I'm really sorry I forgot to update, so here's the next chapter, which is longer than the last. That's the other reason I'm posting two, the last one was so short. It's also some fluff between Clint and Natasha, which is always fun to write. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think! No one has reviewed so far and I feel like no one reads my little side notes… Anyway, enjoy!
It was a shock when Katya walked out of her room for the first time, Simmons having taken off her cast after two days, exchanging it for a wrap. The rumbling in her stomach had informed her that she was late on a meal, which was odd. Natasha or Clint had brought in her meals for the last two days, letting her eat in solitude and rarely trying to make small talk. Clint was the worst at it. He fumbled for a topic, always wanting to talk to her, but never sure what to say. Natasha was easier, never pushing or attempting anymore conversation than necessary. Katya knew where she stood with the woman.
So when she walked out of her room into the middle of a Nerf war, she wasn't quite ready for the shock of seeing Natasha laughing as she dodged an array of Nerf bullets, her own little guns in her hands while Clint had a Nerf bow and arrow set in his, attempting to catch the woman as she jumped off the couch and landed gracefully on the coffee table, which was apparently strong enough to hold her.
Neither had noticed her yet and she kept it that way, standing stationary in her doorway as Clint ducked and rolled to hide behind the other couch, peeking over the edge right as Natasha took her shot. He ducked down again, collecting a few stray Nerf arrows, before reloading.
Then he was up and running, shooting off arrows on the fly as he bolted towards the kitchen, Natasha doing a flip off of the table to land in a crouch ducked low. She slid to the left, hiding behind the arm of a sofa with a laugh when Clint barely missed his shot, the arrow whizzing over her head and clipping a few loose strands of her red hair.
Katya had never seen Natasha laugh before, she'd never had a reason to do so in her presence, but she found that it softened her face into something friendlier, more open, than the mask she usually wore. She'd seen Natasha's smile from afar while watching Clint when he was just her mission and she was just supposed to be his executioner, but she had yet to see it up close and she had to admit that the older woman was beautiful in a way Katya would never be.
That impression of beauty lasted until Natasha's smile grew into a deranged grin and she jumped up from behind the couch, balancing on the arm and took two shots, which Clint didn't have time to dodge. They hit him, one in the chest, and one in the middle of the forehead, to which he groaned and let out a few extraordinary curse words before falling back onto the floor, playing dead.
That was when Natasha's eyes strayed to Katya.
"Katya. You're up." Her voice lost the enthusiastic edge her eyes had held not a moment earlier, taking on a more businesslike tone. Her surprise was masked easily, but Katya knew it was there, the surprise that they hadn't noticed her, hadn't realized she was watching. Now, seeing that emotionless mask slip into place, she realized she should have just gone back into her room and stayed until they got her. She'd witnessed something that was wholly theirs, a moment in time that was as intimate as their moments got. This wasn't her home and she shouldn't have been spying, no matter that she hadn't meant to infringe.
"Katya!" Clint did nothing to hide his current good mood, instead just popping up from behind the counter and grinning at her like a golden retriever. She had to keep herself from letting out a small smile herself, considering he was the one who was nicest to her. "What are you doing out and about?"
She wasn't quite sure how to answer. She'd never had to ask for food before, her handlers fed her when it was time and, if they didn't, she didn't eat. She wasn't quite sure why she assumed it was different with these two and had to fight the urge to go back into the room they called hers and hide again, until they remembered it was meal time.
"She's probably hungry. It's already seven." Natasha observed, setting her Nerf weaponry down and starting toward the kitchen. Clint set his Nerf bow on the counter and glanced at the clock, seeming surprised.
"Well, what would you like to eat?" He asked, turning towards the refrigerator. Katya snuck closer, eyeing the things. She'd seen them before, but never one quite that size. It was huge, with double doors on top and a drawer on the bottom. She wasn't sure what the drawer was for, but she was curious to find out. "Looks like we have eggs, left over pizza, left over Chinese, left over Thai food, something that resembles a tuna sandwich, or was at one point, an onion, three potatoes, a carton of milk, and a block of cheese. I don't know what we can make with that."
Katya didn't know either. Cooking had never been one of her specialties and they'd eliminated it from her skillset on the last wipe, if she was remembering right. She couldn't remember anything but the absolute basics. Well, the absolute basics and how to make chocolate chip cookies, but that was simply because her handler liked her cookies the best. And those ingredients wouldn't help her make anything she knew how to cook.
"Check the pantry." Clint called over his shoulder at her while Natasha pulled out the drawer on the bottom of the fridge. Instead of staying around to figure out what it was, Katya went over to the pantry and opened the door, finding a whole stock of dried goods. There were soups and crackers and cans of everything imaginable. She couldn't see how they couldn't find something to make out of the contents of the pantry, but she still just stared, not sure what to suggest. She had no memory of what foods she liked and there was little she could say without worrying about consequences.
"How about macaroni and cheese? I can make that." Natasha offered, making Katya take a step back from the pantry when her voice came from around her shoulder. Natasha stepped forward and grabbed two boxes marked Kraft before heading back to the kitchen.
Assuming that was all she needed, Katya closed the door and started over to the kitchen as well, standing awkwardly by the counter as Natasha set to work, proving once again that she was superior to Katya as she moved around the kitchen like a seasoned pro, not hesitating as she pulled out a pot and filled it with water, deftly starting the stove up.
"You can sit down, Katya. I don't bite." Clint offered as he walked around her, motioning to the stools. There were only two of them and she knew that with the easy way Clint dropped into the far one that the one he wanted her to sit in belonged to Natasha. She was understandably wary about sitting in it, but decided to risk it, considering Natasha hadn't said anything when Clint offered it up to her.
It was a comfort to sit down as the throbbing in her ankle intensified from the relief, making her wish she had some ice. Her trainers always made sure wounds were fairly well taken care of when they were received in the field, though the ones she got as punishment were a different story. That included icing them and taking pain killers when necessary. She wished she had both at the moment, when a breath in brought on a small bout of coughing that had a lot to do with the fact that one of her broken ribs had nicked her right lung.
"Are you alright?" Clint asked, his eyebrows scrunching in concern. Katya just nodded, holding in another bout of coughing in hopes that he'd forget her moment of weakness.
Turning her head to watch Natasha, she attempted to understand the woman's movements, memorizing what she was doing even as Clint chattered about his Nerf weapons, how he had them in SHIELD's academy back in the day and was a holy terror, which she could totally see. It was a story about him pranking Ward that got her attention, however, mostly because she knew the name and could picture his reaction.
"I was hidden in the ceiling, right? SHIELD fortifies everything, so the inside of the ceiling is really awesome. I even had a few hide-y holes hidden up there at the time. Some basic supplies in case something went wrong, you know? Anyway, I had this new arrow to try out, the Sci Tech people sent it over. They knew even back then that I was the expert." He practically preened at his own praise, but Katya just nodded slightly for him to continue, which was all the encouragement he seemed to need. "So I decided to use it on the next poor shmuck to walk down the hall. Low and behold, it was Ward! I shot so fast he didn't have time to react. He saw it a split second before it grazed him, which was the intent all along. If the numbing agent didn't work with a graze, it would be useless in the field for normal recruits.
"I didn't really want to hurt him either, considering the last time I wounded a recruit that badly I was denied access to the shooting range for a whole month. That was plus toilet cleaning duty, by the way, which isn't fun. Especially considering I had to do male and female. But, anyway, so I grazed him and he went down like a sack of potatoes. You should have seen it! The look on his face! It was hilarious."
Katya could only imagine the look of rage on Ward's face when he realized that he'd been taken out by a graze from an arrow. He was one of those strong and silent types, the ones that want to be the best, no matter what. Obviously, with age, it had probably gotten better, but as a young kid, he'd probably been furious at the obvious disregard to his status. She was honestly surprised he hadn't dodged out of the way in time, but not everyone was raised to dodge bullets like she was.
"I was sure he was going to kill me when he woke up. Turns out that the Sci Tech people put too much of the numbing agent in and he was down for a week. When he finally woke up, I was halfway done with my punishment." Clint finished with a hearty laugh, finding the whole thing hilarious.
"He would have killed you when he woke up too if he didn't know that your punishment was scrubbing the locker room floor. With a tooth brush." Natasha turned to grin at Clint, who shot her an annoyed look.
"I'm trying to entertain her with tales of my wild youth, Tasha. You're not supposed to mention consequences." Clint argued amiably, still looking light hearted even though he had a pout on his lips. Katya found it amusing, the easy way with which they communicated. The sign of true partners.
"Whatever you say. Grab some plates, will you?" She turned back to the concoction on the stove while Clint moved and started into the kitchen area, pulling out plates and cups and eating utensils. He was quick and set it all up within the minute before grabbing some milk and a pitcher of ice tea from the fridge and then slipping into the seat beside Katya again with practiced ease, Natasha turning with a bowl in hand to set on the counter between the three of them.
"Do you like macaroni and cheese, Katya?" Clint asked. It was obviously an afterthought, but Katya just shrugged a little, carefully keeping her face from screwing up in a confused expression. The phrase sounded familiar, just like oatmeal and granola, but she didn't know why. Of course, it didn't take three guesses to figure out why she didn't know either.
"I don't know." She finally answered, considering they were waiting for her to. They stared at her for a moment before Natasha served herself a helping and silently accepted Katya's answer, which was the nicest thing she could do.
"Seriously?" Clint wasn't so kind.
"Leave it." Natasha ordered, sounding very much like the Black Widow. Katya froze at the sudden sharp sound, eyeing Natasha critically. But she didn't go into full Widow mode, so Katya didn't run for the hills, instead just sat there and watched Clint fill his plate completely full.
"Well, it's delicious and you need to try it. Here." He practically shoved the bowl at her, but her quick reflexes kept it from falling into her lap. Dishing out the same amount that Natasha had, Katya cautiously placed the bowl back onto the counter before looking at the gooey mess before her. It was cheesy noodles, she could make out that much. Whether it was going to be any good or not, well, she guessed she'd find out.
Picking up a fork, she stabbed just one of the noodles before her like it would attack her back, eyeing it speculatively before raising it to her lips. Both Natasha and Clint were watching her, though Natasha was nice enough to at least pretend she was interested in the food. Clint was openly staring, barely breathing as he waited for her to try the dish he seemed to love.
Cautiously, she took the bite, surprised as an explosion of cheesy goodness met her taste buds. Quickly taking another bite to ensure it wasn't just a fluke, she found that the taste wasn't as disgusting as she had originally assumed. In fact, it was delicious. And familiar in a way that tickled at the memories that were beyond her reach, erased, but not fully. It was an odd feeling and she fought not to make a face at the uncomfortable nature of it as she continued to eat quickly and efficiently, looking up to find that both assassins were watching her openly now as she got down to an almost empty plate in the space of two minutes.
"What?"
