Pleased to say that Chapter 2 came in ahead of schedule.  (The things that 18 hours in planes plus jetlag can do for you ...)  Apologies for the ineptness of this post.  Still working off wax tablets.

This is the "how they met" part -- Clint ignoring his kill orders to make that "different call".  Totally head canon, comic lovers don't wince ...  It takes place in Tbilisi/Georgia, a place that hasn't had much love in fan fictio as far as I've seen but should, for reasons (hopefully) explained in the story. 

You can find Chapter 2 here:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/543070/chapters/975545
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8631793/2/ 

As for the summary, here it is: Halfway through the Avengers movie, Loki utters one of my very favourite lines -- one that speaks to the at best ambiguous, at worst sinister political reality we occasionally see peeking out from behind the aliens, the monsters, and the men in flying suits. Here he is, summing up for Natasha Romanoff's 'benefit' just what she does for a living:

“You lie and you kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away ...”

Well, yes. Some Government jobs are definitely more complicated than others. Here’s my take on how the guy who ‘sees better from a distance’ might feel about his on occasion.

This was supposed to be a “five times” fic but I’m working on something else (not to mention RL demands), hence the discount. Could serve as a prequel to “Going to Ground,” if you squint.

title: the red thread, part one (natasha)
tandom: the avengers
pairing: clint/natasha
rating: explicit
genre: romance, drama, introspection. dark-ish and playing with symbolism.
timeframe: set before the avengers (2012), and also before iron man2 and thor.
series: this is part of the same universe as unwrapped/unwrapping, and it's going to be a series.
warnings: see the rating. Also, vague references of physical violence and assassins being assassins.
disclaimer: I don't won them, they own me.

author's note: i don't even know how to explain this one? it started as one of the discussions between cybermathwitch and me, and turned into another instance of overlapping headcanons and then a challenge between two of us – for each part i come up with, she will provide the POV of other person. the symbols we're playing with here are, obviously, color red (red hair, red thread), the tale of ariadne from greek mythology (who was a mistress of minotaur's maze, and gave theseus a golden thread so he could find his way out of it). also, if i may suggest music to go with this? una musica brutal and vuelvo al sur by gotan project (because tango is a perfect metaphor for this story and two of them and their dynamic, the power shifts, the trust – besides, tango constantly changes rhythm, just like a maze changes it's appearance, but it also has a distinct pattern and structure, and clint is all about noticing things like patterns).

(also! we may have figured out clint's superpower – being able to read natasha like an open book.)

Read it here. comments, thoughts, questions are always welcome. :)

Title: Heavy in Your Arms (7/?)
Author/Artist: Koren M. (cybermathwitch)
Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were, there'd already be a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie.
Pairing: Clint/Natasha, Coulson/The Cellist
Rating: Adult 17+
Warnings: language, violence, eventually sexual content, dub-con if you feel that mystical/destiny sorts of compulsions qualify as dubious consent (Natasha might agree with you)
Spoilers: None
Type: WIP
Word Count: 5,481
Summary: "Which brings me to my next question: where are we planning to go?"


Chapter 1: whispering like it's a secret
Chapter 2: this is as good a place to fall as any
Interlude 1: Bleed Out
Chapter 3: "what's your name?" she found herself asking..."
Chapter 4: and is it worth the wait... all this killing time?
Chapter 5: He crowded her into the doorway, effectively hiding them from view
Interlude 2: Dutiful Daughter
Chapter 6: Is was irrational.


Chapter 7: "All I want, all I've ever wanted, is to be alone."