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Clint had heard of Bucky Barnes, of course he had. The war hero turned infamous hitman and terrorist turned potential ally again? Definitely one of the most interesting fruits on the grapevine.
So he knew exactly who this wary figure was, radiating discomfort as he trailed like a mistrustful cat after Steve through the hallways of the operations base. New SHIELD had a more chaotic set-up than classic SHIELD but, you know, still good.
Clint offered a smile and a friendly nod to Steve as he approached his team-mate, “Good to see you working again, Cap.”
He got one of those famous poster-boy grins in return, “The work’s never done.” Clint would have rolled his eyes at the walking cliché had Steve not paused and glanced back to his shadow. “Bucky,” Steve ventured and the Winter Soldier looked up at him from the floor, not the reaction of someone hearing their name but that of someone knowing when they were being spoken to. “This is Agent Clint Barton, Hawkeye and a fellow Avenger. Clint, Bucky Barnes.” There was that eye roll, he couldn’t help it, the pride in the Captain’s voice and smile were just too much.
Bucky, however, was a lot more focused now and scanned Clint in a second then offered his metal hand to him wordlessly. Clint chuckled as he took it, feeling the strength in the cool fingers of the mythical assassin, “Lefty?” he ventured because dealing with the comedically challenged had never stopped him before.
Bucky shrugged a shoulder, letting the contact on the handshake linger for a second and Clint could see a flash of something in his eyes. The soldier gave him a wry and very intriguing smile, “I go both ways,” Bucky said simply and released the archer’s hand.
Steve visibly withdrew slightly in Clint’s peripheral and hesitated in gathering his words, “Come on Buck, we’ve got places to be,” he said, all business once more and signalled for Bucky to continue on their way.
This left Clint dithering in the hallway, confused at what to make of that encounter and totally unable to remember where he was supposed to be going.