“Um, excuse me? You dropped your coat?”
Clint twisted around immediately. The conversation at the table hushed, Natasha, Bucky, Steve and Sam all going quiet as they all looked up. The speaker was a short, very attractive guy dressed in a well-cut suit. He was holding out Clint’s pelt.
Clint stared.
The guy’s smile slipped under the face of all the scrutiny. He dusted nervously at the pelt. “I, um, sorry? I think it slipped off your chair when the waitress walked by? And someone almost stepped on it?”
“Thank you,” Natasha said, jabbing Clint in the side. Hard. He grunted.
“Thanks,” he echoed, taking his pelt. He hadn’t even noticed it slipping off the chair. His friends were going to mock him forever.
“You’re welcome,” the guy said with another, shyer smile. It made his brown eyes sparkle. He turned to walk away. Clint’s eyes immediately dropped to admire his ass, because hot damn.
“Clint!” Steve hissed. “Stop drooling. Your mate is walking away and you don’t even know his name!”
Shit. Right. Clint jolted upright and caught a whiff of the guy’s scent. Human. His brain clicked into gear, reviewing what he knew of humans. Thank god for Sam. Otherwise, Clint would’ve assumed that the human knew they were mates. He knew exactly what to do.
He strutted up behind the guy, who was waiting for the hostess to bring him his jacket, and said, “Hey.”
The guy turned, looking startled and slightly afraid. “Hey?”
Smoothly, Clint knelt, draping his pelt across his knee, and took the guy’s hand. “Will you marry me?”
“What?” the guy said.
“What?” said the attractive redhead standing beside him.
“What?!” Sam yelled somewhere behind them.
“I know you’re human,” Clint said earnestly. “It’s okay. I don’t mind going through the human ceremony as well. I hear it involves good food.”
The guy looked frozen, mouth hanging open.
“Oh my god,” the redhead said. “You’re a selkie.”
“I am,” Clint said, with some pride. His pelt still wasn’t in very good shape. It had taken lots of beatings. But he stroked it gently and beamed up at his new mate. Maybe his mate would be willing to help him gloss his pelt in the evening.
“Tony, you picked up a selkie’s pelt,” the redhead said. “You picked up a selkie’s pelt.” She sounded like she was torn between laughing and yelling. It was a tone Clint was intimate with; Natasha often sounded the same way when she thought they’d done something stupid.
“I… I didn’t…” Tony actually squeaked. It was adorable. His cheeks had gone pink. “I… what?”
“We’re mates now because you picked up my pelt,” Clint explained. If Tony didnt know much about selkies, that meant Clint got to teach him! He squeezed Tony’s hand gently. “But Sam explained that humans have their own ceremonies. You can teach me about them.” He smiled.
Tony squeaked again, seemingly unable to look away or respond. Clint liked that. He’d always hoped to find a mate that found him attractive, and who was attractive in turn. He shifted and deliberately bulged one of his biceps, just so that Tony could see he was muscular.
“I can provide for our family,” he added, just in case that was an issue. “I teach kids how to shoot bows.”
The redhead now looked more like she wanted to laugh than yell. “That’s very commendable,” she said, covering her mouth with one hand to hide her smile. “Well, Tony? You didn’t answer…?”
“Clint,” Clint said quickly. “Clint Barton.”
“Clint. You didn’t answer Clint.”
Clint nodded and smiled. “So, Tony, will you marry me?”
Tony opened his mouth and then closed it. He blinked slowly, eyelashes long and dark, before finally whispering an uncertain, “Uh, sure?”
Oh my gosh this is the bestest thing ever!!!!
Karate, SPN Demonic Octopus Guardian 