Previously:
"Well, how about truth or dare?" I ask. "You really have a death wish, don't you? You'd never make my dares," she mutters. It's silent for a while, as I contemplate another game. She surprises me by speaking again. "I have a suggestion," I sit up a little straighter.
"Ever heard of two truths and a lie?" I grin, straightening up completely. "Okay, who goes first?" She smirks in answer.
Chapter 9"My favorite color is red. I was born in Russia. And my name, my true name, is Natasha Romanoff."
I think about it, frowning, "Your name is a lie. That is the Americanized version of your name. You could easily lie about colors. In addition, just because you're Russian doesn't mean you're born in Russia. Damnit! They all sound like lies… it's you name, right? It has to be a lie."
She inclines her head slightly. "Yeah, I have grown to love my trademark color, and I was born in Russia. Your turn."
I think for a moment, and then smile. It's impossible for her not to sniff out a lie, since she's the Black Widow after all. However, I will give it my best shot.
"My name is Clinton Francis Barton, and I have an older brother. I was raised in the circus," I give myself a mental pat on the shoulder.
She answers immediately, an amused tone to her voice. "Oh, come on Barton. I read your file. You were not born or raised in the circus. It was your last stop before being pulled into your current line of business."
I give her a pout. "That's cheating. How did you get eyes on my file anyway?"
She smirks. I swear it's becoming her default expression. "I asked Coulson. I laughed when I saw your full name. And… my full name is Natalia Alianovna Romanova."
"Coulson is the lie. He would never divulge information on me without asking my permission first," I say bluntly. She nods her head, letting me know I chose the correct statement.
"I knew what your real name was. I love puppies… and my codename is a leftover from my circus years."
She frowns, "You don't like puppies? Funny. I would have pegged you for the puppy kind of guy…"
Maybe she isn't invincible. "I do love puppies! They're all fuzz and cuteness!" She frowns, "But you got your codename from your circus years and there's no way you couldn't have known my name already… wait, you didn't know my name?"
"Yahtzee."
She shrugs, "Well, you know now. Wasn't much of a secret anyway though. Why didn't you know?"
"You have so many identities that S.H.I.E.L.D is still figuring out which is real," I tell her honestly. She nods her head.
"I have trouble separating the truths from my own lies sometimes. I've never worked well with a partner, and… I'm not afraid of spiders."
"Come on Romanoff. You can do better than that. You're afraid of spiders? Seriously?" She smirks victoriously, letting me know I got it wrong.
"Okay, so you're not afraid of spiders, at all? I know for a fact your partners tend to have a higher than thou mortality rate… so the other one. You've never tripped over a lie before, never accidentally confused identities?" She shrugs, shaking her head slightly. Damn.
"I'm impressed. My coffee is cold, and I hate the cold," she looks straight at me.
"Your coffee isn't cold. You finished it a while ago. I noticed when you stopped sipping. You like the cold?"
I chuckle. I thought I had this round in the bag. Turns out she's scary observant even while relaxed, which shouldn't really be that surprising. "I never said I liked the cold. But I don't mind it much anymore. Stake outs in the middle of the night on icy rooftops tend to do that to you," I divulge. She nods her head in a touché manner.
"Last one, I'm tired, my coffee is finished. I think we might work well as partners."
I answer immediately, "Your coffee is still half-full. You barely took a sip from it." She raises an eyebrow, taking a sip, and makes a face at the lukewarm temperature. "You think we might make a good team?" I ask her.
"Let me illustrate it to you. How about I give you another three statements and you pick out the lie. Besides you, I never sleep in another person's apartment because of nightmares. Besides you, I've never willingly divulged information to a partner, even if my withholding it put their lives at risk. You weren't the only reason I joined S.H.I.E.L.D."
I try to find words, but struggle. After a moment of silence I finally speak up, "You only joined S.H.I.E.L.D because of me? Didn't you have any other reasons?"
"No. You were the first person I fought alongside, whom didn't get in my way, and covered my every move. For only that I would have strongly considered joining. But you were so much more than that. You fought with purpose, as if you believed in what you fought for. It caused me to rationalize that an agency which gave you that kind of purpose wouldn't be a bad idea to join. I knew Hydra was already inside S.H.I.E.L.D, but you made me realize that S.H.I.E.L.D might just be the exact opposite of Hydra. So I joined knowing I might have a partner I could work with for the first time in a long line of partnerships."
I smile a little at that, "Thank you." She frowns, "For what?"
Sighing I close my eyes slightly, "For giving me a chance to be your partner. For joining S.H.I.E.L.D when you didn't have to. For believing S.H.I.E.L.D might be different. Thank you."
"Yeah, sure, just don't go crying on my shoulder or anything. We should probably get to bed," she shrugs it off, moving to get up.
"I'm too tired to go anywhere, so you can keep the bed while I take the couch," I tell her, spreading my body across the couch. She nods and moves away with her blanket, as she heads for bed.
I drift slightly into sleep, when a sudden heavy weight lands on me. I reach over to find a large pile of blankets, which could obviously have only come from one person. I sit slightly up to thank Romanoff, but she's already halfway out the door. "So you don't freeze your ass of," she throws over her shoulder, giving me a small smirk as she heads for the room.
Grumbling a little, I unfold the blankets and snuggle into them, falling into unconsciousness easily once I'm done. I never told her, but she eases my nightmares with her presence. I've never slept as well as I do when she takes over my guest room.
It must be a few hours before dawn, when I wake up a little. Hearing a slight shuffling noise below me, I look down, and there lies Romanoff wrapped in all her blankets, with a pillow wedged under her head. She must have moved to the lounge again sometime during the night.
I sigh and pull the blanket back over her where it exposed her shoulder to the cold air. Before I can pull back my arm though, she has a hand wrapped tightly around my wrist, blank eyes staring dangerously up at me. "Easy Romanoff. You're not in danger. My name is Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye. You joined S.H.I.E.L.D a couple of months ago and were cleared for duty. We are now on a mission in Russia, preparing to take down the red room, along with Russia's division of Hydra. You're my partner and said we worked well as a team," as I talk her eyes clear.
Finally she snaps out of it, releasing my wrist. "I said we could be a good team, not that we are one already. There's a difference." I chuckle at her logic, rolling onto my back as I give my heart a chance to recover from its recent 'oh-shit-I'm-dead' frenzy. For a second there I fully believed she would kill me with a hidden spoon or something. "You know, next time you decide my heart needs exercise, we could totally just go for a jog or something…"
"This never happened," she states, making her way out of the room. "Calm down, Romanoff. Shit happened. You don't want to deal with it. We'll keep it that way until you want to talk about it," I reassure her.
"Natasha," I stare at her, quirking an eyebrow, "You can call me Natasha. We were way past last names anyway," she tells me, squeezing my arm slightly as she leaves. She comes back a few minutes later with freshly brewed coffee. "If you're Natasha, can I be Clint?" I ask her jokingly.