Thanks to those of you that have read and followed my story. I thought I was going to post and no one would read it. Anyway, here's another little piece of fluff to wet your appetites before things start to get real in this story. I'm a teacher so during the week I have no time or energy for anything other than school so I may not be able to post or write until next weekend.

Reviews are nice too!

After the time of the Earth in peril and the formation of the Avengers, after her desperate behavior searching for him, their relationship was somewhat out in the open. There was speculation and guesses as to what extent their partnership was, not that the gossip hadn't been there before, but now there was more proof. But they were part of the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and no one was going to say anything to them face to face…except maybe their boss.

Fury called them into his office one afternoon as they were sparring in the training room. They hadn't been sent on a mission since they helped save the planet. First it had been to help Clint rehabilitate from Loki's mind control, then there was the problem of how recognizable they were now that their faces had been plastered all over the world. But they continued working out and training to keep in shape for anything that might come up in the future.

Natasha had suggested they arrive separately but Clint insisted they go together.

"He knows, Natasha."

"What? No way, Coulson didn't really know."

"He knew. Most of it anyway."

"Well, what can he do? We're his residents super heroes, he's not going to fire us over some anti-fraternization polity."

"Does that really exist? I mean, I feel like SHIELD, what with its duties to, you know, protect the world, wouldn't really be all that worried about its employees shacking up together."

"I guess we'll find out." Natasha knocked softly on the door.

"Come in!" The voice inside boomed. They walked into a stony faced Fury sitting behind his desk. Clint and Natasha sat down opposite his desk and waited for him to begin speaking. He continued to stare at them. Clint shifted uncomfortably and he could tell Natasha was resisting the urged to swat him to stop his fidgeting. Finally Clint cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Ah, sir, you wanted to see us?"

Fury gave him a deadpanned stare before he finally spoke, "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

Natasha and Clint remained very still, calculating how to react, neither of them wanted to reveal more information than they needed to. Since he was pretty good at playing dumb Clint spoke first.

"Find out what sir?"

Fury's one good eye focused on him. "You know what I'm talking about."

Clint saw Natasha roll her eyes, clearly annoyed with the vagueness, he could see that look in her face, the one she got before she jumped into a snake pit. "Nat," he said through clenched teeth, "Don't do it."

"Yes, we're together." She spoke up, "We've been together for four years. No, we didn't disclose that information to you but since our relationship never affected our work we didn't think we needed to. "

Clint gaped at her. "What are you doing?" he mouthed. Fury narrowed his eye at her.

She took at breath, she could take down armed men twice her size without a moment's hesitation but one steely eyed look from her Cyclops of a boss and Clint could tell she was as nervous as a schoolgirl in the principal's office. "Is….is there anything else you want to know or can we go?" Clint put his head in his hands.

"No Agent Romanoff, that will do."

Clint looked up. "That's it? She just outed our relationship and you don't want to know anything else? You're not going to dissolve our professional partnership or give us some big speech about inter-office relationships-OW!"

Natasha kicked his shin.

"No, Agent Barton, I don't need to know anything more." Fury's voice rose as he stood up and put his hands on his desk. Shit, Clint thought. "I don't need to know that two of my best, most trusted agents have been involved in a relationship for the past four years and didn't feel the necessity to disclose any information to me, or let alone your handler Agent Coulson."

"Coulson knew." Clint mumbled. Natasha kicked him in the shin again. Ow, he mouthed to her.

Fury's nostrils flared. Clint and Natasha looked at each other, desperation in both their eyes.

"Well isn't that wonderful Agent Barton. This information could have come in handy when you were brainwashed by the Tesseract and Agent Romanoff was breaking protocol trying to find you." Natasha looked down this time. "Or even as a damn professional courtesy. But no, I'm not going to dissolve your partnership or give you a big speech."

"Thanks sir." Clint said; as he stood up, ready to make an exit. Then Fury smiled and it was one of the most terrifying things Clint felt he had seen in his life.

"But you will be in charge of training new recruits for the next month."

Clint was about to start protesting when he felt that pain in his shin again. Natasha had kicked him once more. She looked at him sharply as she stood up and started to pull him out of the room.

"Yes sir, thank you." She said.

"Yea, thanks." Clint mumbled. He hated dealing with rookies, they would be drooling over Natasha and trying to one up him. They would probably start asking him for archery lessons. He groaned as he thought of how annoying the next four weeks were going to be.

"Wait," he said stopping, something wasn't right. "You hate rookies, way more than I do. Why aren't you more upset?"

"Of course I'm upset," she hissed, "But at least we can still work together. If we ever get sent on another mission…and," she grabbed his left hand to reveal the small tattoo. "Fury doesn't know about this." She touched her left palm to his, ring fingers lining up. He smiled and entwined his fingers with hers, bringing her hand up to his mouth and kissing it softly. I guess the next month isn't going to be so bad, he though.

"I'm hitting the shower." She said, sauntering off. She looked over her should with a raised eyebrow. "Care to join?"

That he didn't hesitate for.

The month with the new recruits actually didn't turn out to be half bad. Clint got to spend a lot of quality time with Natasha that didn't require them hiding out, pretending to be other people, or risking their lives the whole time. And the new recruits kind of idolized them. The guys, although terrified of her, did drool over Natasha but it gave Clint a special kind of feeling knowing she was his, of course, she would kill him for even thinking of her as some kind of possession. And the girls, well, they were head over heels for him. He really didn't mean to but he was started to strut around like some male peacock with all the attention he was receiving. He passed two of the more giggly female rookies in the cafeteria as he made his way to where Natasha was sitting and he couldn't help giving them his trademark wink.

"Morning ladies" He said with a grin.

They giggled, "Morning Agent Barton," they chimed in unison.

He sat down to a stone faced Natasha. "What?"

She rolled her eyes, "Must you encourage them?" She stole some of his strawberries.

"Hey!" He said, then shrugged, "What can I say? Female SHIELD agents just can't resist me. It must be all that animal magnetism."

She rolled her eyes again but he could see the beginnings of a smile.

"We leaving at 5 today? I'll come get you" Fury had at least allowed them to fly back to New York every weekend. It was nice to go back to their apartment. Although they had the offer to stay at the newly renamed Avenger Tower, they had declined, preferring to have whatever privacy they could. They still had rooms on the helicarrier but after everything that had happened, it felt good to have place to call home.

"I'll meet you at the hanger," Natasha said, stealing some of his yogurt. Seriously, did she ever eat her own food? He gave her a questioning look. "I, uh, have to talk to Bruce about something." She licked some of his yogurt off the back of her spoon slowly and raised an eyebrow at him. His question about what exactly she had to talk to Bruce about disappeared as a handful of extremely dirty thoughts involving her mouth ran through his head.

She smirked at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking and stood up, "See you later, honey" she emphasized the pet name she never called him just for the three blond rookies that were staring in his direction and walked off. They looked away quickly as Clint entwined his hands behind his head as he leaned back and wondered how the hell he got so lucky.

Uh oh, will the good times last? Not if you want this to be a good story! Major plot turning point in the next chapter, an appearance from Loki, and some unfortunate situations for our two heroes. Please read and review!

Have a great week and if you're a high school student, be nice to your teachers!