Title: This Complicated Life
Author: Shaneequa
Rating: Mature
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: College AU. Clint and Natasha have been dancing around a relationship since her freshman year. But circumstances have changed with Clint's deployment and Natasha's move to New York forcing them to re-assess their relationship. (Gift for Black Widow and Hawkeye OTP).
Author's Note: Like the summary says, this was a gift for Black Widow and Hawkeye OTP. I usually ask my loyal reviewers for prompts. The chapters will be posted after I send them for her to read so she gets them exclusively. If any of you have prompts, please free to PM them to me! On a side note, I've been dying to write a college/military AU so this is what happened.
Original Prompt: "the girls have been noticing Natasha staring at Clint longingly, the guys dont notice but the girls aren't so oblivious. ;) So maybe they try to help Natasha get the courage to ask him out or they try to get Clint to ask Natasha out? or they try jealousy?" from Black Widow and Hawkeye OTP
Chapter 1- Beginning of the End
For all intents and purposes, college was supposed to be the time to be promiscuous and go out clubbing every single night before your late twenties catch up to you and all you want to do is take a nap. Natasha, a recent defector, felt that all her life had been spent doing that for one mission or another and all she really wanted to do was take a good long nap in her room at the house that she shared with Pepper, Maria, and Jane.
It was almost 9pm when she walked through the door after a brutal eight hour work shift at the cafe. She was exhausted, it was Friday and everyone seemed to just want to get the day over with to move onto their weekend. Lucky for most of them, they don't have to work weekends like Natasha did.
The redhead walked through the door, the lights throughout the living room was on and she could hear the boys arguing about something. Of course Thor, Tony, and Clint would be at the house. It seemed as though they were just alternating on the days when the boys would be at their house, or the girls (dragging Natasha) would be over at the boys' place.
"Hey Tasha!" Clint greeted her as she walked past the living room where the boys where playing some video game. Tony had bought both houses a set of all the latest game consoles and a copy of the best games out there. That was what happened when the STARK name was involved.
"Hey guys," she smiled at them heading straight to the kitchen, the aroma of Pepper's cooking enticing her. Pepper always cooked on Mondays. It was why the boys were always at their place on Mondays.
"Hey Tasha!" Pepper smiled in the kitchen. Maria and Jane were sitting at the breakfast nook both with a glass of wine in their hands. "How was work?"
"It was alright," Natasha sighed. "I have work at the office tomorrow, so I'm gonna go to sleep early tonight."
The girls groaned.
"You always go to bed early," Maria pointed out. "I need you to let loose a little."
"I'll let loose next year," Natasha replied dipping a finger into the sauce that Pepper was stirring. She sucked on her finger, hearing someone groan in the background. "After I graduate."
"What about graduating?" Clint asked leaning on the doorframe that led to the living room.
"Nat was saying that she was going to let loose after graduation," Jane spoke up filling in Clint earning a glare from Natasha.
Clint walked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter behind Natasha, leaning over her to take a taste of the pasta sauce earning him a slap on the hand from Pepper.
"Stop it you two," Pepper scolded them shooing them from near the stove and to the other side of the wrap around breakfast nook. "Stay there or you both don't get dinner."
"Yes mom," Clint and Natasha said in unison.
Clint led Natasha out of the kitchen by her waist to the other side where Pepper wanted them to be.
"So what is this about you 'letting loose' after graduation?" Clint asked her leaning back on the breakfast nook. He did that a lot, the leaning thing, Natasha noted. She also noted how well it made his arms look.
"Nothing," Natasha said shaking her head not wanting to get into it, shooting the girls around her a glare.
"Well you are the youngest of the pact," Clint stated ignoring her. "You should... you know, hurry up and graduate; join us in the real world."
"I have a semester left," Natasha replied rolling her eyes. She was graduating after the fall semester and had a job lined up in Manhattan. Natasha knew that she was the only one of their pact to leave Los Angeles and the 365 days of sunshine it offered but she loved New York.
"I know, " Clint muttered. "Then you're off to New York, leaving us peasants behind."
"Clint..." she sighed shaking her head.
He turned to leave again walking to the living room where Jane and Maria had gone off to while they were talking in the kitchen.
"Clint, wait," Natasha called out to him, but he didn't turn or acknowledge her.
Natasha took the wine bottle and filled her glass up taking a swift drink leaving a third of the wine she poured left in the glass.
"You should give him a chance," Pepper pointed out as she took out plates from the cupboards and onto the nook for Natasha to set the table.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Natasha said taking the plates and setting the table with placemats then the plates on top of them. Pepper came to her side with the utensils setting them up nicely.
While they were college students (and recent graduates), it did not mean that they would eat ramen and take outs every day.
"You know exactly what I'm - " Pepper cut off. She threw her head back into the direction of the living room and yelled, "Jane! Maria!"
The two women stumbled in the kitchen laughing and walked up to Pepper.
"You need help, Pep?" Maria asked her putting down her wine glass with a smile.
"Intervention is now," Pepper stated nodding her head over at Natasha as a signal.
"They're outside," Jane stated with a groan. "You think it's a good idea now?"
"We can't keep putting it off," Pepper replied.
Natasha looked between her friends with a frown. She had no idea what they were talking about.
"Can you stop talking about me while I'm here?"
Jane took the wine bottle and refilled everyone's glasses. "We're going to need it."
"So what is this about?" Natasha asked taking a seat on the dining table. The other three took a seat as well.
"You," Pepper started.
"And Clint," Jane added causing Natasha to groan.
"Seriously? We've been on this topic for like four years now!" Natasha argued with them trying to stand up, but Maria held her down. She could have easily escaped her hold but she didn't.
"And we're still on it coz you still give him damn googly eyes," Maria stated, "it's been four years you'd think you'd do something about it!"
"I can't - Bobbi and..."
"That was two years ago," Jane added. "Besides, he makes the same damn eyes at you."
"Especially when you talk about New York," Pepper continued.
"That doesn't count, you all get sad when I talk about New York," Natasha pointed out.
"As long as you know that we're all against it," Maria smiled. "And don't change the subject, we've all decided that you should ask Clint out."
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"You know you can't make me do anything," Natasha replied. Stubborn as she was, she always did what she chose to do. They had to sedate her and carry her to take her to the piercing shop so she could get her cartilage pierce with them.
"We know," the three said in unison.
Natasha chuckled at that. "Look, if he wanted to date me, he would've asked me out but he doesn't - he won't."
"So you ask him out!" Jane exclaimed in the same voice she does when she figured out the answer to a really really complicated physics equation.
"No! I'm not that desp-"
"Hey Pep! Is dinner ready? Do you girls need help?" Tony's voiced rang through the dining room interrupting the girls.
"We're fine, " Pepper called out cutting her eyes.
Thor poked his head into the dining room then bounded into the kitchen.
"I shall finish serving the table," Thor staid taking the large serving plate full of pasta sauce. The other men followed suit and brought the pasta over to the table. The girls changed seats around so they can all sit next to their significant others. Pepper and Tony, Maria and Steve, Thor and Jane, which left Clint and Natasha to sit next to each other.
The conversation took another turn at the table, something about the weekend and possibly going to Disneyland as a group because, hey, why not?
"I can't, I have work," Natasha stated dejectedly.
"But we have season passes and you haven't even used yours up," Clint protested.
"I have to save up for New York," she replied putting her fork down. "You know how expensive it is to live there, and as it is I'm going to have to find new people to live with and..."
"Or you could stay here and live with us still," Jane threw the suggestion out causing everyone to nod their heads in agreement. Jane still had two years left for her Master's Degree that she was taking at UCLA and therefore Thor was staying there with her. Thor, the heir of a large shipping company, was able to work on his family company from LA, much to his father's dismay who wanted him back in Europe.
"You should," Clint said nodding his head.
"I can't," Natasha replied. "That's the end of this conversation. Can we all talk about something else?"
"Not until you agree to go to Disneyland with us, " Tony stated.
"I just told you-"
"I know, I'll pay you what you make that whole day, then double it if you go to Disneyland with us," he interjected. His father could afford all that and more, he had even offered Natasha a job at their legal department based in Malibu, but to no surprise, Natasha refused his offer.
"You know I can't do that, Tony," Natasha said shaking his head.
Clint cleared his throat. "Well I have an announcement to make."
The attention went to Clint at that moment.
"What is it, man?"
"I... uh, I got my orders," Clint stuttered. After a year of enlistment, just after he finally got settled into his job, Clint was picked up by the Naval Academy to become an officer. The Special Operations community was lacking officers and his commanders had saw the kid who never missed as a great leader. Clint just went with where he was ordered to be - three square meals a day and a place to sleep was better than anything he had growing up - and after graduating from Annapolis, he was stationed in Coronado where he met Steve who was dating Maria... who lived with Natasha and Pepper.
"And?" Steve asked, an army guy stationed at Coronado as a liaison.
"Well, since I uh, I don't... I'm 3-6-5 deployment."
"What?" "When?" the chorus of voices from his friends sitting around the table replied.
Clint scratched the back of his head, "Tuesday, I'll be packed and ready to go on Tuesday."
The table sat shocked.
"This Tuesday?" Natasha asked in a whisper. She had signed up for shifts until Thursday!
"Yeah," Clint said, his mouth slightly turned in dejection. "I didn't want to ruin the weekend but it seemed like a good time to..."
"Clinton Francis Barton, I sure hope you were not planning to tell us on Monday that you were leaving on Tuesday!" Pepper scolded him.
He shrugged twisting pasta onto his fork.
"For how long?"
"It's a 3-6-5, for now," Clint shrugged.
Natasha sighed. "I'll go to Disneyland tomorrow."
"What?" Clint asked her, her statement seeming random to him.
"Disneyland," Natasha repeated. "I'll call in sick for my jobs this weekend. I... it's your last weekend with us."
"So, last super on Monday night?" Thor suggested, and the conversation drifted off to Clint and his deployment, no longer at Natasha and her future in Manhattan.
The redhead sat quietly beside Clint who responded to questions and threw in comments throughout dinner. She knew about the military lifestyle, had sat down with Clint about it when Bobbi broke up with him because of his dedication to his job. Clint worked late nights on the weekdays, his training seemed never ending but he always found the time to text Natasha good morning and good night regardless of the day or whether she responded or not. Regardless of how busy they both were, they found the time to text each other at least once a day, every day. With his deployment, things were going to change and she didn't know how.
"You okay?" Clint asked her alter that evening. She did come in opting to just fall into bed and sleep but now, she wanted to spend every waking moment she could with Clint. He would be coming back to California while she would be in New York when he came back. This weekend would probably be the last time she saw this man and she didn't know how to feel about that fact.
"I'm okay," she smiled taking a swig of her beer.
"I'm here if you need to talk."
She chuckled, "until Tuesday you are."
He shook his head. "No, Natasha. I'm here if you need to talk, anytime. If I'm over there in the Sand, or if you're in New York. I'll always be just a phone call away."
She sighed. "Somehow I don't believe you."
"You should," he said lifting her chin and turning it so she would meet his gaze. "I promise."
"Promises are for children."
"And so is love," Clint continued for her knowing her thoughts on love and promises. He sighed, running a hand through his hair and letting the ruckus from inside the house fill the silence outside where he and Natasha sat at grass of the small backyard. The others were inside playing a dance game on one of the consoles and laughter was heard all around.
"So this weekend is gonna be the last time I see you," Natasha stared staring at the squirrel that hopped to the fence. "In probably forever. That's why I uh… I wanted to take the weekend off."
"You trying to tell me you're going to miss me, Romanoff?"
"You've been my best friend for a while now, Clint."
Clint's head snapped to look at her surprised. That was the first affirmation she had gotten from Natasha. The ice queen who usually hid her feelings because it was a sign of weakness finally showed him something, something concrete that he could hold onto.
"You know, Tasha," Clint started with a small smile. "My contract with the Marines is up after this deployment."
She nodded her head.
"I don't know if I want to re-new it," he continued looking at the empty space in front of her.
"I…" Natasha sighed. "I think we should talk about this later… you know? I think these last days with you here should be happy."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," she smiled at him giving him a peck on the cheek. She stood up from the ledge they were sitting on and stuck her hand out. "Let's go inside, it's getting cold out here."
He took hold of her hand and allowed her to pull him up. He intertwined their fingers together as they walked back into the house, never letting go, at least for that night.
Reviews please!
Let me know if you guys like it! If not, this could stand alone as a one-shot :)