Sorry for not updating for like 2 days. Personal stuff and school stuff is getting in the way. Anyways, I think you guys are really going to like this chapter. This chapter is slightly inspired by the Taylor Swift song "Sparks Fly." Enjoy!
Clint decided to wait to talk to Natasha until they were on Christmas break. That meant he had to go a week without talking to her, but he hoped it would be worth it in the end. School ended two days before Christmas; they were given Christmas Eve and the day before Christmas Eve off as a part of their break. Clint hoped that before Christmas he could fix things between them. He didn't really want her to be without her best friend on Christmas.
On the day before Christmas Eve, Clint decided to actually go over to her house as opposed to trying to get her attention from his bedroom window. As he hesitated outside of her front door, Clint wondered if her parents would be angry with him. Natasha's parents liked Clint but he hoped that given recent events, they didn't hate him.
Clint punched the button for the doorbell and he heard the faint bell echo throughout the Romanoff household. There was the faint pounding of footsteps on the hardwood floors before the door was wrenched open by Natasha's father.
"Clint, nice to see you," Mr. Romanoff said. "Here to see Natasha?"
Clint gulped and then nodded his head in response. Mr. Romanoff gave him one more glance and then called up the stairs for Natasha. Clint was nervous when Mr. Romanoff had announced that he was at the house. He half expected her to ask her father to turn him away at the door, but after a couple seconds, Clint heard the sound of feet shuffling at the top of the stairs. He heard the soft footfalls as Natasha descended the stairs and came into sight. By the looks of it, her ankle had healed in the week he hadn't talked to her. She was still wearing a brace but it was better than the bulky walking cast. Her hair was pulled up into a loose ponytail and she was wearing a pair of black yoga pants and her favorite t-shirt from one of her past gymnastics competitions.
Natasha muttered a polite thank you to her father and she waited until he disappeared deep into the house before she switched her attitude towards Clint. She crossed her arms across her chest and started to glare at Clint. Clint gulped out of nervousness.
"H-hey Nat," Clint stammered. Natasha stood her ground in the doorway as she continued to glare at him. "C-can I talk to you?"
"I suppose," she said icily.
"Well, can I come in? It's freezing out here," Clint said, shoving his fists into the pockets of his sweatshirt.
"No," she said bluntly.
"O-okay," Clint stammered. "So…how have you been?'
"Busy," she responded immediately.
"I see your ankle has healed a little since I last saw you," Clint said, pointing to her injury.
"Just a little."
It was like talking to a brick wall. She was barely giving him any answers. They were simple and straight forward. Whatever she was angry about, he knew she wasn't going to forgive him so easily this time.
"Look Tasha, I don't know why you're mad at me. Tell me what I did wrong so I can make it right again," Clint begged.
Natasha shook her head as she unfolded her arms from across her chest. "You're just so two-faced Clint."
"Two-faced? What do you mean I'm two-faced?"
"I just thought you were better than the guys who became friendly with their ex-girlfriends or took them back. I guess I was wrong. You're exactly like them."
"What are you talking about?"
"You and Bobbi at the winter formal. You are just so much better than that Clint. You are so much better than her, and I can't believe how friendly you were with her after what she did," Natasha whined. The hurt in her eyes was obvious. Clint knew her too well that he could see it. Pepper was right. He had been so blind all this time. The hurt in her eyes wasn't because she cared for him. Sure, it was definitely an aspect of it, but the hurt in her eyes was because she was in love with him.
However, Clint racked his brain to try to remember what he and Bobbi were talking about while he was getting drinks for them. At first, he was caught off guard when Bobbi had approached him. He knew it would happen during the dance and he decided he wasn't going to give her the benefit of the doubt. But Bobbi started talking to him about her mom and dad and some lame story that had happened since the breakup. Clint had to admit it was kind of funny and Natasha had caught him at the one moment during their conversation when Clint wasn't irritated by Bobbi's presence.
"Tasha, that was just one moment. She told me some stupid story about her parents and I happened to laugh for a split second. For the most part, that was the most uncomfortable experience of my life. I haven't taken her back, and I don't plan on it," Clint argued.
"And why not?" Natasha asked defensively.
He wanted to say it. This was his chance, but he knew that if he said it, it would be the worst timing. She was angry with him and there was no guarantee that telling her he loved her was going to fix it. He could certainly try, but someone could get hurt in the process.
Clint took a deep breath as he looked into Natasha's piercing green eyes. "I don't plan on taking her back because she's not worth it, and my friendship with you is far more important."
"It took you a week to realize that?" she asked, arching one of her eyebrows.
"I left you alone for a week because I guessed you needed some time to yourself. That and you kept your curtains closed all the time," he said.
Natasha tried to hide the smile that was twitching at the corner of her lips, but she failed. "I guess that was a little harsh, but I learned from the best," she said, shooting him an accusatory look.
"Okay, so we're even then," he said with a chuckle. "Now if it's okay, I'd really like to give you a hug."
Natasha rolled her eyes but spread her arms out so Clint could hug her. He wrapped his arms around her and then picked her up and squeezed her. Natasha let out a girlish squeal as Clint continued to apply more pressure around her midsection. "Okay, let me down now," she'd said when she had enough. He gently placed her back on the ground but his hands still lingered on her waist. Clint's blue-grey eyes connected with Natasha's green ones and they stayed like that for what felt like a couple minutes. When Natasha broke away from Clint's gaze, she looked down at his hands which were still resting on her waist.
"Umm, you can let go now Clint," she said, flushing a light shade of red.
"Oh sorry," Clint said, flushing a light shade of red as well as he recoiled from her and took a step back. Clint rubbed the back of his head awkwardly while Natasha twirled one of her bright red curls around her finger as she glanced in any direction but in Clint's.
"So…" Clint trailed off as he tried to search for something to say. "I guess I'll be heading back home now."
"Yeah," Natasha said, sounding disappointed. "Unless you'd like to come in and hang out for a while." It was just a suggestion. She knew he was her best friend, but the fact that she'd given him the silent treatment for the past week made her think he wouldn't take her up on the offer.
"Umm, yeah, that'd be cool," he said nonchalantly. Natasha felt a grin spread across her face as she stepped aside to let him inside the warm house with an equally warm welcome.
Things were back to normal, or as normal as they could be for two best friends who had just come to terms with their feelings for one another. Not once did they mention it to one another though. Clint knew Natasha was right that admitting their feelings for each other may put a strain on their friendship, but Clint was having a hard time dealing with it.
He wanted to tell her so badly. He never felt this way when he had been dating Bobbi, so this was something new to him. It felt like the roles had always been reversed. When he hung out with Bobbi, he didn't feel romantically linked. He felt like they were friends who would make out every so often. He didn't really love her. He never told her and she never told him while they were dating.
However, with Natasha, Clint had started to feel the urge to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her and when they broke away, he wanted her to look into his eyes with her captivating green ones. He wanted to see the sparks fly when she smiled back at him. These feelings were nothing like the ones he experienced when he was with Bobbi and he was having a difficult time trying to control them.
Natasha knew something was different between them. The moment they patched things up, she could sense how different things were between them. The fact that his hands had lingered on her waist after he'd set her down following the hug was enough evidence. Not that she minded because it had set butterflies aflutter in her stomach. It was a feeling she never thought she'd experience from her best friend setting his hands on her waist. If it had been anyone else, she probably would've dropkicked them.
As she lied on her bed that night with the curtains closed, she stared at the last "I love you" message that she held above her face. One of these days, she hoped that she would have enough courage to tell him. She knew it was ridiculous – the fact that she could handle any situation with ease – but she couldn't even manage to tell her best friend how she felt about him. He wasn't dating Bobbi anymore so she didn't know why she was so hesitant to tell him.
Maybe, just maybe, if she won the state championships and moved on to nationals, she'd have enough confidence to tell him. And maybe, just maybe, he'd feel the same way. She knew there was no guarantee, and there was a possibility that telling him may put a strain on their friendship. But for Natasha, at that point, it would be worth a shot.
Curious to see what Clint was doing right now, she rolled off of her bed and walked over to her window with a slight limp in her step. She pulled the curtain back ever so slightly and peered into Clint's window. He was lying on his back on his bed with a piece of paper held in front of his face. Natasha shook her head and laughed to herself as she realized she had been doing the exact same thing just a couple seconds ago.
Natasha pulled back from the window when Clint got up from his bed and headed over to his closet, but only enough so she was barely in his line of sight. She watched as his arm that was holding the piece of paper dropped to his side with the side of the paper with the writing facing her. What she saw, she didn't believe.
She had to be dreaming. It was written on the same oversized notebook paper that Clint used to write messages to Natasha. She knew he didn't use that notebook for anything else. It was reserved for her. Therefore, she had to be dreaming. There was no way she saw what she just saw.
She pinched her arm to make sure she was awake, and lo and behold, she was. She blinked a couple times as she watched Clint hesitate. He brought the paper up so he could look at it one more time, before dropping his arm to his side again – paper in hand – and disappearing from the window frame.
Natasha pulled away from the window and sat down on her bedroom floor with her back against the wall. There was no way she saw what she saw, but it felt like the words were permanently flashing in front of her eyes. She could be wrong; those words could be for someone else. But there was no way Clint would use that notebook paper for anyone else.
After a while, a smile spread across her face. It had to be for her. She could be acting extremely selfish now. Either way, she sat on her bedroom floor for a couple more hours, blinded by the words that continuously flashed in front of her eyes.
I love you.
Now Natasha knows! Think she'll finally confront him? Who knows?
As always, thank you for adding this to your favorites, signing up for alerts, and reviewing. Therefore, review away! Let me know what you think of their rekindled friendship, and Natasha spying on Clint and finding out that he has an "I love you" message for her too.
