A bar on the mainland- Sunday evening

[throughaphase]

Kitty didn't think there was a huge deal in turning twenty-one, considering she wasn't a huge drinker and also she'd been running a bar since she was eighteen. But there were some things you just had to go out and do, especially when the next "big" birthday was thirty and she wasn't ready to think about that yet.

Once they'd gotten to the bar, they found a booth where they could sit, and Kitty went up to get their drinks totally legally for the first time (in the States). As she returned, placing them on the table before taking her seat, she admitted, "Okay, that did feel kind of cool."

[For he who now gets to date a girl of legal drinking age!]

Comments

[throughaphase]

"Hey, those had been part of my work uniform," Kitty pointed out. A work uniform that she kept wearing. And used as a superheroing outfit. "And I was... well, okay, it was easy to be more innocent when no one wanted to date me."

[so_hawkward]

"I bet people wanted to date you, they just didn't say anything," Clint insisted. "Their loss, my gain."

[throughaphase]

"I don't know about that first part," Kitty said, "but I can't complain that you're the one who got me. And vice versa."

[so_hawkward]

"I can't complain either," Clint said. "Did your friends call you or anything today to wish you a happy birthday?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeah, I got the usual suspects calling and emailing, which was pretty nice," she said. "Logan says hi. Or he sort of growled, but I'm pretty sure that meant 'hi.'"

[so_hawkward]

"Aww, he's so sweet," Clint said, laughing. "He does kind of grow on you after a while."

[throughaphase]

"Does he now?" Kitty asked, looking amused.

[so_hawkward]

"He's a good drinking partner," Clint said, taking a long sip of beer. "Lack of small talk can sometimes be a welcome thing."

[throughaphase]

"So, you guys sit there and drink in silence?" Kitty wondered.

[so_hawkward]

"Not in total silence, but I felt a lot less awkward around him than your other friends," Clint said. "Um, not that they tried to make me feel awkward or anything, that was all me."

[throughaphase]

"Aww. I wish I knew that then," she said. "Why'd you feel awkward?"

[so_hawkward]

Clint shrugged like he didn't know, even though he totally did. "They're all really powerful. Which is nice, because they're also good guys, and it's always nice to have good guys on your side. It's just... a little intimidating."

[throughaphase]

Kitty decided not to tell him exactly what Logan could do right now. "We're just like everybody else. Does it help that most of them are dorks?"

[so_hawkward]

"It does, yeah," Cling said, laughing. "A good kind of dork like you?"

[throughaphase]

"Thank you," she said wryly. "But yes. Well, Hank's really more of a nerd, but we're dorks a-plenty. How do you think they stayed friends with me for so long?"

[so_hawkward]

Clint scoffed at that. "Come on, who wouldn't want to be friends with you?"

[throughaphase]

Kitty thought about it. "Bad guys. Weird people. A few classmates, that one roommate I had..."

[so_hawkward]

"Well, bad guys are already mostly crazy, so they don't count," Clint said. "Weird people are also crazy, and roommates... well, I don't have a lot of experience there but the internet says roommates tend to be weird too, so I think my point still stands." The 'so there' was being silently implied by Clint's smile.

[throughaphase]

Kitty laughed and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "I think you might be sliiightly biased."