That Which you Love || Clintasha One-Shots

Reunited

"Natalie, are you coming?" Happy asked, holding the car door open. Natasha Romanoff looked down for a moment and then heard a soft beep in the bracelet she wore. She shook her head without hesitation, the bright tracker illuminated. "Ms. Potts?" he said, looking to his boss. 

"No, I'll stay here too," Pepper replied. "Why don't you go, Natalie?" Natasha shook her head again, earrings jingling as she did so. They waited in silence for a while before Natasha walked off, looking into the distance for the shape of a Quinjet blotting out the stars for a moment. Her emerald eyes scanned the sky when she heard it.

A soft beeping coming from a broken suit on the ground. A red light flashed and her eyes widened in shock. She ran into one of the buildings and up onto the roof and tried to get as far away from the bombs as much as possible. She saw the red-and-gold suit of Tony Stark dive and grab Pepper, who wasn't moving from the destroyed suit, more looking at it in confusion. 

She heard a whistle as a black cord landed close to her. She looked up to see the belly of a dark Quinjet with a dark cord hanging from it. Natasha grabbed onto it, the cord burning her hands for a moment, and clung on for dear life. The cord pulled her up and into the safety of the jet as the buildings around her exploded in a burst of orange flames and fireworks that had been prepared for a later presentation. She saw Tony and Pepper disappear into the sky and into safety.

She looked up and didn't see the warm grey eyes she had hoped for. An unfamiliar agent greeted her with a courtesy nod. "Where is Agent Barton?" she asked, keeping her voice calm. 

"On route, Agent Romanoff," the pilot replied. "Your stuff is in the back. Agent Barton and Director Fury should be here shortly." Natasha nodded and unpinned her hair, letting her too-long curls fall loose down her back. Checking to see the pilot wasn't looking, she slipped off her dress and stepped into the long-sleeved blue jumpsuit that was sitting in a bag. 

She checked her Widow Bites to see if some Sci-Tech student had tried to replicate them and ended up breaking them and sighed when she saw the crackle of blue electricity spark and then deactivated them before adjusting her pistols. "Drop me off where Stark, Rhodes, and Ms. Potts are," Natasha commanded as the pilot saluted and lowered the Quinjet. 

She jumped down and out of the ship, landing on her feet and brushing her hair out of her face. Ugh. Long hair. she thought in annoyance. She saw Rhodey, Tony, and Pepper all in a conversation, Tony shouting at Rhodes and Pepper sighing. 

"I'm just saying, Tony, more people should have these suits not just a rich person who argues with his former secretary and now boss and then they declare that they're in love!" Rhodey shouted and Natasha knew it wasn't serious. 

"Natalie?" Pepper asked, confused as she saw Natasha walk forward in a jumpsuit carrying weapons. She nodded and nodded for the two men to continue their argument. "Who are you?" Pepper asked. 

"My name is Natasha Romanoff," Natasha said, relenting and letting her guard down. "I work with S.H.I.E.L.D. My boss, Nick Fury assigned me to monitor Tony when we heard that his arc reactor was killing him. I never had any feelings for him, it was simply getting him to trust me so he could speak with Nick Fury and we could give him a temporary antidote." Pepper looked relieved. 

"You, Natasha," Tony called. "What's love to you?" Natasha paused, taken off-guard by the sudden question that was surprisingly close to her heart. 

"Tony," Rhodey and Pepper said, mid-sigh, in unison. Tony shrugged and Natasha thought for a moment.

"It's fine," she reassured. "Love is... persistent," she finally said and then elaborated. "It's like a gentle pain in the back of your mind that can only be fixed until whoever you love is in your arms. If someone loves you, they will walk to the ends of the universe to make sure that you'll never get hurt. It's not exaggerated like what you see in movies or sitcoms, but small and sweet. They'll make you laugh and make you cry. You'll bleed for them and they'll heal you. It's torture to be apart from someone you love and it's only joy when you see them again."

Across the night, a shape dotted out the stars at it approached the rooftop. A second Quinjet landed and Pepper, Tony, and Rhodes looked up from Natasha's words and to see the new arrival. His hair was a dirty blonde and he was dressed in all black. Pepper saw it. She didn't think the others did, though. He only had eyes for Natasha. 

It wasn't exaggerated, like the assassin said. Tony watched their odd little ritual as Natasha walked up to him. The man took her hand and Natasha placed her other hand on his wrist. They leaned in and touched their foreheads together. "I missed you," the man whispered as Natasha hugged him. 

Tony envied their ease and chemistry as their hug ended naturally and they stared at one another for a long time. "What is happening?" Rhodey finally asked, shattering the moment. The pair didn't move

"Yeah, Clint," Natasha added, "didn't Phil send you to the New Mexico base to help with his operations there?" Phil? Tony thought, confused. Wasn't that Coulson's first name or was it Agent?

"Found a loophole in Fury's system and convinced him to send me here to 'scope out the area for potential threats'. I leave in the morning," the guy, Clint, explained. Natasha smiled again, hooking her hand around her neck, gently running her thumb through the base of his hair. Clint placed his hand in the center of her back. Tony coughed as the pair looked over, Natasha blushing furiously. 

Clint looked at them, slightly annoyed but mostly offended. "Hawk," Natasha said, turning his face towards hers. "I don't care." 

Pepper was kind of smiling. Tony was shocked. Rhodey glanced away. Clint hesitated and then kissed Natasha. She relaxed instantly, safe and sound, and kissed him back, feeling his fingers thread through her long hair. They separated after a second. 

Tony's mouth was open in shock. "What, you surprised that I had a boyfriend?" Natasha said, smirking. 

"Him?" Rhodes stammered, glancing at the newcomer's scarred arms and messy hair. 

"Why not?" Clint shot back. Rhodey shook his head in surprise and shrugged it off. 

"Mhm." Natasha said. "C'mon love," she whispered as they turned and walked back onto the Quinjet, safe and the nagging in their heads ceasing.

A/N: right, I am not dead! I've had several big projects recently so this has kind of been a second thought, but I will try to do a Christmas one (I already have one in mind!) so happy very late Thanksgiving and happy holidays!

Love you all and thank you for your support. I'm #12 in Clintasha now (12/7/21)!

-EmeraldMoon