[Loki doesn't scare him, not anymore. But the reaction is...alarming. Intense. He refuses to back away, back down, stands his ground against the emotional onslaught. Even when Loki tries to hide some of it, it's still intense in the way it reverberates off Loki and against him anyway.

He hadn't thought any of this was a surprise. Why would he, why should he forgive Loki, even if it hadn't really been Loki? What does that change? Maybe if Loki had died, stayed dead--

That's unfair of him. He doesn't really...hate Loki so much anymore. Hate is something that takes a lot of energy, that's so heavy to carry for years upon years. Dislike? Yeah. Sure. Intense desire to put an arrow right in his eye? Less so these days. There's part of him that...

God. Things buried so deep that he doesn't acknowledge that they're there. But here it is. There's part of him that holds some kind of sick affection for Loki. It's impossible not to feel something when one mind touches another, even through the fucked up means of a Stone. Some kind of remnant of the man who kept an eye on his new boss, did all he could, gave all he could, for someone else's cause. The dutiful soldier. The useful weapon.

And the sick affection for a time gone by, for a few days of wildly fucked up madness, is that Loki returning it?

Clint lifts his chin. Furrows his brow.]

I didn't say how low I consider you. I just said I'm not gonna forgive you. Why would that mean I can't hear you out?

Why does my forgiveness matter to you so much? What could anything I possibly have to say to you matter?