Molly & Clint | Monday Afternoon

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

After a text exchange with his old SWORD partner, Clint asks Molly for a favor.


Clint's phone buzzed on the counter next to him, but he ignored it. It kept buzzing, though, and a small voice at the back of his mind was worried the low-grade irritation would bother Molly where she sat across from him, so he finally pulled himself away from his data collation to see who was blowing up his phone. "Ugh," he said, reading the messages on his screen without actually unlocking it. If he didn't unlock it, there'd be no 'read at' notification to the person on the other end.

Sliding his rolling stool to the side so he wound up directly across the counter from his labmate, Clint flopped over dramatically and groaned. "Molly..."

Molly had a screwdriver in hand, and she was working on the spring mechanism for the device Clint had asked for her help with before Christmas. At the sound of her name, Molly jumped and the spring shot out, smacking her in the face. Luckily, she'd been hit with worse so she didn't even register the impact, and squinted thoughtfully, making some notes before glancing back to Clint.

"Clinnnnnnttttt?" she repeated with the same dramatic tone and a laugh.

"Molly. Molly-Mols. Light of my life, mechanical engineering genius Molly - please go pick up the dead plant I apparently left on my desk at SWORD so that I don't have to see my asshole former partner. Please. I will put so much vodka on reserve for you for when you're twenty-one. I will find legit mead for you. Please." In point of fact, Clint had been a little bit slapdash about cleaning out his desk and his locker. He couldn't be entirely sure that he hadn't left something he'd actually find useful there. Apparently there was a box of 'useless crap' with Clint's name on it and Hendrickson had to make an actual attempt at returning it before he tossed it.

Only... Clint was in the middle of this venom research for Natasha and everything - seeing Hendrickson would totally harsh his mellow. It would interrupt his groove. He'd lose the flow. He also just really didn't want to deal with Hendrickson in the wake of the whole... everything that had happened. In general. With the elbow to the nose and nearly getting shot thing.

Molly laughed, looking highly amused. "Dude, I like mead but... do you have a stock pile or something? Your liver kinda needs a break every once and awhile, y'know. To break down actual toxins and... stuff," she said, then shrugged.

"Tell you what, you buy me lunch some time and we'll call it even? I totally wanna go to Serendipity3 and get a frozen hot chocolate. I hear they're awesome."

"Sold! Done! Deal! No take backs," Clint said. "Also, c'mon. You know how Asgardians are. I had to up my tolerance somehow or I'd've never been able to keep up with Thor. Actually, it was more Natasha with the vodka and nobody can actually keep up with Thor, but! That was not my point." He offered her a smile, though, and said, "Hendrickson's got a box of stuff that he finished clearing out my desk at SWORD. He says he's on his way upstate to visit his family so he's only doing like a detour through Salem Center. If I'm not around, he's gonna chuck it all in a dumpster."

Molly quirked a brow. "Sounds a little harsh. Who's Hendrickson and what happened to make him wanna make like Oscar the Grouch?"

"We broke up," Clint joked. Then he quirked a half-smile and said, "But seriously, we worked together at SWORD for a couple years. Things weren't so hot there, at the end. He tried to shoot a perp. I sort of kept him from doing that. Maybe a little violently."

Molly slowly nodded thoughtfully. "Wow, that's pretty heavy," she said. "Did he get in trouble?"

"Nah, they sent me to Alaska," Clint said. "Disciplinary action, since I acted against him in a potentially dangerous situation. It's fine, though. He's not really an asshole, he just acts like one. If he'd ever slow down enough to actually listen to somebody..." Shaking his head, he paused and then let it thunk back down on the counter in front of him. "Anyway, that's why I'm asking you to go grab my stuff."

Molly made a face. "He better be glad I only use my powers for good or I'd punch him in the face," she said, then nodded. "Yeah, I can totally do it."

"Thanks, you're the best," Clint said, smiling. "Seriously, you're awesome. So much delicious food is in your future."

Molly grinned back. "So much delicious food?" she said excitedly, then paused. "Do I gotta do more stuff to get this food?"

"No, literally just find Hendrickson, get my stuff, and come back," Clint said. "Promise, no other hoops to jump through." Sitting up, he snagged his phone and flipped through his contacts until he got to Hendrickson. "Here, this is what he looks like."

Molly squinted at the picture, then nodded. "Get your stuff from the tall, scowly, guy wearing a suit," she said, giving him a salute. "Kay. I'm on it. Does he have time tomorrow? I gotta go into town anyway and pick up some parts, so I could take care of both at the same time."

"Nah, whenever's good," Clint said, smiling. "Thanks, Mols. I'll text him so he expects you."