A big, big, big thank you for the best beta-reader in the world: Gaga4Jeyna. She's super nice and quick and is always available. And not to mention she's good at correcting my mistakes.
I feel utterly bad because the cover image makes NO justice to the beautiful scenery my city is. All descriptions of the place are accurate, I live in Porto, of course they'd be truthful to reality! xD You can always search it on Google.
But, hey, I'm not JUST bragging because it's the city I live in. The view is really breathtaking!
The mid- summer day was hot and, as expected in this country, the temperatures were very high. Still, the slight breeze occasionally blowing through was more than enough to cool the area. The square was full of people walking by the riverside, filling the air with a dozen different languages. Merchants, buskers and tourists mingled pleasantly. Cafés and small shops were all open, busy with costumers. The old, typical, yellow façades had no more than three floors, housed the business establishments in the ground floors, and the upper floors were houses, some still habitable, with large windows and tiny balconies, coated with blue mosaic tiles, almost like a waterfall. All the houses and buildings were presented this way everywhere.
The waves of Douro River gently rocked the Rabelo boats lining the shore. In the background, the Luís I bridge was on the left. On the top deck, the metro crossed the rail at a moderate speed, and on the lower deck, a rather long line of cars were jammed. Everyone wanted to cross to the city of Gaia. The inhabitants wanted to cross because of work and other routine affairs, and tourists wanted to visit the other city and see Porto from the other side of the river.
The Douro River divided the two cities. The district in the city of Porto, Ribeira, was the most beautiful place Clint had ever been. France, Italy and Greece had nothing to compare with the wonder of the two cities divided by a river. But, as much as the scenery was breathtaking, Clint was focused on the most perfect view he would ever see: Natasha.
Clint had gone and bought some water to refresh and sooth his thirst, but Natasha still stood in the same place where he had last seen her. She was facing the river, the light breeze playing with the little curls of her hair and swaying the white dress she wore for this mission. Natasha kept her arms crossed behind her back and stood with a relaxed posture. Her eyes were closed, and the sun's rays gave her hair a different color. Clint smiled when he saw her move her head under the slightest breath of wind, a small smile brightening her face.
Walking slowly to her, Clint wrapped his arms around her waist. Natasha didn't startle. She recognized him instantly and placed her hands over his, resting them on the sides of her hip. The smile that kept playing on her lips appeared as she opened her eyes. Tilting her head, she allowed him to place a smooth kiss on her warm neck. Natasha placed a slow kiss on his lips and asked, "have you ever wondered what it'd be like if we were normal people?"
Clint smiled. "We are normal people," he told her, happy to see that his answer made her smirk like he wanted. "It's not like we're from another world."
"You know what I mean." She retorted with a huff.
"Would you like to be normal?"
Natasha loosened herself from his hold and turned to face him. Enlacing her arms around his neck, she confessed, "I think of it from time to time."
"Do you come to any interesting conclusions?" Clint only got a nod as an answer.
Natasha wasn't satisfied with her own answer and spoke. "If every day could be like this then maybe, maybe" she reinforced, "I'd like to be normal. I don't know though. I've never really had any other lifestyle."
"Maybe when we retire we can be normal," Clint said, offering her a smile. His phone buzzed in his pocket, startling him and making him tear his gaze from Natasha's. He read the text out loud to her. "Agent Barton, I'm completely clueless and I don't know what will happen next. I need help. Urgent help!"
Natasha took the phone from Clint's hand and wrote. We're 30 feet away from you, Robbie. We can see you. You're doing fine. Calm. The. Fuck. Down! Then she pressed the send button and returned the phone to Clint.
After reading what she wrote, he looked at her. "You didn't have to be rude to the kid."
"I'm not being rude," she protested. "I was actually being really nice. I felt like saying I'd shoot him in the face."
"That's a nice thought, Nat." Clint responded sarcastically. "And Fury wonders why all the newbies get scared!"
Putting his arm around her hip, the two walked over and took a seat on one of the many stone benches and kept their eyes on the eighteen-year-old boy. Robbie was one of the newest SHIELD agents and he had gotten Clint and Natasha as his handlers. Fury had set them up for that task and actually begged them not to scare Robbie. As a reward for not traumatizing the kid, Fury assigned them a mission to one of the cities Natasha and Clint loved the most. Robbie liked the two of them, they seemed nice and very professional, but it was his first mission in the field and his handlers had kind abandoned him, or so he thought. The poor kid was so nervous.
Agent Barton, that was her writing the text wasn't it?
After showing the text to Natasha, Clint got his phone taken away again. Yes, it was me Robbie. Look discreetly at your six. Natasha didn't return the phone to Clint and looked at Robbie, who had slowly turned around. Texting something without even looking at the screen and her eyes still fixed on Robbie, she made Clint let out a repressed chuckle. Robbie turned away instantly once he received Natasha's text. We have your back, kid. Now man up. You send another text andI'll hunt you down in your sleep.
"I wonder how much therapy he'll need." Clint snorted, looking somewhere else when he felt Natasha's strong gaze on him.
No more than two minutes had gone by when Clint received another text. I did it! The two couldn't help but to feel a little happy for the kid. They had watched him succeed on his first mission. Very well, now go to the hotel room and write the report. Clint answered him.
Do I really have to? Robbie asked.
I'll put an arrow in your crotch if you don't start walking to the hotel right now.The last time they saw Robbie that day, he was a shadowy figure quickly walking away.
"And you say I'm the one who traumatizes newbies." Natasha grumbled, slapping the back of Clint's head.
"Where are we going?" He asked as she got up and pulled him by the hand.
"It going to rain," she told him, taking a quick glance at the sky.
"Summer rain," he said. "The Portuguese have a proverb that literally translated, goes like 'Civil rain doesn't wet the military'. Where would you like to go, Alicia?"
A little smirk played on Natasha's lips as she played along. "I don't know. Wherever you want to take me, Devlin."
They hadn't walked far when the drizzles started. Soon the light rain turned into warm raindrops. Some people sought shelter underneath the shops' awnings or the parasols, others, like them, kept walking. Clint twirled Natasha around in the rain. If they were aware of what they were doing, they would never have started doing so. They were sort of dancing in the rain. Natasha was smiling, even letting out small, shy laughs. To her, it seemed strange that she could make those sounds. On top of all that, she seemed happy. So happy that Clint continued amusing her.
Natasha came to her senses and realized what was happening. She was all giddy, smiling like a fool, being led by Clint in a clumsy dance. Natasha abruptly stopped. The two were soaked now, but the rain didn't seem to be stopping any time soon. Luckily, it was warm. Clint thought she'd retract herself and not talk to him for a while until she'd safely crawled behind her rock solid walls. Instead, Natasha cupped his face in her hand and pulled him for a long, slow kiss. She took the time, pouring her feelings into the kiss, even if she wasn't exactly sure of what those feelings were.
Clint was surprised by her sudden display of love. He didn't want to sound like he was complaining, but he wanted to know the reason behind the deep, passionate kiss. As he didn't want to ruin anything, he didn't verbalize the question. Instead, she was the first to talk. "Thank you."
His grin widened when her expression, her gaze, everything remained the same. "For what?" He asked in a low voice.
"For making me feel normal every once in a while."
"Most women thank men for making them feel special. But, then again, you're not exactly any woman." Clint smiled at her, gazing into her beautiful, green eyes.
"And we're not exactly the most normal people." Natasha gently grabbed his collar and pecked his lips. "And as weird as it seems, I don't want us to be normal or any kind of special."
"We are who we are," Clint took her hand on his letting their fingers naturally intertwined. He gazed at her with even more affection in his eyes than before. Natasha loved it. "And I don't want us to change."
The names Alicia and Devlin are from Hitchcock's movie Notorious.
Did it turn out too cheesy? Part of me thinks it did, the other part loved it.