Title: Caught in a Goodbye
Rating: Mature
Primary Characters: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff
Secondary Characters: Phil Coulson, various OCs
Pairing: Clint/Natasha
Summary: Natasha has a new mission to take care of on her own, which leads Clint to find a way to say goodbye. Neither expected that soon enough Clint would have to join her for this mission that grew slightly out of hand...
Notes: Yeah, more Hawkeye and Black Widow in less than a week! I'm already proud of myself. Seriously, once I get going on something it goes on for a while (take my Sherlock series as an example, if anyone reading this also enjoys BBC's Sherlock). Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this one, I'm pretty happy with it. :)
Edit #1 (9/2/12): Alright, went through and did my editing for this chapter. Since I actually have time, I might go and start editing the other chapters tonight and possibly finish... Anyway, that doesn't matter, so just read.
Natasha walked with Agent Coulson down one of the many halls in the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, discussing the mission she was to leave for in the next hour or so; they were reviewing the new identity Natasha had to take on while also discussing the targets. This mission already proved to be a bit more difficult than some of Natasha's previous ones, as this time she had to interact with children to get closer to the mark. Natasha was not good with children, but she wasn't often around a child, so maybe she'll have this opportunity to work on that particular skill.
Agent Coulson stopped them near the door of his office, "So, once more—"
"Coulson, I've got it all." Natasha interrupted as she crossed her arms. Coulson lightly shook his head, having dealt with this quite often. He reached into his pocket to pull out Natasha's fake ID, cards, and papers.
"Just one last time, Agent Romanoff."
With a sigh, Natasha began, "My name is Sarah Rosewood; I'm a twenty-nine year old whose profession is in childcare. My family is from Santa Barbara, California and I recently moved because of work related problems." Coulson grinned ever-so-slightly in praise as he handed Natasha all her important documents for Sarah Rosewood.
"Very good, Agent; I've got things to take care of, so you can get yourself outta here without my escorting you." Agent Coulson said before entering his office. Natasha began to walk down the hall while putting her cards and documents in the bag she had hanging over her shoulder and resting on her hip.
"Hey there, stranger." Natasha looked up to see Clint exiting a room, giving a small grin. Natasha returned the expression before putting on a straight-face again so no one could see her with any bit of an emotion that wasn't professional, "You're leaving soon, right?"
Natasha nodded, "In about an hour. Why; you trying to get rid of me?" Clint smiled at her before biting the inside of his cheek for a moment in thought.
"Of course; I want you to enjoy getting the chance to work with all those children." He said with a small laugh; there was something on Clint's mind, Natasha could tell, "How long do you think it'll take to complete?"
"Hopefully no more than a couple of months." She replied simply. She could hear Clint make a small 'hmm' sound, but besides that he was silent, "Is something bothering you?"
Clint gave Natasha a side look, "Why would something be bothering me?" Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please, Clint, I can tell there's something on your mind that you're not sharing."
"There's a lot of things you don't share, but I never say anything about it." He continued simply. Natasha sighed loudly and stopped walking to give Clint a stern look, "Tasha, it's nothing." She cocked an eyebrow in response, waiting for a real answer. When Clint saw she was determined to push the topic, he took in a large breath as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Fine, fine; if that's how it's gonna be…" Clint glanced up and down the hall then looked into the lens of a security camera angled toward him. To avoid suspicion, he made a mocking face at it as he usually would (he was such a five year old sometimes) before continuing his walk down the hall, "Follow me." Natasha had already been in close step alongside Clint before he said a word.
The pair walked in silence for a minute or so as they made their way to exit the building. Natasha quickly assumed that whatever Clint had to say was something not to be shared with the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. Another minute later, the two were away from the building just enough for Clint to think it was safe to talk.
Clint hesitated for a moment, thinking about the best way to share his thoughts, before letting out a sigh, "…I'm really gonna miss you, Tasha." Natasha rolled her eyes.
"We came all the way out here just for that?"
"No, that's not all." Clint defended and let out a large sigh, "S.H.I.E.L.D. frowns down on too much emotional attachment to anyone…" Natasha's forehead crinkled slightly in confusion, "and, simply put, I have a lot of emotional attachment to you." Natasha took in a sharp breath.
"Clint—"
"Don't take that the wrong way." Clint interrupted, "I'm not saying that in a romantic context, but, Tasha, you're my partner and have been through almost everything; going on separate missions is hard on me."
Natasha tried to keep on her professional front, but she realized she could let out some emotions now that they were alone, "I understand that—I prefer our partner missions, too, but you seem a little worried to see me go by myself."
"I am worried." Clint said simply, "I know you can take care of yourself, but I will always be worried. I hate when you forget to check-in or when a mission takes longer than expected—I automatically assume the worst." Natasha smiled lightly.
"You don't think I get the same way when you're on a solo mission?" Clint looked at Natasha in surprise, "I try to detach myself from emotions to make my job easier—and generally it works—but you're… you're my best friend." Clint thought he saw a tinge of pain cross Natasha's features—she felt vulnerable to be admitting to this, "But, all I can say is try not to let any sort of worry get in the way of the jobs you have while I'm gone."
Clint gave Natasha a sincere smile, "I'll do my best…" he thought for a few moments, "and don't let your wild fantasies about me distract you from your mission." Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Right, because I most definitely have distracting fantasies about you." Clint raised a challenging eyebrow as he grinned, trying to get Natasha to admit to anything. But she wouldn't. She wasn't going to tell Clint she had had any sexual thoughts about him in the past, but it seemed as if Clint could somehow tell that Natasha was hiding those things from him, "Like you haven't fantasized before…" she muttered, causing Clint to chuckle.
"Of course I have; I'm just more able to admit to it because I don't pride myself in being unemotional." Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Those two things don't have to go hand-in-hand."
"Don't they?" Natasha watched carefully as Clint took a large step to her, "Maybe they do." Natasha lightly shook her head, which got Clint grinning; he really got a kick out of this. As the two stared each other down, Clint slowly inched closer to Natasha—an act that didn't go unseen. She already formulated what she assumed he was doing and took a step back.
"Clint…" Natasha said in a warning tone. He still looked at her in amusement as she grew defensive.
"You're just always ready to throw a punch." Clint said, "Don't worry yourself all the time."
"I always have reason to worry, and right now it's worried over why you keep getting closer."
"Because friends stand in close proximities to each other." Clint responded quickly.
"That is not why you're getting closer." She said, "I have a pretty good idea of what you aim to do."
"Well, maybe you should just let me continue so you can see if your suspicions are correct." Natasha shook her head and began walking back toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. office.
"Fat chance." She replied. After not receiving any kind of response from Clint, Natasha continued walking, assuming he had backed down.
But she was wrong. In an instant, strong arms circled around Natasha's waist and turned her around. Clint firmly pressed his lips over Natasha's before she could fight back; she only put up a struggle for a few moments, but feeling Clint's soft lips moving against hers put Natasha's mind in a frenzy. Slowly, Natasha's hands ran up Clint's chest to the back of his neck where one hand gripped the short hairs at the base of his skull. With a satisfied sigh, Natasha leaned into his strong body, circulating even more heat between them.
Clint, once he knew Natasha wasn't going to hurt him, kissed her more aggressively, gliding his tongue along her lower lip. Natasha resisted some, but Clint took this as a tempting challenge; with a slight grin he forced his tongue past Natasha's lips and was happy to be met by her tongue, which fought against his. Clint's arms tightened on her waist, pressing his fingers firmly into her back; holding her this way felt so right to Clint. Having Natasha there in his arms felt right, and that sudden realization scared Clint.
With that, Clint tried to pull away, but Natasha wouldn't have it—this felt just as good to her, but she didn't seem to realize—in that moment—the consequences of the two together feeling so right. So, at feeling Clint want to pull away, she clung to him even tighter, pressing her lips roughly against his. Clint could hardly stand the thought of pulling away and only chose to kiss her fully again. He didn't give a damn about consequences right now.
As their hands moved over each other's bodies and tongues fought together, someone happened to be walking by their location and saw what was going on.
Bruce Banner froze at the sight before him; to say he was surprised was partly true, but secretly he had suspected something. He wasn't entirely sure of what he suspected, but he and many others knew the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have a very strong bond; seeing this only helped confirm this. Bruce couldn't suppress the amused smirk that crossed his features. Then he realized how strange it was for him to be watching this scene and blushed lightly in embarrassment. So, he coughed loudly in hope to get their attention. Sure enough, Clint and Natasha's head whipped toward him, staring a little wide-eyed. Clint collected himself quickly and pulled back from Natasha, looking at Bruce as if nothing happened. Bruce continued to smirk in amusement.
"Hey, Banner." Clint greeted coolly. Bruce laughed lightly.
"You two looked busy." Both agents looked away from him, "Sorry to interrupt."
"No you're not." Clint replied, causing Banner to chuckle again.
"Well… this is strange."
"Then you should go." Natasha said quickly.
"Shouldn't you be going somewhere soon?" Realization crossed Natasha's features as she looked at her watch.
"Shit." She spat while looking back to Clint, "I really need to get going." Clint nodded slightly as he looked at Bruce, who raised an eyebrow. Natasha—in a rush and without a care for the one-man audience—pressed a kiss to Clint's lips before she began walking away, "Please, kick his ass." She said lowly to Clint, who grinned slightly.
"Of course." He replied as he watched her walk away. Clint then looked over at Bruce—while pointing a finger—who tried to keep a poker face, "This information stays with me."
Bruce put up his hands defensively, "I won't tell anyone." He said simply. Clint gave him a stern look.
"You may play innocent and nice, but I'll be watching you." Bruce chuckled as they began walking back toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. building, "You're the one to watch, you know."
"And why is that?" Bruce asked, enjoying the sight of Clint trying to hid his embarrassment and flurried thoughts.
"The quiet ones are always the worst." Clint responded and turned down a hall. Bruce watched with a grin.
"How was it, Clint?" He mocked. Anyone could see the tense of Clint's shoulders. He threw a glare over his should while flipping Bruce the bird, continuing down the hall.