The first thing Clint learns about Natasha is that she’s not afraid. Which is a lie, actually, because Natasha is afraid of a lot of things -- just not what most people would find fearful. Natasha can drop down from a quinjet in flight while riding on a moving motorcycle, she can walk into a firefight as if she’s strolling onto the beach, she can stand in front of gods and monsters and hold her ground until something forces her to stumble, and even then, she won’t let herself fall.

The second thing Clint learns about Natasha is that her bones are made of knives, but the edges of those knives are soft and blunt. She walks stiffly and calmly and never lets herself show even the smallest of wrinkles, she holds herself sharp and rigid, yet when she allows herself to come apart, she becomes so malleable that you can’t tell where the most important parts of her end and where they begin.

And so when she finally tells Clint, “I’m wired wrong – they made me all the wrong things,” all Clint can think is, I know, all he can think is, I’ve always known, all he can think is, I wish you didn’t feel like you have to apologize.

-

Clint’s been embedded in SHIELD for five years while avoiding the hoopla of Valentine’s Day, Christmas, New Year’s and his birthday before it gets to a point where he finally can’t avoid it anymore, and that wake-up call comes in the form of a paper that appears across his desk as he’s getting ready to leave for a routine workout.

“What’s this?” he asks a little suspiciously, looking up to meet Hill’s eyes. The dark-haired woman shrugs lightly.

“I made a bet with Fury that before you turned 35, you’d have at least one holiday where you didn’t skulk around depressed and alone,” she says with more nonchalance than Clint feels comfortable with, and he glares.

[READ THE REST ON AO3 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/3337418)]


Edited 2015-02-12 04:22 am (UTC)

Oh, the feels!! This is such a cool prompt, and I love the direction you took this in.