A/n: this is another request by iamKhrfan123! I love all the stuff you give me, especially in times like this where I'm extremely unmotivated. Enjoy!

The crowd wowed as you finished your last trick, and then flooded the street with applause once you bowed. You stood up straight and acted as humble as you could, thanking each of them as they came up to drop some stray bills into your hat.

This has been a routine for you for a few months now. You never knew your parents, them having died just after you were born in some horrific accident. They left you everything, you just weren't able to access any of it until you turned eighteen, which would be another four years.

Foster homes never seemed to work out for you, either. Maybe that was because of the magic you possessed.

It wasn't something you knew of right away. The magical powers only revealed themselves when you were about five and you had no idea what they were, let alone how to control them.

Several homes gave you back, not knowing how to deal with the 'strange phenomenon' that came with you. It got to a point where you simply decided to run away and live on the street. It was here, on the streets, that you finally figured out how to control your magic.

And how to use it to your advantage.

People always love seeing a little show on the street, whether its a dancer or singer. You joined that realm and started performing magic tricks. Little ones at first, just to get people's attention.

At a certain point, you started getting bolder and bigger with your tricks. Everyone just assumed you were fantastic at what you did.

Others, you'd soon find out, suspected more.

"Thank you so much," you gushed when a woman dropped a twenty in your hat. That'll get you three meals! "You're so kind."

Maybe you were amping up the act a bit so people would like you more, but you also were very grateful. These people paid for your food essentially.

As you were gathering up your things, you noticed someone was still there. He had been standing in the back of the crowd. But he was rather tall, so you were able to see him peaking over the people.

You tried to pay him no mind, assuming he was just observing, even if it did feel creepy. After a minute, he finally walked off and took a phone call. You made sure you had all of your things and then went off to find a different street to perform on, with hopefully new people.

Luckily your walk wasn't too awful, and you only had a few things to carry. Your little top hat that you found in the dumpster outside of a costume shop, your backpack that you bought at a Goodwill to carry your few possessions and all the money you made, and a couple cheap magician props from the same dumpster- to give your shows a little more "street show" and less "oh my god a magical being."

After some walking, you found a pretty large and empty street corner, and started to get your stuff set up. This alone usually starts to draw a crowd, and today wasn't any different.

By the time you were starting your first trick, there was already about seven people watching. Their gasps and applause only brought more people over to you.

Sometimes, this was a bad thing. Like when the cops saw. They weren't huge fans.

"Hey!" You turned your head and saw an angry cop stomping towards you. "What have we told you!"

To his credit, the police had told you a few times to stop. What they couldn't understand was these shows kept you alive.

And so the only solution to this situation was to run. In a flash, you were holding all of your items and sprinting down the sidewalk.

Another perk about living on the street: you knew them. At this point in your life, you knew basically every alley way and side street like the back of your hand. It wasn't too hard to escape the cop because of this.

You took a few sharp turns down some alleys before flying down the steps to the subway. People parted easily, not wanting to bother with whatever was going on. When it came to the doors in, someone held the exit door open for you. Some people just silently had other's backs.

In the actual subway car, you weren't able to sit down, which was fine by you. Not having to run was enough of a rest. The chase was your sign to be done with shows for the day. The handful you did earlier made enough money to get you dinner and breakfast, so you didn't mind.

The stop you got off at dropped you off in Brooklyn, close to where you "headquartered." There was an alley that was safe enough for you and some other homeless kids to camp out without fearing for cops or other people who didn't mind their business.

"Hey there, kid."

The voice stopped you in your tracks, and you saw a man standing by your humble little set-up. He was facing away from you, taking a look around the camp.

"Who are you?" you asked, moving your things to have one hand free. You had never needed to use your magic in self-defense, but never say never.

Finally, the man turned to face you, and you took in his appearance. He had brownish blond hair and a face that told a thousand stories (which was the nice way to say he'd been through some shit).

"I'm Clint. We've heard about you and I decided to come down, check you out," he explained. In reality, he only created more questions in your head. "One of my friends saw your show earlier, said it was pretty impressive."

You thought back and remembered the man who stood and watched a little too long. "He was kind of creepy," you said.

Clint shrugged. "Yeah, well, we're working on that. He's not much of a spy," he said, taking a couple steps toward you.

In response, you took a couple steps back. Clint stopped immediately and sighed. "Look, kid, I promise I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Why do you care about me? Some random homeless kid?" you asked, your voice sharp. "I've been fine out here for years, I don't need anyone stepping in now."

There was something in the mysterious Clint's face that looked like sadness when you said that. "I'm sorry you've had to fend for yourself. If we had heard about you earlier, I promise we would've come earlier..."

Your eyes narrowed as you glared at him. "Who is this 'we' you keep talking about?" you asked, wondering if it was just him and his friend, or if more people were involved for some reason.

He looked around before taking a small step forward again. "I can show you? I promise you'll be safe. But I think you'd believe me more if I showed you."

The words he said were creepy, and you would've said get lost, but it was the way he spoke and looked at you. It made you think he had kids of his own. You actually felt like you could trust him, something you haven't been able to say in a long time.

"Okay. But if something feels off, I'm out," you said. You moved your bag so you could shove your things inside, then put it on. "Where are we going?"

He opened his mouth, but was cut off by a car pulling up. You turned around quickly, but saw no one in it. "That's our ride." Clint walked past you and opened up the passenger door. "You coming?"

For a second, you thought about turning around and never seeing this man again. But then you thought about it. A part of you was almost hopeful he was offering something good. Something almost like family.

"Okay," you said.

Clint smiled as you came around and got in, then carefully shut the door before going over to the driver's side. "All right FRIDAY, lets get back home," he said.

You gave him a strange look, but then the car answered. "Right away."

He looked over at you and saw the confusion, chuckling a bit to himself. "That's FRIDAY, she's an AI that kind of is in charge of everything. Which is nice because I hate driving here."

You nodded along and looked out the window as the car drove off. After a few minutes of thought, you looked back over to Clint. "What is it that you and your friend want with me?" you asked him, having moved on from that a little too quickly before getting in the car.

He sighed and looked over at you. "You're good at magic. One of our people found some videos and we thought it was a little too good. So, we started watching. Some pretty trained eyes were able to pick up on the fact that you were doing more than some slight-of-hand.

"So, we decided we wanted to meet you. Steve- the creepy one from earlier- was out trying to find you. I was going to meet you at your next show, but then the cop showed up, so I decided to meet you at your... well, where you sleep."

The entire time, you kept wanting to know who "we" was. You just begged and hoped you weren't falling into the jaws of some monsters.

"How'd you know I was magical?" you asked, hoping he'd give something away.

Instead, he shrugged. "Like I said, we have some pretty trained eyes that were able to spot it," he said. Clearly he knew how to keep certain bits of information private.

The rest of the ride, you turned to the side and stared out the window. You even started feeling really tired at a point and, despite your best efforts, fell asleep.

You woke up to someone gently shaking your shoulder. Your initial thought was to get defensive, but you remembered who you were with and what had happened over the past hour and stayed calm.

"We're here," he said, offering a half smile.

You stepped out of the car, hiding a yawn behind your hand. The two of you were in a parking garage- made sense- and you followed Clint to an elevator. While being in the parking garage made sense, the style of it didn't.

It was a really nice parking garage. And you'd slept in your fair share to know how bleh they are. "Where are we?" you asked, and despite your best efforts, the awe you felt bled through into your words.

Clint smiled. "You'll see. We're gonna take the elevator up to the common floor, bypass all the busy crowds int he first dozen."

Your amazement was hard to hide. This would probably be the coolest building you'd ever step inside.

The elevator moved quickly and silently, taking you past a floor a second. There weren't any windows to see the city, but you figured you'd get that view when you reached the floor Clint had the AI take you to.

And you did. The second those doors opened, you could see New York right in front of you. And it was amazing. "Oh my god..." you breathed, taking some slow steps out of the elevator. Then, you looked around the floor Clint brought you to. "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the Avengers Tower, kid," Clint said.

You spun around immediately. "Avengers Tower? As in, Tony Stark?" you asked, having read enough on thrown away newspapers and heard enough chatter from others about the billionaire and his project.

Clint nodded. "When I said we, I meant the Avengers. We have people who look around the internet and in the city, trying to see if there are any more enhanced people. Wanda, she's the one who found you. Said your magic was pretty real."

You blinked at him several times. "So, where does that leave me?"

Clint nodded, then moved to sit down on one of the couches, so you followed. "Well, there are a couple. You could go on, live your life the way you want on the streets and we'll never bother you again," he said.

While that did sound nice, you were intrigued by the mysterious other option. "Or...?"

He smiled. "Or... you could stay here. We'll help you out with your powers, explore everything you can do with them, and get you a spot on the team."

"This feels too good to be true. What's the catch?"

Clint shook his head. "No catch, not really. Now, if you go back to the way you were living, I can't promise SHIELD won't come after you if they find out about you, but they usually rely on us for that kind of stuff, so it isn't very likely."

You sat back on the couch and thought. Live your life how you'd been living? Become a possible superhero? It was a tough question to answer. But, really, you already knew the answer the second Clint showed you kindness.

Finally, your eyes more to his. "Do I get my own room?"

A smile spread across his face. "You get so much more than that."

You mirrored his action. "Then it looks like I'm in. Where do I start?"

~Fin~

A/n: this one is long, which is why it took me a bit longer to post it (I also had plans today so oops). But I really like it! I feel like I might do a sequel to this, just a little thing that takes place a few years in the future, but I'll need a second to figure that all out.

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you next week! In the meantime, feel free to check out whatever else you want on my profile :)

Bye Lovelies!!!!!!!