Title: every city was a gift
Pairings: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: approx. 19,000
Summary: SHIELD’s greatest urban legend is that when Natasha Romanoff later declares, “Agent Barton was sent to kill me; he made a different call”, she means that on that day, he chose to spare her, chose to bring her in instead. But what actually happens is something much stranger and much wilder, something that ends up spanning several years and countless cities and, here and there, a drink or a meal or a quiet smile exchanged on the rooftop of a building in Brooklyn.
He lets her go.
This is what follows.
Warnings: n/a

( Sometime after Clint runs off to Cancun and comes trudging back, the dust finally settles around him. )