Of course he didn’t need to say it, she didn’t have even the slightest doubt that he loved her, but she realised it would have been nice to hear it. Was that how he felt every time she hadn’t replied in kind when he’d said it? No, it was different for him, because until tonight she wasn’t certain he had known at all how deeply her feelings for him ran. He had needed to hear it, and she was glad to have finally gained the courage to say it. They would not be one of those couples who said it every day or at the end of every conversation until the words lost all meaning. They knew, they both knew now, and that was enough.

When Clint closed his eyes, Natasha settled her head on his shoulder and did the same, but she could feel the tension in his body and his frustrated sigh had her looking at him again. Did he go through this every night when she wasn’t here? Or was tonight just particularly bad?

Placing a soft kiss against his jaw, she trailed kisses down his neck before settling at the hollow of his throat, just above the seam of his sweater. “Need me to wear you out a little more?” she purred against his skin. If he didn’t want to talk about it she could always offer comfort and distraction through other means.