Secrets
Liongirl15007
A/N: For those of you who don't know NCIS, I am sorry for the shout-out to my favourite Mossad officer. But I couldn't resist!
They shared many things. A friendship, an occupation, many missions. But what ties Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff together was their dark pasts. Natasha had been ripped from her mother, her childhood torn away as she was taken by the underworld and forced into a life of espionage. Trained as an assassin, like Clint. He had been beaten, abused, a punching bag for his father as far back as he can remember. Running away hadn't helped either. The only thing Clint could take solace in was his archery.
And so it was, Natasha and Clint had done their work at SHIELD, with the Avenger's Initiative, and were allowed to take some time off. But neither wanted to go home alone. Again. Natasha was prepared to put back on the mask she had worn for most of her life, and just grit her teeth and tough it out like she always did. Clint, however, was much less apt to be by himself. Yes, he was strong. Yes, he had been trained as an assassin, just like his beloved 'Tash, but he couldn't bear to see his Nat close herself off to him another time. He knows the games she plays, but he's good at picking out lies, and Natasha is not a liar. Not to him. He knows, he can see the emotion behind her eyes, which she so carefully shuts down. But he knows.
At the same time, he can't stand to lose his best friend, the only friend he's ever had. Not for a one-time fuck. If he's really going to do this, 'Tash had better realize that it's not to scratch an itch, it's not to release tension, this is something permanent. Natasha had to understand that he isn't what Ray was to Ziva. He wasn't going to be an asshole to her like him. No empty promises. And now, after defeating Loki, he was finally ready to take that step forward and accept Nat for all she was and all she had gone through, even if both of their pasts would haunt them enough to prevent their genetics from going a generation further, that would be okay, as long as they had each other.
Clint took a deep breath, and did the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life, harder than anu mission he'd ever been assigned, harder than killing his own brother.
"Hey Nat, wanna come with me?"
There was only one answer.
Yes.
