Natasha winced as she pulled her khaki denim shorts over her skinned knees. The dirt and dust that usually painted her skin was absent after she had used her weekly shower token, but she didn't enjoy the clean feeling. She felt naked, like a spider without its legs. The grime provided a shadow for her to hide behind, so she would just be the grubby little redhead hiding behind the other children, instead of a pristine beauty with long legs and a quickly developing figure. But she had to have bathed at some point, because her aversion to cleanliness had caused her to skip last week's shower, which made her hair nappy and greasy. A few of the boys had poked fun at her about it.
With her long, still damp hair tied in a high bun, she exited the showering facility and proceeded to walk to training. Natasha knew that she would be scolded for wearing shorts or warned that she'll scrape up her legs, but she didn't care. They were much more liberating than pants, anyway.
It took longer for Clint to catch up with her than he usually did. He walked beside her silently as they proceeded along the dirt path that led to the huge SHIELD Training Facility.
"What happened to you?" She asked him, even though she knew the answer. He often got in fist fights with the other boys, and today he donned a split lip and a cut cheek.
"Some kid almost got the last apple this morning, 'cause I was late to breakfast. Couldn't let him get away with that, could I?" Clint shot one of his goofy, lopsided smiles at her as he kicked a rock off the path and into the sagebrush.
One of Natasha's dark eyebrows raised in scrutiny. "You know that he had just as much of a right to that apple as you did, yes?" It took Clint a minute to answer her, and she suddenly became preoccupied with her English. She lived in Russia until she was deported to British Columbia when she was seven, so she had only been speaking English for a little over five years.
"Look, Tasha," Clint stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. His tight grip made her nervous. She hoped he couldn't tell. "You know just as much as I do that you gotta assert your dominance here. It's the only way we'll ever have any kind of order." His light blue eyes lit up when they met with her jade ones as he subconsciously started ghosting circles into her shoulders with his fingers.
Natasha shifted her shoulders uncomfortably, signaling him to let go, even though her heart fluttered in her chest so hard that she could've sworn he noticed.
"Sorry," he breathed as he dropped his arms to his sides, remembering how much she valued personal space. "I forgot." He scratched his head uncomfortably.
"'S okay." She smiled, but it didn't last long. It never did with Natasha. "Come, we need to hurry. We are already late."
Clint hiked up an eyebrow. "Race you?"
The cloud of dust expelled into the air acted as her reply.