AN: I know this has been filled twice already, but I've been mulling this over and when I came back with fic I think we've all done something a bit different anyway. Which is interesting :) So here's my twopence worth.


Love Is

Whisper a dangerous secret to someone you care about. Now they have the power to destroy you, but they won’t. This is what love is.

It’s a game that children play, spilling secrets until they find a trustworthy soul who can embrace them, contain them, hold them cupped inside their hands without letting them overflow into someone else’s hearing. It’s a game for children, who give things away without hesitation far too often, without a thought for the consequences. It’s a game that inevitably hurts.

You can kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. You can love a lot of people before you find one who loves you back. You can collect the shattered pieces of yourself as you are destroyed over and over. It’s how the fairytales go; you can never have what you want the very first time.

Better never to try than to fail.

Especially when your secrets are so sharp and your fault lines are becoming clearer every day. Especially not with people who already have power over you, more than you have allowed anyone to hold over you since you were too young to know any better. Especially when you want (which is the most dangerous secret of all).

Better never to try, but when he whispers into your ear, voice sex-rough and love-soft; when he tells you the name of his brother, the reasons his marriage failed, his worst nightmares; when he holds out his pieces to you, broken but still precious… When he whispers his secrets to you, he makes you believe in mutually assured destruction.

This is what love is.

Edited 2014-02-14 11:31 pm (UTC)

Awww, Natasha. This really rings comics-Natasha to me (especially the new ones).

The new comics are definitely influencing my thinky thoughts! Glad you enjoyed the fic :)

Damn. *sniffles* I have so many feelings right now. Damn you. This was beautiful.

Um, oops? *hands you a tissue* Thank you :D

Oh, oh, oh. ...mutually assured destruction. I've never connected that phrase to them, but it makes a perfect and powerful touchstone. And I love how you link it back to 'love is for children', how you frame it in the context of fairy tales. Stories, wistful bits of imagination, with a moral and a lesson and a happy ending... when she knows so much better, so much more, and wishes (perhaps) still.

That's the first thing that sprung into my mind when I read the quote you prompted, and it rang true for me as something that Natasha could work with. I can't help love is for children and fairytales creeping into my Natasha-centric stories it seems *grins*. Glad you liked it! :D

Loved it! Especially the mutually assured destruction. Clint and Nat as the perfect personification of the Cold War... Awesome!

Make love, not war? *grins*. Glad you enjoyed :D

I think this is what I was thinking of, in the back of my head, when I prompted this. There's a Night Vale slant to this that it excellent (though I don't know if it was intentional) and a sort of... vivid fantastical sheen as well. It's sort of... oil slick coloured. But like... material.

That makes no sense. Anyway. LOVE this.

I haven't listened to Night Vale, so that would be entirely unintentional :) But your quote makes me want to track it down. I know we've talked about it before, but I'm more of a reader than a listener to be honest. I'll have to make an effort!

THANK YOU! Glad it was along the lines of what you were after :D

It's weird and wonderful and I entirely recommend it. :D

I love you. All the feels.

Aww, thank you! Glad you liked it :)