ACK! Sorry this is taking so freakin' long for me to post - I actually wrote it last year, so it isn't very good and I'm editing as I go. Plus, I'm working on a longer Clintasha fic right now, so that's taking up a lot of my time.

But the end is in sight now, so hopefully I can finish posting this soon! Thanks for sticking with it! :)

-K/Talia

The movie theater was about twenty-five minutes away. By the time they got there, the sun had set, and a light snow was drifting from the sky.

The inside of the theater was much warmer, and smelled like popcorn. It was also very crowded, and the line for the tickets was abnormally long.

Clint and Natasha moved to the wall to look at the list of movies being shown.

"So, uh… see anything good?" Clint said at length.

"How about the new Mission: Impossible movie?" Natasha suggested. "Those are supposed to be really good."

"Okay," Clint agreed quickly.

They had made is just in time. There was a showing for the movie in fifteen minutes, and the one after that wasn't till eleven.

The two of them stepped into the ticket line. It was moving excruciatingly slowly. Clint kept glancing anxiously at his watch and muttering "Come on, come on" under his breath.

"Sorry," he said to Natasha after nearly ten minutes of standing in line.

She turned to him, one eyebrow raised in amusement. "For what?"

"This is taking forever."

"How is that your fault?" she countered.

"Uh…" Clint toed the floor uncomfortably. "I dunno."

"Next," the desk manager said. Clint stepped forward, relieved.

"Two tickets to eight-fifty Mission: Impossible, please," he said.

"That'll be twelve-fifty," the man said, holding out his hand.

Clint reached for his wallet. And froze. It wasn't there. He started frantically searching through his other pockets, but all he had was his phone and his car keys.

Clint turned to Natasha, mortified. "I don't have my wallet," he said in shock.

She just stared blankly back at him, equally at a loss. There was a long pause.

"Well, if you can't pay, then please move," the desk manager ordered. "You're holding up the line."

Clint turned away and trudged towards the exit, head lowered in disappointment and hands stuffed in his pockets. This was a disaster. He should never have asked her out in the first place, he should have just stayed home. Then Natasha's Valentine's Day wouldn't have sucked, and he wouldn't have humiliated himself.

After a moment, Natasha's hands twisted around his elbow, and she fell into step beside him, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay," she said softly. Clint gritted his teeth but said nothing.

Neither of them spoke again the whole way out to the car. Clint collapsed in the driver's seat and put his head in his hands. Natasha didn't say anything, but he could feel her watching him.

"I'm so sorry," he said finally, raising his head. "This whole night – it sucks. It really does. I'm sorry, I should never have asked you to – I mean, this is such a mess. I'm really sorry, Natasha. I'm an idiot and I ruined your holiday. I'm so, so sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Natasha said, when he had practically apologized himself hoarse. "It was a simple mistake. You didn't ruin my holiday, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be."

"No, you're right, it's worse," Clint groaned. "Look, let's just forget this night ever happened. I can take you home now if you want."

Natasha was quiet for a minute. "Do you want me to go home?"

He didn't really, but he also didn't want to pressure her to stay. And she probably didn't want to stay.

"Do you want to go home?" he asked.

"Do you want me to go home?" Natasha repeated.

"Do you want to go home?"

Natasha hesitated. "Well…" she began. "Not really. I mean, we still haven't technically had our date yet. But if you'd rather be alone right now, I completely understand. We can do this some other time."

Clint froze, and slowly raised his head again. Had he heard right? She didn't want to go home? She wanted to do this some other time? It was also just registering that she had rested her head on his shoulder on the way out to the car...

He turned to look at her, hope rising. "Um… well, if you don't want to go home, then maybe we can do something else," he said hopefully.

"Only if you want to," Natasha said, watching him closely.

A few heartbeats passed. Then Natasha started smiling.

"Okay – why don't we just go to my house? I think I can find something for us to eat there."

Clint was about to agree, but he stopped himself. Natasha obviously wasn't prepared for visitors, so it would be inconsiderate to force her to entertain on such short notice. He wasn't really prepared for visitors either, but he was the one who had asked her out in the first place, so he figured he should do the hosting.

"No, we can go to my place," he said. "I mean, if that's okay with you?"

It was.

+)(-O-)(+

"Okay, um… I think I figured out what we should do," Clint said as they walked down the hall towards his flat. "We'll order some pizza, and then watch a movie. Is that okay…?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Natasha said, coming to a stop in front of his door.

"Okay," Clint said, fumbling with his keys. After trying several incorrect keys, he finally managed to get the door open.

Surprisingly, his house didn't look too bad. Kate must have tidied up a little before she left.

Clint tugged uncomfortably at the collar of his tuxedo as they walked into the living room. "Gosh, I can't wait to get out of – wait," he interrupted himself, turning to his partner. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You probably want to take your clothes off, too," Clint said; then he realized how he'd sounded, and heat rushed to his face. "I mean! Sorry, I just meant – you probably want to change too, 'cause that doesn't look comfortable," he corrected himself, gesturing to her dress.

Natasha looked at her dress. "I didn't bring a change of clothes."

Clint sunk onto the couch, his mind whizzing. Why hadn't he thought this through? Natasha's house was a good forty minutes away, by the time they got back—

Clint snapped his fingers. "I got it! You can borrow some of Kate's clothes! She's staying with me right now, and she's about your size," he said. "I mean – if you don't mind?"

"No, that's fine," Natasha agreed.

"Great! I'll ask her if it's cool," Clint said, whipping out his phone.

"Sounds good. I'll go ahead and order the pizza," Natasha said, heading into the kitchen.

"Okay," Clint said.

[9:27 PM, sent] Hey we're home, can N borrow some of your clothes?

[9:28 PM, Kate] You brought her home?

[9:29 PM, sent] Yeah and she needs clothes

[9:29 PM, Kate] What for?

[9:29 PM, sent] To wear

[9:29 PM, Kate] No kidding

[9:30 PM, sent] So can she?

[9:30 PM, Kate] Hmmmmm

[9:30 PM, Kate] Pants only

[9:30 PM, sent] What?

[9:30 PM, Kate] I said pants only. None of my shirts

[9:30 PM, sent] Are you kidding me?

[9:31 PM, Kate] Nope. All my shirts are dirty

[9:33 PM, sent] Great now what? She can't go without a shirt!

[9:34 PM, Kate] Lol idk. Figure something out

[9:34 PM, sent] KATE HELP ME

[9:34 PM, Kate] Umm idk? Give her a towel or something

[9:34 PM, sent] Kate this isn't funny

[9:35 PM, Kate] Lol

[9:35 PM, sent] You need to wash your shirts more

[9:35 PM, Kate] Lol I know right?

[9:37 PM, sent] So do I give her a dirty shirt or one of mine?

[9:37 PM, Kate] You would give her a dirty shirt?

[9:38 PM, sent] Ok so one of mine?

[9:38 PM, Kate] You said it hawk boy, not me ;)

[9:38 PM, sent] WHY ARE YOU WINKING AT ME

[9:38 PM, Kate] Lol nothing

[9:38 PM, Kate] Bye!

Clint went to Kate's room and found a clean pair of pants, then headed to his own room. It took him a while to find a clean shirt, but he finally found a purple T-shirt hanging in the back of his closet. When he returned to the living room, Natasha was leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed.

"So, uh…" Clint said awkwardly. "Kate said all her shirts were dirty, but here's some of her pants, and one of mine." He looked down at the pile of clothes, and suddenly, they looked very inadequate.

"Sorry, I mean, uh…" He scratched the back of his head, blushing. "I mean, if you don't want to, then it's okay, but if you just want to, like, go home or something, then it's not too late to change your mind…"

Natasha raised her eyes to the ceiling and smirked, shaking her head slowly.

"Clint," she said, stepping forward and taking him by the shoulder. "You need to stop apologizing for every little thing that goes wrong. Out of the three dozen things you've said you were sorry for, you were only actually responsible for about two of them." She tilted her head. "Also, unless you really don't want me here, stop asking me if I want to go home, okay? Because I don't. If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be."

Clint swallowed, feeling a little better. He could tell she meant what she said, and she really did want to be there. He managed to smile at her, but he was too focused on her hand on his shoulder to say anything.

Natasha took the clothes from him. "There are okay," she said, but she had a strange smile on her face.

Clint hesitated. "Why are you smiling?"

Natasha chuckled. "Just wondering if all of Kate's shirts are actually dirty, or if she made that up so you'd give me one of yours."

Clint stared at her, then joined in with her laughter. She was right, that was definitely something that Kate would do.

"Do you want me to get you one of hers?" he asked, grinning.

"Nope," Natasha said, hugging the clothes to her chest. "I'm good with these." She smiled mischievously at him, then turned and started for the bathroom.

Clint watched as she closed the door, a warm feeling growing in his chest. He smiled to himself, shook his head, then headed back to his room to change.

Ehe, soo... I know this story doesn't have many followers, but it makes me really happy when people review - even if you just say like "cool", because otherwise it feels like I'm talking to myself. x)

ALSO shoutout to Jesuslovesmarina for reviewing! I'm so glad you like it so far, and your comments inspired me to keep working on this one. :)

-K/Talia