Title: champagne, hailstones, and candlelight
Fandom: Marvel Comics
Characters/Ships: Clint Barton/Kate Bishop
Rating: Teen
Length: 1,000 words
Written For: fan_flashworks challenge #391: Storm
Summary: Kate pressed her palms to Clint's chest and kissed his chin. "It's cool if I dance with Bucky, right?" Kate asked.
Clint shrugged. "So cool." At least it would get him out of dancing.
Originally Posted: December 11, 2022
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"Come on, dance with me." Kate pulled him towards the dance floor but Clint stood his ground.
He pulled at his collar. It was too damn tight. "You know I'm not much for dancing." It was bad enough that he had to come to this party in the first place. He drew the line at dancing.
Kate pouted and someone gently bumped his shoulder. He turned and saw a familiar flash of red hair. "Nat?"
"Hey, stranger." Natasha was wearing a tight black dress and holding hands with Bucky. Apparently, that was happing again.
Bucky gave him a curt nod and turned his attention toward Kate. It kinda pissed Clint off, how good he looked in his fancy suit.
"I'll dance with you, Bishop," Bucky said.
Clint's jaw clenched.
Kate pressed her palms to Clint's chest and kissed his chin. "It's cool if I dance with Bucky, right?" Kate asked.
Clint shrugged. "So cool." At least it would get him out of dancing.
Kate smiled, grabbed Bucky’s hand, and disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the dance floor.
"You okay?" Natasha asked.
"Eh?" Clint grabbed a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter. "You know how I feel about these things."
"And Kate?"
"She knows how I feel." He sipped his drink. "I was the one who insisted we come. You know how Tony gets when you don't show up to one of his parties without a good excuse."
Natasha grabbed his glass, took a sip of champagne, and handed it back to him. "Even when you have a good excuse, he gets a little salty."
Clint spotted Kate on the dance floor, her arms around Bucky's shoulders. He didn't like it. It was perfectly tame, but he still didn't like it. Especially since it was Bucky.
"You could always cut in," Natasha suggested.
Clint sighed. "But then I'd have to dance."
"Would that be so bad?" She gently nudged him. "How're things going with you two?"
"I haven't managed to fuck it up yet, if that's what you're asking."
Nat gave him one of her concerned looks. "Clint?"
"It's good. Things are going good. Kate's --"
"Good?"
"Nah, Kate's awesome." Clint placed his empty glass behind a fern.
"Did you finally figure out that a dance with your girlfriend might not be so bad?"
Clint kissed her on the cheek. "It was good to see you Nat, Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too." She gave him a quick hug. "Tell Bucky to get our coats, I think we've stayed long enough to keep Stark off our backs for the next year."
"Keep telling yourself that."
Clint tapped Bucky on the shoulder.
"Yeah?" Bucky said without turning.
"Are you going to make me say it?"
"Yup."
Asshat. "May I cut in?"
Kate loop her arms over Clint's neck and rolled her eyes. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.
"Jealousy Clint? Really?"
"Just not him, okay?"
Kate's attention turned to Natasha and Bucky over by the door. Clint had forgotten to pass Nat's message along. Oops.
"Sure, I get it," Kate said. He rarely had to explain things to her. She just got him. "We can leave after this song if you want."
Suddenly, Tony loomed in front of them. "Did someone say something about leaving?"
"Hey, Tony. Merry Christmas," Kate said way too cheerfully.
Tony took Kate's hand and kissed it. "Merry Christmas beautiful, let me see that dress."
Kate twirled around and the deep plum fabric swirled around her legs. She was gorgeous.
"Nice," Tony said. Clint wasn't thrilled with the way that he was looking at his girlfriend. Although, she did look amazing in that dress. "You two heading out soon?"
"Trying to get rid of us?" Clint asked.
Tony slowly pulled his attention from Kate. "Nah, I just wanted to remind you, I've got cars available for anyone who needs a ride home. One of my cars picked you up, right?"
Kate nodded. "Yeah, it was a sweet ride, thank you."
"Glad you enjoyed it." Tony grinned. "Just tell one of my AIs when you're ready and a car will be sent around."
Clint took Kate's hand. "Thanks."
"Have fun you two, don't forget to take a bottle of champagne with you on the way out." Tony disappeared into the crowd.
Clint had to hand it to Stark, he knew how to stock a limo. There were bottles of water, booze, snacks, and even condoms. Halfway home the storm started. Hailstones the size of walnuts rattled against the car. Traffic backed up and they were at a standstill.
The driver rolled down the partition. "Mr. Stark says for you two to make yourselves comfortable. This might take a while." Clint could have sworn the guy had winked at him.
"He doesn't mean get naked, right?" Kate asked.
Clint showed her the strip of condoms.
"Okay, maybe he does." Kate bit her lip and shrugged. "There are worse ideas."
"You know, there are probably cameras covering every inch of this vehicle, right?"
"Might be worth it." Kate ran her hand up his thigh and winked.
He was pretty sure she was kidding but decided to put the breaks on this just in case she wasn't. "How about we wait until we get home?"
Kate smiled and he knew she'd been kidding. Yawning, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Wake me when we get there."
Getting home didn't take as long as he'd feared. Soon enough they were out of the limo, running with his jacket held above their heads. Kate had the door unlocked in record time and just as it opened, the lights went out. Laughing, they went around lighting the emergency candles Kate kept in the junk drawer. Clint had to admit that the candles gave their apartment a magical glow. They make it to the couch, dropping clothes along the way. The bottle of champagne forgotten on the counter. It was a very merry Christmas indeed.
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