Chapter Text
“Alright, Hawkeye. You ready to go?” Maria asked Clint on the comms. She watched on a screen from a surveillance drone, where Clint Barton, the Hawkeye, was perched on top of a four-storey building that faced the back of a very fancy hotel.
“Yep. I’m in position.” He replied.
For months, they had been hunting Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow assassin. She had been wreaking havoc in America recently, she had assassinated over five high ranking figures in the intelligence community, all with open cases on the Red Room. It didn’t matter how many people they sent after her, none of them came back alive.
That was when Nick Fury called in the Hawkeye, the man who never missed, because for the sake of the world’s security, she could not be allowed to live. Maria Hill was overseeing the whole operation, she had gathered intel on the Black Widow’s next target, a crime boss from Madripoor, who was the leader of a drug trafficking ring in the U.S.
They knew she planned on seducing him to murder him, but they set the whole hotel up so they knew where she would be leaving from. They tipped off the guards that an aggressor would be making an entrance at the front door, forcing Natasha to escape through the back alleyway.
She was to emerge at any moment, they had watched her walk in with the crime boss around two hours ago, so by now he should be dead. Clint had his bow and arrow in position, ready to fire at any moment.
The rickety door suddenly opened, and out walked the Black Widow, no longer in her high heels and tight green dress, but in her skin-tight black combat gear, fully donned with all sorts of weapons and her bright, red hair in a long braid down her back.
“Fire when ready, Clint.” Maria ordered.
When Natasha closed the door, she immediately slumped back into it, almost lifelessly, and brought her hands to her knees and began heavily hyperventilating. Her sharp breaths shortly broke down into a whimper, and her shoulders shook as she cried in the alleyway.
“Clint, take the shot!”
But Hawkeye held his position. He didn’t dare let go of that arrow, he just watched the assassin curiously. Slowly, he pulled the arrow away from his bow and put it back in his quiver.
“Clint, what the hell are you doing?” Maria screamed at him, but she received no response.
Natasha quickly noticed Clint’s presence and tightened up immediately. She swiftly took two guns out of the holsters on each leg and began firing at him, luckily missing as Clint scaled down the side of the building on a zip line and hit the floor.
Maria rubbed her temples in annoyance as she watched the fight break out. She could not believe she was about to lose the best S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in her division because of his own idiocy. She groaned at the thought of the paperwork she would have to complete because of his death, and even worse, what she would have to tell Fury.
Natasha struck Clint with force, as he used his retracted bow like a staff to unbalance her. The Black Widow seemed to know every martial arts form there was, with just her hands she was deadly, Maria feared what would happen were she to begin using a knife.
With his leg and his staff, Clint tried to knock her legs down, which left his guard unbalanced and gave Natasha the opportunity to descend upon him, trapping him under her legs. Maria held her breath as the assassin clenched her fist in front of his face to activate the wrist shooter.
“Wait!” Clint screamed. Natasha stopped in her place. Her mascara was still smudged from crying, and her face was now dirty from the altercation. She cocked her head to the side, almost as if she was confused. “You don’t have to do this, Nat. I can help you.”
“What do you know about me?” She responded with a thick Russian accent.
“I know that this life is all you know, and you think you don’t have a choice. But you do. You can be you own person.” He said. Clint’s voice was shaky with nerves but struck just as true. Natasha lowered her fist and let her guard fall.
“How?” She whispered, the pain and hope clear in her eyes.
“You ever hear of a little group called S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
That was how Maria ended up in the quinjet, taking Clint back to D.C. with the world’s most wanted assassin sitting in the back.
“You know, I thought it was going to be a lot of paperwork if she killed you, but this is like a whole new level.” Maria scoffed at him.
“Well, it all worked out, didn’t it? Nobody died.” Clint returned with a cocky smile.
“No, it didn’t work out!” Maria hissed. She glanced back at Natasha, but she just sat staring at the computer controls, playing with the sleeves on her wrists. “Good luck explaining this to Fury.” Maria said, giving him a nasty side eye.
“What, that I just recruited potentially the most skilled agent in S.H.I.E.L.D history? I think he’ll be thrilled.”
All Maria could do was grumble under her breath angrily. She hated it when plans didn’t go her way, when things got out of her control.
The next day, Maria woke up in her D.C. apartment late, it was almost 11pm. It was finally her week off, and she intended to spend it doing absolutely nothing. After all the trips and missions and paperwork, it felt like Maria hadn’t unclenched her jaw for weeks.
She eventually rolled out of bed to get a cup of coffee, taking all the time in the world. It really felt amazing to be getting up when the sun had already risen, and she let the sound of the coffee machine fill the apartment.
Her peace and self-reflection were rudely interrupted by a loud banging on her front door. She braced herself for what this could possibly be, because if anyone dared to disturb Maria on her week off, it was life or death.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to be met with the faces of Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff in casual clothes.
“Barton. What the hell are you bothering me on my holiday for?” Asked Maria with disbelief ringing in her voice.
“Good morning to you to. You see, I really have to get back to the missus before she orders a hit on me, and I thought Nat here could use some girl time.” Clint said with a proud smile.
Natasha looked very uncomfortable. She was wearing an old Star Wars t-shirt and a pair of washed out, ripped jeans. Maria didn’t know Natasha Romanoff, but she was sure that that was definitely not her style.
“I’m confused on the part where this is my problem.” Maria replied with an obviously fake smile.
Clint forced a nonchalant laugh while he pushed Natasha through the doorway, forcing Maria to stand aside.
“Just sit down there on that couch… yeah.” Clint directed, and Natasha followed awkwardly. He spun around and briskly walked back to Maria, who still stood at the doorway. “Look, just do me a favour. I would take her back to my house, but I really don’t think she should be around kids right now and she definitely should not be alone right now.” Clint half whispered with desperation in his voice.
Maria groaned and rubbed her temples. Goodbye to her worry-free week. Every bone in her body wanted to say, ‘absolutely not’, but looking back at the poor girl, she couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for her.
“Fine. But you owe me. Big time.” She said sternly.
“Yes, yes. Thank you so much, you’re an angel.” He said as he rushed out of the door.
Maria was then left alone in her apartment with the assassin.
Natasha was still on the couch, where Clint had instructed her to stay. She was now fidgeting with the fabric of her T-shirt nervously, looking down at her hands. Maria had no idea what she should do. How was she supposed to console someone who had just gone through the biggest change of their life? Not to mention, she still had doubts as to whether she could trust Natasha.
She decided to approach the other woman, who sat on her couch. Natasha’s whole disposition changed as soon as she noticed Maria, she turned to face her as if she was waiting to be told what to do.
Maria sat down next to her on the couch, at a distance that she deemed reasonable. A million thoughts seemed to be going through the other woman’s head, her hazel eyes dashing around the room anxiously.
“So… Natasha.” Maria began.
“You can call me Nat. Clint calls me that now.” She responded.
“Okay. Nat. So, what do you suppose we do today?” Natasha furrowed her eyebrows as if the question confused her.
“Do you have any missions? I’m good at those.”
“Not today. It’s my week off, I’m supposed to be relaxing.”
“Oh. I’ve never had a week off before.” Natasha shrugged, as if she had just said she had never been sledding. Maria pushed away the pang of sadness she felt in her chest, she figured that being pitied was the last thing Nat needed right now.
“Yeah. I kind of figured that. But is there anything that you would like to do? Now that you can do anything you want.” Maria asked. Part of her wasn’t surprised when Natasha shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
Well, she was going to have to keep Nat entertained for the rest of the day. She couldn’t take the thought of just sitting here in silence.
“Okay then. I need to go shopping for some groceries, but I think you could do with a new outfit, don’t you think?”
Maria was pleased when Nat’s eyes immediately lit up at the suggestion.
“Alright. Just let me get changed, I’ll be right back.”
As they walked down the street, Maria noticed that Natasha was tense. Her eyes scanned the street, looking for potential threats. She couldn’t blame her, escaping the red room made her a target and liability. But Maria also had her guard up, she remained relaxed while being aware of all her surroundings. Despite the busting city, she recognised everyone who walked down the street. Before moving, she always made it a priority to look into everyone who lived in the area. She had all the details from each person’s life and history memorised. Nothing was out of the ordinary, they weren’t in any immediate danger at that moment. But she also had several weapons on her, just in case, and she assumed that Natasha was armed too.
Plus, the red room probably new that Natasha was already with shield, and if they hadn’t killed her overnight then they didn’t intend to. Assassinating Natasha right now would draw way too much attention to themselves.
Maria led her to an H&M store not far from her apartment. She let Natasha lead the way, allowing her to roam and take in all the options. After wandering around the store for a bit, Natasha’s eyes landed on a tight black dress, around knee-length but extremely slimming and revealing.
“You like this one?” Maria asked.
Natasha tore her eyes away from the dress.
“Not really. Looks like something I would wear on a mission.”
Maria nodded her head. “Yeah, it does. I was thinking we could go out tonight, but you’ll want to wear something much more comfortable. Wanna keep looking?”
Natasha’s green eyes sparkled with curiosity. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” Maria shook her head mischievously.
Natasha wandered around the store, picking up skirts, tops and pants along the way. By the end of it, she had several whole outfits to try, and Maria waited for almost half an hour for her to choose. She noticed how, little by little, Natasha was letting her guard down. She asked for Maria’s opinion on the jewellery that would match, if the colour palate went well with her eyes, what jacket would complete the outfit. Maria swore she saw her blush when she complemented her.
By the end of it, Natasha had settled on some black skinny jeans, a red off-the-shoulder top and a brown leather jacket, which matched with some brown ankle-high boots. She looked much more herself than before, in what presumably was an outfit from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s lost and found.
“How do I look?” Natasha asked shyly.
“You look great.” Maria replied, giving her a genuine smile. Natasha looked at herself in the mirror proudly.
The next stop was the grocery store. Maria relaxed as Natasha had become a little chattier. She asked about Maria’s job at S.H.I.E.L.D., when she started, how she got there. She asked about what she liked to do on the weekends, about the people she spent it with.
Regrettably, Maria didn’t have much of an answer for that. She didn’t have any family she spoke regularly to, and although she was friendly with her colleagues, she definitely didn’t consider any of them close friends. She figured maybe she could consider Clint a friend, but beyond some after-hours drinks she really didn’t know the guy that well. Plus, he was friendly with everyone.
“Clint has been good to me.” Said Natasha. “He went with me to talk to Fury, he vouched for me. For some reason, he’s really set on helping me.” She looked away suddenly, as if she was embarrassed to have admitted that. It clicked immediately in Maria’s brain.
“That’s the first thing you’ve told me about yourself in the last half an hour.” Maria stopped as she set pasta down in her shopping trolley. “You’ve been working me.”
Natasha’s cheeks went red, and she avoided Maria’s gaze like the plague.
“I- I’m sorry.” She stuttered nervously. “I just… this is new for me. I don’t know how else to talk to people.”
“It’s alright, I get it. I appreciate that you’ve shown an interest in me, but making friends is a two-way street. If I open up, you do too.”
“Friends?” A small smile crept up in the corner of Natasha’s mouth.
“Yeah. If it’s alright with you, I think we could be friends.” Maria nodded with a smile. “Let’s start with food. What do you feel like eating for dinner?”
“Hmm.” Natasha furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought. “I like pizza. I tried it once when I went on a date with a target for a mission.”
“Alright. We can make some pizza.”
Natasha nodded as if she were pleased, and they continued strolling down the aisle, this time looking for their desired pizza ingredients.
Back in the kitchen Maria prepared the pizza base with the ingredients that she and Natasha had decided on. Maria had chosen basil and mozzarella, and Natasha chose bacon bits and olives, which were accompanied by the classic tomato pizza sauce.
Natasha hummed along to the RnB music that was playing on the speaker in the living room. She sipped a glass of wine while she watched Maria prep their meal.
“So, is the place you’re taking me going to have music like this?” Natasha asked.
“No, it definitely does not.” Maria laughed.
“What part of town is it in?” She asked Maria with determination, but she wouldn’t be fooled. She saw what Natasha was attempting to do.
“Nuh-uh. I’m not giving you any clues. I want you to be surprised.”
Natasha rolled her eyes at Maria and slumped back in her chair in defeat.
“Fine. You win.”
“Just trust me. I think you’ll like it.”
“How? You’ve only known me for a day.” A giggle slipped through Natasha’s voice.
“Yeah, but I have a feeling you’ll dig it. Just take my word.”
The timer dinged and the pizza was ready. They split the pizza and ate it over the kitchen island, just talking. It surprised Maria to admit that spending the day with Natasha had actually been kind of fun. It was nice to see Natasha slowly crawl out of her shell, to trust Maria with her real personality, not the one that she had constructed as the Black Widow.
As they reached the front of the line at the club, Maria could feel the bass pumping through her bones. They walked down the stairs to the underground area, and it was dark and full of people. The lights flashed in colours and patterns, lasers bouncing off the walls and into the crowd. The venue was vast, but it was so packed with people that it was impossible not to brush against other bodies just to wade through the crowd.
The DJ at the stage was playing heavy electronic music, and a very dense crowd gathered at his feet. People were jumping and dancing freely, not a care in the world.
Maria watched Natasha take it all in, the lights, the sounds. She couldn’t even think about how it would be experiencing something like this for the first time.
“You come here often?” Natasha asked, turning to her.
“I come here when I want to unwind. When I need to feel free.” Maria had to raise her voice slightly to be heard over the music.
“Huh. So that’s why you imagined I’d like it.” Natasha raised her eyebrow in question.
“Do you?”
Natasha bit her lip, holding back a smile.
“Yeah, I think I might.” She nodded.
Maria guided her to the bar at the back of the room. Natasha grabbed her wrist and let herself be pulled through the crowd, brushing up against dozens of strangers on the way.
“So, what will you have to drink?” Maria asked.
“A shot of vodka, please.” Natasha shouted at the bartender over the music.
“Jesus. Alright, I’ll have the same.” Maria chimed.
The bartender set out the glasses and filled them to the brim with Smirnoff. The girls each picked up their glasses and clinked them together.
“Cheers!” Maria said before bracing herself.
“Za zdorovye!” Natasha immediately downed the liquid like it was water, without showing any reaction in her face. Maria, unfortunately, did not have the same talent. The vodka burned her throat as it went down, and she grimaced painfully the second it made past her mouth. As the liquid made a successful trip to her stomach, Maria couldn’t help but shudder.
This seemed to amuse Natasha. A cheeky smile kept up on her face as she stifled a giggle.
“Come on, let’s dance.” Said Maria. She grabbed her by the hand and led her to the middle of the crowd, pressed between groups of people and facing each other.
The music pulsed through Maria’s entire body, and the alcohol made all the blood rush to her face. She felt buzzed, vibrating with the tremors that the music caused on the floor.
Natasha looked confused, like she was waiting for directions on what to do.
“Just let go.” Was all Maria managed to get out, close enough so that she was basically breathing on Natasha’s face.
She closed her eyes and let her shoulders sway, moving to the rhythm. Natasha shook her head and let her scarlet curls run wild, causing hot flashes on red in Maria’s vision. Finally, for the first time today, Natasha was relaxing. And Maria followed along, she let herself get lost in the beat and in the ocean of moving bodies.
Her and Natasha moved in sync. They danced together the whole night, bodies clashing one another and feeling nothing but each other’s heat.
The next day, Maria was once again awakened by the sound of Clint banging on her door. She rolled in her bed to check her clock; it was 10am. She reluctantly shuffled out of the room to wake up Natasha, but she was already up and had opened the door for Clint.
“Good morning, sleepyhead!” He announced cheerily. He placed a brown paper bag on her kitchen island, along with a takeaway coffee cup. “I bought you breakfast as a thank you, because seriously, you saved my ass. But I’m all good to take Nat back now anyway. We’ve got some stuff to sort out at S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“Great. Well, I’ll be seeing you around then, Nat.” Maria nodded at her.
“Thanks, Maria. I had a good time.” Natasha offered a genuine smile to her.
As the pair closed the door behind them, Maria’s heart tugged at the thought of that smile, now burned into her brain. She was the one that caused that.