I was over at theavengersheadcanons.tumblr and I saw this headcanon (and promptly incorporated it into my own)

"The Black Widow never resorts to sleeping with targets to fulfill her mission.

She might seduce and entice, but that’s as far as it has ever gone.

She has no qualms about doing it if something was at stake and it was the only viable course of action, but that has never happened, as her vast repertoire of well-honed skills of the spy trade has always given her plenty of options."

Any type of fic based on this. 5 times Natasha seduced someone and the 1 time she slept with them *cough* Clint *cough*? Clint makes a silly/ insecure assumption that she corrects?

Hey, that's MY headcanon! :D

Natasha has only had five lovers. Steve has had none, Bruce has had four, Clint has had seven and Thor has had nine. Removing Tony as a statistical outlier, Natasha is exactly average for The Avengers Team. So when the press make assumptions about her and her earlier missions she is amused more than anything else.

1. Sophia

Sophia is her first love, and despite everything the Red Room has done Natasha loves as fiercely as any other teenager. Touching Sophia is like being burned by the sun. Their relationship is hidden kisses and gleeful experimentation. Then, one day Sophia's bed is empty and her few possessions have disappeared.

2. James

Natasha seduces the Winter Soldier because it’s something they both need. Their relationship is passionate, but like everything else in their lives, melts away under a pile of manufactured memories.

3. Clint

It starts the second time Natasha almost dies on a SHIELD mission and never really stops until one day she realizes he’s looking at her like she’s the most important thing in his universe. She backpedals out of that relationship like a cat confronted with a spray bottle.

4. Maria

Maria is blessedly practical. When she says she just wants sex, she means it. They use each other for months until Hill is promoted to deputy head of SHIELD and therefore into Natasha’s chain of command. They end it easily with no bitterness on either side.

5. Pepper

Pepper is smooth skin and long legs. She is inexperienced and hesitant, but before long Pepper’s famous competency reasserts itself and Natasha is seeing stars. But then Tony pulls Pepper back into his orbit and Natasha knows better than to stand in the way of gravity.

6. Clint (again)

After Loki, after aliens and monsters, love seems a lot less intimidating than it used to. So when Clint gazes at her like she is the center of his universe, she meets his eyes and doesn't look away. They watch the sun rise together on the world they saved.

OMG, this is unspeakably perfect and I am loving the hell out of this headcanon.

Thanks muchly :)

I love this. Perfection.

Especially this line She backpedals out of that relationship like a cat confronted with a spray bottle.

All I can think of is my cat when I pick up the spray bottle when he is about to do something he shouldn't. He suddenly disappears like a ghost.

The whole thing also (to me) encapsulates a maturation of Natasha. Well done.

Thank you! That was what I was going for. Also the mental image of Natasha as a cat has stuck with me from one of the daemon fics.