A/N: This is not a departure from my Captain Hill series, more a checking in on my old fave ship, Clintasha. It is their fault I became obsessed with Steve and Maria, after all. ;) Anyway, this is where they are in my headverse about a year after The Avengers (which is within my headcannon). Things you need to know: Clint and Natasha are living at Stark Tower, along with Bruce and Steve; I play Clint pretty seriously (though I love the FF where he's a goof and makes me laugh) because he never was very goofy in Thor or Avengers and I happen to think Jeremy Renner is best when he's dramatic.
Other things: Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers and followers and faves of my most recent, and also, older stories. I have many more to come, unless I die, or something weird. ;) And for those who have mentioned to me that I made you cry, thank you so much. You have no idea how that makes me happy. Writers are weird. When I write out a story and I'm sobbing like Joan Wilder (Romancing the Stone) I do hope I make someone else that happy, er, sad. (Quote for my fellow writers: You are a writer, the normal ship sailed without you long ago. :D)
Two important notes: 1) When I post my next story, it will be under the name CaptainHillShipper. :D Yeah, I have that every where else so I thought I'd change it here, as well. 2) My next Captain Hill story will be Rated M. But it is not for sex, it is for violence, in particular, child abuse, several forms. Just wanted to give you a heads up. It's kind of disturbing so if you don't like that sort of thing, I understand. It will basically be an origins story for both Steve and Maria. 3) Yes, I'm still working on my sequel for All This Time, but I wanted to lay out some background so I don't have to write long conversations between the characters since it's supposed to be an adventure. 4) This story will be referenced a few times in the aforementioned sequel. :)
Guess that's all. Please R&R. :)
Clint stared icy daggers at the well-dressed man across the table from him until that look finally wiped the smirk off the man's face. The other man swallowed and ran his finger around the inside of his buttoned collar. Clint wondered how long it would be until he broke into a sweat, when a flash of red caught Clint's eye.
He turned his head and watched Natasha walk into the room. Clint allowed the cold look on his face to soften when she glanced at him and raised a curious eyebrow.
"Damn, Barton," the man gasped. "I thought you were serious."
He turned back to Tony Stark as Natasha asked, "Serious about what?"
Clint returned his face to his previous cold look.
"He looked like he was going to kill me when I asked if he wanted to get in on the virginity pool," Stark told her, as he tried to act as if the assassin's current look wasn't scaring him.
Clint felt Natasha's gaze sweep over him as she assessed his demeanor.
"It looks to me like he wants to kill you, Stark," Natasha informed the billionaire, calmly.
Tony blanched, then pushed his chair away from the table.
He rose and walked backward from the room as he said, "Just think about it, Hawkeye."
Then he turned and was gone in a flash.
Natasha looked up at Clint and they stared at each other for a moments before the slightest of grins came to both their faces.
Natasha shook her head.
"You should be nicer to Stark," she said. "He's really not that bad."
"I should kill him just for the way he treated you when you worked for him," Clint said.
Natasha sighed. Clint knew she was tired of hearing that.
"That was a long time ago," she said, and rolled her eyes at the archer.
They were quiet for a while after that. It wasn't unusual for them to spend hours in each other's company and say nothing at all. Neither had ever been entirely comfortable in the presence of people and especially not conversing with people. They were two solitary figures who oddly found comfort in each other.
"Stark has a betting pool on when Steve is going to lose his virginity," Clint said.
"I know," Natasha replied.
Clint stared at her.
"Are you in on it?" he asked.
"Yeah," she shrugged, as if she couldn't see why it was a problem.
"Steve's not gonna like it," Clint told her.
"Steve doesn't like anything Stark does," Natasha replied. "You two should be roommates."
If Clint was the eye rolling kind, it would have been his turn. Instead he shook his head.
"That's because Stark is always doing crap like this," Clint said.
Natasha sighed.
"I really don't see what the big deal is," she told him.
"It is Steve's and Maria's private business," Clint said, and noted the curiosity piqued in his partner.
"So you think he's gonna."
Clint cut her off.
"I don't think about it at all," Clint said, more sharply than he would usually speak to Widow in a regular conversation.
"Somebody's feathers are ruffled," Natasha remarked.
Clint flinched internally. Natasha only made bird references about him when he annoyed her.
"It's none of our business," he told her, acting as if her words hadn't bothered him, though they both knew the truth.
Natasha regarded him for several minutes, and Clint waited.
Finally she said, "You think Steve and Maria are serious."
Clint nodded.
"So maybe we should have a proposal date pool," Natasha commented.
"I think we should mind our own business," Clint said.
She regarded him again, this time longer.
"Why does it bother you?" she asked. "It's not as if this is the first time you've been asked to be in a betting pool about something as inane as this."
"It's not inane," he replied, and Natasha furrowed her brow.
They stared at each other as Clint let Natasha read him.
Finally, she asked, "Is this about Coulson? Are you protective of Steve because of Phil?"
Clint shook his head.
"This is about two people whom I think are truly in love and deserve to be left alone by the likes of Stark," he told her, frankly.
Natasha allowed a look of surprise to flash across her face.
"Why does that matter to you?" she asked.
Clint shrugged, because he really didn't have a good answer. He just knew what he saw of Steve and Maria, knew how much Maria had changed for the better since Steve came into her life. But that wasn't the sort of answer that Natasha would buy. Better to end the conversation now.
Natasha nodded and they, again, returned to their silent camaraderie.
The shadows in the room grew long, and the lights came on automatically. Clint wished they wouldn't, but in this common room he couldn't dictate without drawing attention. In his apartment, the lights would have remained off until he requested their use, and he would have been able to watch the evening shadows descend across his partner's face. And then it would have been dark and he could observe her almost unseen, and let his mask fall and pretend to show her his feelings, feelings she knew of but for which she had no use.
Clint's thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of Dr. Banner.
"Good evening," Bruce said to them, in his usual quiet voice.
They both acknowledge the greeting, then returned to their silence. Bruce sat at the table with them and began to read a magazine he had carried in with him. That was one thing both Natasha and Clint liked about him, he didn't interrupt their silence with loud noises and the need for mundane conversation.
After several minutes, Natasha gave Clint an odd look, then turned to Dr. Banner.
"Bruce," she said, and he looked up from his reading. "What do you have in the pool?"
Clint took a breath that he knew Natasha would interpret correctly as agitation.
"100 says the one year," he told her.
Natasha nodded.
"How about you?" Bruce asked her.
"I say before," she told him, and Clint swallowed a retort he would have issued had they been alone.
She turned to him, a somewhat smug look on her face.
"What about you, Clint?" Bruce asked.
"I don't bet," he replied.
"In general, or just in pools of this nature," Bruce asked.
If it had been anyone else, Clint wouldn't have bothered with an answer.
"In general," Clint replied.
"If you were a betting man, what would you say?" Bruce asked, and Clint was sorry he'd answered the earlier question.
Natasha openly smirked at him.
Clint cleared his throat.
"Um, I'd say he'll wait," Clint mumbled, while giving Natasha an annoyed, disapproving look.
"Until the wedding night?" Bruce asked, sounding slightly surprised.
Natasha had an astonished look on her face.
"You think Maria will actually marry Steve?" she asked.
"Why wouldn't she?" Clint responded, and wondered when he had allowed himself to speak so freely about something like this with someone aside from Natasha present.
"Because she's Maria," Natasha told him.
"Maria's not the marrying kind?" Bruce asked.
"More the love 'em and leave 'em kind," she said, and looked meaningfully at Clint.
"That was a long, long time ago, and we were stupid kids," Clint replied. "It wasn't like I was looking to marry her either."
"You and Maria were together?" Bruce asked, and Clint kicked himself internally. He'd desired to defend Maria, not make things more complicated.
He only nodded, hoping to end this part of the conversation.
It was silent in the room for a while, then Bruce spoke up.
"JARVIS," he said into the air. "Delete this entire conversation, and no overrides for Stark."
"Yes, sir," came the AI's voice.
Then he stood and bade them goodnight.
After they were alone, Natasha stood and walked around the table to take Clint's hand in hers. She pulled him up and he followed her to the elevator, then to her apartment.
"It's more private in here," she said, as she closed the door behind them.
He sat in his usual place on the sofa and she sat in a chair across from him and gave him a hard look.
"What is this about?" she asked.
Clint sighed as he only would alone with her.
"Steve is crazy for her," he said. "I've been watching him."
Natasha gave him a half smile and shook her head.
"You always were a hopeless romantic," she said.
Clint immediately stood to leave. He couldn't take that from her tonight. He really wasn't sure why, but it hurt this time.
"Don't go, Clint," she said, as she stood to intercept him. "I'm sorry."
She touched his forearm and the heat from her touch inched its way up the rest of his arm.
"It's not your fault," he said, and patted her hand patronizingly. "I just need to get my head screwed back on straight."
She gave him an openly confused look.
He wanted to say something to reassure her, but everything he thought to say would sound accusatory and he knew she had no obligation to him beyond her debt. It had been years since he'd allowed her into his bed, not since he'd learned why she was there. He wanted no part in that. If he couldn't have her heart, he'd told her then, he didn't want her body.
But ever since Loki had messed with him, things between he and Natasha had been strange. Sometimes he caught her looking at him differently. He had wondered what it meant, but was too afraid to ask. It was better to stick with the status quo than mess up the friendship they'd worked so hard to achieve.
She nodded, finally, and stepped aside.
As he opened the door she called to him.
"You should go in on the pool," she said, and she surprised him with a sad smile. "I'd love to see Stark's face when you win and he learns that not all men are the same."
Clint looked at her for a moment, trying, with difficulty, not to read anything into what she'd just told him, then nodded.
"Maybe I will," he said, then left to returned to his own apartment.