Title: Family/ Fandom: The Avengers
Genre/Type: Friendship / Characters/Pairings: Natasha, the Team and subtle Natasha/Clint
Series: None / Rating: K / Warnings/Spoilers: None / Setting: Post-Avengers / Written For: Prompt Birthday
A/N: I don't own the Avengers or any of the pairings etc.
When they said that it would be easy, Natasha wasn't so sure. And she was right. "Why don't you change places with Clint?" Steve had asked.
"Yeah, it'll be fun. In and out. A piece of cake." Bruce had said.
"Yeah, easy, unless you don't think you can... you know, do it as good as Clint. It is after all a man's job." Tony said his arms crossed over his chest, a suspicious smirk on his face. Clint had remained silent during the whole exchange, sharpening his arrows, trying to keep a grin off his face. He failed. Natasha had agreed. Firstly because she didn't want them to think that she was chicken, secondly because she loved a challenge. Of course she could do it as well as Clint, better in her mind. Yeah, he was the trained sniper, but how difficult could keeping an eagle-eye out on a simple in and out mission be, right? Now she sat here, on the roof of a New York business building, watching an executive party in the opposite penthouse. Man, was she stupid. The wind was picking up speed and with the speed, the cold. The wind sent a chill through Natasha, making shivers run up and down her spine. She gave an involuntary shiver and pulled the SHEILD standard issue jacket tighter around her. She sighed and pressed her ear-piece closer to her. Whispers of laughter came through, the rest was just static. Bruce had told her that would happen in this kind of weather, what with the wind and all. Yeah, right. Just what had she gotten herself into? She was sure that this was a trap of some sort; the badly hidden grin on Clint's face had told her that. Why had she done it? Walked straight in those joker's trap? They were up to something, she was sure. But what? Natasha glanced at her watch, squinting at the numbers. 10:49. What was taking them so long? She would have been in and out hours ago, having got the info that people didn't even know that they had before they even knew she was gone. She sighed again, focusing her binocs into the suite. Clint was talking and laughing with some perky blonde, with a tight dress that showed off her best assets. She was sure she'd seen her before. She gritted her teeth as the girl lent into Clint then the pair burst out laughing. Why should she care if her partner flirted with someone? But she did and that bothered her. She lowered her binocs and smiled. They were fake anyway. She shivered again as another gust of piercing wind hit her.
"At least it isn't raining." She muttered, trying in vain to stop shivering. She peered through her binocs again. But this time Clint wasn't there, neither was the perky blond. Weird. She scanned the room but didn't see him anywhere. Great, he was off someone scoring points and she was out here in the bitting wind. She moved slowly to the left and landed on Steve, talking to a brunette. From here Natasha couldn't see her face, but again she looked familiar. Behind him Tony and Bruce were surrounded by girls, Tony of course being the centre of attention. Bruce seemed oddly comfortable with all the attention and that made Natasha frown again. Something was up, defiantly up. Suddenly her view of a laughing Tony and Bruce was obscured. Natasha looked up, only to have cold water fall into her eyes. The heavens opened up, making her look like a drowned rat with a saggy red rag on her head. "Why do I open my big mouth?" Natasha groaned and shoved her stuff as far under the tiny awning as she could. She plonked herself down. It was her birthday today. Not that Natasha liked birthdays anyway. They were a pointless waste of time, with people that didn't really want to be there anyway, reminding you just how old you really were. Clint was the only one who ever remembered her birthday. They usually went out for pizza or something but this year, Clint hadn't remembered. So Natasha moved on, planning to celebrate at home with the only thing about birthdays that she liked: cake. But here she sat, in the freezing rain, on her birthday; while Clint and the others laughed it up inside. Maybe that was it maybe that was their trick. Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, it was play the fool with Natasha. Fun. At home, her lonely piece of chocolate cake sat waiting, the kind that made you sick straight after you ate it. But it was worth it and that thought helped Natasha's annoyance to subside. A little. She glanced at her watch again: 10:51. "Come on!" She muttered, training her binocs at the room again. This time Steve was gone and frowning, Natasha saw that Bruce stood alone with the group of girls, who were now down to four, instead of the dozen or so that were there before. First Clint, now Steve and Tony? What were they up too? Natasha strained to hear any noises inside, but again only static and patches of laughter came through. Maybe something had gone wrong inside. Maybe someone had gotten to them all, one by one. Natasha scanned the rest of the room and by the time she returned to his spot, Bruce had vanished too. She fought to keep down the rising feeling of panic creeping up her throat as she saw the last girl rush from the room. She was the Black Widow after all. She didn't panic. Now everyone had gone. Time for drastic measures. Natasha grabbed her stuff and ran as quickly and quietly as she could down the fire escape without slipping from the rain. She stashed her pack behind a dumpster in the ally and carefully went to a door marked 'service entrance'. Clint had laid out an emergency plan for Natasha, marking entry doors and routes just in case. He'd been very prepared, almost like he knew. She paused at the door, straining to hear anything over the radio. But it seemed that Bruce had been right, the wind or something was causing everything to come through only as static. Tony and Steve had been standing behind Bruce when he told Natasha, both of them trying to keep from doubling over with laughter while he explained that the radios would more than likely not work in this kind of setting. She saw them and she saw through Bruce's overly scientific explanation. What did they think she was, and idiot? She sighed and went to try the door, getting prepared to have to blast it open if it should happen to be locked. But the door opened easily with a click at her first touch, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She swore under her breath and withdrew her gun, slowly and carefully creeping down the dark hall. There were no lights, no noises from any of the rooms. The first was a staff room and empty. The second a kitchen and empty- "Hang on." She muttered to herself. A light shone faintly from under a door on the opposite side. She crept slowly towards it, fully expecting it to blast open in her face. "I swear Clint Barton," She said to herself as she neared the door, "If this is a trick I'll..." Natasha took a deep breath as she gingerly tried the doorknob. It made a tiny click as the door opened a crack. Putting her foot against the door, Natasha put both hands on her gun, raising it slightly in preparation for whatever terrors were inside. Were the team inside? Dead, captured, alive? Thousands of thoughts raced through her head as she prepared to kick the door open. Taking one final breath, she pushed the door open raising her gun to be met by... nothing. The room was lit but nobody was home. She walked slowly into the room, lowering her gun slightly. Hearing a noise she turned slightly. Was that a giggle? No, why on Earth would it be a giggle?
"Surprise!" Suddenly the whole room erupted in cheers as people popped up from everywhere. Natasha lowered her gun as a smile slowly crept onto her face. Her whole team was here. Steve and Bruce, Thor, Tony who was leaning just low enough next to a girl in a tight dress to get a better view. And Clint. He stood next a ridiculous chocolate cake with an equally ridiculous grin on his face.
"Sorry we couldn't get pizza," He said as he walked up to Natasha. Natasha put her gun away, as the crowd started to gather around her and the cake.
"That's ok," She said, "I'll forgive you this time." Clint grinned and took Natasha's hand, giving it a little squeeze before he let it go again.
"Happy birthday, Nat." She smiled back at Clint. This was what birthdays were really about. Being with people that really cared about you. She smiled wider as she looked around at the people surrounding her, her team. Her family.