While Natasha and Clint had made it very clear that they were to be undisturbed during their vacation, Natasha wasn’t that surprised when she found presents left on the front porch.
One of the packages, in bright red, has Tony’s looping scrawl on the tag. She rolled her eyes and picked it up. It was heavy, and she had to wonder what kind of high-tech nonsense he had wrapped inside.
Clint came to the door and looked at the pile of packages.
“Wow, looks like everyone thought of us,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s kind of sweet, isn’t it?”
Natasha smiled at that.
“What I wanna know is how did they find us?” she asked. “We weren’t exactly forthcoming about our location.”
“Well,” Clint laughed. “Maybe we can invite our unexpected guests over for Christmas - but after the morning. I want it with you and the girls.”
Okay lovelies, here we are with your daily themes! Remember to tag your works with “Clintasha Advent 2021″ so we don’t miss any. And for any newbies who are joining us for the first time this year we wish you a hearty welcome! and also ask that you read the FAQs. There’s a few important restrictions in there regarding content we accept (chiefly no farm fam or OT3s please! We just wanna focus on Clintasha).
So without further ado we bring you the themes!
1. Weather
2. Hiding
3. Family/Friends
4. Magic/supernatural
5. Time
6. Language
7. FREE DAY
8. Alternate Universe
9. Domestic
10. Missions
11. Colours
13. Hurt/Comfort
14. FREE DAY
15. Traditions
16. Around the world
17. Emotions/Moods
18. Tropes
19. Furry friends
20. FREE DAY
21. Senses
22. Food & Drink
23. Separation/Reunions
24. Signs
25. Christmas/Holidays
Clint sees her talking to Bruce again across Stark's bar. He feels a sharp pain in his chest as he looks down and smiles softly. He wants to say he's happy for her. He's always suspected that Natasha had feelings for him. She hides it well, she hides it like a Widow. Though he feels it, he sees it in her eyes, and he hates that deep down he feels it because they're there for him too.
She's a Black Widow, most smart people would know better to trust any of them. Though Natasha is the exception. He would trust her with his life. So he doesn't understand why Natasha is having such a hard time winning over the big guy. She's genuinely opening herself to him. How much of a gift is that? A Black Widow truly opening herself up to emotions, feelings, and romance. Most know better than to take that risk.
Yet he distracts himself with the drum set Tony has in the corner. He casually eyes them. He doesn't like how Banner is flatly turning down her advances. He doesn't understand why. Though he can logically reason why he would. The Big Green Guy is too dangerous. Anger issues, other repressed issues. He wants to say Bruce is not good enough for her. He doesn't. He holds his tongue and watches as he softly smiles back at her, and he wonders if she's finally managed to break through. Breakthrough Banner's numerous excuses and insecurities.
YOLO is a phrase Banner does not take to heart.
He takes them into his family home. He sees her try again and it looks like this time. This time she's finally broken through. He's given her hope. At least she looks happy and that same feeling comes again. The same pierce in his chest hits and he feels like a complete and utter asshole. He should be happy for her, for them. One part of him is happy for her but another is selfish. He feels hurt and he doesn't understand why. He has a wife, a family, a life Natasha can never have. He should be happy she can at least have him. Experience love, romantic love.
It's too much for him to witness. He tells himself and his family he's giving them their space, their privacy. Laura buys it completely. Why shouldn't she? He has been nothing but loyal. It's unfair he shouldn't have feelings for more than one woman. That's not what heroes do, that's not what life is about.
As usual everything turns to shit. The good comes with the bad. The bad is that they won against Ultron but the cost. The cost is too much. He feels the need to retire. So, he does yet Natasha stays.
Bruce disappears and he can see that Natasha is hurt and disappointed. He can't tell which feeling prevails. She looks more hurt than worried. He can only suspect that something happened up in the jet. He wants to ask but he knows it's not his place to ask. He has his own life and family to worry about. He chose to run. It's his loss.
He's angry for Natasha yet another part feels relieved. Natasha deserved better, someone who wouldn't push her away. Someone who knows her worth, someone who would risk his life for her. Someone like himself.
I’m gonna try and write a little bit every day for each prompt - bear in mind that english is not my first language and that I have no beta, I am just writing for fun!
Clint and Natasha never seem to agree on the weather. He hates it when it’s too hot, and loathes it when it’s too cold. She takes pride in rolling her eyes and walking in the street with her arms bared in the German winter, not a shiver in sight, and feels comfortable sitting for hours fully clothed under the Laotian sun, when Clint is seemingly sweating enough to fill up a small lake.
But she grumbles at the first drizzle, and cannot stand the wind. He throws his head back to feel the rain on his face, and smirks as he sinks an arrow in the bullseye of his target when a gale warning has just been issued and Natasha is nowhere in sight.
They find common ground when they are both inside. Curled up in a blanket, hot cocoa in hand and smile on their faces, watching the snow slowly falling, smothering the fields surrounding his farm. Holding hands by the bedroom window of her Manhattan flat, eyes still heavy with sleep, counting the seconds between lightning and thunder. Lying on the mat, still breathing heavily, so exhilarated by their sparring session that they couldn’t care less about the weather outside.
Clintasha Advent Week 2020. Yay @clintasha-week thanks so much for organising this and pulling it together. I’m excited!
Day 1 - Colours
If Natasha was to compartmentalise parts of her life into colours...
This world is not made of shades of grey. It is made of colours like azure and coral and emerald and marigold. But it insists on painting everything in black and white and fitting it into boxes that it understands. Do not do that to yourself. Paint your personality a million different colours. Leave them scratching their heads, unsure of how to handle the magic that you are. - Nikita Gill, Colours
If Natasha was to compartmentalise parts of her life into colours, then she would call time with her family red.
Red hair that brought her up, red fire that brought them down.
She’d call the red room black.
Ironic isn’t it. A place that called itself red, was more like the dark depths of fear and anguish; no hope, no colour to help alleviate the darkness, but also no way to mark the stains on their souls. Black on Black.
She would never call anything she touched or was a part of, as white. Leave that for others that had not been tainted by the blackness of the red room.
She would call the time in Shield as grey; like the logo and the emblem. That brief stretch of time where things weren’t black but not quite colourful - colours can now infiltrate but they are dulled by rules and regulations and fear of the unknown.
But then there’s Clint.
The magic that he is brings not just one colour but an array. With him she sees a million different colours and it’s like learning to breathe in a different way; it takes time and practice to see these things but with him she learns that things do not need to be black or red or grey.
With Clint she can see the blue calm of the ocean and tranquillity of the sky. She can see the enthusiasm of orange, the pride of purple and romance of pink. Mostly though, she sees the green of safety and opportunity that flies in the face of everything she’s ever learnt and knows.
When she’s with him it’s colours on colours. And she wouldn’t change that for anything.
There's a lot of music in this world. Always has been, always will be. It's a wonderful way to express and let out feelings. Clint Barton loves music. He is a typical man in this case. He likes rock. True and handmade tunes from mostly old men who play their basses and guitars like lunatics. Man, he wishes he could shred a musical instrument like they do. The passion and fun you see when you look at a very gifted player, nothing's like that. Okay, maybe he has the same feelings when it comes to his bows. Anyway. Old school rock like Queen, AC/DC to punk rock like the Ramones or the Pistols going over to some Nirvana or Offspring, that's his thing. Their songs are powerful and honest, somewhat just like him.
Natasha on the other hand does not care for music this much. But behold, she knows a lot of stuff and different styles of it. In general; she knows tons of stuff about almost every topic in this world. Something that amazes Clint from time to time. She is so damn clever. But back to topic. It's hard to tell which tunes she likes because she never tells.
Once he caught he singing along to a song of lady Gaga and he could not hold back to tease her with that. But she was cool with it. She also goes along when he listens to his music but how can you dislike classic rock anyway? Even Tony is into it!
On rare occasions when they are on a undercover mission and have to play a couple they sometimes have to dance. Clint loves dancing with her, she has a great feeling for music, she always is in sync and she never takes a wrong step. Of course she doesn't. She's learned to dance ballet and she had the strictest teachers. A failure brought harsh punishment so she better be perfect.
He remembers the first dance he had with her. They were at a gala, all dressed up fancy. It was a waltz. He reached out for her hand and placed the other hand carefully on her back, taking the lead. He could feel her stiffen under his touch so he tried to make it more comfortable for her. He took away the hand on her back and let her take the lead. He hadn't to say anything, she understood. They exchanged a look and she went a little softer. After one minute she was relaxed enough that they both could enjoy their first dance together. They hadn't come this close to another before and he had barely even touched her so it was exciting for him too. But her trust issues were huge and he always had the feeling he was in thin ice when he must touch her for some reason. But letting her know that she's in charge calmed her. Clint could almost feel her trust growing and this made him very happy.
She was very damaged back then but he would do what he could to make her whole again. Because she deserved it.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I had no plans to write more His Dark Materials AU after the last one, but it’s Friday night and today’s @clintasha-week theme is AU/Crossovers, so here’s a little The Amber Spyglass scene Clint/Natasha style.
598 words, Teen & Up, no warnings apply
Summary: "We did the right thing, didn't we?" Natalia says, turning her head to look at Clint. "Leaving them behind?"
