Chapter Text
Clint and Barney were Up To Something. They kept whispering in corners and disappearing with Lucky. Skye had been too distracted and busy to notice at first, but after a few days she realised that they never seemed to be around when she was looking for them. Clint looked innocent (but felt guilty through their bond) when she asked, so she cornered Barney.
“Um,” Barney was definitely not as good a liar as Clint, so when he said nothing she just raised an eyebrow and waited silently. “It’s a surprise. For you. For Valentine’s Day,” he capitulated in the end. “Please don’t make me ruin it.”
He gave her a pathetic look and Skye laughed. “All right. But only because Valentine’s is in two days, or you might be in trouble, buster.”
Stark was throwing a big party for Valentine’s Day - any excuse for a party, Skye thought with amusement - so she guessed whatever ‘surprise’ the boys had been up to was intended for that. Clint came up with some gorgeous flowers and chocolates in the early morning anyway, so she was hardly deprived for romance.
The party was in full swing, everyone having a roaring good time, when a piercing whistle suddenly cut through the noise. Everyone quieted and turned to look for the source.
Barney stood at the open elevator doors, Lucky at his side. He nodded to Clint, who was perched behind Skye on the back of the couch, before letting go of Lucky’s collar.
Lucky came trotting straight through the crowd to Skye, head held high, something in his mouth, ignoring the hands that reached out to pet him. As he got closer Skye realised he was carrying one of Clint’s arrows. Reaching her, he sat down on his haunches and laid the arrow in her lap.
“Good boy, good boy,” Skye chuckled softly, giving Lucky a pat. The labrador woofed softly with pleasure at the praise, nudging at her hand.
“There’s something on the arrow,” Jemma, sitting beside Skye, leaned forward to look.
“So there is,” Skye said softly, catching the gleam of bright metal. She glanced back at Clint, who leaned forward and said softly,
“The head of the arrow unscrews.”
She smiled, and picked up the arrow. Carefully unscrewed the head and handed it back to Clint, who pocketed it, and tipped the shaft up.
A circle of vibranium fell into her palm, little diamonds set flush into the surface all around the edge. It was perfect for Skye; it wouldn’t catch on anything when she worked, and the vibranium was impervious to the vibrations she sent out through her hands. It was worth a king’s ransom, not that Tony had cared when Clint told him what he needed.
Clint swung agilely off the back off the couch and went to kneel at Skye’s feet - though he had to nudge Lucky out of the way to do it. Taking the ring from Skye’s hand, uncaring that all eyes were on them, he said;
“Will you marry me?”