The tension in the apartment that Clint and Natasha resided in was so thick you could cut through it with a butter knife. Sometimes the littlest things set them off, even the ones that were meant to be protective or comforting turned them against each other.
They had gotten back from a rough mission, and Natasha was pissed. She wasn't usually in a good mood after a mission, but she was angrier than usual and had ran off to blow off some steam, in the process saying some bad things to Clint. She had stayed away for a whole day and night, sitting on rooftops and shooting at nothing. In the meantime, her partner had sat in their apartment waiting for her to come back.
"Just leave me alone!" she had screamed at him before running out of their apartment. Clint was used to being yelled at, it was part of the job. It wasn't her words that hurt, because Natasha was rarely nice to anyone, even him. It was the way she said them. She had sounded like she genuinely didn't want to see Clint again. She he had sat in that chair, waiting for someone who he wasn't even sure would come, for a whole twenty four hours. It had been agonizing, not knowing if she would come.
But she did. Just when he was about to give up hope of her coming back, she appeared in their apartment again. She had climbed through the window and was sitting on the couch, calmly reading a book as if she had never left.
Neither of them said a word as they sat less than four feet away from each other. They sat in silence, waiting to see who would crack first.
Natasha finally spoke. "I'll leave if you don't want me here."
The barest hint of a smile appeared on Clint's face. He was a sniper. He could sit motionless and in complete silence for hours. "I never said I didn't want you."
She nodded evenly. "I thought... Never mind."
"What is it?" Inquired Clint. Natasha rarely shared her thoughts, he wanted to hear everything she had to say.
"It's nothing."
"What were you going to say?" he pressed.
She clenched her jaw. "I thought... I thought I hurt you too much and you didn't want me back."
"Oh, Tasha," Clint said softly. He moved across the floor to sit beside her on the couch. "Don't think that. Yeah, you hurt me, but I'll get over it. Remember? I'm strong." He flexed a muscle, trying to cheer her up with his boyishness. It didn't work. "Natasha, I'm ecstatic that you care. But there is nothing you can do to hurt me so bad that I wouldn't want you. You know what I did while you were gone? I sat on that chair, thinking about how much I care for you. I always want you. I never stopped loving you, not since the moment I saw you."
He put a gentle arm on her shoulder and was elated when she didn't shake him off. Clint took that as a sign to continue, and slowly put his arm all the way around her. She leaned into his shoulder and sighed. Clint smiled.
She was finally letting him in.