The envelope was on Natasha's desk when she walked into her room, she didn't have to pick it up to know who it was from. Barton was the only one who would dare to come into the Black Widows room without her permission. Not to mention the only one who was probably capable of picking open the half dozen locks Natasha had installed on the door.
She picked up the envelope, and felt dread well up inside of her, realizing what the card probably was.
It had been almost eight months since Barton had his accident, since she agreed to be his friend. And Natasha had gotten used to a lifestyle she never would have thought she'd enjoy a year ago- It turned out eating meals with her partner a couple times a week was pretty nice, even when she let Clint pick the restaurants and he took her to random food trucks, or greasy diners that looked like they had not closed once since opening. And talking before missions was annoying, but hadn't killed her. Natasha had even gotten used to the mandatory activities with her partner twice every month- She wasn't going to lie and say she exactly loved bowling, going to the movies, mini golf- ok fine, she hated most of the activities Barton chose the first couple months after the incident. But they had actually learned that Nat was wickedly good at Laser Tag (No surprise there), that arcades were always a fun place to spend a couple hours, and had decided that yes, spending more time training together could occasionally account as one of their activities.
So fine, it was actually kind of nice being friends with Clint. No one else had even noticed a shift in the relationship between the hawk and the spider, but Clint and Natasha were aware of the difference, and that was all that mattered. Besides, Natasha did not exactly like to let others know she cared about anyone, and preferred that most of Shield thought she could care less about Barton.
Becoming friends with Clint had been far from the worst thing to happen to Natasha. But now the holidays were coming up at the end of the year, and Nat was dreading what she was going to have to do.
She had been sure Clint was going to invite her to celebrate Halloween with him this year- That might even have been a holiday she could handle. She had no childhood memories associated with it, she would be able to wear a crummy mask as her costume all day, they could have just gone to a bar, eaten loads of candy and gotten super drunk- Maybe it could have been fun even. But the holiday had come and gone, and Natasha knew what she was going to have to do.
Clint was going to make her celebrate one of the BIG holidays. Thanksgiving. New Years Eve. Maybe even Christmas. Oh god, if he was going to force her to celebrate Christmas with him, she was going to kill him. Or at least shoot herself in the leg so she could get out of it. Maybe she should have put a clause in the contact, excluding certain holidays he could make her celebrate.
Natasha had nothing against holidays. She understood that people liked to celebrate, that for most of the world holidays were nothing more than fun distractions from every day life, a time to make new memories, celebrate family and friends. Well, for the Black Widow most holidays were nothing more than a horrible reminder of things that had happened in her past. She had learned holidays were when most people let their guard down, so over the years they had become some of the busiest days for the assassin. A lot of red had been spilled onto her ledger on the days most of the world was busy celebrating.
Natasha finally ripped open the envelope and inside- Was a glitter covered Turkey shaped card. She opened it, and inside Barton had scrawled in his familiar handwriting- "I cleared it with Coulson, we get the 25th to the 29th off for Thanksgiving- Before you think of an excuse to back out, I am inviting you to the farm for the holiday. And you said you would always accept an invitation to the farm, so you can't get out of this Romanoff. We leave early on the 25th, I'll give you your plane ticket tomorrow. I had to buy the tickets last minute, so the time the plane leaves at is not ideal. But I can tell you about that later. Come find me and I'll explain."
Ok, she could maybe handle this. Thanksgiving wasn't the worst holiday- Natasha of course had never celebrated it growing up, had only learned about it in the red room. The worst memories she had around the day involved a few missions she'd had to carry out roughly five years ago, when she was just a gun for hire. Before Barton saved her. Well, maybe he could help her forget her past, and actually enjoy a holiday for once.
"It's way too early for this stupidity." That was the main thought running through the Black Widow's head as she got off of the plane with her partner. When Clint had written the time of the plane was not ideal, Natasha had assumed that meant it left either super early, or super late. Instead it left at a strange mix of both, and flew out of New York City around two in the morning. Natasha was used to having to wake up early for missions, but that didn't mean she didn't hate it.
They had to sit in the coach section again, Clint really had bought the tickets at the last possible minute- He explained he had not been sure if he wanted to choose Thanksgiving as the years holiday or not, and by the time he made up his mind, this was the only available plane with any seats left.
They arrived in Iowa at roughly six in the morning, tired, fed up with sitting on a plane, that had been even longer than originally planned thanks to weather difficulties, and surrounded by grumpy people who were just as unhappy being on that plane as Natasha was. Clint actually didn't seem to mind the ride that much, but that's probably because his seat had been next to a young woman traveling with a baby. Barton had spent the entire plane ride talking with the woman, and playing with the baby, trying to make the infant laugh, and making him toys out of random thing Clint had in his backpack. Natasha had been stuck sitting next to a college aged boy who kept trying to hit on her, until the Black Widow snuck a little something into his drink, and mysteriously the obnoxious boy went to sleep until the plane landed.
Now, off the plane, the two were driving in a pickup truck Clint had rented, and Natasha thought they were headed to the farm. But to her surprise, the truck passed the turn in the road leading to Clint's home, and instead continued into town.
"Clint, what the heck? Where are we going?" Natasha asked, taking a gulp of the overpriced coffee she had purchased in the airport. Clint continued driving. "Thanksgiving is in two days, and I promise you that tomorrow the store is going to be totally crowded with last minute shoppers. If we go now we'll totally beat the rush, and I promise we can get enough food that we won't have to leave the farm again until we head back to Shield." That actually made sense, so Natasha didn't argue about having to go to a grocery store. Partially because she didn't really care, partially because she was still tired and the coffee had not done its job yet.
The store Clint pulled up to was small, and looked somehow overcrowded and deserted at the same time. Only a handful of cars were in the parking lot, Through the windows Natasha could see that the store was packed to bursting with stuffed shelves, but other than that the building looked vacant.
Clint parked the truck, and grinned at his partner. "Ok, this is going to be awesome. We just have to figure out every meal we want to have when we're here, find the ingredients for everything, buy it and get out. Piece of cake!" Natasha rolled her eyes, "Aren't you supposed to have a list or something when you're grocery shopping?" Clint snorted. "Um, yeah, if you're a complete amateur! I on the other hand, am a master shopping. Lists are beneath me, I'm way too skilled for them. Come on, watch a master at work!"
He left the truck, slammed the door closed, and excitedly began walking towards the store. Natasha reluctantly followed.
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Please review :/ I know this chapter was stupid, and boring and awful, but I had to write it to set the scene and story of the next few chapters. Please do not unfollow because of this boring excuse of an update- Next chapters will have adorable stuff, farm activities, animals, and Clintasha's first Thanksgiving together!