Sooo... what the hell, jumping back in with both feet, why not, it's great fifth chakra practice, right?

Err... how much detail do you want me to go into? ;)

What were your headcanons prior to Age of Ultron? How’d they fare? How do you feel about that?

They are lengthy and numerous. ALL THE HEADCANONS. There are reams and reams of fic not yet posted about my headcanon universe, which I was originally trying to keep at least loosely canon compliant, but it took a sharp left after Cap 2.

- Natasha got herself out of the Red Room. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, how important this is to me and her background. By the time Clint brings her in, she's been working on her own for awhile. (She is also much older than her file indicates, and is enhanced per comics canon with the Russian version of the serum taken from Bucky's system.)
- They've been partners for 10-15 years by the time the Battle of New York rolls around (SHIELD tried other partners, other teams for them, it was an unmitigated disaster all around)
- She has had issues off and on with triggers and programming cropping up at terrible times - including once killing a room full of people in Berlin which led to the two of them going off-mission and into hiding from SHIELD until they could figure out a. what the trigger was and how to "undo" it, and b. how to explain it to SHIELD or cover it up, depending. It was before they were a couple and kind of shocked Natasha that he chose her over SHIELD.
- She ran into Bucky before the events of Cap 2, and the thing about the Iranian scientist was probably a lie. What came out of that mission nearly fractured their partnership, until Coulson decided to throw the two of them out into the Mexican jungle for several weeks on a stupid stake-out that was boring as hell so they would either talk to one another or beat the crap out of one another "sparring" - he didn't so much care which so long as they got their heads back on straight and started working together again.
- Clint knows several languages (things like German, Russian, Romani, Yiddish, and so on) because the circus he grew up in was populated by quite a few old timers that came over after WWII. Natasha knows a LOT more, from all over the world.
- Clint is still in a SHIELD facility in "custody" (ostensibly psychiatric of a sort) post-Avengers, and Nat really Does Not Like This, but it was his choice to go because he didn't trust that he was entirely in control anymore and also kind of felt like he deserved it, because he kept having flashbacks of what Loki wanted him to do (or had him do).
- Clint is the only one that can really give Natasha a run for her money at hand-to-hand, and it's because both of them approach it not from the perspective of either a codified system of martial arts, or down-to-basics no-rules street fighting, but from the angle of dance and gymnastics. (Watch the two of them when they fight on the carrier - they work in completely three-dimensional space, and it's glorious.) He figured out that's what she was doing right off the bat and his almost preternatural sense of where he and everything else is in space (that lets him target things so damn accurately) lets him anticipate her moves just as easily.
- when they need to talk without other people knowing what they're saying, they tend to use Romani, because they both know it and most other people don't.

Wait a sec! You can't say the thing about nearly fracturing their partnership and not tell us what happened dammit ;)

There's fic about that, actually. Unposted, still in pieces in my Scrivener file(s), but it's going to be a thing eventually in "The Weight of Us". But here's the basic story (warnings for RR evilness and non-graphic mentions of sociopathic children ala The Bad Seed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Seed), which I had to read in college and is terrifying).

So, this one time, in Bulgaria, Clint nearly got himself killed (http://archiveofourown.org/works/498628/chapters/988526). And that left him laid up in the hospital for weeks, and more recovery after that, so SHIELD sent Natasha out on an undercover mission by herself. She was supposed to be looking into a mid-level weapons dealer named Draykov, who as it happened needed a new nanny for his daughter. He was specifically looking for someone with self-defense training, and SHIELD and Natasha figured that's what you did when you did business with people like warlords and other assorted bad guys.

When Natasha got there, and charmed him into giving her the job, she found out that he wasn't trying to find someone who could protect his daughter from other people.

He wanted someone who could protect other people from his daughter.

The last nanny had met an uncertain end, and from what Natasha could glean there might've been some other household staff that also "left" under mysterious circumstances. Draykov knew exactly what his daughter was, mind you, and was horrified by it, but he also loved her and wanted to protect her, and he was trying to do what he thought was best for her. He sold weapons to terrible people, but on a personal level, he actually wasn't that bad a guy.

He did make some poor choices, however, one of which turned out to be getting into bed with the Red Room (or what was left of it) on a weapons deal that didn't work out. And they showed up to deal with the situation when Natasha had been undercover there for a couple months or so, and this didn't end at all well for Draykov, but it also put Natasha into a tail spin and face-to-face with one of her former trainers, the Winter Soldier.

At this point, she'd called SHIELD and they'd sent in the backup, which included Clint, who was technically "better" but who probably still should've been at home on the couch or something. He gets hurt, again, and this all ends up with Natasha and Clint and the girl in a standoff with the Winter Soldier, who offers to make Natasha a deal. He'll spare Clint's life, and let her go, if she gives him the girl.

Now, here are the key things to point out about this situation. First, TWS makes some compelling (not necessarily right or accurate, but compelling) points about the Red Room being the best place for someone like Rudmilla, that they'll have the best chance of directing her impulses and giving her a life, versus a life spent in institutions or prisons otherwise. Second, there may or may not be some residual triggers and/or conditioning going on in Natasha's head in regards to listening to him. Third, they're in a position where TWS really could - and would - kill Clint before she could stop him. She's already - literally - got Clint's blood on her hands right then and she remembers what it was like thinking he was going to die in Bulgaria.

So she lets him take the girl.

Now, all Clint knows or sees of this, having just gotten to the party (as it were) is that Natasha trades this kid for their lives. And he is infuriated by it. Natasha sort of tries to explain what's going on, and that the girl isn't just an innocent child, but he's not really listening, and she's too angry to push it. And so they go back and let it sit.

It's the first real fight they've ever had. Natasha is turning a lot of her anger about what's happening inward, because she hates herself for that moment of weakness (she sees it that way) and what she did, and maybe a little bit for letting herself get to where she cares enough about someone else (Clint) that she's got a weak spot. And the overwhelming feeling of being back in the Room even for an instant, she's furious about that. And Clint is mad because there was a child involved and also because he can't help but wonder if he actually knows what he thought he did about the type of person Natasha is and if he made the right decision when he brought her in, and he'd always thought that he was the person who could see through her covers, and who knew her inside and out (and he is, and he does) but he can't help but worry that maybe he really doesn't and that she's been playing him this whole time, too, that she's really that good of an actress and spy (she is, of course, but not with him).

They still work together, and get the job done, and in the process they're driving Coulson absolutely insane because there's so much tension he feels like he's about to break, let alone them. And it's not the fun kind of "will they or won't they" tension that legendary SHIELD betting pools are born from, no, this is the kind that he knows from past experience will lead to someone making a potentially fatal mistake on an op someday. He's not going to let that happen to his best team, dammit.

So he hands them packs and shoves them onto a transport and dumps them out in the middle of the Mexican jungle and basically leaves them there on trumped up stake-out duty until they either work it out or kill one another. He's really not sure which is more likely when he drops them off.

It takes them a solid month before they start talking again.

He leaves them there another three weeks just to be on the safe side.

(The end(ish) of the Mexican op is here (http://archiveofourown.org/works/498628/chapters/988531).)

Meaning to respond to this!!! This is amazing!!! I am entralled. I can't wait to read the entire fic.

The psychology of Natasha during their first fight is insanely fascinating to me.

Thank you!

The Romani thing is cool. it could seriously backfire when they run into the Maximoffs, though...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... why yes, yes it could! I hadn't put two and two together yet to get four, oh that is excellent, thank you! :D

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... why yes, yes it could! I hadn't put two and two together yet to get four, oh that is excellent, thank you! :D

Did Age of Ultron give you new headcanons?
- So.. AoU is a completely different verse for me. But yes, I have new ones! Because Laura is awesome (and decided to take up residence in my head, so what'm I supposed to do?)
- Laura and Clint grew up in the circus together. Her father trained the horses. She was never interested in performing, but once she got her hands on a computer, she started doing more and more of the administrative stuff, and mostly taught herself computers and some programming and hacking (such as it was at the time, anyway, since they would've teens in the 80s) - basically she liked them and kept learning about them, and when Clint ended up on SHIELDs radar they hired her as a tech and discovered she was great at analysis Bonus, she could do that from home, because Cooper came along pretty soon after that.
- Clint brought Natasha home because she needed a home. I'm honestly not sure yet how romantic/sexual vs. platonic the relationship between the three of them is yet - but if it's not overtly sexual it is still extremely close and intimate with quite a bit of physical affection there - most of this is from how easily Laura lets Nat into her personal space, particularly while pregnant.
- Natasha has her own room there, she does not use the guest room, it is Natasha's room, and Laura spent several years drilling this fact into Natasha's head when she would call it a guest room. She finally started bringing and leaving stuff and clothes and things in it, and when Lila was about three or four she let her "help" pick out the paint and wallpaper when they finally convinced her to redo it to her own tastes.
- Cooper was a baby when Natasha showed up, but she's been there for all of Lila's life. (I am in no small way letting this be colored by my experiences with my best friend's kids, here). In some ways, they all know this is the closest she will ever get to having children of her own, and she is really involved in their lives as much as she can be. She's the third parent when she's home with them.


What, in your opinion, is the best headcanon you’ve seen somebody else post? Did you decide to adopt it?
- In general? The characterization of Clint (though not all the details necessarily) in SciFiGrl47's Toasterverse, and her entire Tony backstory from "The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation" excepting the Tony/Steve bits (because I mostly 'ship Tony/Pepper and Steve/Bucky in my headcanon).
- My Clint and Natasha headcanons developed in the crucible of the first Prompt-a-Thon, so I'm not entirely sure where or how they all came about now, though many of y'all were absolutely instrumental in creating them! I just can't point to one particular fic or time for most things, though now that I'm thinking about it, QueenRiley's "Of Languages" is the origin for both of them being polyglots.