The Song of a Spider

by thepensword

In the late hours of the night, when Loki's words fill his mind with thoughts that are not his own, when he fears he may lose his mind, she comes. She comes and soothes him in the way that no one else can, because everyone else is afraid. But not her. She is never afraid. And when in rare moments she loses her control, she regains it in the same way she helps him to regain his.

Title: The Song of a Spider

Author: Bianca Valdez

Pairings: Sort of Clintasha. Sort of. If you want there to be. I guess optional Clintasha. (I ship it but it's not canon anymore and I really only ship canon, so...whatever.)

Characters: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff

Rating: K+

Spoilers: Not really anything big, though you would be well served to have seen the first Avengers.

Disclaimer: Rights belong to Marvel, Disney, Joss Whedon, and The Great God Stan Lee.

A/N: It came to me months ago and I've only just figured out how to finish it now.

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It was in the times of peace when she thought she was alone.

It was in the preparation before a battle when she thought no one could hear.

It was in the late hours of the night when she woke from troubled dreams and visions of a ledger dripping red.

It was one of her greatest secrets, and she hid it well.

But Clint knew.

He knew because she did it for him when he was being violently jerked from the surety of complete servility back to the painful emotions of life, only to be thrown back into the unforgiving realm of a god's will—Kill her. She's the enemy. They are all your enemies. Kill them all. It was then that she kept him from insanity.

At first he didn't remember, but weeks later he heard her in his nightmares, and it made them easier to handle.

Her lips formed the shapes of foreign words, crooning and soft as her voice ghosted up from her throat, lingering to kiss her tongue before flying out to greet the world. They flew threw the air, caressing the beholder and slipping into the ears to calm the mind.

She'd hold herself when she was alone and afraid and she'd let it happen, locked in her own embrace, the only shelter she knew. She'd sit beside him when he was lost and put her hand on his knee, and she'd sooth him in the way that no one else could.

They only felt safe with each other, and it was because of the song.

Fellow agents would see them standing just a little too close, see her slip into his room late at night, a wisp of shadow that somehow always new when she was needed, and they'd whisper of love and forbidden relationships in an unforgiving environment of work and duty. They were wrong, though. What he had with her…it was more than love. Deeper. Darker.

He'd saved her and she'd saved him, so many times and in so many ways. No, love is not what they shared. She shared with him her song, and in doing so, she shared with him her trust, and that was the rarest thing of all.

The Widow trusts no one but herself, and yet, somehow, he has managed to get her to trust him.

It's not love. But who needs love when you are privy to the spider's song?