This takes place near the end of Chapter Two of Dark matter, a few hours before Darcy overhears Clint and Natasha in her hospital room.
"What are you doing Clint," Natasha drops in on him out of nowhere. Literally drops in, as he's walking down a Hallway at SHIELD late at night, or early in the morning, depending how you look at it. Neither of them keeps particularly usual hours, so it's not odd for both of them to be working at this time.
It is also not odd, at least lately, for Natasha to be scowling at him for some reason. He sighed.
"Heading down to the range to test out some new tech, how 'bout you?" he tried flippantly. He knows that's not what she meant.
"You know that's not what I mean."
Freaking mind reader.
"Yeah, but I never know what you do mean anymore Nat," he said, arms crossed, "so why don't you just tell me."
"What are you doing with the job, Clint."
"Her name is Darcy, Tasha."
"Since when do you let the job become a person."
"I don't know Tash, since they are friends of Jane's who got pulled into this shit because we messed with her life? Since they are civilians who stand up to three days of torture and then kick a chair at the guy who did it?"
"Are you fucking her?" asked Tasha bluntly.
"What? No! For Christ sake Natasha, the girl is lying in the med ward hopped up on morphine." She was trying to make him mad. He knew it, but it didn't make her any less fucking efficient at it.
"But you want to. You're getting involved with a mark Clint. That's the one rule you don't break."
"Broke it with you, didn't I?" because just once he wanted to get to Natasha the same way she got to him.
"And look how well that worked out," said Natasha with an eye roll. And Clint had fucking had it. She had been growing colder, pulling away from him, building up the walls he had spent years breaking down. Ever since Loki. Ever since she had been compromised.
He knew, right at that moment, sitting on the helicarrier, still punch drunk from being ripped out of his own head and having his ass kicked by Tasha, when he asked why she was joining this war.
I've been compromised. I have red in my ledger, and I'd like to wipe it out.
It had hit him like a knife in the gut. Loki had got to her. He had got to her through him. And that made him a weakness, a liability. Loki had made him into a spot of red in her ledger, her bleeding heart. And she was trying to wipe him out. And damn her if she though he was just going to let her do it.
He slammed her up against the wall. It was a mark of how messed up they were right now that she let him. "I thought it worked out pretty well Tasha," he bit out the words in a low, dangerous tone. "I thought we were partners. The only goddam person I ever…" He cut himself off with an angry rasp, pushing himself away from her and turning away.
"You ever what?" And there was a note in Tasha's voice he didn't know if he had ever heard before. Challenging, but somehow vulnerable. She always did this. Drove him right to the edge, and pulled him back. Maddening, impossible, incredible woman.
"I can't do this right now with you Tasha," said Clint, not turning back to her. He didn't know whether he wanted to kick the crap out of her or kiss her. And he knew, better than anyone, that while Natasha was strong in many ways, most ways even, her heart could be a fragile thing. And he was one of the only people, maybe the only person, that had a hold on it. So he was going to sit on this until he could figure out what was to be done. Get some distance, a better view.
"She's a mistake Barton." Natasha called out behind him as he walked away. But Clint didn't look back. And part of him wanted to smile a little, because he didn't think Natasha was aware of how thoroughly she sounded like a jealous teenager in that moment. Albeit a deadly and incredibly threatening jealous teenager. Come to think about it, maybe he should drop in on Darcy, make sure Nat wasn't in a vengeful mood…