2. Rescued 2

Friday was pet day at SHIELD, or at least corgi day. Phil had three of the monsters, named Stevie, Bucky, and Dum Dum (of course). All of SHIELD called them the Howling Cor-mmandos because when Fury "secretly" stole them during lunch for a game of fetch in the suddenly-empty gymnasium, the barking and howling could be heard four floors up. They were the only pets ever brought into the building, which Clint suspected said a lot about SHIELD agents. Pets, children and spouses were not things most of them kept around for long.

Phil, of course, was the exception. He doted on his corgis who (when not playing fetch with Fury or begging Hill for treats) followed him around adoringly. They did everything he told them to without question, were quiet when he told them to be quiet, and slept happily at his feet under the desk. Clint could not compete with that, so he had resigned himself to coming in fourth on Phil's list of pets. The corgis agreed with his assessment, piling up on him like pack-mates whenever he came in to Phil's office to sit on the small sofa and explain whatever his latest infraction was, making it very clear that Clint was at the bottom of the pecking order.

Stevie, unsurprisingly, was the ring leader and took it as his personal mission to herd Clint into corners. No one really understood why, and Phil always gave him an absent-minded "good boy" whenever he came across Clint standing in a corner with Stevie sitting in front of him. Clint was never sure if Phil was talking to him or the dog.

Clint finally figured out how to escape Stevie, by going up into the ceiling and ventilation system. This drove all of the dogs batshit insane, and Clint gleefully spent many Friday afternoons scrambling through the walls and air shafts of SHIELD while the Cor-mmandos ran up and down the hallways, tripping agents as they chased the sounds and scent of Clint. Everyone got used to just letting the dogs go where ever they wanted, even into the high-security sections, knowing that they were probably in hot pursuit of Clint and that neither force was stoppable.

It was all fun and games, but it did not really make Clint a part of Phil's family and sometimes, when Phil called the dogs to him with a sharp whistle, Clint wanted nothing more than to follow and go home with them to Phil's place. Instead he waved Phil away good naturedly and ignored the hollow, empty feeling in his stomach as he headed back to his own apartment, alone.

Until one Friday morning, while Clint was getting dressed in his crappy apartment, Donut veered off course (again) and ran into his ankle. Clint realized he was not quite as alone as he thought he was, and that there was one creature on Earth to whom Clint fully belonged.

Clint had never actually owned a pet before, but now that he had Donut, he knew what he had to do.