This was too close.
Even for her this was too close. Natasha could feel Clint's teeth tracing down her lower neck, leaving scolding flesh in his wake. Her skin was turning red, though if it was from the heat she couldn't tell.
She knew he was acting, and that in a few minutes the target would leave the room and she could release the breath she had been holding in. However, in all of their under cover assignments, it never got this close.
Clint had to kiss her once before. Somewhere at the beginning of their partnership. It was not the light peck on the lips she was expecting; he stuck his tongue down her throat. She remembered it because they were about to be made by one of their marks. Antonio Divuela and his crew were just about to turn the corner to their hotel room, and Natasha thought for sure they were done. She turned to Clint and was about to pull out her gun but Clint stopped her. He took her face in both of his hands and kissed her, hard.
This was only their first or second mission. After Clint saved her from being assassinated by the very people they now work for, Natasha had to go through standard training before being accepted into Shield. Clint already knew she was going to get accepted, because he had scene her in action. He helped her a lot though; training, sparring and studying.
The kiss took Natasha by surprise, but after a few seconds she realized the targets were chuckling and murmuring something along the lines of "crazy, love-sick people…" in Italian, rather than it turning into a firefight.
After that she and Clint slid right into a partnership. Shield said they performed excellently together, and when Director Fury agreed, it was set in stone. After working together for two years now, they had developed a sort of blissful ignorance towards their feelings, if they even had any.
So many things separated them from acknowledging their emotional need for each other. It always posed a serious threat to their job by being so close. They were more than a "work marriage" though, which is what they joked about being all this time. She didn't know what she felt to be truthful. There was a brief time when Clint had a girlfriend for a month or two. During said time Natasha forcibly blocked Clint out, and he noticed almost instantly. She told him that she wasn't avoiding him and he was just being unreasonable, but of course he didn't believe her. He thought he could make it work, but after seeing the effects it had on his partnership he cut it off. Natasha didn't even remember the girl's name.
With Clint it was always when a target got too close to Natasha for his liking. More often than not Natasha was the bait for a 'special' assignment, which required her to show some skin. Clint took an extra long time killing the men who touched her, which didn't go unnoticed by anyone.
This time was different though. This was their first assignment out after the Avengers Initiative. They had spent a lot of time relaxing, mostly on a private beach that Tony Stark had bought in celebration of their victory. Something had changed with Clint though. Where he normally was relaxed and happy to spent time with her, he became distant and moody. He still trusted her, and she of course trusted him so she let it be, thinking it would return back to normal when they started doing missions together again.
It was a rough start. They missed the first checkpoint by about two minutes, and had to rendezvous at the meeting point in less than thirty-seconds, and be ready to fight close to eight targets if it didn't work out. They made it with no time to spare, and Natasha immediately pulled off her dress and lay down on the bed, leaving space for Clint to climb on top of her.
Their cover was slightly complicated this time. Clint was supposed to be working for the targets, and he was taking a 'break' with one of the high-class girls they provided at the hotel. It was all fake of course, they weren't even supposed to kiss. The man who was about to enter was an extremely deadly leader of a human-trafficking ring from the Middle East, named Aliah Jebruth.
Clint swung his leg around to her side, and slid his other one up to rest between her thighs. She glanced at him quickly to get a read on what he was planning but for once it wasn't clear to her. He positioned his right hand next to her head, while letting his left hand wander down around her waist. He moved his face closer to hers but she placed a finger gently on his lips. Her eyebrows narrowed in misunderstanding, because he knew that for this cover they couldn't kiss. The girls that this hotel provided were extremely expensive; the cost goes up for kissing, and even higher for spending time together after.
"Kissing will cost extra." She said hesitantly, giving Clint a confused look. They hadn't had time to check if the room was bugged, so she had to speak as if the target was listening. He seemed to ignore it though. Or maybe he wasn't concentrating. Natasha looked into his eyes but they were clouded over with something she had never seen before. He gripped her hand and slowly pushed it down into the covers above her head. Before she could react he kissed her full on the mouth. He hungrily sucked on each one of her lips before grazing his tongue along her teeth, begging for entrance. Distantly she felt his thumb rubbing small circles along her bare belly, and she couldn't stifle the moan that came from deep within her chest.
She wanted to stop and ask him what he was doing, but there was no time as she heard the door click with the warning of someone's arrival. Aliah walked in with four bodyguards and saw the pair in bed before laughing, a deep, throaty, disgusting laugh.
Clint stopped and looked over at him, before smiling lightly.
"Couldn't help myself," he said, in his perfectly trained, immoral voice. To anyone looking in they would see a scumbag who was forcing more from a prostitute than what was allowed, but Natasha could see through the mask easily. She kept a blank look on her face, partially from experience and partially from actual confusion over his actions.
"Well don't stop helping yourself on my account," Aliah's voice was dripping with filth, right down to the smirk on his face. This was when it got too close. Natasha had been losing grasp on what was happening before, but this sent her over the edge. Clint looked back down at her, the same cloudy look she saw before, and then kissed her, this time more roughly. It was all she could do to keep up the appearance that she was experienced at this. She met his mouth with almost equal fervor, only slipping up slightly as his tongue entered her domain again. She felt his leg press up higher between her legs and she choked a little at the feeling. Suddenly he released her mouth, and that's when the biting began.
He moved to her cheek first, then her jawline, leaving small kisses against her clean skin. When he reached her neck he lingered longer than necessary, suckling at the skin beneath her jaw. She let out a small whimper that was only half because she remembered they were on a mission. After a few seconds she felt his teeth come out and lightly nip at her skin. Natasha had never felt Clint be so aggressive before, even on their trip to Budapest and that was much higher tension than right now.
He was dragging his teeth lightly down her neck, towards her chest. She couldn't breathe, much less shift her bodyweight to send a signal to him. Her signal was going to be that he was going to far. Clint's left hand moved up to below her breast, and she bit the inside of her cheek when she felt his finger slide underneath her bra.
"Stop." Aliah said firmly. At his command, Clint stopped and looked over in mock obedience. Aliah observed Natasha in a way that made her feel extremely uncomfortable, though she showed no visible signs of discomfort. He looked at her starting from her forehead down to her feet, prolonging his examination around sensitive spots. He gave her a crooked smile before looking back to Clint.
"We have work to do," he said darkly, he motioned his hand and his guards stood at the ready. "Get cleaned up and meet us in the lobby." Aliah sounded extremely bored at this point, as he walked out followed closely by his guards.
Clint pushed himself off the bed and quickly dressed in his dress shirt and pants. He grabbed his watch and slipped it on his right hand, before grabbing his cell and placing it in his back pocket. Natasha slid off the side of the bed and pulled on her dress that had been thrown carelessly to the foot of their room in an effort to meet their deadline. After she pulled it over her shoulders she felt Clint behind her, expertly zipping up the back of her dress.
She turned around and looked him in the eye. There wasn't any cloudiness like before, just the pure blue she's used to looking at. He was still distant though. His eyes carried something with them that she wasn't used to seeing when Clint looked at her. If only she knew what it was.
"Are you alright?" He said slowly as he fixed his tie. She cleared her throat before responding with a flat, "Yes." He nodded and grabbed his coat, heading towards the door.
"See you in an hour." He said, giving her a half smile before striding out into the hallway and closing the door shut. Her face burned with an unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty. She grabbed her knife and sheathed it on her left inner thigh, before putting a small caliber weapon in her purse and clicking it shut. Last touch was poison dipped hairpins that skated easily into her hair, fitting firmly around her crimson locks of hair. After she was positive she had everything, she gripped the handle to the door and walked out to the next phase of their assignment: takedown.
This assignment was nearing its grand finale, Natasha could feel it. She was on the other side of the wall, but she could feel Clint's energy radiating as if he was standing right next to her. The voices were becoming slightly elevated, signaling a nearing argument that would eventually end up with someone dead. Her right index finger was already pressed against the cold trigger of her gun, safety off and ready to shoot. She waited for the distress signal but the sound of a struggle burst out first, and Natasha kicked the door in.
Already she mapped out the room: four guards in the front but only two of them turned their attention to her, and two more in the back who were still trying to gather themselves up from a card game. Clint was struggling with Aliah, who had him a firm death grip on his neck. Natasha shot Aliah first, the bullet whizzing past the side of Clint's head. He didn't flinch, which was a compliment to her shooting skills. Clint elbowed Aliah backwards and then punched him once before he fell down.
Natasha felt one guard about to lunge at her from behind, so she caught him with a backwards elbow in the jaw, and then turned around to knee him in the stomach. He dropped his gun and fell forwards, clutching his midsection in pain before she finished him off with a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. Natasha quickly grabbed the guard's gun and shot two more guards coming at her from the side. Out of her peripheral vision she saw Clint fighting with two other guards simultaneously, easily blocking and rebuffing their every shot. Natasha was about to go help him when she felt a hand against her throat. She choked momentarily at the sudden contact, before reaching for the pins in her hair. Before she could grab one, the guard who had a hold on her slammed her into the wall and she lost a few seconds of air. Within moments she felt the guard still as if he were hit with something, and then release his grip on her as he fell to the ground.
She didn't even have to turn around to know what had happened, but when she did a familiar sight greeted her. The guard had been shot with an arrow, from a very precise shooter. Clint's eyes gleamed with hatred towards the guard as he retracted is bow back into a small piece and stashed it behind his back.
"I had it under control," Natasha said in a miffed tone, but Clint only laughed.
"Of course you did," he said with a knowing smile on his face. Natasha narrowed her eyes at Clint's smirk as he walked out the door, motioning her to follow.
"Come on, sidekick!" Natasha heard him joke from a distance. She sighed heavily before following behind him, pinching him hard right below his kidneys when she got closer. Their subtle slide back into playful banter was about the only thing keeping Natasha's mind off of what happened earlier. She was a professional. If it were anyone else she wouldn't have even remembered their face, let alone what had happened, but it wasn't anyone else. It was Clint, and that made it complicated.
"You alright, Tash?" Clint's voice collided with her thoughts, bringing her back to reality. She was staring out the window of the helicopter they had gotten into, but she turned to look at him.
"You asked me that before." She said softly. His eyes penetrated her armor, as they usually did, but she met his gaze easily.
"And you lied to me before." He replied. Natasha's face dropped slightly at his remark. She could never figure out how he always knew when she lied.
"I didn't lie, nothing is wrong with me."
"Physically maybe," Clint looked skeptical as he eyed her up and down, "but a mission can always take an emotional toll. Are you sure you're not hiding something that happened?"
She smiled briefly at his concern, but her enthusiasm dropped when she remembered the real reason for her uneasiness.
"Yes, I am sure." She gave her answer robotically, hoping that he would just drop it. Nothing good would come out of her asking why he had taken it so far today. Clint was already struggling after the incident with Loki; having his mind taken away from him was a scary and unforgiving experience.
Natasha knew he didn't buy it, but as she predicted he let it be for the remainder of the ride. Instead they talked about her hair for some reason unknown to her. Clint commented on the length of it, saying she was growing it out. Natasha denied it but Clint said he saw her hair everyday, for hours at a time; whereas Natasha only saw her hair maybe once in the morning and once at night before she went to bed. The accusation was so astoundingly irrelevant that Natasha could feel a fire sparking from deep within her body. The heat was a normal occurrence when she argued with Clint, because arguing with him was closer to arguing with a child.
When they finally arrived back at base, Clint was still chuckling over her obvious annoyance. Director Fury came over to give them a short de-briefing before they were allowed to go rest.
"How did my two best assassins do this time?" He smiled at them, the skin around his good eye crinkling with happiness. The one thing about Director Fury was that no matter how many mysteries surrounded him, he cared deeply for all of his agents.
"We did pretty well, but I think Natasha's hair got in the way of some of it—"
Natasha silently slipped one of her concealed knives around Clint's back to rest gently on his outer ribcage. He stopped talking almost instantly, but his mouth moved in the direction of a smile.
"We did excellently." Natasha said with no hesitation. Director Fury looked slightly doubtful for a moment, before nodding his head.
"Well then, you two go take showers and rest up. Shield will contact you when we have another mission." He took a moment to check his watch before turning and walking back the direction he came. Natasha watched him leave, all the while still holding a knife to Clint's back. It only took her half a second to realize that was a bad idea. While she made a move to block the attack she knew was coming, Clint was faster than her and in an instant had her arm with the knife twisted around to face herself. She struggled for freedom, but Clint backed her up against the wall, clamping down on her other wrist using his free hand.
"That was a cheap move." She said in a strained voice, her breathing slightly ragged. It was taking nearly all of her strength to keep her own hand from hitting her with the knife.
"You only say that because it worked." Clint smiled mischievously before pressing her farther into the wall. She groaned instinctively, and suddenly Clint got that weird look again. His eyes clouded over, and his force dropped just enough for her to wiggle out of the trap she was in. She twisted her arm back out of his grip and pushed him off her in one move. Clint blinked like he momentarily forgot that they were fighting, before shaking it off.
"Good job." He said absentmindedly, commenting on her being able to escape. She furrowed her brow as he started backing away.
"Clint…"
"I should probably go take a shower, I'll see you later Nat."
Natasha saw him turn and start to walk away and was immediately concerned about him.
"Wait, Clint." She jogged up to him before he could get to far, and Clint only turned slightly to listen. His jaw was tight like he was in pain.
"Spar with me?" She said gently. Clint relaxed visibly, and finally looked over at her. He didn't give her the look she thought he was going to give her. He would usually be ecstatic to fight, probably would arrive at the gym before her even. This time he looked distressed, but he gave her a smile nonetheless.
"You're on."