"Not really hungry, thanks. Just getting lunch ready for the furball."
It was probably kind of hypocrite, asking her to eat and then not doing it himself, but he'd had his vitamins in the morning already. And he certainly had never felt less like eating.
Only when he had gotten the empty bowls from the garden and started chopping some chicken meat for little one, he remembered that cut from earlier on the back of his hand. By now it hurt like a bitch and turned into a aggressive red, but that was another thing he really had no patience for right now. Probably only the first of many if he wanted to do that bathing thing later. He hadn't planned on it, certainly not, not after what had happened, but Natasha had brought it up herself. And as much as he hated himself for it, keeping himself busy would at least hurt less than this dreadful silence.
He wasn't surprised at all to be greeted with a hiss when he neared the tub with the meat and the second bowl filled with milk. He obviously hadn't been forgiven yet. The furball stayed on the very other end of the tub when he sat on the bowls down. There she stayed while he sat on the tub edge, wary to go back to this too cold, to quiet room just yet.
But after a little while, hunger and thirst obviously won over her grudge and she started eating. They couldn't keep her in there forever of course, Mother nature would be calling soon enough, meaning, he better hurried up with that bath, so they could set little one out for the rest of the day. And hope she didn't find the next mud lake to roll in immediately.
Clint rubbed over his folded hands absent-minded, hardly realizing the dull throb in the right and watched their little guest without a sense of the time passing. He knew he should be checking on Natasha instead of the animal but he also knew just as well how much she hated to be coddled. They had quite a bit of that in their near future anyway, no need to drive her up the wall in the first hour already.
And what could he say to her? They had made up their minds and were facing a horrible situation. Not exactly a moment to celebrate and burst into song. It was just like before a really bad mission when they had often both retreated to find focus and balance prior to diving into a new pool of blood.
Only it wasn't a fucking mission, and everytime he tried to put it like that in his own head, he felt a little like starting to puke his guts out himself. He might be a master of lies if it came to delude himself and run from every bullshit in his life, but this wasn't about him. What he was doing right now was affecting another life, and not some stranger's or victim's or enemy's. How the fuck was he supposed to just live with that, dismiss it like nothing happened?
"I can't and I'm doing it anyway, that's what's going on", he told their little guest quietly who hardly turned an ear into his direction but went on enjoying her milk. "You know, I really don't know why you came here. I'm a fucking asshole and a coward."
no subject
It was probably kind of hypocrite, asking her to eat and then not doing it himself, but he'd had his vitamins in the morning already. And he certainly had never felt less like eating.
Only when he had gotten the empty bowls from the garden and started chopping some chicken meat for little one, he remembered that cut from earlier on the back of his hand. By now it hurt like a bitch and turned into a aggressive red, but that was another thing he really had no patience for right now. Probably only the first of many if he wanted to do that bathing thing later. He hadn't planned on it, certainly not, not after what had happened, but Natasha had brought it up herself. And as much as he hated himself for it, keeping himself busy would at least hurt less than this dreadful silence.
He wasn't surprised at all to be greeted with a hiss when he neared the tub with the meat and the second bowl filled with milk. He obviously hadn't been forgiven yet. The furball stayed on the very other end of the tub when he sat on the bowls down. There she stayed while he sat on the tub edge, wary to go back to this too cold, to quiet room just yet.
But after a little while, hunger and thirst obviously won over her grudge and she started eating. They couldn't keep her in there forever of course, Mother nature would be calling soon enough, meaning, he better hurried up with that bath, so they could set little one out for the rest of the day. And hope she didn't find the next mud lake to roll in immediately.
Clint rubbed over his folded hands absent-minded, hardly realizing the dull throb in the right and watched their little guest without a sense of the time passing. He knew he should be checking on Natasha instead of the animal but he also knew just as well how much she hated to be coddled. They had quite a bit of that in their near future anyway, no need to drive her up the wall in the first hour already.
And what could he say to her? They had made up their minds and were facing a horrible situation. Not exactly a moment to celebrate and burst into song. It was just like before a really bad mission when they had often both retreated to find focus and balance prior to diving into a new pool of blood.
Only it wasn't a fucking mission, and everytime he tried to put it like that in his own head, he felt a little like starting to puke his guts out himself. He might be a master of lies if it came to delude himself and run from every bullshit in his life, but this wasn't about him. What he was doing right now was affecting another life, and not some stranger's or victim's or enemy's. How the fuck was he supposed to just live with that, dismiss it like nothing happened?
"I can't and I'm doing it anyway, that's what's going on", he told their little guest quietly who hardly turned an ear into his direction but went on enjoying her milk. "You know, I really don't know why you came here. I'm a fucking asshole and a coward."