"Well, now that we've got that out of the way," Tony exclaimed, clapping his hands together and rubbing them briskly. "Who wants breakfast? I feel like pancakes. Bruce? Blondie? You guys want pancakes?"

"I could eat," Bruce allowed.

"Steve?" Tony asked. "How 'bout you, big guy? Pancakes?"

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Alright, three out of five. Majority rules," Tony chuckled. "C'mon, Legolas, you're on flipping duty."

"Not so fast," Natasha countered. "I'd like a minute to talk with Clint."

"Sure," Tony agreed, leaning against the couch. "We can hold off on eating for a while."

"Alone," Natasha said pointedly.

"Seriously?" the billionaire questioned. "You're going to kick me out of my own living room?"

"Sir?" Jarvis cut in. "This area is now only one-fifth yours, as the upper floors of the building have been reassigned as Avenger's Tower."

"Oh, now you speak up," Tony groused. "Where were you twenty minutes ago?"

"Stark," Natasha snapped. "Now."

"Okay, okay," Tony replied, raising his hands in a soothing gesture as he backed away. "Don't get bent out of shape. We're going."

Natasha held Stark's gaze as she added, "And Jarvis? Turn off all the recording devices for this room, please. Including the ones Tony thinks we don't know about."

"At once, Ms. Romanov," Jarvis answered.

"And now you're taking orders from her," Tony exclaimed before turning his attention to Natasha. "You wound me with your accusations, Red. Do you really think I would…"

"I used to work for you, Stark," Natasha cut in. "So I know all of your dirty little secrets. Or did you forget about that?"

Tony's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, his eyes still locked with hers. "Most of my secrets," he finally muttered. "Not all."

"Doesn't matter," she growled. "I know enough. Now go and make your pancakes while we talk."

"Yes, ma'am," Tony sassed, throwing the red-head a mock salute before spinning on his heel and stalking away.

Thor lingered in the doorway after the others had gone, his gaze darting between the two assassins as he frowned lightly in worry.

"You, too, Thor," Natasha ordered.

"Clint? Are you certain?" Thor asked softly.

"Go ahead," Clint said. "You don't have to stand guard. It's not like she's gonna hurt me." Clint's brow furrowed as he turned his gaze to the red-head. "You're not…are you?"

Natasha shrugged, stating, "Only if you give me a reason."

"Wasn't planning on it," the archer murmured.

"Good," Natasha replied, leaning forward and catching Clint's gaze. "I just want to talk."

"I will leave you to it, then," Thor rumbled.

"Thanks, buddy," Clint said. "I'll catch up after a bit. Make sure to save some food for me."

Thor gave a tentative smile before backing out of the room and leaving the two assassins alone.

"So…." Clint began. "What did you want to know?"

"How did this happen?" the red-head demanded. "When did it happen? And why is this the first I'm hearing of it?"

"Wow, okay," Clint huffed, scrubbing his palm over the nape of his neck. "Straight to the point, just like always."

Natasha's mouth firmed down into a thin line and she arched one eyebrow at Clint, her universal code for 'Speak now, before I punch the truth out of you.'

"It's not that simple, Tasha," Clint grumbled. "Hell, even if this was your run of the mill relationship, it's sorta hard to boil it down to those three points."

"I need you to try," Natasha said. "This came out of nowhere, and I need you to make me understand."

"Well, fuck," Clint muttered. "No pressure, or anything. And what about my previous explanation wasn't good enough for you? Why the need for the Russian Inquisition?"

"Clint, you are one of the few people on this planet that I would call a friend," Natasha stated firmly. "And I will always have your back. But the last six months have been…difficult, and I don't want to feel like you've been keeping things from me."

"Difficult," Clint snapped. "Difficult? Really? That's the understatement of the century."

Natasha cocked her head to the side, eyes boring into Clint's. He felt the swell of anger slowly drain away under her watchful gaze, and he huffed out a deep breath.

"It's not like I meant to hide this, 'Tasha," he said quietly before pausing for a long moment. "Hell, if anything, I was lying to myself most of all."

"Explain," the redhead prompted, leaning back in her seat and crossing one leg over the other.

"Everything about this situation was fucked," Clint murmured. "From the moment Loki appeared, I was fucked. The way he took me over…the things he made me do? I-I've never had to deal with anything like that."

"That much I do understand," Natasha offered.

"Figured you might," Clint returned. "I struggled with all that from the moment I came back to myself. But there was more. I felt…lost without Loki. And the fact that he'd abandoned me…just left me behind on the helicarrier…that really fucking stung. Even though I knew I should be glad to be shed of him, it still hurt. And I couldn't figure out why, so I just chalked it up to a remnant of the scepter's influence."

"You really didn't know?" Natasha asked.

"Not then," Clint sighed. "I mean, he kidnapped me, brainwashed me, and made me kill my own. Everything inside me was screaming that he was the enemy, and you don't have compassion for the enemy. You just…don't."

"I was the enemy once," the redhead murmured.

"That was different," Clint said.

"Not by much."

"Still, different enough," the archer replied, dropping the gaze to the floor between his feet.

"Fine," she conceded. "So you woke up angry and confused; I know that much. But you shut me out after that. Wouldn't talk to me about anything having to do with Loki, or your time under his control. What was happening in your head, Clint?"

"I just kept telling myself I should hate him; that I did hate him. But every day that passed, I had a little harder time convincing myself. I had this weird, empty feeling in my chest, and I told myself that it was because I hadn't really made him pay for what he'd done to me."

"But there was something more, wasn't there?" Natasha ventured.

Clint's eyes snapped up to meet her level stare, searching her gaze.

"What do you mean?" he asked carefully.

Natasha shrugged, stating, "You left something out of your earlier explanation. I'm curious as to what that is."

"Uh, and how exactly do you know if I left anything out?"

"How long have we known each other?" Natasha shot back. "And how many missions have we run together? Goddamn it, Clint…I know you. I know when you're outright lying, and I know when you're telling half-truths. So how about you stop trying to misrepresent what went down between you two and just own up to it already? Don't make me have to pry it out of you."

"Okay, fine," Clint huffed as he pushed to his feet, pacing nervously around the sofa as he considered his next words.

"Go on," Natasha urged. "I'm not here to judge, Clint. I just want to understand."

"Good, 'cause I'm getting pretty fucking tired of judgmental assholes," the archer bit out. "Don't wanna add you to that particular list."

"So tell me, then."

"It's a long story," Clint began. "So you're gonna get the Cliff Notes version."

"That's fine," Natasha said. "I don't need all the gory details."

"Good, 'cause you're definitely not getting those," Clint snorted.

He paused then for a long moment before continuing quietly. "There was an…incident in Stuttgart, and as a result Loki pulled the thrall off me. Well, mostly, anyway. I couldn't fight him…but he gave me back everything else. I could speak freely and make my own decisions. And I made a pretty big one regarding him."

"You slept with him," Natasha stated.

Clint tapped his forefinger against his nose. "Give the lady a prize," he murmured absently.

"And he released you to, what? Ask your consent?"

The archer nodded, stealing a quick glance Natasha's way as he paced.

"I wouldn't have pegged Loki as someone who would care about something like that," the redhead admitted. "From what we saw of him, he was all about…subjugation."

"Everyone has a line, 'Tasha," Clint said pointedly. "You know that as well as anyone."

"True," she sighed. "So you slept with Loki. Did that change your mind about him at all?"

"A little," Clint answered. "He was…different when we were together."

"How so?" Natasha asked.

"It's hard to explain," Clint huffed. "But it was there, in the way he touched me…the way he looked at me. There was a remorse that he hadn't shown before. Hell, by the end I was half convinced he was gonna turn me loose."

"But he didn't," the redhead said quietly.

"No," Clint agreed. "And I didn't know why until after Thor dragged me off to Asgard, and Loki finally told me the truth."

"Which was what, exactly?" Natasha prodded.

"That Loki was enthralled, too," Clint murmured. "Thanos had him under a lesser form of mind control, and Loki's handler was gonna use me as a way to keep him in line. He had to convince them that he wasn't soft on me, that he didn't care one way or the other what happened to me, so he just…put me back under."

"In his own twisted way, Loki was protecting you," Natasha whispered.

"Exactly," Clint sighed. "And once I found that out? I felt even worse about trying to hate him. But do you see what I mean now? About how fucked up this whole thing is? And why I wasn't open to talking to you…or anyone…about this? How could I explain Stuttgart in a way that wouldn't have ended up with me in a cell somewhere? Or at the very least, I would have had to spend a hell of a lot more time with the shrinks."

Natasha cocked her head to the side, studying Clint as he sank down onto the couch next to her. The expression on the archer's face was a strange mixture of tension and relief, and she felt a twinge of empathy for him.

"The last six months had to have been hell for you," she said softly.

Clint huffed out a strained laugh and gave a brief nod. "That's putting it mildly."

"What we do? How we live our lives, and the company we keep? It's all built on lies, Clint," Natasha stated simply. "But what you went through was something altogether different. The lies we tell in the service of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be justified…to a point. And once a mission is done? We walk away and wash our hands of what we've done."

The redhead paused there, searching Clint's gaze for a long moment before adding, "You didn't have that luxury."

"Nope," the archer murmured.

"I can understand why you didn't confide in me. But I really wish you would have."

"How could I, though?" Clint questioned. "How could I have broached this without you thinking I was still compromised? Hell, we still don't know how the scepter works, or why you scrambling my brain managed to bring me back. I was scared, Tasha. The whole situation was fucked, and I just…shut down."

"So where's your head at now?" Natasha asked softly.

Clint leaned back into the cushions, scrubbing his hands over his face before turning his gaze back to the redhead at his side.

"I'm still scared," he admitted slowly. "But for a whole different set of reasons. Part of me is relieved that this is finally out in the open, though."

"And Loki?"

"What about him?" Clint asked carefully.

"Your beginnings were…unorthodox, at best. Have you made peace with that?"

"It's difficult," Clint allowed. "But I'm getting there. Finally learning the truth of the matter helped a lot, in that respect. And I definitely…care about him."

"Even after all this time, you still can't say the word, can you?" Natasha asked with a soft smile, bumping her shoulder against his playfully.

"I'm getting there," Clint repeated firmly.

"Then I'm happy for you," the redhead stated. "And I've got your back, no matter what."

"Good," Clint remarked dryly. "Pretty sure I'm gonna need back up when I talk to Fury. Maybe you and Tony can help sway him enough that he won't kill me outright."

"If you're lucky," Natasha grinned. "Which, so far, you seem to be."

"We'll see if that holds up, I guess," Clint huffed.

"That we will," Natasha agreed as she pushed to her feet. "But let's not worry about that just yet, okay? Breakfast first, and then we'll worry about Fury."

"How about we leave Fury until tomorrow," Clint suggested. "I've had my fill of getting yelled at today."

"Fair enough," Natasha said.