TITLE: Dog New Tricks
PAIRING: Natasha Romanov & Clint Barton (friendship), Liho & Lucky
RATING: General
FANDOM: Black Widow #1/Hawkeye/Marvel 616
WARNINGS: Minor spoilers for Black Widow #1
SUMMARY: “So my dog is in love with your cat,” says Clint, still staring as if this is the strangest thing he’s ever seen, as if they weren’t fighting a horde of perpetually spawning aliens a few short weeks ago.

(AO3)

NOTE: I am going to talk extensively about the fics “Make the World Brand New” by whiskeyinmind and “Only Human” by anuna_81 which shall include huge, whopping spoilers. You’ve been warned! :-)

I was inspired to put forth this topic by two stories that took very different yet equally unique takes on the whole “little people” trope. The first is Make the World Brand New, by whiskeyinmind, written for anuna_81 for Secret Santa 2013. In it, the first time Natasha sees Clint, 11 years before he actually brings her in, it’s because she set up a trap for SHIELD with the sole purpose of handing her newborn baby girl over to them. She wanted the beautiful baby she knew she was about to have to be brought up in a good place instead of in the Red Room so she took steps to ensure the desired result. I love that the entire concept of this fic is that Natasha, young as she was when forced to have a baby by the sick puppies at the Red Room despite all of the conditioning they tried to twist into her, knew that her baby deserved better. She knew that and she acted on it, no matter how terrifying it was. She knew how to be a mom.

Second – Only Human by anuna_81. I’m going to point out upfront that one of the underlying concepts of this particular story is actually kind of douchebaggish on Natasha’s part, although Clint does admit later that he could have put a stop to it if he had wanted to. A long time ago, the Red Room made Natasha miscarry a pregnancy and she never really got over it. After she and Clint become a couple, she comes to want a child with him but can’t really put it in words to herself, and she at-first-unconsciously-but-then-not manipulates them into no longer using birth control (which is the fairly douchebaggish part.) When she admits to it (because she doesn’t get pregnant and has a mini-meltdown), he tells her he pretty much knew what was going on, and she apologizes. Then they decide together to work to have a baby. It’s a beautiful story about her reclaiming her body in defiance of those who would try to dictate to her what she could and could not do with it.

I love the idea of one or both of our favorite assassins coming to decide they want a child. Now I also like a good “unexpected kid!”fic, because you know, I like me some babies in general, but what about when it’s a purposeful thing? All kidding aside, I don’t think the Red Room, unless they were the ones behind it, would ever allow one of their assets to go on maternity leave. That’s just who and what they were. But to quote Jurassic Park, nature finds a way. (See Miracle by Frea_O to read a particularly awesome take on that take on how our OTP ends up with child through a bizarre series of biological mishaps – it’s pretty freakin’ awesome.) What makes two people with their kind of background decide that children are a good idea? Would they? Children being a purposeful thing isn’t a common trope, so I’m going with the thought that most of us don’t think most of the time that they would do that. What would change that and/or inspire it? What about when the pregnancy is unexpected? What brings them around to thinking it’s an okay idea (or do they come to that?)

So what do you think? What prompted this was the concept of trying to have kids, but again, the associated question is what do they do when children come when they’re not trying (‘cause we all know it happens!)? I’m sharing some of my favorite examples below. Please share yours, and feel free to throw in some comment fic!

[Edit: the awesome fic "Only Human" is by anuna_81 and *posted* to head_on_home. :-) ]

Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

( Follow the links for some recs! )