Chicago- Saturday

[throughaphase]

Kitty wasn't trying to make a big deal about it or anything, but this weekend felt a little bit like a big deal to her. It was her first trip with Clint, it was Hanukkah, it was his first time meeting her mom, and there was bonus quality time with a certain dragon. She saw no bad here. Because she didn't know any better.

Plus, she got to show off her city some. Since the weather was modded into cooperating, they left Lockheed at the hotel to do his own thing while Clint and Kitty headed to Millennium Park for some outdoor ice skating. And since he'd agreed to it, it wasn't till they'd gotten their skates and were headed to the area to put them on that Kitty thought to ask, "Have you done this before?"


[For he who gets to hate on gravity.]

Comments

[throughaphase]

"And this is why it's a good thing we didn't stay at Mom's. Because conversations like this would be bad there." Plus she liked reasons to get private time with him.

In the middle of a busy outdoor skating rink, but still.

[so_hawkward]

"I'm not an expert in moms, but I do at least know not to say things like that in front of her." As for the rink, hey, at least there were no squirrels listening in? "Or Lockheed. That might be weird too." And get him set on fire, or something.

[throughaphase]

"It'd definitely be weird," she confirmed. "I wouldn't really want to know that much of his love life, either. Some things should just be between us."

[so_hawkward]

The thought of "Lockheed" and "love life" made Clint blink for a moment, but he managed to recover before the thoughts got too awkward. "I like the sound of that. And I like you, even if you do have dangerous tastes in fun activities."

[throughaphase]

"I 'd hope you like me at this point," Kitty teased. "My dangerous hobbies may still grow on you."

[so_hawkward]

"If you want to, you know, go faster, I think I can manage on my own now," Clint offered.

[throughaphase]

"Was I helping? I thought I was just making the other girls jealous by holding your hand," Kitty smiled, but let go of his hand to see how he did.

[so_hawkward]

"No, you're making the guys jealous by holding my hand," Clint said, wobbling a little when she let go, but managing to stay upright... for a few long moments before turning his foot the wrong way, sliding down again, and swearing a little more soundly than he probably should have in public.

[throughaphase]

"I'm betting there are a few seven-year-olds around here who just leaned a new word," Kitty said, coming a little closer before stopping next to him. "You okay?"

[so_hawkward]

Clint made an apologetic face as he looked around. "Sorry. I'm okay. Just a little bruised on the ego," he said. "So much for impressing you, huh?"

[throughaphase]

"You don't need to impress me. Or apologize," Kitty told him, still offering a hand because she wasn't going to just stand there. "Guess I'll just have to learn to love you despite your war with gravity."

She kind of hoped that if she said it casually enough, he could just ignore it if he wasn't ready for that.

[so_hawkward]

Clint... honestly wasn't ready for that, and he took some time to steady himself enough to take Kitty's hand without pulling her down to try to buy himself a few extra moments to figure out how to respond. After the initial moment of terror--because really, when did things like this ever work out well for him?--Clint realized how long it had been since anyone had said something like that to him, and that it was kind of nice to hear. "It's a good thing you're so smart then, huh? So you can figure out how to do that?" Maybe with the compliment in there, it wouldn't be quite so obvious he hadn't exactly said the scary word back.

[throughaphase]

It was still pretty obvious, but his reaction cut off the Oh god what did I just do? panic she'd probably have had otherwise. "It might be tough, but I'm pretty sure I can manage it," she told him.

[so_hawkward]

It took about the length of time Clint spent getting himself upright again (which, in his defense, was shorter than the last times) for him to realize that he was being an idiot. Kitty was amazing, way more amazing than he deserved, and she deserved to know how strong his feelings were getting, no matter how scary it was to admit. "I guess I'll have to learn to love you despite your taste in clothes. Or maybe it's because of that, I'm still deciding."

[throughaphase]

Kitty really hadn't been expecting to hear that, so she didn't even think about hiding the smile that came with those words. It just felt great. "Because of. Always because of," she nodded.

[so_hawkward]

"The leather pants definitely played a big part in this," Clint admitted. "But then you turned out to be, you know, you, so that helped." Look, he could either be eloquent, or stay balanced, that's what he was going with.

[throughaphase]

Kitty went for his hand again, only partly to keep him steady. Because falling would be bad timing, of course.

"It probably helps that you're really easy to be me around," she pointed out. "Actually, you're the first person in Fandom I really shared anything about myself with."

After being in town like eight months, it should be noted.

[so_hawkward]

That almost made Clint feel better than the last thing she'd said. "The same goes for you, you know. I don't like talking about myself at all, but it's not as hard with you."

[throughaphase]

"You should," Kitty said. "Because- and it's possible I haven't been clear enough- you're pretty amazing."

[so_hawkward]

"I have some amazing moments now, I'll give you that," Clint agreed, because hey, Avenger. "But the past is the past. I think who we are now matters more."

[throughaphase]

Being who she was and coming from where she did, that was a good thing to hear. "You know, I can really enthusiastically get on board with that."

[so_hawkward]

"Good," Clint said, feeling more than a little relieved. "Do you mind getting on board with leading me around this rink a few more times?" He gave her hand another squeeze, in case encouragement would help.

[throughaphase]

Like Kitty would ever turn down encouragement. "I can do that," she told him. "I think we might even be able to kick gravity's ass for a little while."