Chapter: 3
"Nat, I'm not trying to rush you but I really need you to make a decision." Clint said as he looked between the three colors.
"Green," He heard her voice through the cell phone. "No, blue."
"Nat…"
"I don't know Barton!"
"Dang it Romanoff give me a color!" Clint could feel the sweat coming down his face. "Blue, red, or green." His eyes darted back and forth and he checked his watch again. "We're running out of time here Nat."
"Green," she said and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ok, I'll be back in ten minutes." He said then hung up shaking his head.
Clint reached down and grabbed two of the green paint cans. The shade was an olive green that Natasha had been going back and forth between for two days. He placed the cans in the cart and grabbed a set of paint rollers. The heat was dreadful in the warehouse that he found himself in. The air conditioner had broken down and Clint did not appreciate the irony that they were in a hardware store. He hurriedly walked to the checkout line. The cashier seemed to share the same disapproval about the air conditioner but Clint still managed to get back in record time.
Natasha, after proving that she was at SHEILD to stay, was granted the request to have off-site living arrangements. Since she had money stored in banks, pretty much everywhere, she had no problem affording a decent sized apartment in a nice area. Clint nodded to some of the people who lived in the building as he approached the front entrance. A woman held the door open for him and he shot her a grateful smile and thanked her as he entered the lobby.
When he finally made it to Natasha's new apartment he saw that Coulson was just about to knock on the door. The pizza that his handler balanced in his other hand made Clint's stomach growl. When he noticed the archer, Coulson paused and waited for the other man to catch up.
"She's finally picked a color?" He asked and Clint raised one of the cans up.
"The green one," he said. "You could give the woman three colors to dismantling a bomb and she'll have an answer in five seconds. Tell her to pick a color to paint her living room and she'll make you wish you were dealing with the bomb."
"Lighten up," Coulson said with a smirk. "It is her first real home that she's getting to decorate after all."
"Fair enough," Clint said. "How's Melinda?" Clint asked knowing that it was the day Coulson would check in on his former partner.
"She's good. Getting out of the field was a good move for her." Clint nodded and Coulson knocked on the door. It swung open seconds later and Clint wasted no time in finding a place to put the heavy paint cans down.
"Cool, you got it all taped up already." He said noting the blue tape that was in place to keep the paint off of the molding and power outlets.
"Yup," Natasha replied. She stood in the middle of the completely empty room, inspecting the job that she had done with a critical eye. Her long red hair had been pulled back into a ponytail but pieces had escaped and were framing her face.
"Why don't we sit down somewhere and eat." Coulson suggested and the two agents readily agreed.
"I have drinks in the cooler," Natasha commented. She walked behind the counter top that separated the living room from the kitchen then came back tugging a blue cooler behind her. The wheels rolled smoothly over the hardwood flooring that covered most of the apartment. The kitchen and the two bathrooms had tile.
The square tiles that covered the kitchen and bathrooms were a grey color that was marbled with some off-white color that Clint couldn't name. The hardwood flooring covering the rest of the apartment was a dark brown laminate flooring that resembled a wooden floor. It was nice and Clint was secretly glad that Natasha had chosen the olive green to paint the walls with. It would look nice.
"Do you have anything besides water?" Clint asked and Natasha shook her head. "Ugh, the two of you kill me." He said looking back and forth between his handler and partner.
"Stop complaining," Natasha shot back at him as they all sat on the floor in the middle of the room. She passed the men a water bottle and took one for herself as well.
"Whatever," Clint said then opened up the pizza box. "Oh yeah." He said after taking a deep breath, cherishing the smell of the pizza.
"You act like this is the first pizza you've had in years." Natasha said, shooting her partner a look for his over dramatics.
"You can never have too much pizza."
"I beg to differ," she mumbled under her breath and Coulson just chuckled at the two of them and shook his head.
"You first," Clint said to her, pretending that he hadn't heard her last comment. Natasha humored him and picked up a slice of the pepperoni and pineapple pizza.
"Ok," she said after taking a bite. "I'll admit that this is one of the better ones."
"Ha!" Clint exclaimed with a fist pump in the air. "She likes it folks!" Both Coulson and Natasha rolled their eyes at his antics. Clint shrugged and picked up a slice for himself and the group fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed their meal.
"So when is the furniture supposed to arrive?" Coulson asked Natasha after his second slice of pizza.
"Tomorrow" she replied "I'm only painting this room and the two bedrooms."
"The same green?" Coulson asked and Natasha shook her head.
"No, I haven't really decided what color the bedrooms will be yet. Clint rolled his eyes at her comment and took another bite of his pizza. Natasha shot him a halfhearted glare then turned back to Coulson. "I'm thinking some blue almost grey kind of color."
"That'd be cool," Coulson replied "you leaving the bathrooms and kitchen white?" he asked and Natasha nodded. "Not too much work then. We're just doing the living room today though?"
"Yes," she replied and he nodded.
"Well, ready when you two are" He said. Natasha nodded and stood up with him.
"Yeah I guess so," Clint said. He closed the pizza box back up and placed it on top of the cooler which he then put back into the kitchen. "Let's get started then." He said clapping his hands together. He opened up the paint cans and distributed the paint rollers and trays to the other two. They each picked a wall to start with then got to work.