Exactly one hour later the elevator opened in the common room. Natasha stepped out and saw Clint casually sat on a noted they had both dressed in similar outfits of sneakers, jeans, and t-shirts; the only difference being she was wearing a hoodie and he was wearing an unbuttoned checked shirt.

'About time' Clint thought as stood up and walked towards her, swinging a set of car keys around his index finger.

Seeing the keys, she stepped back into the elevator and waited till Clint was next to her before pressing the button to the garage. A wave of uncertainty washed over Natasha, she was never fully settled if she wasn't the one behind the wheel.

When the doors closed and the elevator started moving, Natasha, still mildly irritated from losing the bet, turned her head towards Clint "so are you gonna tell me where we're going?"

"Nope" the archer replied in a mischievous tone with a smug grin plastered on his face.

The short elevator ride took them down to the garage and the assassins strolled over to their favourite car, a 2012 black corvette stingray. Despite only being released 6 months ago, it had quickly become their favourite vehicle. Clint had assured her several times it was his favourite but she knew he wasn't telling the truth. Clint loved the car, he really did, but he much preferred to see the quiet excitement on his partner face when they went out in the Stingray. And reducing the number of arguments they had was in both their interests.

Seeing that Clint hadn't handed over the keys yet, Natasha slid into the passenger seat. 'Ok so she didn't get to drive today, big deal, it's not worth getting annoyed at.' She still couldn't help but let out a little huff of frustration as her partner switched on the ignition.

"I'm not telling you, so deal with it" he said calmly as they pulled out of the garage onto the bustling streets of New York.

Much to his partner's annoyance, he kept a smug look on his face for the next 30 minutes as they drove out of the city. In an effort to keep the peace, Clint found a radio station playing classic rock, 'that should calm her down' he thought.

The further they drove the clearer the landscape became and soon they were surrounded by luscious green fields. After pulling off the highway and heading down some dirt tracks they eventually found themselves parked next to a barn and farmhouse.

Natasha was so confused, 'why the hell would Clint bring her to a farm?' she thought to herself.

Soon her question was answered as they got out of the car and headed around the back of the barn. Two beautiful chestnut-coloured horses stood before them and were drinking out of a large water bucket in a fenced off paddock. Spotting the two saddles on the fence to the left, Natasha finally figured it out.

"We're going horse riding?" she said with a smile.

"What gave it away, the saddles or the horses?" Clint replied sarcastically.

Natasha chose to ignore the quip. And after getting acquainted with the horses, they saddled up and headed out into the open fields.

It had been years since Natasha had been horse riding. She was surprised to say the least, how had he remembered she liked horses? 'You're overthinking it, obviously it's just a coincidence' she rationalised.

Clint was lucky enough to do some riding before he was posted to New Mexico, he'd been meaning to take Nat for ages but either kept forgetting or putting it off. There always seemed to be something more important that needed to be done but today had presented an opportunity and he wasn't going to waste it.

For the next few hours they pair rode side by side across wide open fields and through a serene woodland trail chatting about anything and everything; both relaxing as much as a pair of famous master assassins can. For those few hours it felt like everything went back to normal, how it was before Loki came and fucked everything up. No weird feelings, intrusive thoughts, or awkward pauses, just best friends enjoying each others company. More importantly, no billionaire to annoy the crap out of them.

Noticing he was started to feel hungry Clint spoke up, "should we head back and grab a bite to eat?"

"Sounds good to me" Natasha responded before adding "how about we make this more interesting?"

"Why does everything have to be a competition with you?" Clint replied, rolling his eyes. 'Every damn time' he thought to himself.

Natasha had no sooner said "Winner chooses dinner" before the horse and its rider were sprinting back to the farm, leaving the slow archer in their wake.

'Shit', Clint registered her move a second too late giving Nat a decent head start. As he got his horse galloping down the trail behind his partner he had a few moments to reflect. He realised he didn't care what they ate, and considering he pulled a dirty trick to beat his partner in the gym this morning, he figured she deserved to at least choose dinner, 'it's only fair' he rationalised.

By the time they returned to the barn the sun was starting to dip lower in the sky so they removed the horses saddles and made sure they were locked in the paddock. Clint assured Nat the owner would be back soon and they walked around the barn and back to the car. Just as they were approaching the car Natasha stopped walking. Clint no longer hearing her footfall turned to face her with a questioning look on his face. Natasha simply stood with one hand on her hip and her other hand outstretched in front of her "Keys" she said, mirroring the smug look Clint sported several hours ago. Sometimes Clint could be slow, and this was one of those moments.

With an exaggerated huff he tossed her the keys and walked round to the passenger side. 'Finally' Natasha excitedly thought as she hopped into the driving seat, revving the engine a few times for good measure before speeding down the dirt road and back onto towards the highway. She really did love this car.

Slowly the sun crept lower as they headed back towards the city, and as they drove, skyscrapers and buildings grower larger on the horizon; the landscape gently coated in a shimmery golden light.

Golden hour, my favourite car, my best friend, and classic rock tunes softly playing through the cars speakers; 'what more could I possibly want?' Natasha thought to herself as she felt the car hum around her.

What she didn't know was that her partner was thinking the exact same thing.