progress between one of the regularsJimmyand Clint. Dressed down in his normal slumming it jeans and a tee-shirt, Clint is getting slayed in the game as Jimmy nails home the final couple of darts to send him over the edge to win it.
"Aw, man!" Clint groans and shakes his head, arms folded over his chest while Jimmy snickers and goes to sweep up the couple of bills they'd put on the game.
"I tried to warn you, man. I can't miss," Jimmy brags and starts to tuck the bills away when Clint stops him with a hand out.
"Come on, Jim. Double or nothing. Double or nothing, /and/ I'll get the next round, how about that, pal?" Clint, for all his flaws, hussles well and seems genuine in his offer, casting a wide grin at the man he's suckering. "I'll get that round right now, even, hey!" The blond barks toward the bar and lifts a hand up in the air to get the bartender's attention.
"Oh it was most entirely about you, Tony and Miss Potts. I brought something up, and you know.. It was hilarious. Who would've th—" She broke off at the sight of the familiar outline of the blonde agent not too far from her. She shifted, twisting around in her seat as she propped her chin up with her hand, leaning heavily against the bar.
"Well hello there handsome. What, you can stop to get a drink for that poor man you're hustling, but you can't stop to get me one? I'm hurt. Well and truly hurt." She called, flashing a grin his way.
Carol scowls, "Tony just better hope no villain mind controls me to beat the crap out of him…" Well, that was one way to ruin her mood, as she looks at the bottles behind the bar for a moment, then glances over curiously towards the other agent, then chuckles, the scowl turning into a wry grin as she leans back against the bar, "But I suppose it could be worse."
Clint's brows twitch upward in surprise when Bobbi twists around in her stool and flashes him that smile. His arm drops and rather than yell his order, Clint tips his chin forward and grins back. "Forget it, Jimmy. Good game, man, but I've got my eye on something a little more challenging."
Shaking his head slowly from side to side, Clint takes his time walking up to the two ladies, a casual, boneless sort of lope to his stride, all eyes on Bobbi. "Hurt? You just clued my rube in, Beautiful. Hitting a man in the pocket book, ouch!" Clint winces emphatically, stopping his paces just between Carol and Bobbi's stools, off the bar, chuckling under his breath with merriment.
Bobbi flashed Carol a sympathetic look, "It was our dear, dear Captain Rogers, and hey, I think he's a much better catch than Tony. He's got the muscles and the prettiest blue eyes." She teased, her voice carrying enough to lift in Clint's direction as the man came their way. Her gaze shifted back to him, and she smirked, propping up her chin with a hand for a moment.
"I can hit you somewhere a lot more painful honey, but we're in public and I think that is mostly frowned upon." She shot back, crossing her legs as she tilted her head up in his direction.
Carol chuckles, "Well, I've already moved on, but wait…" She peers at Bobbi, "Cap was talking about me???" She blinks a bit, as well, that's a little bit of a surprise to her. Especially since she has already moved onwards and upwards from Tony. Oh, so far upwards. Then she glances over at Clint, "What, I thought we were all paid pretty well, for government work anyway."
Clint winces in good humor, sucking a breath between his teeth, "Ouch, kitty's still got claws." Hands to himself, Clint slides his hands into his pockets and finally, finally turns his attention toward Carol. "Ma'am," a cordial and surprisingly well-mannered hello, a polite tip of his head, though the wink was a little overkill. "Okay, maybe not /strictly/ the pocket book." He admits with a lop-sided smile and shrug of one broad shoulder. "Boy talk, tonight, ladies? Oh boy, oh boy…" Clint's eyes go wandering toward the bartender, making direct eye contact and gesturing for a second of whatever he was drinking.
A laugh followed as Bobbi leaned back in her stool to glance toward Carol. "Oh, pfft, well it was my fault. I brought up the subject. But he most definitely seemed to sympathize with you, so hey, there you go. I got you sympathy points. I bet you can earn a nice spar with the man out of that at least. Someone that can take a hit, and don't lie to me Carol, I know that's a rare thing for you." She teased, glancing back toward Clint and crossing her arms as she hooked an eyebrow up in his direction.
"Well, I was complaining about the lack of eye candy around the office as of late. So boring and dull when there's not a single attractive man in sight." A note of challenge in her tone.
Carol grins, "Still a bit weird, given that I outrank him and all. But I'll keep that in mind." Because, well, she's still getting used to who she's dating now herself, and isn't quite sure how other people would react. Granted, it's Bobbi, so she doesn't think it could get weird… but still, better safe than sorry. Then she looks at Clint, giving him a wink, "Yeah, pretty boring. Know any?"
Clint slides Bobbi a lidded look, though his blue eyes twinkle with amused mischief as he reaches forward, between the two ladies purposely as he takes his drink from the fellow at the bar. "You have a problem beating up on your subordinates, Colonel?" Somehow, there's a leading tone in his words, though they seem entirely innocent at face value. "You know, some men would pay good money for a beautiful woman to take a swing at them." Burying his nose in his drink for a lengthy moment, Clint looks over the lip between the two agents. Should he return from that unaccosted, the cheeky man tips his head back, looking at the ceiling. "Oh, man. Eye candy? At the office?" He clicks his tongue a couple times, then shrugs a shoulder, his mouth pressed into a thin line of disappointment. "You know what, I can only think of one. There's this guy, sort of a bad boy, great arms, likes arrows? Shoot, what was the name…?"
Bobbi flashed Carol a grin, "Well, I can't spar you full out. I love you, but I love not being wrecked even more." She reached for her scotch, taking a sip as seh cast a glance side long in Clint's direction. She, carefully, swung out with her foot at the back of his calf for the remark he made about Carol punching men without so much as a blink in his direction.
When Clint continued she tilted her head, looking up at the ceiling to in mockery of his own gesture. "Hmmm, I dunno, Carol I can't remember anyone that sounds like that. Can you?" She hooked an eyebrow upwards. "Wait a second, maybe you're refering to Jack? Or maybe Bill? Though I don't think we can actually call either one 'bad boys' the most they do is smoke in the break room. Hmm, well color me stumped."
Carol laughs a bit, then thinks, "Phil, maybe? Does he know how to use a bow? He'd probably be pretty good at it." She grins over at Bobbi, then gives Clint a wry look, obviously teasing and even more obviously enjoying it.
Clint's knee gives slightly at the swipe of Bobbi's foot, buckling just enough to slosh his drink dangerously so the foam from his beer hits the slope of his nose. "Aw, beer…" He grunts and straightens. "You love not being wrecked? Huh. That's not how I remember it." He snipes back at Bobbi with a crooked smile as he wipes his nose off.
He takes the ribbing all in good humor and groans emphatically. "Jack can barely tell which end of the pencil is the end that writes, I wouldn't trust him with a bow, much less an arrow. I'll put a word in for you ladies, how's that? Because I'm a /good friend/ like that." Fingers of his free hand splay all across his chest, solemn.
Bobbi gave Carol an equal grin, barely holding back the urge to fivehive the other woman for going along with her teasing. She glanced back at Clint when he fired back one of his own and she waited for him to dare another sip of his beer. "Well, handsome, I do seem to recall someone like that," A glance toward Carol followed and she propped her chin up, before making a show of sitting upwards.
"Oh! I've got! Green Arrow. He's real easy on the eyes, and good with a bow and arrow." She flashed Clint a grin, shifting to lean her back against the bar.
Carol makes a bit of a face, "I don't know… that goatee looks a bit too ridiculous." She hmms, "I like my eye candy clean shaven." She grins a bit, giving Bobbi a wry expression.
Clint becomes suddenly very animated and points a single accusatory finger at Bobbi, leveling a look at the mocking Mockingbird, sounding like an argument they've had once or twice before. "The /Green/ Arrow uses a /compact bow/, and you know it." He emphasizes the 'green' to suggest inexperience or a jab to his masculinity, reacting just as predicted to that button Bobbi pushes. "It's a good thing he's pretty, that's about all he's good for." Clint scoffs and rolls his eyes, passionate about his tools. Snob.
Carol's note on how she likes her men, Clint notedly rubs the back of his hand against his clean shaven neck and along one side of his squared jaw. Must've been 'shave day', what luck. "Oh yeah? Is that so? You've got good taste." Pale eyes glittering with cheeky humor.
Bobbi couldn't hold back her laughter at Clint's accusing finger and she batted it lightly with her free hand. Her other holding onto her glass of Scotch. "Well then you really need to be more specific. Devils in the details and all. You never mentioned what kind of bow, handsome." She winked at him and took a sip of her drink, grinning ear to ear.
As he glanced toward Carol she rolled her eyes and made a 'pfft' sound. "She's also very taken."
Carol laughs, "Oh yes, I mean, my previous boyfriend was a real loser, but I'm quite happy right now." Indeed, she's actually been happy enough that when SHIELD only did a part-time reinstatement with her work with the Avengers, she agreed pretty quick. She then looks wryly at Bobbi, "But just because I'm taken doesn't mean I can't browse the menu, right?"
"I didn't have to say it," Clint eyeballs Bobbi with a corner of his mouth edging up to a smile to match her broad grin. Turning his speculative look back to Carol, Clint suddenly seems doubly interested, "Oh yeah? I know how that goes, chickie. I've dated some real sour cows in my day. To hell with them," Clint pointedly does not turn his attention toward Bobbi, his beer lifted in congratulations to Carol.
Bobbi shot Carol a dry look, "Oh don't encourage him," She swatted at Clint giving the man a side eye even as he kept his gaze on Carol pointedly. But her lips were stifling a smile even as she grumbled and groaned at Clint's returning barbs. It would seem both of them were pretty good at messing with one another.
How perfect.
"Honestly, Carol, if you're wanting something to look at, I totally suggest those Asgardians. Saw the files on those mm, mmm."
Carol laughs a bit, and winks at Bobbi, "Are you kidding? I got to pal around with Thor in Niflheim to rescue Kai from some weird death God." She grins, "And yeah, Thor definitely makes you want to ride the lightning." She finishes her Coke and waves for another, eyes dancing a bit, "They were all just so… mrowr."
Clint mouths to Carol not at all low key, 'you can encourage me', with a cheeky wink to couple it up. Flinching emphatically far more than any reasonable person does when Bobbi swats him, grinning at Mockingbird. "You seriously can't find a man on your /own planet/, you're looking at Asgard Bob? Maybe you and Nat should switch names…" He teases, mumbling not so discretely into his glass.
Clint's brows arch upward suddenly, pointing to Carol, "You were in on that? Some intense stuff, and who saw the /chef/ getting involved there?" He scoffs and holds up a hand, mouth agape in a 'whaaaat' sort of expression of incredulity.
"Who said there's any men on this planet? I haven't seen any recently, have you Carol?" She teased right back, and then sighed, finishing off her drink. "As hilarious as this is Clint, and trust me, I could go on." She set the glass on the bar top and turned back to look him over.
"But when did you get back to the city?" The humor toned back in her voice as she considered the blonde man beside her.
Carol looks at Bobbi, "Hey, I was dating Tony, so clearly I had settled for not finding any." She shakes her head, and gives Clint a grin, "But yeah, I went along for the ride there. It was crazy like what that guy Tolkien wrote in Lord of the Rings. Serious fantasy army of murder death stuff happening there. Amazed we all made it out in one piece."
Clint gives an 'I am not amused' look at Bobbi, maintaining a glimmer of humor in his eyes regardless. The serious question on how long he's been in town, Clint straightens up and shrugs smoothly, dropping his offended and his cocky veneer to something more casual and relaxed. "About three days, now. I've been stuck in debriefing." And he even manages not to wink when he says it, too!
His attention swims back to Carol, genuinely interested in the description of the place Carol went off to. The feeling of fantastic fishing stories to a spy. "That sounds like some intense stuff. Other world stuff is crazy. Just getting a grip on what goes on down here on any old Tuesday is enough, but then you start throwing in that junk. Tolkien is fine, Tolkien I can deal with—hot elf ladies and rings? Sure. It's when we start getting Lovecraftian around here is when I want the check." Though, he does wince gently. "Oh man, another woman spurned from the Stark machine, huh? Yikes, did you just wake up one day and decided to do the most self destructive thing you could think of?"
Bobbi folded her arms as she considered Clint, "Ouch three days debriefing? That sucks." She shook her head, glancing back to Carol and offering a look of sympathy as Clint brought up Tony and what had happened there.
"I think I'm stuck on the back burner for a bit. They pulled me onto training for some new recruits on and off." She rolled her eyes and ordered another drink.
"You missed the crystal spiders in the Park so far Clint. Things are solid like diamonds. They can take a solid hit." She murmured, "So, unless you wanna play with them, you might want to avoid that place for a bit." She spoke freely about that, anyone overhearing her? It was just too weird to take all that seriously.
Carol gives Clint a wry look, "It's all Peggy's fault. She set me up with him. And it actually… wasn't THAT bad, really. He was maturing, I thought. Kept drinking, which was annoying, but it wasn't bad…"
Carol's hand twitches a bit then, as she says, "But then, he dumps me, because he doesn't have time for a relationship… which is like, okay, that's fine, I don't like it but I get it. Until I found he dumped me for his previous girlfriend." Suddenly, the glass she was holding cracks, as she puts a bit too much pressure on it. Blinking in surprise, she sets down the glass and sighs, "Jackass."
Clint shrugs languidly over the three days of being holed up, some non-committal gesture that seems to say 'you know how it is'. The mention of new recruits, Clint slides in there, undertoned and beneath the main conversation. "Oh yeah? Training Green Arrow?" Cheeky and unapologetic. "Spiders never done me any wrongs, but, eh, I have some new toys I could use some practice dummies for." Pale eyes shine merrily with mischief. "Some fun stuff." Because boys and their toys.
Settling in for another tale of 'Why Tony Stark is a Bag of Dicks', Clint at least shows the proper amount of shutting up as he leans toward Bobbi's side and hooks a heel in the spokes of her stool, loosely connecting himself there. He holds a good poker face and it's only his eyes that flick toward the glass when it spiderwebs up from the broken glass. Smoothly, Hawkeye turns and tries to catch the bartender's eye, gesturing another soda for Carol, seamlessly.
As Carol's hand clutches around the glass Bobbi was quick to offer the woman a napkin. "Hey, I offered to go in and break his heart. But I already know that Pepper has and that's pretty good on its own. I could've warned you that the man was still hung up on her. He hired another redhead for his secretary. Like geeze. Who does that?" She shook her head, biting back a sigh as she knocked back the contents of her own glass. Her gaze swinging toward Clint as he hooked his heel against the spokes of her stool.
One of her arms snuck out to wrap around his waist, as if for balance, but was truly, just an excuse to be closer. There was a warmth of familiarity there.
Carol shakes her head, "I don't know. All I know is that Pegs owes me big for all that she put me through with that setup. Damnit." She grins ruefully, "You'd think I wouldn't fall for it, but nooooo… I convinced myself he looked at me differently." She slams the Coke down, thankfully it isn't an alcoholic one. Then she sighs. "Well, I have to admit, Thor is very cute, but that sorceress or whatever she was, man, she has a crush so hard on that god it's amazing she doesn't spontaneously combust."
Clint is amenable to the arm snaking around his waist and doesn't even look twice as he stands in silence like a good little male while the ladies commiserate. There is /nothing/ Barton can say here that will earn him any points as he flicks his attention back and forth between the ladies. "Everyone wants to believe they're special," Clint does manage to mumble a little bit as he looks over Carol's shoulder to the dart boards again. "First rule of the honey pot; make them feel special." Not realizing that he's making it sound like Tony ran a con on her.
Well, this was going to go down hill fast. With Clint's putting his foot into his mouth, again, Bobbi knew that Carol was less than likely to take it nicely. With her arm wrapped around his waist she smacked his side as much as she could given the position of her hand. It barely had any force behind it. "Tony is an asshole. He tried to feel me up at a bar in Madripor. He only stopped when he realized I was a girl that could break his hand." She murmured dryly. "You deserve so much better, Carol, and you have better." She flashed the other blonde a smile.
"Ignore what Clint says."
Carol grins over at Bobbi, "You're right, I do." She doesn't worry about Clint's words, mainly because once Doctor Doom calls you fat, you let that sort of talk slide off anyway. "Matter of fact, I should probably call and see what they're up to." She winks at Bobbi, then gives Clint a wry look, saying to Bobbi, "You gonna be okay without me being your wingman?"
Clint blinks when Bobbi smacks him, turning his attention back her way when she advises Carol to ignore him. A corner of his mouth twitches crookedly and he doesn't seem to take any immediate offense to it, just a little hapless, "What did I say?" Idiot. Letting the assault fall like water off a duck's back, he turns back to Carol, giving her an amused little smile. "Does that mean I have to pick up the slack?" The blond man smiles sidelong toward Bobbi. "Are you taking applications, Bob? Mine's on this really nice card stock," Clint whistles lightly. "It's /slick/."
Bobbi shot Clint a dry, amused look from her perch on the bar stool, trying and failing to hide a smile as she hooked a golden eyebrow upwards. "Gee, I dunno, Mister Slick. Sounds like a chancy adventure to me." She glanced back to Carol and offered the other woman a grin.
"You take care of yourself, yeah? Not that I think you can't but damn girl, take some time for yourself."
Carol smiles and walks off, waving towards Bobbi and Clint, "Oh, I will, don't worry. Don't want to keep America waiting, after all." She says it rather vague like that. What's the country going to be waiting for… oh. Oh!
Clint tips his head as Carol heads out, though his attention lingers on the Colonel thoughtfully for a half second before turning back to Bobbi with a casual smile. One arm slides around her shoulders, the archer dipping his head to murmur next to Bobbi's ear low key. "I'm one hell of a wing man, Bobbi. You sure you don't want to take a look at my application? Just ignore the heading where it says 'Marriage Certificate'."
Bobbi leaned back into his arm as Carol leaves and she exhales a breath, her eyes slipping shut for a moment. She elbowed him lightly at his softly murmured words. Was she even wearing a ring? Not likely. But doubtlessly had it somewhere on her person. She'd had the golden band before they'd been married. It was 'a useful cover' to slip on and off before. Now? Now it was complicated.
Even so she glanced side long back at him, "I think I already signed on the dotted line for that one, handsome." She offered dryly, glancing back up at him.
"So. Tell me. Are you gonna be around for a few nights? Because, I was serious when I was saying how lacking the office has been as of late of good men."
Spies. Keeping little bits of jewelry like that always on hand became more of a hinderance than anything else. Clint was practical more than anything, and when it came to their 'marriage', he was about as cool as one could be about it. A short grunt of sound emitted when he's elbowed, Clint chuckles and parts from Bobbi's side, taking Carol's stool at the bar. Wincing, something in Clint's gaze turns more serious on the state of their office, "Gotten that bad?"
An exhale followed as he stepped away, leaving her back cool to the rest of the bar. She would never say it outloud, but Bobbi really did feel better having him at her back. She reached up to shake out her hair and retie her ponytail to fill the space of that question for a moment. "Most of them checked out after Rogers and Danvers left for the Avengers. I've been stationed with them on orders. Higher ups want to keep tabs on them, even if they're no longer government funded." She whispered.
And ordered another drink. "They have a headquarters here, Rogers let me in."
Listening attentively, his eyes all on Bobbi while she lets her hair down, then ties it back up, then lets him in on that little bit of information on what she's doing now. "Sure, you set a man up to wave a flag, what do you think is going to happen when he waves that flag somewhere else?" Clint shrugs casually. "They have to keep tabs on their investment somehow. You flying solo?" He has to ask, and to his credit, it's casual while he takes a drink, watching Bobbi over the rim of his glass. "Let me guess who the bankroller is." Sarcasm: one of the few services Clint Barton offers.
Bobbi glanced at him, and as his eyes ran over her hair she smiled, and pointedly undid the ponytail this time for good and slipped the band over her wrist. She sighed, picking up her drink and swirling the contents about. She sipped at it once and set it back, and turned around on her stool to consider him. "Yep. Just me." She murmured, shrugging lightly, though her gaze met his evenly.
Then she was turning back to her drink and crossing her legs. "And yeah, well, I haven't changed jobs or left. And there was a good pay raise. It's not like everyone doesn't know why I'm there. So long as they keep their noses clean, I can report in and everyone is happy."
"Not a bad deal," Clint seems agreeable or at least casual about the fact that Bobbi is a plant. A /visible/ plant. "Sounds actually kind of cush. Rogers is a boyscout, what're the chances he's not there at every turn with a kleenex, making sure they're on the up and up?" He nods to his spot. "And you're friendly enough with Danvers. Sounds like the greatest danger you're in is from boredom." Clint teases with a impish shadow of a smile. "Maybe you're lucky I'm back in town. Feel like getting into some trouble…"
Bobbi hopped off her bar stool as she downed the rest of her drink. She leaned clos enough to him to bump her shoulder alongside his. He knew her enough to know she was in fact horribly bored. Was she spying on people she'd worked with for year and considered friends? Yes. Did they know and seem to care any? Not a lick. Cue the most bored spy in the world.
She smirked, cupping a hand to his ear as she leaned in to whisper. "Remind me why I agreed to become Mrs. Barton, hmm?"
Clint recoiled a little bit after the whisper, smiling and looking around their immediate vicinity, less shocked and more curious. "What…/right here/?" A lewd lead in of a joke.
Expectedly, Bobbi swatted at the back of his head and shot him a dry look. "Not if you ever want to enjoy that again." She shot back, and hip checked him before she dug out of her pocket cash to pay for her drinks and tip for the bar tender. She glanced back at him and arched a brow.
"Well? Are you coming?" She asked, and simply made to leave the bar, expecting the smart mouthed archery to follow after her.
Clint doesn't even pitch his head forward over the smack, of bother to hide the smooth, self-satisfied smile that comes from it as he presses his hair back into place, rubbing the back of his head. A quick likewise press of a bill down to the bar while Clint watches Bobbi step out of her stool and toward the door. Just admiring the view. Caught in a glance, his gaze darts up to her face. "You don't have to ask me twice." On his feet quickly, Clint slowly strolled on out after her. "Are you bringing a stray home? Should I get my autograph book?" Clint jokes on his way out. As if he had a thought in his head other than some well-earned R&R.