Life Lesson #717:

Remove Your Sunglasses When You Talk to People

"You're being rude," Natasha hisses as she sidles up next to him.

Clint rolls his eyes, comfortable with the fact that she won't be able to see the action behind his sunglasses. "Oh? How do you figure?"

"People are talking to you. Take off your sunglasses when they strike up conversation so they know you're paying attention to what they're saying."

"And what if I'm not?"

"Then you let them at least see that you're not so they can either change the subject or move on to somebody else worth their time and who'll appreciate their conversation."

"What's the point? People are stupid and generally don't know how to take a hint."

She scoffs. "Yeah, I know, I'm talking to one of them right now."

He rolls his eyes again. "Why does it even matter if I'm polite?"

"It matters because we could be here for a while, and it would attract more attention if we didn't try and make friends than if we did. Okay?"

"Whatever."

"Don't 'whatever' me, Hawk, this is incredibly serious. Some of the neighbors are already pretty suspicious—apparently accountants around here don't have your kind of arm muscles."

"Well I can't exactly help it if I need to keep in shape for what I do for a living, Tash. You should understand that at least."

"And trust me, I do. But I also understand the importance of keeping up appearances when you're on an undercover op." She turns to look up at him, a feral fierceness behind her superficially relaxed features that most of their enemies overlook the first time, but most certainly don't the second—if they're even "lucky" enough to meet her a second time.

He doesn't say anything in reply, only raising his beer to his lips in slow motion, making a show of ignoring her. Out of the corner of his eye he catches the shift of her hand as she swipes his shades from his face with nimble fingers, tossing him a look and a smirk before sticking them in her hair and heading over to the food table. He clenches his jaw and downs the rest of his beer, spending the rest of the party mingling with the neighbors and occasionally shooting glares her way.

A/N: So the other day my dad gave me this book Life's Little Instruction Book: Volume II and I was flipping through it, read this "instruction" and, well, this drabble came into being. So, I think I might make this a drabble collection with both characters from The Avengers (and the other Marvel movies affiliated with them) and Arrow, since I'm just a tad bit obsessed with that show. Basically, any characters are fair game, and I don't own any of them, and I got a hold of Volumes I and III, so expect some variety in the numbers. Enjoy! :)

~Clara