Title: Laundry Day Extravaganza
Fandom: Marvel Comics
Characters: Clint Barton, Kate Bishop, Bucky Barnes, Lucky
Ships: Clint Barton & Kate Bishop, Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton
Rating: Teen
Length: 1000 words
Warnings: no standard warnings apply
Summary: Kate and Clint, both in desperate need of clean clothes - do laundry, eat pastries, and talk about Clint’s relationship status.
Part 5 of it's the slow road that's gonna catch the wind
Notes: It is not necessary to read any of the other installments of this series to understand this story.
More Notes: Also used as a fill for getyourwordsout bingo - prompt: bakery


"Is this your entire wardrobe?" Kate asked as he dragged the last of the bags full of dirty clothes into the laundry room down in the basement of his building.

"Probably?" Clint looked around at the mass of dirty clothes that surrounded them. "I mean, I have a change of clean clothes at Avengers Tower but other than that, this is pretty much it." He winced when he saw that he easily had twice as much laundry to wash as she did. "That's why I called it a laundry emergency."

Kate shook her head. "You never should've let it get this bad."

"Tell me something I don't know." Clint fiddled with the black hair elastic around his wrist. He'd found it in bed a few nights ago and had slipped it on with the intention of giving it back to Bucky but he'd forgotten to return it and somehow it'd become a comforting presence around his wrist. It still smelled like him.

"Why are you sniffing your wrist?" Kate moved closer. "What's that?"

Crap. "What's what?" He wasn't really sure what he and Bucky were doing relationship-wise. At first, it seemed more like a friends-with-benefits sort of thing but lately, Bucky had been staying over for longer and longer periods of time. Sure, they had sex - a lot. But they also shared meals and curled up on the couch watching television together. It was starting to look like a relationship but they hadn't talked about it.

"This." She snapped the elastic around his wrist.

He pulled his arm away from her. "One of those hair elastic thingies."

Kate gave him a look. "I can see that." She tilted her head. "Why are you wearing a hair elastic around your wrist? Whose is it?"

"Er...mine?" Clint rubbed the back of his neck.

She glanced at his short hair and then back to the elastic. "Try again."

Clint sighed, already done with the conversation. It wasn't that he wanted to lie to Kate but he wasn't sure if Bucky wanted anyone to know about them. He tended to be a little closed off and secretive. "It's just a hair elastic, leave it alone."

Kate shook her head, obviously not believing a word he said but letting it go. For now, anyway. "Where are the pastries?"

Dammit. He knew he'd forgotten something. "Upstairs."

"Dude! I brought the giant vat of coffee, you were supposed to get the sweets."

"I went to the bakery, honest. I even got two boxes full of stuff this time. I just forgot to bring it down with me. It'll only take me a minute to go upstairs and get them."

"Sure it will." Kate obviously thought he was lying and he was going to step out to the bakery now and pretend he'd done it earlier, possibly because that very thing had happened before. She turned her gaze to the door behind him, eyes going wide in surprise. Clint turned around and his heart skipped a beat. There stood Bucky, holding the two boxes from the bakery in one hand and Lucky's leash in the other. "Thought you might need these." The dog barked in agreement.

"Thanks." Clint took the boxes and put them down on the folding table behind him, then stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself.

Bucky smirked. "Not a problem."

For a moment, Clint stood there like an idiot and wondered if he should chance a kiss in front of Kate, and then Bucky stepped forward and made the decision for him by planting lips firmly on his. A tame kiss by most standards but officially their first public display of affection. Assuming Kate counted as public.

"I'm taking Lucky for a walk while I get some errands done. I'll be back before dinner. I was thinking of cooking something special." Bucky kissed him again, this time leaving the tameness behind. "Sound good?"

"Very good," Clint murmured. Bucky was an amazing cook.

Bucky took a step back and looked over Clint's shoulder. "You two have fun with your big laundry thing."

"Laundry Day Extravaganza!" Kate said, way too excitedly for so early in the morning.

Bucky looked around at the sea of dirty clothing and shook his head a little. "How are there two of you?"

After he left, Kate turned to Clint, her eyes wide. "Just a hair elastic?"

"Shut up." Clint began sorting his clothes, hoping Kate would let this go.

"Bucky Barnes? You're dating Bucky Barnes?"

Clint ran a hand through his already messed-up hair. "I'm not sure if what we're doing is dating exactly."

"Dude, he said he's cooking you a special dinner, he called your apartment home, and he's taking Lucky out for a walk while you do laundry. It kinda sounds like you're living together which goes way beyond dating on the whole commitment scale, if you ask me."

Living together? Clint scoffed. "I would know if we were living together."

"Would you?" Kate grabbed a maple bacon bear claw from one of the pastry boxes. "Really?"

He would, wouldn't he? Bucky had been staying at his place ever since getting back from his most recent mission. How long ago had that been? He bit his lip and thought back. Bucky had come over to pick up Alpine and never left. It'd been almost two months. It wasn't that Clint hadn't noticed that Bucky hadn't gone home, it was that he liked having him around. He'd thought about asking him about it but he hadn't wanted to chance scaring Bucky off. Were they living together? Clint shook his head. It was just more convenient this way. It didn't mean anything. "We're not living together." Probably.

Kate rolled her eyes and began loading one of the washing machines with her dirty clothes. "Sure, you're not."

Clint loaded his clothes in three of the washers and tried not to obsess over his relationship status. He was happy - they were happy - and that was what mattered. Right?