More than Love
The apocalypse is over. They won. They're sitting at the shawarma restaurant, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Nobody wants to make eye contact. Nobody wants to break the peace and quiet that they are experiencing. She takes a bite of her shawarma and chews slowly. Her gaze lands on Clint and she recalls Loki's words to her... "Is this love Agent Romanoff?" Her reply was the truth, love is for children. What she and Clint have is far beyond love. Love conjures to her mind Valentine's Day and red hearts and pretty flowers. When she thinks about Clint what comes to mind is possession. She doesn't know how it happened or when it started, what she does know is that he's moved in, settled down, and completely occupied all of her. He's in her space...more than physical, or emotional, he's in her soul. He knows her better than anybody on this earth. She has whispered things to him in the dark, under the sheets, lying on his chest. In the lulls during stake-outs, waiting for the bad guys to come out and play, he has told her all his secrets...shined a light inside his very soul to illuminate the dark places only he knows about. She knows him better than he knows himself. Knows things about his character that he has yet to acknowledge. Yes...possession. Like a spirit possessing a person, they've possessed each other. He is so much a part of her that she has imagined conversations with him when she's in the middle of nowhere all alone on a mission. She's so much a part of him that he can read between one breath and the next and know exactly what she's thinking. As if sensing her thoughts, he looks up from his meal and catches her eye for a fraction of a second. That's all it takes for her to discern that she's on his mind as much as he's on hers.