Becoming roomates by osmosis.

The Move

It was a gradual thing. Clint knew that Steve didn't exactly enjoy being in his apartment, for whatever reason and the archer himself didn't really like being in his cramped and barren bunk at SHIELD HQ. After those first few visits Clint started become a more frequent visitor to the apartment in Brooklyn. It got him out of his bunk and broke up the loneliness that he suspected Steve had when he was 'at home'.

It started off small enough, instead of Steve making his way out to the HQ Clint would come by and pick him up, sometimes in his Jeep, other times on his motorcycle so Steve could break out his own bike and they enjoyed a short cruise together. He would be invited in for a few moments for a drink and a bit of talk before they headed out and when he dropped Steve off he'd be invited to linger for a few moments to recap the day and part ways quietly.

The picks ups and drops offs slowly turned into casual visits to hang around for an hour or two talking or even quietly reading together, Clint pleading that HQ was to full of bangs and crashes that crippled any attempts at reading or study or paperwork.

It wasn't long before the one hour visits bled into three or four and sometimes longer and more and more often those visits started to lapse over meal times. Steve wasn't one to turn anyone hungry out and he did his best to provide faire for them both and tried to keep a stock of snacks which the super soldier was very careful about choosing. Especially after an incident where a box of snack bars had concealed chocolate and Clint had nearly suffocated and gone into cardiac arrest. The eppi pen the archer always carried saved his life and a quick check up and a few administered drugs from a set of paramedics put him back into fighting shape. Technically that was the first time that Clint had slept over, exhausted from the ordeal the archer had fallen asleep on the couch with Steve watching over him nervously. Steve never allowed chocolate to cross the doorway into his apartment ever again.

The snacks slowly gave way to full meals. Clint never refused when Steve offered to feed him though he complained quietly about being a burden and feeling like he was putting Steve out so the archer started to bring over his own groceries and would more than once offer to cook, mixing up Steve's Americana dishes with a global range that Clint picked up from his panem travels on missions for SHIELD, often aided by a recipe pulled up on his smartphone. As the recipes got more and more elaborate the more Steve helped until it only felt right when both men were busy at work on the shared meal no matter what it was or whose "turn" is was supposed to be.

Clint always felt awkward if he left to quickly after a meal so he always stayed and insisted on helping scrub and dry the dishes since Steve refused to use the dishwasher and continue conversation or sometimes worked in companionable quiet. That time started to stretch as they turned back to work on their books or paperwork and occasionally one of the movies on the Netflix list Clint had created for him or sometimes just talk, sometimes late into the night.

Steve didn't really notice when Clint started to leave things at his apartment. First it was just whatever book the archer happened to be reading, or the file or stack of paperwork he'd been working on. Once Clint left his satchel with his laptop and E-Reader, files and notebooks there. When he found them safe there the next day he was just as likely to leave the satchel as he was to take it. Slowly it started to accumulate, a small stack of books and paperwork growing, and then a small pile of workout clothes and in equal fashion civilian clothes. Even some of Clint's combat under armor made its way into the laundry basket Steve started to keep the pile in. A large, hand sewn patchwork quilt of faded green, purple and white was draped over the back of the sofa from the time Clint had hidden from SHIELD medical at Steve's place with a cold that could knock down a horse.

Clint didn't start sleeping over regularly until following Steve home from team mission one night. Exhausted and gritty from cement dust, dirt and caked up blood, the archer and super soldier had helped each other strip out of their body armor and weapons, took turns in the shower, made weak coffee before Steve fell asleep on the couch and Clint the chair under the quilt. After that night every night or early morning after a hard fought battle they did the same, dozing off on the living room furniture together or Steve in his bed and Clint on the couch, they always roused early after for a greasy breakfast of steak and eggs and thick black coffee before Clint left for a few hours only to be back by lunch time,

The first night Clint stayed over without the condition of combat Steve was the one that insisted, the archer had been up since early that morning training and in meetings before making way over to the apartment in Brooklyn for a very late dinner and when he dozed off in the middle of a movie Steve insisted he spend the night. Slowly once or twice a week became four or five. More of Clint's clothes made it over to Steve's place and his combat equipment, bow and quiver, firearms and knives, all of it, found a new home in Steve's apartment, under the explanation that Clint was there so often that he was more likely to be called to arms from Steve's place than his own bunk and he didn't want to be summoned unarmed.

Steve had been looking at the secondary room in the apartment for a few months now. It was mostly used for storage, a few boxes stacked in a corner and the laundry baskets with Clint's clothes and his weapons in another. He looked at that empty room every day and wondered and fretted over the idea of offering the space. Then Clint had dumped himself on Steve's couch and related to him how Thor, bent by some spell, had destroyed his bunk at the SHIELD base, everything he'd had in the room had been broken or destroyed beyond repair. Steve was silent as he listened before quietly offering the other room in the apartment. Clint had stared at him oddly, trying to process the offer. Stunned silence and a now abnormal night away from the apartment in Brooklyn had nearly sent Steve running to HQ to apologize and explain and do whatever he could to mend the trespass.

On his way down the stairs to head for the SHIELD building he nearly knocked over Clint trying to carry a small box of some of his salvaged possessions up into the apartment, he didn't have much more to bring over, almost everything he had had already made the move.

A/N: This was actually the first one shot I wrote in this series . I still wanted there to be more between this one and the beginning but they have yet to be written! Hope you guys enjoyed!