mental link;

[cognitived]

PRACTICAL if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it.	RESILIENT do you know what it's like to be unmade?
SKILLED if i miss, it means im just another dude with a bow.	DETERMINED this is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[cognitived]

[ Something's been up with Sam for a while now. A background hum, something he hasn't let Clint see, not really. For those of the Hive used to the sharing of minds, to the unity of beings, it might seem like omission.

It isn't.

Clint might not know what Sam's thinking, but he's known the man for years now, worked with him off and on for a good chunk of it. The last few months -- well they've simply added to that. But more importantly, Clint was there. He was there that first moment they woke up with Barnes, and the moment they saw Steve, young and thin, bird-boned. So yeah, he might not know, but he's put together awareness with far less information.

So now, Sam's mind reaches out, gentle like the lap of wave to shore, and Clint's tuning in almost before he realizes it. It's easy, now, even if there's still a low current of unease that filters through Clint at this sort of connection. Nothing he won't force himself through, eventually. But for now, Sam aches with exhaustion, a soft grief buried in the thread of his mind. It's enough. Clint lets him in, the petals of his mind unfurling for the sun, and steadies himself. Softly, a hey returned, even as he laces a c'mere through it. Soft, but it's not really gentle. Sam doesn't need kid gloves. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ There’s a flash of guilt as he picks up that hint of unease.

It’s become automatic, almost, for his mind to brush against Clint’s when they’re close enough together, checking in. He’d wonder when that happened, except part of him thinks it was that night they fought off a panic attack together, or even before that - back when they were in the Raft, when all they really had was checking in with each other.

It doesn’t really matter, though, not when it’s so easy now. It’s a comfort, even if Sam’s uncomfortable with the idea as it applies to almost anyone else, even if he knows Clint’s not happy about it. Sam’d find a way to stop it if Clint asked him to, or if it became obvious that it was too much for Clint. He doesn’t think Clint would hide it from him if he felt that uncomfortable with it - though he probably could, because Sam tries hard not to pry too much.

But there's a surge of relief and gratitude when Clint beckons him closer, when he doesn't tiptoe around it. Neither of them are the kind that need to be treated with kid gloves.

So he heads back to their room, dropping himself down into a chair. ]

I don't think that was as much of a shit show as it could have been.