Hey guys, I'm back with a whole story here! This is my first Avengers story, so if there's anything that doesn't make sense or if there's any typos, that's totally on me.
It's going to be a slow-build story, so the good Stony parts won't come up until I decide where it should come up. I just like slow-build stories sometimes.
I do not own the Avengers or Fantastic Four! If I did, Stony would be canon. So would Clintasha :)
Road Trip (or when we kissed and missed the wedding)
[7-19-15]
Prolouge
"Did you get the flowers yet?"
"Flowers?"
"Yes, the flowers. I thought you ordered them already."
Natasha shook her head and puzzled herself over a crossword puzzle. She tapped the pencil's eraser against the page of the book mindlessly, eventually letting her mind drift off into space. She only had three more words to fill in but after over an hour and a half, what was the point? It wasn't like the puzzle was going to foretell her future if she kept on narrowing her eyes and burning holes into the empty boxes because she was getting too damn frustrated on a piece of paper, when in truth, she should be frustrated over the preparations for a lady's special time in life; the lady being herself.
In one week, Natasha was going to walk up to the altar with Steve by her side, who would hand her over to the only person would could understand her better than anyone else, the goofball who crawled through vents for a living at the tower, her official partner in crime since Day 1 in Budapest (we have yet to know what happened there), but overall a confidante, a best friend, her future husband to be.
Clint Barton. Yes, him.
Maria Hill garnered a hundred dollars from Tony once news spread like wildfire, much to "Clintasha's" dismay.
Originally, both assassins have agreed to keep their relationship a secret because of work, not so much the media (except for those who literally live on photoshop and shit) and of course, Tony Stark himself. Somehow, the billionaire found out about their secretive love affair (not so much an affair; Natasha never had a boyfriend and Clint had broken up with some SHIELD agent) and on Natasha's birthday a week later after he knew, the gift he gave her were a pair of customized 5-inch scarlet red stilettos with a small knife hidden inside each heel, and on the shoe platform (about two inches thick), the word Clintasha flashing in neon colors from inside the hardcore plastic. It was a misguided way in which Tony was expressing his amusement for the couple, and about a day later, she hopped out of the vent leading into Tony's workshop and tossed him the stilettos which were somehow snapped in half, giving him an unimpressed look. That didn't stop the cackles and the one-liner jokes from happening, though. And it was worse through the battle coms.
Natasha didn't have it easy in the first stage of her love life. It started out with the big green rage monster and the master assassin. So far it went okay and their only intimate skin-on-skin contact was whenever she had to calm the Other Guy down after battles or whenever he got angry because he's always angry and she was the only one who could stop him from wrecking the entire tower...again. Lessons were learned after this, meaning no pointy objects and noise blaring materials that could really unleash the Hulk when he was really not needed (because everybody loves puny Banner rather than puny Hulk). Somehow Natasha had convinced Bruce to run away from everything and be together forever, and they almost did, if it weren't for Sokovia ruining everything and Ultron as well.
Unfortunately Bruce did run away (in Hulk form) in a quinjet, just without Natasha. She was agitated, frustrated and disappointed overall. The team and SHIELD spent weeks searching everywhere, from land to sea, mountains to deserts, North to South, East to West. Fury had concluded the search party a month later and Natasha was on the brink of giving the director another eye patch to go with his gothic macho look, this time a gold one like Odin's.
Thor would've liked that.
During the hectic search for Bruce, things had to go slightly back to normal, which meant Natasha and Clint had to go on missions for SHIELD, Thor to Asgard, Jane or just eating pop tarts all day, Tony tinkering down at the lab and Steve doing whatever he does when not on missions.
Whenever Natasha and Clint aren't doing anything, they spend their time down at the HQ for Bruce. Clint knew how important it was for his friend to find Bruce, so he lets himself get dragged by her everyday to stare at the blinding screens for five hours straight before heading back to Avengers Tower and doing it again for who knows how long. It got to a point where the Archer had to douse her with ice cold water on a Sunday night, attempting to convince her that it was an unhealthy...obsession over finding him. Well, at least that's what he puts it as in his terms.
Natasha was literally shaking from head to toe, but not because of how frigid the water was. One second her face was tinted with red, hands curled up into fists as she looked into Clint's eyes with a steely gaze. He almost contemplated about running away while he can, until Natasha ran her fingers into her hair, tugging at the ends before breaking down, frustrated groans mixing with her cries.
It was the first time Clint has seen her in a most vulnerable form, but instead of just standing there like a doof thinking about it, he instantly reacted by pulling her into an embrace, one that felt safe, reassuring and warm. Natasha had eased into the contact and her eyes drifted as she stared at the New York City skyline, eyebrows furrowed and the soothing words from the Archer's voice faded into the background.
Love is for children.
For children.
Is she a child?
No. She is an assassin. An adult. And yet she lets herself get lost in a world where love is too breakable, too vulnerable, too painful. She has been taught that love is useless and would only hold back someone from important issues in life. But...doesn't love and the pain afterwards makes someone human?
Ugh. Stupid Bruce, stupid feelings. He just had to leave and make everything feel like complete and utter shit these days.
After her little episode, Natasha seemed to go back to normal and Clint never questioned her about it. Tony, Steve and Thor didn't see anything different about the assassin so all was good and dandy these days. Then a mission happened and Natasha found herself staring into her best friend's eyes, clutching his hand as she muttered curse words in Russian on where the fucking medics were at. Clint kept saying the usual "if I don't make it" lines and she couldn't take it anymore. Natasha covered his mouth with her own and the world stopped. She felt a tingle in her arms and somewhere in her heart, a spark snapped and she pulled away hastily before the figurative flames burned brighter and stronger and thank god the medics finally came to the rescue. The last thing Natasha heard was an "I'm sorry" from the Archer before being lulled into the real world by Captain America, who was barking out orders and scolding Iron Man for having such a potty mouth these days.
Days later after the mission, Bruce suddenly appears out of nowhere in front of the main lobby, passing out afterwards. No soul ever said a word as he was taken into a hospital minutes later and everyone stayed by his side, just making sure that he was alright.
And he was, but seriously, what was wrong with the world?
Nobody knows, but yet another villain has threatened humanity and the Fantastic Four were called in for the Avengers seeing how Hawkeye and the Hulk were unavailable at the moment.
So they beat up the enemy this time like all the other times. It was weird, though. Blood thirsty reindeers with eagle talons and its leader was a fucked up version of Santa Claus. It wasn't even Christmas.
Either way the Hulk barged in during the attack, smashing smashing smashing his way through, eventually making everything more easier for everyone. And like always it was Natasha's job to calm the Hulk down. She did the usual procedure and she forced herself to meet his gaze, trying not to recede and just check if anything was worth looking into. The eyes said everything, however, and once the Hulk was reversing back to being Bruce Banner, Natasha walked away towards the Quinjet slowly so the scientist could catch up and not get lost.
Bruce just smiled down at her and she nodded in return, words unspoken but understood. Back to being friends and she would never admit it, but that could have been the happiest the assassin ever was in her entire life.
And speaking about happy, maybe Natasha could use some of that to turn Sue's frown upside down?
The assassin didn't realize she was in a daze until the Invisible Woman grabbed the paper she once had, playfully smacking her on the head and then setting it down on the redhead's bedside table. Natasha rolled her eyes and took it back, swinging it around to see if she could spot her since Sue was invisible. Typical.
"I'm not destroying my room just to make you suddenly appear, Storm." Natasha settled back to her bed and focused her undivided attention on the stupid crossword puzzle, finally finding that much needed answer.
"Richards," Sue corrected her with a smile and pointed at her ring on her left hand, until she realized she was invisible and just grumbled, making herself appear as the bride-to-be flashed her an amused look. "and it's technically Tony's room."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Not anymore. Clint and I got down dirty once. Best night of our lives. I think we gave Tony nightmares or something, since he leased my entire floor to me, so I basically own this now."
"And how did Tony know?"
"Clint literally lives by his name."
Sue was baffled at first, before forming an "o" on her lips and her face sported a shade darker than what Steve's would be if Natasha were to tell him. The assassin snorted at Sue but said nothing.
"I...didn't need to know that, thank you very much."
"You asked. I answered."
Sue shook her head and smiled, standing up to continue on working with the wedding preparations and the bouquet Natasha never ordered. For most people, they tend to think that handling a wedding is messy and cluttered, but when it comes to Sue, it's nothing close to that. All the catalogs and magazines were neatly organized by topic, ranging from wedding dresses to shoes to silverware, mounted on top of several chair seats. Notes and pens on Natasha's mahogany desk and several open phone calls from multiple phones, Sue somehow managing to answer every single one of them.
AAnd she wasn't the only one contributing to this. While she and Alicia (was that her name?) were the wedding planners, Thor had taken the liberty to bring some Asgardian horses for the chariot he had insisted on also bringing with him. He was very enthusiastic about the wedding (probably even more than Clint and Natasha combined) and had demanded responsibility to take care of their departure by preparing an Asgardian tradition...whatever that may be. And somehow it includes Tony.
Steve volunteered on walking Natasha down the aisle, afterwards handing her to Clint who was going to be waiting at the altar for her, with his lopsided grin at the ready. Bruce was to make sure the media wouldn't get through the area in the park that was specially reserved for this occasion, and nobody likes an angry Bruce. Everybody speaking from experience, of course.
And Tony just pays for everything. And invites some friends. And supplies the over surplus of booze, enough to make Pepper secretly sneak into the billionaire's cabinets and take out some of them with JARVIS' help.
Clint obviously has nothing to do so he'll just spend his time with Johnny and Ben, until the bachelor party comes around and he'll get drunk as much as he wants to, but not too much since he is going to get married to the one of the world's deadliest assassin. Besides him of course.
"You are happy, right?"
Natasha glanced up at Sue, quirking an eyebrow at the question. "Yeah, why?"
"And you do want to get married with Clint, correct?"
"Sue, spill." Natasha straightened up and tossed the puzzle away, sighing. What's with all of the questions?
Sue stayed still for a moment, her hands resting atop of a bridesmaid dress catalogue before turning around to glance at the assassin, who was currently giving her a pointed look. "Before my first wedding-"
"You got married two times?"
"No, the first attempt was a disaster. Second one could've been better."
"Right. Go on." The redhead motioned with her hands.
"I don't know, but I had my doubts on whether or not I should marry Reed. He was always so enthralled and focused in his work, and still is, but most of his time he spent it on working until he'd fall asleep in his lab at 4 a.m. I love him and I know he loves me too, but I wasn't sure if he could give me whatever I want and vice versa. I understand how he is and somehow Alicia managed to talk me into marrying him, even if the first one we can all blame it on Reed.
"What I'm trying to say is that, I just want you to be sure that this is what you really want, that you're not going to regret anything at all. That being with Clint will be the best thing you'll ever have in the world."
"Best thing I'll ever have in the world is Thor's Asgardian Chariot. If I can get Tony to gamble it off for me, I might as well call myself a millionaire now. It's made of real gold." Natasha said with a smug smile. Then she saw the look Sue gave her and she softened the smile. "And Clint. Who can forget about Clint?"
"Damn right, Tasha!"
Both ladies looked up to spot Clint snooping down on them, giving them skeptical looks before the vent opening popped open and he tumbled out, clashing against the bed and then with the carpeted floor. Natasha sneaked a peek at him before shaking her head and turning on the TV, the opening credits for 'Sons of Anarchy' flashing by. She settled the remote on the bed and glanced at Sue, who crouched down to see if Clint as a-okay. "That happens sometimes."
Sue rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it does."
Hopefully everyone enjoyed the ffirst chapter of this story, even if it is the prologue. I just wanted to introduce Clintasha since the wedding is theirs. Like I said, Stony won't be introduced until I feel like they should be together, so y'all got to be patient with me. Plus, suspense is good.
I'm currently writing the chapters for this story, but don't worry, I have it all planned out on what's happening in each chapter!
Thanks for reading and hopefully you guys can like, follow and leave a review!
- Kay.
[P.S. Go see Ant-Man! You'll love it!]
