Hey everyone, welcome to chapter 6! Please review! Reviews are read, appreciated, then immortalized.
Chapter 5: Sweet Talk
Weeks passed, Natasha made a full recovery and Clint returned without explanation. They were both cleared for active duty. Months passed and they worked their way back to the highest ranked partnership SHIELD had. Soon enough Natasha's one year anniversary is in front of them.
One year after joining SHIELD and Natasha's personality is distinct and Clint finds himself laughing with her on frequent occasions and he dares to call her his friend.
Natasha is assigned to a quick mission the day of her anniversary. Coulson saying something about a weapons dealer selling gamma radiation infected lab materials and whisked Romanoff away promising to return that evening.
He debated in his mind for some time if and how they should celebrate. He's pacing back in forth in their apartment wondering whether he should surprise her with the cupcake in his fridge that he purchased for her or would that be too embarrassing. He wondered if she'd even care. Or would she think he was mocking her? He wasted an entire day pondering over the same question, it surprised him when he heard Natasha's knock on the door. He rushes to let her in, still unsure how this will play out.
The door opens to reveal a slightly disheveled but still graceful Natasha Romanoff. She holds a small stack of papers. "Hey, I got back from my mission a little while ago and Coulson wanted me to give you these to look over." She holds out the papers, he takes them, "Alright, I'll see you later then."
"Wait!" He says a bit too loudly. She turns and raises an eyebrow. "Why don't you come in for a minute?"
Natasha wonders if he'll elaborate. When he just stands there awkwardly she takes the hint and walks in.
"Sooooo," he begins with forced casualness, "how'd the mission go?"
"Pretty well, we actually found out that this guy bought the gamma infected weapons from this gang of thieves. So SHIELD is organizing a mission to end them too, I think Demorie and Sanden are going to get that one."
"Oh wow, that's yeah. That's great." He was failing at being smooth.
"Do you have any water bottles, by chance?" She asks pleasantly. Without second thought he gestures toward the fridge and takes the moment to rethink his approach. A few seconds later she returns from the kitchenette and he attempts conversation again.
"So, seems Coulson has quite a bit of paper work for me, huh?" Wow, he was embarrassing himself.
Natasha smirks, "I hope you weren't planning on starting that now, were you?"
"No, I don't… no if you wanted… Did you need me for something?" He stumbles terribly over his words.
She tosses him his jacket, "Well, we have to go get me a new cupcake. It's my one year anniversary and you got the wrong kind."
"What-. Ohh!" Clint's eyes widened, "You weren't supposed to see that."
"Then you shouldn't have left it in your fridge. Did you really think I'd go for plain yellow cake with chocolate frosting? I mean I know I haven't lived here long but my palette is far more complex then something as basic as that."
"Well then, I guess we better hurry up." He says practically pushing her out the door.
They walk side by side down a busy street. Making small talk until Natasha decides to cut into something deeper. "So you don't have to answer this if you don't feel comfortable. It's kind of intrusive but I don't think you'll mind. I mean if you answer it then I guess-"
"Natasha, what's the question," Clint laughs.
"Why don't I ever about you being in a relationship and you never tell me about any friends, you don't seem like the unsociable type?" She ask hesitantly.
Clint laughs, heartily. "'well I guess it's a plus, the elusive Black Widow does find me completely unfriendable."
"Oh just answer the question, birdbrain." Natasha smiled, hitting him playfully.
"I'm a spy it's my job to seem likable but I for myself don't mind being alone a lot. I enjoy it," he says it so coolly and naturally, Natasha doesn't suspect a thing.
Natasha feels like making a quick jab at him but there at the pastry shop, and everything suddenly smells a child's laughter or something equally poetic. Natasha quickly becomes entranced in the glass case of cupcakes she squats down to see them at proper eye level. The shop is empty save for a young brunette with her back to the door.
The brunette calls out, "Sorry, we're closed!"
Clint leans over the counter and gives his most convincing seductive voice, "oh, well that's quite unfortunate I just wanted to grab a couple of cupcakes to end the night." The brunette swivels around quickly and showcases a flirty smile.
"Oh, well, maybe I could make a small exception," she bites her lip, "for you." The cashier was far too young for Clint, maybe even underage but she wasn't let going to let that small detail deter her.
Clint immediately drops the façade. "Thanks!" He looks over to Natasha and the brunette follows his eyes shocked to a second woman in the shop, "Did you decide yet?"
"I really want the peach cobbler but I also love the way the chocolate coconut one looks. They also have a peanut butter one and ever since I tried those peanut butter cups candy I've wanted more." Natasha sighs dramatically, "Why don't you decide?"
Clint smiles, "It's an simple choice for me," he turns to the young cashier who's glaring daggers to into both of them while the assassins pretend to be oblivious to it, "One of each please."
Natasha eyes widen as the cashier clenches her fists and begins filling boxes, "There are like twenty flavors here Clint!"
"Consider it part of training in assimilation."
"By eating cupcakes?"
Clint salutes her in mock seriousness, "An important aspect of our culture. Truly what are forefathers fought so bravely for."
Natasha laughs, Clint beams at his success.
After he's paid for the overpriced delicacies they trek back to base. They pass a cozy coffee shop and the smell is too intoxicating for Clint to resist. "You mind if we stop for stop for some coffee. It'll go well with the cupcakes and they defiantly have the kind you'll want, black."
Natasha looks uneasily at him, "I prefer flavored coffee."
"What! You always get black, you don't even put sugar in your coffee."
"Back in the Room, they used a subjection technique where they gave us cake once a month and lukewarm hot chocolate as we got older they would give us black and bitter coffee. Something about 'No one would treat us better than we have so don't turn against us' type of manipulation. But then when I was seventeen, I had a mission where I had to go undercover as a barista in this coffee shop in Moscow for about two weeks. They had every flavor I could dream of. Every day before and after work I'd make myself a new kind." Her distant smile suddenly turns cold, "Would have been the best two weeks if I didn't have to sleep with some disgusting old politician, then kill his family."
Clint doesn't know what to say at first, he wasn't expecting her to reveal something that quickly. Now she looks very upset and he's worried, "Do you want to go back to base now?"
She looks up and meets his eyes, she gives a small but very real smile, "No, I want a hazelnut latté."
After an evening of too much cake and coffee Clint wakes to a crumbs and empty boxes everywhere. He groans as he twist his body uncomfortably. Natasha didn't leave his dorm until the very middle of the night. However, Clint couldn't complain they were bonding, building a friendship and henceforth a strong partnership.
He pulls himself up and registers there's a rhythmic knocking at the door. "Oh just come in already!" Clint groans.
"Don't you think I would have done that if I the door was unlocked?" Coulson.
With another hiss of mumbled complaints Clint's drags his shirtless tired-looking body to the door. "Since when did a lock ever stop you from getting where you needed?"
Coulson looking impeccable in his tailored suits raises an eyebrow, "Unlike you I try to respect others' boundaries. But on to more important things… what happened here?" Coulson asks finally noticing the mess.
"If you must know, we celebrated Natasha's one year anniversary last night. We ate cupcakes and talked."
"That's sounds very un-Widowlike." The older man comments.
"That's because I wasn't with the Black Widow last night, I was with Natasha Romanoff."
Coulson hums thoughtfully then changes subjects, "You missed a debriefing this morning, I've been calling you."
"Oh sorry, time kind of got away from us last night, I've only been asleep a couple hours."
"It's ten in the morning, Clint."
"Aww, time no…" Clint whines.
"Well to give a summary, you have a mission next week, solo. So does Natasha she'll be working with Maria Hill." Coulson lets himself into the dorm and begins making coffee.
"Hill? I thought she just got appointed as second to Fury?"
"She did. They have an assignment at the New York base. Mostly classified stuff. Your debriefing has been rescheduled to late this afternoon, try to show up this time please."
"Alright, alright I'll be there."
"Why are there so many coffee cups? I thought it was just you too?" Coulson raises an eyebrow at the archer.
Clint smiles thoughtfully, "It was, I was helping Natasha with her deconditioning from the Red Room."
"By overdosing her on caffeine?"
"It's a long intimate story that I got her to share with me last night," Clint boosts.
Coulson pours some coffee into a clean mug and finds a decent looking cookies and cream cupcake, claiming it without permission. He shrugs, "On a good note, the Council is finally starting to take their minds off of her, after the Iranian prison bomb last spring I think they were satisfied with only nearly killing her."
"How gracious of them," Clint deadpanned.
"Well despite their efforts, you're doing great with her. She's been here a year and she's become a legend. She'll move up the ranks quickly if she kept progressing like this."
Clint smiles and opens his mouth to respond when a knock on the door breaks his concentration. "Come in."
A well-rested, well put together redhead enters, she pauses and takes in Clint's dishevelment, "Did you oversleep? You missed our briefing."
Coulson smirks and Clint throws his hands up exasperatedly, "Noted! Noted! Send in the SWAT, won't you!" Clint mumbles something incoherently while making his way to the bathroom, "I going to shower,"
Coulson and Natasha stare at each other for moment smirking, before Coulson returns to his cupcake. "Happy belated anniversary, I came by to pick up something sweet from the party I wasn't invited too."
"It was hardly a party, sir. Clint just decided to buy me a bunch of these… baked goods." Her persona was stern.
"Sounds like a party to me. Quite celebratory and festive."
"It was my partner's idea," Natasha concedes.
"Very thoughtful of him. Wasn't it?" Coulson doesn't wait for a response, "So was deciding to save you, giving you the chance to live a different life, and have control."
"Where are you going with this, sir?" Natasha creases her eyebrows.
Coulson shrugs, "I don't know everything about where you come from, agent Romanoff but I'll assume that no one has showed you attention like Clint for a very long time."
Natasha looks down, "Natasha?" She looks up with an emotional mask over her face, "he cares about you because he believes you're capable of being a better person. Be careful. Don't mix up the wrong emotions."
The bathroom door swings open to reveal a clean shaven but still inexplicably shirtless Clint, "You guys still here?"
"Don't worry about me, I'm gone," Coulson says striding to the door giving Natasha one last look as the door closes.
"I'm going go too," Natasha nearly whispers.
"Ok, I'll see you later. Are you alright?" Clint pulls a shirt over his head.
"Yeah," she rubs her wrist.
"Listen, I'm going take off after this briefing this afternoon, I'll be back before you leave for your mission with Hill."
Natasha felt the urge to call him out on his vagueness, "Yeah, yeah fine." She had his door halfway open now.
Clint held the door in place, "Tasha, you sure nothing is bothering you?"
Tasha? Was that a thing now? Tasha, it sounded nice when he said in that low quiet voice of his. "No just thinking about that mission."
"With Hill? You'll be fine Maria is cool I've known her since my recruitment."
Tasha fakes a smile walks away. She knows whatever is stirring in her will surface soon. This was going to become a serious issue.
For all my lovely readers hoping to see a certain brunette this chapter, I apologize for my cruelty. Please keep reading! In time my readers!