Title: Coffee Shop Realizations
Author: Shaneequa
Rating: General
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Summary: College AU. Clint has been avoiding Natasha, but he can't avoid her forever, especially at the coffee shop that he and the crew all hang out at.
Author's Note: This is for Black Widow and Hawkeye OTP, for being my Clintasha confidant, thanks girl! Happy reading all! ( Might be persuaded to continue this as series of one-shots... we'll see with the response!)
Natasha was sitting at her desk, staring at nothing because she couldn't concentrate on the paper she had to write for her Foreign Relations class, trying to figure out why exactly she hasn't heard from Clint for three days – not since the most recent party that Tony threw in what he deemed the "Avengers House" (most like the house of misfits, funded by the fortune of his father). That party was on Friday night, and it was the tail end of Tuesday.
(Her ten page paper is due Wednesday, and she made no progress because of that thing with Clint).
She glanced over at her phone, checking to see if she would have messages, or a snapchat, or anything. Nothing. Which was weird considering the fact that she and Clint never usually went a day without texting or snapchatting each other a random picture, or sentence, or anything. She didn't realize how reliant she was on that one human contact with her best friend.
Mid-thought, the door to her room opened with Maria storming in. "Any progress on the paper?"
Natasha shook her head.
"Seriously, Nat? You've been working on that all weekend!" her dark haired friend complained. "You blew us off for drinks Saturday night for it."
The redhead shrugged. "I know, I just… I'm having a hard time concentrating on what I'm supposed to be writing."
"That's what you get for being a political science major."
"I enjoy writing and reading."
Maria rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you want to go down to the coffee shop tonight and study there? Maybe you'd have better luck focusing there?"
"Tonight is my night off from the shop, Maria, I don't think I want to go there," Natasha said, this time rolling her eyes at her friend. "Seriously, Maria. I'll just sit here and concentrate on my paper, this paper isn't going to writing itself."
She shrugged, "suit yourself."
Maria left her room to leave Natasha back with her thoughts, thoughts about whether or not Clint would be going down to the coffee shop to study. Usually, he would be at the shop, drinking his blood volume in coffee, but when she wasn't at work he usually made an effort to come over to her place and just sit and study with her. She always had Tuesdays off, he knew that. Yet he was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, Maria walked out of their apartment and to the coffee shop downstairs where they usually hung out to study. The crew was all there, including Clint who she honestly wondered why he wasn't in Natasha's bedroom studying with her as he usually did.
At the back corner, the round table was already occupied by Steve, Jane, Tony, Pepper, Bruce, and Thor (whose name was actually Donald, but earned the nickname from his time in Rugby), then there was Clint who was in the oversized chair pulled close to the round table immersed in his book – the nerd.
"Hey Maria!" Pepper greeted her with a smile, looking up from her fast typing on her laptop. Maria smiled and nodded t them as a greeting before taking her spot between Pepper and Steve. Tony looked at her over Pepper and nodded over at Clint who was still trying to concentrate on his book. Maria shrugged as a response so Tony cleared his throat.
In a bellowing voice, Tony started. "So, where's Natasha?"
Everyone looked at Clint for a reaction, waited there until he rolled his eyes and finally looked up from his book. "What? Why are you all looking at me?"
"Did you guys have a fight?" Jane asked him.
"Yeah, usually I get at least one 'stupid Clint picture' per day shoved to my face by Natasha and I didn't see one all weekend, AND you never came over this weekend," Maria pointed out.
"She told me that I would – and I quote – never find someone if I spent most of my time with me," Clint said with a bitter undertone that none of them would normally catch.
The girls looked at each other with a frown while Steve and Thor just tried to concentrate on their work. (They were really eavesdropping, but wanted to make it look as though they were proper human beings, not like Tony).
"So you're just going to stop spending time with your best friend?" Pepper grilled him.
"She told me to."
Jane face palmed. "Clint, how can you be so dense? She's testing you!"
"Testing me?"
Tony hit Clint on the shoulder. "Yeah, c'mon, bro. It's a classic test."
"Whatever," Clint shrugged. "I've put everything on the table, so many times, this is her just trying to let me down without letting me down."
"Seriously? She's testing you to see if you want to see other people!" Pepper interjected. "For someone who brags about having 20/13 vision, you really don't see much."
"Hey! That's mean."
"But really, though, bro. You're avoiding her because she said maybe you should spend some time with other people? That's like if a woman says she's fine, it's the complete opposite!"
Clint shook his head and just raised his book to say that it was the end of their conversation, but Maria had other plans.
"She's been sitting in her room, staring at a blank word document for the last weekend because your dumb-ass decided to spend Friday night flirting with Bobbi Morse instead of spending time with her."
"Hey! She was talking it up with Barnes!" Clint defended from behind his book.
"Only because you were chatting it up with Bobbi," Pepper pointed out. "Basic principles, she wasn't going to be alone for the night if you were going to run around flaunting Bobbi in her face."
He shook his head. "You guys don't know Natasha."
As if on que, Natasha walked to the back of the coffee shop, with her book bag on her shoulder. "You guys talking about me?"
The gang went back to their laptops typing away to seem busy. Clint just raised his book and sank further into his chair.
"Oh, hey Natasha! Didn't see you there," Tony exclaimed to break the silence. Steve was attempting to stand up from his chair and give up the seat to Natasha, but she shook her head.
"I'm not staying," Natasha said. "Barnes is supposed to pick me up here in ten minutes."
Pepper, Maria, and Jane looked over at each other.
"Why?"
"We're going out for coffee."
"Well this is a coffee shop, why don't you just stay here?" Jane asked her.
From the corner of their eye, they could see Clint stuffing his book back in his ratty purple bag pack before standing up.
"'m gonna dip," Clint said throwing on strap over his shoulder. "See you guys later."
He brushed past Natasha, throwing her a small smile. "See ya later, Tasha."
The crew looked at her then over at Clint who was walking out the door to the coffee shop.
"You need to talk to him," Maria exclaimed.
"Why? What else is there to say? He doesn't - "
"He does! He's only ignoring you because you told him to."
"I told him too?"
"You told him 'and I quote, you will never find someone if you spend all your time with me.'"
"I -"
Natasha ran out of the coffee shop to catch up to Clint who was walking with his head held down.
"Hey!" Natasha said grabbing his elbow to stop him. "Where you going?"
"Back to the house," Clint shrugged, looking back towards the entrance of the coffee shop. "Shouldn't you be back there waiting for Barnes?"
"Who cares about Barnes?"
Clint looked at her confused. "You do?"
Natasha shook her head. "I don't."
"You don't?"
"I care about you," Natasha said with a smile, grabbing his hand and giving it a tug. "I'm sorry."
He smiled at her, her crooked smile. "I care about you too."
"So we're good?"
"We're good," Clint nodded with a smile, stretching his arms out and enveloping her with a tight hug.
Reviews please? :)