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It was the first day of classes, and Clint wanted to get this right. He’d never really done the whole “school” thing and was only here because he’d gotten his GED and been offered enough scholarships to cover most of the costs.
Walking into the lecture hall, he gulped. It was huge and even though he was a little early, most of the seats were already taken. Nat had said she’d save him a seat, but he couldn’t see any sign of her bright red hair. He quickly sent her a text asking where she was and scanned the rows for an empty seat.
When he finally saw one, he hurried down the steps and got the attention of the guy next to the empty seat. “Psst! Anyone sitting there?”
The guy looked up from his laptop and smiled. “No, this seat’s free.”
Clint was stunned. The guy was really cute with dark brown hair and blue eyes he could easily get lost in. As Clint shimmied by, he became very aware of just how solidly muscled the guy was. In dark jeans and faded Captain America shirt, the guy should have been the kind to just fade into the background, but Clint found he was very aware of him.
Sitting heavily, Clint pulled out a spiral notebook and a pen, hunching his shoulders to not look so obviously poor. “I’m Phil by the way.”
“Huh?”
Phil smiled at Clint and pointed to himself. “Me, my name is Phil. It’s a pretty full class, so if we work together I think we can always guarantee a seat for both of us.” Clint continued to stare at Phil blankly. “This is the part where you tell me your name and we agree to be at least friendly.”
“Oh, right, sorry. I’m Clint. I’m still new to this whole college thing.” Actually, Clint had been trying to find a way to make Phil smile again so he could watch the corners of his eye crinkle.
Laughing, Phil leaned close. “Yeah, you do have the whole new to school look about you. Are you sure you’re supposed to be in Econ 405?”
“Wait, this isn’t Intro to Anthropology? Shit! I’ve got to go!” Clint was up and out of his seat before Phil could say anything and running to find the right lecture hall.
**An hour and a half later**
Clint left his class feeling a little overwhelmed. Thankfully he’d been in the right building, just the wrong room. When he’d spotted Natasha, he’d taken his seat and told her everything.
“He was so cute, Nat! And I just ran out of there like an idiot.”
Natasha was silent and grinning and Clint wanted to poke her to make her say something. Before he could, there was a voice at his ear. “Cute, huh? I’m glad I decided to find your class. Coffee?”
Shocked to see Phil standing there, Clint just nodded dumbly and took the hand, Phil held out.