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Post by Ray on Nov 20, 2016 22:03:53 GMT -7
There's a beat of uncomfortable silence when the apartment is suddenly empty, except for Barton, Teresa, and the passed out deputy. Barton barely had time to register everyone's sudden departure before they were gone, shutting him in to fix the rest of the night he had a big part in ruining. He guesses he deserves it. He also thinks, at this point, he deserves a beer, but that's a losing battle.
"Yeah. 'course." He says when Teresa finally asks for help. He shoves his sleeves upwards and steps towards the armchair. At least it's not him sleeping off four glasses of wine. He would have really ruined the night if it had been. Teresa's father might have gone home with a broken nose and Barton with a matching shiner.
He scoops an arm around Graeme's back, pulls the deputy's arm around his neck, and uses all the muscles in his legs to lift the man out of the soft cushions of the armchair. "Oh Jesus what does he eat, rocks?" Barton hisses quietly, thrown off by Graeme's unexpected weight. Carrying people has never been the easiest job, no matter what Bucky will make anyone think with his uncanny strength and metal arm, but Barton did not anticipate Graeme being a test of strength. The guy is practically a stick -- lean and tall and slender -- the kind of weight class that Barton hasn't been since he was a teenager still doing acrobatics for the circus. Barton isn't necessarily big himself, not like Steve with his giant ass, but somewhere in his mind he'd always assumed Graeme to be only 140 pounds, sopping wet. But Barton gets him upright all the same, puffing out a breath he'd been holding in his cheeks and thinking maybe he needs to work out a little more than he has been.
"Which room?" He asks Teresa, getting a better grip on Graeme's arm and side.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 20, 2016 22:17:31 GMT -7
For the first time in a while she was glad that Barton was here. She was pretty sure that she wouldn't have been able to lift Graeme all by herself from the chair and then walk him to the bedroom. She watched as Barton helped Graeme out the chair, well more of the fact that he lifted him up. Then asked which room he was going in.
She moved to Graeme's other side and put his arm around her neck while she too held onto him and then nudged her head in the direction of the main bedroom before she led him in that direction. Teresa hadn't seen Graeme drunk in a very long time and she wasn't sure if that was a scary thought or not. Her father always seemed to have this reaction on her and Graeme would always tell her to just ignore him. That he was probably doing it to get attention from her but now he had her attention and she really wanted to strangle the guy.
Teresa's relationship with her father was on the edge of a cliff that she was so tempted to push the bastard over. She felt sorry for Graeme. Mostly because it must have been a very bad day for him to have ended up drinking.
They walked, slowly, in the direction of the main bedroom. Charlie following after them. She did usually take him out for a run but if she was honest, she was too tired to walk back down the stairs. Once in the bedroom they helped him into the bed. Teresa grabbing his shoes and putting them on the floor but leaving him in the rest of his clothes. He could sleep like that for one night. She pulled the cover over him and then gently put her lips to his forehead.
Teresa moved back and then looked over at Barton. "I guess you and Graeme have swapped roles for the night" she said in a softly before biting on her lip. "But I'm proud of you for not drinking" she looked over at him once more and gave him a soft smile. In her heart of hearts she could honestly say that she was proud of him for sticking to the whole no drinking plan.
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Post by Ray on Nov 20, 2016 22:36:59 GMT -7
They settle Graeme down onto the bed, and Barton rolls him onto his side to keep the airway open. A habit born out of practice. After getting blackout drunk so many times, he picked up plenty tricks of the trade from other, smarter people. Usually Natalia. Graeme doesn't stir once during the entire move. His head finds the pillow and his mouth goes a little slack, but otherwise he's a limp log taking up the majority of the bed. It'd be funnier, if the night hadn't gone so badly.
Barton tugs on the hem of his sweater to get it back straight and in place, before he looks to Teresa as she speaks. A part of him expects a reprimand, a reminder that Graeme probably wouldn't be drunk if he hadn't been so determined to argue with Nat about the morality and legality of being a vigilante. Though, considering how easy it had been for temptation to spike high enough for Graeme to drink in the first place, Barton doubts it's all entirely the dinner's fault. But a word of praise from Teresa is far from what he anticipated. A small smile tugs momentarily at the corner of Barton's mouth. "Thanks." He says with a nod. "I'm...doing the best I can." Or at least, trying to.
Truth be told, quitting drinking hasn't been easy. He's been drinking since he was a teenager, but he never realized how much he relied on alcohol until this past year hit him hard. Quitting SHIELD was supposed to make his life easier, but instead he discovered boredom, loneliness, and depression. It's part of why his relationship with Layla was short-lived, part of why every relationship he's had has been short-lived. And drinking made the days shorter and the realization that he was quickly heading towards rock bottom easier to ignore. Now that he quit, dealing with all of that shit is no longer something he can bury underneath the excuse of buying more beer and dog food.
He guesses that's why he snapped at Nat so quickly.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 20, 2016 22:49:15 GMT -7
Teresa looked back at Graeme and sighed under her breath. With him taking up the majority of the bed, she was probably going to end up in the spare bedroom and in honesty she didn't mind that for a moment. It's probably moments like this that they kept the spare bed done up. That and if anyone wants to stay. She slowly nodded when Barton said that he was doing the best he could.
"That's really what anyone does when they stop drinking" she admitted. Teresa has got drunk, sure the party for her birthday comes to mind years before, but never has she got drunk every night to the point she ends up like this. In fact she can't even remember the last time she had got drunk. That was probably her party back in 2012. It was a long time ago but she realised that she didn't rely on drink. She didn't go out and buy wine if she didn't have too. Teresa would much rather drink tea.
She gently put her hand on his arm and then nudged her head towards the door. It's probably best if they left Graeme to sleep the drink off. She then realised that she still had her hand on him and that her brown eyes were watching him. Teresa had to admit that he looks so much.. hotter? Was that the word she has been looking for? Teresa wasn't sure what word she had been looking for other than the fact that she was painfully aware of her and Barton now alone. It hasn't been like this for a very long time.
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Post by Ray on Nov 20, 2016 23:13:11 GMT -7
"And yet, here I thought quitting would make parties less memorable." Barton teases a little, huffing out a short breath. Even sober, he still has a knack for causing mayhem. Maybe it's just something in his blood. That would explain the circus and SHIELD and the brother he hasn't seen in almost ten years.
Teresa's hand falls onto his arm, and Barton glances down at it for a moment before his blue eyes lift to Teresa's face. She nudges her head towards the door, indicating that they should leave and let Graeme sleep off the wine, but then she's suddenly still. Silence falls thickly once more, but her hand doesn't move from his arm and his eyes don't leave her face. It's been months since they've even been in the same room together, let alone the only conscious ones in a room. The last time they were really alone, Barton hadn't exactly been in the best position -- with Layla on one side and the realization that he'd rapidly developed feelings for Teresa over the course of their friendship on the other. And then she sort of...disappeared. In fact, within a month Barton had become both single and without the one friend he had outside of SHIELD. He'd dealt with it in much the same way he dealt with everything else -- drinking. But eventually he moved on.
Both from Layla and, in a way, Teresa.
But her hand is still on his arm, and there's a flicker in her eye that he's not sure he's willing to name.
Graeme breaks the thickening silence with a sudden hiccup, and the trance is broken. Barton looks away from Teresa and to the bed where the deputy lies, just as another hiccup makes his shoulders jump a little.
Barton lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck and clears his throat quietly. "I should...probably get going."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 21, 2016 8:24:13 GMT -7
Teresa knew that she hadn't been the best friend over the last few months, not having been there when he probably wanted a friend. In fact she was pretty much the worst person ever and she had hoped that the dinner would some how make up for that but it definitely hadn't been the best dinner she had held. She wanted to tell him that, to tell him that she was sorry for not being around especially when he and Layla had broken up. But she couldn't really say anything mostly because she was sure that if she spoke then she would just ruin the moment.
The silence that had fallen over them was so thick that she felt like she was going to be suffocated by it. Mostly because it felt like the was something there between them, maybe she was overthinking it, maybe she was just so tired that she was seeing things where there wasn't anything but he hadn't moved when she nudged her head towards the bedroom door, hell she didn't either. So they both stayed where they were looking at each other. She pulled her lip in between her teeth and then when Graeme made a noise she snapped out of it and let her hand drop from his arm and then looked over at her boyfriend in the bed just to make sure that he wasn't going to puke up. The last thing she wanted to was change the bedding and then get Graeme back into bed.
Then Barton said about the fact that he should probably get going and she felt a little disappointed. She slowly moved her brown eyes back to look at him. "You sure? I have plenty of pie if you want some?" she wasn't sure if he would stay for pie but it might be the only time, at least for now, they will have some sort of normal time like they did last time. Food, drink (meaning tea and Dr Pepper), and whatever she could find on TV. It would be fun and definitely not stressful at all. Teresa was sure that they both could use a bit of time together like they used too, so she could show Barton that while they might not hang out as much, that she was still there. She was still his friend and if he ever needed her then she would be there. "But if you want to go then that's completely understandable" she admitted with a soft smile. Today definitely hadn't been easy on anyone.
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Post by Ray on Nov 21, 2016 9:27:15 GMT -7
Barton hesitates for a moment, between knowing that he should leave before they both do something they regret and knowing that Teresa is still his friend and still in need of some comfort after a ruined dinner. With her boyfriend passed out and the rest of the team running back to New York to deal with their other responsibilities, Barton is the only one left to remedy this situation. Even if it puts him in an incredibly awkward position.
"One slice." Barton relents, holding up a finger to make his point clear. But then he's leaving. "I can't pass up Sam's pie." He tugs his phone free for just a moment to check the time, and sees a string of texts from Stiles instead. Ignoring them, he stuffs the phone back into his pocket and nudges his head towards the door. But this time, he actually moves. They leave back out into the living room and close the bedroom door to just a crack behind them. The slices of pie are still waiting for them on the kitchen counter, all spread out and all ready with a fork placed beside them. Barton picks up the two closest plates and hands the first to Teresa.
"This is his mom's recipe, so...if you don't like it, never tell him." He teases lightly, picking up his fork with his free hand and smiling a little as he scoops off a piece.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 21, 2016 9:35:49 GMT -7
Teresa as sure that she could actually tempt him with more than one slice but she wasn't going to say anything. She gave him a soft smile. "I can deal with that" plus it would be nice to hang out with him for a little bit. They hadn't seen each other since Independence Day and even then they didn't have time to really sit down and have a chat. She made sure that Graeme was warm and definitely okay before walking out the bedroom. She will deal with the effects of that tomorrow. Shutting the door slightly after them Teresa walked with him to the kitchen.
She smiled once more when he handed her the pie and then raised an eyebrow. "Well if Katherine likes it, and trust me she tells you if she doesn't like something, then it shouldn't be so bad" she said in a soft tease before reaching over and grabbing her tea. It was warm but definitely not hot. Hell she could drink it cold so it didn't matter what it tasted like now.
Teresa took a drink of her tea before tucking into the pie and raised an eyebrow. "This is good" she said around a mouthful of pie and then put her hand over her thought. "Sorry" she said around a soft laugh. She just hoped not to choke on the damn thing while laughing and eating at the same time. But what Katherine had said was true. It was pretty damn good and she was happy to have the whole thing to herself, unless of course Barton wanted another slice before he actually left.
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Post by Ray on Nov 21, 2016 9:58:42 GMT -7
The pie is good, though Barton never doubted that. Sam might not be a professional chef with grandiose meals and platters of food ready at the blink of an eye, but what he does make he makes well. Someday, Barton would like to thank Sam's mom for that. One of them needed to be a decent cook, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be Clint. The most he can make is a strong pot of coffee and a Hot Pocket if he's really desperate. Living in the circus didn't leave him with any real life skills other than an uncanny talent for cracking open cans without an opener. And Nat isn't any better. Honestly, a part of him is starting to think that vodka is the main staple of her diet if they're not eating out or being cooked for. And he can't really blame her for that. Beer used to be his.
He smiles as he chews, watching Teresa as she tries to regain a semblance of composure after almost spraying him with pie during her exclamation. "You seem surprised." He comments, stabbing his slice with the fork once more. Though maybe he knows why she would be. Sam, despite his apparent skill for it, really doesn't cook that often. He makes breakfast when he actually has a morning he can relax through and the occasional pastry if he's really in the mood for it, but other than that they're all too busy for him to be constantly cooking pies and cookies and stacks of pancakes.
It's a shame, really.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 21, 2016 10:16:45 GMT -7
Teresa swallowed the piece of pie that she was eating before looking up at him once more. She remembered the morning that she had stayed at Stark Tower and he was making breakfast. She had pancakes and that was all but she had to admit that Sam really was pretty good. Maybe she would have to start making her own pies to see if she was this damn good. Hell if she could cook a turkey then she was sure a pie would be nothing. She sat up on the counter before she cut herself off another piece of pie and then put it in her mouth. This actually made her feel a little better.
Pie and tea seemed to make everything a little better some how.
"He's not just the pretty one of the group" she teased before looking back down at her pie. Teresa really did have to get Sam to cook pie more often because this was damn good. In fact it was so much better than the shop brought ones she no doubt would've ended up buying if no one had brought pie. Teresa heard a noise and then looked down to see that the dog had come out into the kitchen and was watching both her and Barton as if checking up on them to make sure that she wasn't doing anything bad. She wanted to scoff at that but she reached down and gave his ear a scratch before looking back up at Barton and sighed softly.
"So, what did Stiles want earlier?" she asked innocently before putting the plate down and grabbing her tea. Her brown eyes on Barton. Teresa had told Stiles, a week ago that she knew about his secret. It had been surprising but at the same time not because of course Stiles would end up being someone like Spider-Man. In fact he never could do things by halves. But it was nice to know that it was in fact Stiles behind the mask because who really did deserve to save people? It definitely was a step up from the crap that had plagued Mystic for years when he still lived here.
She was proud of him. Did he know that? No, probably not.
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Post by Ray on Nov 22, 2016 14:36:45 GMT -7
Barton snorts out a short laugh at Teresa's tease. "Evidently not." He's probably also the only one of them with a lick of common sense, even if he did get obliterated at the White House. But if Barton had a nickle for every time Sam has pulled his ass out of the fire, he could pay for Sam to say I told you so for one minute every day for the next fifty years. Steve might be the all-mighty leader of their group, but even he needs someone to slap some reasoning into his sometimes idiotic self-destructive asshat plans. He's lucky that Sam is always there to do it.
Barton is just biting into a piece of the sweet potato pie, his slice almost to the crust, when Teresa brings Stiles into the conversation out of the blue. With the fork still hanging out of his mouth, Barton raises his brows. He swallows without really chewing, hard, and sets the fork back down onto his plate as he quickly tries to think of something to say. He's pretty damn sure that he didn't mention Stiles' name once during the brief phone call he'd had, where the dumb kid had apparently thought that Barton could save him from a lifetime of boredom. And unless Teresa snuck a peek at his phone, littered with ignored texts no doubt full of complaints, he doesn't know how she would know in the first place. "What?" He deadpans after a moment, blinking at her.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 22, 2016 14:58:54 GMT -7
Teresa couldnt help but laugh before finishing up her tea. This was how the day should have gone. Soft teases over possibly a little harder laughter. But this day had turned out to be one of the worst days since her father came home from a hunt on Thanksgiving day drunk out of his head. Then decided to yell at Graeme for being there. Not every thanksgiving had been the best in the Atwood household, even with her mother being alive. But today had really just added onto the thought that maybe she just wasn't cut out for thanksgiving. Maybe in the end she might come to the fact that she sucked at doing stuff like this.
It was a stupid thought but it had popped into her head due to the fact that this was actually the most fun she had had all day. Maybe it was the tiredness starting to set in or the tea starting to work but if that was the case then she really was going to have to look up fun in the dictionary.
Teresa rolled her eyes when Barton answered. "Come on Barton, I lived with the guy for a year, plus you know i know about the.." she then made the impression of Spider-Man just so that she wouldn't actually say it out loud just in case anyone was listening. A little paranoid maybe but she was sure that it wasn't impossible. "Plus Jackson did say that he was going to give him a rough time this year and if that happened to me the first person I would call would be... you" she said and nudged his stomach gently with her foot and gave him a raised eyebrow.
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Post by Ray on Nov 22, 2016 15:42:54 GMT -7
Barton is already rolling his eyes halfway through Teresa's explanation about how she already knows, wanting to both shove a boot down Stiles' throat for blabbing and also wanting to deny everything. But both options aren't ideal. He'd be wasting a boot. "Figures." He huffs out, setting his plate and the rest of his slice of pie down onto the counter top. He crosses his arms over his chest and presses his tongue into the hollow of his cheek. He knows he shouldn't be surprised, given Stiles' past with Teresa and just how far from inconspicuous he is. For Christ's sake, Stiles decided halfway through the Fourth of July party to throw on his mask and go fight crime, with the entirety of SHIELD's elite standing by. He already had the costume on under his clothes and everything. "Honestly, I expected you to figure it out months ago." He adds on, scoffing a little. "He isn't subtle."
He turns his gaze back to Teresa and his brows twitch a little in surprise at her last comment. By now, he would expect Steve to be her number one go-to contact in times of boredom and strife. Even despite the guy's busy schedule, she seems to see him more than she's seen him in a year.
Barton shakes that thought out of his head and looks down to his feet as he shifts his weight from side to side. "Well I guess he's really having a rough time, because he hasn't stopped texting me since I got here." He admits, huffing out a breath and glancing back up to her.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 22, 2016 15:58:11 GMT -7
Teresa raised her eyebrow at him when he said that both he expected her to figure it out months ago and the fact that he wasn't all the subtle. She probably did figure it out months ago but she kept putting Stiles to one side, not in a mean way but because of the fact that she didn't want to go in guns blazing and possibly demand that he tells her. It's his secret to tell. Plus she wasn't really part of the friendship circle that Jackson and Stiles still had. She barely saw them, or at least right now anyway. Also she had a lot on her mind in the months leading up to Independence Day but she pretty much figured it out at Steve's party when Stiles kept disappearing.
Then came the kiss that had happened on the rainy night in New York. It just seemed to confirm everything that she really knew. Plus she knew his lips. She knew how they fit together in that cute way. But of course the last thing she wanted to do was say that to Barton so she just shrugged up a shoulder. "I can be a little slow when it comes to figuring out all this superhero stuff" she admitted before looking down at her pie and pushing the plate away from the edge so that she didn't knock the plate off when she eventually did move off the counter.
Teresa moved her eyes up and then laughed softly. "I think it's to keep him in the house, he knew that Steve was coming so if Jackson wasn't there then he would've been over here in a flash" she nodded and then bit on her lip. Plus it was nice to know that Barton was looking after him, but she wasn't sure if she should be a little bit worried too. It was Barton, things happened around Barton. Now she was starting to wonder if she really should say something about SHIELD but unless he actually brought it up maybe it was best being left in the background. Their friendship seemed to be a little bit strained as it was without adding the unnecessary talk about the organization that Barton used to work for.
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Post by Ray on Nov 22, 2016 20:03:42 GMT -7
"I don't know if I'd call him a superhero, but..." Barton shrugs his shoulder a little. Superheroes are in comic books, wearing capes and saving cities from aliens and asteroids. The closest they have to that is Steve, and...honestly who could really claim that he isn't a superhero. Between a mysterious system injected into his veins, a classic war story, and seventy years in ice, he's practically a walking-talking weekly issue. Considering that comic books originated thanks to him, he's the very foundation upon which every modern superhero is based on.
Stiles is a lucky bastard with a spider bite and a mask fetish. Something Barton cannot explain for the life of him.
"He's good at what he does." Barton admits, nodding a few times. "I thought I'd have to be his babysitter, but he's proven to be a pretty damn quick learner. And freakishly resilient." He huffs out a slight laugh. "And he's helped a lot of people. It's no wonder he's adored." Something Barton has never gotten a taste of. Overnight, Spider-Man became a national phenomena. He'd only been swinging around for a few months when Barton already began to see kids running around with home-made masks, pretending to shoot webs and leaping over everything they could find. No one even knows who Hawkeye is -- which, granted, Barton is thankful for. With SHIELD's secrecy and Barton's reluctance to be in the public eye, not having a fanbase is fine with him. But a part of him never really expected that a fanbase would exist for any vigilante. On the off chance that he or Widow or Sam landed on front page news, the headlines were never pretty. And SHIELD always came in quickly to scrub their presence away entirely, until they're just a random enigma that people eventually forget. But Spider-Man is almost a celebrity. There are memes of him for Christ's sake.
A part of him worries for the day that SHIELD decides to scrub him away too.
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