It's the second day of Bucky's trial, and things are mostly going well for them. Nat doesn't want to say things are going completely well because that would be tempting fate.

They are in the same courtroom spots as yesterday, except Wanda's joined them today, sitting to Nat's right between her and Steve. Bucky is somehow less tense, which Nat would like to give Matt credit for with pride, though the pride would be very suspicious to anyone who doesn't know their relation.

Nat doesn't know why it feels like they are all battling for themselves when it's only Bucky on trial, but then she realizes that if Bucky is indicted, the rest of them aren't safe. Precedence is important, apparently, in the court of law and otherwise.

Their first obstacle occurs when Tony Stark is called up to the stand by the prosecution AKA Ross's lawyers. One of the lawyers walks up to Tony slowly. His smile is disingenuous. "I am going to show you some footage, Mr. Stark," he says. And then he plays footage of the night Tony's parents died, the night the Winter Soldier killed them. They really shouldn't have this footage, but Nat sees Ross's smirk out of the corner of her eye and knows how they got it. Tony looks stricken, not able to hide it behind his masks.

Karen gasps, and Foggy stands up immediately once he realizes what's going to happen, shouting, "Objection! This evidence is unfairly prejudicial. Might I remind you that we aren't claiming that Barnes didn't commit crimes, but that he was unaware and had no other choice."

"Is there a point to showing this, Mr. McKinley," the judge says, narrowing his eyes. He's a good judge; Nat did her research. If Ross did try to bribe him, she doubts he would've caved. (She's asked some former SHIELD colleagues to watch over his family, just in case Ross tries to coerce him via other means.)

"I'm getting to it, if you would give me the chance," McKinley says.

The judge sighs. "I'll allow it," he says reluctantly.

"Damn it," Foggy mutters, sitting back down, only for Matt to stand up, as if they had planned it.

"May I receive a visual description of the evidence?" Matt asks with an apologetic smile, but what he's really trying to do is stall for time. For them to think. For Tony to get himself together.

The other lawyer, Morrison, scowls in Matt's direction. He nods at his partner, who proceeds to give the worse description possible.

"I hate these motherfuckers so much," Sam mutters. Steve shushes him.

"Is this footage familiar to you, Mr. Stark?" McKinley asks.

"Yes," Tony says, trying to glare holes into the guy's head.

"Do you recognize the person committing the murders?"

"Well, I mean," Tony says, tilting his head a little, "it is a bit dark—"

"Answer the question."

Tony sighs. "Yes, I do," he grits out.

The last time he saw that footage, he fought Steve and Bucky. Now, he's willing to stand up for them. Nat will never stop wondering at that, at how much has changed in the past few years, at how grief changes you, at how friends and family fight but always stick together when it matters most.

"And is he here in this courtroom today?" McKinley asks with a raised eyebrow.

Tony frowns. "Yes," he answers.

"Can you point to him?"

Tony sighs, pointing vaguely in Bucky's direction, but honestly, one could argue that he was pointing at Matt, instead.

"No further questions, your honor," McKinley says with a self-assured smile, moving to sit back down.

When Foggy goes up to interview Tony, all he asks is, "Does the video show clearly that Barnes was of sound mind and intention at the time of the crime?"

"No," Tony answers promptly, and that is that. "Fuck that McKinley guy," he whispers to them as he returns to his seat, patting Bucky on the shoulder as he passes.

Bucky's therapist, Dr. Raynor, is called up to the stand. At first, Nat thinks it's going to go badly because Bucky had tensed up as soon as she had walked in, but Nat figures out that she generally has good intentions. "He is making good progress in seeking amends for his actions," she says, "even if he doesn't know what he wants to do with his life sometimes, but don't we all, after years of not belonging to ourselves?"

"Why would he seek amends for his actions, unless they were his and his alone?" Morrison asks.

"Guilt isn't rational," Dr. Raynor answers, staring straight at Bucky with what might be called empathy. "You can't blame Barnes for everything. He's got enough of that going for himself already."

Okay, she's a good therapist, but also the type Nat would like to avoid because it feels like she can see through to her soul.

"Do you believe, in your full and professional opinion, that James Buchanan Barnes was fully aware of what he was doing when he committed the crimes that he did?" Morrison asks.

This is why Nat doesn't like most lawyers. They could always do with subtracting some words from their sentences.

"In my full and professional opinion, no," Dr. Raynor says, and Ross looks frustrated again. He doesn't have a legal background. He can't do anything about it.

The day ends with both McKinley and Morrison claiming inadequate representation of counsel and trying to get Matt kicked off of Bucky's legal team so that it is a fair trial for the defendant, because they obviously care about him having a fair trial.

Matt is, unbelievably, calm, at least compared to Karen and Foggy, who look like they want to throw hands. Beside them, Bucky asks, "What the hell?"

Needless to say, the judge overrules the notion pretty quick, and they all exit the courthouse together, not looking forward to yet another day in there.

Matt, Karen, and Foggy are promptly invited over to the compound for dinner, an offer that they all accept because free food. "Y'know," Matt says over a plate of pasta, "this happens more often than you think."

"And I still want to punch the opposing side every single time," Foggy mutters angrily.

"It's happened 23 times, including today," Karen says. "I've kept track."

Right. Nat wants to punch someone, too.

"Are court cases usually this filled with drama?" Wanda asks curiously, effectively changing the topic.

"Nah, they usually go pretty smoothly," Foggy says. "I have to thank you guys, 'cause while this case has been frustrating, it's also been very entertaining."

Nat snorts. "Only a lawyer would say that."

"Who do you think I am?"

(Nat sees the three of them off later that night. Happy's waiting outside with a car, but at the compound entrance, she hugs them all and kisses Matt goodbye. This has become normal, too.

She turns around to see Wanda watching them from the shadows. "I knew," she explains. "It's beautiful, how your minds wrap around each other, always reaching out for the other." She frowns. "I realize that might sound creepy. I don't mean to pry."

"It's okay," Nat says, softly. She's family. Of course it's okay. Why wouldn't it be?

Wanda smiles at Nat. It's a fragile smile, but it meets her eyes. "I'm glad.")

On the third day of Bucky's trial, things go right for them and then immediately go wrong.

Our notorious bad luck hits again, Clint would say if he were here.

Anyways, they do get Bucky acquitted. Or, well, Matt and Foggy do. Nat really can't take any of the credit.

It's as everyone is being released from the trial when she sees a flash out of the corner of her eye. Instinctively, she screams, "Get down!" Instinctively, her people immediately listen, and then there's an explosion to their right, and gunshots being fired, and smoke everywhere. She can't see anything. She hears Matt cough. She really wishes all her weapons weren't currently being held in the security office. Speaking of those weapons...

"Hey, that's some of my tech they're using!" Tony says angrily.

"I think Ross had a contingency plan," Bruce mutters, looking green in the face.

"Nat?" Steve says, noticing the same thing.

"C'mon, Bruce," Natasha says, taking him by the arm and leading him to a side entrance. They end up running into some people on the way there, but once they are out of the room, they can see and breathe clearly again. She coughs into her arm, eyes still watering. "Hulk, you can't come out now," she says in what's hopefully a soothing voice. "You'll destroy part of the building, and Ross will use that as a reason to go after you and Bruce again."

"Definitely don't want that," Bruce says, scrunching his eyes closed for a moment before opening them and looking at her. "Okay, what do we do now?"

"Find our way out," she tells him, taking initiative. There are too many panicked people in this tiny hallway. "This way, people!" she yells, trying to remember the building's layout. It's a good thing she'd done her reconnaissance. One can never be too prepared.

Outside, the others are already fighting various low-level HYDRA goons. At least, that's who Natasha assumes they are. She doesn't have the time to think about it too closely right now. They can figure things out later, together.

Steve somehow has his shield and is throwing it around, Tony and Rhodey have their armor because nanobots are convenient like that, Wanda has her magic, Hulk may be coming out soon, and the rest of them are trying their best with hand-to-hand.

Fortunately, it's one of Natasha's strengths.

She has to admit, as she knocks one guy's legs out from under him and kicks him hard in his helmeted head, that she kind of missed this. She missed fighting together as a team, the adrenaline of it all, the feeling of invincibility one gets from taking down one bad guy after another. It's exhilarating, in a way. She bets Ross hadn't anticipated that.

She pushes another guy against a wall and slams his head against the brick to knock him out. She turns around to intercept another guy right behind her, but Wanda shoves him away with strands of red. Natasha nods to her in thanks and runs over to Sam to save him from being surrounded.

It's a blur. In the Red Room, she was taught to think as she fought, to be smarter and better than others. But in reality, sometimes thinking leaves you when you're fighting. Sometimes, all that's saving you are your body, and your instincts, and she's learned to trust her instincts, now more than ever.

Soon enough, Nat scans her surroundings and finds no one else to fight. Well, except for an angry looking Ross, but she really doesn't want to deal with him right now.

"I'm going to arrest him as soon as I have evidence," Rhodey mutters.

"Arrest him now," Tony says, probably looking at security footage or something. "I've got the evidence."

Rhodey does. It's a lot more public affair than Bucky's original arrest had been.

Ambulances and police cars are coming up to them, with paramedics and policemen coming out and running into the courthouse. Nat has a cut on her hairline and more than a few bruises, but she shakes out her hands and thinks she'll live.

Sam groans. "I fucking hate life right now," he says, walking towards the rest of them and kicking the arm of an unconscious possible HYDRA agent that was in his way.

"Hey," Bucky says suddenly, "are our lawyers okay?" Natasha immediately tenses up. Fuck. "I haven't seen them."

"Nat!" comes Foggy's cry from the courthouse entrance, and for just a second there her first thought is that Foggy shouldn't be here, on an Avengers mission in enemy territory, and then she remembers that this isn't a mission at all.

She turns towards the sound of his voice and sees Foggy and Karen both run up to her, a concerning amount of blood smeared on their hands, their shirts. Foggy is missing his suit jacket.

"What happened?" she asks them, voice deceptively calm.

"Matt," Karen starts, but her voice wavers, and she can't continue. The blood is answer enough.

Natasha is used to seeing blood.

She can see it now on her own hands as she sits on the curb next to the courthouse, taking a moment to herself before she has to get up again and do her damn job like nothing is wrong, nothing at all.

She cradles her ring in her hands. She'd put it in her pocket today, prepared to make the big reveal or whatever after the trial was over.

Before, she hadn't wanted Matt involved with the Avengers for just this reason. She had introduced him and thought it would be fine. Evidently, she was wrong; evidently, she's a failure.

She'd forgotten about him. How could she have? She's just as bad as HYDRA. She—

T'Challa sits down next to her. They don't speak, for a few moments. Nat remembers the two of them sitting on benches outside the UN building in Vienna, first responders all around them.

(Matt is not dead.)

(Not yet.)

"I should have known you'd be here," she says quietly. "Shuri was called up as an expert witness."

"She was very happy to do so," T'Challa says.

"Right."

After a moment of silence, T'Challa continues. "I was so angry at James, once," he tells her. "I thought he had killed my father."

"You know what?" Natasha smiles mirthlessly. "You're not alone. Tony used to be in the same boat."

"But I realized that while it had been his body, the actions had not been his own."

"We proved that, legally, through this trial." She does not know where he is going with this. She's not sure if she wants to know.

"And then, for a while, I blamed myself. Why could I have not stopped the bombing? Why could I have not saved my father?" He glances at her. "I was halfway across the room. My father had been doing his job. We could not have done anything differently."

"I blame myself," Natasha tells him, voice catching a little. "I've blamed myself for a long time."

"For things out of your control."

"Some things in my control."

"Not today," T'Challa says. He nods at her ring. "It's too late to change things, to dwell on the past. Move on."

"Not yet," Natasha says, standing up abruptly and walking towards Steve and Tony, currently surrounded by reporters. The least she could do is help them out, as the three most public members of the team. (Ironic, considering her past, considering the Red Room, considering her identity as the Black Widow.)

Before she can reach them, her phone rings.

"Hello?" she says, answering the call. She fells numb.

"Nat," Clint says in what sounds like relief. "Nat, I know what happened."

And because this is Clint, who's known her for so long, who saved her from the Red Room, who's seen her at her lowest, she lets out a shuddering breath for the first time since this whole mess started. "It's my fault," she says, voice quavering. With all the chaos surrounding her, nobody notices one Black Widow struggling not to fall apart.

"Don't say that," Clint tells her gently, which she doesn't deserve.

"I thought he'd be fine. I knew he could protect himself, except for the times when he doesn't. I left him there. Who does that? What kind of- what kind of partner am I?"

"A responsible one," Clint says immediately, "a loyal one. You always put other people's safety over your own, and that will always be a good thing. You couldn't have predicted what would happen."

Natasha feels like crying, and then she feels pathetic because of it. Stupid people sneaking under her stupid shields. She mourns for her apathy. "I feel like I didn't try hard enough," she says.

"You tried your best, and that's enough," Clint says.

"It wasn't."

"You can't do anything about it."

"Yeah, well, the Red Room instructors used to beat me up for my failures, and this punishment is 10 times worse."

"Don't think of it like that. Matt's stubborn. He's fighting for you." There's the sound of shuffling on the other end of the line.

Natasha sighs. "Please say you aren't packing to come over here."

"I am. You can't stop me," Clint says stubbornly. "Hang in there until I get to New York, okay?" A pause. "Nat, say that you'll be okay until I get there." It's wishful thinking; they both know it.

"I'll be okay," she whispers, and that has to be enough for now.

"Nat, listen to me before I hang up, listen real close," Clint says, voice firmer, louder, strong enough for the both of them. "I know what you're going to do. You're going to put up your shields after this. You're going to push people away. You're going to regret ever having let us in in the first place, because you're hurt, and in pain. But don't shut us out. Put up your shields just enough to do what needs to be done, but at the end of the day...don't shut us out. Promise me, Nat."

"I promise," she says, voice firmer as well. She's slowly putting on a mask to fix this mess of a situation, but when she's not needed anymore...

Well, that's for later her to deal with.

"Thank you, Clint," she says. "See you soon."

"Bye, Nat. Hang in there. I'll be in New York before you know it."

He hangs up. Natasha gets to work.

Ross did order those men to attack. Turns out they were government soldiers and not connected to HYDRA. Nat hadn't been thinking, not entirely.

It was an unsanctioned order on public grounds. Funny, how it's the other way around now, with Ross responsible for the destruction of public property and the loss of lives and the Avengers cleaning up his mess.

He's in custody now. He's not escaping. He won't mess with them again.

Nat has other things to worry about, anyways.

By the time things are mostly in order, Matt has been transferred from a local hospital to the Avengers Compound, which has full-time medbay staff now, courtesy of Tony succumbing to Pepper's will.

That probably means his condition is stable enough to be transferred, but Natasha truly isn't sure of anything until Foggy calls. "Matt's okay," he says immediately. "They dug out two bullets, but he's going to be just fine." They both sigh at the same time, Nat in something that feels like relief and Foggy in thinking about the what ifs. They are connected by their loving concern for this one important person in both of their lives.

"I'm glad to hear that," she says softly.

"He woke up for like a minute, completely out of it. He asked for you."

Nat swallows. "Tell him I'll be there soon." After the work is done. Even if he's unconscious.

"I will," Foggy promises. He hesitates. "You did good today."

She snorts. "What are you talking about?"

"Protecting people, keeping us safe."

She ignores that, because Matt is unconscious in a hospital bed, and she is not by his side like Foggy and Karen certainly are. "I feel like I should be complimenting you," she counters. "Your arguments in court were very sound."

Foggy lets out a laugh. "Half of that was Matt."

"Half of that was me, too!" Karen says from what sounds like across the room.

"If you guys are the two halves of Nelson and Murdock, where does that leave me?" Foggy asks in mock outrage.

Nat laughs, her body losing its tension. That feels like relief, too.

Clint arrives at the compound a few minutes before Nat does. When she arrives, she throws her arms around him and they stand there like that for maybe a few minutes, basking in their own mortality.

Foggy and Karen go back to Hell's Kitchen, because unfortunately they still have a multitude of cases to deal with, even with one firm partner out of commission.

"You'll have a much easier time getting him to rest," Karen says, smiling at Nat as she gathers her stuff.

Nat tilts her head. "Because I'm his fiancée?" she asks.

"No," Foggy says. "It's because you can actually physically keep him in bed. Every time he gets injured, Claire tells me to keep him off his feet, and he escapes anyways!" He points at Nat. "I'm counting on you."

Karen smiles. "We'll be back as soon as we can," she says. "Probably this weekend." Nat must be looking extra pathetic today, because she wraps Nat in a hug, but it feels nice, so she hugs her back.

"It won't be so easy to get out of here," Nat warns them after she and Karen break apart. "Bucky's going to find you so he can thank you profusely. Steve and the others are probably going to do the same. Tony's going to try to throw his money at you."

"Oh no," Foggy says, mostly in horror at the last part. "How do we sneak out?"

Nat smirks. "You asked the right person."

Nat is exhausted.

She trudges back to Matt's hospital room. She spent a lot of time earlier staring forlornly at his lax face. Now, she just wants to rest.

She sits in a chair by his bedside (on Matt's left, because the bomb had exploded on their right and he'll hear better on this side) and lays her head on the bed, using her arms as a pillow. It's perhaps a little cliché, but she's past caring. "FRIDAY," she mumbles. "Wake me up in six hours." Steve will be up by then, always an early riser. If anyone finds her here, it'll be more than suspicious.

"Of course, Ms. Romanoff," FRIDAY says.

Nat falls asleep to the sound of Matt's heart monitor and his even breaths.

(She dreams. All she can see is Matt, covered in blood, coughing it up, red upon red upon red.)

Nat stirs to the sound of light footsteps. She tenses up, and before she's even fully awake and registering the possible threat, she grabs her gun from her waistband and is pointing it at the doorway.

"Woah!" Bruce says in mild alarm. "It's just me."

Nat sighs, putting her gun away. "I'm so sorry," she says.

"It's fine." Bruce smiles. "I should know by now not to sneak up on you. Or Clint." He nods at the other side of the bed, where Clint is passed out in an identical chair and snoring loudly. She'd somehow missed him sneaking in.

She finds that she doesn't mind this as much as she might have before.

"What time is it?" Nat asks groggily.

"Around nine thirty in the morning," Bruce says.

FRIDAY had let her sleep for a whole eight hours? That traitor.

Bruce nods at Nat's hand, which had unconsciously clasped onto Matt's sometime during the night. "You're being incredibly transparent as of late," he comments.

"Got a problem with that?" is what Nat's half-awake brain comes up with. She's usually not so defensive.

"No," he responds honestly. "I like it." He clears his throat. "Anyways, the doctors wanted me to talk to you about some...concerning scars of Mr. Murdock's?"

Nat frowns. "He's been through a lot," she says evasively.

"Right." He looks slightly uncomfortable. "Just gonna tell them he has no abusive partner and is perfectly fine."

Nat snorts. "Why'd they make you of all people come here to ask?"

"'Cause they saw you. You're kinda intimidating to people who don't know you."

"Nah," Clint mumbles. Nat turns to see half-open eyelids. "Nat here's a sweetheart."

"You would not have said that if you were more awake," Nat says.

"Maybe," Clint admits.

"What the hell?" Matt slurs out. Looks like everyone's going to wake up around the same time.

"I'll leave you guys to it," Bruce says with a smile. He turns around and exits the room. Clint stumbles after him, mildly sleep-deprived and searching for coffee.

"Hey," Nat says softly. "What do you remember?"

Matt squeezes her hand and scrunches up his face. It's kind of adorable. "The trial. An explosion. Getting shot. Knowing you were gonna blame yourself." He turns his head towards her in sudden concern. "You okay?" he asks, as if he's not the one in the hospital bed.

"I'm okay if you are," she whispers, reaching up to push a strand of his hair away from his forehead. His unfocused eyes flicker around the room as he smiles.

He presses his other hand against his chest. "It doesn't hurt," he comments. "Good drugs?"

Nat laughs a little. "Good drugs," she says. "You deserve it."

"Mmm...guess I don't have to listen for attackers when you're right here." Nat wasn't shot, but her chest hurts just the same because he still trusts her, despite it all. Matt, not noticing her inner turmoil, snaps his fingers next to his right ear and frowns. "Muffled," he mumbles.

"It'll come back," Nat says, reaching up to cup his cheek. He leans into the touch, and it would be sweet, how soft he is, if it weren't because he's high on pain meds in the hospital.

Matt, apparently still partly out of it, lifts his hand to trace his thumb along her hairline, where a tiny bandage lies. "You're hurt," he murmurs.

Nat rolls her eyes. "We've established this. You're the one who's in the hospital bed."

Matt gives her what can only be described as a pout. "Sorry," he says.

She rolls her eyes again. "I'm rolling my eyes," she tells him. "Go to sleep."

"'Kay."

Later that day, after Nat has come back from dealing with more government officials because she and Rhodey would really rather not leave Tony to that, she sees that Matt is significantly more awake and playing Cards Against Humanity with Clint, Yelena (who also somehow arrived without Nat knowing), Bruce, Wanda, Sam, Steve, and Bucky. Morgan is sitting up next to Matt in the hospital bed watching the proceedings with wide eyes, and all in all it's a completely adorable sight, so Nat takes a picture of them all and decides not to mention that they probably shouldn't be playing this game in front of an impressionable baby. Probably the only reason that they are is that Tony and Pepper are passed out somewhere in the compound.

She leans against the doorway to the room, arms crossed in front of her, and watches as Matt runs his fingers along cards and twists his lips ever so often to hold back a laugh that would undoubtedly be painful in his condition.

"Coming to Broadway this season, blank: The Musical," Bucky reads. "I will accept any and all jokes about Rogers."

"Please don't," Steve says.

"Stop spying on us," Yelena mutters, glancing at Nat. "We can see you."

"Not everyone," Clint says, looking up to glare at Nat as if she hasn't been sneaking up on him since the day they met.

"I can hear you," Matt says. "I don't know about see."

"That is one of the worse blind jokes I've heard from you," Yelena tells him. Except it's not just a joke, not really. As she walks further into the room, Nat bets that Matt is listening to her heart beat strongly in her chest.

Wanda leans over to discreetly show Nat her cards, and she huffs out a laugh. "Who got these cards anyways?" she asks.

"Clint," Matt answers. "I feel like he's collecting braille games to own just for me."

"I mean, how many other blind people do I know?" Clint asks.

"Blind in what way?" Yelena asks. "Blind to your faults, blind to other people's faults, blind to the attraction between you and the person you have a crush on? You have to be specific."

Steve blinks. "That seemed oddly specific," he says.

"I've been watching a lot of American dramas."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Sorry for the rest of y'all, but Saying everything is okay when everything is clearly not okay: The Musical wins," Bucky says. "I feel like it has a lot of real-world applications. A fart so powerful that it wakes the giants from their thousand-year slumber was a close second, though."

Yelena fist pumps the air in celebration at the same time that Sam says, "No!"

Bruce frowns. "You didn't like Science: The Musical?" he says.

"We know, Bruce. We know you're obsessed with science," Steve says consolingly. "If it were Tony, you maybe would have won."

That's a lie, Matt mouths to her, but she didn't need his lie detector ears to know that.

"Nat, you wanna join in?" Sam asks, turning to look at her.

Before she can answer, Clint says, "No! No way! She doesn't play like a normal person!"

"None of us are normal people, except for maybe Matt," Bucky says.

"We played this with some SHIELD coworkers once, and she kept winning, because she would like correctly profile everyone and figure out what they would most likely pick!"

"Correctly?" Yelena asks. "100% accuracy?"

"99.9%!"

"Okay, next card," Matt says. He grins as he reads it. "What's my secret power?"

Nat raises an eyebrow and watches them all place their cards face down in front of Matt.

Morgan babbles and attempts to reach for the cards. Matt gently pats her on the head like he doesn't know what to do with her.

Matt shuffles the cards. "First up is Dying. Thank you, I try." Nat realizes belatedly that he can probably tell whose card is whose, not that that would really affect how he plays the game. "Next is One trillion dollars. I wish, but I'm not Tony Stark." He flips to another card. "The screams...the terrible screams. Y'all are dark." Nat decides not to tell them about the new addition of Cards Against Humanities featuring the Avengers, Thanos, the Infinity Stones, and half the world dying. Matt flips to yet another card. "Men." He pauses. "Nice. The next two are Dead parents and Poor life choices." Nat knows from his facial expression that he's going to pick one of those two. "Lastly, there's Bees?" He tilts his head to the side. "Why bees?"

"There are some weird superpowers nowadays," Nat mutters, and Matt grins at her, still a little dopey.

"Obviously, dead parents is my superpower," Matt announces. "How did you know? Can't have a good origin story without trauma."

Wanda takes the card in triumph. Nat supposes that using humor to deal with grief is as good a coping mechanism as any.

"My turn," Clint says, taking a card from the deck. They're using the hospital bed as a sort of table, but it's not working so well with the blankets and, obviously, Matt himself. "What ended my last relationship?" Clint reads out loud. "Oh god. This is going to get personal."

Yelena has an evil smile on her face.

Clint picks up the cards the others hand him like it is a bomb. He winces. "Nat, you wanna read these for me?" he asks.

"Scared, Barton?" Yelena teases.

"Frankly, yes, I am scared of you."

Nat snorts and takes the cards, shuffling them in her hands. She turns them over and raises her eyebrows. "Self-loathing," she starts.

"I feel attacked."

"Your weird brother."

"My older, abusive brother Barney did have to do with my first breakup, actually."

"An erection that lasts longer than four hours."

"Wouldn't that be a plus?"

"Hurting those closest to me."

"Ouch."

"A mistake."

"Double ouch."

"Exactly what you'd expect."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"And lastly, The Pope," Nat finishes.

Clint can't hold back a snicker at that. "Whose is that?" he asks with a grin. "You win."

"Mine, actually," Bruce says, raising his hand.

"I'm impressed. Y'know, you're partly correct. My last girlfriend before Laura was super religious. She broke up with me after a few months and decided to become a nun."

Nat blinks. "How come I didn't know this?" she asks in mock outrage.

"I wasn't there for you when it mattered most," Nat tells Matt later when they're alone. It's quiet, most of the people in the building asleep.

Matt smiles softly at her, and she feels like she doesn't deserve it. "Other people needed you more."

"I know that," she grumbles. "I just wish..."

"You really can't be in two places at once, Nat," he says, clasping onto her hand and pulling her closer. She moves to sit on the edge of his hospital bed and presses two fingers to his neck, feeling his pulse instead of just hearing it through the heart monitor.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks after a few moments of silence.

He swallows. "I'm thinking...that we should probably start planning our wedding."

Nat snorts, though there's really not anything funny about the situation. "Did your near-death experience get to you?"

"More like the culmination of all my near-death experiences."

Nat frowns. "You've had too many."

"Probably," Matt admits with a nod. "Anyways, how about it?"

"Sure," she says. His near-death experience had gotten to her, too. Sometimes she feels like they're getting too old for this.

A few weeks later, they hold a little party at the Avengers Compound celebrating the trial's mostly good results. Even Thor and Valkyrie decide to come, despite being extremely busy with New Asgard. Of course, Matt, Foggy, and Karen are invited as special guests. Nat's the one who picks them up and goes to enter the compound holding Matt's hand.

When Tony comes out to greet them, he takes one look at the two of them together and at Foggy and Karen's grins and says, "I hate you all. So much."

"To be hated by Tony Stark," Foggy says, pressing a hand to his chest. "What a dream come true."

"Fuck off."

"I did say I'd bring my partner to the next party," Nat says innocently. Tony just rolls his eyes at her, turns around, and walks towards the bulk of the celebration with them right behind him. Matt brings his hand up to hold onto her elbow instead of her hand without a word.

"Fortunately, I have located Nat's elusive partner," Tony announces once he enters the main communal living space at the compound. "Unfortunately, we already know him, and he's an asshole."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Matt says with a winning smile.

Bucky, who's lounging on the couch, immediately tries to stare Matt down. "My lawyer?!" he says. "You're marrying my lawyer?!"

Nat frowns, maybe a bit possessive. "He was my fiancée first."

"I'm flattered that people are fighting over me when I haven't even done anything," Matt comments innocently.

Foggy just sighs dramatically. "I'm getting alcohol," he says, wandering off to the drinks.

Karen has already struck up a conversation with Pepper, holding a fussy baby Morgan, when Rhodey comes over to shake Matt's hand. "This was your plan all along, huh?" he says to Nat. "Make us like this guy first so we'll have no problem when you finally tell us who he really is."

"I didn't plan it at all, actually," Nat says.

"You like me?" Matt says, sounding partially offended.

"I don't like you," Tony says, but he's smiling, and tries to hide it behind his drink.

Peter passes by then, glancing at Matt and then doing a double take. "Oh, hey Mr. Murdock!" he says with a wave. "I didn't think you'd be here!"

"Peter," Matt greets with a warm smile. Tony looks like he's going to pop a vein.

"You guys know each other?" Nat asks politely.

"He and Mr. Nelson helped me and my aunt with an eviction case," Peter says brightly.

"It was a lot easier and less dramatic than this one," Matt mutters.

"You two are stealing my apprentice," Tony says. "This is why I hate you."

"Stark, you're not alone!" Yelena yells from the other side of the room.

"Nice, I can create a hating Matthew Michael Murdock club." Matt wrinkles his nose at hearing his full name said out loud.

"You're being mean, Tony," Steve says from his seat on the couch beside Bucky.

"Don't care."

"Y'know, I always thought it was a missed opportunity that your initials didn't turn out to be MNM," Peter says, "like the candy."

"I'm not a sugar obsessed teenager," Matt says promptly.

"Hey!"

Foggy comes back, handing Matt a plate of tiny sandwiches, otherwise Matt will never eat. "If Matt married me, he could be Matthew Nelson-Murdock, and then he'd match those initials." He glances at Nat's face. "Not that he would," he adds quickly.

"Your man's already getting stolen," Clint says as he passes, having just arrived with his family in tow.

Nat greets them all and proceeds to gossip with each and every one of the people here, people she knows, people who are part of her huge, chaotic family. There is teasing, and banter, and joking all around. There are many congratulations.

"I'm happy for you," Dr. Strange even tells her at one point, and that's just plain weird. (Nat still classifies him as family, even if he's more distantly related than anything.)

Later on, when the party has mostly died down, Nat lays on the couch with her head in Matt's lap and smiles sappily up at him. They're not a completely secret couple now; Nat can afford to be sappy.

"So, should I be concerned about this article?" Tony is asking Peter, who's shaking his head vigorously. "Are you betraying the Avengers?"

"No way!" Peter says.

"Then what's this 'Team Red' nonsense I'm hearing about?"

Peter is slowly turning red. "We're helping people!" he says.

"You and who? Trustworthy individuals?"

"Yes!"

"Daredevil and Deadpool are trustworthy?!"

"Yes!"

Peter isn't the only one turning red. Nat pokes Matt on the cheek and he frowns down at her. When he blushes, his ears turn red too, and it's adorable.

Maybe the reason their little trio is called Team Red isn't just because of the red on their costumes.

"They're good guys," Peter is saying, all the while digging a deeper hole for himself. Clint, Foggy, and Karen are glancing at Matt in amusement. "Yeah, they're kinda crazy and insane sometimes, but they only hurt bad guys. Daredevil doesn't even kill!"

"Good for him," Tony says, reluctantly impressed. "I'm more concerned about the crazy and insane part. Your words, not mine." He holds up his hands in a show of innocence.

Peter pouts. "Superheroes and vigilantes are always partly messed up," he says.

"I suddenly feel like I've been attacked."

"Maybe. Anyways, Deadpool talks to invisible people and I think Daredevil has some kind of love-hate relationship with his Catholicism, but other than that they're pretty okay."

Foggy snickers. Matt coughs. They're not subtle at all. In order to cover for them, Nat says, "You do know you just outed Spiderman's secret identity to a bunch of people who didn't know before?"

Both Tony and Peter pause.

"Shit," Peter mutters.

Tony glares at him. "Language."

"I trust you guys, don't worry," Peter clarifies, looking at all of them. "But sometimes, it just feels like I no longer have a secret identity. Like Mr. Stark."

"At least you didn't just announce it to the whole world," Happy says.

"How old are you again?" Karen asks, narrowing her eyes at Peter with a frown.

"Um!" Peter says. "Old."

Happy snorts. "Nice save."

Nat closes her eyes and basks in the happiness and warmth all around her. After a moment, Matt reaches down to play with the silver arrow on her necklace, and they both hear Yelena shout something at Clint from the other side of the room.

Nat frowns. "Please say they're not arguing," she murmurs, quiet enough for only Matt to hear.

"I can't lie," Matt says promptly.

"...They'll be fine."