It's Christmas for Natasha and Clint! For those of you who read Fix You, it's going to seem like I recycled a scene and I kind of did haha. But I think everyone will still like this chapter nonetheless. Enjoy!
Natasha awoke on Christmas morning to the sight of fat, fluffy snowflakes drifting past her window. Last night, she and Clint had been writing messages back and forth to one another. The last message she remembered reading from Clint was that he would be right back and he disappeared from view. Natasha had gotten under her bed covers and that was the last thing she remembered. She must have gotten so comfortable that she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
She pushed herself up and heard her notebook go crashing to the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the marker roll across the floor. Natasha rubbed her eyes and leaned over the edge of the bed to pick up the notebook. As she pulled herself back onto the bed, she glanced over into Clint's room. His bed was a mess of blankets but he wasn't in it. Natasha figured he must already be spending time with his family.
She pushed the blankets off of herself and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She grabbed her sweatshirt off the back of her desk chair and pulled it on as she made her way out of her bedroom. Shuffling down the hall, she could already hear her parents making small talk downstairs. All they were doing was waiting for her to get up so the Christmas festivities could begin.
When she got downstairs and entered the kitchen, her parents wished her a Merry Christmas and offered to make her something for breakfast. Natasha declined and insisted she would just pour herself a bowl of cereal. As the Romanoffs sat at the kitchen table – Natasha's parents sipping on coffee while Natasha munched on a bowl of Cheerios – they started to make small talk about the weather. Apparently the snow had started early in the morning and it was only going to get worse. They were expected to get about a foot of snow by the time the storm blew through.
Once they finished with breakfast, they moved to the living room where their sparkly Christmas tree was positioned. Underneath were colorfully wrapped packages that were just calling their names. Natasha hadn't really asked for much for Christmas. There were a couple things here and there that she had expressed interest in wanting but nothing in particular that she desperately wanted.
The Romanoffs passed the packages to one another as they ripped off the colorful paper to reveal the gifts. Even though most of Natasha's time was invest in gymnastics so she wasn't able to have a job, she still had a small amount of money stashed away. She usually managed to buy her parents at least one thing for Christmas. This year, she had bought her dad a package of his favorite blend of coffee and her mother a nice designer sweater she found really cheap at TJ Maxx. They both thanked Natasha with hugs and kisses and encouraged her to continue opening her presents.
It was the usual stuff that Natasha got every year. Some things were clothes. Some things were movies. But there was always the big present that they saved for last. It was usually something she didn't ask for but they knew she would love. As Natasha piled the boxes and packages on top of one another, her parents handed her the final gift.
It was a rather large box with shiny silver wrapping paper with sparkly snowflakes. Natasha looked at the package in awe as her parents egged her on to rip off the paper. She tore at the paper – almost sad that she was ruining such pretty paper – and revealed the present to be a shoebox. She pulled the lid off to find a pair of tall, brown leather boots. Then she remembered these were the same boots she was gawking at when her parents had taken her to the mall to find a dress for the winter formal. She had absolutely fallen in love with them but she didn't think her parents noticed. Of course she was wrong. Her parents noticed everything.
She got up to give her parents a hug and to thank them. Then, Natasha helped her parents to clean up all the wrapping paper and the scraps of tape that had been strewn across the living room. Once the living room was slightly tidier than it had been, her parents made their way back into the kitchen to brew more coffee while Natasha went back up to her room to see if Clint was in his room.
The moment she stepped foot into her room, she noticed the message taped to Clint's window. Merry Christmas, it read. I'm out back if you'd like to join me. Natasha smiled and felt the butterflies in her stomach start up again. She quickly started pulling a change of clothes out of her closet and dresser and then quickly made her way to the bathroom to change. As she sloppily changed from her pajamas to a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt, the butterflies in her stomach wouldn't leave her alone. She knew this was no big deal. She was just joining him out back. But for what? A snowball fight? To drink hot chocolate while they watched the snow fall? She didn't know and she sort of didn't care. She was going to be hanging out with Clint on Christmas because he wanted her to.
Once she was dressed, she bounded down the stairs, ignoring the protest from her ankle. It was nearly healed by now and she had been instructed to stay off of it for the remainder of the recovery time, but right now, hanging out with Clint had seemed more important to her. She slipped on a pair of old, beat up UGG boots; they were the only shoes she owned that could withstand the snow and not make her ankle brace look obvious. She yanked her puffy winter jacket from the closet, along with a pair of gloves, a hat, and a scarf.
She scurried to the back of the house, frantically pulling on her jacket as she passed through the kitchen. Her parents shot her a confused look as they were in mid-sip for their coffees. Natasha had just laughed awkwardly as she told them Clint had invited her over. She wrenched open the door to the back deck and stepped into the pile of soft, white snow that had blanketed it.
The moment she stepped outside, she saw Clint in his backyard next door. She carefully bounded down the steps and walked over to Clint's backyard. He stood in the middle of the yard with his bow and arrow; a target was set up several feet in the distance. Natasha stopped dead in her tracks as Clint pulled back an arrow and steadied his aim before releasing the arrow, lodging itself right in the center of the target at the other end of the yard.
"Show off," Natasha muttered just loud enough for Clint to hear.
Clint whipped around and flashed Natasha a grin. "Merry Christmas to you too," he said sarcastically.
"Sorry, Merry Christmas," she said as she took a hesitant step towards him. "What are you doing?"
"Testing out my new bow," he stated. He held up the bow to show her. The quiver full of arrows was slung across his chest.
"Did Santa get that for you?" Natasha teased.
"Yes because I was a good boy this year," Clint said as he turned to face the target again. He pulled out an arrow from his quiver and loaded it into the bow. He pulled it back, waited for a couple seconds and then released it, sending the arrow flying across the yard to lodge into the target.
"You really are showing off," Natasha said as soon as the arrow lodged itself into the target.
"Oh, like you could do any better?" he asked almost as if he was challenging her.
Natasha considered it. "If you taught me, maybe I could do better than you," she said slyly.
"Alright," he said, handing the bow to her. She gingerly took it from him. She didn't know the first thing about holding a bow let alone firing it. She looked at it as if it was the most foreign object she'd ever seen. Suddenly Clint chuckled and laid his hand on her arm, gingerly pulling her towards him so that she was facing the target. He showed her how to hold the bow, gently putting her hands in position. Every time Clint's hands touched hers, Natasha felt her heart begin to race.
He removed one of his hands from hers to reach behind him and pull out an arrow. He loaded it into the bow before grabbing her hand and twining her fingers in between the arrow and the bow string. "You're going to pull it back and aim," he said as he placed his hand on hers that was holding the arrow in place.
She was surprised that Clint didn't notice her heart pounding against her rib cage. It was practically itching to burst out. Then again, she was wearing her thickest jacket, as was he, to fight off the cold air. Maybe he couldn't feel how her heart was reacting to his touch.
Clint guided her hand back and then let go to rest his hand on her shoulder. "Relax your shoulders," he breathed in her ear as he applied pressure to her shoulder. At Clint's touch, she immediately relaxed. She didn't even realize she was tense until he'd pointed it out. "Relax your fingers too." She did as she was told and felt her fingers relax against the arrow and the bow string.
"Now just relax and let go." Natasha relaxed, letting out a breath, before she released the arrow from the bow. It hurtled towards the target, lodging itself right next to Clint's other arrows. Clint took a step back and blinked in shock at the arrow that Natasha had shot at the target. "Well, shit."
Natasha turned around to face him and smirked. "We really should've put a bet on this."
"Beginner's luck," Clint huffed.
"Or you could just admit that you're a pretty awesome teacher," Natasha said coyly.
"You think so?" Clint arched one of his eyebrows.
"I know so," Natasha said matter-of-factly. Natasha looked up from underneath her lashes and looked into Clint's blue-grey eyes. She kept her eyes trained on his, but his flickered down to her lips. She wasn't quite sure why he was looking at them until she noticed he started to lean in closer to her. Her heart started to race as he leaned in closer. He was so close to her that she could feel his breath against her lips.
"Clint! Honey, come inside! We need to get ready to go to your grandparents'!" Clint quickly pulled away from Natasha and turned a deep shade of red as he turned his attention to his mother, who was standing in the doorway of the sliding glass door to their back deck.
"We're still going in this weather?" Clint asked, arching one of his eyebrows.
"Yes, it's Christmas. Now let's go. We have to be there by two," his mother said. "And Merry Christmas Natasha!"
"Thank you Mrs. Barton. Merry Christmas to you too!" Natasha said, waving to Clint's mother as she disappeared back into the house.
"Umm, so I've got to go," Clint mumbled.
"Oh it's okay," Natasha said, shaking her head. "Have fun at your grandparents' house."
"Thanks, umm, I might talk to you later, I might not," he muttered, clearly referring to their special notebook correspondence.
"Okay," she muttered.
"Enjoy the rest of your Christmas though," Clint said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Yeah, yeah, you too," Natasha said. She handed him his bow – which she practically forgot was still in her hand – as he headed towards his house. She watched him mount the steps to his back deck and then hesitate at the sliding glass door. He turned around and offered up a small wave before disappearing in the house.
Natasha stood there for a couple seconds before heading back to her house. As she walked through the thick snow, she brought her hand up to her lips to brush her fingers against them. Seconds ago, Clint's lips had almost come into contact with hers. It seemed ridiculous that something that almost happened had made her so giddy, but Natasha had hoped that their almost-kiss had taken them a step in the right direction.
They ALMOST kissed! I think New Year's Eve is going to be the next chapter and all of the Avengers will be at a New Year's Eve party at Stark's house. Will Clint and Natasha kiss at midnight? Or will there be more awkward and angst between the two of them? Also, I think this fic is going to be 15 chapters so it won't be going on for much longer.
Also, good news for those of you who read Fix You and were looking forward to the one-shot sequels, I'm thinking of posting one pretty soon. If you signed up for author alerts, look out for it. If you signed up for alerts for Fix You, I'll post an author's note in the story to let you know that I've posted one of the one-shot sequels. The collection will be called Never Let Me Go, and I'll just post all of the one-shot sequels as that.
ALSO, if you guys have been reading What Happens in Vegas, I HAVE NOT forgotten about it. I'm just so invested in this fic and the Fix You one-shot sequels (and then add on school approaching soon) that I haven't had time to update What Happens in Vegas. But no, I have not forgotten about it.
Phew, anyways, 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 Clint and Natasha's Christmas shenanigans and the almost kiss.