Title: It Might Be Worth It
Rating: PG-13/T
Originally posted: 5th September 2024
Originally written for: archers_and_spies – 'In a world of boys, he's a gentleman.'
Characters/Pairings: Clint/Nat
Notes: for Be_Compromised Summer Promptathon 2024
Nobody told her it was happening. She figured it out on her own, as Natasha did with most things. Call it intuition or instinct, whatever you want, but she always did seem to be a shrewd observer of people with a keen sense of what the situation was around her, without putting in very much effort. If anybody around campus was going to describe her, Natasha was pretty sure those were the kinds of things they might say.
It wasn't as if the guys in question weren't pretty damn obvious in their schemes. Maybe that was an unfair term for what they were doing. It didn't seem to be a bet. Perhaps a game. She wasn't really sure what to call it, but whatever the name, the goal was clear. This group of guy-friends had clearly decided that she was to be the target of their overtures. That each around the table, be it in the cafeteria or the library or even in class, would try their luck to see if they might score a date with the red-head in the corner who conversed with few and was a known friend to even less.
Natasha wasn't offended, as some young women might be. She was mostly flattered, but also a little bit pleased about the challenge. Sure, from their perspective, she was the challenge, but she had an uneviable task of her own. To resist any possible charms or other dating skills that were used on her.
The first guy made it fairly easy. Not that Tony Stark didn't have charm enough, and certainly, he could offer her a good time, with all of his money and everything. Unfortunately, Stark had little sense of timing or any real style. He just thought he had those things, which was what led to the disastrous and embarrassing situation in the cafeteria.
When the general hubbub of chattering voices, clinking flatware and glasses, and scraping chairs was broken by a blaring soundtrack, of course, Natasha looked up to see what was happening. AC/DC's 'Back in Black' proceeded Stark's entrance, wearing a suit that probably cost more than most people's tuition for the year, tinted sunglasses and a wide smile. His audience applauded and cheered him on, as he swept over to the table where Natasha was sitting at a deliberate distance from her fellow students.
Tony raised one hand and signalled the music be brought down to a dull roar. At the same time, a couple of supposed lackeys rushed into view, carrying a huge bunch of flowers and an over-sized box of chocolates. Had she been the type to blush, Natasha was sure she would have been beet red at all the attention from the people crowded around her, even more so than from Tony himself. As it was, she kept her expression neutral and just put her chin on her hand, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
Putting his Italian loafer-encased foot up onto the chair beside her, he leaned in very close and pulled his glasses down his nose so he could peer over them at her, wearing his most debonair smile.
"Ms Romanov," he said smoothly, "I was just wondering if you would be at all interested in joining me for dinner tonight? And then I thought, 'Come on, like she's going to say no,' right? So, I guess the real questions should be, what time and what place? I guarantee, whenever and wherever is good for you, is going to be very good for me."
Though she didn't really take that much offence at his God's gift to women attitude, the catcalling and wolf-whistling from everyone else was enough to make even Natasha want to squirm, and Tony was the reason for that. Standing up, she leaned in very close, until she could whisper in his ear, and yet, when she spoke, it was at a perfectly normal volume, perhaps even a little louder than that.
"The when is when hell freezes over, so the where is really irrelevant."
With that said, she pulled back, picked up her bag, and made quick work of pushing through the stunned crowd of onlookers towards the door. If anyone called behind her, be it Tony or someone else, she didn't notice. Natasha honestly didn't care what anybody thought about her for her refusal of the great Tony Stark, though it was kind of cool later to realise a great many of her fellow female students wanted to give her a high-five or a thumbs up for her behaviour.
After three days, she had almost put the whole incident out of her mind. It was only when she was hard at work on a history paper in the library and suddenly realised she had company she could well do without that, she figured out something strange was going on.
"Hey, Bruce," she greeted her uninvited guest pleasantly enough, since she never really had a problem with the guy up to now. "Something I can help you with?"
He looked nervous. Honestly, Natasha wasn't sure she had ever seen him look any other way. Outside of class, and even in class, he did a good panicked and flustered whenever he was asked to say anything that wasn't science-related. Still, he seemed like a nice enough guy, as far as she knew.
"Uh, yes, actually. There is something you can help me with," he told her, but then seemed to stall, only recalling what it was he wanted when she gave him a questioning look. "Homework. Um, the paper we have due for Friday, I was actually hoping we could talk about it."
"You're coming to me for help with a physics paper?" Natasha shook her head in disbelief. "You're top of our class and I'm barely hanging on by my fingernails."
"Oh, that's not... I mean, sure, I do okay, but you're not really... You're very smart. So smart, and also, beautiful, obviously. Funny. Somebody said you were funny, sometimes. Oh God, what am I doing?"
That last part seemed to be a question aimed at himself rather than her, which only made Natasha feel more sorry for him. Still, given that she was now starting to realise where this was going and the most likely reason for why, she couldn't say she felt so badly for the guy that she was about to agree to a date with him.
"Bruce," she called for his attention, which he duly gave her, "are you asking me out?"
"I was trying to," he admitted, fingers knotted together and brow extremely furrowed. "You're saying no, right?"
"Just one more correct answer that you got today," she said, with a smile that she hoped proved she meant nothing by it.
"Okay. Thank you for your time," he said quietly, getting up from the seat opposite and shuffling away, muttering to himself some more.
By this time, Natasha was just waiting on the next potential suitor to make his move. She wasn't sure which one it would be. Of those that remained from the unlikely group of buddies, she would guess one of the two Odinson brothers, since both seemed to think they were some kind of gods amongst men, even more so than Stark did. It amazed her that they waited as long as they did to make their approach.
First was Thor. He appeared in the gym, right after her martial arts class. When all the other women were gone and she was helping the instructor with stacking up mats, Natasha suddenly looked up to find said instructor grinning at Thor, before swiftly leaving the two of them alone. The wide smile, and the mouthed 'have fun' accompanied by two thumbs up, did nothing to make Natasha feel any better. She was absolutely going to get Maria for it at some later date, but in the meantime, she had Thor to deal with.
Even Natasha had to admit he had good looks and the whole muscle-bound hunk things going for him, but the downside was the fact he knew how much he was built like a marble statue. That was usually the most unattractive thing about some attractive-at-first-glance people.
"Natasha Romanov," he said, grinning too much as he walked a circle around her, eyes moving up and down her body as he went. "You know, you are quite the fine specimen of a woman. Beautiful, obviously, but from what I have seen, also surprisingly strong and skilled for so svelte a female."
"Thank you," she said stiffly. "I guess you're kind of strong and skilled yourself."
At that he laughed, loud and long. Natasha had half-expected it and said nothing, waiting to see how he was going to go on from here.
"I am more than just 'kind of' strong and skilled," he assured her. "As you can see, I am quite the specimen myself, more than capable of taking on anyone that looks to engage me in battle."
"Is that so?" Natasha nodded, putting on a thoughtful expression. "You think you could beat anybody?" she checked then.
"Anybody in the world," Thor assured her without pause.
Natasha waited two silent beats before launching herself at him. Sure, he was bigger, taller, technically stronger, but he was cocky and unprepared for her attack. She trusted that she knew the right way to bring him down, and proved it after a couple of minutes of minor struggling between the two of them. She ended the victor, sitting atop her rival in triumph, at least, that was how Natasha saw it, until suddenly his hands were at her waist and a huge grin came over his face.
"You think yourself the champion, fiery woman," he told her, eyes moving over her body, fingers flexing as if they wanted to follow similar paths, "but there is pleasure enough for both parties in your supposed victory. It is clear to me that we would make a fine coupling-"
"Not a chance," Natasha cut him off without pause, slipping out of his grasp with ease and literally flipping away from him. "If you want a woman to date you, Thor, don't patronise her when she already kicked your ass," she advised, before turning on her heel and leaving the room.
"So, that's a no to dinner?" he called after her.
Natasha didn't even bother to turn back or reply at all.
After that, she felt sure that Thor's brother had to be smart enough to keep his distance. Had she made that bet, of course, she would have lost her money. Less than twenty-four hours later, a knock on her dorm room door was answered to reveal Loki's over-the-top grin, followed by a bunch of flowers that appeared with a flourish from behind his back, almost as if by magic.
"An apology," he said immediately, pushing the blooms into her arms. "I hope they, in some small way, make up for my ham-fisted brother's pathetic attempts to woo you," he said, all easy charm and with a slight shake of the head as he invited himself in and swept by her into the room. "I am heartily ashamed of his behaviour and only wish you to know that I would never treat a lady, such as yourself, so thoughtlessly."
"Okay, I believe you," she said, frowning just a little at how he had taken up residence in her desk chair before she could hardly blink, "but I didn't-"
"Obviously, a lady of your quality requires a suitor of taste, with a certain level of class, and no shortage of elegance and... power."
The last word came out a little differently to the rest, punctuated by the groaning of the desk chair when he leaned way back on it, his arms crossed behind his head. Natasha wasn't so sure about taste, class, or elegance, but she was even less certain about power. Stark had money, Banner had smarts, and Thor, despite how easily she had taken him by surprise at the gym, did have real muscle-based strength. She wasn't entirely sure what it was that Loki had by way of power, except for some kind of superiority complex and uber-vanity.
She might have asked him exactly what he wanted (as if she didn't know) but he never really gave her the chance. Hopping up from her chair, he approached her once more, getting extremely close in her personal space and smiling too much before he spoke again. "Let us cut to the chase, as you Americans would say. I intend to be somebody and would wish to have a worthy woman alongside me as I conquer this school, piece by piece. You are... not unattractive, and you are already known to have bested my dear brother in battle. I could make use of you, and in return, I am certain I would not mind if you made all manner of use of me."
Natasha didn't even hesitate in bringing back her hand and slapping Loki's face just as hard as she could. It wasn't just what he said, but most definitely the way he said it, not the mention the look on his face. She knew what he meant. Oh boy, did she ever know, and she was so far from interested, a message he must have understood all too well when he found himself very quickly outside her door, with a stinging left cheek and an armful of flowers.
Hoping rather than believing that might be the end of all the foolish boys trying to get a date out of her, Natasha was sure she should have been way more mad about the fifth attempt that came her way. Of course, it was tough to hate on a guy as sweet as Steve Rogers. He was somewhat more decent than most of his friends, which made it all the more surprising that he was even taking part in the whole bet, game, challenge, whatever the heck it was.
"You already figured out what was going on, didn't you?" he asked, after the usual greetings and pleasantries, when they ran into each other accidentally-on-purpose in the quad.
"It wasn't hard," Natasha told her, with a genuine smile. "I thought maybe you had better taste than to take part in this kind of thing."
"I don't know, I just... There had been some drinks and more than a little peer pressure, but what can I say? Ultimately, the idea of going out with someone like you isn't exactly unappealing, and I thought, well, you know, how it is, Peggy, I'm just..."
Natasha didn't say anything, just watched and waited until Steve realised what he had done. Whether he actually noticed himself or caught the incredulous look on her face she wasn't sure.
"Yeah," he said after a beat of awkward silence, "so you're going to say no, if I ask you out, and I don't think I could exactly blame you now."
"After you just called me by the name of the ex you're still hung up on? No, you couldn't blame me," she agreed, her hand reaching out to squeeze his arm a moment, "but honestly? I don't blame you either," she assured him, before turning to leave.
Poor Steve. He really was the nice guy that he seemed, she was sure on that, and maybe in some other universe, she would have gone out with him if he asked, but it would have to be a world where Peggy Carter never existed.
"Five down, one to go," she muttered to herself, heading back to her dorm to get down to some serious studying, trying to keep the smile off her lips and finding it near impossible.
She didn't know much about the sixth member of the group. Only his name and that she always thought he was cute. Not that she intended to give in to his request for a date either, because why would she? It was all just a game to those foolish boys, Natasha knew that. At least, she thought she did, until two days later, when she was headed down to the library, turned the corner, and found somebody who seemed to be waiting to open the door for her.
"After you," said the very cute Clint Barton, with a very charming smile.
"Thank you," she replied, smiling back, as she slipped by him and headed for a table.
Of course, he followed her, she had been expecting that, and yet, he sat down at a distance, a couple of rows away, looking almost as if he didn't want to talk to her at all. Natasha was intrigued, so much so she must have spent much longer looking up at Clint than she ever did studying her books, as planned, and each and every time she glanced at him, he didn't even seem to be paying attention.
After an hour, she decided just to get on with her studying, and it had to be at least another hour after that, when finally, she realised he had come over to her table.
"Excuse me," he said politely, until finally she looked up at him. "Hey, I'm sorry, I really don't want to bug you when you're obviously busy, but I was just wondering, would you maybe want to come out to dinner with me tonight? It's just I know a guy that runs a diner, nothing fancy, but the food is really good, and you don't have to dress up or anything. I mean, honestly, you look beautiful just the way you are, and that's not a line, I'm serious about it. Anyway, I've noticed you in class, and also at the gym. This was way before my friends ever started their stupid damn challenge or bet or whatever the hell they thought they were doing. I only waited this long to officially meet you because I was pretty sure you would think it was all part of a scheme if I talked to you before, and-"
"Yes," she said, before he could go on any more, not that the rambling wasn't adorable, but she really, really just wanted to say yes already.
"Yes?" he echoed, with an expression that seemed to show he was somewhere between dazed and confused.
"You asked if I wanted to join you for dinner at some diner you know? My answer is yes," she clarified. "And for the record, I was hoping you would ask, not as part of your friends and their crazy games."
"You were?" he checked, smiling widely. "That's great. So, you knew about those knuckleheads...?"
"They were pretty obvious." Natasha rolled her eyes. "Boys like that always are. You're different... right?"
"Most of the time," he said uncertainly. "I hope."
"Me too." She smiled back at him. "So, tonight?"
"Sure, yes, tonight. I could come by your dorm, say, seven o'clock. Is that good for you?"
"That would be perfect for me, thank you."
When he said goodbye for now and walked away, Natasha had no regrets or concerns about what she just agreed to. She also wished she could make her own bet about how tonight would go, because she was pretty confident that Clint Barton would treat her like a lady, at least for long as she wanted him to. Honestly, whatever happened next, she didn't really care. Maybe she would prove to be wrong about the guy, but Natasha was certain that Clint was absolutely worth the risk.
