The first time they met

Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call.

Three months after bringing in the Black Widow, Agent Barton is staring deep into a glass of scotch and asking himself, "What the hell was I thinking?"

AKA what the rest of SHIELD, including Natasha, have been thinking for the last three months, bwahahaha :D

Five times Natasha drove Clint to drink, and one time she got tipsy.

1.
The first time Natasha drove him to drink she put a bullet in him. Before she came to SHIELD, and he couldn’t have known then that he would be the one to turn Natalia Romanov into Natasha Romanoff, Hawkeye chased the Black Widow all over the world. And in some back alley of Thailand, she got the bead on him faster than he got it on her. He never was good up close. He should have stayed in his perch. But a man’s got to eat at some point and even if he shot his meal, he’d have to go get it eventually.

She was waiting for him. He could hunt with the best of them, but she was an artist. She put a bullet in him, right through his kidney. Clear through and through and if it weren’t for all the blood, he figured he could’ve seen daylight right through his own damn body. He didn’t have much in his hotel room and SHIELD gave him too many hours to evac. He poured a local street liquor called Ya Dong onto the wound. And it was only fair. An ounce for his kidney, two ounces for him.

Ya Dong tasted like ass. And yes. Clint would know.


The rest posted here at AO3 :) Hope you like it! http://archiveofourown.org/works/1185502

Natasha was the first to acknowledge/realize her feelings.

You and I are always on the same page with this!!

Some good old-fashioned Clint whump. Natasha takes care of him.

Either one or both of them thinks that all of this UST is getting in the way of them doing their jobs. So they do something about it...and it doesn't end quite as neatly as they hoped.

oooohhhhhh......

Soulmates. An AU world where soulmates is a thing. They are surprised, to put it mildly.

(There are existing stories - often outstanding - with this trope, but there can never be too many!) :D

Reincarnation.

:D

Clint and Natasha ask one or more of the Avengers to babysit so they can go out for a romantic Valentine's dinner.

"So she shouldn't need more than water tonight, and here's her favorite stuffed animal in case she wants to snuggle with something. And some towels, in case she throws anything up. And... I think that's it."

Steve gives Clint a bemused look. "I'm sure we'll be fine. What did she get into, anyway?"

Clint's face is almost as regretful as the dog with drooping ears sitting by his feet.

"The gourmet dinner we should have been eating tonight. Four-foot-high counters? Not tall enough that she can't get the food. I swear she must be part hound. Nothing is too high. Not the counter, not the bed, not the baby gates that were Tony's bright idea of a joke."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her. You two go and have a good time." Steve hides his grin and takes the leash Clint remembers to fish out of the pockets of his black slacks. Few things get the archer as antsy as a sick Lapa; a broken bow, an op going south, and Coulson finding out he avoided Medical are about the only things to top it. But five months ago the stray puppy worked her way into Clint's heartstrings during the hours he spent trapped with her in the rubble, and her place at the Avengers Tower was cemented when she gave the Hulk the cautious face-wash as everyone else involved in the rescue effort.

Natasha steps into the entryway, hair brushed into crimson waves over an elegant black dress that sets off her curves, a long coat hooked over her shoulder. She stands on her tiptoes to brush a kiss against Steve's cheek, a smile on her lips.

"Thank you. Ready to go?" When Clint hesitates, she raises an eyebrow. "Lapa will survive. She has eaten worse things before; I have no doubt she will do so again." But there is amusement in her grey eyes. "Captain America is watching out for her, our reservation is in half an hour, and I am sure at the first sign of trouble we can make the ten blocks back in record time. So?"

Clint, a braver man than said Captain America, wavers for another moment. Steve can't stifle his laugh and turns it into a cough.

"Okay," the archer finally concedes, admitting defeat as he rubs the back of his head. "But you'll call if you need us?"

Steve holds up the index card he was presented with upon arrival. He has all of them memorized already - it wasn't his first time pet-sitting - but it never hurts to reassure Clint.

"Both your cells, the after-hours number for the vet, and Happy's emergency line if we need to get somewhere fast. We're good."

"All right. Be good, girl." Clint bends and rubs Lapa's ears with a calloused hand, ignoring the fine hairs that drift onto his maroon shirt. Natasha lets out a small breath, her expression suggesting they wouldn't be going through this if he had been more careful - but Steve doesn't miss the affectionate caress she gives their moping pup, or how she crouches down to her level to murmur something in liquid Russian. Lapa's tail beats softly against the wooden floor in response and continues until they leave, vanishing behind the closing door. Only when they are out of sight does she sigh, body language spelling defeat, and look up at Steve with a whine.

"Just the two of us tonight," he tells her, smiling at her beleaguered air. "It's been a while since I've spent some time alone with a classy lady. Not a bad way to celebrate Valentine's Day, all things considered."

(cont.)

Alternate meeting or straight AU. Natasha pickpockets Clint, and manages to steal his heart as well.

Valentines Day is a celebration of love, and for Clint and Natasha, love means more than romantic love.

Clint over thinks his Valentine's Day present. A third party steps in to give him some advice.

+1 for 3rd character POV.

Good things come to those who wait: they tease and wind each other up (or one teases the other), and it's teasing because they're on a mission right now and can't do anything about it. But once said mission is over...

Leather and lace.

Clint buys Natasha a toy for Valentine's Day. Natasha isn't sure what this is supposed to mean. Clint just wants to play.

Natasha knows all about seduction, how to woo men and make them do what they want. But she doesn't know how to go about getting just a hug or some cuddle time. (Really she should just have asked.)

a/n: This is not what you intended. Inspired by watching the Olympics pair figure skating.


You think, there is ice in her heart. You know her pale wrists, strong enough to break a man’s neck and gentle enough to sew a four-inch wound, and you think, they used garroting wires like marionette strings. It is not so hard, in moments like these, to see the young girl raised and twisted by crueler hands, made to dance to bloody operas for the pleasure of her handlers.

You see the Widow in the face washed out by the TV’s glare, strange hollows and curves that you should know like your own hands, your old bows by now.

You also see the child.

She lets you; you know this as well. If she wanted to hide all her scars, all the hollow places in her, you would see nothing but the mask of Natasha Romanoff, the agent who can watch figure skating in her homeland with a pleasant smile and bright eyes.

You think you should be scared by the trust that lies between you.

She shifts, settles back into the couch with unease in her curled posture, her pinched lips, and finally glances up at you. And it sings, this thing that runs from your heart through your feet out to her, that stretches and pulls and connects two killers in the dark of your apartment. You know the woman lying on your couch in a too-large sweatshirt from a college she never attended, in ankle socks turned a brilliant white by the light from the TV, with hands under her head and a question she doesn’t know how to ask in her eyes.

Natasha Romanoff, Natalia Romanova, half a dozen other names she has been called by and given herself over a lifetime of playing to Death’s melodies – it doesn’t matter. You love her, the woman underneath those mantles and barbed wires, and the only thing that keeps you alive is that the tie which binds you isn’t garroting wire at all.

She stretches a hand out to you, uncertain and unsure but needing all the same, and you take it.

You always have.

Russia’s pride and joy dance together with blades on their feet and trust in their hands while you watch, another discarded champion tucked up against you, resting her head on your chest. You are proud of her. There is ice in her heart enough to match the sweeping expanses that these skaters glide across so easily, so gracefully, in a performance the whole world watches; but there is fire too, and you will hold her until she remembers it.

You could burn the world, if she needed that to remember it.

That should scare you. But the woman curled in your arms is a weapon unto herself, and this thing between you is bright and sharp and silver in the night, you know there is ice in your heart as well.

You lie like this until she falls asleep in the early dawn, dreaming of distant worlds and past lives. You think, it's enough.

And it is.

There aren't any fraternisation rules at SHIELD, but it's a given that you're not supposed to take the mick. Agents are meant to be professionals after all. So flirting etc on the job will get you a glare from your superiors at the very least. Yet for some reason two agents seem to be getting away with it...

(Could be anything from an innocent, "This isn't flirting; it's just the way we communicate, sir." to there being a bet about getting a reaction from Fury, or anything you like!)

This one's calling my name, in a seductive little purr ...

After the dabacle of the Giant Bunny Rabbit Tony bought Pepper for Christmas (which he's somehow sure she didn't like, however many times she tells him otherwise, he swears it's just because they nearly died and the bunny is at the bottom of the sea anyway) Tony goes to Clint for Valentine's Day present advice.

Natasha could have told him that this was a bad idea.

In the aftermath of a mission where one (or both) of them nearly dies, Clint and Natasha realize that they can't live without each other.

Edited 2014-02-01 09:30 pm (UTC)

Clint dressed as Cupid

in the rain

Clint kinda loves it when Natasha sits in his lap.

Nick Fury is very protective of Nat. And is side-eyeing his best sniper, who has a history of epic fails of relationships.

Serenade

Ballet AU: Natasha is the new prima ballerina at the Mariinsky Ballet (or Bolshoi Ballet, either one). She's Vaganova trained, completely dedicated to dance and a perfectionist in all she does. She receives an invitation to dance with the New York City Ballet, where she meets Clint, a soloist. He's not the flashiest dancer and he's not the biggest star, but he is a great partner. Natasha and Clint are partnered for a performance and sparks fly.

GOD I HATE YOU SO MUCH.

That has essentially been my ballet company AU headcanon for like, a year. Except I don't like NYCB that much, but... merp!