Author's notes: Alright, this is my first ever fic, so reviewers please be kind. I'd love feedback and constructive critisicm. This is also a work in progress, I'm working to get this out as quickly as I can.
So without further ado, here's What Happened in Budapest.
...
She woke instantly, her eyes shooting open and taking in her surroundings with a bleary sweep of the room. Natasha stretched like a cat, working any kinks out of her muscles from the night before. Without even glancing at her clock she knew it was roughly ten minutes before 4 am, she had an uncanny internal clock that came with years of solo work.
Rolling off the bed Natasha grabbed her athletic shorts and a tee shirt she had laid out the previous night then laced up her new Puma brand trainers and was out the door headed towards the training gym. She made it a habit to be up this early every day she was on base in order to have the least amount of social contact as possible, however today, the odds weren't in her favor, as she rounded the corner another figure was stepping out of their bunk room. His back was still to her and she quickly pondered turning and going the long way around, especially when she looked closer and realized who the back belonged to.
There was only one man who had a muscular back and arms like a Greek god, the current bane of her existence, Clint Barton. In the split second that all this shot through her mind, Barton, with senses nearly matching hers, turned and caught her eye.
"So Spidey," his obnoxious nickname for her made her eyes roll, "Where ya headed off to this morning?" She shot him a droll look.
"What, your keen eyes can't tell I'm headed to the gym?" She fired back at him. Clint cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Someone hasn't had their coffee yet this morning huh?" His blue-grey eyes glinted with a little mischief. He knew better than to push the Black Widow in the mornings, but damn if he didn't enjoy the rise it always got out of her.
Natasha just shot him a glare that would have made lesser men back down, and walked around him intent on reaching the gym to try and run off some of the irritation he caused. As she continued down the hallway she could hear him following her, no doubt trying to keep annoying her. Little did she know Clint's eyes were glued firmly to her ass as he followed her.
As she was taking a warm up lap on the track she could hear the repeated twang and thwack of Clint's bow as he practiced on the range near the track. Clint wasn't called Hawkeye for nothing, as he had the eyes of a hawk and also the reputation that he never missed his shot. As far as Natasha knew he had never missed a shot in the year and a half since he was brought in to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.
She thought back to the first time she had seen him, being marched through the hangar towards Nick Fury's office. She remembered the way his blue-grey eyes were hard as stone and the air around him bled with barely contained aggression, and the moment his eyes caught hers she knew the Black Widow had finally met her match. She couldn't deny it, there was a part of her so in tune with the attitude he was putting off that her curiosity was instantly sparked, as well as her hormones.
"Natasha!" A voice broke through her train of thought and she snapped her head around towards the origin of the noise, her eyes settling on the familiar face of her handler Phil Coulson. She jogged over to meet him, shooting him an irked look when she saw Clint trotting over to join them. Phil just rolled his eyes, familiar with the Widow's dislike of socializing before 6am. Once Clint was standing alongside Natasha, Phil addressed them both,
"Alright guys, this just came across my desk this morning, courtesy of Fury." He held out two briefing folders and two pairs of hands grabbed them. Natasha immediately flipped hers open while Clint glanced over her shoulder. She felt Clint move closer and opened her mouth to tell him where he could stand, when Phil talked right over her.
"So, lets take this over to Briefing Room 8, and get familiar with what you two will be taking on. We've gotta hurry, wheels up in 3 hours." With that Phil turned on his heel and started towards the hallway.
Clint shot Natasha his famous smirk and started after Phil, his long strides eating up the distance. She stood frozen for a few moments, everything finally clicking into place, she was being paired with Barton for an assignment. Natasha saw red at that realization, the Black Widow does not work with others, especially when her partner is Clint Barton. Oh Phil is so going to pay for this one. Natasha thought to herself as she hurried down the hallway after Barton.
Phil knew the moment Natasha strode into the briefing room that the puzzle pieces had all fallen into place for her. She usually came across as dangerous, but the air around her was practically buzzing with menace, and it was all being directed towards himself and Clint, although Clint seemed blissfully unaware that he had somehow angered the Widow.
Phil looked a little closer and realized that Clint knew exactly why Natasha was pissed and damn, if he wasn't enjoying it! Phil shook his head ruefully, he needed to head this off before Barton's big mouth got him killed, because it was going to be hard to explaining to Fury why their best agent slaughtered their second best agent.
"Okay you two, we have just under 3 hours to get you prepped and on the plane for Budapest. You'll have roughly 8 hours of flight time to go over this more in depth, but let's get started." Phil raised his eyes to meet those of his agents and nodded before looking back at the dossier.
"SHIELD has put a hit out on Dario Vexx, weapons dealer, also been rumored to be in the black market selling organs." Natasha's face remained unreadable, while Clint just arched an eyebrow.
"Natasha you're going to be employed in the nearby brothel, as Vexx has been spotted there many times." Phil glanced at her to gauge her reaction to this assignment, and caught a flicker of something before it was shuttered behind her usual mask. A quick glance at Clint revealed that he was clenching his jaw, something he only did when he was upset about something. He and I are going to need to talk before he goes. Phil thought to himself before continuing.
"Clint, you will also be in the brothel, but as a potential customer. Then you'll provide cover and backup as needed." He looked straight at Clint, "It's your job to make sure Vexx takes Natasha home, make sure that happens." Clint waggled his eyebrows at Natasha and that earned him a swift punch in the ribs.
"Just keep your hands to yourself Barton." Natasha growled at him as he winced and rubbed his side.
"Damn Spidey, we really need to find you an outlet for all that aggression!" Clint tossed back at her. Grinning when he saw the fire light in her deep green eyes, it was a beautiful and deadly sight when the Widow got all riled up.
"Children!" Phil all but yelled at them. "I need you to focus! Clint, stop baiting her. Natasha, take a breath." He watched as Natasha collected herself and then turned his eyes to Barton, making sure he cut the crap then gestured to the file.
"Any questions before I send you two to the infirmary to get cleared?" Natasha shook her head then collected her file and left the room silently. Clint started to get up before Phil spoke up,
"Clint, sit back down." Clint shot him a surprised look before carefully smoothing his features into a blank mask, almost as impressive as Natasha's. "Alright Hawk," He used Clint's call name affectionately. "Why are we poking the Russian bear?" Clint almost cracked a smile at that description but managed to keep it to a smirk.
"What? Natasha? She's just abnormally uptight about everything. Plus you caught her before her morning coffee, that's a big no no." He leaned back in his chair hoping Phil hadn't caught his flash of panic and protectiveness when he heard Natasha was going to be basically whored out to Vexx. But unfortunately for him Phil was very perceptive when it came to reading his archer.
"Okay, so this has nothing about trying to hide your feelings for her then?" Phil watched his eyes as he spoke watching for the slightest crack in Clint's mask. To Clint's credit he managed to hold the façade without so much as a flinch.
"I've told you before Phil, she's just too much fun to rile up. Nothing more than that. Besides, she's the single most deadly woman I have ever met, kind of a turnoff when you know she has 25 ways to kill you using her hands alone." Clint raised an eyebrow to punctuate this thought. Phil sighed then waved his hand at the kid.
"Go on, get your ass down to medical to get cleared, you have a flight to catch." Clint mock saluted as he was headed to the door. "And Clint," Phil suddenly called after him, "play nice with the nurses, I don't want to be called down there to babysit you." Clint just flashed him the one finger salute and kept walking down to the medical bay.
So there's chapter 1! Thanks for reading, leave me a review I wanna know what y'all think!
Hopefully chapter 2 will be posted at some point tomorrow!